Saturday, March 20, 2010

Ze In-tearn-sheep

(the title was a horrid attempt at typing in an accent)

So, I am halfway done with my internship with Youth for Christ (YFC). In fact, I just wrote an 8 page paper all about the agency. This semester I am doing an internship and then taking my internship/professional seminar class on Monday mornings. Other than that, I have free time to hang out with friends, absorb the last few weeks I have in Manhattan, and then graduate!

I was leary about this internship I must confess. Not the agency per-say, but just the internship in general. I did not feel prepared, and I feel as though we (everyone in the internship with me) all had no idea what to do or to expect.

But fortunately, it has been an incredibly positive experience. I do not dread going to my internship, and I have a good feeling that I am going to miss everyone once I leave. YFC is a very relational ministry....so naturally I love it. There have definitely been days that I have walked away thinking "Wow.....God is good!" And no other words would be able to sum up or capture it other than those....

I am primarily working with the Teen Parents program. We have had some great conversation and evenings together. My favorite was a night when we each had a piece of paper with our names at the top. Then passed the papers around and wrote encouraging things about one another on them. I was worried that since the girls did not know me very well, that mine would be blank. Our main goal was to give these girls some real positive, character encouragement because it is so easy to focus on the negative within one another. The bad stuff is easier to see and easily surfaces. At then end of the evening, we read each of the papers. Now, I am not a cryer. I promise I do not have a heart of stone. There must be something missing in my eyes or something, but the tear ducts just are not triggered. Anyway, everyone (minus myself) was crying, and it was easy to see how much this meant to everyone.

I was surprised by what the girls had written on my sheet. I have been volunteering with this agency since late September, so I have known most of these women for about 6 months or so. The common theme on my sheet was the fact that I smile a lot. One of the women even said that every time she walks in, I smile at her and ask how she is and she instantly feels welcome.

I went in to this lesson with the hope of these girls being blessed, and I was blessed in return....

Other tid bit.....I work with a junior high after school program, and one of the boys a) asked if I had a boyfriend, then b) asked for my phone number. I made an excuse about that being unprofessional.

1 comment:

Larissa said...

tear....another tear

I love you friend!