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?

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.***

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.

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