Meet Charles, T.R.A.C.life Mentor in Norman, OK

Charles got involved in T.R.A.C in 2015, serving as staff at both girl’s and boy’s camp. As part of the photography team, he helps take thousands of photos for each camp, along with tagging each photo with camper names, editing, and choosing which photos to print for campers to have as a fun keepsake. 

He became a mentor through T.R.A.C.life in the fall of 2019. Charles and his mentee love getting Chinese food or playing basketball at a local park. Driving go-karts is by far their favorite activity, so they’ve visited multiple tracks.  

Early on, Charles says his mentee was quiet, and their conversations were pretty simple. Over time, however, the young man has grown more confident in sharing his thoughts about many different issues in his own life as well as in the world. He is very smart, so Charles finds it really fun to learn about his perspectives.  

Mentoring is important to Charles because he enjoys seeing his mentee have fun while having someone to listen. Charles wants to show God’s love to his mentee, believing this will stick with him long into his future. 

Because Charles is an introvert, he was (and still is) scared that he won’t be good at interacting with his mentee. He’s been surprised, however, that they are typically able to talk a lot about many different topics. And as it turns out, the young man is actually an introvert as well which Charles did not expect from their initial interactions during camp. 

Charles’ advice to someone considering mentoring:  

“God can use you even if you don’t think He can. Mentoring is something that is way outside of my comfort zone and way outside of my natural giftings. Yet, through God’s strength, I have been able to be a successful mentor for the last several years. With His help, mentoring goes smoother than you might expect.” 

Thanks for saying YES, Charles!