A letter to the kids who changed my life.
I think this is the letter I've had the most desire to write for the past six or seven months. And I know the Lord will give me the words to say at the right time.
And right now, as I should be doing economics homework, and I have plans in an hour, is probably not the most ideal time. It's funny how the Lord works that way.
It's funny how the Lord works in general, really.
How He takes the broken. the messed up. the afraid. the unsure.
And uses them all for His glory.
How He puts certain people.. certain places on your heart.
I hope that as you read this, your heart is encouraged.
But more than that, I hope your heart is burdened. Burdened to serve. Burdened to pray.
This is a letter to my kids in Florence.. but there are kids who need to be heard, to be shown Jesus all over our country, all over our world.
Jesus loves all the children of the world. Can't you, too?
Hi kiddos.
Miss Alana here.
I know I just saw you at Christmas, but wow I already miss you so much.
College is good. I know it's hard to believe that I live at my school, but I do, and it is really fun.
And since I know what your next question will be, yes, I did bring my car and allll my clothes back to school.
I hope you're enjoying the new Bible study this semester. I know it can be hard to pay attention, but I've heard you've been doing great. I also heard how much fun you have opening your own Bibles. I'm so glad. Keep up the good work. I wish I could be there to see it.
I've been off to college for two years now, but I still think of you every day. Pretty much every Tuesday I try to figure out if I can skip class, or meetings, and jump in the car to make it in time. Right now that's not working, but I'm still staying hopeful.
I hope you know how proud of you I am.
I've seen you grow.. literally. Some of you I've known for over 6 years now. That's crazy. I've watched you grow inches and learn how to dunk basketballs and swing by yourselves.
I've seen you grow mentally too. I've seen you grow into compassionate, sweet kids. Everyone has their own struggles, but I'm so proud of the kind, giving attitudes that show when I need help carrying a basket, or cleaning up a game.
I hope you know how much you mean to me. I talk about you all the time. Seriously, ask my friends, they'll tell you. I miss your laughs, your (very corny) jokes. I miss the 20,000 selfies you take on my phone. I miss the hugs and the smiles when you finally memorized the verse you've been working on for three weeks.
I know that I always asked you to say please and thank you, but I need to say thank you to you too.
Some of you may not remember me when I first came over. But let me tell ya, I was really really scared. I didn't think any of you would like me, or respect me. I didn't think I would be helping out there for a long time. Guess I was wrong on that, huh?
So thank you, sweet ones, for being my friends. Thank you for letting me color with you, and jump rope, and hula hoop. Thank you for trying to teach me how to dance, even if I'm no good at it.
Thank you for respecting me. Even when I was 16 years old and had no experience teaching 24 of you, you sat (kinda) quietly and listened to instructions. Thank you for playing every silly game I could find off the internet related to Moses and the Red Sea. Thank you for letting me decorate our classroom in an effort to make it a better environment.. and thank you for telling me how pretty it looked every time I changed it. And thank you for teaching me how to be loud and use my teacher voice.
I don't know if you know this, but you taught me a lot more things too. I learned a lot of patience during my four years of being there every Tuesday night. I learned how to maintain control of a classroom full of tiny, highly energetic, little people. And how to trust that the Lord would provide the exact number of red colored pencils I needed for a craft project.
You taught me how to be confident when I spoke. You taught me what forgiveness looks like when you misbehaved so badly I would sob on my way home because I didn't know how to handle it. And yet, that same one of you is now the first to hug me when I come visit and tell me how much you miss me. You taught me how to ask for help. You taught me, many, many, many times that I could not do this by my own strength but had to depend on the Lord. It's because of you that the Lord taught me that I can use my voice to glorify Him through raising money and writing blogs. I can't thank you enough for that.
It was because of you, each of you, that I decided to go into Public Relations. Because I want to work with nonprofits who work with kids like you.
I hope that some of the things I taught you have stuck with you. It's okay if you don't remember every Bible lesson. But I hope you remember other things. I hope you remember the time we spent laughing together. I hope your remember how we opened the Bible together every week. I hope you remember to use kind words when you're with your friends. I hope you remember jumping rope outside in the bright sunshine. I know that I will never forget your faces when I knew all the words to a (Christian) rap song (All the saints by Andy Mineo).
