Week Four

Sunday

11-1 Church
-Speaking/promotional work
2-5 Prepare for Groups
5-7 Prepare Dinner/ Mingle with groups
7-8 Leader Orientation
8:30-9:30 Prepare Club/Participate
9:30 Staff Meeting
10:30-11:30 Hang out with Youth/ get them to bed

Monday

7:30-8 Devotional Time w/ Students
9-3:30 Work Projects
4-6 Prepare for Hike (prepare water coolers, make snack, organize First Aid kits…)
7-9 Lead Hike/ Lead with Club (night service- lead worship, speak, coordinate)
10-10:30 Staff Meeting
10:30-11:30- Spend time with students/ get them to bed

Tuesday

9:30-11:30- Lead students to museum
12:00-3:30- Help with Kids Club
3:30-5:30 Give out snack/ take students to Wounded Knee/ speak
5:30-6:30 Hang out with Students (playing games, mixers, talking)
8:30-9:15- Lead Club
9:15-9:45- Staff Meeting
9:45-11:30 Hang out with Students

Wednesday

9:00-3:30 Inventory Work/ Random Site work (cleaning refrigerators and such)
4-6:30 Dinner Prep/ Make/ Clean-up
6:30-8:30 Coordinate Evening Activity/ Make/ Give out Snack
8:30-9:15 Lead Club
9:15-9:45-Staff Meeting

9:45-11:30 Hang out w/ Students

Thursday
9-3:30 Host Museum Tour/ Kids Club/ phone calls
3:30-6:30 Hang out with students
6:30-7:30 Dinner Prep/ Make/ Clean-up
8:30-9:15 Lead Footwashing Service
9:15-9:45 Staff Meeting
9:45-12:30 Hang out with students
12:30-1:30am- Inventory

Friday
7-8 Lead Clean-Up crews/ Fax papers
8-9 Youth Enterprise work (selling T-Shirts)
9-10 Set up B-fast/ Lead send off prayer and final words
(NAP!!!! ☺)
12-11:30
- SHOPPING TRIP

Total: 70 hours
(Running Total: 282 hours)

Personal Reflection

Wow, what an incredible week. I don’t think we had a single adult leader that wasn’t entirely supportive of everything we were doing, and we had a whopping 16 of them this week…crazy. It was a bit of an exciting week, but everything handled really well and I’m glad our team had the chance to experience it all and deal with it so early in the summer. By exciting I mean that this week on the way back from Wounded Knee I was in one of 7 fifteen passenger vans filled with almost 70 people. In really strange circumstances I ended up being the only staff member still with the group as I received a call from my site director saying that in Rushville (where the school is that we stay at and were driving back to) there were about 90 mile an hour winds, golf ball sized hail, and she could see clouds swirling and turning green above her. We were about 20 miles from there so I had all the vans pull over on the side of the highway while I frantically prayed for God’s wisdom and began informing each van what was going on. They began hearing things on the radio and got worried. Well…we ended up going to the small basement of a community member I had met early on and stayed there until radio was saying it would be safe again. Meanwhile, a tornado did go through the town that our housing is in and caused a fire…which meant they shut the power off for the city…which meant that we had no way of cooking dinner for the 70 hungry people I had transported back at about 7 pm. Well, we figured some stuff out and had tacos, squeegeed a lot of water, covered broken windows, dried out wet belongings and just as I had planned out one of the best powerless and flashlight driven clubs you’ve ever seen…the power came back on. ☺ Yay! It was really one of our most fun evenings, I had a great time and the students and adults reacted SO well. I really will miss this group.

Spiritual Reflection

I can’t believe how every second of my time is consumed with Youthworks! I can hardly even take advantage of the hour and a half that they give me each week to do absolutely nothing YW. I am really falling in love with my job though. Amazing that God called me to an occupation where my main focus is loving people. I love it! I have been learning so much in my devo time just about God’s protection and guidance over me. Even as adults want to praise me for the work I’ve done I cannot deny that He is truly my motor. All glory and honor to Him! 1 Peter 4:10-11

Week Three

Sunday

11-1 Church
-Speaking/promotional work
2-5 Prepare for Groups
5-7 Prepare Dinner/ Mingle with groups
7-8 Leader Orientation
8:30-9:30 Prepare Club/Participate
9:30 Staff Meeting
10:30-11:30 Hang out with Youth/ get them to bed

Monday

7:30-8 Devotional Time w/ Students
9-3:30 Work Projects
4-6 Prepare for Hike (prepare water coolers, make snack, organize First Aid kits…)
7-9 Lead Hike/ Lead with Club (night service- lead worship, speak, coordinate)
10-10:30 Staff Meeting
10:30-11:30- Spend time with students/ get them to bed

