week 1

From June 25

We had our first group last week. Mostly they were really great, but we had a few adult leaders that made things difficult. Overall everything went really well. Kids' Club was crazy chaotic the first day, but it really settled down now. We still have kids that are too old (11-13) and too young (3 and 4) show up, but mostly things are good. Last week we confiscated a toy sword, a toy gun, and a real ninja star. This week we got another toy gun and some real fireworks. So we'll see what's next! Also, when one group last week was picking kids up for KC, the SWAT team showed up at the house they were at! So that was interesting. Apparently it was just a routine check that they do to keep an eye on something, but they were a little concerned when they were standing at the door waiting for the kids and the SWAT team in full gear shows up! They took the kids and got out of there. But besides the occasional incident, KC has been going well. Sometime the participants get concerned because it doesn't look anything like a Bible School full of well-behaved middle class kids. But it's not going to, and that's not what we're going for, so it's ok!

We've also been painting quite a few houses. Things there are far less dramatic! One adult this week even said it felt like a vacation to go to paint a house after 2 days at KC!

We've got some great evening activities, so that's good too. The best is on Tuesday when we go to the home of Corey Greaves for a worship circle. It's Christian worship done with Native traditions. So they burn sage and pass around a talking stick and take communion with water. The participants always really enjoy it. And afterwords we have a big bonfire and make s'mores and Corey and some of his youth do some native drumming and get our participants involved. So it's great!

This week is also going well. The youth are younger, so that's more of a challenge because they need a lot more direction, but the adults are easier to deal with. THey're all super nice and flexible and don't complain. So that's good!

So that's a bit about what's going on!