June 22-23 POSTING From FRESNO!

Hey all! It is HOT HOT HOT here!! I actually ended up with heat stroke a couple days ago. We have been having a blast working with the Hmong children and helping the some of the older Hmong study for their U.S citizenship test. The hardest part is the language barrier. Some of the little kids know English but most of the time we have to use translators. Yesterday at the family carnival, we set up a dunk tank which was I big hit! All the children loved to see us all dunked. Although I am having a great time here I miss home and my parents. I also would like to ask everyone to pray for my grandmother. She is suffering from Alzheimer’s and is getting worse. Thank you everyone! Hope your doing well and keep smiling!!!!!
Katie Winton-Henry



I am Hot and Sweaty, to shower over here you must walk to the school that is a few blocks away in the hot morning sun. Yes it is hard but the little kids that we work with are always fun and really make a bad day fun!

Much love and peace!
Martin B.

P.S. Please send me comic books, The Initiative Avengers #4!



Hello, I am being forced into blogging with the arrival of Elizabeth Driver-Bucholtz. This whole work camp has been a very rewarding experience. The challenge has been communicating with the kids. Many of them speak little or no English at all. They all speak Lao or Hmong so there is no way other than sign language to communicate. The food has been good for work camp and the leaders have done a good at this work camp.

Nick Lawson


Chris and I arrived today (Friday), so unfortunately we missed the dunking, but heard it was a HUGE success and a blast. We are soooooo happy to be here, if only for the end of the week. The youth are amazing and I’ve heard that they’ve had a great impact with the youth and helping the adults with their English and citizenship. A little bird told me that they had to study up on some of the citizenship questions themselves. It’s not near as hot as I expected, but it’s certainly a bit more toasty than the Bay Area. We just heard from Adam and he said General Synod is amazing. He’s so happy to be there, but is sad about missing the end of work camp. To all you parents of the youth at work camp, Chris and I say thank you for raising such great youth!

Chris and Elizabeth



What it do? Two days ago Nick and I dominated Sardines (anyone who disagrees is jeaqlous). We found everyone in less than two minutes except Adam and Rebecca when someone tricked us. We hid up on the roof after we found people first for the second time. This was a good hiding place but everyone refused to climb the tree and crawl on the roof.

Yesterday we went to FIRM in the morning and helped out in preparation for the carnival. The carnival later in the day was tight though there was no food other than hot dogs. I participated in the dunk tank and it was fun the first couple of times.

Peace, Michael



Hi everyone! We’re back again. Nick and Michael did NOT dominate sardines – they CHEATED by going into a very dark closet and turning on the light and going “oh, look, we found them.” We made them not get to hide the next round, and Nick pouted like crazy, though he denies it. Elizabeth (Brenum) got a splinter in her toe when we were at FIRM yesterday, and was forced to perform surgery on herself with Louis’ pocket knife. We missed Jasper.
At FIRM yesterday morning/afternoon, we worked with the ESL class again, and we also set up several tent/canopies. Michael, Elizabeth, and I (Becca) won the contest of who could put the tent up first, and then we all took naps on the grass in the shade and flicked blades of grass at each other. Yesterday evening was the carnival, and it was very amusing (for Becca and Katie) to watch people get dunked, and it was fun to get dunked (for everyone else, but especially Rachel). We also ran a collage-making table, but the dunk tank was way more popular. Becca was in a very bad mood due to several things, and really needed ice cream. Everyone else agreed, so we went and got 6 tubs of ice cream + hot fudge and sprinkles. While we were eating ice cream, Louis and Alexa started making jokes about a T-rex that none of the rest of us got or thought was funny at all. After ice cream, some of us danced the Congress of Vienna five times. Most people went to bed, but Elizabeth, Rachel, Becca, Michael, and Alexa set up a massage circle, which was really nice.
This morning, Michael, Rachel, Louis, and Becca went for their morning walk. The Wooden Spoons are on cooking duty again.
Everyone has been frantic coming up with stuff for TNT (the talent/no talent show), and making secret buddy gifts, and all sorts of other mysterious stuff.
We have to go to FIRM for our last night with the kids, so more later.
Love,

