Youth Alpha

It's a long gravel drive, past the rugby pitches to the back of the secondary school, Mount Temple. (Secondary school is essentially 7th -12 grade, schools in Ireland take out the "middle school" part of education). 

It must be lunch break, because there are kids everywhere! My heart's racing as I get closer to the school. I see lots of possible entrances, but I want to go to the office. Thankfully the entrance for the office is well labeled. As I enter and try to squeeze past a group of students just loitering around the door, I have to tell myself to breath. Play cool. Don't shake. Most importantly don't let on that you've never stepped inside a school before! 

I sign my name in the visiter book. I'm early, so I find a seat waiting for Andy to come. 

When Andy gets there, he leads me down the school halls lined with students waiting for the bell to ring, toward the staff room. We walk into a room filled with frenzied teachers trying to enjoy a couple of minutes of adult time, or trying to get papers graded, or working on projects for the next class. Andy finds the teacher he's looking for, introducing her as Ms. Burkes telling her we're there to do the Youth Alpha for her class, during the religious class period. 

Ms. Burkes checks her watch, and quickly finishes her lunch, frenzied now that she's lost track of time. She then takes us back into the halls and into a class room. Shortly after we get there, and Andy starts setting up his computer the students start pilling through the door. Tables are picked up and pushed to the sides and the chairs are assembled into a circle. 

Once the computer is set up adequately Andy gets some volunteers to come to the center for a food eating competition. Supposedly it's been scientifically proven that it's impossible to eat 3 digestive biscuits in 1 minutes. (Digestives are like graham crackers). Naturally the kids are game for proving this theory wrong! The first 3 kids though are unable to. The next 3 however, having watched and learned from the first 3 are able to eat 3 digestives in under a minute. Crumbs everywhere! As Ms. Burkes now has to go look for a hoover (vacuum), and Andy and I get the kids to rearrange themselves into small groups of no more than 5 or 4. Once that's done, Andy starts the Youth Alpha video. 

It starts with 2 Canadians guys sharing about who they are and a little about their faith. Then they ask a question "what would you do if you only have 24 hours left to live?", after randomers on the street are interviewed and answer this question, the question gets posed to the kids watching the video. After the kids talk about what they would do if they only had 24 hours left to live, the video continues this time with the Canadians sharing about what Christianity is, without forcing anyone to agree or change beliefs, just encouraging someone to think about what they do believe and why. After a couple more minutes, another question is asked, this time a little deeper. This pattern continues for the rest of the class period. 

I rotate between the different small groups, facilitating the conversation so everyone gets a chance to answer the question without sharing my opinion (unless specifically asked, which is actually so hard for me not to do!). Just encouraging the kids to think about what they believe. 

As the bell rings telling the students it's time to go to the next class there's a hurried scramble of the tables and chairs being set back up in the room so that it's left how we found it. 

I quickly get myself to the door as the kids are leaving to hand out treats to them. Which, depending on the week is either sweets (candy) or biscuits (cookies). 

Food's an important part of Youth Alpha. If we were doing it in a normal youth group setting, we would be doing a proper meal with them every week. But as this is just a class period, we make due with just having biscuits for them. 

As soon as the last student is gone, Ms. Burke tells us a rushed "good-bye and thanks", she'll see us next week as she hurries to her next class. 

I follow Andy back through the maze of school halls to the office, totally turned around, hoping he doesn't catch on that I have no idea where I'm going. 

Kathy, the receptionist, signs us out and I step back into the outside world, buzzing! As only being with teenagers and getting to talk about Jesus can leave you, thankful that I agreed to do this all over again on Friday.

Dallas

During our week in Romania we got to go the Roma community (gypsy camp) and see the world that Zsolti and KJ are part of. (One of the Serge couples we were visiting). 

I had no idea what to expect! I see Romanian Gypsies all over Ireland. I even read a book about Gypsies in England, about a boy that left that community. They've not been very welcomed here in Ireland and even asking a Romanian about them, you can sense a tension of "don't associate me with them!". So all in all I was excited to actually see the Roma in their own community. 

The scene that greeted me when we got to the camp was honestly shocking! We are just outside the city, in the local city dump. Where the livelihood of these people is actually to take care of the city's trash. (The Roma's have been doing this for 500 years!) 

The setting for the Roma camps is absolutely stunning! We're in a sort of valley with little shacks scatted all over the hill. The specific camp that we're in is called Dallas. Just on the hill above is a rival camp. And just a little further down the hill and to the right is yet another rival camp. Some of the shacks are proper little 4-walled houses with wood roofs that missionaries from the Netherlands have helped build for them. Other homes are just 4 walls held up somehow with a tarp and tire roof. It's normal to find a family of 12 or 14 to be living in these homes.  

