Collide
By McKayla R.
When I pulled out of my church parking lot on
Saturday afternoon, I didn’t expect for my life to be impacted in the manner it
did.
My church’s youth group partners with a ministry
called Cross Culture Ministries. The organization’s purpose it for students to
experience the missionary lifestyle while developing their spiritual gifts.
Normally the church goes to CCM’s camp in West Virginia, but this year they
allowed a few select students to travel three hours and represent KMBC on a lot
more local trip.
Six girls and three chaperones were to meet up with
two other churches from West Virginia (First Baptist Fairlea and Ronceverte
Baptist) where we were to work with the Boys and Girls club and do a make shift
Vacation Bible School for the club’s members.
That Saturday night after all three churches were
united, we ordered pizza and really hung out with our respected groups. None of
us really knew each other nor were we excited to fellowship together. The next
morning at breakfast it felt like there were invisible boundaries separating
the churches. We just didn’t socialize very well.
After a long ordeal with one of our vans breaking
down, we attended Sunday morning service at the church we were staying at, and
it was a total God- thing. The people there were so thoughtful and caring; one
lady washed our Collide Ministries shirts every night so we would have them for
the next day and other families would drop off snacks and pizzas.
That night was our training session. All 25 students
were split into two different teams; a recreational team and a leadership team.
The people on the leadership team were split into five other teams. One team
for each age group. A guy from West Virginia, a girl from my church, and I were
in charge of the 6-7 year olds, which was right up my alley. Children about
that age have always been my favorite to deal with. After learning what our
lesson was going to be the next day, we all went our separate ways to relax
before the busy week.
One of the first lessons I learned was that 6-7 year
olds don’t. shut. up. It was VERY difficult to get a hold of their fast moving
minds. It was a constant stream of “Stop hitting me!” and “I’m hot!” The
B&G leader for the group finally yelled “Blow a bubble!” and it felt like
the rapture had happened it was so quiet.
It continued like that for pretty much the rest of
the week, but as our time together grew, I began to learn the kids on a
personal level.
Tef is a kid who looks strangely like a mix between
Bob Marley and acts like Katie from Horton Hears a Who. He has dread locks to
his waist. We did a lesson on our third day about the blood of Jesus, and I
promise he knew more about the Bible than I do.
Antonio is a boy who has a heart of gold. He was
always encouraging his classmates and helping them. Anytime we told the group
to be quiet, he was the leader who paved the way for the others. If anyone is
“The real MVP”, it is him.
Kristian is… Kristian. On our first day she called a
girl ugly and then later proceeded to beat the same girl with a flag. If any of
our 24 children were to have a warning sign, it would be her.
If I were to write you something on all the children
it would take days for me to tell you everything about them. How ecstatic they
were when we handed out Bibles (one boy took his and went in a corner and
started reading Genesis 1 and continued till we had to leave). How they had to
remove one of the boy’s arms from my waist when the Collide members walked out
for the final time. How when they gave an alter call for the children who
wanted to get saved and every kid but around ten prayed the prayer of
salvation.
Look at me, crying at the memories.
This trip has shown me not only how present God’s
hand is, but also how much the devil likes to destroy everything God has done.
There was a guy from one of the other churches and we were talking and at one
point he started telling me that he had imagined us doing certain things
together and if I wanted to be “satisfied” all I had to do was talk to him.
We all knew what he was getting at. I knew what he was getting at.
Thankfully I removed myself from that conversation ASAP before it went any
further.
This week was just so amazing. Throughout the week I
have stretched myself spiritually in a way I didn’t think was possible and I’m
so excited for what else God has in store for me!
