It was the final day with the kids and though the team went through the usual routine, it was tinged with a sense of sadness at having to leave as well as a sense of accomplishment at what they had achieved.
Today we woke up to Avril’s morning wake-up song, just like usual: “Rise and shine, and give God the glory, glory…” and repeat the verse until everyone’s awake.
Every day we do the usual morning routine; eat breakfast, get ready for the day, our morning devotion and applying sunscreen. For this morning’s devotion we had Tim and Elissa who volunteered to share with us. Tim gave us an example of how when we welcome the kids it represents us welcoming God, referring to a passage in the book of Matthew.
Then Elissa spoke about not complaining about what we are doing because when Jesus had disciples following him, He did not hesitate to encourage them and never complained about His situation.
Considering that today was our last day with the kids, the morning session went by pretty quickly and it was extremely hard to say our last farewells since these kids were so amazing and they made each day easier for us.
We were able to develop a strong connection with the kids and ministering to them gave me a completely new experience, but at the same time revealed more good things about myself and the people around me. The majority of us got attached to some of the kids and had to keep their name tags in memory of the kids.
Seeing the children go was surprisingly hard but I’m glad that God gave us this opportunity to minister to them and tell them more about His glory and amazing works.
I woke up this morning to discover that, once again, Cheryl had stolen the blankets. This was hastily followed by our very own songbird, Avril, singing. It’s safe to say that the morning started slow, but in the end we were all rushing out the door to go to the rec centre.
Today was our last day with the kids, so we tried to give it our all. All in all, things went pretty well and really fast. Saying goodbye to the kids was by far the hardest thing I have done all week. I’m really going to miss those children so much; honestly, so many of us nearly cried. I’m glad that we were able to come to the community here in Leonora and bless the children. Hopefully our efforts will leave an impact.
After lunch we cleaned the centre and came back to the sports club to rest and pack. Of course, we did neither of these things and mostly just mucked around. Then we went to dinner at the local pub. We had fish and chips, with a side of arm-wrestling competitions. Cheryl and I had a competition. She won the left handed one and I won the righted handed one. It was an interesting experience. When we arrived back we showered and packed.
Tomorrow we will be waking up super early and hopping on the bus to go home. I’m excited to go back to my own bed, but I am so glad we were able to come here and reflect Jesus’ love to these children.
Elissa
