Discipleship Conference
For the last week of February, I returned to the Discipleship Conference with SonLife in Florida as I had been to last year. With others from my Student Link Team, I was there to help serve the SonLife team for this conference. Their purpose for the conference was to connect with youth and church leaders around the USA and Canada giving them tools and support in disciple-making for the various ministries. I loved joining in on the different seminar trainings and felt enriched by the experience as I was reminded about the importance of the ministry work I get to be a part of. One speaker talked about the term “lost” and how some Christians have gone away from using the term “lost” to describe a non-Christian, not wanting to offend, some people now call that group “seekers” as we are all seeking for something. The speaker didn’t disagree with this, though shared he prefers “lost” saying two keys things: lost things have value, and lost things are being searched for. I really liked that description especially when talking about ministry.
I enjoyed the conference and serving the pastors, youth directors, and other attendees at the conference to give them a great experience as well. It is always encouraging to come together knowing we all have a common goal and want to see Christ’s love spread like little wildfires around the world.
Student Link
I have been so grateful for these couple groups of Student Link students that I lead and the way they keep each other accountable! One of the guys in a group I lead has struggled for a couple weeks to make it to the Student Link meetings because he would stay up late and end up falling asleep after school. A couple of his peers said, “Leave it us.” The next week, this student showed up and I quickly started talking with him — as his friends followed in after him they said, “You should give him a moment. He’s still waking up. We just pulled him from his bed and told him to get to Student Link.” I absolutely love the accountability and friendship these guys have — to care so much about their friend to go into his home and get him up because they know he wants to make this commitment to Jesus. This group asks so many questions, and I am always excited to see where the conversation will take us!
We are often joined by “Jack the Dog” for Student Link with the girls. Though he is not a lap-dog, he has taken to sitting on my lap while I teach! These girls are looking at their Student Link books with the end in mind. While we are still months out, they have seen all the progress they have completed together and want to keep going. Their different personalities come through in these times, and I love seeing how God has made them all so unique and still how they connect together!
Student Link - Outreach
Since there are many groups of Student Link with lots of members of one youth group, each month we try to have a Student Link connect event to bring the students together. In January, we braved the cold and went sledding before — like true Minnesotans — went out for ice cream. I enjoyed seeing the youth from the different groups connecting together as well as forever Student Link leaders who are now in college come in to join this event on their J-Term!
In February, we went to the mall the day after Valentine’s Day to pass out roses to strangers. Each rose had a verse tied to the stem that talked about the love of Jesus. We split up into groups and roamed the mall, looking for people with whom to share the joy of God. The girls in my group were giddy with excitement and confidently approached women in the mall with these roses saying they wanted to share joy after Valentine’s Day, referenced the verse, and asked if they could pray with the ladies. A good handful of the women were incredibly grateful for prayer and were happy for the girls to pray right there in that moment! I know God works through these touchpoint encounters. I am also grateful for the opportunity it gives students in sharing their faith so they have confidence when their friends ask them questions about their faith.
Toddler Bible Study
The toddlers/pre-schoolers and I have been enjoying our Tuesday mornings together as we look at different Bible stories and biblical principles. One cold January day, God quickly gave me an idea for a lesson. I brought in a pair of mittens and asked the kids, “What can I do with these?” The answers flooded in, “Build a snowman!”, “Make a snowball!”, “Play hockey!”, “Make a snow angel!” I looked at the kids and holding the mitten in my hand said, “It can do all that?! Well, you have me convinced,” and then I said to the mitten, “Make me a snowman!” The kids erupted in laughter saying, “No! You have to do it!” We then talked about how without Jesus inside of us, we are like the mitten without a hand — lacking purpose. While a big topic for these little learners, I believe it resonated with them as an example of what it is like to have Jesus inside of each of us.
This little learner laid on the floor for minutes just looking at the kids with Jesus.
The following lesson we looked at Jesus with the little children. After reading the story and filling in the flannel board, I gave each of the kids a child flannel picture and told them to place it where they would like to be when Jesus calls the children to him. One child put herself next to the crowd of kids saying she would like to be with her friends to see Jesus. Another put himself as close to Jesus as he could, only to be followed by the littlest in the class who placed her picture right on Jesus’s lap! The last little learner in my class placed his picture under the tree saying, “It looks hot there… I’ll stay in the shade and listen!”
Right before Valentine’s Day, the kids and I talked about what it means that Jesus loves us. The kids and I had a great discussion as we shared different things we love, how Jesus shows us love, how we show Jesus love, and how we show Jesus’s love to others. It made me smile when I asked the kids to tell each other things they love about each other and one little boy turned to one girl and said, “I really love… your brother.” She just gushed, “Thank you! I love my brother too!”
Youth Group
Wednesday evenings are lively with this group! The energy from 15 6th grade girls cannot be accurately described, so I will let you readers imagine it for yourself. While many of them get sugar-highs on Wednesday evenings and some are just always excited to see their friends, I am always amazed at their care for each other and their focus in learning about God. The minute the speaker begins, they are all tuned in and ready to follow along in their Bibles and answering the questions (even if the leader had asked the question rhetorically!).
