February Review

To My Friends and Family,

February. Wow. I can’t believe it’s already gone! Time really does fly.

This last month was quite a roller coaster for me. We started off with our first “official” camp over the first weekend. It was our last camp with one of our team members called Sara. She is from California, and had been here since September. She was heading home, ready to get back into the routine of a normal life.

Sara asked me to go to London with her, and I jumped on the opportunity. So, an hour after the kids left on Sunday, Sara and I hopped on a bus and 4 hours later were hauling her luggage up and down the stairs of the Underground. We stayed with some friends of Sara’s, who were kind enough to let us crash on their couches for a couple of nights. Monday was spent being tourists, riding the red double decker bus, seeing all the big sights in London, eating lunch in a pub, and enjoying the cold rain! We had a great time taking in all the sights from the safety of the covered part of the bus, and laughed about how ridiculous it was to be a tourist in February! We enjoyed ourselves though, until Tuesday when I went with her to the airport. It was hard to say goodbye, even though I’d only known her a short while. I miss her, but I know she’s where God wants her to be.

Tuesday evening I took another 4 hour bus ride back into Sheffield, and headed straight into a half term camp. We had 52 kids come in and stay until Friday evening. The camp was a lot of work. I was on support team, so I basically spent most of my time sweeping, washing up after meals and scrubbing toilets. We had a rowdy group of kids, but they all seemed to really enjoy their stay with us. We heard some amazing stories of kids coming to know Christ and others being encouraged to be bolder with their faith. Overall it was a great week.

Friday evening I went with Danielle up to Newcastle, another bus ride. This time though, it only took two and half hours and we were there. Saturday we went into Durham and met up with a former Oakes team member for lunch. After lunch we visited the Durham Cathedral, which was absolutely gorgeous. Sunday through Tuesday, aside from church service Sunday morning, were spent laying on the couches at Danielle’s house and eating until we couldn’t breathe. We came back Tuesday evening and went back to work on Thursday, with just enough time for the last camp of the month.

We’ll call this camp the “Test of Kelly’s Patience Camp”. We had a group of 12 girls that pushed every button Becky, my co-dorm leader and I had. They tested every limit and made sure we knew that they were not going to listen to anything we had to say. They became divided within the dorm, and as a result lost their late night dorm treat for being mean to one another. Dorm times were difficult, seeing as how the girls wouldn’t stop talking long enough to hear what anyone else had to say. They spoke over each other, over us, and about irrelevant things. It was a trying weekend for me. I learned a very hard lesson in grace that weekend, realizing that not all children were going to be as respectful and loving as the kids at theRockEternal are. Needless to say, when I found out I would be dorm leading again the following weekend I was not excited.

And then in walked the 11-15 year olds. The girls that reminded me of why I work with youth. You’ll hear more about them in my March update letter, but as a teaser, just know that God revealed Himself to me in the most amazing ways this last weekend. He gently showed me, again, how loving and kind He is. He gave me a group of girls that shook my world up, and gave me a reason to smile again.

Well, this letter has by far exceeded the length it should have, so I’ll close with this. February was a month of ups and downs, both of which I’m extremely grateful for. I’m learning daily about His provision, love and grace. It’s amazing to see how God takes our circumstances and teaches us through them.

I pray you are all well. I love and miss you.

In His love,
Kelly Hageman