One of the common, yet unfortunate, things I've heard over the past two weeks has been comments like, "Why are we doing this?", "I feel like I'm in school", "This is lame, I can't think of anything." Those are all comments that are discouraging, especially when you are trying to get a group of youth excited about a project. I knew when we started camp with the idea of doing a film project, if I couldn't get everyone excited about it, it wasn't going to fly. So I had been getting a little nervous about this side of the Arts Camp.
However, Thursday and Friday renewed my hope that all of our efforts might be worth it. Multiple campers have come up to me and asked "When are we starting the film?", "What are we doing for the film?", or "Can I be the sound effects maker? Eeeeack!" This has brought me to a new level of excitement about the film. This week we are on a break before the last three weeks of camp. I am going to be spending this week putting together the different ideas that the campers brainstormed. Hopefully it will become a somewhat cohesive, fun and interesting story. There are definitely a lot of great ideas and as soon as I figure out the story I will be sure to pass it along.
On a slightly different note: I wanted to also give an update on the Couch to 5k and P90X. I haven't been really following the Couch to 5k, mostly because even though I get up rather early, it has still been too hot to even close to want to run outside. The P90X on the other hand has been rocking. It has taken my workouts to another level and I certainly feel stronger and more fit. The good and bad is that it is an hour program. Which makes me feel like I am really working, but also takes an entire hour. Overall, it has been totally worth it.
As far as prayer goes, that I have time and not a writer's block to create a script for the film, at least something we can work from. That all the campers don't forget about camp and come back next week. And, of course, most importantly that we can find true connections with all of them and love them as we are called to and as we all desire to.
Showing posts with label AYI. Show all posts
Showing posts with label AYI. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Arts Camp - Week 1
Hey Everyone!
This post is another deviation from the "main" purpose of the blog, but not from making a better story.
As most of you know, I am helping out with a Sports and Arts Camp this summer up in Ambridge where I work. I am Arts Camp Director, for more information go to this previous blog post. We started last week and it went, in my opinion, extremely well. I, unlike all the other leaders, do not have any previous experience with Ambridge Sports & Arts Camp (AS&AC). I helped out with a version we did in Peru, but never here in Ambridge.
In many ways it has been much more challenging in Ambridge. In Peru, all of the campers wanted to be there and were happy to do all of the activities. We often had to stop them before they completely finished their portrait, painting, sculpture, etc. In Ambridge, it is a little different. Rather than being excited about everything and willing to do anything, you really need to get the campers into what their doing. You need to be overly excited about the project, so that they can get excited. But the bigger "problem" is that they are done with everything so quickly. Not that they finish everything quickly, but that they get bored with it and want to move onto the next thing.
It really scares me how telling this is of our culture. We all are aware of this trend, always looking for the next big thing. (Small Side Note: What is up with silly bands??? If you don't know what they are, be blessed.)
The campers are incredibly creative, for sure, but I don't think that they have been pushed in their creativity enough. When we arrived in Peru, we were told not to expect the campers to really go for it when it came to free form activities. One would probably do something and then everyone else would copy. Our team found this to be entirely untrue. They all jumped right in. Here in Ambridge, some of the campers do this. They start creating their bead animals. But others want instructions for everything or want you to show them exactly how to do it, like its math. That has been a struggle for me with some of the campers, getting them to let go and create whatever the heck comes into their heads.
This is another thing that scares me. The campers, at least not all of them, don't seem like they know how to just be creative children and teens. How to say crazy and silly things or draw with their wildest imagination. I feel like this could be because of three reasons. 1. I am not prompting them well enough that they are able to be creative. 2. They don't feel comfortable making something, i.e. they are self-conscious, etc. 3. They simply don't know how because they have never had the experience to be free, especially through art.
Those are the two areas Arts camp needs prayer the most. They boil down to figuring out where the campers are personally, and showing them who Jesus is so they can learn the freedom of how to worship him through art. Please also pray for rest, as the camp is terribly exhausting for all of us, and for knowing how to reach the "problem" campers.
