So, here we are. Week 8. My last week as a CSM city host in Philadelphia. I think the reason why I have taken so long to write all of my blogs is because I was dreading this post; my last post. But it was going to be a thing eventually so I'll get over it. Anyway, this group was pretty legit. I got to cohost with Fran which was the first time I had that privilege! It was awesome because Fran rocks. Our group was from Hanaim Church in New Jersey. Hanaim was a Korean church so all of the kids who came were Korean. I had never been around traditional Koreans so it was a learning experience for me and it was really great. They taught me a lot about their culture, like the fact many of them have both Korean and English names!
We had some pretty awesome ministry sites that week, such as the Philadelphia Furniture Bank. It's one of my favorite places to go and this time, I got to go on deliveries with half of my group! How awesome is that?! We also went to Harold O'Davis which was Caitlin's favorite summer camp to go to and I finally got to experience it for myself. It was pretty cool! This group was a very interesting one in that they all had basically grown up with one another so they were really close. I felt like I got to know quite a few of them pretty well as they were sharing a little bit about their lives with me and what not. It was just a really great group to be able to cap off my summer with. There were a lot of breakthroughs that week within the little cliques that were present in the group and it was beautiful to see. Many of the students hadn't noticed that there were such intense feelings from so many of the student until this trip and after realizing that, they began to bond together. It was amazing. This week, we also had an improvised worship night at the housing site because there were only 3 of us hosts (Caitlin, Fran, and I). It was actually really awesome!
The week was overall a good wrap up to my summer. It wasn't a hard week but it wasn't a super easy one. I was finally able to navigate to the majority of our sites without my map too. It was just a good week of reflection and coming to terms with the fact that I would be leaving soon. it was hard, for sure, but it was good.
We had some pretty awesome ministry sites that week, such as the Philadelphia Furniture Bank. It's one of my favorite places to go and this time, I got to go on deliveries with half of my group! How awesome is that?! We also went to Harold O'Davis which was Caitlin's favorite summer camp to go to and I finally got to experience it for myself. It was pretty cool! This group was a very interesting one in that they all had basically grown up with one another so they were really close. I felt like I got to know quite a few of them pretty well as they were sharing a little bit about their lives with me and what not. It was just a really great group to be able to cap off my summer with. There were a lot of breakthroughs that week within the little cliques that were present in the group and it was beautiful to see. Many of the students hadn't noticed that there were such intense feelings from so many of the student until this trip and after realizing that, they began to bond together. It was amazing. This week, we also had an improvised worship night at the housing site because there were only 3 of us hosts (Caitlin, Fran, and I). It was actually really awesome!
The week was overall a good wrap up to my summer. It wasn't a hard week but it wasn't a super easy one. I was finally able to navigate to the majority of our sites without my map too. It was just a good week of reflection and coming to terms with the fact that I would be leaving soon. it was hard, for sure, but it was good.