My journey started June the 18th and 4:00 a.m. Less than two hours later me and eighty other Geyer Springs youth were headed to Orange Beach, AL for Student Life's The Kingdom beach camp. I learned while I was there that I absolutely love the beach. Besides that I got to hear Matt Chandler speak on the Kingdom of God all week. He really challenged us to know who the King is, about His kingdom, and how the Kingdom's people should exist together. I got to meet a lot of amazing girls that are younger than me that week (I was the only tenth grade girl) but nothing monumental seemed to happened. I did get to see my secret prayer partner accept Christ and get some big sins off her chest, though I don't know what they were. It was refreshing to see someone freed from their past. Like Chandler told us, "The old Matt Chandler is dead!".
From there I was dropped off near grandparents house in Mississippi. The next day I jumped straight into a three year old VBS class for the next four nights. Those three year olds taught us as much as I hope we taught them. Although it was exhausting my time in Mississippi was refreshing as always. While I was there my aunt returned from Nicaragua a little beaten physically (got two black eyes and bruised nose from playing basketball and had her backpack with her money, phone, passport and Bible stolen), spiritually, and emotionally but with amazing reports! They saw over 200 salvations in just a week! Suddenly God I was able to begin seeing how God was moving around me again. The numbness I had felt and struggled with was leaving. What a shame it took seeing the big things God does all the time to get my attention! But that week prepared me for the following.
The 28th we drove back to Arkansas where I had a little more than a twelve hour turn around before getting on a bus headed to St. Louis, MO.
When we arrived on Saturday we dropped our things off in the school/church (Tower Grove) we were staying in for the week. April, the leader from the church we worked with all week, showed up with two interns and took us to downtown South City St. Louis (the area we did all our work in). We prayer walked several blocks. In that hour I learned some of the city's background, its racial makeup, saw a huge gay block party, and later learned about someone who was saved after talking with Caddy, my youth pastor. Gays have become rampant in St. Louis in the past ten years. We saw lots of rainbow signs in store fronts and huge flags hung on homes. St. Louis is also a city that gets lots of refugees. We worked with people from Napal, Burma, Conga, and then a few other countries in Africa. Because of this the church, New City Fellowship, was very diverse. On Sunday morning during service we sung in Swahili, French, Burmese, and I think Spanish. I can't remember for sure. But seeing people sing in their native languages and the languages of other people was a reminder of how awesome our God is. He understood every word even though I didn't know half of what I was singing! Everyone worshipped in their own way. Some singing, clapping, dancing, playing the drums, raising their hands or just listening to all the languages. That evening we divided into our four teams and went to different parks to do "Bible clubs" (basically shorter VBS).
Monday morning started our normal routine. Most of us stayed at New City Fellowship after breakfast to help with the tutoring program. (We did have a team gone all day to do a sports camp somewhere) I was assigned two Burmese boys who just finished fourth grade. Their names are Mung Pi and Ozar Kay. Both are super smart and very talented artists. I mainly helped with their grammar when they wrote since English is a second language. That afternoon more of us split up into groups while some stayed behind until the end of the tutoring program. We had girls go to homes and help with ESL. We also had people go to a nursing home and others, like me, help with work projects. Monday's work project was helping at a community garden where refugees can rent a plot of land to grow fresh produce. Right before we got to the garden we went under a bridge. It was as if we entered a different world. We passed from the ghetto to a rich neighborhood within seconds. The economic divide is that visible all the way through St. Louis down that particular road.
The next day was cool like the day before but rainy. Sports camp was cancelled along with outside work projects and Bible clubs. So after tutoring we stayed at the church and took apart room dividers and tables in the basement then stored them on the second floor. This involved the old complicated elevator that Ben and I ended up being stuck on for almost five minutes before someone realized the button needed to be pushed up on the second floor.
Wednesday was our last day of tutoring because the Fourth was the next day. We said goodbye to our kids and got to take pictures with them. When we found out that our work project was pulling weeds along a fence for an invalid, I thought, "Oh, this will be fast and easy". Once we got there and saw some of the weeds were taller than all of us and as thick around as a small tree, plus the fact that the only tools we had were an old pair of metal scissors, two rakes, and my two pockets knives I thought otherwise. I ended up cutting down the 'trees' with my knife. Ben and I also took out a rotted, termite infested tree stump. As a reward for our hard, hot work Mrs. Cindy stopped at Starbucks for us.
On the Fourth of July we had a community/church wide block party. We had between 300-400 people there. I was supposed to be a 'trash girl', but somehow ended up painting complicated designs on people's bodies. I drew everything. St. Louis Cardinals, a bald eagle, 'Don't tread on me' cartoon, and on and on. Later that day we ate Vietnamese food and went to the Arch to see Trace Adkins and the fireworks show.