While this group of girls loves games and are regularly competitive, they play the games with each other in mind. They look for ways for their friends to succeed, because to them, if one of the 6th grade girls win, they all win. They make me so proud. Recently, these girls brought it to our attention that they wanted to have time to memorize verses and to worship in youth group. My co-leader planned a memory verse list for the girls to have and challenged them to say the memory verses to a parent and us leaders (and of course, some motivation rewards are involved!). Additionally, we asked the youth leader if dinging one worship song before youth group began was possible, and he agreed! The girls are excited to lead the worship song in front of their peers as we all worship God together.
One leader brought her new puppies to church on Wednesday for “socialization time” and the 6th and 7th graders and I had some quick puppy love time!
Youth Group - Winter Retreat
We drove north through a snowstorm for a Winter Retreat weekend with the youth group. Once we got to the camp, we all realized we should have packed our ice skates — simply to get between one building and the next because the sidewalks were slick! The girls were careful and after another light snowfall, there was traction that kept us upright the rest of the weekend. I don’t believe one of us left camp without some kind of bruise or scrape as we tried out many of the crazy camp activities — ice sledding, tubing hill, and other events. Even in all the bumps and bruises, we all left the weekend with smiles.
One of the really important things from this event was the time for the girls to connect with each other and with the leaders. I was grateful for the hours of free-time where the girls could just be together and not feel as if they were running between one activity to the next. I saw them grow in their friendships and create tighter bonds while also stretching out of their comfort zones in different ways.
The way the retreat was organized allowed for the students to pick a couple break-out sessions instead of a morning chapel on Saturday. I thought this was a fun way to engage the students and other camp staff in leading sessions. Without prompting, all of our girls signed up for the lesson on the Lord’s Prayer saying, “We just talked about prayer in youth group and wanted to know more!” As we were in the session, the speaker broke down the Lord’s Prayer into sections and labeled them (adoration, thanksgiving, etc.) and gave the students some time to make their own prayers. As the speaker was giving this task he said, “I wish I had a handout or a PowerPoint slide with these points on them for you to follow along.” One of my sweet 6th grade girls raised her hand and said, “If we want to follow the plan… can’t we just look at our Bibles for Jesus’s prayer?” My heart warmed. One of the things we had been focusing on with these girls during our session of prayer was that when we don’t know how to pray, we can look at the Bible as a reference or to pray scripture. The girls had all understood — it’s not about a system or plan or format, it’s just about talking to their Heavenly Father.
Youth Group - Baptisms
I rejoiced with two of my 6th grade girls at their baptisms this past month! I loved hearing them share how God has transformed their lives and their decision for baptism as an outward declaration of their faith. As the church body came together in the evening to celebrate these baptisms, I was heart-warmed to see a handful of the 6th grade girls gather around their friends before their baptisms to encourage them and then eagerly find them afterwards for pictures and congratulations!
Youth Group - Palooza
I flew in from Florida and went straight from the airport to our Middle School Palooza! Palooza is an outreach event for the youth students to bring their friends to experience lots of fun activities and - most importantly - to hear about God's love through an evening program. I was just about a half-hour late, but I found my 6th graders all over the building in various activities with all the friends they had invited! Total, we had 12 regular attending 6th graders plus 8 invited friends who joined them! My co-leader and I had so much fun just spending time together and watching these girls light up as they competed, worked together, and laughed throughout the evening. We all gathered at the end (all 200+ youth students with their leaders) to listen to a message about what it means to be a good friend. The speaker looked at Peter's life and how he thought he was a good friend to Jesus, but never could be the kind of friend Jesus was for him. I loved seeing these 6th graders engage with the message and hold their friends as they listened to this message about friendship.
Loved seeing so many of the Student Link Youth volunteering at this event as they poured their energy into these lively middle schoolers!
Czech - Elephant & Piggie Stories
For those of you who have been reading this blog for a while, you know all about these two beloved storybook characters, Elephant (Gerald) and Piggie. We regularly read these engaging children's books in English Classes I taught in Czech. The children attached to these characters and our plush animals of the storybook best friends quickly became class favorites. For years, I have used these books to teach and students who have grown up through my English Classes recall these stories with nostalgia. I left my entire collection of the books when I departed Czech, sharing it was my hope the books would be used by others. For a season, the books were left alongside these lovable characters in the closet. After my trip to Czech last September, I was talking with a dear friend about the materials I had left at the Mission building, including these books. She had been teaching English with young kids at ELIM and eagerly snatched up the books to use again! I have loved receiving pictures of her daughter enjoying the books and the characters. They hold a special place in my heart as I think of all the kids who have enjoyed these two plushies and the collection of books, and it fills my heart again knowing these stories are still being used to spread lots of joy.
My friend wrote her daughter decided they needed to take Piggie for a weekend stay to her house! This little pig has traveled with me across Czech to camp, has comforted crying kids, and continues to light up little faces.
