End of School BBQ

 It's the last week of school! I'd say this semester went quickly - but since the school here goes a full month beyond what I was used to in CO, I'm not sure that's true. At any rate, we wanted to celebrate. So, instead of having our normal youth group meeting at the chapel, we had a big BBQ at Kyle and Erika's house. They have a small 2 bedroom, 1 bath townhome like we do, but they have a MUCH larger backyard so we figured we could easily accommodate the full group. Much to our dismay, it started pouring rain right before it started.

The water didn't slow everyone down. Some students decided to head out and play tag or jump on the trampoline in the rain. But most of the 30 teenagers decided to stay inside and play video or boardgames. It was cramped and noisy, but the kids had a great time. I was entrenched in a game of Apples to Apples most of the night, so Erika took some pictures with my camera.

This was a great transition into our summer session. The group has really gelled over the last few months and so everyone had someone to hang out with. We welcomed the new seventh graders, as well as one new girl who has only been in Misawa for a couple of weeks. Her family was visiting the chapel on Sunday morning, heard me make the announcement about the BBQ and approached me afterward for directions! Thankfully, some of the girls immediately welcomed her into their circle and she left with some new friends! We have so many great kids. It's such a blessing. =^)

Looking forward to Monday night when we start our summer series called The Bible's Biggest Stories. I've been working hard over the last couple of weeks to start writing these talks based on the great stories of the Old Testament. We begin on Monday with Noah. Please pray for us as we try our best to balance fun activities with hard-hitting substance!