Prep Week (AH!)

Prep Week: Check.

Oh wait, life isn’t a checklist?  This last week certainly felt like it!  Prep week is a time to get your site ready, and oh-my-goodness, our housing site needed a lot of work.  The carpet that sticks to your feet when you walk barefoot on it should be cleaned by the time we get back, and the refridgerator should work and not smell like old things, and maybe we’ll have keys to the building!  YES!

Oh, and the above picture is my favorite picture that I’ve found of the arch.  I put it in the Adult Leader binders that are almost finished.  Also, here our staff profiles.  Then you all can be praying for them by name and know a little about them!

Staff Introductions

Name: Chris Claussen          Hometown: Watertown, MN

College: University of Wisconsin- La Crosse Degree: Community Health Education, minor: Sociology

YouthWorks! history: newbie! Summer 2009 position: Site Director

Random fact: In high school I played soccer, did gymnastics, and ran track and also ran hurdles and pole vault for UW-L.

Favorite candy bar and ice cream: 100 Grand and Moose Tracks

Favorite word: “propitiation”

Name: Beth Clementson Hometown: Pittsburgh, PA College: Thiel College Degree: Psychology

YouthWorks! history: Kids Club in Lincoln County, West Virginia in 2008

Summer 2009 position: Program Staff Random fact: I am a member of the Official Carrie Underwood Fan Club.

Favorite candy bar and ice cream: Midnight Milky Ways and Cake Batter Favorite word: “Oh-my-lanta!”

Name: Shane Welker              Hometown: Clearwater, FL      College: University of Florida

Degree: Family, Youth, and Community Sciences

YouthWorks! history: newbie!  Participant in 2003 in Juarez, Mexico Summer 2009 position: Urban Staff

Random fact: Before I graduated high school, I was asked to be in a professional band. I said no, and three weeks later they opened for Bon Jovi.

Favorite candy bar and ice cream: 100 Grand and Cake Batter Favorite word: “Dang-ers”

Name: Rich Slaymaker               Hometown: Los Angles, CA      College: Azusa Pacific University Degree: Psychology

YouthWorks! history: newbie! Summer 2009 position: Urban Staff

Random fact: My four front teeth are fake. Favorite candy bar and ice cream: Take 5 and Moose Tracks

Favorite word: “bubble” and adding “-ity” to just about any word

We really get along great, so that is a serious praise.  And we deal with conflict pretty well, at least so far!  Hopefully, it will continue throughout the summer.  Oh, and I also wanted to share a little about the people I’ve met in St. Louis so far.  Our housing contact, Pastor Sapp, is a truly amazing man.  He has been a volunteer pastor at Compton Heights Baptist Church for 25 years.  He has been so wonderful to us and is always ready to go an extra mile to help us out.  Also, there are a lot of church kids that Pastor Sapp will pick up and bring to church on Sundays.  He picked a bunch of them up to help us clean and get the church organized.  Those kids did an awesome job!  I met a woman named Andrea who is the custodian of the school where our storage was.  She sat with us while we sorted through all the stuff left from last year’s site.  She seemed really annoyed at first that she had to work with us for that one hour, but soon we got her talking.  Beth and I got to talk to her a bit about how she went to church as a kid and hated it.  We both shared how much the body of Christ has impacted us and encouraged her to get involved in her local church.  After a while, she started to help us load boxes into the van and then offered to come with us to unload.  I pray that she was encouraged by our conversation and seeks a church to be a part of!  We have also met a lot of other random people, like the Christian rapper at the coffee shop who might come to our Community Cookouts.  I am so excited to meet more people and hear their stories.  I pray that I would have willing ears to listen and be slow to speak.

And this week I’m in Cincinnati for Early Bird; when three site staffs come together and do a week of “practice.”  We will not be the main staff, which means we get some-what of a break!  SOoOOOO needed.   Also, please be praying that we  get a lot done next week.

Blessings!!!

Chris

Welcome to St. Louis….

Hello All!

Thank you for taking time to read this and check out what is going on with me in St. Louis!

