It's interesting how just when you've started to become comfortable with something, you get pushed out of your comfort zone once again. After a few times of teaching Growth Journal and Bible Study during our nightly Team Time, I felt like I had a pretty good handle on how to do it. After our last trip, it seemed like building those deeper relationships with students and taking advantage of teachable moments was getting easier. I had almost gotten to the point where a lot of the things I was doing were very mechanical, and not as challenging as they had been.
And then came Team #6. An all boys team. Eleven high school boys, out of which nine are entering freshman year. Talk about a radical shift from the juniors and seniors we had been working with the past two trips. My first Growth Journal this week was a struggle, as I didn't think to change it so this new group would be able to relate. Conversations were, and still are, a struggle. My mind doesn't always think of topics that are especially interesting to high school boys. It's hard to go deep with them, because a lot of times they don't even know what they're thinking. Motivating and challenging them has been quite a challenge in itself. They have been quick to make excuses and slow to take responsibility. They lack the drive we've seen in some of our older students.
BUT.. it's been good. One of the ten leadership principles we talk about at LeaderTreks is "Never Underestimate a Champion." It's kind of the idea that people can do more than we sometimes give them credit for, and that we shouldn't give up on them. And that's definitely beginning to happen with this team. I'm learning not to give up on people, and to pour encouragement and challenge into them in order to motivate them to their full potential. Over the past few days, our students have slowly begun to recognize that they haven't been doing things to the best of their ability. They've become more honest in admitting when something isn't going well. Last night was an incredible turning point for all of them. They realized that they only had one day left on the worksite and at VBS to make a difference, and they took that to heart. When I got up to help with breakfast, I noticed that all the guys were up and already working on one of our work projects... an HOUR before breakfast was even ready. We usually start work at 9, and they were out there at 6:20! They finally worked enthusiastically and completed the work by the time devos started at 8. I was so impressed and so proud of them. Later today, their VBS was a TON better than it had been the previous days, and it seemed like several of the little kids were impacted by the love they received from our students. It will be interesting to watch how they continue to grow the next 4 days as we backpack and as they each have a turn leading us and keeping us from getting lost and getting to the campsite on time.
Tomorrow is our third and final backpacking trip this summer. It's weird to think that after four hikes, I may never see this same trail again. I've gotten used to some of the trail and know it pretty well. And I love it. I'm going to have to soak it in a lot these next 4 days, because I will definitely miss it.
If you could, please pray for energy and protection as we are backpacking, and that we would all be able to enjoy God's beautiful creation and grow even closer to Him.
Monday, July 26, 2010
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Distractions
I'm sorry it's been so long since I posted! We've had quite a few things thrown our way the past two weeks, so I haven't had much of a chance for any updates.
Things are going well. We just finished with a group from Bloomington, IL. There were some great conversations that I was able to have with several of the girls and really encourage and challenge them. VBS was great and the kids who came were so cute. Work projects were a lot of fun: we poured a sidewalk for one of the churches we work with and then painted a shed, started building a playset, and did some weeding for the other church we work with. Backpacking went a lot better this time, which is an encouraging thought for our third and final wilderness adventure which starts in about 5 days. I'm loving my time out here. I absolutely love the other staff I'm working with and the students who come on the trips. It's sad to think that I only have two more teams and then I'm done. I wish it was longer.
As I stated above, we've encountered a few unexpected things in our time here.
- Getting kicked out of the library out of the blue meant Abby and I are now sleeping in the balcony of the gym. Not much privacy, to say the least.
- One day we couldn't turn on the lights in the gym, and when they finally came on we couldn't turn them off when it was time for bed = Abby and I slept in sunglasses that night.
- We couldn't get internet access until recently when we'd been expecting to have it for the whole summer.
- The sand and gravel we needed for concrete didn't get delivered when it was supposed to, so we had to put that project on hold.
- The night before backpacking we discovered that a good amount of our wilderness food had been stolen.
- Steven (trip leader) got randomly got pretty sick two days before backpacking.
- Beth (Steven's wife) was sick the next day.
- Our van started making really weird noises when Abby and I went into town to get some last minute supplies. We were 40 miles from "home" and had no cell phone service.
- One of the church's vans got stuck in mud, so the youth pastor, Abby and I had to try and push it out, then go look for help since it was just the three of us.
- Abby felt sick while backpacking and was not in good shape yesterday.
- We had to replace our brake pads in the van.
- Last night we discovered a group from the Native American Assembly will be staying in the school for several days. This was the first we had been informed of this.
The four of us have joked, saying to each other "Satan", every time something goes wrong. We even named one of the corners of our sidewalk "Satan's corner" because it took FOREVER to get the right way and things kept going wrong. But as much as we've joked about Satan being behind all of this, I think there's a lot of truth in it.
