Courtney - Week 8

So technically my SOS is over... but I'm going to be doing a ton more hours. Last week, I took Big Emily to see Dark Knight Rises, it was fantastic. We had such a great time just the two of us going out and finding fun things to do. I got her back a little late, oops, but I got to talk with her case worker. I'm going to start working with her this summer and taking her to equine therapy. They asked me to drive her to her meetings and participate. I think that will be a great way for her to get out some of her feelings.  I'm also taking her horseback riding this weekend as part of her birthday present.

I've also had meetings with everyone and their brother concerning Bonner Orientation. We have everything in lists and ready to go for next week. I can't believe the new Bonners get here next week! All of this planning has really got me excited to start out this year.

NYC & Sound Sesh (week 4)

So I had the chance to visit NYC, which was AWESOME since i had never been! The first place that I went to was Times Square and it was packed!  

We went to the 9/11 memorial

Explored the city!

A little after coming back from NYC, CityArts partook of an event called "Sound Session" in Dtown where there was music, performances, food, and tons of fun! We were in charge of "Kid City." Our station  was the "Head piece" station where kids could walk by and create fun masks or head pieces. I helped a lot of girls make fun little head bands with feathers, glitter, yarn, etc. The other Cityarts kids were in stations in charge of musical instruments, flags, banners, and so on. We were there for about 3 hours, which went by super fast! 

There were so many things going on around us! There was a guy giving "drop in" music lessons to random people, so it was similar to a drum circle. There were break dancers right in front of us, there was food everywhere! we had a great time to say the least.

My fifth post... about to start session 4

Session three has ended, and now I am preparing for the last session. his session I was able to do a lot musically with the students. I worked with the top wind band, gave several private lessons, and performed four concerts. I was able to guide countless middle schoolers who looked up to me with the utmost admiration. However, I want to come home. I am exhausted physically, mentally, and emotionally. I just want to see my girlfriend again. I want to be home. This has been an awesome experience, but ten weeks is way too long to be completely isolated from every one. Every one else here is fairly local so they get to see their friends, family and significant others over breaks. If not then their significant other is here with them, or they do not have one. This has been a lonely road, I made a bunch of friends, but I do not have her. The awesomeness of this experience and the potential to inspire for another to weeks has been completely shaded by my heart sickness. 

Week 7(7/22-7/28):

The ending to an amazing summer of service at least logging hour wise. Once again we had campaigners and of course getting kids there is always the hardest challenge. We didn’t have as many as last week but the weather outside was pretty bad so that could have been part of it. Something interesting though this random guy knocked on the door of the YL house and asked if he could stay while it was down pouring outside. We let him in and started campaigners allowing him to get involved too. We did this pipe cleaner thing where you have two pipe cleaners one being God and the other you and you would intertwine them however you wanted exemplifying your closeness to God since getting back from camp. Since the one guy didn’t go to camp he started form the beginning of his life saying how he went to catholic school and then during college went to church and all but stopped when I believe his dad died. But he said that day he was close to God because of what happened and the chances of him asking for shelter from the rain and being a part of Campaigners with us. It is so amazing how God works through the lives of people not even involved in YL yet still through YL. I am super stoked for this school year and YL to start up again. I have no doubt in my mind this is going to be a year of many awesome memories and stories that will last a lifetime. Random insert: I would just like to say frisbee golf is awesome and should totally be a part of Bonner somehow someway. Alright that is all.  

Week 6(7/15-7/21):

The main focus of this week was to get kids to campaigners. Before I go on I guess I should explain what campaigners is though first. Campaigners is a more in depth version of club. We talk more about Jesus and read some bible verses, for the most part it is for Christians but really doesn’t matter if you are or not. It’s more of a discussion group for everyone to get involved in. Now being campaigners meets on Monday nights that doesn’t allow for much time to prepare or contact kids if they need rides or anything. But that never seems to stop us from getting them out of their houses. Granted it did take me literally wrestling a kid and pinning him to the ground to convince him that he can sit at his computer and play videos anytime and this is a time for him to be social and if all else get out of the house. Overall though campaigners was a success, we had about 10 kids show up and for the most part all talked and gave some sort of an opinion to a question we presented them. Overall it was just good to see the kids having a desire to stay involved. 

Week 5 (7/8-7/14):

I’m so tired…….. camp drained every ounce of energy I had and then I spent the next three and a half days working on a video of all the pictures/videos we took for a picture party we had on Thursday. Needless to say I put a lot of time in this week staring at my computer. But I finished the video in time and the party was a success. We had a good chunk of our kids that went to camp come and we just talked/laughed at stories we shared with each other. Thankfully after Thursday I got a bit of a break and rested (took a couple naps throughout the days) and was able to catch up on life. Over all a successful week keeping in contact with camp kids. This week is crucial because camp life is so much different from at home for these kids and it might be hard for them to adjust back to it. 

Week 4 (7/1-7/7):

CAMP!!!!!!! This was by far one of the best weeks of my life. There is so much I can say that happened during this time but it would take way to long to type it all out on here. But I would be more than happy to talk to anyone about it whenever or on facebook or something and share how this week impacted the kids we brought to camp as well as myself. Young Life has got it down on how to give kids the best week of their lives and present the gospel to them with ease and no forcing the thought. So yeah I love talking about Young Life so just give me a holler and we’ll chat about it. Never know you might want be a Young Life leader next year.