CEF Summer 2006

Well, 3 comments came a little late, but as I promised. This year I worked as a CEF missionary for my second year. I had 13 5-Day Clubs and 1 Good News Camp. I roughly taught over 200 children. This was much more than I had last year. I had clubs in the city and in rural areas, even one in an apartment community. They were in Pottstown, Phoenixville, Spring City, Royersford, Barto, Bechtelsville, Boyertown, Exeter and even Conshehocken. This year was different in so many ways, and some (possibly most) are not good. I think I could've (and should've) seen this coming, during the first week of training when I felt like the "neglected missionary" at training camp. I had 3 lessons done and ready, and yet neither Bill or Sheila had the time to do this.

During the training camp, we learned a bit about Urban City ministries. Montgomery County was one of the counties that needed Urban ministry. We were told if we reach the children in the city, we reach the world. As I was listening to this, and as Bill asked Montgomery County to stand up, I realized I was one of the few missionaries stepping into this territory. What the presentation failed to, is make me realize how different the kids are. The kids are different, no doubt about it. They had no respect for the teachers. Rules were constantly broken. They didn't seem to care whether you were teaching. They were constantly moving around, having off topic conversations with their neighbors, shouting out answers, watching other things, etc. They were pick and chose what they wanted to participate in. This became harder when the number of kids reached the 20s, and an age difference from 4-16. Then it didn't help when my "helpers", Deavona and Shatona, decided to join in on that. Deavona and Shatona were promoting the bad behavior that I was trying to discipline. It made it harder to correct those kids when my own teachers couldn't do it. I felt like there should have been rules competition should between the kids and the helpers. They also wouldn't participate in what should have, like singing the songs, but participated in what they are not suppose to, like saying the memory verse, or playing the games. I kindly asked them stop giving the kids answers, but they said, "We're just giving hints." A hint is saying it begins with a letter, or telling other things he did, not whispering the answer. And they refused to sing, always with a different excuse. I think part of it had to do with the fact we had teenagers at some of the club. Even though they probably won't admit it, I think since they saw peers at the club, they had a standard of "being cool" to keep, and if they were participating in any of the "childish" 5-Day Club stuff, they wouldn't reach that standard. Once again, this could have been foretold in training camp, when the twins only two evaulations done, and one of them was the wordless book. I swear, the discipline class that was taught during training, none of those girls paid attention because the things I remember Naomi taught, those girls would do what she said not to, and wouldn't do her good suggestions. Chante was good, but only when the other girls weren't around. Once again, I would argue it's the peer pressure factor. Poorly behaved kids + immature helpers = unhappy Graham.

Then the camp, oh the camp!I think the icing of the cake was the camp. When Tuesday came, I noticed I had a bit less control over the girls. At that point I realized that by Friday, that last day, I would lose total control of those girls, if not sooner. Sure enough, I was right. By Thursday afternoon, I had lost them. I always had to searching for those girls when I needed them. Half of them would be in the couch room, and the other half in the nursery with the twins. Oh, and that's another thing! What were those girls doing up there? Babysitting THEIR OWN siblings, nephews and nieces! They could have done that at home! There was no reason for them to be there. And they would only come down to eat the church's food at lunch and snack. And, of, course, once again the kids at the camp saw this as a great way to escape from the stuff they didn't want to do, in my group as well as the others. I'll say it again, there was no reason for them to be there, and their presence only cause problems. As much as we planned, there was no order for the kids. Kids did as they pleased. The best example is this: we told them not to run in the church, but they still did. We tell them to run around in recreation, and all they want to do is sit in the shade. I surely do think it is a question of respect. I asked some of the kids on the clean team at camp who they liked better: Miss Nadia who was the leader Monday to Thursday, or Miss Chante who was only on Friday. They chose Miss Chante. With the complaints Nadia had about the kids, Chante never had a problem. Chante straightened out the kids, and made them listen to her. Trust me, that is a hard thing to do. None of the others could do that. Meghan constantly lost her voice yelling at the kids. Jenn said she had to walk around the church 3 times to cool off from the kids. A few times I walked in the couch room, laid down on a coach for half an hour, yelling into a pillow. My kids were so horrible, by Friday, Aaron, the mature girl, didn't want to be in my group. Constantly she'd be in tears. I told her it was OK for her to sit separate from the group. When one of the church helpers noticed that, she asked me, "Is Aaron being punished?" I replied, "I'd be punishing her if I made her sit with those girls longer than a minute." Now, I'm not saying I'm perfect, but I do believe I am a good Christian, and I've met some big jerks in my life, but this time was the time I was the tempted the hardest to either hit one of my girls, or yell a cuss word at them, something I haven't done since before I was saved. The temptation was so strong because I did have to yell at the girls to get them to listen to me. If I didn't yell, they'd ignore me. Once I kindly told them not to leave the the room, yet they still did every time. They would constantly lie to me, too. Yelling was the only way. And every time I did, I had conflicting emotions. I felt bad when I had to yell at them, re-arrange their seating, or have to subtract points, but I knew I had to do it to be fair to those behaving and it was the only way to keep control. Control. Something we seem to lost as the week progressed....or perhaps we never had. It seemed to take a great drop when Bill left. Would things been different with Bill? Hard to tell. I did have a lot of campers asking me where Bill was. I don't know if "He's gone to Pittsburg" made them feel like they didn't have to behave. But it could've been the cause alone. No one had control, especially the helpers. Nadia said she could never get her kids to sit down and do devotions. When I tried to have devotions, on average, I had 5 kids from all other teams come into my room. Then I would lose the girls' attentions. That, I almost want to also blame on the helpers, but I feel like they were trying, and most of the problems were the kids. It's like our Woofi missionary, Mrs. Geiss, said. Every child told us they were saved, but few were acting like it. That's why on my last devotional time, I stressed on how as born again Christians, we need to live a different life, obedient and submissive. I told you that sometimes I thought I had the younger kids. You mistook what I was saying, thinking what I said was literal, and kept reassuring I had the oldest group. I was saying that in a figurative sense. I had the oldest group, but they acted like the kids I had in preschool 5-Day Clubs. Actually, I sometimes thought that the clean team was acting better than my girls. I asked for the oldest group, thinking I would have well behaved kids who I could have intellectual spiritual conversation. Both presumtions were wrong. I did not like doing this camp, just as much as the Pottstown 5-Day Clubs. I was suprised when the kids asked if we would be back, most of the helpers said, "I hope so." If they would asked me that, I would have said, "Don't count on it."

