Fun at Barneyville

It seems like there is a lot of change around the Peace Place right now... kids that have moved, new faces to volunteer (yay!), new kids to be mentored, summer fast approaching.... Praise God that He knows what he is doing and He is at work amidst the changes.

From everything that I heard, Spring Break Bible Club went a really well out here so thank you for praying. They had lots of people come love on the kiddos and teach about Jesus.
The Housing Authority does want to get a community center and something similar to Peace Place going in another neighborhood and excitingly there is someone who God is calling to lead that! What an answer to prayer. Please continue to pray as the planning and ground breaking work begins...more details to come.

Two weekends ago we got to take the kids out to "Barneyville". Barneyville is the home/ranch of one of our volunteers. We grilled, played baseball, fed cows, chased chickens, celebrated a birthday, face painted, worshipped Jesus and had a really great time! You could tell that the peacefulness of the place had a calming affect on the kids and the freedom to run and play in a place like that with Godly people was really good for them. Ok, enough talk... here are some pictures:

Update

This upcoming week is Spring Break, so we will not be meeting with normal activities. Instead a group from the church will be leading Bible Clubs at the park for all the neighborhood kids on Monday-Friday from 12-3. Please be in prayer for these clubs and the eternal fruit that will come from them.

Another prayer request is that we are looking into the possibility of taking some kids to summer camp this summer. Pray that if this is something we should do we find the right place, choose the right kids, and have the means to make it happen.

Sunday night classes have been going great. We love the First Baptist Youth helpers. The classes have been a little less attended and a little less structured then I might have hoped, but the kids are being loved, learning new activities, and learning about serving and worshiping God.

Another praise is that on Mondays some of the men have stepped up to teach the lessons to the kids! It is wonderful for the children to see a man love and teach God's Word and it also frees me up to take care of other needs.

A few of our kids have moved in the last few weeks... we are trying to learn how to continue to pursue them and keep them plugged in. This is why it's so great to have them connected to individual mentors... I don't feel like they'll just be lost now that they don't live in the neighborhood anymore...I know there is still someone connected to them.

One last prayer request - there may be the possibility of opening up a community center in another one of the housing projects here in Bryan and starting a similar program with children there. There is a group doing a Bible club at that location next week so we will see what all comes of that.

cooking class

our valentine party

painting fun! (thanks mom for the smocks)

Excitement

So, the toilet overflowed last night.
And if you are thinking overflowed, like a little water coming out the sides while you are plunging, take a look at the above graphic one more time.....

That's right, it was like The Peace Place meets Niagara Falls. Thankfully, it didn't happen until the end of the night after our Bible lesson, when the kids were one on one with their leaders going over what we had talked about. One of the boys in the back room kept splashing his foot in the water that had covered the floor in half of the building - a leader finally got annoyed by the sound and asked him to stop and then did a double take and wondered "Why is there water all over the floor for him to splash in?" - What followed was about 30 minutes of mopping and sweeping and towel soaking and wringing out, and removing in any means possible (other than licking) what felt like 10 bathtubs full of water from the floor. (In actuality it was probably more like one bathtub full, but it sure felt like 10) Although it was somewhat chaotic, the kids seemed to enjoy tramping through the water and "helping" - imagine that. :o) Anyways, it was good for a laugh... I'm still trying to get everything cleaned and dried out and back to normal, hopefully it will be by the end of the week.

In all reality, the most exciting part of last night was not the Niagara toilet, but that we had three new volunteers who were great, which meant that a couple new kids got to come! Praise God! (It's really not fun to send crying kids home each week because there is no mentor for them)
Jehovah Jirah- Our God is a great provider and I can't wait to see who and what all else he has in store for this semester.

A New Year

After Christmas break we have been meeting together again for a few weeks now. We're trying to focus our time together on Mondays a little bit more by cutting out class/activity time and spending time one on one with the kids talking about the Bible lesson that we went over as a whole group. So far this seems pretty fruitful.

In February we will be beginning to offer classes to all the kids in the neighborhood on Sunday nights from 4:30-5:45. We will offer dance, music, sports, art, and cooking but still need some help leading these. The goal of these classes is not only to teach new skills and build Godly relationships, but there will also be a focus on learning to do "Whatever you do" to the glory of God.

If you are interested in mentoring on Mondays, helping with classes on Sundays, or helping in another area of need such as preparing meals or cleaning let me know!

The Joy of Giving!

The Peace Place had our Christmas party last Friday and boy was it fun! Through the whole month of December during out worship time each week we learned Christmas carols and learned about the Christmas story. And when I say LEARNED, I mean LEARNED. I got some funny answers on the first week when I asked what Christmas was about and what the kids knew about Jesus' birth... and I definitely sang Christmas carols by myself for a while because the only ones the kids knew were "Rudolf" and "Jingle Bells" and we wanted to sing carols about Christ. However, the great thing about kids is that they love to learn and learn quickly. By the third week I was hanging out with one child outside of the Peace Place and they were telling me all about how Christmas is really about Jesus birth and how "some people" don't even know that! And while hanging out with another child I heard them singing Silent Night. How beautiful! Since we had been learning that at Christmas we celebrate the gift God gave us, I wanted to teach the kids to be givers like God, instead of greedy at Christmas. With the help of ideas from my pastor and Mr.Bill I think we were able to do that. On the last Monday that we met the kids made and wrapped different little gifts to give away to family and friends and they also put together toiletry baskets to take to the Twin City Mission, a homeless shelter in Bryan. On Friday during our party we went to the Mission to deliver the toiletries and sang Christmas Carols with the residents. I wasn't sure how this was going to turn out, but thought no matter what happened it would be a good learning experience. Well, it was a hit- both with the residents and our kids. When we were leaving I heard all kinds of things such as: "If I had lots of money, I would buy all of those people houses" (from a girl who lives with her grandma), "We did a good job- they liked us!" (from a shy little girl), "When I grow up, I'm going to be a singer" (from a tough 3rd grade boy), "Some of the people in the back looked sad before I would give them a hug, but then when I hugged them it would make them smile- we made them happy"..... What a joy to learn to be a blessing to other people! Other highlights of our party included pizza, The Christmas story, a gift exchange, wrestling like crazy people, Jesus' Birthday cookie, and spinning around under the giant Christmas light tree at Central Park. It was a blast!

Pizza
Driving to Central Park to see the lights
Crazy wrestling
More crazy wrestling
Jesus' birthday cake
Gift exchange
Christmas Story
Singing at Twin City Mission

Our first Camping Trip

Peace Place kids and mentors joined my community group out at lake Sommerville this weekend for a really fun camping trip complete with tents, canoes, hobo dinners, s'mores, lake swimming, hiking, fire time, and lots of playing. It was a first for the kids and I'm pretty sure they want to do it again.

Slideshow

PUMPKINS

SO MUCH FUN!