Second week of YouthWorks....

(see pictures in the posting below this one...)

The second week of groups coming here to Anchorage was even better than the first! This week we had two groups come again. One was from North Carolina, and the other from southern Alabama. I really enjoyed both groups a lot, and again, I felt there were several students during the week that I connected to more than others, and this was fun!

Here are some highlights from the week:

1) The week was WAY less stressful! Not that the previous week was so stressful, but I always felt I had to constantly think about what was going on and how to do everything, and anxious about how stuff would go. But I think this is normal, because I had never done a YW week before. But this past week was so much more relaxed because I felt so at ease with my role and everything that we do...

2) Because the week was less stressful I was able to pray TONS, and this was great... I felt more prayerful and closer to God than I have in a long time, and could just focus on how good God is and remember and meditate on His truths. I also prayed a lot more for the teens that came this week, for our team and for my friends and family back home. It's amazing how praying for others makes me feel so much closer to them and makes me love them more! I'm sure this is no coincidence!

3) I got to go to so many of our ministry sites this week and LOVED it.. This week we divided the students into 4 groups and I got to work with a different group every day! Monday and Wednesday I went to the Downtown Soup Kitchen with 2 groups where we made lunch all morning and then served it to 300+ people in the afternoon. I got to meet and talk to a lot of people and this was great... It's also great talking with the students while we are doing the lunch prep.. I enjoy this time so much! Tuesday I worked for the Park & Rec again where we cut trees and "beautified" a park. This was also a good opportunity for conversation with the students. Then on Thursday I went to St. Francis, which is an emergency food shelf. We stocked shelves and then the students did personal shopping with people as they came in to get the food they needed.

4) On Monday our evening activity is always driving to Flat Top Mountain and hiking. As we were driving there this week it looked like it was raining. We prayed and prayed that it would stop, because we didn't really have a backup plan. After we had driven to the mountain where we 'd start our hike, it wasn't raining, but was incredibly foggy... Visibility was like 25-50 feet! You couldn't see any views! By the time we got to a lookout point where we stop each week, the fog started to lift and slowly it dissapated and you could see the beautiful views! It was pretty amazing!

5) We do this activity on Wed night where students articulate the mercy God has shown them in the past and in turn, how they can show God's mercy to others... Some of their responses absolutely blew me away and I was touched by them to the point of tears. It completely encourages me and touches me to the heart for anyone to understand God's mercy toward them and they got this!

I know there are many more highlights, but I just can't think of them now! Again, I'm pretty exhausted! Overall it was a good week though, and again, we got feedback from the adult leaders of the students that they felt the week was eye opening, and just a time where the students had grown in their understanding and love of the homeless and poor, as well as in their faith. We had prayed for this all week and so hearing this was a blessing!

Here are a few lowlights from the week:

1) Our team is a bit exhausted, and by Tuesday already we felt pretty worn out.. Luckily we bounced back pretty quickly though. But again, really little free time during the week.

2) Tonight I was on a walk and ran into a guy downtown where a lot of homeless and poor people in Anchorage hang out. We had met him - Ed - earlier this week and invited him to our community picinic that we have every Thursday night. We always invite people we meet throughout the week to the picinic. It was awesome talking to him. He's Alaskan Native and was so thrilled to share all about his life, culture, etc. When I ran into him tonight he was completely drunk and beligerent (sp) and it was such a sad sight. It was just another example of the hold that I feel that alcohol has over this city! I feel I see drunk people more than I've ever seen, and smell alcohol on so many I walk by. There was a guy with him named Ace. He really wanted to talk so badly so I got to sit down and talk to him for a while. He didn't seem to be drunk like Ed was... Ace is Apache, and moved from Arizona to Anchorage 6 years ago. He shared with me how alcohol was ruining his life... how he had a steady job, but spent all his money on alcohol. As he sat and shared his story with me, he started crying and then asked me to pray for him. He said he respects Christians and believes in Jesus and the bible, but doesn't want to go to church because of his problem with alcohol. I asked him if I could pray with him right then and there, and we did, and then talked awhile longer... I enjoyed talking with him, but also so saddened for the hold that alcohol has on his life. Please pray for him that God can give him the strength to be freed of his addiction! I could tell from talking to him that the addictive cycle is just crushing any possible satisfaction from life...

I want to write on and on about my feelings about this situation and others like it that I've experienced here, but I just don't know how to articulate them... I'll sum it up by saying it just makes me sad.
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I feel like in writing my blogs that I've been very superficial, and I don't like this... I don't really like being superficial, and I hope I'm not giving this impression. So far my experiences here have been very meaningful and I've seen a lot of things that have got me really thinking and growing, and I've seen God do awesome things in my own life, as well as the students. Being a tad bit exhausted though and just generally, I'm having a difficult time articulating myself...

I pray and pray for God to open my eyes to Him daily and show me, my team, and the students more of His truth and love, so that we in turn can reflect this to the world. I pray that God would give us His eyes for the poor and homeless so that we might see such people as He does - with completely unconditional and perfect love. I feel very inspired and as a Christian, I just feel the desire to be more and more like the person Jesus was as He walked the earth... In my role each night as I give talks, I get to speak God's word from the following passages: Luke 5:1-11 (our theme being "open your eyes to possibility", Matthew 9:9-13 (open your eyees to beauty), Luke 10:25-37 (open your eyes to mercy), Matthew 20:1-16 (open your eyes to justice), John 13:1-17 (open your eyes to humility). As I speak from these scriptures I know they are beginning to affect me and I know God is doing a work in my own heart. How awesome Jesus was and how radical His message... His message that we believers are called to follow! I'm especially feeling that the Matthew 20:1-16 passage has been especially meaningful and transforming for me.. Especially the way that we (we being YouthWorks) are interpreting this passage... This may sound strange, because it's not the traditional way the passage is interpreted, and initially I had problems with this, but the message we are trying to convey this summer re: that passage is about JUSTICE, and namely: Justice is making sure everyone has what they need, regardless of whether it seems fair... regardless of whether we think people are "deserving" of it... What do you think about this? Read the passage and let me know... :)

Ok.. well, it's 1 am here, and I need to get to bed.. Tomorrow starts another YouthWorks week... This week we have a group coming from Pennsylvania (sorry Josh if I butchered the spelling!). I'm pretty exicted, because there are actually 4 groups coming from 1 town, and they are all different denominations: 1 catholic, 1 lutheran, 1 presyterian, and 1 other one that I can't remember. I love this!! I pray for unity this week!

All right, good night everyone! Thanks a lot for reading this, it means a lot to me! I can't wait to share with you all more in person! So far YouthWorks has been a great experience and I'm so glad I'm a part of it. The summer is flying by. 5 weeks down, 5 weeks to go!

As God opens our eyes to His possibility, beauty, justice, mercy and humility, I pray He also opens yours too...

Have a great week!

Blessings,
Sarah