WEEK SIX

So I survived the first real week of YouthWorks! And now I we are in full swing with the second and I am loving it! God has been so faithful to our staff through these first weeks and I really feel that He is guiding us more than we know. It is interesting to see new kids every week and get to experience the different dynamics that they each bring to the week. Last week was a little bit more laid back and casual, as this week is a little bit more upbeat and in your face. One group we have this week is from MN, and they are crazy! They are loud, and on fire for God, and it shows. CLUB time is so energetic because of the energy they bring to worship when they sing. It is great to see kids so excited to be on a mission trip, especially a mission trip that is led by us. One thing I have also noticed about this week is how well the kids engage during the messages and devotions. They are very attentive and it seems like they are really listening to the words and not just sitting there. That is very encouraging for me as a speaker, but also very intimidating as well. I have to be very careful as to what I say because these kids are trusting in me. Something I have been praying for a lot lately is that God would take my words and make them His own. I don't want anybody to look at me as a good speaker, but instead, I want them to look at my words and see God radiated through them. One guy, named David, who is from a Catholic boys school, came up to me after my message last night and said that God has been using my words to touch him! That is encouraging! Praise God, because even though I am not the best speaker in the world, somehow His message gets through! I have also been loosing my voice slowly over the past couple of days and last night it was totally gone. I am not sick or anything like that, but my voice is just giving out from talking so much I guess. Pray for that situation and that it would come back soon, because as of right now, I really don't have any words of my own!
This weeks groups are from Minnesota, Ohio, Indiana, and New Jersey. They are really good kids and I think that they are all having a great experience here in West Virginia. I have been finding out that there are two types of experiences that I keep having during this summer. There are moments of despair, when things go wrong or I am lonely or homesick. These usually last for about 10 minutes and go away, but some days are worse than others. It is during these times that I really question why I am so far away from home and why I gave up my summer for YouthWorks. The other moments are completely opposite. They are moments of intense joy and happiness. During these times I am so thankful to God for sending me here to do His work and I am so happy for the kids that have come to work with us. I had one of these moments yesterday on our way home from an evening activity. We were in a van full of loud, roudy kids driving through the beautiful West Virginian scenery. One of David Crowders songs came on and I just got a feeling of peace and joy. I know that I am where God wants me right now and I am so glad that He chose me to come on the adventure. Keep praying for me and my YouthWorks friends. God Bless!

WEEK FIVE

So I am in my fifth week of blogging and things have officially begun here at YouthWorks. Our three weeks of prep are over and our first group arrived here on Sunday. This weeks group is made up of 4 different churches: Scottsdale, AZ; Madison, WI; Pottstown, PA; and Toledo, OH. It is so much different this week than last week and it is harder in many ways. Last week I was able to just observe and hang out with the kids but this week I am in an upfront and leadership position. It is different but good. For the most part, the kids are all attentive and very well behaved. I am in charge of all the evening festivities which includes planning all the evening activities and putting together CLUBS. CLUBS are more difficult because I have to get up front and speak infront of everyone. This is an area that God is really stretching me because I do not view myself as a great public speaker. I know that He has put me here for a reason and He will bring me through this, one way or another. Sunday night was the first night that I had to speak and I feel that God really helped me through it. I really wasn't that nervous and I think that God helped calm my nerves quite a bit. I am more worried about the skits during CLUB because I am not sure how the teens will react. Some of them are really crazy! Otherwise, everything else is going very well. We have the work teams revamping an old funeral home which will be turned into low income housing. This is a hard project but the kids are doing very well with it. We also have a Kids Club going which is for the local community kids. It is a sort of VBS that help entertain the kids who parents are at work or simply not around. God is being very faithful in this first week of YouthWorks and He is providing us all with the endurance and stamina to make it through. Keep praying that His will be done in this work and pray for continued health. Thank you and God bless!

WEEK FOUR

So it has begun. I am in Logan, WV this week for what is known as Early Bird. It is the first week of particpants being here. There is 12 staff members present instead of 4, and it is a chance for us to get to see how a real week works. It has been amazing so far and God has been using this week to reassure me of many things. I love youth, and this week I have gotten numerous chances to connect with them. God has been so faithful this week and things have been going very well. I am the program staff, which means I am officially in charge of the evening activities. During the day I get to float around from site to site and see how things are going. This week we are building a wheel chair ramp at one house, painting two others, and running a Kids Club program, (kind of like a VBS.) We also work at a local soup kitchen called the Dream Center and help serve meals to the homeless. This is something that is totally new to me but God is using it to stretch me in new ways. Yesterday, I got the chance to do my very first prayer walk. What happened, is I got partnered up with 5 other youth and we had the assignment to walk around downtown Logan and pray with random people. We walked into businesses and prayed with them, and even stopped people on the street and asked them if they had any prayer requests. I was kind of wary of what this would be like but it was totally amazing! God opened up so many people to us and we had a relatively good response by everyone we encountered. This whole summer is going to be like this I have a feeling. It is something new and a little bit scary, but in the end, God will show His goodness throught it all. This is only the first week of the summer technically, and it is still a training week, but this Sunday it begins for real. We will be travelin back to Lincoln County and doin it for the next 7 weeks in a row! Pray for me, that God will continue to bless us and keep us in His care!

WEEK THREE

I have already been in West Virginia for over a week and a half and things are getting close to full swing for our YouthWorks summer. We are moving into the new building today, the building that we have spent the last week cleaning and preparing. Things are really coming together and I am beginning to see what this summer is going to look like. Despite some recent drama, our team is doing relatively well together. It is always difficult when you put four people together on a team who have never met one another. Our leader, uses a leadership style that is unconventional and it has created a few misunderstandings. Things are alright though, and we are growing together as a team. Being as we only have a few more days before we start our ministry summer we are in the crunch time as far as our staff projects go. I am busy assembling CLUB times, and figuring out how those should look. It is more difficult that it looked at first. Our presence in the community is becoming more and more obvious to the residents who live in Lincoln County. We are making many new contacts throughout the area and it seems like many people are very excited that we are here. Some of our new friends are the Midkiff family, a family of older people who all live in the same neighborhood. We go over there quite often to do laundry, watch movies, and have bonfires. They are all older, like upper 60 and 70s but they are very nice. I never imagined that I would strike up friendships with older people on a youth ministry trip. It was with the Midkiff family that I heard my first banjo. We had a little worship session last Thursday after Bible Study. It was great to get a better feel for this community and its Southern heritage. I am enjoying myself immensely down here, and I know that God is going to continue stretching me in new and exciting areas throughout the next 8 weeks.