By Katie
Last Saturday Matt and I worked together along with Roldan, our supervisor from Diaconia, to put on a youth rally of sorts on the topic of leadership and working together. Ecclesiastical training is one of the areas that Diaconia works in (along with environment, health, microcredits, etc.). This was our first opportunity to work in this area.
We met with youth ages 10-13 from about four different rural communities around Olancho. We had been a little nervous about the whole thing, especially about how our Spanish would hold up for six hours of talking about spiritual and other non-concrete things. That's no easy task if you are new to a language! But, we picked up a group from a community just outside Catacamas and as soon as I saw the kids, I knew we would be ok. I sat in the back seat with four very excited girls who were going into fifth grade, my favorite grade to teach. They were so happy to be there that I knew we couldn't go wrong.
For the day, we planned a bunch of games and discussions about group work and leadership. Thanks to some resources from our friends at Grace Adventures Camp, where Matt worked one summer, and Christy from Madison Square Church, where we used to be youth group leaders, we had some great games and even greater reflection on what happened. Matt also gave a talk and there was singing. The ladies of the community served us a wonderful lunch. It was an amazing time for the students to get together and feel totally safe to participate in everything. God blessed that time richly!
We are going back in January with the same group and we'll use the leadership/group work principles to plan and give a service by the youth for the community. We're excited to see what God has in store for this day too! Pray with us that these activities help the students grow and deepen their faith.
