Beep, Beep, Beep! 6:30 AM time to get up...The creaking of the shuttle up to the Arch...the sizzle of the taco meat every Tuesday...The 80 acres of smells...the community of STL...all gone.
I am now sitting back in my families home in PA, after an amazing summer working with YouthWorks! The last two weeks in STL were some of the craziest weeks, yet I was reminded constantly how God's grace is sufficient and helped us through. We had to deal with the tragedies of losing our site director, adjusting to a new Utility staff, adjusting to staff members from Cairo, IL, and finishing out our last weeks with participants. This entire summer was filled with grace and crazy late nights, but in the end it reminded me why I want to go into youth ministry. Every night when I would give my talks I just felt confident and empowered with what I shared and it was even more encouraging to hear and see the impact it left on some the teenagers. Every Sunday when we would start at 4PM and every weekday starting at 6:30AM was worth it. Everything we did, saw, and experienced was more than worth it. I saw God move in STL and I know that as the great song says, great things are yet to come to this city.
As our last group left everything quickly came to an end. We finished cleaning the church, our summer home, and all drove off to Nashville for that Saturday evening. As I drove into the city of country music, listening to country, I contemplated all that I had experienced that summer: from Ms. Nadine Rice and her amazing compassion for others to Martha Rice & New Life Evangelistic Center to the bonding that my team and I experienced, they are all memories that I never want to forget. As I was dwelling on these memories I kept thinking that I do not want these to simply be memories. I want to stay connected with my team, to stay connected with STL, and to let the journey continue. To be exploring ways to serve God and others in my own communities that I live just as I taught each of the youth every single week this summer. I pray God will continue to guide me in loving others to do amazing things.
After spending the evening with our Area in Nashville, we drove another 3 hours to arrive back in Birmingham, AL. Here we had what we called Exit RAMP (Regional Area Mission Prep) where we all got to debrief, worship together, and receive a bunch of free Youth Specialties & Youth Works gifts. It was a fun time to relax after a long, exhausting (yet worth it) summer and then Monday night we all said goodbye, hoping and wishing that we would one day reconnect with each other. Bright and early Tuesday morning, I left for the airport and got to say one last goodbye to some of my team because there were YW staff all over the airport waiting to board.
I have now been home for a day and half and it feels so weird. Half of my family met me at the airport with signs in hand and asked me a little about the summer, but then just returned back to every day life. It is the weirdest situation going from constant ministry to feeling like there is nothing to do. To avoid feelings of nothingness & boredom, I am working at my mother's daycare school age program, but even that is a weird transition from working with teenagers. I know after awhile I will gradually shift back into routine, but until that happens it will be hard. I went from constantly being affirmed of my calling and getting hands on experience to 20 days of being at home and working at a daycare. I pray that God will show me how He is using me here in this small town as well. As I am processing my summer there is one thing I know for sure, spending my summer doing Youth Works made it one of the best summer's of my entire life and I hope to do it again next year; but until then I will be ready for whatever adventure God has next for my life.
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