Training started on Monday the 25th.  It was a really full week of sessions learning about how YouthWorks functions, understanding the budget and finances (I got a YW credit card! ah!) and a lot of staff bonding.  I have three staff; Rich, Shane, and Beth.  I prayed before training started that my staff would be ridiculous.  I really wanted my staff  to know how to have fun and to laugh a lot together.  I was also nervous that they wouldn’t understand my ridiculousness (you all know that I’m weird and perfectly proud of it).  My staff is definitely some of the most crazy and hilarious people I’ve ever met.  We have so much fun together and laugh hard a lot.  We decided that RAMP should have voted yearbook style for “most likely to succeed” and such, because we definitely would have won “most ridiculous.”  So, blessing #1 from God!

We drove down to St. Louis yesterday for prep week (a time to get the church ready for 70+ people and to meet the community members).  Pastor Wendy (he is a male!) met us at the church to give us a tour and welcome us to the city.  The tour of the church was really overwhelming.  We have far more work to do than we ever could have imagined.  I couldn’t hold in my laughter at the craziness that the Lord had gotten me and staff into while Pastor Wendy was there, but as soon as he left, the tears started coming.  I felt so far in-over-my-head.  As tears were coming down my face, my staff were looking at me for direction and what to do next.  The only thing I could think of was to pray.  And we prayed.  As I prayed, I remembered the challenging prayer I had prayed during training.  I prayed that this summer, I would learn that God truly listens to me.  To see that God hears MY voice and cries for help.  I want to know that it didn’t “just work out” but that I would see that it only God who answers my prayers and He wants good for me.  He loves me and hears me.  I think this is the beginning of my summer lesson of truly trusting the Lord.

Today was great; we went to church and met the members.  There are  only about 40, but they are very genuine.  We all shared about where we come from and where we’re at in life and I described what would be happening in their church this summer.  Everyone wanted to talk to us after the service and tell us about their city.  I scribbled down directions to Wal-mart and great restaurants, and then we had lunch at McDonalds with the youth.  I had my hair braided by the girls and the guys wanted all our numbers so they could hang out with us all the time.  We convinced a lot of them to come back to church tomorrow and help us clean, which hopefully will go well and we will get a lot done!  Thank the Lord for His faithfulness in providing help!

We have sooooooo much to do in just a short week, and we would all covet your prayers!  Thank you for supporting me, and thinking and praying for me.  It’s nice to know that I am not gone and forgotten by all of you in Minnesota and some in Wisconsin!

Blessing,

Chris

Marvelous, marvelous light

So I kind of feel like I should change the title of this blog, because the “distant shores” part fell through, and the “island HAS seen…” since my summer on the island is over. The current title makes it sound like I may actually be doing a lot on those distant shores.

Well, in my attempt to be able to call a church in the Cities my “home” church, I am currently making a solid effort to actually attend said “home” church. I think actually being present at a Sunday service makes a difference… So anyway, I went to Bethlehem Baptist this past Sunday after a wonderful weekend of running a 5k up North with some dear close friends. I am so overjoyed that the Lord is so faithful to meet me and call me to knowing Him more, especially at a time in my life when I feel like I have days that I truly desire to know Him, and days when I am perpetually distracted by the things of this world. Because God made me turn my gaze from the world to marvelous light.

It was the last Sunday of a missions focus at Bethlehem. John Piper gave an amazing sermon; basically a call to those who have felt the Lord’s leading to become a missionary, and to some who have resisted or others who have never thought of over-seas missions and certainly will be by the end of the sermon. I always had the idea that we are all missionaries; whether that is across an ocean or at a mundane job. But no, we are all called to be evangelists wherever the Lord has us. “But not all of us are called to choose an unreached people group, learn a new language, cross a culture, proclaim the excellencies of Christ, and plant the church of Jesus Christ where it does not yet exist. That is what missionaries do. It is a glorious calling.” Which then leads to the existence of another group of Christ-followers whose calling is to support missionaries, whether it’s financially, prayerfully, or otherwise. It is not wrong or sinful to be an evangelist in the US, and not be one called to the dangerous locations where the name of Christ has never been heard. Because those areas DO still exist. Missionaries are called to suffering, which proclaims the glories of Christ. Am I called to suffering? I could feel that conviction creeping up on me: can I, WOULD I suffer for Christ? So who are called to be missionaries? Is it those who would shrink back from the high calling of suffering for the sake of Christ? Those who yet value the comforts of a well developed country? Missionaries are the people who:

