Women's Retreat
A while back, I was asked to be one of three speakers for the Women's Conference at church. The theme was "Rooted," and my portion of the talk included - what needs uprooting in your life, and what is your part in having good soil? Since going through a pretty major "uproot" from my life in Czech and "replanting" back in Minnesota, this felt like the perfect theme for me to speak into. I was deeply encouraged by the other two speakers as we met a few times to align our topics as we wanted to build off each other for the conference. Hearing their thoughts, prayers, and the ways God was teaching them also through these talks uplifted me greatly in my own preparation. The first weekend in May was the conference, and I was filled so much by the women in my community and the ways my stories, analogies, and studying blessed them. I shared about the importance of a foundation when we consider being rooted, the community of support we have around us, the sin in our lives that needs uprooting, and the transplanting that happens either by our planning or God's will. I was grateful to share with the women at this conference and encouraged to hear many of them sharing pieces of the talk that resonated with them. I enjoyed preparing this teaching and seeing how God used the different parts to touch these women as He intended from the start.
VBS
This past week, I got to enjoy the littlest learners at Vacation Bible School! These nursery kids loved playing with all the toys, out on the playground, and jumping in with the big kids at story time and music. The nursery is offered for younger kids of parents who are volunteering. These kids aren't quite old enough to join a group, but having a nursery allows for the moms to volunteer in other areas. Since I teach the toddler group on Tuesdays, I already knew 6 of the 7 kids, which made transitions into the nursery much easier! Additionally, a couple middle school helpers made for a lot of fun, energetic play with these kids.
I enjoyed incorporating the theme of the week, Rainforest Falls, with some of the activities with these toddlers. We regularly enjoyed the daily coloring sheet with the day's rainforest animal and verse displayed. The older toddlers also made a couple of the projects from the craft station. At story time, these three-year-old actively participated when the teacher asked a question - sharing what foods they like that grow in the ground when the lesson was about God's creation and also one toddler shared how rollercoasters can be scary when the teacher asked the students to share different times when they get scared. I was so proud of their involvement in the group times and grateful for the station leaders including us in those brief drop-ins. The helpers and I also took the kids most mornings to music with all the big kids, and I was impressed to see these little learners dancing along with the songs and learning the actions!
Toddler Bible Study
With the start of summer, the toddler and preschool group has expanded to include Elementary age kids as they are no longer in school in the morning. It's so fun to see some familiar faces of kids who were with me last year but have since started school. The amount of kids coming is also evidence of the growing group of young mothers who meet during that time form Bible Study. I've needed extra help with the number of kids for the summer schedule as one day there were over 20 children in attendance - thankfully, there has been another person able to help the last few weeks! One week my mom stepped in to help and another week a high school volunteer came. The way these kids connect and learn with each other is so wonderful to see. They are often helping each other and including new friends in their games. As I was pushing one of the three-year-olds on the swing, he laughed and said, "I could stay here forever and ever." Being able to pour into these young kids is definitely a highlight of my week. I enjoy planning the lessons for them and seeing all they learn.
This past month, one of our lessons was Daniel in the Lion's Den. We read the story of Daniel from a children's Bible, made lion masks and decorated a lion den with stickers. Additionally, I encouraged the littles to make dens for little toy lions out of MagnaTiles. I told one of the girls, "Oh, it looks like your lion in that den is getting hungry." I had thought it would lead well into our story about Daniel, but the little girl surprised me. She got up, went to the play kitchen, and returned with a toy pizza. Tossing it into the lion's den she declared, "There. Now, he's not hungry anymore." I recall a VeggieTales movie resolving the lion's hunger after God spared Daniel in the same way.
Student Link
These girls FINISHED Student Link this month!! I am so proud of them and so grateful I got to lead them through this disciple-making study. It has been a joy watching them grow and apply what we have learned in group to their own lives and seeing the fruit of their efforts. All the girls volunteer regularly, share their faith often with friends, and strive to be Christ-like in their lives by studying the word, memorizing scripture, and praying. I am excited to see how they will continue to grow in their faith and will support them as they begin their own Student Link studies with their friends. This group was clearly organized by God - He placed the names of the girls on our hearts before my co-leader and I began this group. While the girls didn't know each other beforehand, they are all close friends now! It is amazing who Christ can connect these girls to now have friends they can rely on in some of the most formative years in high-school.
