Alabama+Heatherley

AlabamaHeatherley Mrs. Bear Period 6 28 October 2011 Albuquerque,New Mexico My alarm clock rand at about a quarter till 4 in the morning. I threw on my fuzzy lion slippers, a pink shirt and some shorts, grabbed my bag, and headed out the door. Even though it was early, it was still a little warm, since it was the middle of June. “This is so stupid.” I thought. My mom was making me go on a retreat with my youth group, when I would much rather be lying in the sun, and hanging out with my friends. We arrived at the church, and I threw my stuff in the bus. I said goodbye to my parents, and climbed in, dreading the 15 hour trip toAlbuquerque,New Mexico. As the drive went on, I thought to myself, why am I here? Why do these people need us? I mean, it’s not like they’re a third world country. It’s the US. Nothing **that** bad could be going on. We arrived at a college-like campus, with about 3,000 kids running around, playing games and greeting other people. The rooms were nice, and the building looked just about brand new. It was just like a hotel! We met at the auditorium at 8:30 to do prayer, worship, and get our schedules for the upcoming day. We were to start the community service the next day and we were going to the Boy’s and Girl’s Club. I kept wondering in my head why we were doing this. Why was I going to have to be out in the 103 degree weather for a week straight to help some “kids in need”? Whatever. I looked around as we pulled up to the club at about 8 in the morning. There was dirt everywhere, little kids were running around a playground in ripped up clothes, and some with no shoes. The rust red building was old and falling apart. This is not what I had imagined at all. We carried the coolers of food in, and unloaded them. All it was, was simple meat and cheese sandwiches, cookies, and bottles of water. But when they saw it, their faces lighted up like it was a feast. All we did was eat, and play with the kids the entire day. The kids had told us their life stories. Some were in foster care, some were here every day, because their parents didn’t want to have to deal with them, some just had no where else to go. I’d never had thought this would happen here. By the end of the day, I had connected with one of the girls so much. She told me every detail about herself, and how us coming there had such a big impact on her. So what I believe is that even if you don’t want to do something for someone else, especially someone in need, just do it. You don’t know how much of an impact you’re making on them.