The campers are simultaneously a huge blessing and the best birth control. I say that in the most loving way, seriously.
This post is another deviation from the "main" purpose of the blog, but not from making a better story.
As most of you know, I am helping out with a Sports and Arts Camp this summer up in Ambridge where I work. I am Arts Camp Director, for more information go to this previous blog post. We started last week and it went, in my opinion, extremely well. I, unlike all the other leaders, do not have any previous experience with Ambridge Sports & Arts Camp (AS&AC). I helped out with a version we did in Peru, but never here in Ambridge.
In many ways it has been much more challenging in Ambridge. In Peru, all of the campers wanted to be there and were happy to do all of the activities. We often had to stop them before they completely finished their portrait, painting, sculpture, etc. In Ambridge, it is a little different. Rather than being excited about everything and willing to do anything, you really need to get the campers into what their doing. You need to be overly excited about the project, so that they can get excited. But the bigger "problem" is that they are done with everything so quickly. Not that they finish everything quickly, but that they get bored with it and want to move onto the next thing.
It really scares me how telling this is of our culture. We all are aware of this trend, always looking for the next big thing. (Small Side Note: What is up with silly bands??? If you don't know what they are, be blessed.)
The campers are incredibly creative, for sure, but I don't think that they have been pushed in their creativity enough. When we arrived in Peru, we were told not to expect the campers to really go for it when it came to free form activities. One would probably do something and then everyone else would copy. Our team found this to be entirely untrue. They all jumped right in. Here in Ambridge, some of the campers do this. They start creating their bead animals. But others want instructions for everything or want you to show them exactly how to do it, like its math. That has been a struggle for me with some of the campers, getting them to let go and create whatever the heck comes into their heads.
This is another thing that scares me. The campers, at least not all of them, don't seem like they know how to just be creative children and teens. How to say crazy and silly things or draw with their wildest imagination. I feel like this could be because of three reasons. 1. I am not prompting them well enough that they are able to be creative. 2. They don't feel comfortable making something, i.e. they are self-conscious, etc. 3. They simply don't know how because they have never had the experience to be free, especially through art.
Those are the two areas Arts camp needs prayer the most. They boil down to figuring out where the campers are personally, and showing them who Jesus is so they can learn the freedom of how to worship him through art. Please also pray for rest, as the camp is terribly exhausting for all of us, and for knowing how to reach the "problem" campers.
The campers are simultaneously a huge blessing and the best birth control. I say that in the most loving way, seriously.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Ambridge Arts Camp Director
This is an entry which is a slight departure from the norm, but still very much in the scope of "my story".
I have been offered an amazing opportunity this summer and I want you to be a part of it. You may have noticed that I just posted a few letters about my trip to Lima, Peru this past January. I shared a lot about Ambridge Youth Ignite, an awesome part of Rock The World Youth Mission Alliance where I work as Office Manager and Bookkeeper. Ambridge Youth Ignite (AYI) is a great piece of our organization that really digs into the lives of the local Ambridge youth. I co-lead the Hand drumming class and the weekly high school discipleship group. I was also, as said above, part of the team that went down to Lima, Peru to lead a sports and arts camp for the youth there. After experiencing leading the arts camp in Peru I am coming back and being asked to lead it in Ambridge.
For the past six summers, AYI has been holding a free six-week sports camp for the youth of Ambridge. In 2007, they added an arts camp to make the Ambridge Sports and Arts Camp. Ambridge Sports and Arts Camp is organized so that the youth come in the morning to learn and play a specific sport. Then they receive a free lunch and go to Arts Camp in the afternoon to focus on a certain art. I am really excited to say the least because more than a hundred youth attend these camps every summer and the stories I have heard about Camp are truly inspiring. More than a hundred youth attend these camps every summer, and the stories I have heard about Camp are truly inspiring.
