We only got back from our 2016 trip on Saturday, July 16th, and man, I want to go back already! The Lord has laid such a passion, and a burden of love and tenderness in my heart for the Native people up there, and although the week is tiring, and filled with a lot of craziness, it's so so so worth it every single year.
One of the things that I love so much about being on the Island (besides working with the children - which is why we go up there in the first place), is the quietness of our campsite, and the sunsets.
On Manitoulin Island, the sunsets are so colourful, and I find them to be so much more clear, and more beautiful than they are in the city.
Although I'm used to the bustle and convenience of everything being relatively close together in the city, I've gotta say that I love how far away everything is on Manitoulin... Well, maybe not. I'm not a big fan of the thirty to forty-five minute drive to get to the closest restaurant for supper, but I absolutely love not hearing cars constantly whizzing by on busy streets behind my house. When we got back to the church on the 16th, one of the first things we heard were sirens, and one of the team members looked at me, kind of chuckled, and said, "Well, that's how we know we're home..."
I feel like this year was the best trip yet (although I'm pretty sure I say that every year...)! Things went relatively smoothly, and as a team we've gotten a lot better at truly trusting God, relying on Him and His plan, and being "one hundred percent prepared, and one thousand percent flexible", as my youth pastor (and Manitoulin team leader) puts it.
Something that was a huge highlight for me over the course of the trip was the games afternoon that we did with the Native children on the Wednesday. Normally, camp goes from about 9:30 until 1:00, but with the games afternoon, camp was going until 2:00. Initially I wasn't super stoked about the idea of spending an extra hour with a group of about fifty crazy children, but it went so much better than expected! I'm honestly questioning why we didn't do a games afternoon with the kids in previous years!
Personally I think that it was a huge hit with the kids because even though it was still low key structured, it wasn't like the mornings which are more like: 'Okay kids, you have to go around to each different rotation, with the same group, and the same leaders the whole time!' It was like, 'Okay kids, you can choose whatever station you want to, and do the activity that's there.' So the kids really got to feel like they had options and weren't constantly being told what to do.
I sat at the colouring table, and I got to spend an hour colouring alongside my best friend Rachel, and some of the kids. It was really fun to chat with them in a relaxed setting, and it wasn't a high-stress afternoon at all.
It's crazy how attached you end up getting to the team members that you go on the trip with; we were only together for a short week (okay... it didn't always feel short!), but now I can't go a day without texting at least three of them and being super sappy about how much I miss seeing them everyday, or about how I surprisingly miss trying to keep a small group (...or a "small" group) of about twenty kids in the rotation that they're supposed to be in.
Going to Manitoulin Island gives me something to look forward to every year, and it excites me year after year because I know that God is going to work in awesome ways that go far beyond my comprehension. He's provided my church with this incredible opportunity for the past seven years, and although we may not feel like the best messengers of the Gospel, and we often don't see the fruits of our labour, God continually gives us encouragement through His Word. For example, 1 Corinthians 15:58 tells us;
"Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the LORD, because you know that your labour in the LORD is not in vain."There's always something special about going to a remote place that's so different from the daily hustle and bustle of city life... even if it involves a seemingly eternal nine hour car drive. Being away from home in a completely different setting really helps me to re-evaluate my focus, and to truly rely on God and trust that He will provide; He always provides each member of the team with health, safety, strength, and energy throughout the entirety of the trip. Sometimes all you need is a change of pace to really help reorient your faith.
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