Dreams come true

Before my summer began, Coahoma was the site in my area about which I knew the least. I hadn’t spent much time there, and while I knew that YouthWorks had a wonderful history there and long-standing relationships, I didn’t feel personally connected. How surprising, then, to look back and realize the impact that site had on me. My time in Coahoma inspired more writing than any of my other sites this summer. The adult leaders I got to know during my time there remain dear to me, and several of them will go down in history amongst my all-time favorite adult leaders. And as I think about the sites under my care this year, Coahoma is the one that haunts me, that makes me think and question and wonder and feel and pray the most. I still don’t have close friends there. It still doesn’t feel like home in the way some of my other communities do. But it’s gotten under my skin like no other place has – and I know I’m not alone in saying that. The following is something I sent out to the full-time staff at YouthWorks a few days ago, after making several post-trip follow-up calls to adult leaders who had come to Coahoma this summer.

I remember Eric talking about the story of the Good Samaritan earlier this year. He pointed out that part of the good in what the Samaritan did was continuing to walk alongside the man who was hurt – bringing him to the inn, caring for him there, providing for continued care, and promising to follow-up later. We talked about this as something we hoped our participants would be able to do, that they might somehow continue to walk beside our communities, whether directly or indirectly. A couple of my post-trip calls have shown me that that is happening, at least for one community.

Yesterday I spoke with Ryan, a trip leader from Missouri who brought his youth to Coahoma this summer. His youth were deeply impacted by the trip, especially the time they spent at the Jonestown Community Development Resource and Activity Center (more commonly referred to as Ms. Burnett’s place). Our participants went to Ms. Burnett’s place for the Tuesday and Thursday morning Kids Club activity. Over the course of the summer, YouthWorks groups helped clean and set up the facility, organize books, launch a fledgling literacy program, and attempt to get ramshackle bunch of old computers up and running. The highlight of every group’s visit was meeting Ms. Burnett. It is not enough to say that she is inspiring. One cannot leave her presence without feeling like they’ve been with God – this is a woman who truly shows the love of Christ in all that she does (even yesterday, when I chatted with her for a few minutes on the phone, I felt like she’d hugged me with her words and spirit, and almost expected my phone to be glowing when I set it down).

Back to Ryan’s group. When they returned home, one of Ryan’s youth told his father that he wanted to donate all of the money he’d saved up from his summer job ($1500) to Ms. Burnett. This youth was one who had tried to get her computers up and running, and knew that they would not quite get the job done. He has rallied his fellow youth group members, and with Ryan’s support they are planning a huge fundraiser and hoping to get some matching grants to be able to provide computers and supplies for the community center.

This in itself is a huge example of youth taking their love for a community and transferring it into action. But it’s not the only one. Today, I called Pastor Dennis, an adult leader from Florida. Pastor Dennis wasn’t actually the one who initiated or planned their trip to Coahoma; rather, two of his high school seniors did. Since their return home, the fire has continued to burn. The youth’s excitement about helping the community spilled over to their congregation, and thanks to some technologically savvy folks and a couple of corporate connections, they’ve acquired twelve new computers, installed Windows XP, and Pastor Dennis, one of the two youth who planned the trip, and another member of their congregation will be making the trek back up to Jonestown in October to install the computers at the community center. Now that this group has taken care of the center’s computer needs, I am excited to hear about how Ryan’s group will be able to contribute towards other needs.

God continues to work in unexpected and seemingly forgotten places, and as he does so he continues to work in me to show his wisdom and faithfulness. Praise Him for touching these youth that came to Coahoma in such a way that they had to act. That is what we constantly hope and pray for at YouthWorks!