Ahoj. It is spelled with a j. Last post I spelled it wrong. The weekend went really, really well. I am pleased. On friday we left with 15 middle schoolers and drove roughly 5 hours to Liberic. I was driving a van of 8 girls. And they were never quiet. Ever. Not for a minute. It was actually quite fun though. You learn a lot about people on road trips and it is a great opportunity for good conversation.
The service project was not what you would normally think of for a service project. We were not building or fixing anything, or any physical labor at all. Instead we were providing our english speaking. In Czech learning English is a pretty big deal that most people want to do. They will pay a lot of money for english workshops and opportunities to practice. We were with about fifteen Czech teens and we played different games, did activities, hung out and spoke with them, all in English so they could practice. Some were very good at it already, others spoke hardly any at all. It was really cool to see Czechs and Americans interacting, trying to understand each other, playing games, and just enjoying being together. There was one teen, Michael (not really his name but I can't say or spell how it is in Czech so this is what we called him) he spoke no English, but he and I hit it off. It is amazing how much you can communicate without actually talking. I really enjoyed it.
We also went to a mother-child center. We had collected donations for them from Graf and brought those out. We also built some yard games for them. We built a bags set, or cornhole as non Michiganders call it, and also a bean bag toss game. We got to play w/ the kids, most of whom were in the 2 - 3 year old range. Very fun. A smile is understood in all languages, and playing and throwing things around is great.
The ride back was slightly quieter as a number of people were exhausted from the busy weekend, but they still made quite a bit of noise. Generally I try to take a day to recover after a trip like that, but sadly this week did not afford me that opportunity. We had HS club the next day and MS club today, so we had to get right back at it. Tonight I am headed to Heidelberg to spend the night, then go to the European basketball tournament for the military high schools in Europe. I will also be visiting some Club Beyond staff over in that area, so it should be fun.
Well, time to get back to work I suppose.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Friday, February 18, 2011
Off to Czech
Ahoy. Not real sure if that is how it is spelled, but that means hello in Czech. I am headed off today to the Czech Republic to do a service project there with our middle schoolers. We are going to a mother child center and working there, playing games with people, doing some English speaking activities, etc. It should be a lot of fun. Prayers for safe travels (not too far away, about a 4 hour van ride) and a good weekend all around are much appreciated. I will make sure to let you know how it goes.
The highlight of the last few weeks for me has been high school club. We are doing a series dealing w/ many aspects of sexuality. This last tuesday we spliy up guys and girls, and the leaders swapped, with the male leaders going with female students and female leaders going with male students. The students then got the chance to ask questions (that they had come up w/ and cleared through their own leaders) that they were curious about with the oppsite gender. I am extremely pleased with how well it went. The questions that were asked were great. Opened up a lot of good discussion time. They listened attentitively, and the leaders gave some really good answers. It was my favorite club of the year so far. I really enjoyed it and think it was very beneficial. I think it is so important to be able to go to adults of the opposite gender and ask questions like this, and to have people who love God and are strong in their faith to give open and honest answers.
Sorry, this is all I have time for. Off to pick up the vans and start loading stuff up.
The highlight of the last few weeks for me has been high school club. We are doing a series dealing w/ many aspects of sexuality. This last tuesday we spliy up guys and girls, and the leaders swapped, with the male leaders going with female students and female leaders going with male students. The students then got the chance to ask questions (that they had come up w/ and cleared through their own leaders) that they were curious about with the oppsite gender. I am extremely pleased with how well it went. The questions that were asked were great. Opened up a lot of good discussion time. They listened attentitively, and the leaders gave some really good answers. It was my favorite club of the year so far. I really enjoyed it and think it was very beneficial. I think it is so important to be able to go to adults of the opposite gender and ask questions like this, and to have people who love God and are strong in their faith to give open and honest answers.
Sorry, this is all I have time for. Off to pick up the vans and start loading stuff up.
Friday, February 4, 2011
A week in the life
Some people have asked what I do all week, how I fill my time, so I figured I would tell you. This is this past week in a nut shell.
