Tonight (Friday) we are watching How to Train Your Dragon. It's a much needed break after such a rough week here. I could use up the entire allotted blog space to complain about how terrible this week was, how I've had a headache since Tuesday night, and so on, but I really just want to remember the positives and the things I learned from this week/improvements that need to be made, so here goes (it's 10:17 right now, I'll let you know what time it is when I'm done because this might take awhile...)
Positive #1: During Duck, Duck, Goose on Monday, Isaac, this little blonde- haired, blue- eyed 5- year- old whom I adore sooooo much randomly blurted, "I love you!" Made for a swell Monday afternoon.
Positive #2: A one Brian Wybrecht whom I also adore sooooooooo much sent me a letter on Monday!
Positive #3: Amanda May Moore sent me a card on Monday!
Positive #4: I spent an hour or so singing hymns and Christmas songs while Phyllis, a local nursing home patient, played the piano. Phyllis is from Ubly, Michigan but played piano in New York and has paintings in a museum in North Carolina. Her family doesn't visit her that often and she doesn't really like to talk about them.
Positive #5: I realized my accent is all janked up now and I enjoy it.
Lesson #1: Praying for Club as a group is ALWAYS a good idea- especially when your attitude towards the participants stinks.
Lesson #2: When you're dealing with a younger crowd, make everything a competition- especially when vacuuming a large room or sorting clothes at Goodwill.
Lesson #3: Drink plenty of water all day- otherwise you have a headache all week.
Improvement #1: Incorporate staff stories into Club so that the participants can better relate to all of you.
Improvement #2: Monitor portion sizes because younger participants don't understand that one scoop means one scoop, not one and a half or two.
Improvement #3: Do inventory Thursday afternoon- it makes Friday mornings so much easier.
It's 10:56 and I can't come up with anything else. This week was very discouraging, but I realized that it is the small things that just might get me through this summer- like precious 5 year olds and talented 90 somethings and letters from great friends. However, I also realized that I am here not only to serve the community I've grown to love, but I am also here to serve the participants who come. Please continue to pray for rest this weekend, team unity, positive attitudes and joy from the Holy Spirit. We need a lot of prayer especially after this week.
Love ya'll!
Friday, June 24, 2011
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Highlights from Week 2
This past week was incredible! Somehow with only 5 of us on staff (instead of 13 the week before), we managed to be almost everywhere on time and only had a few minor hiccups- as in we ran out of milk halfway through the week. lol. But now that we've gotten an idea of how the rest of the summer is going to go with just the 5 of us, we know what needs to be done to make the week smoother.
There were several highlights from this week that I wanna share with ya'll (yes, I said ya'll):
We had one particular adult leader that we were very concerned about- she was a little bit spastic and temperamental at times and seemed difficult to handle at times. One of my life motto's though is to "seek to understand, not to be understood" so I took the opportunity to talk with this lady. I learned that while she is a little testy, she's been through a lot and she wasn't really that scary. She also opened her heart to me and shared that, while young kids aren't her specialty, she was incredibly touched by the kids at Kid's Club. God definitely altered my attitude towards her through our conversations and I was given the opportunity to wash her feet and pray for her at our Thursday night footwashing (every Thursday the staff washes the feet of the adult leaders and then the adult leaders wash the feet of the youth in their group).
The aforementioned lady's husband was also on this trip and he was most fantastic with the kids at Kid's Club. He is a huge guy and doesn't take crap from many people, but he's a real gentle guy and just loves on people. My favorite moment of the week was on Thursday afternoon. On Thursdays Kid's Club has "Big Fun Day" and this week it was all water games. Well there are two cousins in particular- Jesse and Austin- who are 12 years old and too old for Kid's Club. They come anyway and cause a lot of trouble. So Thursday we let them stay inside and play basketball with me and Dave (the adult leader) instead of being rowdy with the younger kids. It was going fine until Jesse decided he didn't want to follow the rules and tried to run away. Dave and I finally got him to settle down and Dave just spoke truth into his life- told him we loved him and that if he ever needed to talk that I was here all summer and then he gave Jesse his phone number. It was really great to see how firm Dave was with Jesse and still display Christ's love to him. I really wished Dave could stay the whole summer and just keep building relationships with these two kids because they respected him and he is the kind of role model they need.
