awhile back, like allllllllllllllll the way back in july, i went to inner-city memphis, tennessee on a mission trip that basically flipped my life upside down. it really did wonders to open my eyes and my heart to the world. it's taken me a long time to really pen down my thoughts and feelings about it, simply because the whole week was so full of stories and lessons.
the program we worked through is called StreetReach, which was originally intended for the so-called "street kids." when you hear this, most people get a mental image of a mom letting her kids out in the back yard to play, and not calling them back until dinner. at least that was the way it worked in my suburban childhood some days. it doesn't really work that way in memphis, though. i met kids who left their (probably empty) house in the morning and didn't go home except to sleep. their parents work multiple jobs, and most of the time they involve illegal activities like selling drugs or prostitution. the kids might not eat some days, and if they do they might have to obtain the food themselves. most of these kids have never experienced anything close to a healthy relationship, family or not. there are a few who have decent families, but they are definitely the minority. even though i only got to spend a week with them, they had my heart the first day.
first kid i met was jakalen. he was a trip, let me tell you. he wouldn't talk at first, but i started juggling these hula hoop things for him and we were friends after that. he did not stop talking the entire time i was there. he told me about his brother, and his friend who liked to play basketball, and about his new haircut (he had a spiderweb shaved into his very short hair. it sounds kind of funny, but it looked really cool.) and all sorts of things. he called me "big sister" the whole week, and he stuck to my side like glue.
this was before his amazing haircut. also, as a note on my t-shirt, we were the "storms" team and i made the design with fabric spray paint, a marker, and a piece of cardboard. i dearly treasure the memories made with that shirt.
and here's him putting on a necklace he made me. i didn't take it off until we were headed home, and that was only because the string was fraying. later in the week, a ton of kids gave me macaroni necklaces.
also, check out the awesome haircut of the spider web! for real, i thought it was so cool.
the rest of the first day with the kids was spent carrying them on my back and presenting our bible story. not at the same time (although i'm sure they would've liked that).
first, the kids never ask if they can have a piggy-back ride, or whatever you'd like to call it. they say this: "can i git up on yo' neck?" they usually mean that they want to sit on top of your shoulders and become instant deadweight. and then they smile this really big smile, because they know you won't tell them no. trust me, you become a lot stronger than you'd think when they ask that.
there was one girl who asked to "git on my neck" who must have been 13 years old at least. she towered over my 5'1" stature, and looked to be about 30 pounds heavier, but i went ahead and carried her for a short period of time. like i said, you become a lot stronger than you'd think. my friend Forrest saved me by insisting to her that she needed to "share" me with another little girl, who was two. i was grateful for the switch, but my 13 year old compadre was not. at first, she refused to get off of me. it took quite a bit of coercing to convince her to not collapse me.
after that ordeal, it was time to present the story of baby Moses to the kids. for the younger ones, who were anywhere from 2 to 4, it was a lost cause. their thought process seemed to be something like this: dirt ground ooh an ant look at the sky and then i'll push the kid next to me and look at the sky again and now i'm back to the ant.
but we did the best we could.
the older kids, who went up to 12 years old, were very attentive, but that might've been because my partner alex was playing Moses's mother. he was therefore in a dress, which the kids loved.
after that, it was on to songs and carrying kids. my favorite song was "little red wagon." ask me about it sometime. i mean it, just ask me about it. i'll teach it to you. :)
prime example of what i did the whole trip.
by the end of every day, each one of us was literally dripping with sweat from the 100+ degree heat, but we were so happy.
the rest of the week stays in my mind not as linear events, but as a string of memories in no particular order. i remember personalities best of all, but a few key events still stick out in my mind.
in the whole bible camp of 60 kids, we had maybe 5 or 6 hispanic children. one of them was a 7 year old named Pablo. let me just say this now, Pablo was one cool kid. he could peel oranges like nobody's business, too. when we gave the kids lunch, it was very likely that there would be an orange that came with it. it was also very likely that the kids would have us peel them. i struggled with one orange for at least 4 or 5 minutes before Pablo walks over calmly, takes the orange, peels the whole thing in one big curly peel, and hands it back. he then says, with a thick accent, "you don't do this very much, do you?" i wish i could accurately describe his face. it was genuinely priceless.
