Fall Frenzy

Halloween weekend at Bethel means a fall festival at one of the local elementary schools. Dozens of small groups set up booths and gave out fistfuls (literally) of candy to the kids for playing some sort of a carnival game. The high school girls that I get to help lead on Wednesday nights were in charge of put-put golf, and they happily spent an hour and a half crawling around on the floor after stray plastic golf balls. (Although, the princess stayed put with the candy. :D)

By the end, we were dumping massive amounts of candy into the bags and buckets of any kid who came along, just trying to get rid of it all before the night was over. The kids thought that was the greatest thing ever... their parents... probably didn't appreciate it as much.

Last time I worked at this booth... I was a senior in high school, in a small group with the same leader who I have joined this year as a co-leader. If that's not full circle, I'm not sure what is.

Water Walk

Sunday afternoon, when most of them would have much preferred to be napping -- far away from the weather that was sunny one minute and cold, wet, and very windy the next -- a group of my sister's friends joined our family and my old youth pastor's family for a "water walk" Everyone used sharpies to write facts about clean water and water access on gallon milk jugs, then we filled the milk jugs with water and carried them from the park to our church up the street. (Which just so happens to be a little farther than the distance the UN considers "access" to a clean water source. How handy is that?) It was simple to pull off, didn't cost anything for supplies, (Well...maybe a little pride as I was pulling old milk jugs out of the public recycling bins in a store parking lot. But...other than that.) and it seemed like something that could be used with just about any size of group. We were a pretty small group and had fun with it, but I could easily see it happening en mass as well. As picturesque and ACT:s network-y as parts of it seemed, though, the coolest part to me didn't have anything to do with a carefully sanitized milk jug. During a brainstorming time at the end of the walk -- inside and away from the wind! -- the highschoolers decided that they were, as a group, going to abstain from buying pop or coffee for the next week, in order to donate money towards clean water access. Just like that. Okay. Let's do it. Maybe I'm biased, but I think that the kids I get to share life with here in Tri-Town are pretty much amazing.

NiGHt LiFE

This morning was the Operation Christmas Child table in the church foyer, then church service, then 4th and 5th grade Sunday school. The afternoon was lunch and set up for the Water Walk, then the walk itself, then a meeting for another church related thing, followed by running home for long enough to grab some dinner. And, this evening was a game night with the youth group. Obviously, I am a fool to associate Sundays and rest! Lol.

They were divided up into teams as they came in the door, and then we did some version of just about every game show ever invented. Okay. Not quite. But, The Amazing Race was one of the longer events...and it was scheduled to last seven minutes. Of course, it lasted longer than that, because, well, it's a long ways across the parking lot to get from the gym to the activity center, and back to the main foyer, and back to the activity center, and back to the auditorium.

The final game - after much running across the parking lot - was an American Gladiators style set-up in the auditorium, and it was actually quite impressive. Let's just say that there are quite a few youth leaders who like the idea of compressed air powered anything. "Needing" to be able to shoot things from the floor up to the balcony...was a good excuse to get creative.

Exhibit A: the gun in the picture above (with the winning team for the night) shoots tennis balls. Who needs a slingshot when you could use that instead?

Lest You Get the Wrong Idea

A few stories to clarify that all is not peaceful talking circles in my small group:

#1 In the midst of sharing God stories (cool things that they've seen God do), one of the girls, E, pipes up with, "I asked Jesus for a baby brother, and then, a week later, my mom was pregnant!" ...brief pause... "Or, maybe my mom heard me talking and just decided to do it."

Umm... moving on... Anyone else?

#2 M looked up at me in the middle of the video we were watching about Jesus healing the centurion's servant and asked, "this is just a pretend story for the DVD, right?"
"Well, the actors are just pretending right now, but it really did happen in real life."
Momentary pause while his eyes get huge. "That's so cool!"

