I was extremely excited and nervous about coming to Extreme Faith. I had never driven to Saint Louis by myself ,but I had Blind Faith to know, that everything was going to work out. When I had arrived on May 28th, I was welcomed by Extreme Faith staff giving me a hug and saying "Welcome to the Extreme Faith Family" . I knew from that first moment that God really did bring me to this place. That day I got showed around and then went to lunch with some of the Extreme Faith Staff.
When meeting the people at Extreme Faith: they were really down to earth, funny and I could tell they loved their community and had a, heart to serve. When looking for an Field Education Experience I wanted something that would teach me to serve in a new way and I wanted to serve with a team that worked as a team. Thinking back through the summer we were another family and we served like a team. Any time, I had a question it would get answered, and when I failed at something, the team did not make me feel like I was less than them. That was very refreshing because I can recall a lot of times when I have failed and it was held against me. Together, as a family/team we cried together, told stories of experiences, served together and laughed together. We also kept each other accountable to serving to the best of our abilities. Everyone at Extreme Faith genuinely cared for one another like a family and it was evident how much they love to Serve in Ministry. In some way or another, I learned a lot from: the people that work there, volunteers,other interns and student leaders
Carondelet is a community of brokenness and some of these people worry so much about their safety. I learned that even more; on the first week when a few of us from Extreme Faith went on a prayer walk around the neighborhood and a family was outside that the leader of the prayer walk saw . The family came over to us and expressed concern over the community and I felt heartbroken for them . Especially, this little girl who barely talked to me at first but then I drew on a napkin a smiley face for her she then started talking to me about the movie "Frozen". She warmed my heart and when she came to the first few community events we had, she always came up to me, and talked. Another thing, that I got to do in that first week was go on a love project to the Galleria Mall. This was something I had never done before at a mall so I was a bit nervous but I wanted to talk with some people and show care for them. At a love project your mission is to go and just talk to random people and asking about their day and at the end of it you may or may not get the chance to pray over them. I did not expect to pray over anyone but their was a worker that talked about church to me. After a while of talking she asked me to pray for her to have better finances.
The days were long at Extreme Faith and that is not even a complaint because I enjoyed every moment with Extreme Faith. After training week, I went on this incredible journey of Day camp where I got to teach 20-50 children how to read and write better.I loved every single one of them (even if they had bad moments). They were great children that deserves the best in life. The Children had a lot of energy. Sometimes I had wished that their was one leader per kid because they were all so starved for acceptance and attention. I got to see their beautiful faces everyday and although at times they got in fights and wouldn't pay attention, I know that while they were there at Extreme Faith the leaders did everything in their power to help them have the best possible, learning/fun experience. I also got the opportunity, to prepare their breakfast and teach them about God even more. At the end of each day I often went home going on pinterest looking for more ideas to help the kids. .
One day, I was getting kids in line and it was taking longer than it should and this boy began to cry because he thought he wasn't going to be able to eat. I rolled back tears looking into his eyes. I knew him getting to eat was a big thing for him. I promised this boy that he would always get to eat and have time to eat. After that, I always made sure he had enough to eat. It broke my heart knowing that some of these kids may not get enough food at home and are hungry. No kid should ever have to worry about food. It is not right.
Also, at Day camp I saw kids go from not hanging out with anyone to having lots of friends at the end. Kids that thought they were not worthy of anything always had some leader telling them that they are worthy and that God loves them and so do they. Also, their were kids that started helping out even more towards the end and in that I saw future leaders. I am so proud of all the kids that came to Day Camp and will always remember the memories there.
Other great things happened this summer as well besides Day Camp:
- On Sundays I went to St. Trinity Lutheran Church. Even though, I am not Lutheran it doesn't bother me I think that you can learn from most churches you attend. What kept me coming back to St. Trinity was the Pastor there. He had such conviction for his church, his community and his sermons were always from his heart and I loved learning from him.
- During the week, while Day Camp was going on, we had mission teams come in to do service and love projects around the community . Each and every one of them did and amazing job serving. These mission teams were a huge help and came from : Texas, Minnesota, Florida and Missouri etc. A mission team consist of youth groups and their leaders. I think it is a great mission trip for any youth group and anybody that has a youth group should inquire about it.
- Food pantry for people to come in and get food that members of St.Trinity and Extreme Faith got to run.
- Every other Wednesday their was a homeless night where we got to help homeless people get food and other things they needed while teaching them life skills. The first homeless night I got to help with I enjoyed the most because I got to visit with someone that was excited about getting a job.
- Lastly, My favorite part of each week which was the Community event. It was every Thursday. It was awesome to see the community coming together and enjoying a free meal and getting to meet new people. Plus their were kids that did and didn't come to Day Camp that would come up to me and ask me to play a game with them and for one girl i was the person that would listen to all of her worries. It was also my favorite thing because I knew when they were at the dinner they some were staying away from different things that were not good and when they were at the community even they noticed how Extreme Faith and St. Trinity cared for them and some would go home and make positive changes in the way they do life.
- I also got an incredible opportunity to Mentor a Girl Student Leader. She was so much like how I was when I was a preteen. She grew a lot over the summer and was a huge help as a co teacher in the classroom. and she took initiative to lead the class a few times this summer. She may have learned through me but I learned from her as well.
- I got to help with a food drive and recognize people that gave versus those who don't but I am grateful for all those who did because the food went to multiple food drives and 9 shopping carts of food were filled.
This summer I got to see some of my weaknesses even more but learned to look at them as an opportunity for growth. I learned: how to make decisions better, how to delegate others to help me, that no matter the mess that is going on that you can stay calm and keep others calm, I have learned to be more confident, to serve in new ways, to train others on how to lead, to be more flexible, that all communities need Jesus and that when I go back to Moberly I can do service and love projects.
Some ideas I have:
- Food Drive at Bratchers or Wal-Mart
- Prayer Walk
- Working on some more ideas
Please if you are reading this and live in Moberly or near by contact me if you are interested in Serving Moberly more also. Thanks!
Thank You so much Extreme Faith and St. Trinity for all that you do for your community. You have been a huge inspiration to me and this has been the best experience I have ever had in my life and you have made me realize above all else that whatever career I get into I want to do community outreach as well. It was really hard to have a last day and I will miss all of you but I will be back to visit and I will continue to pray for the ministries and the community of Carondelet.
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