All Aboard the Chattanooga Choo-Choo

I've made it to Chattanooga! (also known as Chatty) My team and I arrived here this past Saturday afternoon and were greeted by the worship pastor and his wonderfully southern wife. They were able to show us around the church we are staying at and explain a little bit about life here in the south. My team and I knew from the beginning that we would love it here.

The church is wonderful, a luxury compared to many other YouthWorks! sites. We have our own little "apartment" area in a part of the church that hat been blocked off for some years. They have been fixing it up for us and it now feels like home :-) The kitchen is absolutely perfect for feeding 50+ people every week. We have just been so blessed to be at the church an in more ways than one. Not only is it perfect for housing YouthWorks! all summer but it also has been an answer to prayer. Apparently, this church has recently gone through some leadership changes causing the congregation to drastically drop. They were very close to shutting down the whole church for good but decided to give it one more try and pray for a way to serve people, yet build up their congregation. Well, as the Lord would have it, the church that YouthWorks! had been staying at for the past 12 or so years did not renew their contract therefore, leaving us without a home. God was able to lead YouthWorks! and the Gathering to each other and it is a perfect match and one that I hope can last for many years to come. (There is also a sonic literally next door which is a huge plus!)

The week before traveling to Chattanooga, was spent in Birmingham, Alabama. 80 YouthWorks! staff members of the southeast region all congregated to a church location whose pastor happens to be the COO of YouthWorks! college roommate. We spent the week on a vigorous schedule learning about leading, our specific jobs, and growing closer as an area and site team. It was an extremely exhausting week yet so rewarding too. Never have I ever been trained for a job or position so well in my entire life. YouthWorks! trained us down to the smallest details and everything was so incredibly organized. It was amazing too, to see how close you become with the people on your site team. I was able to meet Kial  (the other girl who is on my site) and her best friend Emily (who is doing the same job as me in Virginia), in the Chicago airport on the way to Birmingham. We were on the same flight and were able to begin getting to know eachother before RAMP (what they call our training) even started. It was such a God send to have someone to arrive with and know before being thrown into awkward get to know you games with 80 people you've never seen before. Kial and I have become super close in the mere 8 days of knowing each other. I feel like with this type of job it simply just happens. You are put through so many situations that push your emotions in ways never pushed before, it forces bonding to occur.

The rest of my site team is wonderful as well! We have been working really closely together these past 4 days in Chatty in order to get our site ready for our first group of participants this Sunday. Because our site is brand new, this automatically causes some extra work and more challenges. We had to take 5 car loads of storage from the old church to the new one, organize it, do inventory on it, clean it, and place it where it needs to be. We also have to create new directions for all four Kids Club sites, all 8 service sites, and 2 evening activities. This may not sound like a lot but believe me, we are so exhausted that our evening trip to Walmart tonight was the highlight of our day (plus we also found an N'Sync CD for $5 which will go along perfectly to the Backstreet Boys CD we found in our van). We have also been practicing club and other talks to prepare for this next week.

The next couple of days will continue to be stressful as Sunday quickly approaches. One of my jobs is going to the 4 Kids Club venues and seeing the building along with meeting the head contact. Today I was able to go to one of the Boys and Girls Club which is located in the heart of the Chattanooga "hood". The children who attend this particular site mostly come from single parent homes, have older siblings dealing drugs, in gangs, or even in jail. Some of them do not get fed at home and are often neglected. Needless to say, the youth that will be attending this site are going to have their eyes quickly (and I mean quickly) open to a new culture and way of life. I found out that just this morning, a shooting occurred across the street where a drug house is most likely located. 9 police cars were involved and the boys and girls club was on lock down. This unfortunately is a too common occurrence. I am so excited though, to send youth here and the other sites simply for the fact that they can love on the children there. These kids need love so much and I can not wait to see how God works in their lives, and in the lives of the youth throughout the summer.

One of our evening activities is traveling to a place called Lookout Mountain. This is a very touristy spot that is on the top of a mountain and has various stone trails throughout as you kind of climb up to the top lookout called Lovers Leap. From this point you can supposedly see 7 states. I'm not so sure if this is true but nonetheless, the view was incredible. This isn't all that Lookout Mountain offers though. Throughout the entire complex there are over 80 gnomes. Yes, gnomes. There are gnomes fishing, gnomes golfing, and gnomes mailing mail. There are gnomes doing pretty much everything you can think of. Oh wait. It gets better. To leave the park are you must go through a cave. And yes, the cave is infested with gnomes. There are gnomes everywhere you turn and whats even better, they are interacting Brothers Grimm nursery rhymes. I have just not seen anything like this before and I am very interested to see what the middle schooles will think of it next week.

This is a picture of some of the gnomes in the cave.

A waterfall coming off of Lookout Mountain (unfortunately its fake)

I can not wait to get this summer started. I have already seen God work in so many ways and I know that he will move so much more in the weeks to come. Please be praying for our staff, that we would continue to grow and learn together and create an environment that is fun and loving for the youth that are coming. Please also be praying for the youth and their leaders that are to be coming soon. Pray that God would be preparing their hearts for the adventure that awaits them, both spiritually and emotionally as they experience many things that they may have never seen before. Lastly, please also pray for our service and kids club sites. Pray that their children would be open the youth loving them and showing them God's love.

Another busy day of prep awaits. I will close with a verse that God has recently put on my heart. It is a great reminder of his love as well as an encouragement that I can do this even when I am completely exhausted and loose focus as He has given me the strength and talents that I need :-)

We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith. If it is serving then serve. If its is teaching, then teach, if it is to encourage, then give encouragement, if it is giving, then give generally, if it is to lead, do it diligently, if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.

Romans 12:6-8