Emi - Journal 10

March 13 , 2005

"a life-changing spring break"

I’m back from spring break, refreshed and feeling peaceful about finishing off the last semester of my first year in college. I went on a Y-trip (a service trip sponsored largely by our school’s Christian Association) to Lyndonville, Vt., over spring break.

Ten of us piled into an Eastern Mennonite University van early Saturday morning for the 12-hour drive to Vermont.

Ten of us eager students packed up on Friday night of last week and all piled into our Eastern Mennonite University van early Saturday morning for the 12-hour drive to snowy Vermont. Ten college-aged students crowded in a vehicle for a long period of time can be quite an experience. ;)

Where do I begin? If I were to summarize my experience in a sentence, it would definitely include the phrase "life-changing." The organization that hosted us is called The Fold, and we were able to stay in a cozy little house for one week as we jumped into an atmosphere of great learning and growing alongside 11 "at-risk youth," their counselors, teachers and staff. The workers who have dedicated their lives to the ministry at The Fold displayed such friendliness and strength in all that they did, I felt nothing but encouragement and relief to know that there is such an organization where a youth may submit themselves for life-improvement.

These amazing young people swept me off my feet with their knowledge of the Bible and the hardships they had already faced in life.

The 11 kids that we were able to be with ranged in age from 12 to 18, and many of them had experienced trials that most of us would probably never experience in our lifetime. The amazing thing was that these kids were very self-aware and conscious of their struggles. This fact seemed to be the bitter medicine that would lead them out of their deep trenches.

These are amazing young people we are talking about. I was able to sit in on a Bible study that was going on in the girls' home. I was utterly swept off my feet. These girls were so biblically literate, I sat there with my mouth agape. It was a deeply moving and humbling experience to hear these people, younger than me, make incredible references to God’s word, along with their life experiences, and delineate a Truth that seemed too beautifully advanced to be from someone not yet an adult.

The girls told me I needed to "know my stuff" when it comes to the Bible. They were right!

Trials can speed maturity very quickly, especially if they are being handled with the necessary ingredients of love and support, 24/7. The youth encouraged me to study my Book. I need to know my "stuff." What have I been doing all this time, thinking that it was really not all that important? If I claim to be a Christian, I better know what I’m talking about.

I could go on and on forever, but I don’t want to get a lot deeper than this right here. Let’s just say that I had a blast with my group and with the people of Vermont and The Fold. It’s a different world up there.

Our group was able to visit Ben and Jerry’s Factory — it was a blast. I must say that I probably put on a good couple of pounds since we cooked for each other every night and so on. We had some incredible recipes!

We cooked for each other every night. We had some incredible recipes between the 10 of us!

Now that I’m back, it's important for me to do my best to live a little more like a person who takes care of her well-being. I’m always so caught up in doing so well in school, I sometimes forget about letting myself do things I really want to do, just because I don’t feel like I have the time.

It’s important to give yourself some time each day to just stop, breath, and read a chapter or two from a favorite book. What is all the rush anyway? The tricky part for me is really allowing this experience I had over spring break change my behavior back in this old environment of supposed craziness.

I gotta chill and take life one step at a time! The semester is honestly almost over. I gotta chill and enjoy everything I can. Just chill.