Hello all! It’s been a while since my last blog post, being
home for Christmas holidays and all. By the way, I hope that everyone had a
great holidays!
I interrupted my month at home to head to San Antonio for a
week to help with the VIDES formation camp. Most of you probably don’t remember
what that is. First of all, VIDES is the organization with which I am
volunteering during this year. Before I left for Kenya, I went to a two-week
formation camp in San Antonio to help me understand the Salesian charism and to
put it into practice a bit during our week-long camp with undocumented
immigrant kids that come across the border without adult accompaniment. So for
the past week, I was back to assist during camp once again.
The first time I did the Unaccompanied Minors camp, I was
with the only house of girls and it was…difficult. No one has to participate,
but it was hard seeing some of the girls immediately put their nametags away
and head to the back of the room. I didn’t speak Spanish and it was the first
time my partner had ever done something like a camp. We did okay; I hoped that
we had made a difference despite our difficulties.
And I came back. And I was with the girls once again. In a
strange twist of providence, I was with my same partner from last June as well,
along with a recent high school graduate that was fluent in Spanish but was in
the early process of learning English. Being honest, I was a little worried. However,
it was clear almost immediately that God was going to show me something
incredible.
We walked in the door of our house and the girls greeted us
happily with a ‘Buenos tardes.’ They smiled as we performed our song and jumped
up to participate in the skit. Throughout the week, the girls were engaged and
joyful and a complete 180 from the group feeling that permeated the air in
June. Some of the girls were even the same girls that we had been with six
months ago and they remembered us, happy that we also remembered them.
I wasn’t sure how I would feel coming back to the camp again
since my experience in June was hard, but I’m so glad I did. It really brought
home the fact that oftentimes, we are just seeing a snapshot of God’s work in
someone’s life. Leaving the camp in June gave me a feeling of hopelessness, of
sadness. Honestly, I didn’t feel like I had much of an impact on the girls
since even getting a smile was a rare occurrence. But coming back, God gave me
the opportunity to see that, while I was away in Kenya, He was continuing His
work, bringing hope and change.
The story for our camp was the story of Joseph, the young
man sold into slavery by his brothers who eventually rises to become governor
of Egypt after almost two decades of painful struggles. If you picked one
moment of Joseph’s life to look at, you might pick the time he was in prison or
the moment he was sold into slavery. And if you only ever saw those moments,
you would always think of him as beaten-down, sad, and lost. But if you picked
another moment, it might be when he is given Pharaoh’s ring, or even better,
when he is reunited with his father after all those years. The theme of the
story that we stressed in the camp is that God has a plan and is always with
us. That no matter which part of the story you are in, there is always more to
come.
Doing this camp was my reminder that I am only seeing a
moment in these girls’ stories. Not only should they trust that God has a plan
for them, but I have to trust in Him as well. Trust that He continues to do
good after I leave the places I have worked at and the people for and with whom
I have worked. God’s plan is not a single moment, but an entire lifetime and
beyond. When I become discouraged, I can now look back at this experience with
the Unaccompanied Minors and remind myself that I don’t know the great plan in
place for these children’s lives, but God does. In doing so, I will continue to
find hope for the future.
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