One major almost- blessing was that because we were switching churches this weekend, the adult leaders decided they would stay an extra half hour Friday morning to help us move our stuff to Lincoln Avenue Baptist Church (it's only across the street from the other church). Unfortunately, some horrendous looking clouds rolled in and terrified us. I didn't actually see it happen because I was dealing with end of the week evaluations and stuff, but a few people said they saw the clouds rotating a little and both Brooke and Erin came to me all pale faced asking what we do in the case of a tornado. One of the adult leaders is a forestry dude and has to be able to predict weather for his job, so he was able to give us a real synopsis of what was going on in the sky. He said they were just like that because of the way they roll around the mountains. Weather.com didn't say anything about tornadoes either. Regardless, I wish we woulda taken pictures because those were the scariest looking clouds I've ever seen and for about an hour my heart got a pretty decent workout.... All that to say, there was a big storm system moving south of us and the adult leaders decided it was best for their groups to high tail it outta here, so they didn't help us move across the street. womp womp.
On an even more heartbreaking note: I realized this week just how much the kids in this city are hurting. Both Jesse and Austin come from abusive homes- physically, emotionally and sexually. Jesse's 10 year old sister, Brittany, and six year old brother, Skylar, also come to Kid's Club and just run rampant and don't pay attention to anyone. It's really difficult to get all four of these kids to cooperate at once, but we have learned that if Austin, Jesse and Brittany are allowed to help with the younger kids, they seem to work better. The problem is that they deal with their pain in destructive ways- Jesse is pretty big for a 12 year old and will lash out at anyone whenever he's upset; Brittany sasses back A LOT; and we just found out on Thursday that Austin escapes through Marijuana. He's only 12 and he's stealing weed from his aunt almost every Thursday. It just breaks my heart to realize that these kids are going through more crap than I ever will and the chances of them getting out of this cycle is incredibly slim. So please please please be praying for the youth in this city. They need Jesus real bad.
That's pretty much it for this week. God is moving in Newport and it's awesome, but the harvest is ripe. There is so much need here- so please be praying praying praying the city. Also be praying for team unity and rest for all of us this next week. We have 65 or so participants coming and we just moved to a new church, so pray that things go smoothly. Oh! And pray for my throat too- I have to use my "stage voice" every time I talk and I just feel like my throat is going to collapse. Thanks!
I hope this finds you all doing well. I miss you! Feel free to write/ email/ facebook or leave a voicemail on my phone to update me on your life.
~Sarah
Lincoln Avenue Baptist Church
Attn: YouthWorks- Sarah Scott
234 Lincoln Avenue
Newport, TN 37821-4048
There were several highlights from this week that I wanna share with ya'll (yes, I said ya'll):
We had one particular adult leader that we were very concerned about- she was a little bit spastic and temperamental at times and seemed difficult to handle at times. One of my life motto's though is to "seek to understand, not to be understood" so I took the opportunity to talk with this lady. I learned that while she is a little testy, she's been through a lot and she wasn't really that scary. She also opened her heart to me and shared that, while young kids aren't her specialty, she was incredibly touched by the kids at Kid's Club. God definitely altered my attitude towards her through our conversations and I was given the opportunity to wash her feet and pray for her at our Thursday night footwashing (every Thursday the staff washes the feet of the adult leaders and then the adult leaders wash the feet of the youth in their group).
The aforementioned lady's husband was also on this trip and he was most fantastic with the kids at Kid's Club. He is a huge guy and doesn't take crap from many people, but he's a real gentle guy and just loves on people. My favorite moment of the week was on Thursday afternoon. On Thursdays Kid's Club has "Big Fun Day" and this week it was all water games. Well there are two cousins in particular- Jesse and Austin- who are 12 years old and too old for Kid's Club. They come anyway and cause a lot of trouble. So Thursday we let them stay inside and play basketball with me and Dave (the adult leader) instead of being rowdy with the younger kids. It was going fine until Jesse decided he didn't want to follow the rules and tried to run away. Dave and I finally got him to settle down and Dave just spoke truth into his life- told him we loved him and that if he ever needed to talk that I was here all summer and then he gave Jesse his phone number. It was really great to see how firm Dave was with Jesse and still display Christ's love to him. I really wished Dave could stay the whole summer and just keep building relationships with these two kids because they respected him and he is the kind of role model they need.
