At the End of the Day

Today was my last day in the office. I will have camp for the next days and then I will be heading back home on Saturday. It was a bittersweet day. On one hand I am very glad to be returning home. I have been away for 10 weeks and have only been home for two short weekends in that time. I am also looking forward to not living out a suitcase and not changing houses every week! It will be good to be home :) On the other hand, I am sad to be leaving the friends I have made and the work that I have been able to be a part of this summer. This internship has given me the opportunity to do things that I might never have been able to do and to meet people that I might have never met.
This week I have been continuing to help with the sponsor gift processing. We have hit the end of the gift deadline and with that we have got a huge wave of the remaining gifts coming in. This week I have done a lot of tagging them when they come and I have also helped in the warehouse bagging the gifts up and putting them in boxes to get ready to send to Haiti. I have also had the opportunity to work volunteers which is something that I have wanted to do all summer and have not had very many opportunities to do so. On Monday I trained and supervised a group of teens on the gift bagging process and on Tuesday I supervised a group of older women who had bagged the gifts before and didn’t need to be trained. Since I was at the warehouse those days I also got to talk to many people who came by to drop donations off. There are things for all ages to do at Lifeline!
Tomorrow I am heading back to the same camp I helped out with earlier this summer. This time I it will be a short camp because I will be working with a younger group of kids. I will be there for two days and will talk to the kids about Lifeline and missions and will supervise food baggings that will be happening.
in some ways this summer has flown by; it seems that it couldn’t possibly have been 10 weeks. But when I think about all that I have see and experienced I can believe it has been this long. When you are doing something that you love to do you don’t really keep track of time. I have defiantly learned that I want to work at a place where my work really matters. There will stress in any job (its just a matter of what kind and how much). But at the end of the day I want to know that it all was worth it because the work that we are doing really impacts lives.

Spreading My Wings

This week I have been able to spread my wings a little further. This week the receptionist, who I have worked with a lot this summer, has been at a camp and has not been in the office. Since she has not been in I have been doing a lot of what she normally does. I have answered phones and done all of the other tasks that goes along with running the reception desks. Those tasks include greeting people when they come into the office, directing them to the office of the person they are looking for and taking donations that people drop off. I also worked with a volunteer one day and gave her assignments and showed her what she needed to do. I have also taken several people down to our warehouse and let them in so that they could drop off items that they were donating like food and clothes. It has also been up to be to put postage on all outgoing mail. It has been nice to get some more responsibilities and put some of what I have learned to practice.
In addition to doing that all I have been working on three different large projects. For two days this week I worked on correspondence. The kids in Haiti write letters to the people who sponsor them. I had to read each letter to make sure they were appropriate and I printed labels and mailed them to their sponsor. There were a couple hundred letters. These letters were so much more solemn than ones in the past. So many kids mentioned wanting prayers that God would provided them a house because theirs was destroyed in the earthquake and they were currently living in a tent. Some mentioned losing a family member and one girl said she was now an orphan. Yet they had hope in God and they trusted in him for their needs.
The second project I have been working on was processing new sponsor gifts. This is something that I have worked on for a few weeks now and it continues because we are at the peak of the Christmas gift deadline. The third project that I am working is getting three mass mailing going out. The first is getting the annual report out to supporters, the second is a brochure on a golf scramble fundraiser, and the third is a postcard about a sponsorship drive, to get more kids sponsored.
It has been a busy week and I know that tomorrow will be the same. Unfortunately with so much work in the office and many of the staff out with other obligation it brings stress. There has been quite a bit of conflict in the office this week due to stressed nerves and miscommunication. These kinds of conflicts have surprised me because even though I never expected anyone to be perfect I did not expect to see as much as I have seen. When you are working in a Christian organization it is hard to remember that we are not perfect. We all still have things that we struggle with. I think that this something that everyone in ministry must learn.

