Right now is probably the most excited that I've been about one singular event in all of time. I just got done with intern training for this summer. We learned what various things about LeaderTreks and how LeaderTreks Staff functions. Let me tell you, it is truly a unique and amazing organization. I am beyond blessed to have the opportunity to work with them in the pursuit of creating leaders to fulfill the Great Commission this summer.
This training that I went through was five days long. There were 16 interns that came together from all around the country, from every walk of life for the one sole reason that we love God. It was so evident the first day even. We did team building initiatives that LeaderTreks staff made up. These initiatives are just absolutely ridiculous. They have your team do something that will never ever be applicable to anything in real life such as passing our entire team through a web of strings and making sure that none of them were ever touched by anyone. Ridiculous, right? Wrong. What these initiatives did was teach us.
They taught us various leadership skills like stepping up and speaking our ideas, being compassionate with each other, being patient, trying new things, and even stepping back to let others lead. Honestly, it was mostly the last one. 16 leaders in one team does not go very well. One of our team members even stated "When doing these initiatives with 16 leaders it's like throwing a steak in the middle of 16 pitbulls and watching them fight for the steak." It's so true. It was so frustrating sitting back and watching plans that weren't mine while I had other plans in mind. I eventually learned that my pride in wanting everyone to use my plan right now wasn't necessarily best for the team. That's going to be something that's huge this summer. Students on LeaderTreks trips don't get spoon fed answers. They need to work to get stuff done and they need to make things happen for themselves. That being said, if I see a student doing something differently than how I would normally do it, I need to step back and just watch it happen. If it works, yay! They did it all on their own! However, if they don't succeed, then that gives me a teachable moment to walk this student succeed in whatever they are doing.
Today was something that was set aside as a day to reflect and pray about what God has done/ will be doing in your life. I reflected on this last year and how God has worked in/through it. I saw that God never let go. He stayed with me the whole time, even when I was rejecting Him. He was living out His promises all along in the following steps:
- I applied for the LeaderTreks internship even though I had no idea why I wanted to do it or if it was the right move. I just knew that people thought that I'd be good at it.
- God pushed me to get involved in InterVarsity at school and blessed me with an opportunity to start the Social Justice League.
- God allowed me to get the internship with LeaderTreks and get placed in Chicago.
These steps show that God isn't just faithful to the people that aren't following him in the best way at the time, but He has a plan. He knew that my heart would break for the people in Milwaukee, and He wanted me to be working in Chicago this summer to develop more of a heart for America's poverty population. He wants me to further grow a heart for these people and to love them. I just realized this last week that this summer is going to be an unbelievable time for learning. Learning how to step back and watch/ serve, learning how to serve the poverty more effectively, learning how to ask intentional questions, and most importantly, learning how to further my knowledge of God.
I really don't know how well I've shown how excited I am about this summer. The reason for that is that I can't describe it in words. These last few days, I've tried to contain the excitement that I have for this summer, the students that are going to be in Chicago, and God! Literally, I can't explain how I'm feeling right now into words, so I'll let my actions speak for the rest of the summer and you'll see what's going on soon enough.
Now is that time, you Prayer Warriors, to saddle up and help me fight for the Kingdom! I realize that this is going to be a long summer of being tired, a lot of ups and downs, and students wanting to be challenged. I will need you to constantly pray for me to have the energy that I need to get through this summer, the wisdom for what to say to the students, the discernment for when to speak up, and for God's will to be done this summer.
Note: Keep checking this, it'll be updated roughly every/ every other Saturday. If you still want to help support my summer, donations are still welcome. You can either mail in a check that's made out to LeaderTreks to:
ATTN: Donnie Bogle
25W560 Geneva Rd. STE 30
Carol Stream, IL 30188Or if you have a PayPal account, you can use that by clicking the following link and following the directions on the page.
Thank you and God Bless.
