The Summer is Closing Down...

           As I am going to move my stuff in today, I can only reflect on my summer and how it was. At the last Bible study with all the summer staff, Rob said, “Before you answer about how your summer was, really think about how your summer was.” That statement has really stood out to me and still stands out to me. I can honestly say that I have had a really good summer and I couldn’t have asked for a better one. There was a reason why when I was sitting at Urbana in Bible study that I thought about working at camp. There was a reason why Gary wanted to hire me and there was a reason why I took the job. I can now see that camp was a small stepping-stone in my life. I had the opportunity to meet new people and I was able to work with a missionary from Zimbabwe. I was able to learn about their culture and about different things that their ministry is doing. I was even told about different ministry opportunities that I could possibly have.

            I feel that working at camp this summer was a way to prepare me for Africa. While serving at camp there were many different opportunities where I was able to show love to kids. My passion has really grown since I was little; it is now that I want to show love to orphaned children. I want to be able to show them the love that they so desperately long for. Remember when you were a little kid, the kinds of things that you longed for from your parents. Whether these children were left because their parents have passed or they are not around anymore, they are not able to have the things that we long for. They are left to find food on their own and they are left to figure out life by themselves.

            God has really been preparing my heart for this trip and He has been working on me personally. I can honestly say that I feel that I was meant for this trip. I feel that I had a rough last semester for a reason. I feel that I am going on this trip so that I can personally love on those children. After I went to Guatemala last summer I was told about the book Kisses From Katie. I knew a little about it, but it wasn’t on my have to read list. After I realized that I was going to go to Africa to love on the orphans I decided that I should read it. I have started the book, but I have not really had the chance to finish it. But I was able to watch a video that Katie has made and I want to cry every time I watch it. She talks about how her life wasn’t what she thought that it was going to be. She explains how she is a mother of fourteen children and how she loves what she does. It breaks my heart every time that I watch it, because I thought that I knew the plans for my life, but those plans were destroyed. I wasn’t following what God had planned for my life and I definitely wasn’t cut out for the medical field.

            As I close this blog up, I encourage you to take a couple more minutes out of your crazy life to watch the video that Katie has made. Prepare yourself that you may have tears and your heart may break for what she does. I want to be able to live a life like Katie and in order to do that I need to give my whole self to God and allow Him to work in me.  God is slowly working on me and I know that I am a piece of art that is still in the making. I encourage you to allow God to form you into the masterpiece that you are supposed to become. 

http://www.amazima.org/katiesbook.html