Will you join me in my excitement for this summer’s Ambridge Sports and Arts Camp? Will you partner with me in changing the youth of Ambridge through sports and arts?
Partner with me and the team through prayer – praying for the youth, the leaders, the town of Ambridge, that the team can meet the youth were they are and meet their needs
Partner with me financially – By committing to be Arts Camp Director, I am cutting my Rock the World office hours in half for the six-week camp. In order to fully engage with the Arts Camp, I need to raise $1150 in support. If you can partner with me this way, send a check made out to Rock The World to PO Box 43, Ambridge, PA 15003 or give online with a credit card at www.rocktheworld.org/donate make sure “AJ ASAC” is in the memo.
Know a young person who could join the camp or someone who would want to be a coach – contact me at annejohnson@rocktheworld.org!
I hope to post information on here while Ambridge Sports and Arts Camp is going on to keep everyone updated on what is happening. So be on the look out coming this June!
I have been offered an amazing opportunity this summer and I want you to be a part of it. You may have noticed that I just posted a few letters about my trip to Lima, Peru this past January. I shared a lot about Ambridge Youth Ignite, an awesome part of Rock The World Youth Mission Alliance where I work as Office Manager and Bookkeeper. Ambridge Youth Ignite (AYI) is a great piece of our organization that really digs into the lives of the local Ambridge youth. I co-lead the Hand drumming class and the weekly high school discipleship group. I was also, as said above, part of the team that went down to Lima, Peru to lead a sports and arts camp for the youth there. After experiencing leading the arts camp in Peru I am coming back and being asked to lead it in Ambridge.
For the past six summers, AYI has been holding a free six-week sports camp for the youth of Ambridge. In 2007, they added an arts camp to make the Ambridge Sports and Arts Camp. Ambridge Sports and Arts Camp is organized so that the youth come in the morning to learn and play a specific sport. Then they receive a free lunch and go to Arts Camp in the afternoon to focus on a certain art. I am really excited to say the least because more than a hundred youth attend these camps every summer and the stories I have heard about Camp are truly inspiring. More than a hundred youth attend these camps every summer, and the stories I have heard about Camp are truly inspiring.
Will you join me in my excitement for this summer’s Ambridge Sports and Arts Camp? Will you partner with me in changing the youth of Ambridge through sports and arts?
Here are 3 ways you can be a part of the camp this summer:
Partner with me and the team through prayer – praying for the youth, the leaders, the town of Ambridge, that the team can meet the youth were they are and meet their needs
Partner with me financially – By committing to be Arts Camp Director, I am cutting my Rock the World office hours in half for the six-week camp. In order to fully engage with the Arts Camp, I need to raise $1150 in support. If you can partner with me this way, send a check made out to Rock The World to PO Box 43, Ambridge, PA 15003 or give online with a credit card at www.rocktheworld.org/donate make sure “AJ ASAC” is in the memo.
Know a young person who could join the camp or someone who would want to be a coach – contact me at annejohnson@rocktheworld.org!
I hope to post information on here while Ambridge Sports and Arts Camp is going on to keep everyone updated on what is happening. So be on the look out coming this June!
Post-Peru Letter
***This was the letter we sent out to our Peru Trip supporters. It shares some of the experiences from out trip.***
We wanted to send out a quick letter and some pictures to you. Our trip to Peru was truly amazing! God used it to show us how real and life changing missions can be. This trip might just be another step in our transition to full-time foreign missions. The children at San Mateo, the church where we held the camp, were welcoming of all the activities we did. Everything went so well, even better than it has for the past 6 summers they have run it in Ambridge! We just wanted to highlight two things.
