By Jenn Kingsley
After being here for a couple of weeks without her, my fellow intern Taylor finally got to Atlantic City on May 31. Right away, we were presented with a bunch of materials and given the assignment to determine a curriculum plan for Spirit Week at Ziegler School in the inner city of Philadelphia.
Taylor and I spent hours of work brainstorming and reading through the material that was given to us. We had no idea what was in store for us for the up coming week, but we wanted to be fully prepared for whatever came our way.
The Grace Falls family partnered with Northeast Community Outreach, with the help of three women from Dayspring Baptist in Mobile, Alabama, Ed from Heritage Baptist in Cantonment, FL and Toby and Kyleen of Impact International Ministries in Kentucky, worked hard to make this a fun-filled week for students and faculty.
I was terrified to get up in front of 200+ kids and teach them principles such as hope, individuality, self-control, and friendship. On Monday I quickly noticed that the curriculum that Taylor and I had put together was not going to relate to students in the urban environment. As a team, we all worked together to adjust our plans and come up with activities that would be best suited for these students.
I am a very structured person, I like plans, and to know what is in store. As I served at Ziegler, God really worked with me to trust in His plans and to be able to go with the flow. To be honest, I am so thankful that this is how things worked out. I learned that I do not need to rely on my own plans and schedule, but rely on the Lord’s plans for me.
Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will accomplish for you today.
Continuously all week long Exodus 14:13 kept coming to my mind. So often I like to have control over a situation I knew that God was reminding me to just stand still, don't stress out, because the Lord always has the right things planed.
Our team lead assemblies everyday that included interactive videos and games so we could reach out and get personal with the students. As the week progressed, we began to build relationships with these students. I would walk down the hallways and was bombarded with hugs from kids that were so excited that a group of individuals would come to their school everyday of the week to show them love, compassion, and most of all, have some fun! To say the least, I felt like a celebrity that week.
Out of the 550 students in the school, this one little kindergartner really stood out to me. Her name was Charlie; she has the brightest blue eyes and beautiful curly hair. The timid look on her face immediately got my attention. Throughout the week I was able to get to know more about her through talking, laughter, and dancing, of course! Every time we passed each other in the hallway we always gave each other this goofy face, followed by heart felt laughter. She really won me over.
Though our team was not able to teach theses principles in a biblical perspective, Christ revealed Himself throughout the week. The children really took in and understood what we were teaching. Though this was the first of many projects being done at Ziegler School, I am so blessed to just have been able to be apart of a great team that spent time at this school. Being able to come alongside the great kids and faculty to encourage, uplift, and just love on this community has really touched my heart.
I am excited to see what is in store in the future with Northeast Community Outreach and Ziegler School!
