Report 5

Report 5
Ministry Activity -
This past week was VBS week. I ran junior high girls camp. I was in charge of creating lessons and things to do for 32 junior high girls for 2 hours and 45 min for five days. Wow. I learned a lot through all of this. It was a little overwhelming to have that many girls in such a small room for so long. My main theme was worship. I wanted to show the girls new and exciting ways to worship God so each day was a different theme. The first day was an introduction day ...we started off going over genesis 1 and 2 and how God said and it was but with humans He used His hands and formed us. He personally made each one of us unique and special we talked about our names and about how each one has meaning. I had different prayer/experience stations set up for them (a prayer journal, reading about kids from another country, characteristics of God, praises and concerns, a movie on Invisible Children, and a station where they drew a cross on a rock and then wrote on a card a person they wanted the rock to represent and they had to keep the rock in their pocket as a reminder to pray for that person) Day two - music day. We talked about praising God and about how music can communicate more than just saying something sometimes. We listened to different types of Christian music and looked up verses from a Matt Redman song. Day three- art day. We talked about the creativity of God and I had them go to three different stations: tie dye, bracelet making, and worship through painting (with music playing) Day Four - written word day - we talked about the power of words and wrote encouragement letters to people in our lives we also made prayer journals. This day was great because I really felt like I finally connected with them and got them talking. Day Five - fellowship day. We went to a pond and swam and played sand volleyball. I was surprised at how well the girls all got along!

On Saturday night we had the annual junior high all-nighter. Everyone looks forward to this the entire year and it gets bigger every year. We started off a putt-putt golf n' games where in groups we played putt-putt, go-carted, and played arcade games. At 1:30 am we made it back to the church ate food, then we played night watchmen. Night watchmen is the signature game we must play every year. I remember when I used to play it and still love it to this day. What happens is this: the kids get in groups of 5 or 6 and go around the church looking for clues (like a scavenger hunt type thing) ...with the lights off. The catch is that there are night watchmen (aka leaders) going around the church on there given pathways (they cannot vary from their path...cannot turn around if it isn't a part of there path and the student can follow the night watchmen and we cant do anything about it) the watchmen have flashlights and if the flashlight hits a student the night watchmen will say "jail" that student whole group then has to go to jail where there is a jail man who will make them do something ridiculous to get out (like rub his feet) every 5 min. the nightwatchmen take a "break" and play a hand of euchre then go back to their paths. The kids love it. Then...we played a full out game of nerf gun war. Then we put a movie on and they got like 2 hours of sleep...I got 20 min...ugh.

Sunday - Sunday was the VBS bash day. We had carnival games for all the kids to play, hotdogs, hamburgers, ice cream, face-painting, and a cool train ride. It went really well...but I was exhausted from the night before. I went home after that and slept for about 18 hours. ridiculous I know.

Monday - Wed.
Back to normal. Planning Sunday school, but this week I teach both junior high and high school. Monday was the staff meeting. It went well, they went over there monthly goals. Tuesday was the first senior high missions trip meeting. We are going to Chicago. I am excited.

Hours -

VBS and rest of day
Thurs. - 8:30 am - 5:30pm
Friday - 8:30 am - 12:30 pm
Sat - 9:30 pm - midnight
Sun- midnight - 2:30pm
Mon - meeting 2:30pm - 5:00pm
Tue- 9am - 4pm meeting - 7-9pm
Wed - 9 am - 6:00pm

Personal Reflection -
This past week was so exhausting, yet so worth it. I have gained so much more experience and feel so much more comfortable in front of the group. I have also gotten to know the volunteers through all of this. I am so excited that I am connecting more with the students. I know that the girls really enjoyed themselves during camp...I just hope some stuff sticks with them. I constantly have to remind myself that although what I say is important and matters, me being there and loving them matters even more.

Spiritual Reflection -
I am trying to read my Bible more on my own time. It was been going okay. It's just not as "fun" or fresh as I would like it. I think I am going to try scrapbooking verses to try and make it more hands on for me. I also really enjoy reading other books, so I might try to have one of them be my devotional book. God really shows himself to me while I'm preparing for lessons, which has been really neat for me. He reminds me of little things as I work towards the weeks Sunday school class.