One major almost- blessing was that because we were switching churches this weekend, the adult leaders decided they would stay an extra half hour Friday morning to help us move our stuff to Lincoln Avenue Baptist Church (it's only across the street from the other church). Unfortunately, some horrendous looking clouds rolled in and terrified us. I didn't actually see it happen because I was dealing with end of the week evaluations and stuff, but a few people said they saw the clouds rotating a little and both Brooke and Erin came to me all pale faced asking what we do in the case of a tornado. One of the adult leaders is a forestry dude and has to be able to predict weather for his job, so he was able to give us a real synopsis of what was going on in the sky. He said they were just like that because of the way they roll around the mountains. Weather.com didn't say anything about tornadoes either. Regardless, I wish we woulda taken pictures because those were the scariest looking clouds I've ever seen and for about an hour my heart got a pretty decent workout.... All that to say, there was a big storm system moving south of us and the adult leaders decided it was best for their groups to high tail it outta here, so they didn't help us move across the street. womp womp.
On an even more heartbreaking note: I realized this week just how much the kids in this city are hurting. Both Jesse and Austin come from abusive homes- physically, emotionally and sexually. Jesse's 10 year old sister, Brittany, and six year old brother, Skylar, also come to Kid's Club and just run rampant and don't pay attention to anyone. It's really difficult to get all four of these kids to cooperate at once, but we have learned that if Austin, Jesse and Brittany are allowed to help with the younger kids, they seem to work better. The problem is that they deal with their pain in destructive ways- Jesse is pretty big for a 12 year old and will lash out at anyone whenever he's upset; Brittany sasses back A LOT; and we just found out on Thursday that Austin escapes through Marijuana. He's only 12 and he's stealing weed from his aunt almost every Thursday. It just breaks my heart to realize that these kids are going through more crap than I ever will and the chances of them getting out of this cycle is incredibly slim. So please please please be praying for the youth in this city. They need Jesus real bad.
That's pretty much it for this week. God is moving in Newport and it's awesome, but the harvest is ripe. There is so much need here- so please be praying praying praying the city. Also be praying for team unity and rest for all of us this next week. We have 65 or so participants coming and we just moved to a new church, so pray that things go smoothly. Oh! And pray for my throat too- I have to use my "stage voice" every time I talk and I just feel like my throat is going to collapse. Thanks!
I hope this finds you all doing well. I miss you! Feel free to write/ email/ facebook or leave a voicemail on my phone to update me on your life.
~Sarah
Lincoln Avenue Baptist Church
Attn: YouthWorks- Sarah Scott
234 Lincoln Avenue
Newport, TN 37821-4048
Saturday, June 11, 2011
One Week Down...
We made it through our very first week with youth! It was incredibly chaotic and quite the learning experience, but it was a whole lot of fun. We were supposed to have 4 churches come, but for various reasons only two could come, so we only had 33 participants. It ended up being somewhat of a blessing because it would have been even more chaotic if all 60-some participants were here. And it would have increased the chances of more people realizing we didn't know what we were doing. lol.
Despite the craziness, the week did go pretty well. Sunday the participants came and we fed them dinner and then split up the youth and the adult leaders for separate orientations. After that we all came together and held Club (kinda like chapel- with skits, announcements, worship and a talk).
On Monday through Thursday, after breakfast and devotions, the youth were split up into groups- half went to 'work projects' and the other half went to 'kids club'. At work projects, they were again split up into two groups- one group went to God's Storehouse, a huge thrift store in town, and they organized shelves and things. The second group went out to our friend Hal's work place. Hal runs a camp/refuge near the mountains for troubled people who need a place to stay until they get their feet on the ground. So the youth helped clear brush and trim bushes around the camp. At kids club, the participants helped run a two- two and a half hour program for kids in the town. They do crafts, skits, music, games and other things for the kids.
