Today was my "sink or swim" day with the teens from church. It wasn't supposed to be that way...when we planned the event earlier in the summer, all of the "youth leaders" (our rather informal team of both Romanians and Americans) said they would be there. Last Sunday, they all said they would be there. But they weren't.
This morning I received a text message from someone (still not sure who...but I can narrow it down to 2 or 3 possibilities!) saying that the sender had to go to a wedding and couldn't make it. I'm sure the wedding was probably planned before today... As I started to think about it, I realized it was the wedding of the secretary/receptionist at one of the foundations in town. The foundation that all of the other youth leaders work for. And I began to suspect that they would probably ALL be at the wedding.
Six o'clock came, and all of the teens were at church. But no other adults. Sink or swim time! So, I asked one of the parents to help transport the teens to the place we planned to play volleyball & made two trips with my little car. Giving instructions in Romanian was a little challenging, but it went okay. Getting the teens to follow those instructions...well, that might be asking a little bit much. So I guess I swam, even if it was a sloppy doggy paddle with inflatable swimmies on my arms!
The "not listening" thing has been a difficult adjustment for me. I'm used to giving instructions and having at least part of the group try to follow them. Not so here. When I teach, I don't think anyone really tries to listen intently. When we play games, they do it their own way. Trying to change that would probably only serve to drive me crazy...so I need to learn to adjust my expectations!
I logged on to post some pictures from tonight's volleyball party, but then discovered that I had left my card reader at the office. I'll try to post some next week sometime.
Tomorrow morning I'm teaching a salvation lesson during Sunday School. Pray that the teens will listen, if not to me, at least to the Holy Spirit!
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