By: Caila M., 2016 Summer Ministries Intern
I had originally applied for the position of office assistant when the intern positions were posted at ETCBC. Out of the five positions being offered, office assistant seemed like the one where I would be most comfortable. I wouldn’t have to spend time with kids, or have to engage with the community; I would be able to stay in the comfort of my own church walls. However, God really humbled me: instead of being offered the position of office assistant, I was hired as the Summer Ministries Coordinator. My first big project was to help run the program at Toronto City Mission’s Sonshine Day Camp. I’ll be honest, I dreaded it. Dealing with children is definitely not one of my fortes. I made up different excuses as to why I thought I wouldn’t enjoy working with TCM.
Fast forward to Monday the 11th: I woke up at 5:30am to begin my commute to the camp. Not only did I feel exhausted, but I was also an emotional trainwreck. I had never been in charge of so many children. How do I talk to them? Will they like me? I hope they like what I have planned for them. Maybe I shouldn’t be doing this. But I remembered a verse a good friend shared with me that really helped me step out of my comfort zone. “Do you bring in a lamp to put it under a bowl or a bed? Instead, don’t you put it on its stand? (Mark 4:21)” This reminded me that God placed us as lights in this world and that He put me there for a reason.
The first day was the toughest day out of the week. While leading games and activities, the kids would not listen to what I had to say at all and were being very disrespectful. It was frustrating because I couldn’t shake the feeling that it was me doing something wrong. I told myself that they weren’t listening because I didn’t have enough experience leading children and that I was a terrible leader. I felt very discouraged and very out of place. I felt like I didn’t belong at the camp and I wasn’t the right person to lead the children.
At lunch afterwards, I sat with the kids and they were so open to chatting with someone they had just met. A lot of these kids really enjoyed learning, so I would try to cram as much information as I could into them during the hour-long lunch period. They absorbed all the information like sponges. Soon they were just asking me question after question about various subjects. Questions related to long division, short division, multiplication tables, the water cycle, different reptiles and animals, different countries and geography, French, Chinese, Spanish, and Pokemon all came up. Teaching them made me think that despite being inexperienced as a leader, there was still something I could do for them and so much I could teach them. Lunch time became my favourite time of the day since that was the time I could sit down with the kids, and actually hold a conversation with them.
Looking back at working with Toronto City Mission, it has been one of my highlights of this summer so far, and this experience has helped me learn more about patience and unconditional love for children. It’s only been two weeks since starting as an intern at ET, but I’ve already learned so much, and I look forward to what else God has planned for me.