For the next hour, this room is my workspace. This Thursday morning is a particularly busy morning at our ministry center. Just last week, we celebrated our 2nd class of vocational training students and we’ll welcome the 3rd class tomorrow, as they begin their orientation. Next week our 1st Bible School class will take the final exams for their 3rd semester.
People are running around finalizing certificates from their completed vocational training classes, preparing classrooms for the next group of students, visiting the library to study for exams, having meetings, finalizing details for upcoming events. Kiddos are running around waiting for their parents to finish what they are doing. There are clusters of people in every corner. Our center is a bustling hub of people today!
Meanwhile, my 1st meeting this morning started an hour late (which I’ve come to anticipate), putting my next one a little behind, and straight-up missing the next. All the while, I’m room-hopping every so often, to find a space that was not occupied, so I can adequately hear the concerns of the people I’m talking with and not disturb others. Often times, we’re able to plop chairs down anywhere outside, but these days it’s pretty cool around here and the wind is something fierce!
I say goodbye to my friends after our meeting and search for a place where I can catch up on some things before I need to leave. And I found an empty soon-to-be classroom. So I sit down on this cold cement floor and I’m frustrated because I had to make my friends wait to meet with me and totally missed the chance to meet someone who came to a seminar we hosted a couple weeks ago. While we were meeting, I had to ask them to pick up their chairs, walk across the parking lot to find another room, and then pause every so often as a student comes through to search for a book and others come in searching for their own private meetings spot. So. Many. People. – so little space.
So I just sit here for a while and breathe, staring at this empty room with the bare tables and lonely wood shavings on the ground - this brand new room that will welcome the carpentry class to its THIRD group of students in a couple of day. And though this morning was chaotic and (what felt like) rushed, I AM SO EXCITED! I’m so excited for all of these proud students coming to receive certificates that signify their accomplishments! I’m so excited that the Bible School students are so dedicated to their exams that they’re here to meet with their teachers and study as much as they can. I’m excited that we just doubled our classroom building and added 3 more offices and managed to fill them up in less than a week! I’m so. excited. that our Centre is a hub for interaction and excitement this morning. And I’m thankful for the lives we get to cross paths with.
Guys, it is so so easy to focus on the challenges here– and when I say “easy,” I mean I probably do so more than I highlight the beauty – but this morning, in this quiet, empty room, I am grateful.