Well this week was a little different than "normal" (is there such thing in ministry?) I have Monday's off, so I just worked on my online class and did some reading and running. Then Tuesday I went to a board of directors meeting at a camp about an hour and a half away, that was TONS of fun...if you like listening to a bunch of people repeat themselves for hours on end. Wednesday we worked of the weekly newsletter for the kids and decided on curriculum for for the next 15 weeks, that was a really good learning experience. The student ministries generally gets their stuff through youth specialties, then just modifies the curriculum to better fit their students. So I discovered that I will be teaching on the life of Paul all three times I teach at the church, which should be good! I also discovered on Wednesday that I will be teaching a lesson on holiness at JR High camp in July, so I spent any spare time I had this week brainstorming ideas on how to keep 150 JR high students engaged for 30 minutes. I also was asked to speak at a couple of camp fires at 2 & 3 grade camp, so I have a lot of teaching coming up in July :) I am trying to work ahead now because I will be at camp three out of four weeks in July. Thursday we were in the office most of the day, and I also had my weekly meeting with the youth minister to talk about the book "Your first two years in youth ministry" that went really well! I am learning a ton from Nick. Yesterday morning I worked on the computer program for the students service this weekend which was a lot of fun, I am falling in love with SongShow...Then we had a lunch meeting with one of the youth sponsors that helps out to brain storm for an upcoming parents Sunday, and also an upcoming lock-in. It's amazing how many ideas can come through one lunch meeting! It was a very productive meeting. Then we made two hospital visits, which was tough, we visited a lady who had a stroke two days ago and talked to her husband for a while. Then we went to the Children's Hospital and visited a little boy named Sam, he has cancer and has already had to lose one leg and is currently getting chemo treatments. It was tough, but a good experience. After the visits we came back to the church and I finished the computer program while Nick went over his lesson, then we put together the cue-sheet for Sunday. With the hospital visits and meetings at the camp it was a very different week, but I learned a lot about working with unexpected responsibilities. Today is the beginning of graduation party season, so I am going to a few parties with Nick and his wife, and we also have to set up the chairs for the service on Sunday. I hope and pray that everyone else is having a great experience, or at least a useful one!

-Bondo