...it begins to be difficult to stay up all night for an event.
Well... Our last kid just got picked up from the lock in and we are exhausted, exhausted, and more exhausted.
Tonight was our youth lock-in and we had... dun dun dun... TWENTY teens! That's right, twenty of them. We were SO excited, because we've really been praying for all these new teens, and so many of them came! Everyone seemed to have a good time, and the new kids all got quite well integrated into the group as a whole. We played games like Psychiatrist, Moron, and Mafia, and fed them junk food (pizza rolls and chips.) Then we split up and some played video games, some played board games, some watched movies, and some got some sleep. We fed them MORE junk food at 4:00 am (pigs in a blanket this time.) Finally, we fed them breakfast (ice cream sandwiches) cleaned up, and sent them home.
We think the most encouraging thing was that nobody hung out with the same people all night. Everybody was in small groups doing their own things, but the groups were constantly in flux. Also, we got to spend some one on one time with a lot of the kids, getting to know them better. It is going to be SO hard to leave here at the end of the summer. We don't even know how we're going to be able to do it.
The night was great though, except for the fact that Hilary's voice is totally gone... oh, and the teens are already asking us when we can do it again. Did we mention we're EXHAUSTED?
Oh well, we'll take the exhaustion any day... it's totally worth it. What we're doing is so COOL!
Love,
Dan and Hilary
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Yeee haaa!!! I knew the kids would love you guys, how could anyone not love you?
ReplyDeleteAges ago when Rebecca was a teen, I went on a lock-in with her, but I was one of the leaders. We had a ball! Imagine this: A bunch of Barbie and Ken dolls hanging by yarn around their necks from a slow moving ceiling fan. They did this. One of the other leaders walked in the door where they all were, after having hung the dolls, looked at the ceiling fan, shrugged, chuckled and walked back out.
Rebecca went into a room that had a ton of bean bag chairs in them to get one of them, and one of the youth walked in there and started pelting her with the bean bag chairs. It was so funny, she couldn't even stand up before she got pelted down with another one. She was laughing so hard, I was laughing watching her. Then there was a food fight at snack time. Such wonderful memories! I could play my guitar pretty well back then, before arthritis got my hands/fingers, and I brought it along and we had fun singing.
I miss those times......(sigh).
Some day you'll do all that fun stuff all the time! There will be camp outs, short sheeting the Youth Pastor's cot, putting statues in the Youth Pastor's cot (I did that once on a Catholic weekend, putting a statue of Mary in Father Dan's cot. Shame on me - - and I was one of the co-leaders!), putting shaving cream all over the sleeping Youth Pastor's face, food fights, etc, etc.
I pray dear God for the RICHEST blessings and favors to be put on Dan and Hilary Holtz for the rest of this summer internship. I thank You Lord, that they said Yes to You, and that You gave them this opportunity to serve Your kids. Thank you Lord for hearing my prayer and for granting this.
Love,
Aunt Marta
P.S. There really was a Father Dan - I didn't say that because of Dan Holtz, but this was many years ago - Father Dan Aerts, who I believe is still a priest in the northern Michigan area. :)
ReplyDeleteAunt Marta
:]
Lock-ins are the best!
ReplyDeleteI didn't hear tell of any warped baking though, Hilary, you better step it up. :) LOL! Anyway...
Sounds like you had a great time. Keep up the good work!
What's Eating Gilbert Grape is coming on, which is good because I've been willing the TV to play a Johnny Depp movie for the last two days. I win!!
Love you, Sandy
Old ?? I don't think so ! What you are doing really is so cool and God has had this planned for you from the beginning of time !! Awesome to know that you are living the way the Lord wants you to live.
ReplyDeleteLove you both,
Mom
That's awesome! I'm really happy for you guys. Glad to know that so many teens showed up and you got to know them better.
ReplyDelete