One of our leadership principles that we teach students is "Focus Precedes Success" and we talk about how when we're not focused on our goals and not that committed, then it's going to be a lot harder to achieve anything. One illustration that Abby and I used when we taught it was a Jenga game. We had one group really focused trying to build as high as possible while another group told them the wrong way to do things and just yelled general nonsense. The group that was supposed to be focused wasn't able to reach their goal because they got so off task by listening to those who were distracting.
We feel like a lot of these unexpected things that have happened are meant as distractions to keep us off our task of impacting this community and the students who come our way. It has been very tempting to give into frustration with each thing that has happened, but luckily we've been able to make it through by continually encouraging and supporting each other.
If you could be praying for us through this time, we would all really appreciate it. We are all worn down and trying to recover for our last two teams. It's been hard, but it's been good. There's nothing else I would have rather spent my summer doing.
Things are going well. We just finished with a group from Bloomington, IL. There were some great conversations that I was able to have with several of the girls and really encourage and challenge them. VBS was great and the kids who came were so cute. Work projects were a lot of fun: we poured a sidewalk for one of the churches we work with and then painted a shed, started building a playset, and did some weeding for the other church we work with. Backpacking went a lot better this time, which is an encouraging thought for our third and final wilderness adventure which starts in about 5 days. I'm loving my time out here. I absolutely love the other staff I'm working with and the students who come on the trips. It's sad to think that I only have two more teams and then I'm done. I wish it was longer.
As I stated above, we've encountered a few unexpected things in our time here.
- Getting kicked out of the library out of the blue meant Abby and I are now sleeping in the balcony of the gym. Not much privacy, to say the least.
- One day we couldn't turn on the lights in the gym, and when they finally came on we couldn't turn them off when it was time for bed = Abby and I slept in sunglasses that night.
- We couldn't get internet access until recently when we'd been expecting to have it for the whole summer.
- The sand and gravel we needed for concrete didn't get delivered when it was supposed to, so we had to put that project on hold.
- The night before backpacking we discovered that a good amount of our wilderness food had been stolen.
- Steven (trip leader) got randomly got pretty sick two days before backpacking.
- Beth (Steven's wife) was sick the next day.
- Our van started making really weird noises when Abby and I went into town to get some last minute supplies. We were 40 miles from "home" and had no cell phone service.
- One of the church's vans got stuck in mud, so the youth pastor, Abby and I had to try and push it out, then go look for help since it was just the three of us.
- Abby felt sick while backpacking and was not in good shape yesterday.
- We had to replace our brake pads in the van.
- Last night we discovered a group from the Native American Assembly will be staying in the school for several days. This was the first we had been informed of this.
The four of us have joked, saying to each other "Satan", every time something goes wrong. We even named one of the corners of our sidewalk "Satan's corner" because it took FOREVER to get the right way and things kept going wrong. But as much as we've joked about Satan being behind all of this, I think there's a lot of truth in it.
One of our leadership principles that we teach students is "Focus Precedes Success" and we talk about how when we're not focused on our goals and not that committed, then it's going to be a lot harder to achieve anything. One illustration that Abby and I used when we taught it was a Jenga game. We had one group really focused trying to build as high as possible while another group told them the wrong way to do things and just yelled general nonsense. The group that was supposed to be focused wasn't able to reach their goal because they got so off task by listening to those who were distracting.
We feel like a lot of these unexpected things that have happened are meant as distractions to keep us off our task of impacting this community and the students who come our way. It has been very tempting to give into frustration with each thing that has happened, but luckily we've been able to make it through by continually encouraging and supporting each other.
If you could be praying for us through this time, we would all really appreciate it. We are all worn down and trying to recover for our last two teams. It's been hard, but it's been good. There's nothing else I would have rather spent my summer doing.
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Challenge and Growth
The Little Bighorn trail is a challenge. Hiking 18 miles and climbing 7000 feet in four days can be rough. It didn't help that I had just gotten over a cold. It didn't help that I was running on very little sleep. It didn't help that I barely knew anyone else on the trip.
But it was worth it.
Tuesday was our first day. The night before, as you can see in the previous post, I was pretty anxious and tired, but still excited. After driving to Big Horn National Park, we had to do some car shuffling. Usually when you hike you go in a circle back to your cars, but our trail was just straight up, so we had to take our cars to the trail end and then drive one back down to the trail start. I volunteered to drive up and down the mountain, which was quite the experience. I'm usually pretty timid about driving but it was a ton of fun and just to see all the sights along the road was awesome. Plus, there was a lot of snow left on the ground as we reached the top so that was really cool to see in the middle of summer. Once we got back to the bottom we started hiking. I was fine for awhile and enjoyed some conversations with the students. BUT, then we started the inclines. That killed me. My attiude shot down and I got really angry at God for placing me on the trip. He knew that I had a hard time hikinig last year. He knew that I had just been sick. He knew that I was exhausted. But he was still making me do the stupid hike. I think I even asked for death a few times. Melodramatic much? I know. Finally Beth (my trip leader's wife), really challenged me to rely on the Lord's strength and reminded me that I was placed here for a reason. She also told me to only think about today, and not about the fact that I am doing this hike two more times. She really motivated me to push forward and just helped so much. The rest of the day was fine. Got to the campsite, set up, enjoyed wilderness food.
