A Lot of Absences And a Smelly Prankster

We've had small numbers coming into either club these last few weeks. I'm blaming it on the warm weather keeping them all outside. While I'm happy that they want to be out and about and not watching tv being couch potatoes, I'm sad that I've not seen many of  the kids in weeks. And what makes me even more sad is the fact that we only have a few weeks left of actually having clubs. When schools close for the summer, so do the clubs.

While I'd be all up for keeping the clubs open to occupy the kids in the summer months, not everyone is up for it. After all, they will be the ones who will come back and continue working after the break. I will be going home, and only God know's if and when I will return and see these kids again. 

Moving on to a less depressing subject: This past Tuesday the GYC went out to a nearby playground to enjoy the sunshine with the kiddos. Well, I say kiddos plural, but we only had one kiddo. This boy is one who hadn't been around in quite awhile and we learned that he had actually moved away and was only visiting this week. He was one who was known for getting into the most mischief; sneaking and hiding in the parts of the church where kids aren't allowed, or finding the loudest, squeakiest hinge in the building and making it as loud as he could until one of the leaders had to chase him away from it. He was always pushing boundaries and this has led to his expulsion once before in a club that pretty much never expels a child. He's a handful, but those kids are the most fun, right?

So we went to the playground, about 6 of us leaders and the one kid who showed up, and found some other kids playing there too. And later two of our regular girls came to the playground to find us so we had all of 3 kids from club! We played some combination of baseball and rounders and had players both from the club and the playground playing. After a while, the boys got very serious about the game, so once I was taken out, I stepped off the field to chat with the two girls who had shown up late. They both said that they were hoping to have another dance night! I was encouraged by that; that they had both had fun doing it. 

After the game, we went back to the church and invited the boys at the playground to join us for toast and hot chocolate and the Jesus talk. They all declined saying that they had to go home. I had seen a few parents watching their kids, and I know I wouldn't be comfortable letting my kids go off with strangers who promise them goodies, but I'm hoping that their parents will let them come later. 

We had our God talk, which involved a lot of chastising the kids to try and get them to listen for 5 minutes. It didn't work very well. I've never seen a group of people with a total lack of respect for each other and their leaders. It may just be that they aren't aware that the whole room can hear them when they whisper during the talk, but it's still very disrespectful.

And as a grand finale, the button pushing little boy thought it would be funny to spray a stink-bomb all the way through the church on his way out... That was fun. The whole place smelled like manure. Thankfully, I'm fairly used to the smell, having grown up driving past cornfields as the farmers were distributing the fertilizer. 

All in all it was a pretty good night that ended with a great big smelly bang and all the leaders shouting this boy's name as he ran out of the building. Gotta love kids. I've got to admit it was a pretty good prank.

Please pray that the kids continue to come in these last few weeks and that we would be able to have meaningful conversations with them. Pray that they will open up to God's message of enduring love. Thank you for praying.