Monday

Our first day working and it feels like we have already been here a week! We did so much today, it is hard to believe that it was all squeezed into one day!

We started the morning with time at the community center. Instead of breaking into two groups for the morning, we stayed together and worked at the center. Initially we spent time making cards to give out along with 200 cookies that several of our girls baked Sunday night to publicize the Spring Break activities offered at the Helena Community Center. Many of the youth had never gone door to door through a community like Helena before and though they were a bit anxious at first, we found most people to be very receptive to us.

Several of the youth also painted flower beds at the community center and started a mural project that they will work on all week. The group really enjoyed getting to know the kids at the community center and started building relationships through painting, crafts, and basketball that they will foster throughout the entire week.

This afternoon half of our group went to a local park and played basketball with kids from the center. The rest of our group was involved in the Bookshelf Buddies literacy program at the center. Bookshelf Buddies is a new program the center has started, our group is the first to participate. Our youth have been paired with kids from the center and will work all week to build a bookshelf together that the child will take home at the end of the week. We will also be able to give the children some of the books that we collected at church to fill their bookshelves at the end of the week.

We ended the day by taking the kids from the center to a local movie theater to see a movie. This particular theater is closed to the public and they opened for us to show a move to the children, which they loved...many of them had never actually seen a movie in an actual theater.

Tonight as we debriefed from the day, we shared stories of kids that we met and experiences that were especially meaningful. It is always amazing to see God at work in the hearts of the youth and to help them process their experiences. The youth have been amazing examples of Christ and have learned a lot so far...it is hard to believe we have only been at work for one day.

Blessings,

Amy