I have been sitting here for the longest time trying to think of what I want to share about Rwanda, and really, there are just too many things that come to mind but no words to describe them. People always ask me, "Oh, how was your trip?" and I have created a canned response that just about sums up everything and yet nothing at all. "Oh, it was AMAZING! It was the most wonderful experience I have ever had in my life, but definitely the most difficult. The people there are so wonderful; I was so inspired by them. I made some friends there that still email me and I think we are going to be friends for a long time. God did so many miracles in the lives of the people there and in me. I literally left my heart in that country and I want to go back so badly." And the more I continue to write and try to think of things to write about, the more these things get buried deeper and deeper in my heart as a personal, intimate secret between me, God, and the rest of the Rwanda team. As much as I want to share about the things that happened there, I just cannot think of where to start, what to say when I do start, and how I would even begin to describe everything in words; to begin to describe everything is just thoroughly overwhelming. I know that if you ask me a specific question about my trip, I will just talk and talk and talk without stopping, but to try and just start talking about the trip, I just don't know what to say. In person, Rwanda is really the only thing I can talk about; it changed my life so much that I can't help but just relate everything to it. Like I told one of the Canadian teenagers I met in Rwanda, "People just don't understand how much you fall in love with a place and a people like that. They don't understand how the way you live your life can be so completely altered; that your view of the world is so wonderfully tainted; that it has become such a big part of your life and there's no way to escape from it; that you can talk about it for hours and hours and it doesn't even come close to the things you've experienced, felt, and lived through. People just don't understand." I know that as I continue to blog in here about my life in college or whatever, things from Rwanda will just come out, so stay tuned for stories from Africa interspersed in my life. But if you really want to know something about my trip, PLEASE ask me and I would be more than happy to answer anything you want to know about. You can email me at coolartic123@aol.com or at allison.sherer@gmail.com or even just leave comments on my blog and I will answer them in blog-form. Basically, I just need a specific place to start and I will just explode with all of the blessings, hardships, eye-openers, heart-changers, life-altering details from the trip. Your life will change once you hear these stories, I can guarantee that. I know my life is forever changed.
Rwanda yanjye nshuti ndagukunda cyane cyane.
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
North Carolina
I realized that I haven't posted about North Carolina yet. I was considering just skipping posting about it and move right onto Africa which is what everyone is dying to hear about, but I decided that it would be unfair to leave North Carolina out because I absolutely fell in love with that place. I am only, however, going to post about the things that really grabbed my heart.
Background story: The plane to Charlotte was really bumpy. Using when environmental stresses like that occur, my lips break out in cold sores. Well, they definitely did this time. My lips were so swollen it looked like I got a major beating. The cold sores were THE worst they have ever been. I couldn't believe how incredibly deformed I looked. I actually started crying because I was so self-conscious. It was then that I learned a serious lesson about beauty. The first day of service, my group went to a woman's house to paint the porch and do some yard work. The woman was incapable of painting her own house because she was constantly working, and as so, she was not even at the house when we were there painting it for her; her daughter was at the house to answer any questions we may have and basically just to take care of us. The daughter (who was in her 40's or so) was named Diane and she has cerebral palsy. Her left side of the body was almost paralyzed and she could hardly walk. She was balding from older age, but her chin was definitely the opposite. She had one and a half teeth and she had a lazy eye. When we first arrived, Diane greeted us with such warmth and hospitality that I completely overlooked all of her physical abnormalities. We began the painting and intense yard work on the house and we were working diligently for a while when Pat (one of the adult leaders from Illinois. I nicknamed him Papa Pat like Papa Smurf and I really don't know why...but ironically, his wife is going to have a baby in December so really, he will be a papa!) told us that although physically serving is important, the reason we came was to spiritually serve. He encouraged every one to go in pairs and just sit and talk with Diane for a while because we felt that she didn't have many people to talk to. My friend Shannon from Illinois and I were one of the firsts to actually sit and talk with her. Both of us had to use the bathroom, so we went in and went and then as we were leaving, Diane started to talk to us. And I mean TALK. She invited Shannon and me to sit down and she chewed the fat with us for a good hour. Shannon and I barely said a word, but both of us were listening intently, part because her stories were interesting, part because we could not get a word in edgewise, and part because it was difficult to understand what she saying due to her lack of teeth and thick North Carolina accent. Diane started off talking about silly things like the characters on The Young and the Restless, but as she continued to talk, she spoke about VERY intimate aspects of her life, things I would never in my entire life speak to with complete strangers. But as Diane continued to talk to us, I could not help but just fall in love with her. She had been through so many horrible, heartbreaking, change-your-life-for-the-worst things in her life, and yet she was so full of the Holy Spirit and just loved on God and people so much. As she spoke to us, I was mesmerized by her wonderful heart and her love for life. I completely forgot about all of her physical abnormalities and really saw the beauty that God placed inside of her. There was one point I almost started to cry thinking about just how good God is creating such pure beauty that lives in each one of us. It was remarkable. God made such a beautiful person when He created Diane and He blessed my life by allowing me to meet her.