First, as we had said in our letter, we led the Arts portion of the camp. When we arrived in Peru we explained what we planned on doing with the kids. The missionaries’ response was very troubling. They said not to expect a lot from the kids in the way of creative expression. Many of them would not have any art in their schooling and if they did it would be limited to sketching. All of the art projects we had planned were rather abstract in nature, mostly giving the children the materials and asking them to create what they wanted. As you can see in the included pictures, the kids had absolutely no problem with any of the projects. They jumped in and created beautiful art projects. We were so proud that they proved the missionaries wrong!
Second, on our last Saturday in Lima we visited San Patricio. The time there meant so much to both of us. We went with Paul and Sarah, two full-time missionaries from England. They have a program once a week at San Patricio for the children. They split them up into two groups, older and younger, and start off by letting them play with toys and games. For many of them this is the only time they get to build with Lego’s or blocks. Then they teach a short Bible program and get a snack. This week was the story of the Good Samaritan. Sarah narrated as some of the children acted out the story. Ben got to play a special role, the donkey! It was truly an honored experience. As Sarah was explaining later, culturally in Peru children are looked down on. Like in many other countries, the adults are above children and rarely get down on their level. The fact that Ben was willing to participate in the play with the children, literally getting on his hands and knees, along with being a man and a foreigner was a powerful image for them. They finish the program with a small craft. This week they had extra children and things were rather stressful. However, we LOVED it and wished we could be there every week. Ben even said, “I envy Paul and Sarah’s pain.”
Those are just two parts of the trip, we hope to talk to you about it more when we see you.
Ambridge Youth Ignite and Rock The World are praying about why everything went so well and if that is sign from God that these camps should be continued in other developing places.
Thank you again for your support of our trip and of the children of Lima!
Peace and Love
***For more Peru stories start here on AYI's blog. It has multiple posts about our trip from during the trip.***
We wanted to send out a quick letter and some pictures to you. Our trip to Peru was truly amazing! God used it to show us how real and life changing missions can be. This trip might just be another step in our transition to full-time foreign missions. The children at San Mateo, the church where we held the camp, were welcoming of all the activities we did. Everything went so well, even better than it has for the past 6 summers they have run it in Ambridge! We just wanted to highlight two things.
First, as we had said in our letter, we led the Arts portion of the camp. When we arrived in Peru we explained what we planned on doing with the kids. The missionaries’ response was very troubling. They said not to expect a lot from the kids in the way of creative expression. Many of them would not have any art in their schooling and if they did it would be limited to sketching. All of the art projects we had planned were rather abstract in nature, mostly giving the children the materials and asking them to create what they wanted. As you can see in the included pictures, the kids had absolutely no problem with any of the projects. They jumped in and created beautiful art projects. We were so proud that they proved the missionaries wrong!
Second, on our last Saturday in Lima we visited San Patricio. The time there meant so much to both of us. We went with Paul and Sarah, two full-time missionaries from England. They have a program once a week at San Patricio for the children. They split them up into two groups, older and younger, and start off by letting them play with toys and games. For many of them this is the only time they get to build with Lego’s or blocks. Then they teach a short Bible program and get a snack. This week was the story of the Good Samaritan. Sarah narrated as some of the children acted out the story. Ben got to play a special role, the donkey! It was truly an honored experience. As Sarah was explaining later, culturally in Peru children are looked down on. Like in many other countries, the adults are above children and rarely get down on their level. The fact that Ben was willing to participate in the play with the children, literally getting on his hands and knees, along with being a man and a foreigner was a powerful image for them. They finish the program with a small craft. This week they had extra children and things were rather stressful. However, we LOVED it and wished we could be there every week. Ben even said, “I envy Paul and Sarah’s pain.”
Those are just two parts of the trip, we hope to talk to you about it more when we see you.
Ambridge Youth Ignite and Rock The World are praying about why everything went so well and if that is sign from God that these camps should be continued in other developing places.
Thank you again for your support of our trip and of the children of Lima!