I hope you remember that you are important.
I hope you never forget that you are valued.
I want you to know that I will never quit fighting for you. I am always, always on your side. I will always support this ministry, and I will always support you. I am still advocating for you, even from Columbia. That's why I created our new website www.eastflorencemission.org. So that people can find out about how great you all are, from all over.
You are so special. Each of you. I know that everyday you have people tell you that you are worthless. They let you think that you are not important. But they are so wrong.
You are smart.
And you are funny.
You are kind.
You are respected.
And you are so, so, so loved.
My sweet EFM kiddos, thank you for grabbing my heart over six years ago and not giving it back. You will always have a chunk of it.
I am still praying every day that the Lord will send the right people to come hang out with you, to invest in you, to help you grow.
I am praying that the right people will come along who want to build permanent relationships with you. That they won't be there for a week, but will come walk alongside you for a long, long time.
And I'm praying for the people that are there now. They care so much about you. They love you an incredible amount. I hope you know that too.
I am praying that the Lord will work in each of your hearts. That He will show you just how good He is, and how much He loves you.
It is so, so much.
I should probably go now. I'm getting a little teary-eyed thinking of your sweet faces. I just wanted to let you know that I've had you on my mind a little extra the past couple weeks.
So I'll end this letter the same way I ended the last class I taught my senior year.
I will always be here for you. I love you so, so much. And Jesus loves you so so much more.
See y'all soon. Be good.
Love,
*******************************************************************************
For more information about these cool kids and East Florence Mission, check out our website at www.eastflorencemission.org or email us at eastflorencemission@gmail.com.
If you want to read more about East Florence Mission, here are some older blog posts that can give you more details:
http://hispurposenotmyplans.blogspot.com/2014/08/east-florence-mission.html
http://hispurposenotmyplans.blogspot.com/2015/05/east-florence-mission-end.html
http://hispurposenotmyplans.blogspot.com/2015/12/christmas-2015-at-east-florence-mission.html
If you want to receive all my blog updates by email, please subscribe on the right side of the screen with your name and email.
And right now, as I should be doing economics homework, and I have plans in an hour, is probably not the most ideal time. It's funny how the Lord works that way.
It's funny how the Lord works in general, really.
How He takes the broken. the messed up. the afraid. the unsure.
And uses them all for His glory.
How He puts certain people.. certain places on your heart.
I hope that as you read this, your heart is encouraged.
But more than that, I hope your heart is burdened. Burdened to serve. Burdened to pray.
This is a letter to my kids in Florence.. but there are kids who need to be heard, to be shown Jesus all over our country, all over our world.
Jesus loves all the children of the world. Can't you, too?
A letter to the kids that changed my life:
Hi kiddos.
Miss Alana here.
I know I just saw you at Christmas, but wow I already miss you so much.
College is good. I know it's hard to believe that I live at my school, but I do, and it is really fun.
And since I know what your next question will be, yes, I did bring my car and allll my clothes back to school.
I hope you're enjoying the new Bible study this semester. I know it can be hard to pay attention, but I've heard you've been doing great. I also heard how much fun you have opening your own Bibles. I'm so glad. Keep up the good work. I wish I could be there to see it.
I've been off to college for two years now, but I still think of you every day. Pretty much every Tuesday I try to figure out if I can skip class, or meetings, and jump in the car to make it in time. Right now that's not working, but I'm still staying hopeful.
I hope you know how proud of you I am.
I've seen you grow.. literally. Some of you I've known for over 6 years now. That's crazy. I've watched you grow inches and learn how to dunk basketballs and swing by yourselves.
I've seen you grow mentally too. I've seen you grow into compassionate, sweet kids. Everyone has their own struggles, but I'm so proud of the kind, giving attitudes that show when I need help carrying a basket, or cleaning up a game.
I hope you know how much you mean to me. I talk about you all the time. Seriously, ask my friends, they'll tell you. I miss your laughs, your (very corny) jokes. I miss the 20,000 selfies you take on my phone. I miss the hugs and the smiles when you finally memorized the verse you've been working on for three weeks.
