Summer journal entry

Last day of the Mission Trip: 8/2/12

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We waved goodbye to them as they piled into the twelve-passenger van (which did not have nearly enough seats). They stuck their small hands out the windows, hollering, "we will miss you! we love you!" Jasmine was sitting in the front seat with another small girl on someone's lap. She was crying and wouldn't look out the window even though we were all smiling and waving. I stared at her until she looked up at me.

"Bye Jasmine!" I shouted, hoping she could hear me as I waved energetically. She gave a small wave back and sadly dropped her head again. VBS was over for the summer, and we wouldn't see each other again. I never like goodbyes. I don't think many people like the, but this wasn't even a "see you next Christmas!" kind of goodbye, with a promise of being reunited. We has only known them for four days, but somehow when they all piled into that too-small can, they stole our hearts in that short amount of time - a mere week. But how? Was it their eagerness for attention and play and the way the instantly loved us, wanted us to pick them up and hold them? But even with the shy, scared ones - they captured us just as the outgoing, boisterous children did. We wanted them to trust us, smile at us.

Just a few days before, Jasmine wanted to fall into my arms and have me catch her while Emily snapped a picture. She closed her eyes, crossed her arms, and fell back onto what could've easily been the hard cement floor if I hadn't caught her. I had just met her - she came right up to me: "Hello! My name's Jaz. Jasmine. Like the princess. What's your name? May-gun?" She skeptically looked up at me, unsure if I was joking with her about such as strange name: May-gun. She then smiled. I promised her I'd see her the next day at VBS but I ended up at the construction site before I headed over to VBS for the end of the day.

"Hey! I was lookin' for you today!" She stood in front of me at VBS, hands on her hips. I stumbled over my excuse and tried to explain how I was actually painting at the construction site but she didn't want any of it: "You told me you would be here!"

One of my favorite pictures (Jasmine is wearing the white shirt)

I sat down at the picnic table when Jasmine asked if she could paint on my hand. And since I'm the biggest pushover... I said yes and let her paint a little flower, a heart, some polka dots. Soon the other kids abandoned their basketball games and chalk drawings to see what she was doing. A few more of them picked up the paintbrushes and started painting on my arms and eventually all around my neck once there wasn't anymore space on my arms. They wrote their initials, "love,' "blessed," and "Jesus loves you."  

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End of journal entry