Serving God in Peoria

I am a junior high Sunday School teacher! Which is ironic if you know me, because I have always said I hate teaching, and if I were forced to do so, junior high would be the last age I would want to teach. God really likes to throw me into the things I don't want to do. But I feel this is a story worth telling in its entirety, so let's start 10 years ago.

When I was in 8th grade, I was the only girl my age who consistently went to church. Since I was already very shy, that meant I never spoke in Sunday School and it was always horribly stressful, what with all those boys around. But God was awesome, and He used Wendy's high school girls Sunday School class to kidnap me so regularly that eventually I joined her class a year early. It was the best thing that could have happened to me. From there, Wendy and Sarah and Lindsay became my friends, and they spent time with me and hung out with me, inside and outside of church. I think I matured so quickly and developed a love for God directly because I had older friends.

Fast forward to Senegal. As my time was winding down, and I suddenly realized that I had to figure out what to do in Peoria, I prayed for God to reveal what He wanted me to do. The first thing that came to mind was that I should be a friendship/mentor to junior high girls just as Sarah and Lindsay had been to me.

But when I got to Peoria, I found this was much harder to execute than imagine. Do I walk up to girls and say, "Hello, I'm Tricia, and I'll be your mentor now!" Awkward. So I've stuck to Abby M., who is already awesome and my friend, but I just didn't know how to reach out to other girls without seeming like a creeper.

(This is maybe a good place to explain something else. While I was in Senegal, I had all these ideas for ways to serve God in Peoria. Then when I got to Peoria, I put them on the backburner and devoted the majority of my thoughts and actions to pursuing the next step--where I'll go after Peoria. I think one of the main reasons God told me to back off applications, in addition to trusting Him to provide that next step, is so that I will put my full energy into serving Him where I am.)

Okay, so now we jump to the 15-hour drive from Williamsburg, VA to Peoria. My mom and I were talking, and she mentioned that Steve no longer had an assistant in his junior high Sunday School class. I quickly realized that this could be the perfect opportunity to develop relationships with girls that age, so I emailed Steve last Monday. On Wednesday he wrote back saying it would be great, so long as our church administrator approved. I asked Mark on Thursday, and he also agreed to it. I figured maybe I would talk with Steve a bit, then start in a few weeks when I return from Memphis/Savannah. Nope. Friday night Steve emailed again and invited me to come to class this Sunday. Yesterday!

Only then did I realize that I had just volunteered to teach Sunday School to junior high kids. Oh, God, you are so so funny.

Luckily, I think this will be another Senegal moment. Of course it is, because whenever it's God who takes me somewhere I don't want to go, it always turns out awesome, because God knows what He's doing. Yesterday's class was brilliant. I love Steve, and I'm excited to learn from him and become as much like him as possible. The kids are hilarious, and while they can get crazy on a drug-induced level, I find I already love them.

We talked about the prodigal son, but really about his older brother. We talked about approaching God with humility, and what that means. And also the kids used crazy accents and acted it all out with rope costumes and giggles and bottled cheese. And then we played tug of war before praying, which is how all Sunday School classes should end.