This week is our first week back after being gone the entire
month of February on international trips followed spring break for the first
week in March. International trips were absolutely amazing. I chose to go the
Bahamas, which was more of a mission-based trip. I was stretched and grown in
lots of ways. Our focus while being there was at The Exceptional School for
Learner – a school in a nearby town for students with learning disabilities. We
helped teach both math and English classes every morning. Another really neat
opportunity we had there was to build them a cement pad to play basketball on.
Before we built the pad, they played on a rocky slope that was incredibly
dangerous. It was fun for me because I love construction and I was able to help
envision the whole project and figure out how to get it done. However, the most
rewarding part was seeing the kids play on it once it was finished. The joy and
gratitude they showed was really fun to see.
While in the Bahamas there were also some ways that God really
challenged me that I hope to take away while back in the States. The first way
was God revealed the idol of comfort in my life and showed me that I need to be
content wherever I am or with whatever I have. For example, we ate oatmeal
every morning for 28 days. We also only had cold showers, to name a few of the
things I was not used to. What is sad is those things are so small. People
obviously live with much less. We always had enough food and I should have been
happy we even had showers. But that just goes to show how big the idol of
comfort was in my life. I had a few of the things that I was used to (good breakfasts,
hot showers, etc.) taken away and I struggled to be content. Now that I am
back, I don’t want to sink into the lifestyle I had before. I want to live a
little more simple life. Starting by making small changes, like not eating out
as much, and hopefully continue to do more and more to take away unnecessary
things.
The second area God challenged me in was my generosity, and
he used a little boy at the school to do it. A young boy named Joshua, who was
incredibly poor and whose shoes had countless holes in them, gave me part of
his snack every day I was there. Here is a young boy, who has next to nothing,
giving me, an American who has way more than I need, part of his already small
snack. Why would he do that? I honestly don’t know, but I do know that if he
can give out of the little he had, I sure can give a whole lot more than I do
now.
Thanks for reading!
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