Working is hardly working when you’re having fun. Fun doing what I love, fun being in an incredible place, and fun with the people who make it that way. When I first arrived, we hit the ground running, but since I stepped off that plane it has felt like nothing short of paradise.
I hardly consider being here work, because working with children’s ministry is not work for me. It is neither hard nor tiring, but exciting and pleasant. I love teaching children about God, and I love learning about God from children. God has blessed me with an incredible patience for children, because sometimes even I don’t know how I do it. There’s something I see in children that I can’t seem to find in adults. They are innocent, and their love has no filter. All the madness and sticky fingers are all worth it when I know that I’ve brightened a child’s day just a little bit more.
Now I won’t drag on even more about how wonderful, beautiful, and amazing Hawaii is, because let’s be honest I brag about it all the time as it is. But Hawaii is growing to be my home away from home and the paradise I’ve always wished for. I’m slowly settling in and falling in love more and more each day.
When friends back home ask me what has been my favorite part so far about being in Hawaii, my answer is hands down the friends I’ve made. Coming into this internship I was afraid that I would have a hard time making friends my age, and I pictured myself just spending all my time with little kids. I claim to be shy, while others may argue otherwise, so making all these new friends in such a short amount of time has been something completely new to me. I haven’t been here very long, but I have every intent of keeping the relationships I’ve formed even after I leave.
I don’t dare say what I’m doing in Hawaii is work, because in my mind I picture work as boring and uneventful. Hawaii has been the complete opposite; it’s an adventure. An adventure filled with inside jokes amongst friends and giggling little kids running around. It’s not a job, but an opportunity for me to have the best summer imaginable.