The Wednesday Student Link groups have combined for the summer, and we continue to meet once a month. Sometimes these meetings happen at the church, but with the summer schedule, we also met at one leader's home and enjoyed outdoor activities at the lake after the study. I enjoy seeing these students make commitments to come together even outside of the church building as it creates a deeper sense of community with each other. We are regularly thinking of opportunities for these groups to connect and have fun growing together, serving alongside one another, and encouraging each other in faith-sharing conversations. In the upcoming months, I am excited to see some of these students who went through Student Link this past school year step up to teach their peers in the school season.
Youth Group
Each month, my co-leaders and I try to do something special for the girls who have birthdays that month. With the youth group taking a break from meeting in May and with a handful of May birthdays to celebrate, we knew we had to do something! My co-leader decided she would hot a bonfire for the girls, and we soaked in the evening playing yard games, chatting, and roasting candies and marshmallows over the fire. It was a special evening with these girls.
Over the summer months, the youth schedule is more relaxed. We combine campuses and middle and high school groups and occasionally meet off-site at homes of those in the church. It is a great way to remain connected over the summer months as a youth group. Together, we are going through the book of James and talked this last time about having joy in trials. As these girls are now big 7th graders in the youth group, my heart has been so full seeing them include the new 6th graders in their social time and games. One of the girls said to me after youth group one day, "I liked when the big kids included us when we were new to youth group, so I want to make sure I am doing that with the new kids too." It's not only the younger kids, but they quickly included a new 8th grader who recently started attending the church with her family and another 7th grader missionary kid who is stateside for the summer as her parents are on home assignment/furlough. As I introduced this new missionary kid to the group, the girls started sharing about the ways they are missionaries in Minnesota and connecting with this new student so effortlessly. They truly are little rays of joy!
Over the summer, the youth group has a couple outreach events to bring the youth kids together and encourage them to invite their friends. This weekend, we went mini-golfing and had ice-cream together! It was fun to connect, and the leaders and I all agree we have young ladies now! These now-7th-graders seemed to grow into teenagers in the couple weeks since school ended. I am excited for this next year with them and seeing how they will continue to grow in faith!
Chicago Mission Training
This summer, four of my 7th graders are going with the youth group to Chicago on a mission trip, and I will be joining them! I am so excited to see all they will do and the ways they will work together on this mission trip, and I am looking forward to supporting them on this journey. One of the ways we will be serving in Chicago is at a food shelf. For the students to get experience in this, we have been volunteering each month at our church's food distribution. These girls have so much joy serving and connecting with people who come through the doors of the building. Please pray for us as we approach the final stages of preparation for the trip!
There are three youth mission trips this summer that the church hosts - middle school to Chicago, high school to Madison, WI, and high school to Czech for LetFest. For the first time ever, the church hosted a pancake breakfast to raise support for all the youth mission trips and the students were serving the church members. They excelled at their roles, and it was a great way for the church to see all the different places the youth are going to serve this summer.
One of our mission meetings was hosted at Crown College. When I went as a leader to Madison last year, we did the same thing, and while I didn't attend Crown College, I am fan of their mission and Christian-values in education. However, last year the admissions counselor made a side-comment about being better than my alma-mater Northwestern, and I was not going to step onto Crown campus again without representing my school! With a couple of the youth pastors as graduates from Crown, there was a lot of healthy teasing and "rivalry," but my 7th graders joined me in wearing UNW sweaters AND one of our seniors who has committed to UNW next year also wore her sweater! We loved being her support group, and it allowed me to connect with her more - finding out that she will be studying the exact thing I did at UNW! I was happy to encourage her in her future studies.
Czech
In May, a couple friends from Czech came to visit Minnesota and stayed at the home of a good friend and ministry colleague. It was fun to connect with these friends a couple times while they were here and hear about all that is going on in the youth group in Czech first-hand. As the summer season is just getting started in Czech, they are setting up for the summer outreach program, LetFest. The American team is leaving next week to help with the outreach camp/festival, and I have enjoyed messages with the youth kids in Czech to encourage them in this upcoming week, knowing it takes a lot of energy and sacrifice of the youth leaders to run the program. They will all do amazingly as they always do!
