The Countdown Begins

REMINISCING

Ten days, just ten days till I step foot back in Minnesota. I have been thinking a lot about coming home lately. Well actually I have been thinking a lot about coming back home since I got here. It is not that I was homesick, because I definitely enjoyed my time here, but more that I miss the comforts of home. I miss having the freedom of a car and being able to grab a snack whenever I want. I miss watching movies in our sunroom reclined on the couch, eating chips and dip with my dad. I miss breakfast dates with my mom, seeing plays with my grandma, and chatting about life with my brother. I miss friends who know me through and through and seeing pictures of my family hung up on the walls of my home.Don’t get me wrong, I love Capernwray!

Yesterday the weather was beautiful. I took a walk up the road to this path that leads into the woods. It was so peaceful. I was able to come to a spot that overlooks the land in which Capernwray lies. Fields of green, dotted with lambs prancing about, and lined with mossy rock walls. The hills in the distance were capped with snow and seeing the dainty white blossoms of the snow drops along the path brought on feelings of peace with the renewed freshness of spring. Not only is the landscape here beautiful, but the people here are wonderful as well. In the six short months I have been here, the people have become somewhat of a large family to me. Of course I don’t know them as well as real family, but there is something about spending 6 month in close quarters with a bunch of people all searching to more deeply love the Heavenly Father that brings people together. I think trying to juggle the reality of being back in Minnesota with the desire to continue and grow these friendships will be difficult ground to tread.

As I look back on my time here, there are good and bad memories. Times when I felt like I never wanted to leave this place and others when I just wanted to jump on the next flight home. In some ways I feel like I have been here forever, and in others I feel like I am about to leave Narnia, step out of a huge wardrobe, and be right back in a world where no time has passed at all. This state of unknown, not sure of what returning home will be like, is a little unnerving. Of course, I have experienced slightly similar occurrences upon returning to the “real world” after working at camp past summers, but this is a slightly larger scale. I am excited and eager to see what happens next.

OUTREACH IN REVIEW

As I explained in my last post, my past ten days were spent in the town of Leominster, England. My time there was good, but had it challenges as well. As I look back on my time there I remember the words of Inspiration Point camp director Greg Anderson, “Hard doesn’t necessarily equal bad, and easy doesn’t always equal good.” I loved my outreach team, I enjoyed my host home, the congregation was inviting, and I had a blast working with the youth in the church and schools. The most difficult thing for me was probably being the leader of the team. There is just a weight of responsibility that you feel as the leader that adds an extra challenge to the experience. I was always trying to lead my team to excellence, yet not be overbearing or having too high of expectations. When I say excellence, I in no way mean perfection, I just wanted our team to do the best work that we could to best serve the Leominster community. That pressure combined with being thrust into the introverts nightmare of constantly having small talk conversations with new people, was tiring.
Despite the difficulties, I am happy with my ten day outreach experience and think that God used our team to do some pretty sweet stuff, even if we never get to see any of the fruits of our labor.
Some of my favorite memories from our trip include:

• Getting to answer questions about my faith and belief in God in public schools! I had conversations in the schools here that I would never be able to have back home.
• Spending time painting murals in the church between school lessons and assemblies, it was a relaxing, creative outlet.
• Eating delicious curry and listening to some smooth Jazz performed by my team members at the church’s Curry Night
• Traveling into Wales and getting to explore Elan Valley, a beautiful series of reservoirs and dams.

In Christ,

Jackie