The next day, we were scheduled to finish painting and doing yard work at Diane's mom's house but we were almost finished with all of the work the day before. Papa Pat told us that if we really worked hard that morning, we could go have fun in the afternoon. So Tuesday morning, we got everything finished, we finally got to meet the lady whose house we were actually painting, said our goodbyes to Diane, and left. Papa Pat and Brother Bill decided that we were just going to have "a day on the town." We went out to lunch at KFC and then we spent the remaining time touring the small town of Taylorsville. We went to countless thrift stores and antique shops and were just goofy. We met so many people when we were just walking around. Because Taylorsville was such a small town and they knew everyone who lived in it, if they didn't know who you were, they knew you had to be with Youthworks. Everyone in the town was so thankful we were there and would tell us how much it meant to them that they were there with either their words, hospitality, and even gifts. I absolutely fell in love with that town and the people in it. Also, that day, I became so close with the people in my team (Go Pit Crew #20, Tony Stewart!). It's amazing how you can spend only a week with people and they become some of your closest friends. I still stay in contact with the people in my group. God showed me that day just how important it is to just love and love and love all the time like the people in North Carolina did and my team did.
The last two days of service were spent working with the impoverished children of the town in a Vacation Bible School sort of setting called Kids Club. There, the kids could sing songs, see skits, do arts and crafts, and play games with the Youthworks teens. Usually, the teens have their specific jobs that they administrate (i.e. crafts, games, etc.) but for the most part, all of the teens get a chance to work with all of the kids. This year, I was assigned to work with a certian child. His name was Skyler, he was six years old, and was blind. I had worked with deaf and hard-of-hearing children before, but I had never worked with a blind child. I was kind of nervous about it, actually. One of the leaders from Illinois, Tom, was helping me work with Skyler as well. When Skyler first arrived, Tom and I introduced ourselves by extending our hands so Skyler could touch them and saying our names. Skyler immediately grabbed our hands tightly and said in his cute, little North Carolina accent, "Hello! My name's Skyler and we're gonna be friends!" Just then, this little boy grabbed my heart. Tom and I excorted him to the playground where we let him swing. Skyler loves trains so we began to play his favorite game, "The Skyler Train." He would swing high up in the air and Tom and I would yell back and forth, "Cabuse to engine, cabuse to engine! Skyler watch out, there's a hill up ahead!" Skyler would laugh and play right along, conducting the storyline of The Skyler Train. We played this game over and over again and for hours. Skyler would also walk up to other kids (with Tom and my help) and say to them, "Jesus loves you very much, and so do I!" It make me smile evey time he did it. Throughout the day, Tom and I would continue to stay by Skyler's side, playing The Skyler Train and helping him with the other activities the teens had planned for the kids. Randomly throughout the day, Skyler would lean over to me and whisper in my ear, "Allison? I loooove you." It tugged on my heart strings every single time. Throughout the two days, I fell in love with little Skyler; he showed me so much in such a short amount of time. He showed me how to play like no one is watching, how to love with his whole heart, and to share the love of Christ with everyone he met. He showed me how to have faith and how to love as a child whose "view" of the world was not tainted by sin. He just followed the Lord "blindly," knowing the Lord would lead him. There are so many things that impacted my life about Skyler that I can't even describe in words. His mom uploaded a video of him on Youtube, so I encourage you to check it out and maybe you can understand why I fell in love with him the way I did. What a beautiful child of God.
Those were my favorite highlights from my North Carolina trip...if there is anything else you would like to know about, please let me know. I would love to share them with you! Stay tuned for highlights from Rwanda and the college update.
