Day 2 - Many Surprises - Zack

                On this trip I expected it to be the same as all the others, and after we got here and figured out what we are going to do this week it seemed like any other trip. I was told I was going to be doing physical labor which I was okay with and was looking forward to. But after we arrived to our worksite I was surprised to learn that what we really were going to be doing was help run a VBS camp at a church called New Beginnings. I have done VBS before many a times and was used to dealing with kids but the surprise quickly turned to shock when the kids started to arrive. The majority of the children were from native Canada called the First Nations and they all lived in the surrounding community in one of Vancouver’s poor neighborhoods. The kids ran amok and many did not listen to the simplest of instructions and some were constantly talking back and saying vulgar things to me that I did not expect to come out of an eight year olds mouth.

                One thing all these kids had in common with each other though was that they were all starved for attention because many had only a single parent living with them and had several brothers and sisters to compete for attention as well and I felt that it was our calling to provide it to them. Most kids just wanted someone to talk to or play with or climb on and showed that someone cared about them. I may not have expected to have to do this kind of work but I believe that this is much more meaningful then working in a soup kitchen or soup kitchen because we actually have a chance to change peoples’ lives doing what we are doing now.