The Special

PRetty much all that happened the past two days is the Special: 20 hours of intense physical activity. It sounds like not much has happened, but it's amazing all that happened inthose 20 hours. As an intern, it was my job to referee and help run all of the activities. Refing was no doubt the hardest part for me. It sucks having to make tough calls or make a call when you didn't really see what happened. It was cool though to apply the truth that I have confidence while refing. My favorite part though was getting to watch the students. I got a little teary eyed at times just watching them go from absolutely dead and on the verge of breaking down to just being toally renewed and a fire relit in their eyes. I just spent the whole time soaking it all in and seeing all the work that God was doing in all the people around me. I felt His presence so strongly. I was energized, peaceful, joyous, amazed. It felt like nothing much happened to me during the special, but I realized that God allowed me to just sit in His presence and soak it all in for 20 hours. What a gift! If every day could be like that I cannot begin to describe the happiness and peace I would feel. I have learned that I enjoy serving in little ways. I am not the one who wants to run the show and be a leader in that sense but I love being there for people when they need me, like streching Claire's leg when she was hurting or giving little words of encouragement when someone is struggling or simply helping get the sandwiches for dinner. I am slowly seeing maybe the big thing God wanted to show me was to rest in Him in the little things. Maybe something big can be small. Most of all, He continues to show me that He wants ALL of my heart ALL the time. Seeing the girls in my small group share last night at our celebration made me so proud of all of them. They listened to the Lord and made huge strides in two short days. I am so excited for all of them and I cannot wait to see how the Lord uses them while we are here for the next week. I cannot believe that my trip is already halfway over, but I have never been blessed so much with people, time, and love that surrounds me. I don't think that I have ever experienced a joy like I have now and I can't wait to bring that home with me to share with others. 

Prayer Requests: There has been a lot that people have been learning and experiencing the past couple of days and I would pray that people would have the time to digest all that has been put on their hearts and not brush it off. I also pray for the Puerto Rican students that we will be sharing with for the next week. I pray that God would prepare their hearts to hear the good news that we have for them.