Fun in KCMO!

Our trip was not only work! Each evening, YouthWorks staff plan a fun activity. Here is what we enjoyed while in KC!

Monday: Trip to a Local Swimming Pool

Tuesday: Scandinavian Dancing
This was probably my favorite evening activity and the one that I felt the most skeptical about prior to. (I was not excited about convincing the students to try it.) The YouthWorks staff promised this would be a favorite for youth as well as adult leaders and they were right! The dancing lesson was led by a group of church members that uses church space to practice all year long. We learned all sorts of fun moves that we continued to preform the rest of the week!

Wednesday: Trip to the Plaza (and Youth Enterprise T-Shirt Fashion Show!) (and Thank You Circle)
YouthWorks staff prepared a scavenger hunt for our Families to try while at the Plaza. My group went a bit non-conventional and Andy made up random activities for the girls to try. I think we had the most fun, but we were obviously not really in it to win it. The girls threw down a beat with a street rapper, pretended to be store mannequins, and sang "When the Saints Go Marching In" with a trumpet player. It was fun night!

The fun didn't stop there though! Club began with an Adult Leader Fashion Show to show off the shirts made by Youth Enterprise that would be on sale the next day. (Last year, I worked in the YE warehouse one day and I wrote about that here.) Post-Club we had our traditional Thank You Circle. The Thank You Circle is a time for anyone to give a public Thank You shout-out to someone in the group. 

Thursday: Community Cook-Out (and Hug Circle and Foot Washing)
Thursday means Community Cook-Out for dinner at all YouthWorks sites. Participants are encouraged to invite people they've worked with during the week and church members are also invited. We had only a few community members at the cook-out, but it was a great meal!

After Club, we had foot washing and another tradition, the hug circle. During foot washing, each adult leader had their feet washed and were then prayed for by a YouthWorks staff member. They then wash the feet and pray for a group of youth from their church (in our case they were the kids in our family). Later we held our traditional Hug Circle. It is pretty self-explanatory, but you move in a circle and eventually hug everyone in the group. 

I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet. So you also should wash one another's feet. I have given you an example. You should do as I have done for you.  - John 13:14-15

I want to hear from you! I mentioned a few of our Mission Trip traditions in this post (Thank You Circle, Foot Washing, and the Hug Circle). Are you a veteran Mission Tripper? Do you have some traditions for each Mission Trip you participate in?