Wow! What a week this was! After all the hours of work put in by everyone involved, the high energy of the kids and the leaders, the colourful décor and the super loud worship, I’m a little sad it’s over!
But I am grateful to have a clean office again! Although most of the preparation and donated craft materials were kept outside my office, the office still looked like a tornado had been trapped in it. I had people walking past my office starting to say hello, then seeing the ransacked mess and having their expressions change to horror! There is still décor and stationery scattered all around the youth centre waiting to be put back into place, but things are starting to return to normal! What a crazy week it was. This letter can be nothing but a letter of thanksgiving.
Praise God for guiding us all through this topsy turvy week. Starting with just the number of kids we had; God has been in the details the whole time. A month before Holiday Club started, we had a sum total of 4 kids registered for Holiday Club. I was sweating bullets that we would only have a handful of kids, the leaders would be disheartened, and the kids would not want to come back for the rest of the week. In the week of Holiday Club, we had between 35 and 58 kids each day! The Monday was a public Holiday and a long weekend so we “only” had 35 kids. This was perfect though. None of the leaders had helped run a Holiday Club before and they didn’t know what to expect. Having the first day be quieter was exactly what we all needed to get into the rhythm of the week. The numbers increased later in the week, as the leader’s confidence improved. God sent us just as many kids as we could handle. We praise Him for this!
What was also beautiful to see, was how invested the kids were in the lessons and learning the memory verses. They were always so proud of themselves and always eager to learn more! Possibly one of my favourite parts of Holiday Club was when the teens would get excited every time “their kids” answered a question right or got the full memory verse.
Thank you to the leaders who sacrificed their time, energy and occasionally their t-shirts this week. They really put in the effort and I was amazed by how they grew in confidence in such a short span of time, very quickly taking the lead in games, lessons and interpretive vegetable dances on stage. This Holiday Club could not have happened without them.
One of the most important parts of Holiday Club, the drama, relies heavily on our leaders. If I’m honest, the only lessons I remember learning at Holiday Club when I was one of the kids, were those learned through the drama. Andile wrote us a fantastic script and the teens did a great job with it. Although they often got carried away, caught up in their words or succumbed to fits of giggles, the kids will certainly remember the story of how Poop “Poopie” Deck the parrot, S. Inn, Walker D. Plank and Pirate Captain D. Evil tried and failed to steer the crew of Captain Jesse of course.
Some final thank you’s to the parents who were willing to get up before the crack of dawn to drop off our leaders! Your sacrifice is appreciated! Thank you as well to everyone who donated craft materials and food. The response from the church was fantastic, and it warmed my heart to see how many people went out of their way to search through their cupboards for popsicle sticks, egg boxes and spray paint or bring in brand new bottles of glue and stationery. I am slightly concerned though, with how much ice-cream and yoghurt our congregation eats, based on the number of tubs donated!
The theme for this Holiday Club was All Aboard, getting on board with being a part of God’s kingdom. We looked at sin, sacrifice, forgiveness and community. The kids certainly went away learning something from Holiday Club. Whether or not it was one of these topics I’m not sure! The leaders grew to learn grace and bonds of friendship were formed and strengthened throughout the week.
The St John’s community has certainly given a lesson in how to work as a crew to support the youth. Holiday Club is a wonderful thing, because we go in with lessons in mind and goals to be achieved, but by the end of it, we all take away something completely unexpected. Thank you again to everyone who contributed to making this such a wonderful week.
Much love in Christ
Heather P