Anyway, all the fun stuff wasn't the point. I feel like everyone got to use one of their talents for the Kingdom last week. We also got tested in our faith. Some of the teaching of the church were not clearly represented. Caddy confronted the leaders about this. I learned that Satan is very sneaky. We all assumed we were in a place of sound teaching. But Satan was able to plant a 1% lie in some articles we read the last day as a devotional and confuse some of us. The three articles, written by the same man, showed different views on salvation than ours. He also made it seem as if the rich (us) couldn't get into Heaven. Many of us had to explain how we were offended by some assumptions that April made about our church and how we were using our resources. She assumed that because of our church's location that we were only serving the 'white flight' in Bryant and not ministering to the lower income minorities. In the end we all came out stronger in our faith. We had to refer to the Bible for teaching, not just what our leaders say.
I have been thinking of all of you! I hope your travels and summers are safe and fun! I can't wait to see all of you again. (Ill see some of you at CSU! Sooo excited about this year. But we will miss Katie. ;) )
Love,
Rachel Barber
P.S. Sorry this is SOOOO long but 1,866 is a long journey. ;)
Sunday, July 7, 2013
Saturday, July 6, 2013
Crazy Good God
Hey ladies! I miss you all so much and it's barely July! God has done marvelous things in my life through Worldview Academy and United, so here I am to tell ya. :) Starting from the beginning...
Not going to lie, the entire 4-hour-or-so drive up to Springfield, Missouri, I was pretty nervous. I realized that I actually didn't know anyone at the camp and I had no clue what the week had in store. Looking back, I can agree without a doubt that it was one of the best weeks of my life! It was so encouraging to be at a camp with fellow Christ followers, talking about our Savior and worldview as Christians! We talked about leadership, defending our faith, and even some other religions (when we covered Mormonism, I thought of you, Carley!). There was even a little bit of evangelism training I didn't know about beforehand, so that was a pleasant surprise!
Worldview Academy was truly a blessing, but what I learned there didn't end when the camp did. The timing was pretty much perfect- it was two weeks before United. All of the apologetics classes? I felt so much more confident when we went to Panama City Beach! Evangelism? It was so good to go out and evangelize and get back in the swing of things before United. God was so good to me. The week in between the two trips, I was so pumped and ready to set foot on the sand and just go!
And (as the pattern seems to be) God was nowhere near done working.
For United, I had been placed in the largest girls cabin, along with Emily McIndoe, 23 other girls, and Jenn Hartman and Ashley Briggs. I knew less than half of the girls, but sleeping in the big bunk room changed that soon. There was one girl, Kelsey, who's a year older than me (and was another huge blessing that week!). Even before I had finished unpacking and losing things all over the cabin in Florida, He had already shown Em a chance to witness to someone in our group!
I could go into detail and tell stories about our first day on the beaches- exactly a year since the last time I'd been beach witnessing. Or the next day. Even the worship (which was stellar!). But honestly, the best part about the entire trip to Florida was that even though we got rained out the last two days and didn't exactly accomplish what we thought we set out to do, God shattered our expectations and moved in ways we'd never fathomed! I'd thought my purpose on the trip was to meet people on the beaches and lead them closer to Christ. But if that had been my sole reason to go, I would have been disappointed. Jesus wanted to reach those on the beach... and those that weren't.
The last two days got rained out to the point where nobody was on the beaches. I was praying and fasting on July 3rd, the day the rains came. Our huge prayer that day was that God would take the rain away, or do something that could only happen with the rain. The rain continued to pound the roof, hour after hour, and it seemed like nothing was happening. Late into the evening, it was still pouring. Everyone was in the cabin, and nobody wanted to leave, so basically we were stuck inside. I tried to clean up some of my things and get ready for bed and instead got 'sidetracked' helping a girl in our room, Lila, convince another girl, Grace, to sing. The three of us were the only ones in the room, and nothing was out of the ordinary.
That's when Lila's best friend, Claire, walked in. She told us that she had something to tell us all. We grouped up in the floor and Claire shared her story. She would pause when others came in to get something because it was a long, personal story. At one point, Elle Maddox walked in, but Claire just continued, including Elle in our little group. Claire's story spurred Grace to tell hers. When the rest of the girls came to get ready for bed, they walked in to see five girls sitting in a big group hug on the floor.
We moved outside so we could keep talking, and we all ended up talking for an hour or so with Jenn. Claire told us later that she had been waiting for the right time to share her story with Grace and I. Lila already knew her story, Claire knew Grace had been in a similar place, and said she trusted me from the moment we first spoke. She had been in the living room with all the others when she felt the Holy Spirit telling her to go to the bunk room. Lo and behold, who else should be in the bunk room but Grace, Lila and I! That night, because of the rain, God literally moved Claire to share with us. It was something I couldn't explain.
