Let me begin by saying I love Project Transformation. I love the organization, I love the staff, I love the summer and after-school programs they have implemented for kids here in Dallas.
Let me continue by saying I want this in Nevada. I want to start a Las Vegas Urban Project. I want the kids I work with all year at Club Christ to have something to do over the summer. I want to bring college students to Las Vegas to serve and love and bring change.
However, this want is not enough. I'm going to do it. God has been putting the thought of an urban project on my heart so much.. It consumes my thoughts each and every time I have a free moment to take a break and breathe.
Plans upon plans upon hopes upon dreams fill every crevice of my mind as I ponder the possibilities of what could be. The funny thing is that I've never considered staying in Nevada. I've never wanted to be a resident of Las Vegas. It just kind of happened to me. I just kind of ended up there and always have had plans to leave immediately. Why Lord? Why do you put this hope for Las Vegas upon my heart? I've also never considered working with middle schoolers. My passion has always been for younger kids. Why, oh why Lord do I end up with youth? I see their potential and ambitions and I can't help but be moved by it. I can't deny that something big is going to happen in my life. I can't lie and say that I'd be content to ignore God's calling. I don't know what this means yet, but I ask that you pray for direction for my life.
This past week has meant the end of training, bonding with the people here, and getting ready and planning for our first week with our kids.
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| Adrienne, Antoine, Kellie, and I went on an adventure on Friday night. |
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| And on Saturday night, a big group of interns went out to On the Border for dinner, and then to see Xmen! |
We needed a break from our long week of training and work...
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| Courtney and Bailey, hard at work preparing their craft for this week! |
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| Mr. Rico and Mr. RJ getting their rec activities together. |
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| Rae and Michael, working together to prepare afternoon enrichment. |
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| My partners, Kendra and Nic, setting up our youth room! |
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| I helped too, of course. :) |
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| On the first day we gave each of our youth a gift bag with some treats in it, and this is the note that was included! |
My team's theme is C.H.I.L.L. It's a play on words in that C.H.I.L.L. is an acronym that my teammate Rico made up that stands for "Chapel Hill Is Living Life", but we're also doing an arctic/winter theme.
It's so fun and amazing to see my teammates just as excited to love on the kids in our program as I am.
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| Rico and RJ definitely aren't afraid to get a little silly. |
There are so many different strengths on my team and I love the way we manage to use them in such a way that we are able to cover each other's weaknesses. I have no doubt that I was placed on the team that I'm on for a reason.
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| Here they all are! |
Besides bonding, my team was able to attend church together on Sunday. Everyone at Chapel Hill is so warm and welcoming. They are ecstatic that we are here, and I feel so welcomed into their congregation. Later on Sunday night, all of the PT interns had the opportunity to be the chorus for the opening worship service for the North Texas United Methodist Conference.
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| The church was BEAUTIFUL. |
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| My teammate Michael, and Dai, my song buddy! |
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| RJ! |
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Dai was my song buddy for the night, so we had to stick together and make sure we didn't get lost. Yes, the buddy system still works on college kids... Haha!
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It was a great experience. Methodist practices are somewhat new to me, but it's definitely interesting and enlightening to see how different denominations go about doing certain things, for example, communion. I am always wanting to learn and grow, and I think this summer will be a great benefit to me in my knowledge of other denominations.
Today was the first day at our sites, and I've already fallen in love with our youth and elementary kids. I'm not allowed to post pictures of them on the internet due to legal issues regarding privacy and what-not, but just trust me when I say they are amazing and adorable. With the youth we played a few icebreaker games, talked and got to know each other's names, had a "TAG" lesson (TAG stands for Talk About God), and then went outside and did the human knot, where they had to work together to get themselves untangled. Afterwards we played capture the flag, which is a game that they love. Needless to say, by the end of the day, we were all tired, sweaty, and a little bit more connected than we were at the beginning of the morning. The day went by so fast!! I have such hope for the summer. My biggest goal for the youth that I'm working with is to help them to encounter God in a whole new way. I want them to get a chance to seek God and find Him, for as it states in Jeremiah 29:13, "You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all of your heart."
Pray that we seek God with all of our hearts.
<3
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