Last week, as I mentioned before, we had a group of short-term volunteers come to the school. They were incredible. When they came, their objectives were to paint the new classrooms upstairs, help me plan English classes, and put our library together. The first two of those objectives were easily met (and happily received!), but the third was a very lofty goal. Putting our library together involved cataloging all the books, stamping the inside, assigning Dewey Decimal numbers, and putting a label from our school on the outside. They spent three days straight doing all these tasks and ended up having probably about 3000 books in place and making our library a gorgeous location for the students to go.
They also made me really happy. I absolutely loved having them at the school because of the life they gave and the reminder to me to keep my eyes open so I don’t miss the joy and gifts of life. I truly believe that you can learn the most about your world when you talk to people for whom that type of world is new. 
I also learned from them a bit about myself. I have been on and off the fence about short-term mission trips; it is a lot of money to travel a long ways and do something that may have been able to be achieved with more ease and efficiency without the travel, but during our conversations and watching a passion for service grow in their eyes, voice, and heart, my faith in short-term service was affirmed. If I can do anything in my life to facilitate more of these experiences, I would be so happy!The group also left “happy bags” filled with notes from each of them to each of us about things they’re grateful for… I’m grateful they came!
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