That's Just Ridiculous...

Hello all!

I am having a fabulous time down here in Miami. We have now completed three days of camp and although it has been a VERY stressful three days, I have enjoyed every minute of it. I have enjoyed some of those minutes moreso than others, but I have enjoyed them all to some extent.

So now that I am have been doing my job for awhile, here's what I do...

One of my primary jobs is to take care of the lunch and breakfasts that the children receive each day through a federal program. A community is eligible to receive this free lunch program if over half of the students in the area receive free/reduced lunch during the school year. Well... in Overtown, EVERY student gets free lunch at school. Wow. Thats an astounding statistic. So we all know that federal programs have ridiculous rules... we just dont ever know how ridiculous they are until we are thet ones that have to follow them. This past Thursday I had to attend a 2 hour training session in order to be able to serve the food to the children. 2 HOURS?!?!? I didnt realize that serving food was that complicated. Really? So here are just a few of the ridiculous rules with which I am forced to comply each morning at 8:30 am and 11:30 am, and my interpretations:
1. The food servicer may not begin until the time posted on your application and may not end until the time posted on your application. This means that if start serving breakfast at 8:28, our food service will be discontinued for a week. INTERPRETATION: We dont care if you have a hungry child that shows up late for camp. We care more about you following our rules than we do about the well being of a child.
2. Every child must be served every component of a meal. They may not take part of a meal and leave the other part at the serving area. We dont really care whether or not they want the carton of milk. They are gonna take because we say they are. Non compliance in this rule will result in the discontinuation of your food service for one week.
3. Because of "budget cuts", no child may receive a second serving of food. Even if there is leftover food, no one can eat it... not even the 20 hungry people that are too old to receive the lunch. Non compliance with this rule will result in the discontinuation of your food service for one week. INTERPRETATION: We enjoy watching you waste food every day. What we enjoy even more, though, is watching those children come up to you and ask for another peach, and then you telling them no even though there are still 44 peaches in the box. Dont let the food go to a good cause. Let it sit in your refrigerator and rot.

Besides those crazy rules, I must stand at the end of the serving line, verify that each component of the meal is there, and literally mark a box each time a child comes through the line.

Another part of my job is coordinating field trips. Last week, I was calling to confirm them all... have I ever mentioned how much I hate talking on the phone? ha. I called one place, and after I explained why I was calling, the woman said that we had no reservation there. WHAT do mean we have NO RESERVATION? You should also know that this wasnt the only place where I called and this happened.

So, as you can see, much of my job is behind the scenes, office type work. I must admit that it is very depressing that I do not get to spend much time with the kids here, and its really easy to get down about that... Here I am sitting in the office while my fellow interns are having fun playing with their group of kids. I realize, though, that this camp could not go on if there were no one to do the jobs that I do. The kids wouldn't have food and and they wouldn't get to go somewhere special every Thursday. Someone has to do it. Why should I think that I am too good to do the jobs that no one else wants to do. Several years ago, I would have told you that I had a servant's heart. Lately, I dont think that has been so true in my life. I pray that this experience will help me to regain the servant's heart that I once had, and that ance again, I would be just as happy to be behind the scenes as I am to be on stage. At first I didnt think my job was that important... now I am finding that it is so important and I and finding more and more joy in doing it every single day... even on the days when our lunch delivery guy doesnt show up until 1.5 hours after our serving time.

Just think though... at the end of the day, what could be more fulfilling than to know that you helped to provide 2 nourishing meals to a hungry child who may not have had food otherwise and that you helped give a child what may be the only opportunity they have ever had to exeprience life outside of the streets of Overtown? Who am I to say that these jobs are simply menial, unimportant tasks? My eyes tell me otherwise. My eyes tell me that every single time I look at one of those children, I am looking at the image of God. That's pretty sweet! Getting to see 80 little images of God around me every single day. What greater joy could there be in life?!?!?!

On a side note, our mission team from Oxford Baptist Church has been super fun to hang out with this week... we got to go on a duck tour of Miami with them on Saturday... we have been to South Beach/Ocean Ave/Lincoln Road several times already (Hint: Going at night probably isnt a very good idea. It is not rated PG 13. It is not rated R... I will leave the rest to your imagination.)

There is much more I would love to sharewith you all and reflect upon pretty soon on here, and hope to be able to do that in the near future. However, we start working at 730 and end at 5, and there is no internet at our living quarters. I'll do my best!! As for now, I am off to our first Community Cookout. Then tomorrow is field trip day... ChuckECheese here I come!!!!

Please continue to pray for:
- rest, strength, patience
- unity and community among our team
- that our mission teams would be changed through their experience at TML
- that we would see Jesus Christ in our 80 campers every day
- that our 80 campers would see Jesus Christ in us every day
- my fellow summer missions friends all over the world

Grace and Peace :)