Let's start off with Boot Camp. :) Because it's such a fun thing to discuss! haha. It went surprisingly well. It was the best boot camp I've been through. The kids on my team had such good attitudes! They were always ready to work.. Hardly ever complained. Not to mention, the weather was pretty great the whole time. Don't get me wrong, it was hot and definitely humid! But the heat was fairly tolerable and it only rained once. :) I was worried about how the team would take to the obstacle course, but they were all EXCITED to run it! And they were sad when the days of running the obstacle course were over. The last day to run the O.C. was actually leader day!! So all of us leaders ran that O.C!! I fell in the slough for the first time EVER, which is this little river that you have to swing over on a rope. It was sad, but it was probably good for me. Everyone should fall in at least once :) Or maybe I'm just saying that to make myself feel better.... Possibly!
Now, about Malawi. It was so awesome! The people there are so nice! The most courteous people I've ever been around.. no joke. Anyway, the team planted 500 fruit trees and handed out coloring books that tell the story of Jesus. The Malawian people really loved those coloring books.. Even the adults were coming up to us, asking if they could have one. We had a few bumps and curves along the way, but for the most part, we all got along with each other. Another thing that's really cool is that whatever us leaders cooked for our team turned out great! Like, every time! We would stand there looking at our food options, say, "what should we make for dinner? We don't have very many options." And then we'd basically throw a bunch of stuff in a pot, cook it over our stove that had no temperature settings (the options were high and off), and serve it up! The kids ALWAYS wanted seconds; sometimes they even wanted thirds. It always turned out good! Praise God for that. If the food was gross, the summer would've been much more testing.
If there's one thing that our team learned this summer, it was the power of prayer. I always knew that we were supposed to pray for things and people and issues, but I had never realized how effective it can really be! For example, one night during boot camp, I was praying with the girls in a tent. I asked if they had any prayer requests, and one of them said that she lost her red Sharpie and really wanted to find it. So, we prayed. In the morning, the girl came and told me that right after we got done praying, she found her Sharpie! Even requests that seem small or maybe insignificant can have great importance in that person's heart. She really wanted to find that Sharpie, and I know that when we prayed together, she was trusting God completely to find it. . . and she did! Another time our prayers were answered in a big way was in Malawi.. We were about to leave for Senga Bay, our sightseeing destination. We were all seated in this truck, ready to go, when the driver told us that the truck wouldn't start.. He asked that we pray for it. We prayed, and. . . the truck started! Things like this happened all summer for us. God really blessed our team. We all learned so much! We were really sad when it was time to go home... There were many tears! Especially on my part! haha! I will always look back on this summer with love and amazing memories.
If any of the parents of my team members are reading this, I'd just like to say that you have great children! They truly amazed me. Thank you for raising them so well. :)
