Name Tags, Crafts, + A Lesson On Love: Manitoulin 2019.

2019 is a year of "everything is different" for me.

But amidst that, some things remain the same.

God, obviously, and apparently also Manitoulin Island.

This past week, I embarked on a trip up to the Island (for my seventh year) with a team from the church I grew up in, to run a week-long day camp on a Native reserve. And since starting my blog in 2015, I've come home from the Island and written about it. This year is no different.

Many things have changed for me this year, as I've noted in previous blog posts throughout 2019 - getting a new job, leaving the church I grew up in, going back to school in the fall, chopping my hair off. Y'know.

However, in the thick of it all, I found myself breathing a sigh of relief this past week upon returning to the beautiful island of Manitoulin - leading music for, and being a small group leader at the day camp. The natural beauty of creation that is evident on the Island was the same, and while there were different people on the team, and numerous new kids at the day camp as well, something felt so normal and the same about the mission trip as a whole.

Sometimes I need that. I think we all do.

It can be overwhelming to get a new job, leave the church I grew up in, go back to school in the fall, and chop my hair off. Feeling overwhelmed by those things isn't necessarily negative, either. I am/was excited about all of them. But I was/am/can be overwhelmed, none the less.

It was nice to return to something that has always somehow remained the same every year, no matter how different it actually is.

Does that make sense? I hope so. I'm saying that I know that the Island, our team members, the day camp, and the kids change every year, but in my mind, it still feels the same. 😌

Consistent.

I learned a lot this week about being flexible, not worrying about things that didn't go as planned, winging it sometimes, and love.

I prayed a lot throughout the week that God would show me how to love the kids well, and at our debrief meeting on Friday night, I shared with the team that I'm not sure how well I did with that. Which isn't the point, really. The point in my anecdote to the team was that it seemed God wanted to show me love through the kids... one girl, specifically.

She was in my small group last year - we're the blue group - and this year she arrived and asked if she could be in the blue group again. Turns out she was hoping to have me as her leader again this year, which she did. #blueteamisthebestteam 💙

This girl went up to one of our team leaders on Monday morning and asked, "Did Beth come this year?" Of course the lady from the team had no clue who she was talking about, seeing as no one else in my life has ever called me Beth, but later that day the lady from our team heard this girl call me Beth and saw me respond to it, and realized that girl arrived at camp and had been asking about me.

We all wear name tags, leaders and kids alike, and at the end of the week, the kids like to ask the leaders if they can swap name tags with us. This girl and I had switched name tags last year, and she told me proudly this past week, "I still have your name tag from last year! It's on my mirror and I think about you every day when I see it." Be still my heart!! Aaand I was a little embarrassed, remembering that her name tag is in a memory box in my closet, but I'm determined to dig it out of there and put it on my mirror, alongside her name tag from this year, because obviously we swapped again.

She also loved to include me in her crafts. For example, on Thursday the kids were decorating memory verse booklets, and on the cover of hers, she writes, "My best friend is Elizabeth" - tracing my name tag, writing my name how I'd written it (the "z" in cursive - looking like a 3, as everyone tells me), and colouring it in in blue. Because we've established that blue team is the best team, remember. 

To this little girl, it doesn't matter that she's thirteen years younger than me. It doesn't matter that I only see her once a year. She makes the most of it. I was pretty torn up and emotional to say goodbye to her on Friday for another year, and I'm pretty sentimental so it was a liiiittle bit annoying how easy it was for her to hop on her bike, call, "See you next year, Beth!" and bike away after camp ended for the week.

But the thing is, this ten year-old has made such an impact on my heart. She showed me love, unconditionally, all week long. She'd be playing games with the other kids outside and when she'd see me, she'd abandon the group game, come over and tell me, "I just want to hang out with you", and we'd toss a ball back and forth and laugh when neither of us could catch it.

I may only see this girl for five days out of every 365, but I'll remember her until I see her again. In approximately 363 days. That's more exact than approximate... I suppose I mean tentatively 363 days. But that ain't the point. 

I want to love other people how this sweet little girl loved me. I hardly know her story, she hardly knows mine, but in her eyes we are best friends and she thinks about me often, keeping my name tag in a visible place in her room. She went home on Thursday afternoon, telling me she's going to make me a present and bring it the next day. She brought me three drawings, one of them a picture of the two of us with the words "best friends" above it, of course.

Being on Manitoulin Island is always so good for my soul, and really reorients my heart towards God. Grateful for time spent serving the Lord with friends from the church I grew up in. Thankful for how much I learned about Him this week through the simple love and kindness of one little girl in my small group. 

"My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you." -John 15:12