Let the children come

I have not had a lot of experience working in cross cultural environments which has been hard because it is something that I have wanted to do for so much of my life. I did go to Mexico City for a couple weeks with my church when I was in high school. We helped at an inner city church and ran a kids’ club for disadvantaged children. Everything was new to me but I loved it. I tried to learn everything that I could when I was there. Since then, I have had several opportunities to go overseas, to Ireland and Kenya, but God always said to wait. It was frustrating but I’m glad I did. Instead of going on those trips, I was able to work at a kids’ camp for a couple years. All summer and every weekend during the school year I would drive to Youth Haven Ranch to be a team leader. The camp served children who were in need, many being from abusing families and broken homes. For every camp, I would get a new set of girls to spend the entire time with. I would teach Bible verses and lead chapel messages, but my most important job was to show these kids God by loving them and letting them have fun. I knew that they treasured every gift, every hug, every minute of time that was given to them which made me want to give them that much more. These kids had been through things that I could never have imagined, but even though I could not empathize, I could listen and love. That is what made all the difference. So many of those kids accepted Christ and it was a miracle for me each and every time I got to pray with one of them. At that camp, I learned that healing kids physically is not enough; they must be healed emotionally and spiritually to be whole.