In the evenings after dinner, we rounded up the participants for an evening activity- Mondays we took them to Smoky Mtn Nat'l Park for a little site seeing and a hike. Tuesdays we took them out to Hal's actual house and attended a blue grass concert put on by some locals- Hurricane Ridge. Wednesday we took them to another friend's house to swim in Douglas Lake. And Thursday we went to the city park for a community cookout and games and stuff.
After the evening activity each night, we came back to the church for Club. Evening activities and Club are really the two things I'm in charge of, so naturally those were my favorite parts of the day.
It was really great to finally experience a real YouthWorks week instead of just learning and preparing for it. We, the staff, learned so much and have already worked on changes for next week. Plus we have to modify a lot because 2/3 of last week's staff has left to go to their own sites. However, yesterday we picked up another staff person for our site- Erin. She will be with us at least through next week to help us move from First United Methodist, the church we're in now to Lincoln Avenue Baptist, the church across the street (we'll be at LABC for the rest of the summer). After the move she'll stay with us until she is needed at another site (she's kind of a YouthWorks floater).
Anywaysssss... the schedule for the week stays the same throughout the summer, except on Wednesday evenings we'll be at LABC's youth service for the evening activity instead of the lake. I'll definitely keep you guys on highlights of each week
In other news, Erin, Erik, Brooke, Daniel and I went hiking to the waterfall again and saw a mama bear and her cubs!!! It was sooooo awesome! But thankfully they were just far enough away that none of us were mauled or anything.....
Also, everyone makes fun of my 'accent.' lol.
Also- if you want to send mail (which I would LOVEEEEEE) my address here is:
Lincoln Avenue Baptist Church
Attn: YouthWorks- Sarah Scott
234 Lincoln Avenue
Newport, TN 37821-4048
or something to that effect.
Now I am going to go work on some things for next week. I miss you all and I hope this finds you doing well!!
Despite the craziness, the week did go pretty well. Sunday the participants came and we fed them dinner and then split up the youth and the adult leaders for separate orientations. After that we all came together and held Club (kinda like chapel- with skits, announcements, worship and a talk).
On Monday through Thursday, after breakfast and devotions, the youth were split up into groups- half went to 'work projects' and the other half went to 'kids club'. At work projects, they were again split up into two groups- one group went to God's Storehouse, a huge thrift store in town, and they organized shelves and things. The second group went out to our friend Hal's work place. Hal runs a camp/refuge near the mountains for troubled people who need a place to stay until they get their feet on the ground. So the youth helped clear brush and trim bushes around the camp. At kids club, the participants helped run a two- two and a half hour program for kids in the town. They do crafts, skits, music, games and other things for the kids.
In the evenings after dinner, we rounded up the participants for an evening activity- Mondays we took them to Smoky Mtn Nat'l Park for a little site seeing and a hike. Tuesdays we took them out to Hal's actual house and attended a blue grass concert put on by some locals- Hurricane Ridge. Wednesday we took them to another friend's house to swim in Douglas Lake. And Thursday we went to the city park for a community cookout and games and stuff.
After the evening activity each night, we came back to the church for Club. Evening activities and Club are really the two things I'm in charge of, so naturally those were my favorite parts of the day.
It was really great to finally experience a real YouthWorks week instead of just learning and preparing for it. We, the staff, learned so much and have already worked on changes for next week. Plus we have to modify a lot because 2/3 of last week's staff has left to go to their own sites. However, yesterday we picked up another staff person for our site- Erin. She will be with us at least through next week to help us move from First United Methodist, the church we're in now to Lincoln Avenue Baptist, the church across the street (we'll be at LABC for the rest of the summer). After the move she'll stay with us until she is needed at another site (she's kind of a YouthWorks floater).
