Yakima Day 4

Yesterday was our last full day of the Youthworks program, and instead of three parts of the day, we have four parts which the youth would like to talk about.

Work Projects -- Sara Leeman
Our group got the opportunity of working on a woman's house named June. She's very sweet and a free spirit. Our group spent a lot of time scraping paint off the house, but we got to paint one whole side today! It was fun to see everyone so determined and working so hard. We painted it a color we called "Melted Chocolate Milkshake Brown"... It almost looked good enough to eat! I'm excited that the next group will get to finish it off so that it looks perfect. Also, a special shout-out to Jon for keeping us all on track!

Nursing Home -- Hannah Bahe
We started off the day by going to a nursing home and it was really fun to go to. There was this little old lady in a wheelchair named Mabel who loved rainbows and she clapped because I had a rainbow bracelet on and Lily had a rainbow shirt on. We rolled her over to the piano and she played the same note over and over again until she fell asleep. She woke up after a while and played a little more, then we had to leave. It felt really good to just go and talk and be there with them.

Evening Activity: Community Cookout -- Kyla Shade
Today was the last day at Yakima. So sad yet extremely gratifying to realize that we have done so much and now we get to celebrate with a community cookout. After walking to the park, we enjoyed hamburgers and hot dogs with other members of the community of Toppenish. I know I really had a great time getting to know a man named Moses who ran an organization named Sacred Ground. It was a great end to the week; I know I had fun!

"Club": Foot-Washing Service -- Lily Stephens and Jeanalice Goodwin
Tonight for Club (group worship at the end of the day), we had a very emotional foot-washing service. Of course I had to be the first one to cry! 90% of the tissues used were mine. Overall, it was a great bonding and learning experience.
~Lily

In tonight's gathering, the Youthworks staff washed our leaders' feet and then our leaders washed our feet and prayed about us. Lily decided she was going to cry and everybody started to cry and I think our group was the most emotional.
~Jeanalice

A note from Taryn: This is a standard last night of Youthworks that I remember doing years ago when I went on youth trips as a youth with CTK. And I have to say, I was the Lily of our group! It is derived from the story of the night of the Last Supper when Jesus washed the feet of his disciples and became the ultimate symbol of humility and setting pride aside. Our Youthworks leaders washed Jon's and my feet, then each prayed a prayer for us. It's one thing to hear someone say, "I'll pray for you," it's a completely other thing to actually be there to witness that prayer being prayed. I think that may be what makes this service so emotional. These kids were disciples this week, and this foot-washing service was to help them remember that. It's something they will remember for a long time.

Well we are now safely home after an incredible week, but I will write again with some final thoughts soon! But right now, my bed is calling my name... :)

Yakima Day 3

Hello CTK family and friends! Yesterday was another wonderful day. Those of us who spent the first two days in kids club switched to work projects, and those who spent the first two days doing work projects switched to kids club. Outside of the youthworks program, I have to say we are getting quite the reputation as being the "fun bus" for the staff to ride in! Every time we hop in the bus, the kids have Jon and me doubled over in laughter. A few days ago, we were on the bus and a youthworks staff member, Trevor, joined us for the ride home from an evening activity. Edge of Glory by Lady Gaga just so happened to be playing at the same time, and as Trevor was in the middle of a story, the chorus hit. Let's just say... we didn't get to hear the end of Trevor's story... :) The youth on this trip are coming together as a tight-knit group and are already talking about how we can bring the experience home and apply it to our own community.

Once again, I had a youth write about work projects, another about kids club, and a third wrote about our evening activity, where we met a man named Manuel and walked through his vegetable farm called Imperial's Garden.

Work projects -- CJ Cypher
Today we went to a house which was in bad condition. A woman named June came and told us what to do. Most of the time, we were the only ones there. When we had lunch, we went to a park and played. The entire time we were there, we had to scrape paint. The girls were singing the whole time, they even finished 99 bottles of pop on the wall!

Kids Club -- Jeanalice Goodwin
So I was in kids club today and it was really fun hanging out with the kids. Today in the beginning, I got to meet two little girls named Daisy and Lily. During the "sharing square" time, Lily started to cry but Daisy calmed her down. I was going to be Daisy's buddy but Anastasia got her so I was lonely for a little while. While I was reading to the kids, we found some multiplication cards and we had some intense multiplication battles. The joke was that earlier in the week I accidentally said "1, 2, 3, 5, 4" so apparently I can't count... So now I can't count, but I can multiply! I had the best day ever at kids club.

