Camp brought so much MORE than any of us expected. We doubled the number of children this year and invited 100 in total, it was worth it on absolutely every level, but it was MORE work, MORE exhaustion, MORE activities, MORE chaos, and MORE time to fill. It was also MORE joy, MORE enthusiasm, MORE leaning on Christ, MORE hearing their stories, MORE heartbreak, and MORE glory to God for great things He has done in expanding the Kingdom one child at a time! It was incredible! Beautiful and remarkable! I am still really at a loss for words to truly describe it. There is no way to truly take you there, but I will try...
The days at camp were long but as the end of the week approached it felt far too short. In years past, there has always been a lot of down time or hours during the day where Pastor Joseph who works with the churches in the Bugasera district to determine the children who are most vulnerable and invite them to camp, took responsibility for the children. This year, our team - including our six INCREDIBLE interpreters who truly became dear friends and our Rwandan family as they astounded us with their vibrant interactions and engagement in every single activity - had the kids from 7:30am when we served breakfast until just after 9:00pm when they were forced to go take showers and get in bed.
>> DETOUR… breakfast was the same every single day - essentially two pieces of white bread and a hard boiled egg (I always got the smallest one thanks to my man Jacob!) and then when you got to your table you could add some salt and/or pepper (a whole lot of salt and pepper if you’re Schotty Schotborgh) at your own risk. The kids loosened the salt by blowing into the tops of the shakers with all their might, which is actually counterproductive as it gets the salt all wet with spit making it clump up and therefore harder to get out - but that’s pretty hard to explain when you speak English and they speak Kinyarwanda and the whole thing is actually super funny. One member of my team didn’t figure out the salt shaker happenings until Friday morning - our last day at camp…yikes bikes. AND WE ARE BACK >>
When the kids finally headed to bed, we met as a team to regroup on the day, ensure we were on track for the next day, and get the necessary supplies organized. That is also when we decided to spend at least an hour or so worshipping together with the translators (who can all sing and allowed us to join in their haunting harmonies to the beautiful name of Jesus - we relished every opportunity to praise Him together) or playing rousing games of UNO or SPOONS alongside consuming copious quantities of candy. I think we brought at least 15-lbs. of candy to share with our Rwandan family! I typically fell into bed somewhere between 2:00 and 3:00am knowing my roommate Erica’s alarm would sound at 5:30am - homegirl loved her the jerry can shower but THAT is an undertaking all in itself and we had to be in the hallway for our morning kick-off meeting and prayer no later than 7:05…or at least that was always the aim! Oh the memories that were made in that hallway or in our rooms late in the night - Emily falling asleep browsing through her pictures-finger firmly planted on the shutter button, dried apples and pears for days, questionably murky remnant water bottles we thought might contain some Miralax- hope no one drank those on accident, rubber bands flying through the air as we took apart 100 freshly made tie-dyed t-shirts so they could be taken to the sweet ladies in the village who would wash them the following morning-envisioning their thought processes as they saw these strange shirts that made absolutely no sense to them, scenes of neck-pillows and teammates adamantly claiming they were awake when we ALL knew the truth-I had woken them up with my rousing knocks on their doors just seconds before. We really had it all. Our team was virtually never lacking for laughter. God was gracious and so very faithful.
I have never been more proud as a team leader than I was at camp. I loved watching joy emanate from my teammates - I loved watching them light up and ooze Jesus - it was one of the most beautiful things I have ever gotten to stand back and see. I only had seconds at a time to behold it - but it always overtook me. Each member of my team is so uniquely gifted and they poured their hearts into those kids throughout the days we had together. They shared their stories without holding back, choosing to be vulnerable, transparent, and honest - allowing the dynamic ways God has worked in their lives to be a powerful message communicating hope and the promise of a great future for each child standing before us. They chose to draw near knowing it would be short and heartbreaking in the end. They sang and danced and played ridiculous games and also found moments to steal away for intimate and tender conversations where tears were shed. I remember one particular meal where there was no translator at my table so communication with the kids was virtually impossible outside of muraho (which means hello) and a murakoze (thank you) and the occasional bon appetit (many of the kids spoke a smidge of french). We made faces at each other, smiled, and played some hand slapping games around the table - and then Gilbert came and sat down. He is one of the caretakers for the boys. He dove right into conversation in his rather exceptional though still limited English. He told me that prior to our arrival, he didn’t believe God cared about the African people, he felt they were abandoned and forgotten by the Creator. But since we had come, since the “white man” had shown such great love from the Father, he was now convinced that God did have love for his people. That our kindness and care would never be forgotten and would be a reminder that they are seen, and he would never been alone again. He must have said thank you over 40 times in our dinner that day. And THAT is how camp worked. You would go from laughter and pure silliness to gut-wrenching almost hallowing tears in an instant. Realizing over and over that God was working far beyond anything you could have ever imagined. Smiles can be tangibly felt at camp. Hearts are changed as you look deeply into the eyes of another and say almost nothing. God moves and breathes His love into spaces you can never truly grasp. Being there to witness it, to be part of it, to literally see His presence on display, it was an honor extraordinaire; it was a privilege I will forever count amongst the greatest of my entire life.
No comments:
Post a Comment