Since my trip to Seattle last night... I've felt really happy! I couldn't fall asleep for an hour and a half after I got in bed because I just felt so happy and motivated and wonderful!
...Of course that happiness kinda died when I woke up at 5:40am realizing I had only gotten about 5 1/2 hours of sleep... But hey, that's what naps are for, right?!
I have so much I want to tell you about how it all went, but I don't want it to become old news for you because I might use part of it in my girls camp devo (because yes, I have been prepping for that since laurels conference a few months ago.... be impressed) BUT IT WAS SO AMAZING. Good feelings all over. Happy smiles. Lots of love to people I didn't even know. Bonding with my fellow priest and laurels, and talking with everybody on the bus coming home about our experiences and everyone growing from what each other learned! Picture it like a testimony meeting, only cooler ...Seriously. Gah. Service. What a cool thing. Love love love it.
Biggest lesson learned (which is really just a big fat duh) We're all the same. One lady I talked to who had started to turn her life around and was in school and working, she told me she would still come back to the homeless people because she knows what it's like to be there, and any of us could find ourselves out on the streets someday and she wants them to be there for her, incase that happens, just like how she is there for them right now. The other big thing I realized is that I thought I was doing service to them, but they were the ones doing service for me.
That woman who I had talked to, had begun to leave with her husband, but she made her way to me instead and gave me this wonderful hug as if she'd known me since I was a baby and told me to keep doing what I do. I love her and I hardly know her! Funny how that works!
