Youth Ministry Summer Highlights
Summer in Poland is an challenging time for ministry because pretty much every family plans to be out of town for at least a week at some point during the summer. Additionally, the majority of our youth attended Christian summer camps (-- some even attended two). (Summer camps here usually last for over a week.) Many ministries and fellowships (particularly designed for the school age) go on summer break. We didn't want to break our habit of meeting altogether but we did meet less frequently (twice a month rather than every week) and we kept things pretty light. It was kind of an experiment for me because it was my first full summer here. I'm not 100% happy to be honest that we kept it so light. But I'm very glad that some new faces showed up.
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| Mateusz |
Mateusz ("Ma-teh-oosh"), our newest addition to the Armia Pana (youth group), is one of the kids that comes nearly every Tuesday with his grandmother to our evangelistic meetings and has now decided to join our youth group on Fridays. A year and a half ago, Mateusz's grandmother brought him to our church in hopes that he could be helped. His hand had mysterious open sores that the doctors couldn't help. Within a few hours after being prayed for his skin looked brand new! Not only did God touch his hands but it was evident that his heart was also touched as he experienced that God is a living God who hears our prayers. I hope that his faith will grow rapidly and deeply here and that he and our church youth will mutually inspire one another to grow closer to the Lord.
Here are some of our summer highlights:
Celebration of Birthdays (25 July 2014)
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| Happy Birthday to us!!! |
All the youth workers were born in the month of July! Sara on the 20th, I on the 22nd, and Krzysiek on the 25th.
So on the 25th (right on Krzysiek's birthday) we took the youth to Gdańsk to celebrate at Billy's American Restaurant.
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Zuzia & Klaudia
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It happened to be very good timing for a visit to Gdańsk because it was the opening day of a special tourist attraction that was just added to our town -- a giant Ferris wheel where you could catch an incredible view of the city.
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| Gdańsk's version of the London Eye :) |
The Start of "START" (26 July)
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| Noemi (with her baby nephew Natanael), Zuzia, & Laura |
"START" is the name of a Christian youth camp for those who are Middle School age (12-15). It takes place far away from any cities and I'm a big fan of it for this reason. The kids are in an environment where there are less distractions and their 8 days at camp are filled with plenty of godly activities and spiritual feeding. Although I didn't attend the camp, I did manage to visit on the first day. Sara was there as a group leader. Krzysiek and I had planned to visit again later that week but unfortunately he got shingles, so we weren't able to do so. :( But we were happy to hear that Noemi, Zuzia, and Laura had a great time.
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| Sara posing in her START shirt |
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| Laura, Zuzia and her mom Ola |
"Slumber" Party !!! (15 -16 August -- 3pm to 3pm)
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schedule prepared by Noemi
note: movies from 11pm-2am!!!
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We were finally able to fulfill a long-time request our youth group had -- to have a sleepover. Timing was a bit unfortunate -- Małgosia & Piotrek were out of town. But we did have some friends & relatives of our youth group members who came and all the kids had a great time. In fact, they had such a great time that they want to do it again as soon as possible! (Ahhhh!!!! No sleep for me!!!!)
Two of our regulars, Noemi & Zuzia took charge of leading the activities and planning the schedule. Krzysiek, Sara and I were mainly there to chaperone. Krzysiek was boss in the kitchen and the kids assisted him in preparing meals. Sara assisted with games. And I was on night watch since I'm a night owl anyway. :)
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| "Uno" while waiting for everyone to arrive |
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| Noemi's vicious balloon stomping game :) |
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Zuzia leads charades
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| snack time -- ice cream! :) |
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"Uno" again at 2:30am
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| waking Paweł up wasn't so easy the next morning |
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| a friendly game of volleyball the next day |
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| and the final activity... a dance game |
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"YMCA" ... look at their rating: "Average Asian Dude" !!!
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Florence & Fondue (22 Aug) ...
My dear friend, Florence (who missioned with me in Covenant Players) came to visit for a week (--more photos in the next post) and while she was here, I couldn't pass up the opportunity of asking her to share at our youth meeting a bit about herself and her experience with the Salvation Army.
Not many people in Poland are familiar with the Salvation Army and our kids don't have much exposure to other denominations. Florence's parents are officers in the Salvation Army in Switzerland and she grew up in the Army. I've always admired Salvationists' commitment to the Lord and to ministering to those whom society would sometimes rather choose to ignore -- the homeless, the addicted, the poor.
In addition to sharing about what it means to be a Soldier in the Salvation Army, she connected it to being a soldier in God's Army -- which we're all a part of. As the youth group calls themselves "Armia Pana" (Army of the Lord), she encouraged them to stay faithful as fellow soldiers. This also served as a great introduction to what's up ahead.
In honor of her "Swissness" we had chocolate fondue -- which also happened to be a gift from her two years ago. :)
Up ahead ...
From September-November, we'll be starting a new series on the Armor of God. We'll look at each piece of the armor and how we can apply it to our everyday lives. Guest speakers will include some of the parents! :)
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