Tuesday

9:30-11:30- Lead students to museum
12:00-3:30- Help with Kids Club
3:30-5:30 Give out snack/ take students to Wounded Knee/ speak
5:30-6:30 Hang out with Students (playing games, mixers, talking)
8:30-9:15- Lead Club
9:15-9:45- Staff Meeting
9:45-11:30 Hang out with Students

Wednesday

9:00-3:30 Inventory Work/ Random Site work (cleaning refrigerators and such)
4-6:30 Dinner Prep/ Make/ Clean-up
6:30-8:30 Coordinate Evening Activity/ Make/ Give out Snack
8:30-9:15 Lead Club
9:15-9:45-Staff Meeting
9:45-11:30 Hang out w/ Students

Thursday
9-3:30 Inventory (yes…it’s the bane of my existence ☺)
3:30-6:30 Hang out with students
6:30-7:30 Dinner Prep/ Make/ Clean-up
8:30-9:15 Lead Foot washing Service
9:15-9:45 Staff Meeting
9:45-1:30am- Inventory

Friday
7-8 Lead Clean-Up crews
8-9 Youth Enterprise work (selling T-Shirts)
9-10 Set up B-fast/ Lead send off prayer and final words
(NAP!!!! ☺)
12-11:30- SHOPPING TRIP
(drive to Rapid City/shop at Sam’s/shop at Wal-Mart/pack it all in/ drive back/ put away and organize $1,100 worth of food/merchandise)

Total: 70 hours
(Running Total: 212 hours)

Personal reflection

There were some bumps in the road for sure this week. Two of our groups were really awesome and so cooperative. However, there was a third group that really was a struggle to get along with throughout the week. One adult leader, Paula, came as the pastor of a church. She was entirely difficult the whole week. She complained about nearly everything and rarely took much of a step to serve. What I learned from that though is that adult leaders really will set the tone for the way a group acts and reacts. It’s definitely a principle I can see applied throughout life. If only I can be a worthy reflection of my Leader.
One of the leaders this week wrote me a letter that really just spoke to every insecurity I hold about what I’m doing this summer. I have to speak every week and I have never felt comfortable as a speaker. He just told me all the ways his students have told him that they were affected by my talks each night. It was just so encouraging. Not that I have all of the sudden become some phenomenal speaker, but that God has chosen to use that aspect of me even when I don’t feel confident in it. He’s so incredible.

Spiritual Reflection

How incredible it is to me that we can truly never stop growing and learning in Him. Just when I feel like I’ve got the hang of life and the way He wants me to live it He opens up new areas for me to grow in. It’s a tough walk, but how amazingly rewarding!! I love that He puts me in positions I don’t understand and then affirms me the entire time. I do not understand His love for me and I hope I never do. I love this feeling of being overwhelmed by Him.


SORRY THAT THESE TWO POSTS ARE ON THE SAME DAY!! OUR INTERNET RANDOMLY DOESN’T WORK ON WEEKENDS AND I HAVE NO TIME IN THE WEEK. I WROTE THEM ON THE RIGHT WEEK, THEY JUST WEREN’T POSTED!

Week Two

Time Spent:
Sunday

11-1 Church
-Speaking/promotional work
3-5 Prepare for Groups
5-7 Prepare Dinner/ Mingle with groups
7-8 Leader Orientation
8:30-9:30 Prepare Club/Participate
9:30 Staff Meeting
10:30-11:30 Hang out with Youth/ get them to bed

Monday

7:30-8 Devotional Time w/ Students
9-11:30 Talk with Evening Activity Contacts
12:30-1:30 Go with Adult Leaders to pick up children
1:30-3:30 Help with Kids Club
5-6 Prepare for Hike (prepare water coolers, make snack, organize First Aid kits…)
7-9 Lead Hike/ Help with Club (night service)
10-10:30 Staff Meeting

Tuesday

9:30-11:30- Trash pick up in park
1-3 Work with Area Director on talks
3:30-5:30 Give out snack/ take students to Wounded Knee/ speak
5:30-6:30 Hang out with Students (playing games, mixers, talking)
9:00-11:30 Hang out with Students

Wednesday

9:00-11:30- paint/ garden/ pick up trash at community home
12:30- 4 Inventory Work
4-6:30 Dinner Prep/ Make/ Clean-up
7-8 Coordinate Evening Activity
8-9 Make/ Give out Snack
9-11:30 Hang out w/ Students