Yes, there was much testing of me. I hope, in God's eyes, that I have perservered. I had many temptations this summer. Thoughts, words, and actions that wouldn't exactly please God. I don't think I can do that again, even for one more week. That would have tipped me over.

But there were some great moments I had. In one of my Pottstown Clubs, I had the same kids I did in the Royersford Club. Yet they were still excited to hear the stories. One of my favorites is when we were playing the mystery word game. After 1 minute of one of these playing around they go DENRUT. They were like, "DENRUT! It's DENRUT! Is DENRUT a word?" If any of you have caught on, DENRUT backward is TURNED, the real mystery word. Chante and I were trying to surpress our laughter. It's been a while, and I was running out of time, so I dropped a small by humming the theme song, "Turned around." Someone actually caught on, and turned the letters around. Another group of kids was the kids at the 5-Day Club in 3rd Street of Pottstown. These kids were great. We had one troublemaker, but his sister was embarrassed by it, so she'd take care of it. But this one girl stuck out to me. Never really heard from her. She pretty much only sung the songs. Outside that, we got two review questions from her: "Who loves you the most?" (God) and "Who died for you?" (Jesus). Two weeks later, I see the same kids at the camp. They were so excited to be there, and see me again. Now this little girl, who was completely silent, smiled every time she saw me. She would come up to me, say perky and quick, "Hi!" and walk away. Every time our paths crossed, she would do that. And she was in the youngest group, and I was leader of the oldest group. It's amazing how some kids are so happy to see the missionaries. In the Conshohocken club, all the kids clinged to Deborah, not really me...except one. She was a 12-year old girl, who almost appreciated me a bit too much. It always seemed that she was always next to me. And she would always compliment me. "You're a good teacher," "You're my favorite teacher," and stuff like that. She always wanted a hug before I left. One of them was from behind, totally unexpected and a suprise. Another girl was the one I had at my last 5-Day Club. She really liked Chante, even more than me, but she would never forget me. To my suprise, the following Sunday, she was at my church. As I walked into the sanctuary a little, in the middle of praise and worship, she yelled out, "Hi Mr. Graham!" and as she left for children's church, she yelled "Bye Mr. Graham!" Isn't wasn't just the girls I remember, there was a very close boy. He was in Phoenixville, and he was 5 years old, but he always felt like he had to act 14. He listened to rap, talked ghetto, and claimed he had a girlfriend (who was 14 years old). He got saved early that week. He was the only kid for 3 of the days, but his growth was important, so we kept working with h I'm glad the Holy Spirit has allowed me to impact these kids so much. Unfortuneately, most of this was overshadowed by the majority of the bad kids.

Being a CEF Summer missionary was a bit rough this year, but I got through, and was able to enjoy some parts of it. I plan to go it again next summer. I can have the same amount of clubs, but can only work during July. And probably no Urban city areas. But as long as there are children who need the gospel, I pray the Lord will lead me to lead them back to Him.