The Orange Tree

I told some people I would start blogging again, simply because I miss it. Before you read on, know that I am not a very articulate person.. I'm really bad at saying what I mean, so I apologize in advance. Also, just so you are aware, I'm probably going to start off by telling 'Story of my life' stories.. because for some odd reason, I either have a LOT of them, or I'm the only one that's willing to acknowledge and share them. I like to think that they happen so that they can make someone else smile. :)

For those of you who don't know, right now I am currently at a Christian day camp in Chinatown, Boston, which is basically in the inner city. I have the opportunity to serve as a senior counselor this summer. Besides being a teacher and mentor to middle school students, being a senior counselor also means living 24/7 with the other senior counselors and pretty much sharing every meal with them.

So.. two nights ago at dinner, after having spent 72+ hours straight with everyone (of course I was already a bit loopy at this point), we were sitting around just talking about our various colleges. My friend Crystal goes to Syracuse University in upstate New York. Alex, who was a prospective student of Syracuse stated a unique fact about the university-- Syracuse has the only orange tree in the entire state of New York.

Of course, in my mind, because orange is my favorite color, I'm thinking, "Whoa. A tree that's orange." Out loud, that translated into, "How are trees orange!?" Everyone was laughing at me. Apparently they weren't talking about the color, but the fruit.

Story of my life.

But besides sitting around talking about orange trees and laughing at poor Blair, I have learned a lot since being here at Project Destiny. So far it's only been training, which in itself is pretty boring. But slowly and surely I'm getting to know my team better. Everyone here is so freaking talented! The amount of talent on this team is .. incredible and extremely humbling. It's so cool to see how everyone's gifts are well, first off God-given, and how they are used to glorify Him! For example, overall, a majority of the team is musically gifted. It makes me smile to see my teammates get so excited about jamming and playing worship songs simply because it brings them so much joy, which is glorifying to God!

Along with that, it's certainly been humbling because I came into this summer thinking I was okay at piano, but man, these people are good. If I had the same kind of determination and drive as they did, I could maybe be as good as them. The other senior counselor girls have been great as well. Jie Wen is teaching a class on singing and she needed the four of us to help her out with her class by trying out a song. Evangeline and Crystal have extensive experience with choir and Jie Wen just has a good voice. Of course, that leaves little old insecure me... I'm always reluctant to sing when I have to sing seriously. It was humbling because yeah, I had to acknowledge I wasn't a good singer, but they didn't let me stop there. They kept encouraging me and teaching me until I could sing with them and in the end, I was actually having fun taking singing seriously!

Can you believe it's only been day 4? Already at least 1 story of my life, and a life lesson. I can't wait to see what else God has in store for this summer.

Thanks for all your prayers and support! :)

Later,

Blair