Monday: This was a volunteer training day. We try to meet every two weeks with our volunteer leaders and do some trainings so they feel more equipped to do ministry. We met with out middle school leaders and did lunch and then about an hour of trainings. We focused on the need to reach middle schoolers and how it is such a transitional time in one's life. Then I spent the afternoon preparing for the high school leaders meeting. We met for dinner and then did about an hour and a half worth of meeting. We spent this time going over our talk series that we are starting, which is a sexuality series. We are looking at how God created us and what that should look like. It is not a sex talk series, although that comes into play. It is a broader look at everything that sexuality/gender/God's creation entails. In the morning on Monday I also worked on my club talk for Tuesday.
Tuesday: Went into Vilseck and started working on Club for the evening. Worked on the talk and planning games. I went to HS lunch, which there are two of. It is very annoying to me that they don't have lunch back to back. The first lunch period ends at 12:05, and the second doesn't begin until 12:50. I usually go and eat lunch or work on the evening club during this time. On this Tuesday, I picked Aretta up from the auto shop where she had brought her car for some work. Then went back to the second lunch. During lunches, I do contact work. I try to go to both HS and MS once a week. I just make my way around the tables and to different groups of students talking, saying hi, reminding them of Club, etc. It's a good way to connect with students, and to get seen by other students. After lunch I went back to work on my club talk. This weeks I did a power point talk, which I had not done all year. It was fun. I showed a bunch of little clips from shows or youtube to illustrate different points. We had 60 students attend, which is the second highest we have had all year.
Wednesday: I spent the morning and early afternoon working on staff training for Club Beyond. For the first two years I am on staff I have different assignments to do and turn in. It is sometimes hard to fit this nto the schedule, but the stuff we work on is valuable. I went to the MS for lunch. Going to MS lunch is fun, because the middle schoolers act a lot more excited to see you than high schoolers do. They run up to you, give hugs, it's fun. Then we had middle school club in the afternoon. We had...roughly 35 kids there. That is about average. I led some games and did some announcements and Aretta gave the club talk. That evening I went to the contemporary service just down the hall from my office. It is basically a church service with a small group feel to it. There were only about 10 of us there. I go to this service when I can, which lately has not been very often. It is really nice though to go to something like this where I am not working, I can just learn about scripture and not be the one teaching it.
Thursday: Thursdays are my day off, which I always need. After a busy last 3 days (each day was between 10 and 12 hours of work a day, which is pretty normal) I am exhausted. I did not plan to, but I slept until after 11. I spent the day doing random things, a little cleaning, playing some video games, watched a movie, read a book, went to the px to buy some kitchen stuff (I just bought silverware. After using the same two utensils for a few months, I figured it was time). I spoke approximately 10 words to someone at the px, and that was it. That, to me, is the ideal day off.
Friday: Today is different than normal. Usually this is an ofice day, planning for next week. Today however I am taking a donor care day. Which means I am writing a newsletter, writing this blog, and coming up with a plan to stay in touch with people back home. This is something I have done a porr job with and it needs to change. So that's the plan. Tonight I will go to the hs basketball games and do some contact work and try to enjoy a little basketball (the teams are struggling).
Saturday: We are doing a work day for a service project coming up. We are going to the Czech Republic to work at a mother-child center, and tomorrow is a day to build games that we are bringing. There will be abour a dozen ms students there, so it should be fun. At night I will try to do something social, maybe a movie.
Sunday: I am planning on going to both a catholic and protestant service as of right now. Then we have a prayer time with some students in the fternoon. After that Aretta and i will plan some things for next week (since I am not in the office today to do it). Then it will be dinner at a chaplains house, then tto the hospitality house to watch the Super Bowl. It'll mean a late night, but I have no problem staying up past 4 to watch a game like this. I'm cheering for the Packers, predicting a 24-10 victory.
And that is what this week was/will be. It is a pretty average week. And this was a very long post. If you made it all the way through, pat yourself on the back. And you get a prize. If you read this send me a message and you are entitled to a Club Beyond calendar, complete with a note from a student.
Ok, that's it.
