On the first night of youth group

Tuesday has come and gone.

Youth group has come and gone with it.

I'm officially back as a Transformers leader!

There is something about middle schoolers that I love. They get such a bad rep. Not many people like middle schoolers because of their awkwardness, their sassiness, their laziness, their attitude of entitlement, the list could go on and on as to why people say they don't like middle schoolers.

I, on the other hand, love middle schoolers. I love their awkwardness, their vibrantness and their energy. I find middle schoolers are caught in between innocence and experience. They are still so young, but they are also starting to grow up.

I like the conversations you can have with middle schoolers. You can talk about deep stuff like a family issue or their relationship with Christ and talk about bodily functions, like burping all in the same conversation.

Middle schoolers are like wild cards you never know what you are going to get from them. They keep you on your toes. And I love it!

I am so full of joy when I'm leading at Transformers. Pouring into the youth at RiverCross fills me up to keep me going for the week. I'm so grateful to have the opportunity to do so!

So first week back as a leader after two months off for school.

All the youth are the same as before Christmas (except for one or two - yay for bringing friends to youth group!) which is nice because I can continue to get to know them.

The structure of the night is similar, although a little different:
Hang out
Group games
Worship time
Large group discussion/teaching time
Snack & Small group discussions (small groups by grade level)
Large group games if time allows

They have also finished Alpha, which I expected and we started a new series that I do not know the name of - but after one night it seemed really good.

This week the series talked about walking away from Jesus, and when Jesus asked his disciples "are you going to walk away from me too?" and Peter replied by saying "Lord where would we go."

I feel like this is such an important topic for middle schoolers because so much is thrown at them at this age, they have plenty of opportunities to walk away from Jesus, there is so many other things they could walk towards, but we need to teach them to walk to Jesus and keep walking to him!

First night back at youth group was a success! I'm so so so happy to be back! I cannot wait to see what God has planned for the next few months at Transformers.

Until next week,
Em

It doesn't happen the way you hoped

The first day of Transformer (for me and) after March break was this past Tuesday and it was also storming. So my long awaited return to youth group has been postponed a week.

I was so sad when I got the message that Transformers was cancelled due to the storm. Although it was a good decision because the roads were messy and there was so much snow. But still, I really had wanted to get back to spending my Tuesday nights with the middle school group from my church.

I feel like through this storm and youth group cancellation and through some other current events in my life, God is teaching me that he is in control.

Even though I really wanted to start back at youth group, I had no control of the weather; I couldn't stop the snow from coming.

Also happening in my life this week, my grandmother had a triple bypass done yesterday. As she awaited her surgery I had asked her if she was scared - it would make sense if she was, she's 81 years old and it's a major surgery. She told me she wasn't scared because there was really nothing she could do about it. She had faith that God was in control and whatever was going to happen was his will.

Wow, what a lesson she taught me through her bravery and her faith.

The storm was a little reinforcement of the lesson. God is in control, whatever happens is his will.

I didn't get to youth group like I had hoped this past Tuesday, but here's hoping that the snow is done, there won't be anymore storms, and I will get to return to Transformers this coming Tuesday!

Jumping back into it

Other than one weekend when I was home in February, last Sunday was my first week (physically - thank God for livestream) back at my home church.

One of my favourite parts about moving home is that I get to go back to my home church.

As soon as the service was over on Sunday I looked for Matt to confirm my coming back to Transformers. We talked for a bit and I'm good to go for this coming Tuesday. I can't wait!!

Matt and I also talked about some exciting upcoming opportunities that I could possibly get involved in - Journey to the Cross (a really cool interactive Good Friday, family experience), and the One Conference were a few of the things we talked about.

One of the things Matt said was "I don't want you to think that I'm like Oh Emily's back lets get her to do this, this, this, and this, but if you want to get plugged in again, let me know I have lots of ideas." So I'm excited to get plugged in again. I definitely will be cautious to not take more on my plate than I can handle, but I will definitely be getting involved as much as I can.

I'm excited to be back, I'm excited to be getting plugged in, and I'm SO excited to go to Transformers on Tuesday night.

That's all for now!
Until next time,
Emily

two weeks til Transformers

After a long two months of a crazy busy schedule of classes and school work it is time to take a break, relax, and refresh before I jump back into teaching.

With teaching, I'm moving home and I'm starting back at youth group again.

I'm so excited to get back to my regular routine of Tuesday night youth group. I miss the hype and excitement that comes from playing games and learning about Jesus with middle schoolers.

As I'm preparing to head home and take my reading week break, I'm also preparing my heart for youth leadership. It has been almost three months (two while in school and a little less then one for Christmas break) and I have not led a devo or small group of middle school students.

As much as I love youth leadership, whenever I take some time off and then start back into it I'm always nervous for the first week back. Nervous that the youth will forget who I am, nervous that they will question why I am there, and nervous that they won't like me anymore. I know I'm over thinking but those thoughts will run through my head at least once between now and my first week back.

So I'm trying to prepare my heart. I'm prayerfully asking the Lord to prepare me to serve him through serving youth. I ask God to use me as an example for these young people. I ask that he will make my love for him evident through my actions. I ask that he will give me the energy and enthusiasm to keep up with the business that comes with middle schoolers.

I'm so excited to get back to youth group, it gives my heart so much joy to see young souls learning and loving Jesus. I cannot wait! Most posts to come about youth group very soon.

Until next time,
Em