One story, depending on the storyteller, could change your life forever. Little did I know that it would take a little girl’s story to change mine. Waking up at six o’clock on a summer morning with an alarm yelling in my ear was not part of what I planned to do for my summer. I was still half asleep and drowsy as can be when my alarm barked at me and startled me from my deep sleep. Rolling out of bed was no easy task either. I felt like everything was trying to hold me back and make me stay, so it took everything in me to get off of my bed, get dressed, grab my bags that I had packed from the night before, and head to church.
I pulled into the church parking lot and got out of my truck to see most everyone still dressed in their PJ’s. Watching everybody that was already there talking about how excited they were for the five day long trip and and what they were going to do along the way. There was a group of youth kids and pastors loading up bags and making sure everything was in order and where it should be. Everyone arrived about seven o’clock and we finished packing not soon after. We took roll call, prayed for the very long eight hour long journey to Amarillo, Tx, and loaded everyone into the vans and buses.
We had to leave by 7:00 a. m. and ,apparently, everyone already called who was sitting where and who they wanted to sit by. Being the odd person out most of the time, I was left to fend for myself and find my own seat. I wandered around for five minutes until someone called me over. The youngest youth pastor there, Tyler Gobert, who is like a brother to most of the people there, and called me over to his car. He told me that he made a seat just for me and that I needed to get in so that we could get there sooner. No one likes to be cramped into a car for a day.
I jumped in and we took off. The trip there was not as long as everyone thought it would be. We all took our naps and shared stories about each other, good and bad ones, and grew closer together just on thee way up there. There were also about 10 bathroom breaks in that one trip. The night we arrived and it was already 9:00 o’clock. We sat around the building, explained what was going to happen tomorrow and what groups we were in, and got ready for bed. The next morning we had to get up bright and early, at about 6:50 in the morning.
We had to do this all 5 days we stayed in Amarillo, but each day was something new. The first day, after we split into our groups and ate breakfast, we went to our activities and began our day. The first day there we pulled out a bunch of random slides and rock wall climbing. Kids from all over the town were coming over and joining us. All of them were laughing and smiling with joy. One child stuck out to me though. I went over to her and asked what was wrong. She must of been shy because she just looked down, but she also seemed sad for some reason.
I asked again but she just kept looking down. I asked this time if she wanted me to take her on the slides or get a snow cone and she slowly nodded her head. I went to grab her hand, but she pulled away and said she wanted to be picked up. I didn’t want to make her even more gloom, so I did as she requested. As she jumped on my back, I felt an odd feeling when I went to grab her leg for support. I looked down at her leg and saw that it was covered in burn marks and that her leg was full of scars. I got her a snow cone, put her down next to a shady area, and sat next to her.
I asked her about her leg and she told me about the accident that had happened to her when she was younger. It was such a sad story to hear that I got teary eyed just from listening to it. That little girl’s story was a life changing one. I realized that not every kid can have a luxurious and “perfect” life that a lot of kids have these days. Some, like the little girl, have to struggle everyday to fit in and not let the differences and hatred of others control who they are. The girl was so sweet and kind, even though so many people picked on her. Her story helped change my life and how I looked at others.