Peace and Love
***For more Peru stories start here on AYI's blog. It has multiple posts about our trip from during the trip.***
Pre-Peru Letter
***This was the letter we sent out for our trip to Peru in January***
From Anne: For those you who do not know, I have now been working at Rock The World Youth Mission Alliance for over a year. Rock The World is a Christian youth mission and leadership training organization based in Ambridge, PA. It has been a great year filled with new experiences like learning the inner-workings of a small non-profit, getting involved with the community of Ambridge and realizing that ministry is never 9 to 5.
From Ben: One of the ministries of Rock The World is called Ambridge Youth Ignite (AYI). For six summers AYI has offered a summer sports camp, adding an arts camp for the past three years. It is a free 6-week day camp for the children of Ambridge. This year AYI has expanded their programming into the school year by adding three arts classes: drama, hand drumming and guitar. I co-lead the hand drumming class every week, teaching kids ages 7 to 15 how to play in a drum circle environment. AYI also has girls and boys mentoring groups that meet once a week to connect and disciple middle school and high school students. Anne has been helping to lead the girls group and building relationships with the members of both groups. As you can see we have become somewhat involved with the work AYI is doing in Ambridge.
From Us: This coming January 2010, Ambridge Youth Ignite is sending a team to Lima, Peru and we have been asked to join them. Our team will work alongside a group of Peruvians to provide a model of the sports and arts camp for the youth who live near San Mateo, a church in Lima. The one week camp will be used as a launching point for a new youth ministry to take shape at San Mateo. While co-leading the camp our team will also be teaching a Rock the World "Intro to Youth Ministry" course. This will be the first time for the Peruvians we are working with to hear about our style of discipleship.
Peace
From Anne: For those you who do not know, I have now been working at Rock The World Youth Mission Alliance for over a year. Rock The World is a Christian youth mission and leadership training organization based in Ambridge, PA. It has been a great year filled with new experiences like learning the inner-workings of a small non-profit, getting involved with the community of Ambridge and realizing that ministry is never 9 to 5.
From Ben: One of the ministries of Rock The World is called Ambridge Youth Ignite (AYI). For six summers AYI has offered a summer sports camp, adding an arts camp for the past three years. It is a free 6-week day camp for the children of Ambridge. This year AYI has expanded their programming into the school year by adding three arts classes: drama, hand drumming and guitar. I co-lead the hand drumming class every week, teaching kids ages 7 to 15 how to play in a drum circle environment. AYI also has girls and boys mentoring groups that meet once a week to connect and disciple middle school and high school students. Anne has been helping to lead the girls group and building relationships with the members of both groups. As you can see we have become somewhat involved with the work AYI is doing in Ambridge.
 |
| Part of the AYI Drum Class: Ben, Bethany, Tim, Peter & Mark |
From Us: This coming January 2010, Ambridge Youth Ignite is sending a team to Lima, Peru and we have been asked to join them. Our team will work alongside a group of Peruvians to provide a model of the sports and arts camp for the youth who live near San Mateo, a church in Lima. The one week camp will be used as a launching point for a new youth ministry to take shape at San Mateo. While co-leading the camp our team will also be teaching a Rock the World "Intro to Youth Ministry" course. This will be the first time for the Peruvians we are working with to hear about our style of discipleship.
We both felt called to this particular trip because it is unlike many other short-term mission trips where Americans travel to other countries to help with construction projects or vacation Bible schools. Though these are valuable trips, our team will be giving the Peruvians tools and skills that they can then use to help the children long after we have left.
We are writing this letter primarily to let you know what is happening in our lives right now. But we would also love for you to partner with us in this trip, either financially or through prayer. It will cost $2,470 for both of us to go and any amount will help us with our mission. If you desire to partner with us please make checks payable to Rock the World, with "AYI Peru Johnson" in the memo portion and send them to PO Box 43 Ambridge, PA 15003. Also if you would prefer, you can make donations online at www.rocktheworld.org/donate. With your partnership, you are enabling us to give a summer day camp to the youth of Peru and empowering the Peruvian youth leaders to make disciples!
Peace
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