Summary:
The end of the summer was filled with laughs and tears. The last week of school was great. We got to see that our students really had listened to us and really had learned from us this summer. They made us proud at Parent’s day with their performance. We had a great last 10 days with the team as well, wrapping up, but still growing ever closer.
Sunday (July 11), we went to church at Friendly Temple, an African American mega church in St. Louis. They’ve just built a new sanctuary, which was beautiful! One thing that has definitely struck me during my interactions with African American brothers and sisters this summer is their constant thankfulness. They thank God each and every day for each and every day, not taking things for granted. The worship at church was vibrant and alive and long. Sweet. Then we went back for a meal that Gerry had made for us including mashed potatoes!!!!!!!! My first of the summer. I don’t think they were homemade… didn’t taste exactly like it, but it was still wonderful. Our weekly Sunday night international dinner was Ethiopian and Eritrean that night. That was some goooooooood food.
Our last week of school was a little wild and crazy with the kids, but it was good. We practiced our skit, did some activities to talk about the Civil War and then briefly about the Reconstruction, had them decorate journals for themselves in which Laura and I wrote them each a letter and pasted some of their projects from the summer in. We talked about how sin has messed up the world that God created, and I presented the gospel to them one day. I should have prepared a better prayer for the end, but I trust the Lord still used it. One kid commented on how much I said “um.” Ha, oh well.
It was a bittersweet end to the summer. I loved each and every one of the kids in our class so much. Laura and I were so thankful that God brought Thompson and Cassius back unexpectedly for the last week of camp. They didn’t like the other camp they were at. I was SO proud of them on Wednesday during Parent’s day when they performed the Lifehouse skit. It wasn’t perfect, but it moved everyone in the auditorium. Many of the adults were crying, including Ms. Leia, our director. I was shaking so badly I could barely drum afterwards. I’ll hopefully post a link to the video once Laura gets it up online. At the end of the auditorium time, three of the boys from our class went up to the microphones, and Laura and I kind of looked at each other like, “Oh no… what are they doing up there…” Ms. Leia let them at the mics, and each of them thanked Laura and I for being their teachers this summer and shared some specifics. I almost started crying. It wasn’t until the last few days that we could see that they really had been listening to us all summer; they had really come to care about us, at least a fraction of how we cared for them. Also in the journals that we had them make, we had them write a letter to themselves or to God talking about their summer and how they were feeling about the next year. Like the goal setting exercise a couple weeks ago, it just gave me so much hope reading their letters. Here is one of the most touching for Laura and I (typed up exactly as he wrote it):
“Dear me,
I had a great time this summer. Especially at the firm foundation camp. I had 2 of the most excellent teachers (counselors). They tought us very well. So because of their great teaching I have goals for the fall. I’m going to be more respectful. I also want to is to have a better relationship with god. I have no fears or worries for next year. I just wish I could have a better bond with my mother. And I just pray that I don’t get caught up in devilish ways. Even though Im good at saying no when it comes to those things. Thank god for a great summer.”
Wednesday was the last day of class, but we got to spend the day at the zoo and the science center with our kids on Thursday. It was really hot that day, but it was nice to have a day just to hang out and do life with the kids. Actually, one cool thing about the summer is that the kids in my class would frequently come to eat dinner with us in the evenings and then play basketball at the gym. They live around they neighborhood, so it was great to see them outside of the classroom setting.
The last few days of school were encouraging for me as we saw a glimpse of what God did through us this summer. I’ve been learning to be content with whatever role in God’s plan he has me playing. Most of these kids have been poured in to for years now, and I was only there for five weeks of it. I know God will use those five weeks, but it’s also encouraging to look at the bigger picture, knowing that God had placed people before me to love on St. Louis, and he’s definitely got people lined up for the future as well.
Thursday night we had our coffeehouse, kind of like a talent show. And what a talented team we have. There were poems, songs (original and covered), skits, etc. It was a super fun night of enjoying some of our last time together. The women also presented our thank you to the men for the dinner they made us. It was a song and dance routine to “I’ll Be There” by the Jackson 5. Fun times. We gave each guy a part of the big mural that we had painted during our small group time the night after Ladies’ Night as well.
Friday through Tuesday was just more processing time and hanging out as a team time. We had a retreat of silence at City Park, then to the History museum and the art museum again. The Mourner’s exhibit was opening at the art museum, so it was a free exhibit that day. They had the statues of the 40 mourners from John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy, as well as a modern video art piece. Then we went to the Latino part of St. Louis for dinner. Delicious cow tongue quesidilla is what I had. :)
Saturday we had another retreat of silence for processing at the St. Louis Botanical Gardens. Then we went out to Grant’s Farm, the Anheuiser-Busch estate. They had a lot of ridiculous animals there, including a trained animal show.
Sunday was our last time of worship at New City Fellowship. We got to say goodbye to people, and then we had our last international dinner of West African food made by two of our team members (from Ghana and Nigeria). We watched a movie called Saving Grace (the 1986 one). It was a fun movie, but still one with a lot of lessons that we could take out of it, like how to en. Monday we took a day trip to Illinois. We went to Brussels, a cute little town in rural Illinois. We had a delicious multi course lunch of homemade food at a hotel/restaurant there, called the Wittmond Hotel restaurant. We had a big cookout that night at home as well. We spent Monday night and Tuesday morning processing the summer together, sharing what we loved, what we’ll miss, etc. I wish we could have had more processing time together, but what we had was fun.
This time and these people have touched my heart deeply. I look forward to sharing more of my overall take away lessons soon, now that I’m caught up with everything that I did.
One last thing for this post.
I wanted to let you know that at the end of the summer our team was short on our budget. We cut things here and there, but still ended up with quite a deficit. After reading a bit about what God has done this summer in St. Louis, would you consider continuing to support that work that He continued through my teammates and me? My team was a HUGE blessing to me and to the community we worked with. I have friends around the country and around the world. I so appreciated the support from you all through the summer, through financial support, thoughts, and especially prayers. If you feel led to support our summer, you can send checks written to InterVarsity to me at PO Box 145, Birchwood, WI, 54817. No pressure, it’s just something related to my time in St. Louis that’s been on my mind that I wanted to share.
I’ll be posting my final thoughts and lessons from the summer sometime this week I hope. :) Thank you again SO much for your support and for being a part of this life changing summer.
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