Written by Laxmi Gurung, Ministry Apprentice
I can’t believe it’s almost been two years since I began working at Mission Adelante as an apprentice! Through these times, I have learned so much about ministry, different programs, and building friendships. When I first started working here, I was given the freedom to try new things and was challenged to get out of my comfort zone. I began helping at Kids Adelante and LIT and leading Refugee Kids Club (RKC) with the help of Megan McDermott. All this helped me to learn how to lead programs, and it especially made me realize the love I have for kids and youth in our community. When I was leading RKC, I saw teenagers coming to drop off their siblings. I began having ideas about creating a program for them also. I prayed and shared my ideas with my supervisor, Yanelis. She helped me to process them and come up with a plan.
Our goal for Refugee Youth Club was to offer youth from our community a safe place where they could come to do their homework, make friends, talk about life, and learn about God. I decided to have it on the same day and same time as Refugee Kids Club (Tuesday nights from 6:30 to 8:30 pm), so they could bring their younger siblings with them. But for this to become a reality, I needed volunteers. I started looking and asked God to provide the right ones. Lori Marble was one of the volunteers God provided. She came to one of the observation nights and shared about her love for empowering youth. As we talked and got to know each other, I realized she was just who we needed to come alongside the youth.
In January 2019, we launched Refugee Youth Club (RYC) for middle and high school students. Now we have around nine teens and four awesome volunteers that come every week. Even in this small amount of time, we have done so many great things together! We have served at Harvesters and hung out outside of RYC to get to know each other better. Just last week on Spring Break we went bowling and served at Adelante Thrift together. It was really fun and a new experience for most of the youth! We are really looking forward to doing fun activities during our summer break and building closer relationships with each other. Right now I’m just so amazed at how God is working in this program. He is doing such great things that I never imagined. I’m very thankful for His guidance and provision in starting Refugee Youth Club!
CURRENT NEEDS:
Do you want to make a difference in a kid's life? Mission Adelante's Leaders In Training (LIT) program needs volunteers for our Fall trimester. If you are interested in volunteering, please visit their website at www.missionadelante.org/kids.