Summer Reflection

Wow! What an amazing summer it has been! I had the privilege to go back to Alaska for my third summer and serve at the basketball camp there. Every year I am amazed at how the Lord provides for the trip: funding, team members, campers, snacks, you name it! I left feeling more blessed than I can even imagine.
Looking back at this year’s trip I’ve noticed many ways God has been working in my life and want to share them with you. (This is my first blog post ever, so bear with me!)
At our debrief meeting, we were asked to share something that struck us the most about our trip or one thing we learned. So many things were running through my head, but one in particular kept coming to mind…
Every year during camp there is time set aside for a speaker during each session. About 10-15 minutes (depending on the age group). All the years I’ve gone I’ve been asked to speak, which means I get to tell a Bible story. This should be a breeze, right? I mean, if I’m going to be a teacher and all I should be able to get in front of a bunch of kids and tell them a Bible story no problem. But for some reason, this year I really didn’t think I was the person for the job. I would continually tease that someone else should do it, but internally, I was being serious. I did not want to be the one to speak.
Don’t get me wrong, I love the kids and everything. The Kindergarten through 3rd grade group was a piece of cake…same with the 4th-6th grade group. However, the final group (officially) 7-12th, but (actually) 7th- college age, is always hardest for me!
I spoke about Moses and Miriam and the main message I was trying to get across is if we are faithful to God and trust in Him, He will provide us with the means necessary to do His work. Turns out someone (this girl) is a little like Moses was.
I tried to tell God again and again that I was not the person for the job. That someone else would be better suited, more skilled, more knowledgeable to tell a story at camp, but God knew better. I tried so hard to get out of my job that I think I only made myself even more nervous! At the end of the day I spoke, I realized I had been just like Moses in the story I told all of those kids. I realized I tried to tell God to find someone else. I said “Why me?” God said, “I want you!” not, “You’ll have to do because I couldn’t find anyone better.” And he did the same with me.
I’ve learned a lot of things this summer, but the biggest lesson I’ve been reminded of is to be faithful to God and He will get me through anything and everything that comes my way. Just as God was with Moses every step of the way, He is with me every step I take.

Now, as many of you know, I am spending this semester abroad in Guatemala! Thus, I have decided to start a blog…the one you’re currently reading…in order to keep those of you back home in Michigan, or wherever you might be, on top of what I’m experiencing this semester. As I’m sitting here at a hotel in Detroit, I feel excitement, anticipation, and anxiety (the good kind) about the journey I start tomorrow as this next chapter of my life begins. I hope you all enjoy this adventure with me!

~Kylie

“Travel is more than the seeing of sights; it’s a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living.” – Miriam Beard