Hey Team!
This morning, some of us got up early to run, but most of us got up at 7:15 and then breakfast was at 8:00 as usual. Quiet time starts at 8:45 so we got to do our devotional and spend time with the Lord first thing in the morning. After that we prepped our two teams to head out for the day and spend time with the community. We had lots of fun practicing greeting people at the doors and coming up with the worst possible scenarios even though they didn’t actually happen. When we finished, the A-team and the B-Team got in their vans and went to go invite people to Kid’s Club and VBS.
The A-team had a great time in Autumn Woods inviting locals across the street to the Magic Johnson center to spend time with their kids during Kid’s Club. We had teams of 3 go to each door and try to have conversation with people who answered. Although not many people did answer the doors, most of the people who did were very friendly and fun to talk to. The B-team had about the same experience as the A-team. We were in Queens Town apartments inviting kids to Rainer Park for Kid’s Club. When people didn’t answer the door, we left fliers outside. Overall, going door to door was a little bit awkward for all of us, but it was a great experience.
Kid’s Club was SO fun. Meeting new kids and seeing the smiles on their faces made our whole team so pumped to spend time with them. We got to eat snack, watch a skit, play games, and make crafts. Some of the kids were a little quiet at first, some even refused to speak. But by the end of our session, they were running around and jumping on leaders backs. This was such an exciting thing to see. The B-team also has SO much fun hanging out with all of the kids. They loved playing outside, and even all of the boys enjoyed the crafts and the singing. Everybody loved the balloons we had! The kids were so sweet, and so kind, and they made it a great time for all of us. Everything went very well, and both teams were so engaged with the kids, which made the kids engaged with us as well!
The A-team was in charge of VBS tonight. We only had 5 kids show up, but that was still awesome. Each kid got a personal and close experience with all of the leaders. Two of the kids from kids club came back and we got to spend even more time with them. A mom came and said that she had just gotten home from work and saw her flier outside her door was even there. We got to do a “warm-up” which included hardcore dancing to “What Does the Fox Say” and getting all our wiggles out. We said a prayer and then did a stretching session to “Waving Flag.” Learning the moves to these songs and jumping around and laughing was something our few kids really enjoyed. The B-team had their free night! First, we went to Walmart where essential items were bought such as cat t-shirts and chocolate milk. After that, we went and got frozen yogurt and we had a great time!
The last part of the day included family time with our church, which was great after a long day. We spent time sharing memories, meeting other volunteers here for the summer, worshiping God, and praying for the rest of the week. We ended with our prayer groups where we debriefed the day, and spent more time laughing and sharing precious memories. Lights out was at 10:30 (for most), and we got some much needed rest to sustain us for the next day.
Love,
Emma Johnson (A-Team) & Ellie Proctor (B-Team)