There is trash littered throughout the entire camp. Upon first getting here I'd seen this sad creature that I actually couldn't tell if it was a dead puppy or simply a stuffed animal. As KJ and Zsolti start taking us down the hill to see more of the community, KJ redirects us as it turns out it is a dead puppy along the way we were going to go. 

In the whole camp there is no running water. Located in various places in the camp are 3 or 4 taps that people collect their water at. In the middle of the camp are outhouses. Somehow there is a bathing system, but it's not a high priority (I'm not actually sure what it is). The chief has electricity, which for a fee, he shares with the family's that want it. 

In the middle of all this are children. Loads of them! Children covered in dirt. With matted hair that stands up on its own. At first they just peek out around the sides of their homes, then they stand more in the open, waving and smiling at us. Then as soon as they recognize KJ and Zsolti they run into KJ's arms! As introductions are slowly made and Vicki and I are taught how to say basic phrases, like "my name is... what's your name?" the children warm up to us. And the next thing I know I've become is a human jungle gym! Children just wanting to be held and swung or just twirled. Just wanting so much to be loved. Thank you Jesus that physical contact crosses all sorts of language barriers!

KJ with a couple of the Roma girls

 

The desire is not to change the culture of the Roma camp, but rather to show the rising generation there's more out there then the dump they live in. This is being done by slowly building relationships with some of the children in the community. By teaching them a skill, through workshops. Zsolti teaches 3 teenage boys craftsmanship. While KJ teaches 3 teenage girls sewing. In the midsts of teaching them a craft, the couple is discipling these teenagers, showing them Jesus by teaching them how to work with their hands. Even though there are many more in the camp then these 6 teens, the desire is to be intentional with these 6 and then they can help assist with the next kids that join the workshops, so that even as they grow in numbers they can still be intentional. Loving these kids and showing them Jesus. 

As Zsolti and KJ show us Dallas one of Zsolti's boys', Florian, joins us. Florian helps Zsolti give us a tour. Then helps Zsolti set up for his workshop. Just in meeting Florian, you can see the respect he has for Zsolti and KJ. As we meet other boys his age, I'm  able to see the self respect Florian actually has for himself, just in the way he carries him and makes eye contact with us. This boy is going to be a leader someday. As he shadows Zsolti, I'm excited to see what God is going to do with this young man!

Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread

As part of my Apprenticeship with Serge at some point during the 2 years I get to go on a mission trip to visit another Serge team in a  different ministry context. To see their world and meet their people. Be able to pray and encourage them. 

Cluj-Napoca Romania

This past April saw me going to Cluj Romania with my team leaders to meet the Cluj team and see their world in Romania. It as fascinating  learning about a post communistic culture. Just last year, I read about Brother Andrew smuggling Bibles into Romania and this year I actually got to go to Romania and meet church leaders that were imprisoned for their faith. As inspiring and convicting as it was to hear stories from such recent history, it was heartbreaking looking around today Cluj and to see the apathy toward Christianity in my generation. Never would you pray for persecution, but it does make you realize what's important in life. Even just to be told you can't believe in Jesus makes you want to believe in Jesus. 

Our first night there we were given a book entitled "Not By Bread Alone". It was a little devotion book made up of Bible verses mostly about food, or lack of food (as the title suggests) and quotes from famous theologians. It was written by a pastor who was actually imprisoned during the communist regime. (His son was actually the pastor at the church the Serge team is part of!) During the week, as a team of 3, we started a little tradition of reading this book with breakfast. Either with food, or instead of food. So literally starting our day with "not by bread alone"! 

For some reason food was not a high priority on this trip. Somewhere during the day we would for sure get a meal, but it was never for sure when. There was a little pastry cafe around the corner from where we were staying, where we would often get something to eat. But we discovered the hard way that everything's closed on Sunday's. But God, miraculously quieted our hunger pangs. I never really got hungry that day, (that never happens to me!). But what was also really crazy was that Vicki, one of my team leaders, has a gluten intolerance. Guess what we ate all week, oh yeah, gluten! God just protected her so she could be present and not get sick. 

So, even though I'll never understand what it was like living in Romania during the communist regime, I feel like God gave us a little example of what it means to trust Him with something as simple as your daily bread. 

Or even what it means to pray expectantly. Even for small things. I feel like I have so many stories from just one week of God showing up! So... stay tuned for more stories (and pictures!)