“When they read these words, “You are chosen . . . that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light,” they know and feel that they were once in hopeless darkness. They know and feel that Christ died for their sins,—and not for theirs only, but for all the nations. They know and they feel that God called them invincibly into light and eternal life. And they know, and they feel that the light in which they stand with Jesus Christ is marvelous. More marvelous than all the money or mansions in the world.”

I felt a true and overwhelming sense of joy as I watched a crowd of people walk to the front of the church to be prayed over and encouraged as they takes steps to seek the Lord’s possible call to missions. Am I one who feels “that the light in which [I] stand with Jesus Christ is marvelous?” Is this the deep desire of my heart? I feel a pull in two directions, which reveals the sin that still lives in me. I do pray that my desire to know Jesus Christ would be deepened and that marvelous light would become brighter in my life and in my heart.

Just “The Island will see…”

So…. the summer is almost over. And I’ve found that I suck at keeping this thing updated. Sorry!!!

I feel like I have so much to update, but I can’t even begin to explain all that has been happening in my life. First of all, the Lord has been teaching me a lot about following and trusting in His will. Most of you know that my plans to go to Africa and work with Maasai tribe fell through toward the beginning of the summer. It was hard to grasp that my plans which I had worked so hard to smooth out were obviously not what the Lord had in store for me this fall. Camp was a pretty good distraction from most of my disappointments. And then it hit me as I realized there were only about 3 weeks left until camp was over… I still have nothing set up to graduate in December! And… I’m on an island for the next 3 weeks with no internet connections and limited cell phone reception. So I started working toward setting up an internship in the Cities, which had always been my “Plan B.” I went through a few different options, which all seemed to fall through for various reasons, just like Africa. I struggled to see God’s plan for it; like God was just putting things right in front of my face and then snatching them away. One night as I was walking back to my room alone, I was arguing with God, expressing my frustrations about what He was doing with MY life. And the verse from 1 Corinthians popped into my head, “you are not your own, you were bought with a price.” My life is not mine, it is the Lord’s, I should not presume to have control over it. Funny thing arguing with God…

“I am well pleased with thy will, whatever it is, or should be in all respects, and if thou bidst me decide for myself in any affair I would choose to refer all to thee, for thou art infinitely wise and cannot do amiss, as I am in danger of doing.” ~Valley of Vision

Well, I got a phone call from my preceptorship adviser. He got an update e-mail from one of UW-L’s post grads who works with an organization called Q Health. They do a lot of community outreach including college prep and sexual health education for the youth. The org is really well respected throughout the community and as well as nationally. He considered it a “tap on the shoulder” because of my interest in community development. My adviser called on Tuesday, and I connected with my possible mentor that afternoon, set up an interview for Wednesday as I was driving through the Cities on my way to LaX, and had the official interview this morning on Thursday. Whoa! In just two days I went from having no plans in the fall, to being offered a really good internship. I still don’t have an apartment or a job in the Cities, but come December I will have a degree! God is good and faithful.

Oooooh… camp.

Alright, it’s been quite a while since I’ve updated anything on here, sorry! This week was the first week of Tenderfoot, which are 1st and 2nd graders. I love these kids! They are honestly some of the most fun kids because you can basically mess with them and they don’t even get it. I get to be extremely sarcastic and tease them, and they love it! So it’s been really fun and everything has gone really smoothly despite me feeling so unprepared. I’m super organized, which is extremely weird for me, but so needed when there are 32 TF-ers asking what’s next.

Personally, it’s been kind of challenging lately being out of touch and away from everything. I felt like all these people needed me and missed me, and I want to be there for all these people. I have close friends spread all over, and I’m really not available to talk or e-mail or anything! I was feeling like I bailing on a lot of people, which hurt me and stressed me out a lot. One of the other program girls, Ashley, has been such a great encouragement to me. She pointed out that I can use this opportunity to point all these people toward Christ, because they don’t really need me, they need Christ. Therefore, I seek to point those people to the cross, and if any of you call me, I do pray that you would be pointed to the cross!