after the first day, it was my job to run the crafts table, which ultimately was nicknamed the disaster table. every day, there would be art supplies everywhere. one day, the kids got bored scattering the beads we had, and they decided to make me into a living canvas.
this was before they literally covered my entire leg, but you can see my arm being held so it can be colored blue. that ended up in a sleeve of blue, green, and pink. i also had the entire alphabet down my shin. as well as my name written in several different colors.
there was also one little girl on our site named Mama, and Mama stole everyone's heart. she was four years old, and upon meeting (most) all of the girls we had staffing, she would ask to be picked up, hug you, kiss your cheek and declare you her sister. she would also assign you a new age. i believe i was six years old, according to her. everyone was her sister except Katie. poor Katie was assigned the age of one, and by Mama's logic she couldn't be her sister until she was two.
isn't she precious? :D
i came to memphis with two wrists full of silly bands. honestly, i had no use for them, since they had already passed their popularity here. i started giving them away the first day, and by wednesday i was entirely out. a lot of kids tried to give them back to me, as if they had only borrowed them. when i told them they could keep them, a lot of them were incredulous. they couldn't really grasp the concept of a stranger giving them something and expecting nothing in return.
the kids were pretty rowdy most of the time, and it was really hard to teach bible stories to them sometimes. it got pretty difficult for my friend sarah, because as soon as we got there she lost her voice for no apparent reason. when it was time for her to present her bible story, she, in her incredibly quiet and whispery voice, asked a group of 8 through 11 year olds to please help her out and be cooperative. the kids did not only take her literally and quieted the louder ones in the group, but they began to take the props from her and acted out the story for each other while she talked the best she could.
i learned so much over that trip. there was so much that i just don't even know how to put into words. God was really working me as much as he was working through me. it meant so much to me to feel like i had a clear purpose, and it gave me a lot of insight as to what i want to do with the rest of my life.
God bless, friends.
Song of the Day: "No Sweeter Name" by David Walker, ft. Kim Walker (Listen -----> here)
the program we worked through is called StreetReach, which was originally intended for the so-called "street kids." when you hear this, most people get a mental image of a mom letting her kids out in the back yard to play, and not calling them back until dinner. at least that was the way it worked in my suburban childhood some days. it doesn't really work that way in memphis, though. i met kids who left their (probably empty) house in the morning and didn't go home except to sleep. their parents work multiple jobs, and most of the time they involve illegal activities like selling drugs or prostitution. the kids might not eat some days, and if they do they might have to obtain the food themselves. most of these kids have never experienced anything close to a healthy relationship, family or not. there are a few who have decent families, but they are definitely the minority. even though i only got to spend a week with them, they had my heart the first day.
first kid i met was jakalen. he was a trip, let me tell you. he wouldn't talk at first, but i started juggling these hula hoop things for him and we were friends after that. he did not stop talking the entire time i was there. he told me about his brother, and his friend who liked to play basketball, and about his new haircut (he had a spiderweb shaved into his very short hair. it sounds kind of funny, but it looked really cool.) and all sorts of things. he called me "big sister" the whole week, and he stuck to my side like glue.
this was before his amazing haircut. also, as a note on my t-shirt, we were the "storms" team and i made the design with fabric spray paint, a marker, and a piece of cardboard. i dearly treasure the memories made with that shirt.
and here's him putting on a necklace he made me. i didn't take it off until we were headed home, and that was only because the string was fraying. later in the week, a ton of kids gave me macaroni necklaces.
also, check out the awesome haircut of the spider web! for real, i thought it was so cool.
the rest of the first day with the kids was spent carrying them on my back and presenting our bible story. not at the same time (although i'm sure they would've liked that).
first, the kids never ask if they can have a piggy-back ride, or whatever you'd like to call it. they say this: "can i git up on yo' neck?" they usually mean that they want to sit on top of your shoulders and become instant deadweight. and then they smile this really big smile, because they know you won't tell them no. trust me, you become a lot stronger than you'd think when they ask that.
