New Orleans Si

One of the highlights of the trip for me was playing with the kids and doing Challenge Circle with them. It was really a neat experience, because for some of them, you were the best part of their day. The first night we went and played with the kids, I was a little hesitant that it would be a good time, since I am a shy person around others. But after awhile of having little kids hanging on my neck and passing a football back and forth with some older kids, I got over being quiet and shy and had an amazing time being a circle coach (even though it was chaos the first night). I had not originally planned to be a circle coach, but someone forgot that they volunteered for it, so I got to do it. J. At first I was really nervous, but after awhile it was a lot of fun and I’m glad I got to do it. The experience impacted me because God helped me when I was out of my comfort zone and helped me realize that He can take a shy kid like me and get other kids hype for Jesus. He also gave me a lot of patience in dealing with all the kids as well.

Another highlight of the trip for me was helping move some very heavy bricks into someone’s front lawn, for one of our projects. A man that went to Castle Rock Church had a problem of people parking in his lawn since there was a club across the street from his house. He had tried to put some big rocks in his lawn to try and stop them from parking, but they just picked them up and moved them out of the way. So he had a group of four from the team I was in and we went and we got some VERY BIG pieces of brick and we put them in his lawn. It was amazing, because they couldn’t be sitting on the sidewalk, but they fit around the sidewalk like they were supposed to be there. It was really cool to move the big pieces of brick, but to see his big smile when we were finished moving them was encouraging to me. It was neat that I got a part in sharing in the man’s happiness. This experience impacted me because God can use you in little things that mean so much to someone else.

I don’t know if this is really a spiritual gift and I don’t really know how to explain it, but I’ll try my best: I found that I not only noticed when other people needed something, but also found I wanted to give them what they needed even though I could have used it myself. I found that I have a heart to help meet other people’s needs.

I learned that God is the same God here and there. I also learned that having a relationship with God is very important to get through the day and through life. Without Him, it is extremely hard to do anything on my own.

I also learned that even though I was tired, even though my neck was killing me, even though I was crabby, even though I didn’t want to get peed on, even though I was annoyed, God wanted me to show the kids there His love. I saw a little bit of how God views His people. Yeah.

~ Silas