Imperial's Garden -- Jakob Schulz (written as a short story)
"An Evening on the Farm"
The dirt was hard, harder than he had ever felt before. Then, he looked up to the pale blue sky and saw the half moon and then he started to walk. He had just gotten off the short bus ride from the main farm house, where the owners said some interesting things about the farm and family, and now he was walking through the fields, watching everybody pick through the vegetables. He himself did not want to pick the veggies, he just wanted to walk with the group and head back to the bus to get ready for the next day.

A note from Taryn: I was really excited about this evening activity! Manuel was so gracious and not only allowed us to walk through his fields, but he even allowed us to pick green beans, zucchini and peas! He asked that we only take what we can eat and that we don't waste it. It was so awesome to pick a bean off the plant and eat it right there... It doesn't get any fresher than that! :) My mind was churning and I had daydreams about sauteeing them with butter and garlic... Mmm... :) It was a great way to experience God's incredible creation in a different way.

Today is our last full day... I hope to update the blog about today's events and experiences before the end of the day, since tomorrow will be crazy busy, getting everything packed up and cleaned up, so check back tonight!

Yakima Day 2

The beautiful thing about working in youth ministry is that we make plans, but things happen, and we have to just have to roll with the punches. The great thing about our group is that, as plans change, their attitudes stay the same. They were still as eager as ever to help! Here are a few summaries from the kids about their day:

Work projects: Hailey Ostbo
Today it was raining, so sadly we couldn't work on painting Debbie's house. Instead, we went to the Salvation Army in Yakima and helped out there. We worked in the kitchen by washing dishes and putting them away. And we also cleaned the rooms and bathrooms by wiping down counters, cleaning windows, and cleaning mirrors. I was thankful that they let us in their place to help them. I didn't really have any conversations, except for one lady in the kitchen, and she seemed very nice :) I'm sort of happy it rained, because I had a lot of fun there and it was a great life experience.

Kids club: Sadie Howard
Hey peoples! Nobody got in a fight today at kids club! But sadly one girl kicked a dog and another called us his slaves. All day we played with the kids and pushed a merry-go-round with kids on it. It has been super fun all week long! It's sort of sad I will never see these children again.
We also went to a nursing home and Sara and I met this awesome person named Ellen. She had the best laugh ever! It was kinda like in a cartoon when a witch laughs. It was a good day!

Evening activity - worship circle: Anastasia Bidne, Sara Leeman
Today we went to an Indian worship circle. It was really emotional for me. Everyone opened up to me and to everyone else in the circle. As Jeanalice says, "everyone was showing their true colors in the worship service". I learned about Indian culture and how they worship God. Overall, it was a great experience. It was a little long though. I do highly recommend experiencing a worship circle if you ever get the chance.
~Anastasia

Tonight, we all had the opportunity of being in an Indian worship circle! A wonderful man named Cory invited us. It was interesting to experience a different kind of worship. Cory would come around with a feather and smoke and swooshed the smoke on us, to wash away sins. Afterward, we all went around and got a turn with the talking feather, where everyone talked about anything they were feeling. It was great to see people open up. (ps... Thanks for the letters mom and dad!)

Note from Taryn: the worship circle was an incredible experience. It was facilitated (not led! We all worked together to lead the circle as a group) by Cory, the same man we met on day 1. He follows the Jesus way, as he says, and this was a Christian worship service. A chair was placed in the circle, and a Pendleton blanket was placed on top of it. This was Jesus' seat in the circle. Cory said this is because Jesus says "if there are ever two or more people meeting in my name, I am also there." It was a beautiful visual reminder that God is always with us. Cory then walked around the circle and performed a practice called smudging. He burned some sage and used an eagle feather to fan the smoke toward each of us. He said sternly that there is nothing magical about the sage. It is a calming herb that prepares us for worship. I think of catholic churches who have water at the entrance to the sanctuary to put on our head, remember our baptism and prepare for worship. After everyone got smudged, we began to pass around the talking stick. Everyone had an opportunity to share something on their heart. There was no template, no framing of type of thing to share. Cory said, "whatever God is calling you to share with the group, you are meant to share it." Some kids in our group said they weren't planning on sharing anything, but once they got the stick, something inside them said, "no, I do have something to share". It was emotional, heartfelt, and absolutely beautiful. There were probably 70 people in the circle, so it did take quite a while to get through everyone, but it was worth it to listen and learn about people we knew, people we had just met, and even some people we didn't know. We were all one in that service, and I truly felt blessed and honored to be able to worship in this way.