Background story: The plane to Charlotte was really bumpy. Using when environmental stresses like that occur, my lips break out in cold sores. Well, they definitely did this time. My lips were so swollen it looked like I got a major beating. The cold sores were THE worst they have ever been. I couldn't believe how incredibly deformed I looked. I actually started crying because I was so self-conscious. It was then that I learned a serious lesson about beauty. The first day of service, my group went to a woman's house to paint the porch and do some yard work. The woman was incapable of painting her own house because she was constantly working, and as so, she was not even at the house when we were there painting it for her; her daughter was at the house to answer any questions we may have and basically just to take care of us. The daughter (who was in her 40's or so) was named Diane and she has cerebral palsy. Her left side of the body was almost paralyzed and she could hardly walk. She was balding from older age, but her chin was definitely the opposite. She had one and a half teeth and she had a lazy eye. When we first arrived, Diane greeted us with such warmth and hospitality that I completely overlooked all of her physical abnormalities. We began the painting and intense yard work on the house and we were working diligently for a while when Pat (one of the adult leaders from Illinois. I nicknamed him Papa Pat like Papa Smurf and I really don't know why...but ironically, his wife is going to have a baby in December so really, he will be a papa!) told us that although physically serving is important, the reason we came was to spiritually serve. He encouraged every one to go in pairs and just sit and talk with Diane for a while because we felt that she didn't have many people to talk to. My friend Shannon from Illinois and I were one of the firsts to actually sit and talk with her. Both of us had to use the bathroom, so we went in and went and then as we were leaving, Diane started to talk to us. And I mean TALK. She invited Shannon and me to sit down and she chewed the fat with us for a good hour. Shannon and I barely said a word, but both of us were listening intently, part because her stories were interesting, part because we could not get a word in edgewise, and part because it was difficult to understand what she saying due to her lack of teeth and thick North Carolina accent. Diane started off talking about silly things like the characters on The Young and the Restless, but as she continued to talk, she spoke about VERY intimate aspects of her life, things I would never in my entire life speak to with complete strangers. But as Diane continued to talk to us, I could not help but just fall in love with her. She had been through so many horrible, heartbreaking, change-your-life-for-the-worst things in her life, and yet she was so full of the Holy Spirit and just loved on God and people so much. As she spoke to us, I was mesmerized by her wonderful heart and her love for life. I completely forgot about all of her physical abnormalities and really saw the beauty that God placed inside of her. There was one point I almost started to cry thinking about just how good God is creating such pure beauty that lives in each one of us. It was remarkable. God made such a beautiful person when He created Diane and He blessed my life by allowing me to meet her.
The next day, we were scheduled to finish painting and doing yard work at Diane's mom's house but we were almost finished with all of the work the day before. Papa Pat told us that if we really worked hard that morning, we could go have fun in the afternoon. So Tuesday morning, we got everything finished, we finally got to meet the lady whose house we were actually painting, said our goodbyes to Diane, and left. Papa Pat and Brother Bill decided that we were just going to have "a day on the town." We went out to lunch at KFC and then we spent the remaining time touring the small town of Taylorsville. We went to countless thrift stores and antique shops and were just goofy. We met so many people when we were just walking around. Because Taylorsville was such a small town and they knew everyone who lived in it, if they didn't know who you were, they knew you had to be with Youthworks. Everyone in the town was so thankful we were there and would tell us how much it meant to them that they were there with either their words, hospitality, and even gifts. I absolutely fell in love with that town and the people in it. Also, that day, I became so close with the people in my team (Go Pit Crew #20, Tony Stewart!). It's amazing how you can spend only a week with people and they become some of your closest friends. I still stay in contact with the people in my group. God showed me that day just how important it is to just love and love and love all the time like the people in North Carolina did and my team did.
The last two days of service were spent working with the impoverished children of the town in a Vacation Bible School sort of setting called Kids Club. There, the kids could sing songs, see skits, do arts and crafts, and play games with the Youthworks teens. Usually, the teens have their specific jobs that they administrate (i.e. crafts, games, etc.) but for the most part, all of the teens get a chance to work with all of the kids. This year, I was assigned to work with a certian child. His name was Skyler, he was six years old, and was blind. I had worked with deaf and hard-of-hearing children before, but I had never worked with a blind child. I was kind of nervous about it, actually. One of the leaders from Illinois, Tom, was helping me work with Skyler as well. When Skyler first arrived, Tom and I introduced ourselves by extending our hands so Skyler could touch them and saying our names. Skyler immediately grabbed our hands tightly and said in his cute, little North Carolina accent, "Hello! My name's Skyler and we're gonna be friends!" Just then, this little boy grabbed my heart. Tom and I excorted him to the playground where we let him swing. Skyler loves trains so we began to play his favorite game, "The Skyler Train." He would swing high up in the air and Tom and I would yell back and forth, "Cabuse to engine, cabuse to engine! Skyler watch out, there's a hill up ahead!" Skyler would laugh and play right along, conducting the storyline of The Skyler Train. We played this game over and over again and for hours. Skyler would also walk up to other kids (with Tom and my help) and say to them, "Jesus loves you very much, and so do I!" It make me smile evey time he did it. Throughout the day, Tom and I would continue to stay by Skyler's side, playing The Skyler Train and helping him with the other activities the teens had planned for the kids. Randomly throughout the day, Skyler would lean over to me and whisper in my ear, "Allison? I loooove you." It tugged on my heart strings every single time. Throughout the two days, I fell in love with little Skyler; he showed me so much in such a short amount of time. He showed me how to play like no one is watching, how to love with his whole heart, and to share the love of Christ with everyone he met. He showed me how to have faith and how to love as a child whose "view" of the world was not tainted by sin. He just followed the Lord "blindly," knowing the Lord would lead him. There are so many things that impacted my life about Skyler that I can't even describe in words. His mom uploaded a video of him on Youtube, so I encourage you to check it out and maybe you can understand why I fell in love with him the way I did. What a beautiful child of God.
Those were my favorite highlights from my North Carolina trip...if there is anything else you would like to know about, please let me know. I would love to share them with you! Stay tuned for highlights from Rwanda and the college update.
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