At all times
I am currently sitting in one of the offices at Morumbi waiting for Pastor Marcos to get out of a meeting so we can have our lunch meeting. It is sunny and warm outside but freezing indoors. Yesterday we finally had our planning meeting for next week's VBS. I walked out of there feeling so stressed! Aline (who is 16) and I are the one's in charge and we have no idea how many kids will show up. We will need quite a few volunteers and the curriculum we'll be using is being purchased today (so we haven't even seen it yet!). Nothing like leaving things to the last minute. Unless I manage to let go and leave things entirely in God's hands there is no way I'll get through next week (without a hernia or grey hairs at least). It is at times like these I seriously wish I was a more laid back person. Thankfully I am feeling less anxious today and I know that is definitely a God thing. I am definitely learning how to rely on him at all times.
Perhaps you are thinking, its a VBS, how hard can that be? Well, these are not your average kids. While some of them are well behaved most of them are not used to respecting authority figures. Getting a whole group of them to sit still for more than 5 minutes is practically a miracle. Considering the fact that children's ministry is not really my thing combined with their rambuctiousness and well...who knows what will happen. I know I need to start by scraping my idea of this looking like a VBS back home because it definitely won't be the same.
Even our planning meeting was different then it would have been in Canada. Three leaders all giving ideas and suggestions getting what felt like nowhere (o.k. maybe not so different, jk!). When I voiced my frustration a bit the pastor was unimpressed saying this is the way we do things here Julianna. While I know he is right and I need to be more patient I am getting tired of hearing that. What happened to efficiency? But efficiency is not the point, what matters is that everyone gets heard and that all ideas are considered. The pastor left a lot of things up to Aline and I, which was great, but when he made a suggestion and I suggested that maybe that wouldn't work I was shut down (nicely of course). Anyways, I can just see that I'm gonna have to go with the flow next week and not have any expectations. Please pray that I can do that. Thank-you!
Perhaps you are thinking, its a VBS, how hard can that be? Well, these are not your average kids. While some of them are well behaved most of them are not used to respecting authority figures. Getting a whole group of them to sit still for more than 5 minutes is practically a miracle. Considering the fact that children's ministry is not really my thing combined with their rambuctiousness and well...who knows what will happen. I know I need to start by scraping my idea of this looking like a VBS back home because it definitely won't be the same.
Even our planning meeting was different then it would have been in Canada. Three leaders all giving ideas and suggestions getting what felt like nowhere (o.k. maybe not so different, jk!). When I voiced my frustration a bit the pastor was unimpressed saying this is the way we do things here Julianna. While I know he is right and I need to be more patient I am getting tired of hearing that. What happened to efficiency? But efficiency is not the point, what matters is that everyone gets heard and that all ideas are considered. The pastor left a lot of things up to Aline and I, which was great, but when he made a suggestion and I suggested that maybe that wouldn't work I was shut down (nicely of course). Anyways, I can just see that I'm gonna have to go with the flow next week and not have any expectations. Please pray that I can do that. Thank-you!
Comments