Dear Family and Friends,(picture to the right is of a Pack Out In-N-Out we had with Jr. High about a month ago. These are some of the kids I'll be hanging out with this summer.)
This past weekend was lots of fun!! :0) Matt and I went down to San Diego to spend some time with my parents and sister. Went to this super cool place in San Diego called Seaport village where much fun was had and many pictures were taken. It was glorious. We even got a little spontaneous and got matching Henna Tattoos. For those of you who are wondering, Henna is a kind of skin dye that washes off after a few weeks. I also had it in my head to make some Lefse, a Norwegian sweet treat of yumminess that I loved when I was a kid. LOVED. and It was a success for the most part. ;0) This weekend was exactly the vacation I needed to re-energize for my up and coming internship! I am so excited. You've NO idea. Absolutely NO idea, I promise. :0) So pumped.
So as I mentioned in the last blog, I am reading this book called Middle School Ministry to kind of prepare for this summer and really life as a jr. high leader. Cause this stuff is SO important to ministry and understanding the minds of a Jr. High kid. So I thought I'd share a little bit of what I am learning, so that maybe you could also benefit from such readings-
I've been working with jr. high kids roughly since I was a senior in high school, and I must admit working with these kids sometimes can be frustrating. Not gonna lie, there have been times I've gotten home and wondered why I was even trying. But understanding is the solution to frustration.
Two big things that Marko and Scott bring to light in this book:
- Early adolescents have not yet mastered the art of thinking abstractly!! They are in this funny little world between concrete thinking and abstract thinking. Which means they don't quite understand metaphors. This was HUGE for me. A couple of sundays ago I was going through a Psalm with a group of 6th and 7th graders. We read through it, and I asked them if they knew what the psalmist was talking about. They looked up at me with blank stares. Real encouraging. lol. I eventually got out of them something about a lion and Shepard, but nothing was connecting. They don't understand metaphors. Not granted, this is not true of every jr. higher. Each brain develops differently, there are some very mature kid in this group as well - but this weird shift from concrete to abstract thinking is definitely a challenge in teaching kids about Jesus. After all, almost all of Jesus teachings are parables, which are basically metaphors in story form. Ah, I love a challenge. :0) It's our job at adults, parents, leaders, friends, to help these kids develop the abstract thinking part of the brain!! Isn't that exciting? I love teaching kids how to think on their own and question things. That is the best sign of growth in my opinion.
- Secondly, there are these things in the brain called Neurons, they are like tiny little roads that run all over the brain transferring information. During early adolescence these this little roads multiply way beyond the number that will finally be used by the adult brain. From there the brain does this process of elimination thing, where it get rid of every neuron that isn't used regularly. The phrase, "Use it or lose it" comes to mind for me. This biological fact alone is enough to legitimize the importance of early adolescent ministry and interaction. Most people believe that most interesting stuff happens with these kids in high school or college, when in reality how your brain is going to function was set by the time you turned 14 or 15. The years between 11-13 are some of the most important developmental years in a person's life. That's CRAZY to me. CRAZY.
These kids mean the world to me, and I'm discovering this more and more as this book continues. I am so blessed that God trusts me enough to give me these kids for a summer, to love and mentor and be silly with them. To teach them about Jesus, and help expand the ways in which they think. It's amazing. I'm so excited.
I hope this post finds each and every one of you well and smiling.
Love always,
Jen
