Week Four: Answered Prayer

 Last week was a pretty great week!  Thank you so much for praying for my experience at the Kansas City Urban Youth Center.  Last week and this week have been so much better.

Last Monday I took on the challenge of working with a group of about 5 boys who can't really read.  Over the past two weeks my group has grown to about 10.  For the first part of the time we work on phonics.  I have flash cards and we go around the circle sounding out the words on the cards.  Then we watch a short phonics video.  Sometimes it seems really cheesy, but most of them seem to like it.

Most of them are doing really well with this, and I question how much work we need to be doing with this.  They've got most of the sounds down, as well as a lot of the words on the flash cards. There are only a few who are still struggling with this.

For the second part of class half my kids, who are pretty good readers go back into the classroom and work one on one with some of our reading volunteers.  The other half sticks with me and I have one of them pick out a book for me to read to them.  As I read I sometimes ask them to read a word for me.  This seems to be helping and I think most of them are enjoying it.

It is a lot of work though.  Most of the time I have all 10 boys on my own and it is really hard to get them to all stop talking and to sit down at the same time.  I have no idea how teachers, especially elementary school teachers do it.  Here in the inner city some teachers have 30 kids in one classroom, with no helper.  No wonder most of the students are 2 or 3 grade levels behind.

It is super easy to be passive when working with the kids.  Partly because they are so darn cute, but also they are little boys with a lot of energy.  I have been trying to figure out ways to harvest that energy to actually be able to get some work done, but it is so hard with so many at a time.  I don't want to be mean because I know what it is like to be a little boy and have a lot of energy, but I still have to teach them something.  Last week and this week have been a learning experience in trying to balance my passivity with being too strict.  I have spent a lot of time in prayer over the past couple of weeks, seeking some direction with this.  I will share more about that in my next post.

Even though this has been really tough it has strengthened my relationship with the teacher I am working with.  It gives us to talk about and discuss, bouncing different ideas off each other.  She sees me as a reliable volunteer and is more comfortable asking me to help out around the classroom.  It is an answer to prayer.  Thank You God!

On Tuesday the second year interns were able to host our weekly intercession night.  We had the two couples that are living as urban missionaries over for dinner and then the rest of the interns came over.  It was so great to be able to cover our neighborhood in prayer, as well as for people we have met and the different places we have been serving for the past couple of weeks.  It is so important to cover our different ministries in prayer and I have found that it is something I really enjoy doing.

Last week the second year interns were also able to go to the beach before heading up to Pella for the weekend.  We went with the guys that work out with some one of the other interns and Ascent Staff.  A lot of them had never been to the beach before, so they really enjoyed it.  It included a lot of messing around, tossing around the football and frisbee in the water.  We also had some good conversations.  It was so much fun!

While in Pella I was able to meet up with my mom and sister and go out to eat with them.  I think we all really enjoyed a little time together.

Prayer Requests:

• That I would have wisdom in teaching the little boys I have been working with.
• That God would continue be building relationships between me and the kids.
• Tonight we are having another movie night with some guys from the inner city.  Pray for a good turn out as well as good conversation and just a lot of fun.

Week Three: The Building of Relationships

This past week I started working at the Kansas City Urban Youth Center.  I worked at this center last summer while doing the internship and I loved it, so I decided to go back when choosing my service site.  I fell in love with the kids and wanted to show them that I cared enough to come back.  I wanted to continue building relationships I had started last summer.  It felt really great to be back, but things have sure changed.  For the most part the kids are a lot better behaved, which is great!  There is still a lot of drama that happens, but that's expected when with 1st-8th graders.  I have been able to pick some relationships back up, but it is still hard because it has been almost a year since I've seen them and I don't know what has happened for them during that time.  Man, I've missed those kids, even the trouble makers.  I just want to see God move in their lives and in their community.  There is a lot of brokenness, but I believe God is in the business of restoring lives and I believe that that is something He wants to do there.

Although I am working in the reading room again this summer, the teacher is different.  I think this has been the most difficult part so far.  Last year the teacher and I worked really well together and it was fun to be apart of the planning and teaching.  I think my teacher this year only sees me as another volunteer.  She doesn't see me as a partner or a resource, which it makes it really difficult.  I also don't think she understands my love for the children or where I am coming from and why I am serving at KCUYC.  I really hope this gets better as the summer continues.

