I feel like I am back at school writing the ever popular, "What I did last summer" essay. Well, for anyone interested, here is a summary of what we did this past summer.
There was hardly a chance for us to take a breath once things got into full swing. We had our rafting trip, mission trip, VBS (Vacation Bible School), volleyball tournament, and praise night all within a few weeks of each other. This has been our first Saturday in a long time to just stay at home and enjoy.
RAFTING TRIP
We squeezed in a rafting trip on the American River before things really became crazy. We chose a course that included Class 2 and 3 rapids. We decided that we wouldn’t do anything that required a helmet our first time out together. Circumstances lead me to be the only girl on the trip. I was also the only one to fall out of the boat. It occurred every early on in the trip. It was the first little patch of rapids that we encountered. Gene was sitting behind me, and he just said, “you were there…then you weren’t there.” He didn’t come to my rescue…he was still processing the fact that there was no longer someone in front of him. :) My excuse is that I put too much sunscreen on the back of my legs, so I just slid right off. It was actually kind of fun. I popped up right next to the boat, and the guide pulled me in. I don’t even think my hair got wet…nice life jackets. There were a couple of opportunities to get out of the boat and float down the river if we wanted to. A few of us took advantage of that. It was nice to get out of the heat and sit in the cool water. Next time we go, we are going for the rapids that require helmets. Check out the pictures in the album. The expressions on our faces on the last two pics are priceless.
MISSION TRIP
We took the youth group to Lakewood, Washington, to join a group called World Changers. It was a great experience. We went there not knowing what to expect. Some of the kids, I’m sure, weren’t expecting anything except to get out of the house for a week. We spent several weeks as a group preparing as a team (dramas, crafts, balloons, songs), but we found out before we went that we would all be split up. This was my first time going as a leader. Not having any control over what would happen, how the kids would be split up, or not knowing what we would be doing, was a tough pill to swallow. We had to go completely by faith. Which is what we are supposed to do anyway, right?
Our group consisted of 15 youth and 5 leaders. We left at 9PM and drove all night up to Washington state. Once we finally got there, we were split up into crews. Each crew was assigned a home and a task for that home. These were homes chosen by the city beautification project through a rigorous screening process. I got onto a roofing crew. My crew was made up of 8 high schoolers, I was the crew encourager, the crew chief was from Kansas, and so was the other adult. We had another crew working with us on the house that was made up of junior highers whose task was to paint the house and clean up the yard. The junior high team had several kids from our church. My crew only had one other person from our church.
I really enjoyed the roofing. It was something completely different from anything that I have done. I didn’t mind the heat so much and all of the dirt and sweating. Our team became very efficient. We finished off our roof with a day and 1/2 to spare. We helped the painting team complete their work, and then we were sent to help an old lady in the neighborhood who wanted us to help weed her garden. She was really touched by the fact that we would do this for her without asking for anything. On our last day, we helped another roofing crew who would not have been able to finish on time. There was a detached garage that needed to be roofed. It was already cleaned off. We knocked that out in 4 hours. We were “the roofers on fire” crew.
Gene’s crew had the toughest house of all. His team was made up of a mixture of junior high and high school students. He had 3 girls from our church. They had to clean out this huge yard that had been neglected for many years. They had to cut down several trees that were too close to the house. The yard was piled up with layers upon layers of junk. The former resident was a shopaholic, pack rat. They filled 3 of those huge construction garbage bins to the top. They also cleaned off the roof, gave the house a fresh coat of paint, and planted some flowers. They encountered several hornets nests. It was a very challenging week for that group, but they grew very close. A few of the kids from Yakima, Washington, may be visiting in the winter.
It would be impossible for me to write everything that happened on the trip, but I think the highlight for most of us was not what happened at the houses we served, but it was what happened once we got back to the base (we stayed at a high school). After the worship service, each youth group would gather for devotions. We spent this time singing and sharing. By Thursday, other groups were coming to join us. There was a real hunger for worship. A gentleman from one of the other groups was so moved, that he donated a very nice sound system to our youth group. That just blew my mind. What a blessing. ..."all these things shall be added unto you."
I'll leave it at that...I went longer than I had planned anyway. Enjoy the pictures we have in the album.
VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL
Right when we got back from the mission trip we spared no time and went into full blown VBS mode. Our theme this year was Island Adventure. It was supposed to be something like Survivor. There was a lot of prep work to be done in a week’s time. We went all out on the decorations. If you take a look at the pictures, you’ll see how balloons became a part of our dreams. Gene’s vision was to make entry to the worship area feel like you came in from the ocean and arrived at a tropical beach. The colors on the walls were a reflection of that…from blues to light green, then darker greens. The ceilings were draped with plastic, there were crumpled up pieces of large brown paper amidst the balloons to give the illusion of trunks sticking out through all of the brush, brown streamers were hung in a circle from the ceiling in the middle of the room to represent a large tree trunk, and a 3-D volcano that the high school guys painted as the centerpiece of room. It took a lot of time, but the youth was committed to it. They also decorated all of the classrooms that were going to be in use during the VBS.
The kids were excited when they came. We had a total of 54 kids participate. This is a lot when you are used to 30 or so kids. The leaders were stretched pretty thin. I lead the music. There wasn’t a whole lot of time to prepare motions, so I went more on instinct than consulting with the ASL dictionary. I received positive feedback, so that was encouraging. Most of the kids enjoyed it even more than last year. Gene was in charge of crafts. We had several different crafts lined up and varied them according to the age groups. One thing that I thought was kind of original was we took digital pictures of the kids on the first day with the volcano as the backdrop and with their faces painted. They made frames for these pictures on the second day. The frames for the older kids were made out of material that was almost like potato sacks. We used cotton batting, cardboard, and hot glue guns. Once the frame was finished, the kids embellished them with shells, beads, and paints. They turned out pretty nice. The games were to be like Survivor…or Fear Factor. I’m not sure how it worked out exactly, but I know that several of the kids and youth leaders had to eat silk worm cocoons…gross…there are a couple pictures of that in the album. The classes were made fun with memory verse games and illustrations…although, with about 15 kids in each class, I’m sure it was very hard to control. You just have to trust God that even a seed had been planted. On the last day, all of the youth and most of the Elementary age kids stayed overnight at the church. It was like a big slumber party.
With each event that our youth participates in, I am impressed more and more with their willingness to serve. They are still kids, and they get tired, but we really pushed them this summer, and they really stepped up. My prayer is that the unity will only continue to grow. Then they will know the power of true fellowship.
VOLLEYBALL TOURNAMENT
A volleyball tournament is held every year between the Sacramento area Korean churches. The youth spent the better part of the summer preparing for it, and it showed. They played like a team. The only game I was able to see was the final game. They were up against some very big guys. These guys looked like college age and above…very big and strong. Because I hadn’t seen them play before, I wasn’t very confident we would make it past these guys. The games became very close at times, but we came out on top. Our “little” high schoolers beat the big guys. It was very exciting. Most of the people from our church stuck around to cheer them on. Out adult team had a less favorable showing (5th place…the trophy went to DKC—where Gene and I first met). I think our youth showed our adults that a team game requires teamwork…and teamwork is not built over only a few practices. Enough editorializing… :) Way to go SKBC Youth! Way to represent! It’s about time we bring home the flag! (no pictures are available for this event)
PRAISE NIGHT
The Sacramento area Korean church youth groups have a Praise Night every 3rd Saturday, a time to get together and worship and build unity despite denominations. Our church hosts this about every other month depending on what other churches are available to host it. It is something that our praise team looks forward to and takes time find new songs to prepare. This month was special to us having just come off of the Mission trip and serving during VBS. I haven’t been a part of the praise team (except to fill in on occasion) for some time. I was asked to play the violin with the band. It was an opportunity to change things up a bit and to utilize parts of the new sound system that was donated to us. I was a little worried that I wouldn’t be able to come through since I’m far from being a violinist and there wasn’t a whole lot of time to prepare. I only play once or twice a year (usually accompanying my mom for the Christmas program). I had to come up with my own music to play with the band because I didn’t want to just play the melody and be drowned out by all of the other instruments and voices. We had 9 people in the band that day (drums, electric guitar, bass, keyboard, acoustic guitar/lead singer, 3 back-up singers, and me) mostly made up of our youth. We did about 20 songs split up into to two sets. It turned out really nice. The band is really starting to feel comfortable with each other and they are starting to grow more musically and spiritually. It’s been nice to watch from the sidelines the many works our God has been doing. (no pictures are available for this event)
Well, our busy, busy summer has come to an end. I don't consider myself a creative person at all. In fact, this is the precise reason why I have chosen the profession that I am in, but I have done things this summer that I know I couldn't have done on my own. It just amazes me how God will put opportunities in your path to pull out those hidden talents. You don't know what you are capable of until you are forced to rely on the Lord. I want to challenge the youth to take what you have learned in these experiences and make them a part of your daily lives. We love you all. Thank you all for your prayers. |
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