Our videos have been starting out at an imaginary clubhouse and then moving into an (intentionally) ridiculously overacted reenactment of a Bible story. Obviously...the line between real and pretend is not quite as clear as it seemed to be.

#3 All of my kids know that they have permission to stand quietly, rather than sing words that they don't mean during worship time.

#4 Guess which group had a child puke and another child bruise his arm falling off of a sled during their Fun Fling?

Yep. That would be us.

And, lest I forget.

#5 JE, another one of the girls, was rather upset at me this week, because I knew the name of a teenage boy who "used to go to her school" (and also happens to hang out with my sister)... not that she has a crush on him or anything.

*eye roll*

Water Walk

1 in 8 people worldwide do not have access to clean water.

Dirty water kills more people than all forms of violence, including war.

Approximately 1,300 gallons of water are used to sustain the average American lifestyle, each day.

~~

All ages* are invited to join us this Sunday afternoon to gain a hands on understanding of the problem and help brainstorm ways that our church community can get involved.

We will meet at Badger Mountain Community Park (the playing fields just down the road from Bethel) at 2:00pm and finish up in the portable at Bethel around 4:00pm. Rides will be available back to the park to pick up vehicles.

Bring weather appropriate clothing; shoes that can be worn on a two mile "hike;" and an empty milk jug, if you have one.

*4th grade and under should come with an adult or older sibling

Get Back Up

One of the boys in my 4th and 5th grade small group asked for this song during worship yesterday. None of the children's worship leaders knew it (it's not exactly Big Big House), but Katie did write it down, and it will mean a lot to this kid, LJ, if they learn it.

(Random aside: blogging about small group would be easier if there weren't so many "J" names in my group!)

LJ is the type who presents like a punk but listens quietly during large group time; chatters during small group but refuses to say much about God things; loves being outside but manages to maneuver himself out of most running situations, even though he's one of the fastest in my group; and stands with arms crossed and a scowl during the "goofy" songs but sings with eyes closed and hands folded during Revelation Song.

He watches everyone, and, I'm pretty sure, takes in just about everything. It will be a cool thing if he can feel like the worship team pays as much attention to him as he does to other people.

We had a tiny group this week, just LJ, M, and J and three new girls, but the boys did a really good job of welcoming the girls and making sure that they understood how things worked. LJ made sure that we sat together - and in the front row - during worship, even though he's told me before that he, "doesn't like singing." :)

Wanting to be together is good. Listening and caring about each other's weeks is good. Exchanging God stories, and getting excited about it, is good. Not ever getting to anything on the lesson plan is probably neutral.

If nothing else, they're learning the memory verses and practicing what it means to be family in Christ.

I'm okay with that.

This is Why I'm Glad to be Here

I'm glad I'm in Tri-town because: Friday evening, I got to spend five hours hanging out with an amazing group of middle schoolers.

There were 190 kids at the outreach event, and a chunk of them knew me for one reason or another, so it was a cool chance to just hang out, play BS, watch them sumo wrestle, and make sure that no one lost an eye to a nerf dart. One of the seventh grade boys looked at me at one point and asked, "Can we take them [nerf guns] to the attic?"

Haha. Glad to know that you remember at least something from 4th and 5th grade Sunday School!

I'm glad I'm in Tri-town because: my baby sister and her friends let me chauffeur them around during Homecoming.

Benefit of Mariah going to Homecoming with a group of freshmen: the older sister gets to drive them between pictures, dinner, dessert, and the dance. Not a bad gig, all in all. Apparently, riding in a mini van turns opening-the-door-for-your-date into a sporting event to see who can get to the door the quickest.

I'm glad I'm in Tri-town because: God is working in the High School youth group, and it's just as amazing to watch from up close as it is from far away.

Proud Leader Moment

The fourth and fifth graders I get to have in my small group never cease to make me smile - and I think we wear each other out running outside! - but, this week, on top of all that, I was also ridiculously proud of them.

