AYM and A YAM

AYM stands for Assumption Youth Ministry, my youth group. This summer I'm working on the core team, and I'm SO excited about it! We have a lot of fun things planned, aside from our weekly prayer nights. In July we're going to the Steubenville Youth Conference, we're hoping to take the teens on a float trip at some point (this will take quite a bit of planning and organization, but it would be totally worth it), we play softball every Tuesday afternoon, go to mass and then to Bread Co. for breakfast--we're calling it Daily Bread--on Wednesday mornings, and one of the other core memebers, Melissa, and I are planning girls' nights to strengthen fellowship among our teen girls. Our teens are truly wonderful young people, so filled with the Spirit. The opportunity to spend so much time with them is really a gift for me. They are teaching me so much and are really helping me to find God in my everyday life, and I pray that I'm a postive influence on them, as well, and help them strengthen their knowledge and faith lives. I really love hanging out, planning, and organizing things with the our Youth Minister, Pete, and the other members of the core team, too. They're all incredible, faith-filled people, and I'm learning so much from them. The most important thing I believe I've learned from my time with these young adults, as well as the teens, is that I'm on the right path to discovering God's plan for me. I know that I'm not nearly ready to fulfill His plan, I still have a lot of studying to complete, life experiences to have, and self-growth and faith-exploration to do, but I know I'm on my way. I'm a pretty reserved person most of the time, so it's been difficlut for me to really open up with all these people. This is probably my biggest obstacle to overcome, but I think I'm starting to work through it.

Me with a couple of my favorite teens

As for A YAM...Assumption Young Adult Ministry. This is a new thing that Pete is starting in our parish for adults in their 20's to help us deepen our relationship with Christ and hopefully with each other as well. We have a program called CONNECT that's going to take place this summer. We'll be getting together on Monday nights to watch the Nooma video series. After the video we'll have a discussion and then probably just hang out. I'm really very excited about this. I've seen a couple of the Nooma videos already and they really have caused me to look more closely at myself, my life, and my faith so I can't wait to see more of them. I'm also interested to see who comes and excited to meet and talk with other people my age looking to form and/or deepen their connection with God.

Aside from working and sleeping, my time thus far this summer had been majorly spent with (or for) the youth group, and, though I'll be sad to leave it in the fall, it has gotten me very excited for my next semester at Rockhurst. My decision to major in Theology is a fairly recent thing and I really can't wait to begin studying it more in depth. I don't want to only deepen my faith, I want to deepen my knowledge as well.

A parting thought...

"It's hard to take your socks off when your shoes are still on."

This is a statement from a camper that a friend of mine is working with at her summer job. He may be just a little kid, but he definitely has a point to ponder.