Only God Could

As I finish my eighth week here at Lifeline it is hard to believe that I only have two weeks before my internship is over. In some ways it seems hard to believe that so much time has passed and in other ways it seems like it has been forever since I was on the campus of KCU. In some ways everything here still seems new and unfamiliar and in some ways I have relaxed into a routine. While I don't always feel like an adult I think it will be weird to return and be a student again. I have been blessed to have met a lot of people.
This is what has been the best thing about my internship. While being here I have been able to get to know people better that I knew before. There were people that I knew before my internship, people I had volunteered with or who I went to Haiti with that work at Lifeline. I have been blessed to get to know those people both in and out of the office as I have worked with them and as they have welcomed me into their homes. I reconnected with many people that I went to Haiti with. Many of the people that I went to Haiti with are supporters of Lifeline and have been to the office and so I have seen them and been able to encourage each other. I have also been able to meet many people that I didn’t know before and probably would have never met. These people have welcomed me into their churches and given of their resources and time to Lifeline.
It always amazes me how God provides the right people for the need. He provides for the physical needs, whether its kids donating peanut butter, stores donating shoes that didn’t sale, or doctors donating equipment and supplies. He provides for the means by sending people who financially support Lifeline whether it be families that sponsor children in Haiti, churches who support Lifeline, or kids that participate in food bagging events. And he provides for the work whether it is people who go on mission trips or people who come to volunteer their time in the office. God uses people from all walks of life to accomplish his work, people with different ages and skills. And it doesn’t just stop here. The same is true of those who work in foreign fields. We were able to see that last week when the foreign staff came last week. Only God could orchestrate such a ministry that involves thousands ministering to thousands a week. He knows both the big details and the small details, both here and overseas. I have been blessed to spend time and learn from those He is using in such a symphony.

Even When We Can't See It

I am finding the more and more that I work in this ministry I must trust that God is working through the work I am doing whether I see the results or not. At many times I feel far removed from the work that I am doing. I cannot see the people I am helping but I know that what we do in the United States directly affects those in the foreign field. When I was in Haiti I knew how important it was to remember everything I was seeing because I wanted to tell everyone here in the US so that they could respond need. Now that I am doing the administrative side of things, it is sometimes discouraging, and it can be hard to remember that this work is as much a help to the people as the work that is done in the field.
On Sunday I visited a VBS and God gently reminded me of this. I had to drive 2 hours to get to this VBS where I spoke for 15 minuets to a group of only 10 kids. I had to trust that God had me there for a reason. It should not matter that it was small church and that I had to travel so far to speak there. For that small time God had used me in some way to touch those kids and adults. He knows what their lives and futures hold and I just had to trust.
This week has been a unique opportunity because we able to get a small glimpse of work we do. This week administrators from every country Lifeline works in have been. These men and their families, from Haiti, Honduras, El Salvador, and Cuba have been here for the 30 Anniversary Celebration we held for Lifeline supporters. While they have been here we have been encouraged by their stories and testimonies about all that God is doing in their countries. They speak with such passion about all that it is not hard to see that God is doing great things in these countries! It has also been fun to talk with them and see their excitement at doing things here in America. This week we have had several fun activities planned for them and the staff at Lifeline and it has been great to talk with them and here their stories. Its also fun to learn new words because three of them speak Spanish and one if them speaks Creole  It was a great opportunity for all of us, the staff, administrators, and supporters. We were able to support each other and learn about those we had only read about. We all were able to hear how God was using us in each others countries.

Celebration Week

This week has been both a busy and slow week here at Lifeline. It had been a little while since I had been in the office because I was at camp all last week. Then this week has been a quiet week at the office. We have only about half our staff in the office. The rest of the staff is in Indiana at the North American Christian Convention. For us in the office it has been quiet with all of the others gone. This week for me has consisted of processing sponsor gifts, answering phones, and doing paperwork. Tomorrow I will be helping to clear out the old warehouse because we are moving to a different one. This will consist of us moving all of the donated items from one warehouse to a new one.
This week Lifeline is also celebrating its 30 years anniversary. To celebrate we are having two celebrations, one in Indiana tomorrow night, and one in Westerville Saturday night. This celebration is for all of those who support Lifeline and are connected to its work. Then on Sunday I will be traveling to another to church to talk about Lifeline at their opening program for VBS.
Last week has been quite different than last. I told the girls last week, that returning to the office this week would be boring after all that happened last week  It has been very different. Each week I am at Lifeline is different than the one before it with new skills that I am learning. Sometimes it has to be taken moment by moment, and things don’t always go as planned, but I know that whatever happens as long as I offer it to God it will glorify his name. Whether things turn out the way that I plan or not God knows more than me. He knows what is needed where, and as long as continue to have a servant’s heart than I can never fail in my work. Whether things turn out as planned they always achieve their goals are always the same-to glorify God’s name.

