The Webster dictionary defines the word compassion as sympathetic consciousness of others' distress together with a desire to alleviate it. This week our students have shown so much compassion not only towards the residents of Knoxville but also to each other. You've been reading about some of the amazing things they have experienced this week in our other blog posts so I won't go into a whole lot of detail about them but just to sum it up:
- Sunday- early morning rise and shine followed by 12 hours in the vans.
- Monday- time spent at SAI working with adults with special needs and time spent at Second harvest food bank packaging noodles.
- Tuesday- slight chaos followed by creating a new plan to go back to SAI and hang out with our new friends.
- Wednesday- Beardsley Farms followed by Random Acts of Grace.
- Thursday - time spent working in the KARM stores and shelter.
This brings me to yesterday. We started the day by sleeping-in for an extra 30 minutes. Quickly got ready and filled the vans to head off to Outland Adventures for our white water rafting trip down the Ocoee River. Once we arrived, we broke into groups of 6/7 to divide into boats. From there it was time for the adventure. I had the joy of being with some of the girls in a boat. Our boat quickly went from being nervous and scared to screaming for fun and getting soaking wet. Our raft guide was named Kyle, though all the girls and I agreed he sounded like Crush from Finding Nemo. Especially when he yelled to someone who fell out of a boat to "swim into the current dude!" About halfway through the trip down the river we had the chance to get out of the boat and float alongside it. The water felt so nice just swimming alongside the boats. Then it was back in finish down the rapids. Near the end of the ride our raft guide had Julie and Nichole move to the front of the boat. They trustingly did to find out that it was all so they would experience being splashed and soaked by our last two class 4 rapids. However they had a blast doing it!
After rafting we headed back to the church to prepare for dinner. As a special treat we went out to eat at a Tennessee BBQ place named Calhoun's. Getting to Calhoun's itself became an adventure. We fearlessly (maybe fearfully) followed behind Mark's van as we drove. Prior to leaving the church, Steve had confirmed the mileage and what we thought was the time it was going to take. However, we did not confirm the actual location, so we ended up driving on back roads while we watched the GPS in our van recalculate and increase the time it was going to take. However, after a little concern of where Mark was leading us, we arrived. We all enjoyed various things from wings to ribs to burgers and salads. The food was fabulous. Quite a few of our boys were excited to get their chance to have some real Southern Sweet Tea!
After dinner it was back to the church for worship. This was probably my favorite moment of the entire trip. As many of you know we have 5 graduates here with us on the trip. This worship was their last one to lead for us and boy did they do an incredible job! The evening started with a game where we did nothing but laugh and smile at the ridiculousness that was ensuing. After a little bit of time of fun it was time to get into a more serious mode. We stood with arms around shoulders and sang Chain Breaker together. Then the graduates had us all sit down and we read a verse about shining our light. At this point they had us turn off the lights and Rachael and Alyssa took turns telling each member of our group how their light shining God's love has been seen throughout their time with our youth group. Each time they spoke they had that person turn on their flashlight by the end they pointed out how each of our lights brightened the room one at a time. At this point most of us had tears in our eyes. We ended worship with arms around shoulders again singing an a cappella version of Amazing Grace. However, we didn't end our night here. We celebrated with A LOT of tears the fact that it is now time to say "see you soon" to our graduates. We have been so blessed as a group to have such amazing student leaders. Our graduates have been such amazing leaders and models to our younger students. They have really taken our misfit group and made it that everyone fits in. I could write a book on all the amazing things that they have done. We could feel God's presence in the room as we cried together and hugged each other trying to find the words to say to everyone. Mike took some time to talk to all of the students about how amazing they are and how amazing our God is to provide us this group of 22 students. We ended our celebration together by singing Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus. I wish I could describe the emotions and feelings and just the atmosphere for you on how this tearful, laughing, happy yet sad moment was. However, the only thing I can say is that without a doubt the Holy Spirit was moving through each of us and I pray that everyone has a chance to feel that love and grace at some point in their lives.
As I write this we are in the vans on our way home. My heart is bursting with pride, joy, and love for our students. I am sure our parents are excited to wrap their arms around their students and love on them. Before I end this post I just want to say thank you for trusting us with your students. Thank you for being the examples you are of Christ's love and letting us try to be as well. Thank you for letting us care about them and worry about them and most importantly pray and love for them. They truly are indescribably amazing students. This has been Lauren signing off on our 2017 Tennessee Mission Trip. God Bless!
Click below to see all the photos from our trip.