My YouthWorks Summer: Week 8

This is the ninth of ten blogging installments from my life-changing summer in Milwaukee. In this recap I review my eighth week of programming. Be sure to check out my postscript thoughts at the end! A logical place for such thoughts.

If you’ve missed any of previous recaps, flash back to Week 0. Also, check out what a camera crew produced when they visited our site during Week 9.

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This is me being awesome in a student’s awesome sunglasses. He said I looked awesome.

Week 8 was emotionally heavy. Every Wednesday and Thursday night we usually get at least a couple sniffles and cry sessions among some of the youth, mainly because of our incredible program coordinator who just gives these phenomenal week-ending messages.

But this week was unlike any other we’d experienced with the waterworks. It all started on Tuesday and only intensified with each passing night. I don’t know what it was exactly, other than God really spoke to these kids this week. We received solid reports from adult leaders that their youth opened up to them about a lot of deep stuff, and that it was so refreshing to see these church groups unite. For healing to begin.

I’m an emotional guy, so it was jarring to see all these broken innocent amazing kids. They had such energy and enthusiasm throughout the work day and then at night they just broke down. It was a powerful reminder that they’re not “too young” to experience hurt and pain and all the stuff that every human being experiences. Another strong reminder to look beyond myself and my own issues; to recognize others hurting. I get way too wrapped up in my own issues that so often I forget the whole other people thing. This summer’s done a lot for my perspective on human struggle.

What else can I say? It was one of our better weeks. I could wax poetic about Gingerbread Land or this place or that one, but quite honestly I’m weary and need rest tonight.

Tomorrow begins our last week of programming. Normally three or four churches bring their youth to Milwaukee each week, but tomorrow we’ll be having seven such youth groups arriving, with pretty much every denomination represented. Not sure what to make of that as of now; we’ll see how our last week goes!

Our last week. Soon all our “last times” for this and that will start occurring. In fact, we already had our last Sam’s Club shopping trip yesterday, which I won’t exactly miss since I loathe shopping.

But it’s a wearying thought to consider I won’t be entering that particular Sam’s Club ever again.

Tomorrow morning will be our last service here at the church where we stay. Later that afternoon it’ll be the last time I cook macaroni for over 70 people. And the “last times” will only continue rolling all week long.

Pray for me and my team. We all feel a little funky about life right now. We certainly want to finish this race strong and have a phenomenal final week in Milwaukee.

Final week. Wow.

To be…concluded…

TMZ PS: Definitely one of my favorite groups all summer; absolutely precious kids. A memory from this week sticks out, and I didn’t write about it at the time. Because of the many nightly cry sessions, this group especially tended to drag out the 11:00 bed times. The last night? Forget about it. I was having trouble sleeping myself, so I was writing downstairs in the staff meeting room until about 2am when I discovered that 4-5 boys were still up, sneaking around the church. Technically I suppose I should’ve laid down the law and sent those dastardly little trouble-makers to bed. But I didn’t. Instead I talked with them, laughed with them, and before going to bed myself I just told them to keep semi-quiet as they enjoyed one another’s company on their last night of YouthWorks.

Yeah, I was never really good at layin’ down the law.