Last Friday the second year interns had a movie night with some inner city guys.  One of the Ascent staff is a football coach at a nearby high school, so he has had the opportunity to get to know a lot of teens in the neighborhood.  He invited a few guys, but only a two showed, which was alright.  We had a lot of fun hosting them at our house and getting to know them a little bit better.  We watched Clash of the Titans.  If you haven't seen it, it is jam packed with action and fighting, the guys loved it!  It was definitely a man night, with an action flick and lots of pizza and popcorn.  It was a blast!

On Father's Day we helped host a BBQ.  The two guys that came to our movie night joined us again, as well as several other young men and women.  It was fun to interact with them and watch them banter back and forth about different sports and sports teams.  After everybody left we had a chance to talk and debrief how it went.  It was cool, because we were told that a lot of young people who were at the BBQ, either didn't have much of a connection with their father, or their father had died.  It was great to be gathered on Father's Day and try to share the love of the Father!

Apart from the different service opportunities and the other activities I have been up to, God has also been doing a lot in my own life.  Last week when I was running I got a pretty bad blister, but I continued running, because I wanted to get to my finish line.  Well the blister caused me to run funny and soon enough my ankle started to feel pretty painful.  I didn't want to stop and walk, but I didn't have a choice, so I walked the rest of the way.  While walking God brought up quite a bit of stuff.  Just briefly, He brought up some stuff about pride, as well as comparing myself to others, especially the other guys on the internship.  He revealed to me that I was doing this because I believed that in order to be masculine and a real man, then I have to be able to keep up with other guys.  Needless to say I have had some prayer surrounding this lie and will continue to ask God to speak truth over me, and reveal to me what true masculinity looks like.

This is just a little look at what God has been doing in my heart over the last week.  There has been so much more.  It has actually felt pretty overwhelming, but I have to remember that God doesn't what to overwhelm me with that, He wants to bring life.  I have to keep my eyes fixed on Him and not my brokenness.  He has had to remind me to stand up and fight for myself, which is really hard for me.

Ways you can pray: Pray that I can begin building a relationship with the teacher I am working with at KCUYC as well as continued growth with the kids.  Pray that God would bring healing to my blister and ankle, they are still a little sore. Pray that we can continue building relationships with the inner city guys we met this past week.  Also pray for rest.  I have not been sleeping very well, and that doesn't help my attitude when working with the kids or the other interns.  Pray that God would bring restoration here in Kansas City!  I am excited to see how God created beauty from ashes!!

God in this City: Just a Glimpse

Last week was our first full week, with a normal schedule.  We had our service projects in the morning and then our different afternoon activities each day.  For our service we worked at Hope Faith, which is a homeless ministry here in Kansas City.  It is open 7 days a week and is the only homeless ministry that offers a warm breakfast in KC.  We did a lot of different things to help out around Hope Faith.  A lot of our time was spent in their warehouse organizing all the donations that have come in.  It was really stressful and was a lot of hard work, but it was really cool to see how that ministry functioned.  On Thursday we got to help pack a moving truck full of furniture full a lady who's house burned down.  It was so cool to see how the staff at Hope Faith just gave her anything they thought would bless her.  It was awesome! I also got to help serve food and work in the kitchen.

On Friday we were able to just interact with the clients at Hope Faith, which was fun.  During the morning there was a spades tournament that we were able watch and cheer on some of the people that we met.  A couple of the other interns were able to talk with a young man and share Christ with him.  They shared the story of the encounter with the rest of us and it was awesome to hear how God was moving in his life, healing some of his pain and addiction.  It was AWESOME!!

On Tuesday night the second year interns ate with some of Ascent staff that also live in the inner city and another couple that is living in the inner city living as missionaries.  It was a lot of fun to share life and talk  about some of our experiences serving in the city.  After dinner the rest of the interns came over and we were able to intercede for Kansas City and the different people we were serving.

On Tuesday and Thursday we had prayer hours in the afternoon, which was really great.  On Thursday I went to the Plaza and was able to sit outside along a canal and just worship and pray.  It was really great to be able to get away and just have me and God time.  During my time down on the Plaza a came across the a statue of a young boy and girl setting a whole bunch of pigeons free.  I was struck by this statue and just stopped and looked at it.  I asked God what He was trying to tell me through this statue and three words came up.  Freedom, Innocence, and Joy.  I'm still sitting with what God is wanting to say through those three words.

On Friday afternoon we headed back to Pella for the weekend.  While up there we were able to see some friends and play some sand volleyball.  It was great getting to see everyone and hear about some of the stuff God has been doing in their lives since we've seen them.