Anywaysssss... the schedule for the week stays the same throughout the summer, except on Wednesday evenings we'll be at LABC's youth service for the evening activity instead of the lake. I'll definitely keep you guys on highlights of each week
In other news, Erin, Erik, Brooke, Daniel and I went hiking to the waterfall again and saw a mama bear and her cubs!!! It was sooooo awesome! But thankfully they were just far enough away that none of us were mauled or anything.....
 |
| Taking a break at the waterfall (photo by Erin) |
 |
| Stream on the path (photo by Erin) |
 |
| Bear cub!! (ultra zoom photo by Erin) |
Also, everyone makes fun of my 'accent.' lol.
Also- if you want to send mail (which I would LOVEEEEEE) my address here is:
Lincoln Avenue Baptist Church
Attn: YouthWorks- Sarah Scott
234 Lincoln Avenue
Newport, TN 37821-4048
or something to that effect.
Now I am going to go work on some things for next week. I miss you all and I hope this finds you doing well!!
Sunday, June 5, 2011
The Youth Come Today!
So finally, a short breather to write things down on this. Two weeks ago I headed to Birmingham, AL for RAMP (orientation, basically) and I was there for 5 days learning everything I need to know for this summer and getting to know some awesome people- specifically the people on my team: Erik, Brooke and Daniel, and our area director, Jess.
A week ago we arrived in Newport and started getting things ready for this week- setting up projects, meeting community members, preparing the site, etc. It's been pretty intense and there were quite a few late nights and reaaaaaaal early mornings. Thankfully, we all kept our cool and were able to stay friends. lol. Early mornings are none of our strengths.
Friday afternoon the other site teams in my area came over to help us prepare for Early Bird (a sort of 'practice run' for the week- complete with real live participants). There are 3 other sites in my area- Blue Ridge, NC; Eastern Shore, VA and us- Newport, TN- there were 13 of us, so things got done rather quickly and we were able to spend some time at the lake last night!
Tennessee is incredibly HOT and Newport is in a valley so there really isn't much relief from the heat. It is absolutely BEAUTIFUL here, though, despite the weather. The whole town is surrounded by the Smokys- as in we can see them from our host church's parking lot! And last week, Erik, Jess and I went to the Smoky Mtns Nat'l Park to "test out" the hike we'll be taking the kids on later in the week... tomorrow actually. It is just beautiful- there are a TON of streams to stop and play in and, although we won't be taking the kids to this- there is a gorgeous waterfall with the best water I've ever tasted. It was sooooooo clear and cold and everything water should taste like. lol. We won't be taking the kids there b/c it's a 4.5 mile hike round trip and it's pretty treacherous- I tripped like 5 times.
Oh! Our area director just told us one of our groups is 10 minutes out- so I gotta go get ready to welcome them! Hopefully next weekend we won't be quite so busy b/c we already have things set up, so another post can be expected.
~Sarah
A week ago we arrived in Newport and started getting things ready for this week- setting up projects, meeting community members, preparing the site, etc. It's been pretty intense and there were quite a few late nights and reaaaaaaal early mornings. Thankfully, we all kept our cool and were able to stay friends. lol. Early mornings are none of our strengths.
Friday afternoon the other site teams in my area came over to help us prepare for Early Bird (a sort of 'practice run' for the week- complete with real live participants). There are 3 other sites in my area- Blue Ridge, NC; Eastern Shore, VA and us- Newport, TN- there were 13 of us, so things got done rather quickly and we were able to spend some time at the lake last night!
Tennessee is incredibly HOT and Newport is in a valley so there really isn't much relief from the heat. It is absolutely BEAUTIFUL here, though, despite the weather. The whole town is surrounded by the Smokys- as in we can see them from our host church's parking lot! And last week, Erik, Jess and I went to the Smoky Mtns Nat'l Park to "test out" the hike we'll be taking the kids on later in the week... tomorrow actually. It is just beautiful- there are a TON of streams to stop and play in and, although we won't be taking the kids to this- there is a gorgeous waterfall with the best water I've ever tasted. It was sooooooo clear and cold and everything water should taste like. lol. We won't be taking the kids there b/c it's a 4.5 mile hike round trip and it's pretty treacherous- I tripped like 5 times.
Oh! Our area director just told us one of our groups is 10 minutes out- so I gotta go get ready to welcome them! Hopefully next weekend we won't be quite so busy b/c we already have things set up, so another post can be expected.
~Sarah
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