A Comprehensive View of Missions

Riding a zip line, getting covered in pudding and shaving cream, leading packing events, countless hugs from 4th and 5th graders, hikes in the woods, talking about kids in Haiti, dance parties, and lots of the fruit of the spirit, are just some of the things that filled my week this week. All this week I was at Butler Springs Christian Camp for their 4th and 5th graders camp as a Lifeline representative. I went there to lead packing events and talk to them every day about Lifeline but I got that and so much more.
The theme for their week was fruit of the spirit so every ‘family’ was a different fruit. Though I spent time with every one there I mostly spent time with the family I was roomed with, the ‘Cheery’ Cherries. I had a great time with these 7 girls, getting to know them and doing activities with them like riding a zip line for the first time, getting covered in pudding and shaving cream during messy day, and other countless fun things that we did.
Every day, they had activity time in the morning. Every day of the week they had a different activity and one of the activities was packing the “Kids Against Hunger” food that Lifeline sends to the field, so every family got the chance to pack the food. For an hour every day I got to tell the kids how to pack the food and tell them the importance and significance of this food. Then I would send the rest of the time walking around and making sure they were doing it right and talking with them. They loved packing the food and I could tell that they knew how important it was. They said they had fun and they were glad to be able to do something that would help the kids in Haiti they were learning about.
After activity time they would have mission time which consisted of 20 min of singing and 20 minutes for me to present. On Monday I told the kids about all the ministries that Lifeline has and a general overview of Lifeline. On Tuesday I talked about the importance of nutrition and schools for kids in Haiti. On these days I also told them about fun facts about life for kids in Haiti and some common French words. It was my intention to show them the similarities and differences between their lives and the lives of the kids in Haiti. On Wednesday I shared with them what happened when I was in Haiti during the earthquake and what I learned from it. On Thursday and Friday I showed a documentary that was made in Grand Goave Haiti where Lifeline is based called “When the Ground Stopped Shaking.” The kids really liked it because they were able to see some of the kids they had learning about and see the Kids food being delivered in Haiti and seeing a Tap Tap 
Then on Wednesday we did something that I thought was great. The Kids food we had been making all week, serves 6 people for every bag, each person getting only a cup size serving. For a lot of Haitians this is the only food they will eat all day. That night we went into the cafeteria and there were little bowls and little cups of water at every plate setting. Each person was given a cup of the Kids food, and that was all. The food was good and most of the kids said they really liked it. But it was not much food, especially if it was all you got all day, every day. It was a great representation even for me and I know it really drove home for the kids.
Over the course of the week, $900 was collected in offering and about 4,000 meals were packed, all by only 100 kids. This was my first week of camp and I had a great time with the kids. At this age they were really interested in what they were learning and I felt they got a really comprehensive view of missions this week.

What its all about

I have now finished my fourth week at Lifeline. This week I worked on all kinds of activities that dealt with sponsors of Lifeline. Lifeline has a sponsorship program where people in the US can sponsor a child in Haiti and Honduras. Monday and Tuesday I worked on processing gifts that sponsors sent to their children. It was so fun because it was Christmas in July. The gifts coming in July will be given to the kids at Christmas. Sponsors can send gifts to their sponsored children four times a year. I had to go through all of the gifts, check them, label them, and put them in bags and then put them in boxes. It was so fun to see what the sponsors sent to their kids. One day I also went through correspondence from Honduras children to their sponsors. I had to read the letters and get them ready to send to the sponsors. It was so fun to see what all of the kids said to their sponsors. I also worked on gift in kind sheets for donations made to Lifeline. These forms are for all donations that people make to Lifeline that aren’t money, whether it be food, clothing, or medical supplies. These forms help the donors get tax breaks on their donations and it helps Lifeline keep track of their assets. I had to go through these letters and make sure they were in the donor database and get letters ready to send to the donors, thanking them for their donations.
Without the support of donors Lifeline would not be able to continue the work that they do. These donors can have a personal relationship with kids living in poverty. The thing that I love the most about Lifeline is that they pair people in the US with people in the Haiti and Honduras. So often, we want to help those in poverty but we never know where to start. Through programs like missions trips and child sponsorship he pairs those of us with plenty with those who have not enough. I so enjoy seeing how God uses people’s talents and resources, whatever they may be, to further the work of Lifeline. It is so great to see how people so willing use what they have to help, and it is always what we need. Peoople are able to help a kid who needs it. People are able to help those in other countries both from the US and on the field. That is what it really is about for me.