Service Weekend

The college group kind of massively slacked on planning this year's Service Weekend until a flurry of activity last Sunday (what is with December coming immediately after November?), but I am pleased to say it went amazingly well!

When visiting church members, one person remarked that it was cool the college kids and youth were working together.  David said, "Most of my friends are already in college, so it's great to still have them around."  I added, "And some of us just don't want to grow up."

And I don't!  Not if it means giving up lock-ins and cookie extravaganzas and chasing people around for teasing me.  I love it.

I know some people are concerned with the current state of the youth group, and sometimes I agree.  However, this weekend I most definitely didn't.  I put my administrator hat on, and every time I asked someone to put peanut butter on crackers, or clean up tables, or make sure the couch cushions were replaced, people jumped to obey and serve and generally be awesome.

We made loads of cookies on Friday night, then had a mini worship service.  Nathan talked about the Lord's Prayer and we sang along to some youtube songs (oh Senegal worship services, you taught me so much!).  David reminded me of this awesome video, which you should probably go and watch right this second, and we ended the service with that.

Instead of Christian Guard, we played dodgeball until 12:30 a.m.  By we, I mean not me.  There are many P.E. games that emotionally scarred me, but probably none more than dodgeball.  Lindsay and I sat on the kitchen ledge, and even when balls hit the wall twenty feet from me, I usually screamed like a terrified girl, which I was.  Especially when Jeff threw a ball right in between us, nearly giving me a heart attack.  In fairness, he did come over to hug us after the game was over.

I went to bed by 1:00, because I'd agreed to help Josh and Nick make breakfast at 6:30 in the morning.  After I got up and washed my face, I padded into the dark kitchen.  I kind of walked in circles before realizing no one else was awake.  I thought Josh had pranked me or changed the plans and forgotten to tell me, so I went to curl up in a chair in the boy's Sunday School room.  Just as I was about to drift off to sleep, Josh walked by and turned on the kitchen light.

Saturday morning we divided into groups (me, David, Colten) to visit some of the older church members.  We went to the Thompsons first.  Pat and her sister met us there and kept the conversation rolling.  Mariana was not very cognizant most of the time, but before we left, Pat suggested we sing some Christmas songs.  After the first verse of "Joy to the World," Mariana asked, "Is that it?"  Of course, we then sang four more songs.  Her face was lit up and beautiful and she sang and harmonized and knew every single word.  It was extraordinary.  In the multiple retellings of our adventures, David and I agreed that it was the best moment of the weekend.

We went to the Tolson's afterwards, and Elmer is generally a boss.  I love events like this, because I got to learn way more about them than I ever would have on my own.  I have finally reached the age where I like to hear about the past and how things are different.  I like hearing the stories of these spiritual giants, and the way they live awesome lives and are so humble about it all.

Our last visit was with Margaret Guenther.  I asked a nurse to point us to her room, and she said Margaret was the one sitting in the hallway with a maroon sweater.  She pointed down the hall where two women in maroon sweaters were sitting in wheelchairs against the wall and two other women in maroon sweaters were wheeling themselves down the other side of the hall.  As we passed them, the front self-propelled wheelchair woman said in the squeakiest voice imaginable, "I'm afraid I'm not a speed demon today!"  It was adorable.

David had visited Margaret before, so he chose the maroon-sweatered woman most likely to be Margaret.  She can't talk past a breathy mumble, and I couldn't understand a thing.  We talked to her about birds and Christmas and stuff.  It was very awkward, because I had been told her mind is still active, but I just had no idea what she was saying.  For all I knew, she could have said, "I hate birds!  Stop talking about that awful birdcage!"

When we decided to go, I gave her a hug.  Then she hugged David and said, SAID, "Merry Christmas to you too," and gave him the biggest hug.  When he got up, we looked at each other with swimmy eyes and about died.  Unanimously agreed to be the second best moment of the weekend.

When all the groups reconvened at church, we swapped stories over Avantis gondolas, then cleaned everything.

Lovely.  Really lovely.  Part of why we do the weekend is to show the youth that serving others can be genuinely fun.  It doesn't have to be a chore.  But psh, who cares about them?  It was nice to be reminded of that myself.