From one of our Work Crew staff
Posted on Friday, September 9, 2011 by
From one of our Tacoma YFC Work Crew staff:
I took a few of my girls to Canyons as Work Crew. Some have known the Lord for a few years, one, "Destiny," just got saved last November. She has changed so much in the past several months and truly loves the Lord and desires to serve Him. There are many areas of her life that God has been bringing into alignment with His desires including getting her back into school (she had dropped out), restoring her relationship with her mom (who had kicked her out of the house) and her forgiving her father (for his drug addiction). It has been an incredible transformation to watch.
God has been teaching Destiny about perseverance and being on Work Crew at Canyons was the perfect next step for her. When life has gotten difficult, all she has known to do was to quit (i.e. dropping out of school). Work Crew is like stepping into a full time job, getting you up early and keeping you out late (without a paycheck motivating you to keep going when you'd rather not!) Destiny has never had a job and this definitely pressed her.
I knew it would be especially challenging when, in the snack shop, she got assigned to taking orders and running the register for the week. Now for someone who has had difficulty in school and math especially, this was a daunting task. With limited training, she was quickly slammed with a line that went on seemingly forever and had to in a split second remember which cup went with the float verses the shake, etc, what the flavor abbreviations were for all the ice creams, italian sodas, etc. as she wrote it on the cups and add their names. Then to key it in correctly, after having looked up the cost and remembering to give correct change after the 6th grader on the other side dumped wadded up, soggy (because they had been at the pool) cash on the counter...that is unless they had a tab, which required a whole additional procedure. Then imagine kids changing their minds, questions being asked from others down the line and an overall pressure of a line 30 deep. It was overwhelming to say the least (I can say this it true because I was on the other register!)
At the end of the night, she had to count her till. I remember looking over at her the first night across the snack shop and tears were coming down her cheeks as she heard the news that her till was off...and not just by a dollar or two. She was frustrated at herself, frustrated at the job she had been assigned and she began to shut down. After some hugs, reminders that this was her first day and she was learning and the sheer fact that she was getting to go to bed soon, she settled down a little.
The next day, I had been praying for her, knowing that she was dealing with failure and had to return to the place that she had failed. I was shocked that when I asked how she felt about the register she said that she did not like it, but wanted to go back to it again! I am pretty sure she was ten times more nervous this time, but she went back. I wish I could say that the lines got shorter as the week went on, but they did the opposite...got REALLY long and we were told we had the busiest week that the snack shop manager has ever seen! I also wish I could say that she was never off on her till again...although one day she was only off by $2 (which we celebrated!!) What I can say, though, is she was faced with failure day after day and kept on getting back on the horse. I'm not sure many would have had the character to do that.
Perseverance is one of the most difficult things for many of the youth that we work with. If they fail or even think there is a possibility they could fail, they more often than not give up. It has been the focus of many prayers and the subject of many Bible studies. Destiny may have no idea the magnitude of her victory at camp. Sure, she had some cash register victory, but she had victory that will propel her massively forward in all areas of her life. In her trial, she looked to Jesus, and He gave her the strength to go back, again and again. These are the lessons that cannot be taught, but must be experienced. I am so proud of her!