Clarification: I've been proud of them every week; for the way that they try to learn each others' names, even when the group is constantly changing; for the way they keep track of each other; and for the way that they are respectful during large group, regardless of whether or not they want to be singing. This week was just extra proud. (Something about finally starting to settle into group and get their feet under them probably helped.)

#1 They came in and sat down next to each other during the large group lesson, completely of their own volition and willingly juggled seats so that everyone could fit. (When you're a fourth grade boy, moving down to a cold seat just so that a girl can sit by her friend is a big deal.)

They saw a need (people sitting by themselves), and they filled it.

#2 Our group has settled into an inside-outside-inside division of small group time. Somewhere during the settling back inside process, one of the boys, G, had his nose bumped - completely on accident. Not wanting anyone else to see him upset, he ran off for the hallway. Understandable. Unfortunately, also a no-go as far as keeping track of children is concerned.

While I went to check on G (ie. figure out where in the massive children's wing he had run off to), I left the group, minus G, to proceed with their discussion questions. When I came back, JN (girl) and P (guy) had taken charge, and they were all talking calmly, quietly, respectfully, and earnestly, not just speeding through the answers, but following up with "why?" and "how?" questions. Major props, considering the last thing we had been doing wasn't exactly calm. :)

Again, they saw a need, and they filled it.

#3 The kid, M, who had been the cause of the nose bumping had tried several times to apologize and check on G. No response. No response. No response. And, I figured he had given up, so... that makes it time for teacher to go figure out what happened / smooth things over.

No sooner had I squatted down to where G was sitting, then M was back beside me, trying again. G finally opened up a word or two, and M engaged him in a dialogue (sharing guy stories), and we ended up having a fourth grader initiated teaching moment about respect and disrespect (which...just so happens to be this month's Sunday School focus). By the time M was done, they had gone from enmity to a fist bump and a smile.

M saw a need, and left his normal group of friends and his comfort zone to fill it.

Yep. Definitely proud of that group of kids.

Project AK-47

I meant to share this link several months ago, but it managed to lose itself in the depths of my "bookmarks" folder. Oddly enough, it was watching a group of middle school boys play with Nerf guns that reminded me of it.

They were laughing and having fun, darting behind a Plexiglas shield and calling for cease fires so that they could gather up enough foam darts to start over again.

For tens of thousands of boys (and girls) their age, though, guns are not a toy, and they don't play at war, they live it -- and not as civilians or bystanders. Some estimates put the number at as high as 300,000 soldiers under the age of eighteen world wide.

Groups like Project AK-47 are working to rescue child soldiers and bring awareness. Check out their blog for stories directly from the children and ways that you can get involved.

Photo credit: Flickr, Project AK-47 -- all four boys are rescued child soldiers

Nothing to Say

So, I've discovered this amazing phenomena lately, whereby, every time that I am faced with a blank page or an empty box, waiting to be filled with words, I suddenly have less than nothing to say.

As a general rule, I write when I have answers (or I write to find out that I have answers). Maybe it's an oldest child thing, always wanting to be in control, to be the one who can make sense out of the world and "fix" the problem.

Yeah. Go back and count the number of times the word "I" shows up in that second to last sentence. There might just be a problem there.

For lack of words, we'll see where we get with bullet points.

* The Focus month has been officially delayed until further notice, but, exactly how long further notice is... would be one of those questions without answers.

* By no means does that indicate that the pushing towards justice is taking a back burner, that much I do know for certain.

* Sitting and waiting for answers is not something that Jessica does naturally (pretty sure that it is close to genetically impossible to just leave things be without trying to make them better).

* There are a billion and ten ideas running around in my head -- as always -- and, trying to get them sorted out into "God thing" piles and "Jessica thing" piles could keep a small army of bureaucrats busy for the next ten years or so.

* I get to lead an awesome group of 4th and 5th graders on Sunday mornings and hang with some incredible high schoolers on Sunday and Wednesday nights.

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