On Saturday night we had Encounter I Am, a prayer night that we have every other weekend.  It was really great!  God spoke to me about His delight in me.  Often times I struggle to remember that God loves me not because He has to, but because He wants to.  He gets excited when I get excited.  He is saddened when I am sad.  He delights in me and is constantly thinking of me.  It  is not only true when I do something that is "right," but all the time.  God began speaking to me more about that at Encounter I Am, and I know He wants to continue working on that, redeeming my view of Him.  He wants to replace the lies that I believe with His Truth.

Ways you can pray:
This weekend we will be having a movie night with some high school guys from the inner city and will be hosting a BBQ for some of the people in our neighborhood.  Pray that we can begin building some relationships with some of the people that meet.  You can also pray as some of us started our service at the Kansas City Urban Youth Center.  Pray that we would have wisdom in interacting with the kids and that we would begin building relationships with the kids.

Week One: That's so Barby!

This blog is a place for me to share the different ways God is moving in my life and in the lives of the people I am serving in Kansas City.  It got it's name after listening to the Prayer Room at the International House of Prayer, in which I heard a song that stated, "You take us from the ashes and seat us with Princes."  As soon as heard these words I knew that I had the title for my blog.  I wanted people hear of the ways God is taking the brokenness of this world and is reconciling it back to Him.

We arrived in Kansas City on May 28 and before we had time to settle in the Ascent staff got us together to explain the schedule for the summer.  They also explained to us that the house that the Year 2 interns are renting, is pretty empty.  They then handed us $200 and told us to furnish the house.  We haven't had any time to go out and do some thrifting, but we are all ready to.  We are getting tired of sitting on folding chairs and the floor.  Luckily we have beds!

On Tuesday we had our day of solitude, which was really nice.  It felt good to just be off for most of the day, just me and God.  During the day we got to read The Barbarian Way, which is a really great book by Erwin Raphael McManus.  It talks about how Christianity has been civilized, which is not Jesus or the Early Church had wanted for it.  

"The barbarian way is about love, intimacy, passion, and sacrifice.  Barbarians love to live and live to love.  For them God is life, and their mission is to reconnect humanity to Him.  Their passion is that each of us might live in intimate communion with Him who died for us.  The barbarian way is a path of both spirit and truth.  The soul of the barbarian is made alive by the presence of Jesus."

This is one of the many quotes that I really liked, I think it does a good job summarizing the Barbarian Way.  For me the overall theme that stuck out to me the most is that God is inviting me to become the person He created me to be.  He wants me to embrace my passions and desires because they are from Him.  I think the reason this stuck out to me so much, is because that is something I feel like God has been speaking to me about before moving down to Kansas City, so it felt very confirming.

The barbarian way isn't easy.  It is dangerous, and if you choose for follow it, you will be seen as dangerous.  It is a hard decision to make, but I believe it will be worth it in the end if I choose to answer this call.  

For the rest of that week we began, what will be our normal schedule.  In the mornings we spent time serving.  A few of us went to a church/women's shelter and helped do some dry walling, which was really fun.  Each afternoon was different.  On Wednesday we started our Manuscript Bible Study on the book of Ruth, which I think all of the second years are excited about.  Thursday we went to the Prayer Room.  It felt so good to be back in the flesh, instead of watching it online.  Finally, Friday afternoon we received the Story of God teaching from Ryan.  The Year 2 interns had already gotten this teaching, but Ryan taught it in a little different way, so it was nice and fresh.  It was also good to be refreshed on some of that stuff.

Each night we had free time, but the staff kind of had some different options planned for us so that we could see what Kansas City had to offer.  It was a lot of fun to hang out with all of the other interns.  On Saturday we went to a craft show and played a little frisbee in a park down town and that night we watching We Bought A Zoo, which is a great movie!  Finally, Sunday we went a church called Beggars Table which is a really small church, with a lot of young families, and they were so friendly.  It was a great environment.  

I hope this gives you a taste of what our first week has been like down in KC.  Sorry it was so long, but we did a lot.  You can pray for the Year 2 interns as we meet our neighbors, that God would reveal to us how to love them well.  It would also be great if we could find some cheap or even free furniture to furnish our house.  Those are just a few prayer requests that I can think of right now.  Oh yeah and the title comes from a new phrase that we started after reading The Barbarian Way, "That's so Barby!"