Last night we had another youth group.
Our plan:
- Go play soccer to attract other kids from town
- Invite them to youth group
- Play X-treme Volleyball
- Four songs
- A talk to inspire the kids for a service day (today at 3pm)
- Pizza…mmmm…..
As I prepared for it, I realized that doing youth group here is a scary thing for me. I have been doing youth ministry stuff for a long time, and I have grown very comfortable. But here is a different story. Language is a huge barrier for me. I feel like an outsider and I have to work so hard to accomplish what I think needs to happen.
But then it hit me. I don’t feel comfortable. All of a sudden, the phrase, “out of my comfort zone,” came to mind. And that is exactly where I need to be. I don’t want to be there. I don’t choose to be there. But to follow Jesus, it is exactly where I need to be
.
As a result, my attitude changed. I was really into the night last night. I was present. I was attempting to have conversations that I found myself shying away from before. And as I faced my fears, there was a sense of peace in me that I hadn’t felt before at youth group.
Our plan seemed to work. We were able to get some guys from the community that don’t normally come. And everybody had a good time.
We will see how many kids show up to the service project today. (and we will see what we do, because we are just going to show up, pray and go)
I googled Pastor Gustavo and La Mision and your site came up. My name is Daniel Kim and my church from San Jose would come down to help the Pacheco Family to spread God's word in their small town. Actually, the other church that would come down with us was there last week. Doug and Kandy Mitzner from Gilroy Baptist Church. It's been a several years since I've been down there and I saw your pictures. The place has grown a lot! Junior is so big now. I met Junior when he was 5 or 6. Sofia has grown up too.
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad to see that you guys are there to spread God word in that town.
Please tell Pastor Gustavo and his wife I said hi.