small town Lutheran youth group

Last Friday I went to Natalka and Ania's village, Terlicko, as a guest at their youth group. We played games and then watched Exit* together and talked about what Jesus says about losing our lives to save them. It was great, later Natal told me that of the 15 students (3 boys:) there, only a few of the parents actually go to church--either the students' grandparents go or their friends brought them. Natalka, Jitrenka and Daniel do a great job of loving those crazy kids.

*Exit 316 is a Christian television show for youth that has been airing since the beginning of the school year. Each week is devoted to a different topic (eg, Sex, Life for Others, Death, Parents, Prayer, etc.) and there are seeker small group materials for each episode. Natalka's youth group usually does Exit for their weekly program.

(Another cool thing was that I also got to spend a few hours with Natalka's mom, Dana. I met her at our women's conference in January and she's a doll...she reminds me a bit of my mom. It's also a reminder of how I'm at an interesting place, age wise...I'm 13 years older than Natal and about 13 years younger than her mom, and somehow we all relate really well.)