Teen Epistle, OVYM 2005

The teen team arrived the first day with the cool familiarity that was to be expected. We played cards and caught up until night fall, when a hunt was joined by all for ice cream, cookies, various foods as well as a frisbee. High spirits were shared by all, as we returned, clutching our goodies.

The next day we attended an event of great importance: the canoe trip. A journey between two points on the Little Miami River traveled twice, once on a bus and once in a boat. Its purpose was sun, companionship, water, exercise, and rope swings, not to mention the tipping. Hoo Hoo! I know tipping is customary, but that was ridiculous. That evening, we heard Cecile recount her experience of the Rwandan genocide and of her efforts to bring the two alienated groups to an understanding that might not have been reached in any other way. She also spoke with the teen group about the young people of Rwanda and their experiences. We are extremely grateful that she was willing to share so much of herself over an issue of such emotional magnitude. After sunset, we had a game of wink on the lawn and we then realized how bad we had been sunburned that day.

Friday, the teen group was joined by some new recruits, and there was much rejoicing; there was a business meeting in which we discussed a lot of top-secret stuff; we played sports until our meals were writhing in our tummies. Then we learned about Islam and many myths were dispelled surrounding this foreign religion. After this, after teens joined in a fun information workshop on transformation of hatred, we then played more sports and were soon meandering down to the bonfire where all ages convened and had a good time.

Saturday started with a division of the beloved group. Five stunningly awesome teens stayed behind to paint a banner depicting an abstract representation of our last service trip, while the rest of the tremendous troup displayed a feat of strength, previously unheard of, to clear a trail of undergrowth in time to walk back for lunch. Such hard labor was commended and stamped with the JT seal of approval before the Simply Speaking committee scampered off to prepare for that workshop which happened 2 ½ hours later. I’d tell ya how this went, but that’s not allowed so we will skip to movie night/concert which was approved by all attendees. That night, the epistle committee labored over a hot piece of paper to prepare this jambalaya of events for you to digest and hopefully enjoy. All in all, a consensus of approval from all the teens.