God didn't even stop THERE. The other girls knew something incredible was going on, and when our group walked back inside, we found almost everyone gathered on the top bunks, listening to other girls share their stories. They had no idea what we had been doing, and yet here they were, sharing just like we had.
Now I'm home, and trying to make some sense of it all. It was so wonderfully unexplainable. Best yet, I talked to Jenn, and I may join their small group as an assistant leader on Sunday mornings! Lila and Claire are joining, and Grace is already a part of Jenn's small group. I have a chance to continue to disciple these precious girls, and I'm loving it. :)
All I can say is that God is so, SO good! There are no other words I've found.
I love you guys and I can't wait to see you all again!!
Much love, Katie
Not going to lie, the entire 4-hour-or-so drive up to Springfield, Missouri, I was pretty nervous. I realized that I actually didn't know anyone at the camp and I had no clue what the week had in store. Looking back, I can agree without a doubt that it was one of the best weeks of my life! It was so encouraging to be at a camp with fellow Christ followers, talking about our Savior and worldview as Christians! We talked about leadership, defending our faith, and even some other religions (when we covered Mormonism, I thought of you, Carley!). There was even a little bit of evangelism training I didn't know about beforehand, so that was a pleasant surprise!
Worldview Academy was truly a blessing, but what I learned there didn't end when the camp did. The timing was pretty much perfect- it was two weeks before United. All of the apologetics classes? I felt so much more confident when we went to Panama City Beach! Evangelism? It was so good to go out and evangelize and get back in the swing of things before United. God was so good to me. The week in between the two trips, I was so pumped and ready to set foot on the sand and just go!
And (as the pattern seems to be) God was nowhere near done working.
For United, I had been placed in the largest girls cabin, along with Emily McIndoe, 23 other girls, and Jenn Hartman and Ashley Briggs. I knew less than half of the girls, but sleeping in the big bunk room changed that soon. There was one girl, Kelsey, who's a year older than me (and was another huge blessing that week!). Even before I had finished unpacking and losing things all over the cabin in Florida, He had already shown Em a chance to witness to someone in our group!
I could go into detail and tell stories about our first day on the beaches- exactly a year since the last time I'd been beach witnessing. Or the next day. Even the worship (which was stellar!). But honestly, the best part about the entire trip to Florida was that even though we got rained out the last two days and didn't exactly accomplish what we thought we set out to do, God shattered our expectations and moved in ways we'd never fathomed! I'd thought my purpose on the trip was to meet people on the beaches and lead them closer to Christ. But if that had been my sole reason to go, I would have been disappointed. Jesus wanted to reach those on the beach... and those that weren't.
The last two days got rained out to the point where nobody was on the beaches. I was praying and fasting on July 3rd, the day the rains came. Our huge prayer that day was that God would take the rain away, or do something that could only happen with the rain. The rain continued to pound the roof, hour after hour, and it seemed like nothing was happening. Late into the evening, it was still pouring. Everyone was in the cabin, and nobody wanted to leave, so basically we were stuck inside. I tried to clean up some of my things and get ready for bed and instead got 'sidetracked' helping a girl in our room, Lila, convince another girl, Grace, to sing. The three of us were the only ones in the room, and nothing was out of the ordinary.
That's when Lila's best friend, Claire, walked in. She told us that she had something to tell us all. We grouped up in the floor and Claire shared her story. She would pause when others came in to get something because it was a long, personal story. At one point, Elle Maddox walked in, but Claire just continued, including Elle in our little group. Claire's story spurred Grace to tell hers. When the rest of the girls came to get ready for bed, they walked in to see five girls sitting in a big group hug on the floor.
We moved outside so we could keep talking, and we all ended up talking for an hour or so with Jenn. Claire told us later that she had been waiting for the right time to share her story with Grace and I. Lila already knew her story, Claire knew Grace had been in a similar place, and said she trusted me from the moment we first spoke. She had been in the living room with all the others when she felt the Holy Spirit telling her to go to the bunk room. Lo and behold, who else should be in the bunk room but Grace, Lila and I! That night, because of the rain, God literally moved Claire to share with us. It was something I couldn't explain.
God didn't even stop THERE. The other girls knew something incredible was going on, and when our group walked back inside, we found almost everyone gathered on the top bunks, listening to other girls share their stories. They had no idea what we had been doing, and yet here they were, sharing just like we had.
Now I'm home, and trying to make some sense of it all. It was so wonderfully unexplainable. Best yet, I talked to Jenn, and I may join their small group as an assistant leader on Sunday mornings! Lila and Claire are joining, and Grace is already a part of Jenn's small group. I have a chance to continue to disciple these precious girls, and I'm loving it. :)
All I can say is that God is so, SO good! There are no other words I've found.
I love you guys and I can't wait to see you all again!!
Much love, Katie
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