Thursday
9-10 Meet w/ evening activity contact
10-11:30 Paint House w/ students
1-3 Inventory
3-6 Prepare snack/ drive to/ do evening activity
6:30-8 Dinner Prep/ Make/ Clean-up
9-9:30 Staff Meeting
9:30-1:30am- Inventory

Friday
7-8 Lead Clean-Up crews
8-9 Youth Enterprise work (selling T-Shirts)
9-10 Set up B-fast/ Lead send off prayer and final words
(NAP!!!! ☺)
12-11:30
- SHOPPING TRIP (drive to Rapid City/shop at Sam’s/shop at Wal-Mart/pack it all in/ fix flat tire/ drive back/ put away and organize $1,100 worth of food/merchandise)

Total: 70 hours
(Running Total: 142 hours)

Personal Reflection

So there’s SO much to stay busy with! I have no free time throughout my week and I’m getting about 6 hours of sleep a night, but having a great time and the Lord is keeping me refreshed! After a tough weekend with conflicts with my Site Director and thinking I wanted to quit my job and come home, God brought some really awesome confirmation for why I’m here. He has place some really incredible support in my life and I had several friends back home find out that I was struggling and then gathered just to pray for me, they are so awesome! I also probably have the most supportive parents in the world who stood beside what I was feeling and while they would have loved me even if I came home, encouraged that God wouldn’t just send me out here for nothing. I couldn’t have felt more blessed.
I didn’t do my entire list of responsibilities this week because I was shadowing another Program Staff person. Basically I prepared more things, hung out with teenagers, did inventory for 50 people to eat three times a day, and ran evening activities. This next week I’ll do all of that and then run club as well, which is our evening service time. It’s a lot of work but it’s rewarding and well worth it! ☺

Spiritual Reflection

Prep week was a long spiritual battle, but I really felt like God was using this week to lift my spirits and remind me what my purpose is. I am to be a servant and everything that comes along with that. My job is to serve my leaders, my staff, the youth, the adult leaders, community members, and anyone else within reach. I am to serve, not to speak loud, bark complaints or demand my comfort. My job, no matter where I am or whom I am with, is to serve. Sound repetitive? Probably. But that’s what’s been going through my head every step of this week. That’s where I’m at.

Week One

Time Spent
Week One- May 27-June 3
Saturday through Saturday 8am -10pm
(one hour break for each breakfast, lunch dinner)
Worked on many random tasks…
-Making signs
-Writing sermons
-Planning worship services
-Shopping, shopping, more shopping for supplies
-Cleaning
-Washing dishes
-Vacuuming
-Traveling to meet with contacts
-Moving boxes
-Decorating Club room
-Moving furniture
-Mixing Paint
-Organizing bunches of stuff
-Inventory to buy $1,600 worth of food and stuff
-LONG shopping trip
-Anything else that needed to be done ☺

Total: 72 hours


Personal Reflection

This week was a struggle because I felt so frustrated with my Site Director. My Area Director and I talked and then we sat down with her and discussed some things. She’s not all that spiritually deep and it’s a struggle when my role is to be the spiritual leader of the youth to have her over me. It’s a weird situation to explain, but I really wanted things to be sorted out in a good way and she never took it that way and spent a lot of time in defensive yelling. So after a night of crying and praying and one hour of sleep I let it all over to God. I’ve never felt so free. He’ll give me strength and I’ll deal with it all in His peace.
I did a lot of random tasks and sometimes several at once. I took my first shopping trip up to Rapid City, which is two hours away, and spent a lot of money on 5 flats filled with groceries. Who knew it could take so much food to fill a site and feed 30ish people three meals a day?! I’m learning a lot about working with large groups. Our first Early Bird week has started where two more staffs of four people each and our Area Director will join us and we’ll all run the site together. Four of them, alumni mostly, will serve as people for us to watch and learn from this week. I still have some of my responsibilities though. I’m excited to get acquainted with the other staff, they are already such a blessing! ☺

Spiritual Reflection

I have been asking God a lot of questions this week. I won’t lie, I’ve definitely looked up avenues home. Plane tickets, car rentals, directions, hotels along the way. And then I stepped back and said WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! I’ve never quit anything, especially something I know that God laid on my heart so strongly. How could I leave this opportunity? Am I leaving because it’s challenging? Who ever said it would be easy? I’m called to a rough path. But he never called me to go alone. How incredible! This is not my journey. I’m His servant. I was thinking, if I were to be working at a factory this summer I would be working for the factory owners so that it would run they way they wanted and never would I begin to call it my factory. Why is it that I continue to think that this journey belongs to me? The only answer I can find…I must continually surrender. A speaker named Terry Bley once said, “A surrendered life equals and empowered life, and an empowered life expects miracles.”