Annika's story - "It all makes sense now!"

Written by Jamie Fendler, Capernaum Staff in Burnsville, MN - Thank you Jamie!

I met my friend, Annika, when she was a freshman. I would hang out at her adaptive softball games and she would turn around in the stands and giggle at me all throughout the game. Honestly, if someone had told me back then that Annika would be doing work crew heading into her senior year, I might not have believed them. But Annika has matured so much in her relationship with Christ and it has been so fun to be a part of! Since that year, Annika rarely misses a Capernaum club and has come as a camper to Castaway the last two summers.

After camp last summer, Annika started to ask me about doing work crew. So, when our region decided to do an all-metro work crew training, I asked Annika to come along!

On our way to the first day of training, Annika was full of questions. “Will I be the only one with a disability there?” she asked nervously. We had a great conversation about how her disability doesn’t define her, and in this setting, she can be whoever she wants to be. “So, I don’t even have to tell anyone that I have a disability?” she asked excitedly. No, Annika, just be you!

Each week Annika was so excited to attend the training. The students were given “homework assignments” to do each week to prepare them to best serve on work crew. Annika would text me throughout the week saying how excited she was that she finished her homework for that day. Part of

the weekly assignment was to memorize scripture. When the students were asked who had the verse memorized, Annika was the first to pop up and say the scripture in front of the whole group! She was so excited to talk with her peers about what she was learning about God.

On the second week of training, we broke up into groups to discuss the story of Jesus washing the disciple’s feet during the last supper and how it relates to work crew. After we laughed about how gross it was that Jesus had to touch other people’s stinky feet, we started to talk about the word “serve”(the memory scripture for that week was Matthew 10:45 – “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many”) As we were chatting, I could tell everything was clicking in to place for Annika. All of a sudden she shouted, “Oh, it all makes sense now! Jesus served His friends, to teach me how to serve, so that I can go on work crew to serve the campers!”

Yes, Annika, that is exactly what Jesus was trying to teach us.

I can’t wait for Annika to serve campers this summer with her eyes fixed on Jesus who was the best servant of all.