Wednesday the team got off to a pretty slow start. We ended up leaving around 10:30, only after a huge herd of cattle came through. So we were stuck behind cattle for a lot of the day. Slow and smelly, such fun. Finally it looked like we were making some good progress. And then, it started raining and thundering and the lightning was going crazy. So we had to stop and take cover in some trees and got to stay in lightning position for awhile. Several of the students were pretty scared, so Abby (fellow intern) and I started singing some hymns and worship songs. That was pretty cool, singing about how God controls the lightning as the storm was raging around us. Finally the storm passed, and it was SO cold, so we decided to high tail it to the campsite. By this point my feet were getting pretty blistered and tired, so the HUGE hill we had to go up to get to the campsite was not looking very fun to me. But we finally made it. The campsite for the second day is absolutely AMAZING! There's a big mountain on one side with waterfalls coming down it, and then on the other side there's a ton of pine trees as far as you can see. It was so fun to be there and see those sights again.
Day three is typically known as the hardest day of the hike. It's a ton of incline, plus people are just worn out from the previous days. I had been dreading it since the day I found out I was going to be in Montana for the summer. Once again, it started out fine. We stopped way too early for lunch, but apart from that things went well and I had a lot of fun with the students I was near playing games and chatting. The sights were breathtaking and really motivated me to keep walking. However, as the day wore on my blisters started rubbing really badly and I was having trouble walking. The inclines took everything out of me, and I was just in a bad mood once again. Finally, one of the students took my tent from me which took away a ton of weight from my pack. That helped so much and I was so thankful for the student's willingness to serve me. We finally made it to the campsite and I had never been happier to sleep on the ground.
Day four (Friday), we hiked out. We had to take care of the car shuffling once again, so one of their adult leaders, and Abby and I hiked out early together. We left at 6 in the morning, expecting the hike to take 2 or 2 and 1/2 hours. We made it in less than an hour and a half. We were SO proud of ourselves. I really enjoyed hiking that early. The temperature was wonderful and it was a lot less stressful hiking with just three people instead of a team of 18. We got the cars all together and waited for 45 minutes before we finally heard cheering as the students ran to the trail end. It was really cool to see the smiles on their faces as they realized that they had finally made it to the end.
After that we drove to Billings and got to shower!! Yay!! Best shower of my life. Then enjoyed an awesome meal at Fudruckers. The best part of Friday night was our final team time. I had a really hard time connecting with these students. I came halfway through the trip, so I missed out on the first few days of getting to know them. They also were just really closed and you really had to push to get anything significant or remotely deep out of them. So I had been a little discouraged and just felt like I hadn't made any difference. However, during our encouragement circle where each student gets encouraged by two of their peers and one adult, I saw the walls break down. I have never seen so many high school boys cry before. Their tough exterior finally cracked and I felt like they were really touched by what they had experienced on the trip. To actually witness this was really powerful. It just reminded me that I should never give up hope on anybody. God may wait until the very end to work in their hearts, but I should never assume that they are incapable of being impacted. The students also demanded to encourage us as staff, and honestly I really needed that. I had felt like I was not needed on this trip and that I had made no impact, but the two students who encouraged me proved me otherwise, and I was really touched by that.
This past trip really taught me a lot about how I respond in situations and showed me a lot of areas in my life that I want to improve. And that's the beauty of challenge.. it spurs on growth and helps you become transformed into who God has designed you to be. As hard as it was, I do not regret what I was able to experience. I learned so much and I am confident that God is going to continue to challenge me in order to bring growth into my life.
Pray requests:
- Team #4 arrived this afternoon: transitioning into this team and being willing to get to know them.
- Rest and renewal
- Continued bonding between me, Steve, Beth and Abby
- God to work in HUGE ways on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation: many to turn from their false religion and be brought into the light of Christ
Thanks for bearing with this long post! I am so thankful for all of your support and prayers!
But it was worth it.
