Saturday, February 23, 2013

Games Night

This past Thursday, we had a games night with the Youth Group and it was great to see them smiling and laughing together.  They had lots of fun playing 15 crazy competition games that Chuck ran in an Olympic style competition with points being assigned for each activity and the youth broken up into 4 Teams.  The best part was seeing them have fun without putting each other down, complaining, or calling each other cheaters.  They made human pyramids, ate nasty jelly beans, fed each other while blindfolded, scavenger hunted, caught ping pongs with bucket strapped to their head, popped balloons, and more.  It was a Great Night and hats off to Chuck and Heather!  Here are a few pictures:

Eating pudding while blindfolded
 Human Pyramids



 The death of a Pyramid:

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Van Rides (Take 2)


Last October, I wrote about how much fun it is to ride in the vans with the youth because we sing together.  It's also great because it gives us a chance to talk.  One of the 6th grade boys we have lives way out in the middle of nowhere, so we end up driving for around 7 minutes with just me, him, and Morgan G.  This guy, like a bunch of the kids here, grew up in a rough home and has an especially tough exterior.  But when he's the last kid dropped off, he slips into being himself, just talking like everything is ok.

Last week, he gave me a lot of grief during Youth Group but on the ride home, I was able to tell him about how I've observed how smart he is, and how glad all of us are that he's coming to Youth Group.  Last week, he was well behaved, but then during the small group time, he started bouncing off the walls like a crazy in a crazy place.  When we were heading home, I pointed out that he was going with the program then lost it, and did he know what the reason was.  He thought for a second, then said, "I got bored." We then got to talk about what we both could do differently.

Tonight, we have Youth Group again, and I hope to see some more small growth with this guy.  He's taking little steps and improving gradually, and who but God knows what will happen with him?  Please pray for him and the other youth as they learn to relate to others, live in community, and learn about God.

(FYI, the van in the picture has nothing to do with Sacred Road; it's just funny)