It seems that some of the funniest moments in my youth ministry are during Sunday School. I dont know exactly why that is... maybe its the early mornings where the teens arent quite filtering their thoughts... maybe its just the nature of Sunday School (usually we spend the time discussing and talking with the kids).

Last Sunday, Javier was talking about John 10:10. It talks about how the devil comes to Steal, Kill and Destroy. He was asking the kids what the devil steals. They were saying things like: love, peace, joy, happiness...

Then one of them says to Javier, "...Your hair...."

(Remember, Javier is bald.. see attached photo)

To which Javier calmly replies, "The devil did not STEAL my hair..."

Never a dull moment in youth group :)

I often write on this blog the funny things that my teens do and say. Like I've said before, I know other people read this, but I write it primarily for myself... for those days when I'm discouraged... and for the future when I look back on my time as a youth pastor and want to remember all of these wonderful memories...

And even though usually this is about the teens, it is also occasionally about me. I was reminded recently of something funny that happened in February when we were taking our teens to winter camp. Dan, a youth pastor from another church, came to pick up our kids with their bus. I rode with them in the bus while Javier drove Dan's truck behind us. It was SUPER foggy on the way up the mountain and the kids were freaking out because they couldn't see anything. Dan was driving and decided it would be funny to play a little trick on the kids.

Dan: "Diandra, Im gonna slam on the brakes in a minute and we're gonna scream and scare the kids."

Diandra: "Really? You're really going to do that?"

Dan: "Yes, really. So get ready. I'm gonna slam on the brakes."

Diandra: "I dont believe you... you're not going to do that... are you really gonna do that?"

Dan: "Yes Diandra, here we go, I'm gonna slam on the brakes right now."

He then slammed on the brakes.

I screamed. Very loudly.

And not because he told me to but because I was really scared.

Dan started laughing.

The kids just looked around like, "What the heck is she yelling for?"

And the joke was on me in the end.

:)

Our Sundays are very unique.

It starts with Sunday School at 9am. During this time, there are other English Sunday School classes meeting. Then we have a service that we call TNT (The Next Thing) that starts at 10:15 that is also in English and happens at the same time as our main service. From there we have Sunday School again at 12:30 at the same time that the Spanish is having Sunday School. Then we all meet back together in Spanish. Then at 7pm there is another Spanish service.

Our teens have the option of what they want to go to, Javier and I are at all of these services. But during the Sunday School classes, we only have teens. So one day in Sunday School, one of the teens was sitting quietly and suddenly burst out with this:

"What would you do if I unzipped myself and I was an alien? Would you freak out? Cuz I would freak out! Seriously, what would you do?"

As I'm sitting there trying to figure out if this conversation was ACTUALLY happening, and how on earth to respond to that, Javier jumped in quickly and said,

"I would send you back to the Sanctuary because you're not a teen."

What a perfect response :)

In Sunday school a couple of weeks ago we were just chatting with the kids. Javier asked them, "If you could ask God one question, what would it be?"

Most of the kids responded with things like, "When will I die" or "How will I die"... one of the girls looked deep in thought, so he asked her what she would ask. She promptly responded with, "I would ask God, 'What's your favorite color?'"

:)

At the time, it was hilarious. But as I told my mom the story later, she commented on the fact that most of the kids were asking questions about themselves... this girl wanted to know something about God. What a good perspective!