I really would come up with more creative titles if I had the brainpower, or time.
Since school has taken from me the luxury of lengthy posts, you will have shorter summaries. Which means that if I don't address something, and you have a question about it, you should ask. I would love to tell stories :] I do apologize for the long time it has taken me to post this, I'm still learning to manage my time better.
Today, I glanced through some pictures from France. Today, I ate my last chocolate bar from Europe. And I said goodbye to one of the girls from my team who came to visit this weekend. And I remembered why I wear the anklet I have with the fleur de lis on it.
Today, I miss my French friends.
If Youth Camp was 'go play with kids', Adult camp was 'go make friends.'
And I miss them.
Adult camp started, like I've said before, on a Tuesday.
And as I said before, I was running very low on energy, and other things I needed to give.
But God came in, and brought some young men and women, who were so very eager to learn and smile, and celebrate life and Jesus that it touched my exhausted heart.
We were supposed to be there to be an encouragement and witness to them, and they came and were that for me. How humbling, and lovely.
I remember meeting each of them for the first time, they a little shy, but soon opening up with us. And talking. And talking. We had fun dong so many things that week and a half, as Adult Camp is quite a bit smaller, more relaxed, and gives a little more freedom to what we can do as a group. We had fun going to an African Pop concert, going to town, rock climbing, on the AC hike (that's almost another story on its own!) and other things, like picnicking lunch on camp, by a fire place, or painting together. So many enjoyable things on a surface level, but there is SO much more. Like I said, we talked- a lot. There were three precious sisters from Poland, Marta, Magda, and Paulina. They are so sweet hearted, and genuine, it was such a joy to talk with them. They have grown up in Poland, so they obviously speak Polish, they are learning French, and also learning English. They were always curious, and never afraid to talk about any certain topic. I remember one day that Marta and I were eating lunch in chairs close to the fire (yes, we wanted a fire in July!) and we talked about school, what we were both studying, what we enjoyed doing, and how it all related, and how we saw God in little and big things. It was awesome! There were other precious girls, like Pricille, Claire Lise, and Sarah, Anais, and Ketsia who had the option to return after going to Youth Camp as well. I just loved being able to get to know them, and share life with them for a few weeks.
Now, I feel like I'm neglecting to mention the guys that were at camp, haha. These guys were great; confident servants, who knew when to have fun and push some limits in wearing their speedos to the beach night event, and also when to be serious and have intellectual conversations. They were intentional leaders. It was great!
I found myself at the end of camp hearing from the other students, that they felt that the camp was too short; they felt like we were all just getting to function like a family, and they treasured that and did not want to leave it.
I found myself agreeing wholeheartedly.
Goodbyes are not easy. But they are good.
We all hope to see each other again, and I pray that we will, this side or the next.
I thank God every time I think of France, and what He allowed me to be a part of there.
I would totally go back if given the opportunity to again!
Here are some pictures to share:
These are my Polish sister friends, Paula, Magda, and Marta.
This is me probably about halfway up our hike the first day of the AC hike.
It was breath taking.
