Two years ago, I moved into my very first college dorm as a freshman, and it was an experience I'll never forget.

And, one of the reasons I will never be able to forget this experience is due to the amazing volunteers that helped welcome me to campus with their energetic attitudes and school spirit! I have to admit, I have seen many youtube videos and heard from many friends about their welcome weeks and move-in experiences but honestly, I just cannot see how they could possibly top ours. At the time of my first move-in experience I was fascinated by these students who were spending their day helping move fellow students into their dorms, but even with my fascination I did not fully understand their significance or realize the magnitude of their service.

After all, to me, they just seemed like some fun, crazy students who for all I knew, were being forced to stand there smiling and take my heavy boxes to my dorm room.

Since my first move-in experience I have voluntarily, YES, voluntarily chose to help move-in new and returning students to my college campus not just once, but twice. Now while this is something that is definitely not easy, I learn and relearn amazing things from this experience every year.

The first thing I quickly relearned from volunteering this year was the value and importance of sacrifice. Not many people realize the level of work and preparation it takes to get ready to move college students back on campus, and I was only one part of that process. However, there was so much that I had to sacrifice to be a part of that experience and benefit from it. I had to move into my on campus apartment a week earlier, which while a personal positive was extremely difficult because that meant that my last week of summer would be spent in Arizona, not California and above all it meant I would be missing my mom's birthday for the third year in a row (I know it sounds so bad but don't hate me please, my mom was supportive).

Not only did I have to sacrifice some valuable family and friend time during the last week of summer, I had to sacrifice a lot of sleep waking up at 4:30 am to get ready, make breakfast and start moving kids in at 6:00 am. From the small sacrifices I was reminded of the huge sacrifice of Jesus and remembered the importance of having faith in him when we are tired, worn down and most importantly when we think we cannot go any further and through seeking comfort in Jesus I realized that I was so much stronger than I thought I was, especially after carrying HEAVY boxes up six flights of stairs!

Out of all of the valuable lessons and insights I gained from this experience, probably one of the most important things I was able to take away this welcome week experience was being able to see the effects of shining light onto others. At the beginning of this week long experience, I did not even begin to think that I would be able to do anything other than help carry boxes into apartments and dorm rooms. But, by the end of the week, my whole outlook had changed. Despite all the complaining, despite all the heat, sore muscles and the long days, suddenly it was as if a blindfold had been removed from my eyes and I was finally able to see clearly.

At last, I was able to turn my negative outlook into a positive one as I saw that as volunteers, we were doing so much more than just moving boxes. I seemed to forget so quickly how just two years ago the volunteers surpassed expectations helping my family do so much more than move me in. Just as those volunteers had helped my family two years ago so many of us were able to do the same thing, exciting students and consoling parents who were dealing with the struggles of transitioning and beginning a new life that we all knew so well. And, through acts as simple as being present and available, offering a helping hand, a friendly face and a warm smile, we were all able to shine our light on others.

There is no arguing that this year's welcome week really pushed me. But even with all the early mornings, excruciating heat, the bruises and actual blood, sweat and tears (I'm telling y'all GCU's Welcome Week experience is hardcore), the experience was SO worth it. Another year down and hopefully, another to go! Lopes Up!