A Beautiful Week

The youth at our church were taking  mini Missions Trip to Mt. Vernon to a work at a Day Camp for migrant children....this is a population that I have worked with in the past and who are in my heart.  So I asked the Director of Christian Formation at our church, who is also quickly becoming a very good friend if I could join them.....and so....last Sunday, the leader, one other adult and 6 teens all got into three cars and drove to Mt. Vernon.....not quite knowing what to expect.

And so the 8 of us....sometimes 9 all slept in the back of the sanctuary on the floor....we woke up early and worked in the kitchen, or classrooms, or just plugging ourselves in to jobs that needed to be done.  On Thursday we got up at 4:30 and went to work in the fields and that day did not end until 7:30 that night, myself, I was so tired that I was crying inside of my eyes....but these girls....these girls who were raised to care for other people....who all have beautiful hearts....did it....they said they were tired, but they kept on working....I have never been so proud of people, so impressed....anytime I saw them they were working or helping.....I have had conversations with people about how this generation seems to have such a sense of entitlement....they think they deserve what they have.....they don't imagine they have to work.....they don't think of other people's needs before their own.....I can't imagine being 14 and working as hard as these girls did....with smiles....sometimes exhausted smiles....but smiles.

And the kids we worked with....and the staff at the school.....I felt God's presence there......in the songs the kids sang.....their smiles...the Pastor's words.....God was there.

And so...in talking with the kids....in meeting their parents...in hearing their stories....in working in someone else's fields I learned....again....how blessed I am....to live in my little house with just my husband and our dogs....to care for just my goats.....to clean just my house.....to have the freedom to choose this life....and as I drove home and kissed my creatures.......I looked at the flowers I planted.....the "crops" I grew....my weeds and ate my very own tomato.....I thanked God....not only for what I have.....but for the girls I worked with who renewed my faith in the next generation.....for being an Episcopalian....and for the community I am part of....both on the Island....and now in the Skagit Valley.
Here's a video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVXZQzt7vM80