Becca, Elizabeth and Rachel

Farewell to Adam and Kerrigan

Tomorrow morning early, Kerrigan and I will hit the road for the Oakland airport to leave for General Synod. I think I can speak for Kerrigan in saying that we both are tired, but sad to leave workcamp early. It is such a wonderful time to be together in intentional community. I am always amazed at who each of these youth are--their gifts and their good nature. I received many compliments this week from the staff of FIRM about how friendly and flexible our youth were and willing to help. I truly believe that one of the spiritual practices of workcamp is generous helpfulness. Without much coaxing, the youth volunteer to do their share and more all the time. It is amazing. We have managed to pull off an number of amazing crafts and programs. Tonight, a skit was written based on 1 Corinthians 12:12-26 and demonstrated the festival theme "One World, One Body, One Spirit" with such creativity and joy. The culmination was having each child trace their hand and put it on a large poster of a body outline. We posted this in the hall at the end of the night.

We will miss everyone and love everyone very much.

Adam

Here are the words to the skit:

Narrator: Once upon a time there was a group of friends named; eyes, ears, mouth and nose. They lived in harmony until one day they began to get jealous.

Ears: Man sometimes I wish I could be like the eyes, their so cool!

Eyes: We’re so jealous of the mouth. He can eat and do all kinds of cool stuff!

Nose: Man I can't hear anything! I wish I could hear like the ears.

Mouth: I can taste all these great things but I can't smell them! Sometimes I wish I was like the nose!

Narrator: To hide their jealousy, the eyes, ears, mouth, and nose began to fight about who was the best.

Ears: Hey can you hear that? Oh opps!! NO YOU CANT! We’re the ears and we’re the best!

Mouth: Well, you may be able to hear but you cant taste! That makes me the best!

Eyes: Haha! The best? We’re the most important thing, the eyes!

Nose: No, no, no you cant smell like I can, therefore I am the best.

Narrator: But then they all realized they’d be better off all as one.

Eyes: Hey guy! Look we all need eachother. Don’t you see, we cant function without all of us together!

Mouth: yeah , yeah! Let all come together!

Narrator: So they all came together to FACE the challenge HEAD ON!!

House Blessing

We went to a house blessing today for a Hmong family that moved into a duplex that FIRM bought and fixed up. The Yang family was so amazed that about 40 teenagers (from FCCB, College Community Fresno, and First UCC Salem, OR) fit in the living room. Youth from all the groups led the ritual. It was an honor to be welcomed into their home and bless them. They had a very small baby named Bruce who was so smiley the whole time. A beautiful family. We prayed for peace and love for them.

Morning Rituals

This morning, Elizabeth, Michael and I went over to the high school (where we’ve been taking showers the last few days). The plan was that Michael (who does track at his school) was going to run with the girls’ cross-country team. Alexa had seen a sign posted at the high school regarding the meet, and we had jokingly mentioned to Michael that he should go join them. He said “ok” without much hesitation. Which is how we ended up getting up at 6 in the morning, armed with cameras, to go watch him run. When we got to the school, we walked around campus for a while, attempting to find the field. Having finally found the field, we were disappointed to discover that the only other person within sight was a janitor taking out the trash. We stood there for a while, and Michael finally ran a lap all by himself around the track while we took pictures. Michael says we’re mean because we took pictures (err…that would be pictures of him stretching, which we find very amusing). Then we went gave up and went and got hot chocolate at a little coffee shop nearby. Don’t worry: we did leave a note for the leaders, so they wouldn’t worry.

After we came back to the church, Michael, Louis, Rachel, and I went jogging around the neighborhood. It was really nice, because it was early enough that it wasn’t boiling hot yet. We plan to make this a daily event. While jogging, we did meet Nick’s doppelganger, which was exciting.

Small secret buddy gifts are supposed to appear today. I’ve spent a lot of time making friendship bracelets, and am about halfway to having one for everyone. Yesterday, we ran a friendship-bracelet-making station for the kids at FIRM, and they mainly strung beads on pipe cleaners instead of actually braiding or twisting yarn. It was nice, though, because we were inside and it was air conditioned.

Last night, Rachel led a waltz lesson as our recreation activity. I am proud to say that everyone is now a competent waltzer. We also polkaed, scottished, and did a Congress of Vienna. Some salsa and freestyle dancing was also thrown in. It was a lot of fun.

Elizabeth and Rachel say hi.