Today is day 3 and we are switching roles: those of us who have been doing work projects the past two days, will move to kids club, and vice versa. It's going to be an another amazing day! I really thank you all for taking the time to read this blog, and read about our experience as it is still fresh and the emotions are still on their sleeve. We are all so happy to be here and we're happy to share this experience with you all :)

Yakima Day 1

Yesterday, we wrapped up our first full day of service in Yakima. Half of our group were the hands and feet of Christ to a member of the Yakama community by doing a work project and the other half worked with the children of a nearby town, Wapato, in the Youthworks Kids Club. We also had an evening activity where we learned about the history of the Yakama Nation. For each of these parts of our day, I have a youth who has written a little bit about their experience. All these were written last night right before lights out, so I had to wait until the morning to post this blog entry.

Work Projects -- Lily Stephens
Today, "Team Love" had work projects. We got to meet an awesome lady named Debbie and learned about Yakama Indian culture. We are very tired but got lots of work done! We scraped paint off of Debbie's house with our new awesome friends from Olympia!
~Lily
(note from Taryn: It's important to note a little bit about Debbie. She is a math teacher at a school in the area with a true passion for kids. She has experienced a lot of hardship in her time in Yakima, in that old neighbors were constantly tagging her home with graffiti. Youthworks group over the summer will be helping this incredible woman paint her house. She told us that she once tried to turn an old rehab facility into a safe haven for at-risk youth. She unfortunately had to give up on the project, and one of the many reasons why was because she was not Native American, and the facility is on the reservation.)

Kids Club -- Heather Cornish
Kids club was okay. I didn't really have a good day. Some of the kids that came to kids club got in a fight with each other, saying it had something to do with gangs in the area. Also, I was in a group with other youthworks people to sing songs for the kids, and they booed us! That kinda made me mad because I felt like they didn't appreciate us doing that. Also, 3 boys brought their dogs and they were kind of mistreating them.
~Heather
(Note from Taryn: though unfortunate, these events aren't necessarily uncommon. I believe that by experiencing this, our youth are able to understand how to work with these kind of circumstances. Jon was with the youth at kids club and said we did a great job!)

Evening activity -- Maggie Thunselle
Tonight we went to a very inspirational and thought-provoking meeting. Corey, a reservation local, spoke to us about living on the reservation. We also learned about the modern and older relationships between the natives and other races. Also, the way the Native Americans were affected by the coming of Christianity. The things he had to say really made you think and maybe even change your perspective on a few things.
~Maggie
(note from Taryn: Cory was a very direct speaker, who sometimes said some things that seemed a little harsh. It was a hard pill to swallow at times during the presentation, but the main message was to love everyone and care for them in the same we we would want to be cared for, if the roles were reversed. Mission trips have a weird stigma, so Cory said we should go into them as "service trips", rather than "mission trips", and I think that is great advice.)

We are ready to go for day 2! We will have three more kids write about the various aspects of the day.

Blessings!

We have arrived in Yakima!

Hello friends and family of the CTK youth! We have wrapped up our first evening in Yakima. I am able to write a blog from my phone, so bear with me! We made it to our mission site around 4:30 and got settled, had orientation and were introduced to our theme: "You Are Here". We began to explore why we are here, and in light of that, I asked a few kids to write about how we got here, why we are here, etc. Here are a few of their responses:

This trip is an amazin' raisin! I slept a TON on the bus. We went to a rustic McDonald's for lunch and once we got here, we learned a lot about the reservation! I'm soooooo glad we are here! ~Lily Stephens

I am here because I want to make new friends and learn what serving God really feels like. I want to have a good experience in the Yakama Reservation and I want to feel like I made a difference in this world. ~Anastasia Bidne

Day 1 has gone by smoothly. Already the heat has gotten to me and also already I have hurt myself... Haha :) But seriously the reason why I'm here is to help/show the Yakimanian community how we love and worship God. When we are with the children we will hopefully show a good example of how to love God, even in play and hopefully they will go and share it with their families. ~Heather Cornish

I am in Yakima to learn something new this week than I learned the last time I was here. Also, I am so excited to help out, even if it just helps in little ways. Even if it's reading to a child, or being a part of the painting crew. I hope all of us go home with a good feeling, that they helped out in any way possible. I love this! It's a great way for us girls going into high school to have our final hoorah in confirmation and I hope that for those of us who are here for the first time, that it's a new and exciting experience. (ps... Hi family!) ~Sara Leeman

Tomorrow we begin our ministry work. Our group is split up in two, and one group will be going to Kids Club, and the other group will be doing work projects. I will have one kid from each group write about their experience each day. We appreciate your continued support and prayers! Blessings, Taryn and the CTK youth :) day