Dear friends and family,
Summer has come to an end. I have finally had the opportunity
to look back on the summer and reflect on everything the Lord did. This was my
first time working in the summer as full-time staff. Despite this change a lot
stayed the same, such as my role as a Daycamp leader. For the third year in a
row I had the absolute privilege of working with the third to fifth grade boys.
Four weeks out of the summer I was leading them in crafts, singing, games, and
more importantly learning about bible stories. This was the initial aspect of
the ministry that stole my heart, so I find it amazing that I have gotten to be
a part of it for three summers now. One of the ways that this summer was vastly
different though, was that because of my full-time status my role was changing.
This change primarily had to do with the fact that I was slowly coming into the
role of children’s ministry director. The way this took form was that I was in
charge of all Sunday church service children’s activities. I prepared classrooms,
prepped worksheets, taught the children’s church lessons, oversaw the kids
happily playing on the playground after church, I even made sure they had a
prize to take home at the end of every Sunday. Of course, I would be ignorant
to not mention the immense help I received in these activities from the summer
interns. Gradually, I was becoming a front person for the church to the kids
and by extension their families. It was initially strange to see, because in my
own self-made plans I hadn’t thought I would get this opportunity for several
years. But nevertheless, here I was working directly with the kids I loved so much
and furthermore being a bridge for interns and summer teams alike to connect
with their first neighbors. Beyond anything else I was humbled. Humbled that
God would choose me to work here. Humbled that God would see fit to use a
broken sinner like myself to reach a community He loves more than I ever could.
I was humbled because this time last year I never would have assumed I’d be
stepping up to the role of children’s director.
Sometimes it can be hard to narrow down the summer to
just a few stories simply because so much is packed into these three months.
Every week we are working day in and day out to preparing, doing worksites,
having kids club, youth group, and even more. But this summer there was a single
moment that meant the world to me. It was the middle of a team week and we were
having kids club, the activity where we go to local housing projects and provide
games, snacks, bible stories, etc. Snacks are being passed out as we sit on our
blue tarp readying ourselves for story time, I notice a youth I know is walking
with a little girl that I haven’t seen before. They would take a few steps
toward us and then stop, then they would start again and stop. After watching
this a few times, I decided to go talk to them. As I approached them the youth
waved at me and smiled. Now to give you a better understanding of my relationship
with this youth, up until this point I wasn’t sure she even liked me all that
much. She would hardly talk to me and when she did it was normally sassy or
snarky. As I got closer, I asked how she was doing and who the little girl was
that was with her. By this point I was right in front of them and she told me
this was her little sister, who had wanted to come to kid’s club but upon
seeing the large group of people had decided it wasn’t for her. This little
sister couldn’t have been more than 3 or 4. I got on my knees so that I was eye
level with the preschooler, told her my name and asked if she wanted to come
with me to sit and get a snack. The youth was beyond pleased with this deal and
urged her sister to go with me. The little sister was not having it, she wanted
no part of this bearded stranger. Her big sister asked her if she was scared of
me and she emphatically shook her head yes. Before I could finish apologizing
for my “scary” appearance, the youth hugged her sister tightly and told her, “Trey
is very nice. He will take care of you.” With that the little girl looked back
at her sister once more for reassurance and then took my hand as we began
walking to the tarp for story time. I’ve never been more honored. For a youth
to give the protection of their younger sibling to you is something that illustrates
both the trust the church earned on the Yakama reservation and subsequently the
trust I’ve grown with youth I don’t even normally interact with. If you don’t know
much about Native American history with the church, it was common practice for children
to be taken from their families and sent to “Christian” boarding schools. Understandably,
this means that the trust between native families and the church should be and
in many cases is broken. But this singular moment was a reassuring reminder to
me that God is rebuilding that trust slowly, and what an honor it is for me to
be a part of it. Please keep praying, it is the most powerful weapon we have.
Your brother in Christ,
Trey