Tuesday was our first day. The night before, as you can see in the previous post, I was pretty anxious and tired, but still excited. After driving to Big Horn National Park, we had to do some car shuffling. Usually when you hike you go in a circle back to your cars, but our trail was just straight up, so we had to take our cars to the trail end and then drive one back down to the trail start. I volunteered to drive up and down the mountain, which was quite the experience. I'm usually pretty timid about driving but it was a ton of fun and just to see all the sights along the road was awesome. Plus, there was a lot of snow left on the ground as we reached the top so that was really cool to see in the middle of summer. Once we got back to the bottom we started hiking. I was fine for awhile and enjoyed some conversations with the students. BUT, then we started the inclines. That killed me. My attiude shot down and I got really angry at God for placing me on the trip. He knew that I had a hard time hikinig last year. He knew that I had just been sick. He knew that I was exhausted. But he was still making me do the stupid hike. I think I even asked for death a few times. Melodramatic much? I know. Finally Beth (my trip leader's wife), really challenged me to rely on the Lord's strength and reminded me that I was placed here for a reason. She also told me to only think about today, and not about the fact that I am doing this hike two more times. She really motivated me to push forward and just helped so much. The rest of the day was fine. Got to the campsite, set up, enjoyed wilderness food.
Wednesday the team got off to a pretty slow start. We ended up leaving around 10:30, only after a huge herd of cattle came through. So we were stuck behind cattle for a lot of the day. Slow and smelly, such fun. Finally it looked like we were making some good progress. And then, it started raining and thundering and the lightning was going crazy. So we had to stop and take cover in some trees and got to stay in lightning position for awhile. Several of the students were pretty scared, so Abby (fellow intern) and I started singing some hymns and worship songs. That was pretty cool, singing about how God controls the lightning as the storm was raging around us. Finally the storm passed, and it was SO cold, so we decided to high tail it to the campsite. By this point my feet were getting pretty blistered and tired, so the HUGE hill we had to go up to get to the campsite was not looking very fun to me. But we finally made it. The campsite for the second day is absolutely AMAZING! There's a big mountain on one side with waterfalls coming down it, and then on the other side there's a ton of pine trees as far as you can see. It was so fun to be there and see those sights again.
Day three is typically known as the hardest day of the hike. It's a ton of incline, plus people are just worn out from the previous days. I had been dreading it since the day I found out I was going to be in Montana for the summer. Once again, it started out fine. We stopped way too early for lunch, but apart from that things went well and I had a lot of fun with the students I was near playing games and chatting. The sights were breathtaking and really motivated me to keep walking. However, as the day wore on my blisters started rubbing really badly and I was having trouble walking. The inclines took everything out of me, and I was just in a bad mood once again. Finally, one of the students took my tent from me which took away a ton of weight from my pack. That helped so much and I was so thankful for the student's willingness to serve me. We finally made it to the campsite and I had never been happier to sleep on the ground.
Day four (Friday), we hiked out. We had to take care of the car shuffling once again, so one of their adult leaders, and Abby and I hiked out early together. We left at 6 in the morning, expecting the hike to take 2 or 2 and 1/2 hours. We made it in less than an hour and a half. We were SO proud of ourselves. I really enjoyed hiking that early. The temperature was wonderful and it was a lot less stressful hiking with just three people instead of a team of 18. We got the cars all together and waited for 45 minutes before we finally heard cheering as the students ran to the trail end. It was really cool to see the smiles on their faces as they realized that they had finally made it to the end.
After that we drove to Billings and got to shower!! Yay!! Best shower of my life. Then enjoyed an awesome meal at Fudruckers. The best part of Friday night was our final team time. I had a really hard time connecting with these students. I came halfway through the trip, so I missed out on the first few days of getting to know them. They also were just really closed and you really had to push to get anything significant or remotely deep out of them. So I had been a little discouraged and just felt like I hadn't made any difference. However, during our encouragement circle where each student gets encouraged by two of their peers and one adult, I saw the walls break down. I have never seen so many high school boys cry before. Their tough exterior finally cracked and I felt like they were really touched by what they had experienced on the trip. To actually witness this was really powerful. It just reminded me that I should never give up hope on anybody. God may wait until the very end to work in their hearts, but I should never assume that they are incapable of being impacted. The students also demanded to encourage us as staff, and honestly I really needed that. I had felt like I was not needed on this trip and that I had made no impact, but the two students who encouraged me proved me otherwise, and I was really touched by that.
This past trip really taught me a lot about how I respond in situations and showed me a lot of areas in my life that I want to improve. And that's the beauty of challenge.. it spurs on growth and helps you become transformed into who God has designed you to be. As hard as it was, I do not regret what I was able to experience. I learned so much and I am confident that God is going to continue to challenge me in order to bring growth into my life.
Pray requests:
- Team #4 arrived this afternoon: transitioning into this team and being willing to get to know them.
- Rest and renewal
- Continued bonding between me, Steve, Beth and Abby
- God to work in HUGE ways on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation: many to turn from their false religion and be brought into the light of Christ
Thanks for bearing with this long post! I am so thankful for all of your support and prayers!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)