This picture is from one of our TenderFoot evening activities when we went on a hayride and Mark called the horses. The kids loved it. I don’t even like horses and I thought it was really cool!

The above picture is from our hiking trip. This was before the torture and mutiny began. We look so happy! ha.

We walked…

So I’ve been at camp for a little more than a week now for Program Staff training, and it’s been really fun. We’ve done a lot of planning for the summer (Island Directors plan for 4 weeks of Island as well as Tenderfoot Camp, which is for 1st and 2nd graders— DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH WORK THAT IS??!!) and we’ve done a lot of WALKING! Staff consists of 2 Island Directors (me and Josh), 2 Lead Counselors Trent (Trent is also the Program Director!!!) and Elise, 2 SMTCs Adam and Lindsay (leaders for the high school staff), 2 SWATCs Wyatt and Ashley (Servants With A Task, high school work crews that come up for 2 weeks), and 2 Program Directors Brandon and Emily (people in charge of being on stage, planning and explaining games). We also have our Assistant Program Director, also known as our Dictator, Jeff. He planned a hiking trip for us to bond, and we definitely bonded… through planning a mutiny. We hiked in Foothills State Forest, which is not the scenic hike that I was expecting. Definitely not the same as La Crosse, with it’s amazing bluffs and views. It was a road, that we walked on for 34 miles, through the rain. Ick. Honestly, we did bond and learn a lot about perseverance and trusting in God. We were supposed to be out there for 3 days, but in the middle of the second day, we made a deal with Jeff that we didn’t have to go quite as far as he wanted, more than 45 miles. We were completely satisfied with actually making 34 miles.

Then we came back to camp, showered, and went to Jeff’s cabin to recuperate for 3 days. I proceeded to rip off the tip of my toe, which was less relaxing than the cabin was expected. We had a lot of time to talk, and had a lot of good discussions about infant baptism and Calvinism and theology. There were really good conversations, and it’s been good to see how Christ is working through camp to bring Himself glory.

And today, I saw someone successfully complete the Gallon Challenge. I knew it could be done, and everyone always told me it couldn’t. Jeff detailed the rules before it began, and for those of you who are unfamiliar with the Gallon Challenge, these are the rules:

1. You must finish a gallon of whole milk in 1 hour or less.

2. You cannon puke, or eat anything else during the hour.

Thus, the Gallon Challenge. So three guys tried it, and two of them puked before the hour was up. Jeff started the count down as Wyatt chugged the last of his gallon, and as soon as Jeff finished saying 3-2-1, Wyatt puked. He did lose it, but he successfully finished within the alloted time period. It was amazing, and I almost peed my pants laughing so hard.

So, I think prayer requests for the rest of training would be that as a staff we would keep our eyes on Christ. We love to laugh and have fun, but I find myself straying from the things I prayed against that morning. Josh and I also have a ton of work to do, and we both have had our freak-out moments. Pray that we would be like-minded as well as hard-working as we seek to glorify Christ for Tenderfoot and the Island.

Thanks for checking in and seeing what’s been going on!! Hopefully I’ll be able to keep this updated, but as you can see, I’ve been crazy busy!

Grace and peace

Shamineau Here I Come!!!

I’m leaving in two days!!!

Soon I will be in Motley, MN, for Program Staff training! I’m excited to get going on what I will be doing all summer, but I have so much organizing to do! I had to pack up my room in LaX to come back to Watertown, so everything is packed. And now I have to un-pack it to re-pack it all. Stink.

So as I get ready to leave, I’ve been e-mailing my prayer supporters for the summer, and I gave them this address. I hope that you will all check back to see what’s been going on and so that you can praying for me and for camp this summer!!!

This is the Island that I’ll be on! Yay for no showers, and cooking my food over a fire!

So I have a blog….

I’m eventually going to use this more when summer starts so I can keep people updated on what is going on in my life.  And then things will really get rolling when I go to Africa… that will be craziness.