I know that I always asked you to say please and thank you, but I need to say thank you to you too.
Some of you may not remember me when I first came over. But let me tell ya, I was really really scared. I didn't think any of you would like me, or respect me. I didn't think I would be helping out there for a long time. Guess I was wrong on that, huh?
So thank you, sweet ones, for being my friends. Thank you for letting me color with you, and jump rope, and hula hoop. Thank you for trying to teach me how to dance, even if I'm no good at it.
Thank you for respecting me. Even when I was 16 years old and had no experience teaching 24 of you, you sat (kinda) quietly and listened to instructions. Thank you for playing every silly game I could find off the internet related to Moses and the Red Sea. Thank you for letting me decorate our classroom in an effort to make it a better environment.. and thank you for telling me how pretty it looked every time I changed it. And thank you for teaching me how to be loud and use my teacher voice.
I don't know if you know this, but you taught me a lot more things too. I learned a lot of patience during my four years of being there every Tuesday night. I learned how to maintain control of a classroom full of tiny, highly energetic, little people. And how to trust that the Lord would provide the exact number of red colored pencils I needed for a craft project.
You taught me how to be confident when I spoke. You taught me what forgiveness looks like when you misbehaved so badly I would sob on my way home because I didn't know how to handle it. And yet, that same one of you is now the first to hug me when I come visit and tell me how much you miss me. You taught me how to ask for help. You taught me, many, many, many times that I could not do this by my own strength but had to depend on the Lord. It's because of you that the Lord taught me that I can use my voice to glorify Him through raising money and writing blogs. I can't thank you enough for that.
It was because of you, each of you, that I decided to go into Public Relations. Because I want to work with nonprofits who work with kids like you.
I hope that some of the things I taught you have stuck with you. It's okay if you don't remember every Bible lesson. But I hope you remember other things. I hope you remember the time we spent laughing together. I hope your remember how we opened the Bible together every week. I hope you remember to use kind words when you're with your friends. I hope you remember jumping rope outside in the bright sunshine. I know that I will never forget your faces when I knew all the words to a (Christian) rap song (All the saints by Andy Mineo).
I hope you remember that you are important.
I hope you never forget that you are valued.
I want you to know that I will never quit fighting for you. I am always, always on your side. I will always support this ministry, and I will always support you. I am still advocating for you, even from Columbia. That's why I created our new website www.eastflorencemission.org. So that people can find out about how great you all are, from all over.
You are so special. Each of you. I know that everyday you have people tell you that you are worthless. They let you think that you are not important. But they are so wrong.
You are smart.
And you are funny.
You are kind.
You are respected.
And you are so, so, so loved.
I am still praying every day that the Lord will send the right people to come hang out with you, to invest in you, to help you grow.
I am praying that the right people will come along who want to build permanent relationships with you. That they won't be there for a week, but will come walk alongside you for a long, long time.
And I'm praying for the people that are there now. They care so much about you. They love you an incredible amount. I hope you know that too.
I am praying that the Lord will work in each of your hearts. That He will show you just how good He is, and how much He loves you.
It is so, so much.
I should probably go now. I'm getting a little teary-eyed thinking of your sweet faces. I just wanted to let you know that I've had you on my mind a little extra the past couple weeks.
So I'll end this letter the same way I ended the last class I taught my senior year.
I will always be here for you. I love you so, so much. And Jesus loves you so so much more.
See y'all soon. Be good.
Love,
Miss Alana.
*******************************************************************************
For more information about these cool kids and East Florence Mission, check out our website at www.eastflorencemission.org or email us at eastflorencemission@gmail.com.
If you want to read more about East Florence Mission, here are some older blog posts that can give you more details:
http://hispurposenotmyplans.blogspot.com/2014/08/east-florence-mission.html
http://hispurposenotmyplans.blogspot.com/2015/05/east-florence-mission-end.html
http://hispurposenotmyplans.blogspot.com/2015/12/christmas-2015-at-east-florence-mission.html
If you want to receive all my blog updates by email, please subscribe on the right side of the screen with your name and email.
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