Teenagers, Pizza, Brownies, and the Wii

Group shot outside on our veranda before chowing down on pizza.

Last night we had the teenagers from our village group over to our apartment.  We had 7 teenagers join us.  We had been wanting to spend time with them for a while, but we had to wait for the end of the school year.  Many of them don’t have an opportunity to come to the city very often because it is an hour from their village home.  We had several activities planned for the evening hoping that what we had planned for be fun for teenagers.  We haven’t exactly been teenagers in a long time.  

On several different occasions L has taken brownies to our group on Tuesday nights, and the kids have fallen in love with them.  They like them so much they ask for them every week.  Knowing they probably wouldn’t get another chance to make brownies, we decided to have a short cooking session to make brownies for them all to take home.  The kids did all the work while we bossed them around and told them what to do.  They enjoyed licking the bowls and seeing who made the best brownies.  At the end of the night, they each went home with a half of pan of brownies to share with their families.

J posing with the guys.  They fell in love with the guitar.  It seemed to show up everywhere we went.  They played it all night, even during our devotion!  It was nice.

PIZZA!  Who doesn’t love pizza!  We all had pizza for dinner.  The kids don’t get to enjoy pizza too often because it is considered very expensive here.  We bought several pizzas expecting it to be gobbled up quickly.  However, most of the kids only ate 1 or 2 pieces.  They kept making comments like….pizza will make us fat; pizza is so bad for you; I’m so full (after one piece!); I’m going to gain weight; etc…  We had never met teenagers who talked like that or worried about weight.  We have definitely learned over the last year how common these statements are.  If they notice you are eating a lot or if you have gained weight, they will let you know.  They see it as helping you stay healthy.  But in our culture it definitely hurts your feelings.  Ouch!  We still found ourselves eating more than the teenagers though!  J never minds to eat.

 

Playing a wii for the first time!

Most of the teenagers had heard and seen a wii, but had just not had the opportunity to play one.  They were excited to find out we had a tournament planned for them.  Very quickly two teams developed and it became very competitive.  It was fun to watch them figure out how to play the games.  We always felt sorry for the person who went first because they usually ended up with the lowest points.  We had the perfect chance to teach them about encouraging others.  Quite a difficult concept for competitive teenagers!

 

Password: wii2011

J sharing a lesson on dating with them.

We finished up the night with a short devotion on dating.  Much to our surprise none of them are dating anyone and most said they don’t really think about it.  They want to wait until they are finished studying.  (We have found that this culture does date more when they are older.)  J did a great job sharing about making decisions the right way so you don’t have to suffer the consequences from making the wrong ones.

 

Ging playing the guitar.  He played it most of the night and is going to play next week during our group time on Tuesday night.

J posing with the guys before we took them home.

We loaded up the cars around 9:30 to head back to the village.  Everyone had a great time and was sad to have to return home.  They were happy to have some brownies to take with them though.  We definitely know the Father used this night to strengthen our existing relationships, but also help us rebuild relationships with two of the boys that have been absent from our group for a while.  We also found out that our two girls study in the city every day during the summer break.  L is looking forward to meeting them multiple times a week to study with them.  We see the Father opening some BIG doors in these lives.  We can’t wait to see where it takes us!