Grace Lutheran Royersford

This morning we woke up at 7:00 and went to eat a breakfast containing of cereal and breakfast burritos. Around 8:50 we left to go to our service site, which was a house that had a lot of trash and a burnt down house right across the street. Our group, turtle river, worked very hard on our last day of service and we made each other very happy and grateful. When we arrived home, Gracyn, our new friend Julia, and I went outside with our other friends Max and Erik to play frisbee and to hula hoop. After an hour of fun, everyone went to Paul Bunyan park to do a scavenger hunt, which we did not win. Our team name was P.Neff. One of the pictures below shows a P & N and our team!

It was very sad that our last full day was coming close to an end, but that didn’t stop our fun. When we got back to the school we were staying at, we had our large group gathering to reflect our day and to pray for safe travels for the day to come. When we closed the gathering, we all got into our church groups. The YouthWorks staff washed Mike’s and Kelsey’s feet and prayed over them. Affter our leader’s feet were washed, they wased our feet and prayed over us as well. Then, we went to all the YouthWorks staff and washed their feet which they were very grateful for. Half of us were bawling our eyes out, knowing we were never really going to see our friends again. Justin, one of the YouthWorks staff prayed with passion as we closed out of large group.

?We saw God in ways we haven’t seen him before. One way was when we gave two little girls our popsicle sticks and in return, one of them squirted us with her water gun.

?~Sydney Floyd

 

          

Today was the big community cookout! It was lots of fun being able to interact with the kids over dinner, and playing with them on the park. We also danced to a drum circle. I saw God in the adults that brought the kids, since they let the kids go in front of them, and we’re very polite, even if they didn’t have enough food.

~Nathan McMullan

 

         

On Tuesday morning my crew, turtle river, went to kids club at dream catcher park. When we arrived the children were very energetic and thrilled to see us again. After kids club finished, we went to another work site called, adult day services where we helped clean buses for the seniors. We also played pool noodle hockey & sang karakoe with some of the residents. In the evening our church group went to leech lake and I swam in it! No leeches! I saw god in the youth and the children, the quick connections and bond that was created.

~Abby Coath

 

               

Today was July 17th which was my birthday. I started my celebration bright and early at 6:30am with breakfast prep! Then I ate a bagel, which was okay since I burnt it a little in the toaster, then made myself a hoagie for lunch. After breakfast there was a meeting about what to expect during sports camp. Then at sports camp I played with this little girl, Haylie, and also got beat up by a 9 year old boy named Anthony. We ate lunch around 12 and left. Then we had another meeting about our high and lows of the day. Later in the day we went to Andie and Jess’s house and learned about Native American history. It was really interesting and I also bought a homemade dreamcatcher from their daughter. Overall I eat this day as an 8. I saw God through all the children and get closeness they had with each other.

?~Lily Coath

We woke up at 8am at the church in Minneapolis, Minnesota. We got breakfast at Caribou coffee. After that we went back to first Lutheran Church and attended their service, which started at 10am. They were welcoming and excited for us to be there. We then went to Chipotle for lunch before starting our about 3 hr drive north. We arrived at the school that we would be staying at for the next few days. We first unloaded the van and got situated in our rooms. After that we had dinner which was sloppy joes, mac & cheese, baked beans, and salad. Then we had our youth orientation which consisted of “speed friending”. The youthworks leaders asked very random questions like, “what type of ice cream most describes your life?” After that all the adults came in and we had our first large group gathering. We sang, prayed, and watched videos about youthworks and a singer/songwriter who created a song a out God. Then we got together as a church and talked about our high and lows, as well as what we are excited and nervous for. Then it was time for lights out.

I saw God in many ways. The people at first Lutheran were very nice and appreciative of what we were doing and wanted to learn more. Then when we were at Chipotle, a man there prayed before he ate his meal. Then once we got to the school, the leaders were really friendly and helped us settle in. I also saw God when He got us to all the places we needed to go safely.