April 2024
6 months left
Dear Readers,
I sat down to start writing this and decided to revisit my previous newsletters from the last year and a half. I was blown away by things I had forgotten about and am overwhelmed by God’s faithfulness in this season of my life. It is easy to forget the big picture and get caught up on the day to day happenings, but I am reminded of the verse found in Colossians: “Set your mind on things above, not on earthly things.” (Colossians 3:2). God is just as faithful now as He was a year ago and will be a year from now. It is bittersweet to look at the last year and see how my relationships with students have changed and grown. It is sweet to see them deepening and flourishing and it is sad knowing that I only have 6 months left in my internship. I understand that people come in and out of your life often, but being the person coming and going can be equally as sad. I am praying for a great 6 months as we move into our busy summer season with students, doing life together and learning more about who our amazing God is and how faithful He has always been.
CTK Update
Similar to last year, April doesn’t have a lot going on in terms of youth events. Because of this, I am trying to spend more time with students and will be trying to go to more sporting events - it is track season! One thing that we did add this month is our first youth service project since I have been here. On Saturday, April 13th, we are going to take any youth kids that can come to the Ronald McDonald house here in town and help them with some yard work and office work. I am grateful for their willingness to let us come serve and hope it is a good time for the students to put their hands and hearts to action for others. We are praying for good weather for yard work as it has been rainy here the last couple of days!
Last week, we had an end of Spring Break youth bowling outing which proved to be a lot of fun. We had 11 kids come out to bowl and our senior boys took the win by a long shot. I thought I was better at bowling… We all definitely want to do this again this summer!
One new thing I have introduced in our youth group are up front ice breaker games before our large group talk. We are a few months into this addition to Sunday nights and it is safe to say those 10 minutes maybe be my favorite part of youth group! I have told a few parents the goal of the ice breakers is “to get some wiggles and giggles out” and it is true. I try to choose interactive games that maybe confuse the kids or at least make them think while not taking anything too seriously!
Last week, we played a game called the 1920’s slang game and kids had to guess what phrases from the 20s mean now. Some examples:
Noodle Juice = Tea
Bees Knees = Extraordinary person or thing
Mazuma = Cash, Money
The giggles were strong with some of the words they had to figure out and it is a great way to get kids a little more relaxed before jumping right into large groups and small groups. If anyone has more ice breaker game ideas, please send them my way! I am hoping to create a list that gets me through a whole school year of youth group meetings. This is currently a lofty goal, but one day I will have it set.
Lastly, at the beginning of March, I had the privilege of attending a women’s retreat with a group from our church. It was held at the same location we take our middle school students to and it was the most bizarre thing to me actually attending a retreat instead of herding sheep (students) from thing to thing. I would definitely recommend attending any adult retreat you have the opportunity to as it is a great way to get to know people from your church in a different setting! I did the ropes course (I was terrified) and can now tell my students that it isn’t scary at all…maybe.
RYM Update
As normal, I have two zoom calls a month with my cohort of 5 individuals all working in youth ministry across the country. I look forward to these zoom calls every time and always walk away feeling fulfilled. I had the privilege of jumping on the call in person with my friend, Rachel, who is a part of the group as I happened to be back in Bozeman over the set meeting time. We had not told our other cohort individuals we would be in the same state so it was pretty fun to see their reaction to 2 of us in the same room rather than everyone on their own screens.
We just finished a book by Nancy Guthrie (Even Better than Eden) and are wrapping up Rebecca McLaughlin’s Confronting Jesus. Both of these books do a great job at looking at the simple (but majorly important) truths about who Jesus is and what the Bible actually says. They emphasize “God’s plan to bring humans back to intimate relationships with God and with one another, a plan that hinged on Jesus” (McLaughlin). She goes on to say “If we are Jesus’s people, we must fight with Jesus’s weapon of self-sacrificing, power-flipping, unrelenting love. Because Jesus will bring justice - in this life and the next.”
I have just a few chapters left in this book and am looking forward to seeing how Rebecca wraps it up. Both Nancy Guthrie and Rebecca McLaughlin are authors I highly recommend!
Personal Update
I had the privilege of making a quick surprise trip back to Bozeman to meet my now 7 week old niece, Emily Anne. What a gift that trip was, not just for my sisters but especially for me. The time we spent together reflecting on where our lives are now, the laughs we had together, the amount of coffee consumed and the endless baby snuggles made for the perfect trip back. When I returned home, my third sister had made it to my house where she would stay for Easter weekend! How rare for me to see all 3 sisters in 24 hours - I did not take that for granted. I am very thankful for the time spent with family as we continue to struggle living this far east from everyone. I am looking forward to more time spent outside, baseball season and a busy student summer of events and retreats. Similar to last April - I am in a weird place of neutrality with nothing huge on my immediate horizon. I am praying to be faithful in the every day work and interactions and keep my eyes focused on the bigger picture.
How you can pray
Please that our students would grow closer to God AND each other, recognizing the gaps in friend groups and striving to include others as they would want to be included.
Please pray for our youth pastor and his family as they work towards fundraising for their next calling. They are headed to Lumberton, NC to work towards a Church plant starting this summer and have a long road ahead of them! In addition, our Church is then on a hunt for a new youth director and could use prayer for wisdom in this season.
Please pray for our planning time for summer events - that we would have lots of students sign up and that planning would go quickly and smoothly.
Conclusion
To wrap up, I want to say how incredibly grateful I am for the continued support in prayer and finances you all have shown me. I know that it is not a small thing to be fully funded for 2 years of ministry and I am thankful every day to not have the added stress of trying to continually fundraise on top of the work I am doing with youth students. Thank you for your faithfulness in supporting me and I hope that you will continue to see the fruit of my work in here in Roanoke over the next 6 months! I would love to connect with you and hear how I can be praying, so please do not hesitate to reach out.
Chloe