Monday: This was a volunteer training day. We try to meet every two weeks with our volunteer leaders and do some trainings so they feel more equipped to do ministry. We met with out middle school leaders and did lunch and then about an hour of trainings. We focused on the need to reach middle schoolers and how it is such a transitional time in one's life. Then I spent the afternoon preparing for the high school leaders meeting. We met for dinner and then did about an hour and a half worth of meeting. We spent this time going over our talk series that we are starting, which is a sexuality series. We are looking at how God created us and what that should look like. It is not a sex talk series, although that comes into play. It is a broader look at everything that sexuality/gender/God's creation entails. In the morning on Monday I also worked on my club talk for Tuesday.
Tuesday: Went into Vilseck and started working on Club for the evening. Worked on the talk and planning games. I went to HS lunch, which there are two of. It is very annoying to me that they don't have lunch back to back. The first lunch period ends at 12:05, and the second doesn't begin until 12:50. I usually go and eat lunch or work on the evening club during this time. On this Tuesday, I picked Aretta up from the auto shop where she had brought her car for some work. Then went back to the second lunch. During lunches, I do contact work. I try to go to both HS and MS once a week. I just make my way around the tables and to different groups of students talking, saying hi, reminding them of Club, etc. It's a good way to connect with students, and to get seen by other students. After lunch I went back to work on my club talk. This weeks I did a power point talk, which I had not done all year. It was fun. I showed a bunch of little clips from shows or youtube to illustrate different points. We had 60 students attend, which is the second highest we have had all year.
Wednesday: I spent the morning and early afternoon working on staff training for Club Beyond. For the first two years I am on staff I have different assignments to do and turn in. It is sometimes hard to fit this nto the schedule, but the stuff we work on is valuable. I went to the MS for lunch. Going to MS lunch is fun, because the middle schoolers act a lot more excited to see you than high schoolers do. They run up to you, give hugs, it's fun. Then we had middle school club in the afternoon. We had...roughly 35 kids there. That is about average. I led some games and did some announcements and Aretta gave the club talk. That evening I went to the contemporary service just down the hall from my office. It is basically a church service with a small group feel to it. There were only about 10 of us there. I go to this service when I can, which lately has not been very often. It is really nice though to go to something like this where I am not working, I can just learn about scripture and not be the one teaching it.
Thursday: Thursdays are my day off, which I always need. After a busy last 3 days (each day was between 10 and 12 hours of work a day, which is pretty normal) I am exhausted. I did not plan to, but I slept until after 11. I spent the day doing random things, a little cleaning, playing some video games, watched a movie, read a book, went to the px to buy some kitchen stuff (I just bought silverware. After using the same two utensils for a few months, I figured it was time). I spoke approximately 10 words to someone at the px, and that was it. That, to me, is the ideal day off.
Friday: Today is different than normal. Usually this is an ofice day, planning for next week. Today however I am taking a donor care day. Which means I am writing a newsletter, writing this blog, and coming up with a plan to stay in touch with people back home. This is something I have done a porr job with and it needs to change. So that's the plan. Tonight I will go to the hs basketball games and do some contact work and try to enjoy a little basketball (the teams are struggling).
Saturday: We are doing a work day for a service project coming up. We are going to the Czech Republic to work at a mother-child center, and tomorrow is a day to build games that we are bringing. There will be abour a dozen ms students there, so it should be fun. At night I will try to do something social, maybe a movie.
Sunday: I am planning on going to both a catholic and protestant service as of right now. Then we have a prayer time with some students in the fternoon. After that Aretta and i will plan some things for next week (since I am not in the office today to do it). Then it will be dinner at a chaplains house, then tto the hospitality house to watch the Super Bowl. It'll mean a late night, but I have no problem staying up past 4 to watch a game like this. I'm cheering for the Packers, predicting a 24-10 victory.
And that is what this week was/will be. It is a pretty average week. And this was a very long post. If you made it all the way through, pat yourself on the back. And you get a prize. If you read this send me a message and you are entitled to a Club Beyond calendar, complete with a note from a student.
Ok, that's it.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)