there was one girl who asked to "git on my neck" who must have been 13 years old at least. she towered over my 5'1" stature, and looked to be about 30 pounds heavier, but i went ahead and carried her for a short period of time. like i said, you become a lot stronger than you'd think. my friend Forrest saved me by insisting to her that she needed to "share" me with another little girl, who was two. i was grateful for the switch, but my 13 year old compadre was not. at first, she refused to get off of me. it took quite a bit of coercing to convince her to not collapse me.
after that ordeal, it was time to present the story of baby Moses to the kids. for the younger ones, who were anywhere from 2 to 4, it was a lost cause. their thought process seemed to be something like this: dirt ground ooh an ant look at the sky and then i'll push the kid next to me and look at the sky again and now i'm back to the ant.
but we did the best we could.
the older kids, who went up to 12 years old, were very attentive, but that might've been because my partner alex was playing Moses's mother. he was therefore in a dress, which the kids loved.
after that, it was on to songs and carrying kids. my favorite song was "little red wagon." ask me about it sometime. i mean it, just ask me about it. i'll teach it to you. :)
prime example of what i did the whole trip.
by the end of every day, each one of us was literally dripping with sweat from the 100+ degree heat, but we were so happy.
the rest of the week stays in my mind not as linear events, but as a string of memories in no particular order. i remember personalities best of all, but a few key events still stick out in my mind.
in the whole bible camp of 60 kids, we had maybe 5 or 6 hispanic children. one of them was a 7 year old named Pablo. let me just say this now, Pablo was one cool kid. he could peel oranges like nobody's business, too. when we gave the kids lunch, it was very likely that there would be an orange that came with it. it was also very likely that the kids would have us peel them. i struggled with one orange for at least 4 or 5 minutes before Pablo walks over calmly, takes the orange, peels the whole thing in one big curly peel, and hands it back. he then says, with a thick accent, "you don't do this very much, do you?" i wish i could accurately describe his face. it was genuinely priceless.
after the first day, it was my job to run the crafts table, which ultimately was nicknamed the disaster table. every day, there would be art supplies everywhere. one day, the kids got bored scattering the beads we had, and they decided to make me into a living canvas.
this was before they literally covered my entire leg, but you can see my arm being held so it can be colored blue. that ended up in a sleeve of blue, green, and pink. i also had the entire alphabet down my shin. as well as my name written in several different colors.
there was also one little girl on our site named Mama, and Mama stole everyone's heart. she was four years old, and upon meeting (most) all of the girls we had staffing, she would ask to be picked up, hug you, kiss your cheek and declare you her sister. she would also assign you a new age. i believe i was six years old, according to her. everyone was her sister except Katie. poor Katie was assigned the age of one, and by Mama's logic she couldn't be her sister until she was two.
isn't she precious? :D
i came to memphis with two wrists full of silly bands. honestly, i had no use for them, since they had already passed their popularity here. i started giving them away the first day, and by wednesday i was entirely out. a lot of kids tried to give them back to me, as if they had only borrowed them. when i told them they could keep them, a lot of them were incredulous. they couldn't really grasp the concept of a stranger giving them something and expecting nothing in return.
the kids were pretty rowdy most of the time, and it was really hard to teach bible stories to them sometimes. it got pretty difficult for my friend sarah, because as soon as we got there she lost her voice for no apparent reason. when it was time for her to present her bible story, she, in her incredibly quiet and whispery voice, asked a group of 8 through 11 year olds to please help her out and be cooperative. the kids did not only take her literally and quieted the louder ones in the group, but they began to take the props from her and acted out the story for each other while she talked the best she could.
i learned so much over that trip. there was so much that i just don't even know how to put into words. God was really working me as much as he was working through me. it meant so much to me to feel like i had a clear purpose, and it gave me a lot of insight as to what i want to do with the rest of my life.
God bless, friends.
Song of the Day: "No Sweeter Name" by David Walker, ft. Kim Walker (Listen -----> here)
