Short term missionairies with some of the English campers
Short term mission team does English Camp!
From Pauline: I think a very apt phrase, which sums up my time with the short term mission team and English Camp, is that it was an amazing “learning experience”. I must have told myself every five (5) seconds, “I need to remember that, or change that, or do that, for next year”. I think my notes would be able to fill a memory stick with everything that could be stored on there.
The thing that I am most thrilled about, which only indirectly has to do with the Team here, was being able to communicate in Albanian to schedule, and then change, and reschedule, and then change, all the necessary events (it was a little like being Julie McCoy, your friendly cruise director on The Love Boat).
The fact that I could actually understand the person on the other end of the telephone was a miracle in and of itself. I am amazed at how difficult it is to speak on the phone, without seeing the person to decipher, with bated breath, all the hand and face gestures (anything that might help me understand what is being said). Then, only to have that little triumph negated by my ability to still sound like a 3 year old learning her words. At least my point got across.
Now, on to the Team. There were twelve (12) diverse and loving people, each with their own distinctive talents and experiences which brought them here. It was almost overwhelming to see them all in one place, each with their own thoughts, cares and needs, and realize that I was the one that had to take care of them. I continually wanted to look around for backup. But their appreciation, concern for me and my family made it a blessing to try and make their experience the best it could possibly be. I want to thank each and every one of them for their effort, patience, and giving spirit!
Unfortunately, this being my first experience hosting a Mission Team and running a camp, I am sure they felt a little more like guinea pigs than Team members. Like I said above, all I kept saying was “boy, I have to remember that for next year”, which of course does not truly help those that are here NOW, but maybe says something about my willingness for improvement.
We shared some real blessings together, both at the camp and after. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing the all the children so excited about the craft projects, anxious to take them home to show their parents, singing songs to themselves that they had learned earlier in the day, laughing and playing beautifully together with the games, and listening and asking thoughtful questions with the spiritual talks. It was wonderful to see the culmination of all the planning that went into the camp. My favorite part was eating with lunch with all the Team members and our Albanian helpers. Voltaire, our cook for the school, made us wonderful meals each day that I think everyone really looked forward too, obviously I did. George was the night time entertainment, taking those out that wanted to tour Tirana and see what Albania was all about. Even though I missed some time bonding with everyone, it was still nice to have a little down time only then to be regaled with stories of how great my husband is, like somehow I wasn’t quite sure about that.
I think my overall goal this year, based on my complete and utter lack of experience with camps and short term teams, was to make everything as organized (something I thankfully do know something about) and smooth as possible in order to enable the others to effectively do their job. I think that part was accomplished, and the fact that I am not swooning at the idea of doing it again next year, is also an accomplishment.
