We are still looking to hire a cook for the summer. Our Kitchen Supervisor from last summer, Audri shares her thoughts below on what the experience is like and why you should consider applying for it!
Looking back on the time I have spent serving in the AC kitchen, it is difficult to pick one good memory or lesson to share. There are too many wonderful things I have learned through my time as Kitchen Supervisor. I won’t deny it; t here have been incredibly challenging parts to this position as well. However, it was only because of the challenges that I grew. My time spent in the kitchen, overall, has taught me some incredibly practical life skills, deepened my character and taught me what ownership means in a deeper way, and ultimately has led me closer to the Father in ways I never expected when I initially applied. It has been worth it in more than one way!
Since I started working in the kitchen, I have made leaps and bounds in my confidence in cooking skills! I mean, that should be the case, shouldn’t it? But no kidding, I have felt so blessed to have the experience of cooking for large groups. Not only has my ability to crank out meals and breads and desserts improved in quality, they’ve also increased in quantity….and speed. I was thinking about it the other day and realized that I never would have pictured myself in the position of providing meals for groups of twenty. Those groups later increased to groups of forty…then seventy…which would have seemed like an impossibility before this experience. It’s a good feeling to feel comfortable baking everything from scratch and to provide for many others in that way as well. It’s a skill I will continue to use for the rest of my life.
Second of all: my time in the kitchen has provided great opportunities for my own personal growth. There were many times last summer that I was a few minutes away from dinnertime, had tons of loose ends to tie down, it was 80 plus degrees outside with all ovens roaring, and the group that had just come off trail was hungrily waiting in anticipation. In those moments, I felt as if everything was relying on me and my “world” inside those four walls. Admittedly, I am a bit of a perfectionist, and so I tended to put too much pressure on myself. I had a hard time asking for help and whenever someone offered it I tended to deny my need for it. However, because this was my tendency long before I entered the kitchen, I all the more needed that stretch! Since coming to AC, I have learned to ask for help and accept it when a need and an offer for help arises. These stressing points taught me to become less self-reliant and more dependent on others, all the while teaching me all that I truly was capable of on my own with the help of organization and time-management. It was truly empowering.
Lastly, through my time cooking at AC, I learned to be sensitive to the Father’s Voice. Although a lot of hustle and bustle tends to hang around the kitchen, there were also times of quietness and aloneness with Him. I heard once that the difference between isolation and seclusion is that in the first, you are entirely self-dependent and alone. In the other, you are away from others but you are alone with God. I’d say that in any kind of job, one can either choose to isolate themselves from all other sources, or one can seclude themselves with God for a period of time and find refreshment in His presence. My time in the kitchen has definitely had its swings from one to the other. However, in the spaces of quiet and solitude, whenever I chose to hear it, His Voice was always incredibly present. Honestly, I have never experienced the power of His Voice in quite that way before! Together, we built new memories as He taught me the value of my own voice and heart-song. I wouldn’t trade that time with Him for a thing.
All the lessons I learned in the kitchen have followed me into the rest of my life since. I often think back on the many memories of new skills learned that now come as naturally as breathing, the stretching of owning my experience and letting others help me, and the tender whispers of God’s voice. These are only three of many reasons I am so glad I took the opportunity to cook at AC. The friendships made here have been some of the sweetest I have ever experienced have carried on since. I am so grateful that God led me to AC. I can’t wait to see who God has next for this position and all the ways He will grow and stretch you into the person He wants you to be, too. There is so much good in store!