Love, Becca

It’s very hot! Not much else to say but that it's very, very hot. So yeah if the heat does not kill me the bugs will. There are huge here cockroaches and flies! But I am having fun I love the kids and I’m disappointed I did not bring my skateboard because there are a lot of good skate spots down here maybe I’ll come back on different circumstances Much love and peace,

Martin B

English Accent

As I said before it’s been unexpectedly lovely here in Fresno. The weather I don’t find too terrible, although when the day comes to it’s hottest peaks swimming is very enjoyable. I have a habit of swimming underwater quite often, and when I must come up for air I tend to startle everyone by popping up in random spots. It’s rather fun.

I’ve adopted a very persistent English accent for as long as I’ve been here as of Sunday morning, despite requests to change my accent either back to normal or to French. I simply can’t keep the French up, though I do it very well, and my regular accent bores me. Of course a very slight change in personality comes with the English accent, and Lizzie and Louis insist that it is much like (captain) Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean, and though no one believes me it was completely unintentional. I believe Louis gathers this from my composure, and Lizzie simply says that the slight decrease in simple sanity and the unexpected chivalrous behaviour introducing myself to the young ladies we have met during this trip are also reminiscent of (captain) Jack Sparrow. I vaguely disagree.

In conclusion, I am a walrus (so says Adam)…Anyhow, I am leaving tomorrow with Adam to the Oakland Airport to depart for SYNOD. My grandparents picture an exalted image of me shaking Senator Obama’s hand while I am there. I’m sure it would be a wonderful memory to hold onto. I hope everyone’s doing great. Much love and many thanks!

Cheers,

Kerrigan

Hands On

Hello, Lizzie here! I wanted to start off by saying a late Happy Father’s day to both my dad and Mikey, you guys are the best. Things here are going really well (pranks and all)! The Hmong people are a very strong, proud, complicated community and I am really enjoying the hands on learning experience with their customs. Working with the Hmong kids today was really fun today. At first the language barrier was a bit of a problem but eventually we were able to get our meaning across. After all, kids are kids where ever you go and the bottom line is they just wanna have fun! Anyway, all in all the people of Fresno, whether Hmong or otherwise, have been extremely welcoming and affirming and I feel extremely appreciated even though I have barely done anything yet. Oh well, I’m sure I will have more to say later on in the week.
Yours truly,
The girl who’s having a BLAST at Work Camp (or Lizzie)!!!!

First Day

Yesterday, we went to a cultural briefing at FIRM (with Rev. Sophia DeWitt and Rev. Sharon Stanley, pictured right). Nick now has official Hmong permission to ask Elizabeth’s parents for permission to court her. We were issued immigration cards, so now we can legally get into the US, and we have to show them to the border guards every time we want into the country (aka FIRM center). We sat in on an English class for Hmong adults who are getting ready to take their citizenship tests, and we had to assist them in learning about the constitution (which some of us needed to quickly review). After that, and rolling 130 sets of silverware into napkins and pulling weeds while wearing flip flops in extreme heat, we came back to the church for some free time. More secret buddy stuff, some food, etc. Later, we went back to FIRM for the kids’ program. Half of us worked at a music/rhythm instruments station, and the other half ran community building games for the kids. There’s a pretty big language barrier between us and everyone else, but fortunately there are adults and teens who are willing to translate.
The Wooden Spoons (consisting of Becca, Martin, Michael, and Adam) were on cooking duty, and came back early to prepare dinner – Italian food (spaghetti, garlic bread, salad, and brownies for dessert).
After dinner, we played Psychiatrist, which Rachel rocked at. Michael and Kerrigan just stood there and asked occasional questions, and made interesting comments. All three are now certified psychiatrists. They cannot however, divulge their patient’s conditions, due to work camp regulations.
That’s all for now.
Becca, Elizabeth, Rachel, and Lizzie

Wooden Spoons and Cement Floors

We were pretty tired last night after, well, a short drive, but a long week of finishing classes and for some seniors, HIGH SCHOOL!!! Lizzie was the first to try out the specially arranged sleeping accomodations. She slept like a baby!

--Anonymous

I found a wooden spoon and this spoon is a very big spoon! Yes it is now a spoon that has become legend our family group is now called “The Wooden Spoons” and I rule it with my spoon!

Much love and peace to you all!

Martin Bartson

I find the atmosphere awfully beneficially in the midst of my creative writing, reading and drawing whenever I am not working with the group. It’s somehow more serene than just any day with my friends back home, and I appreciate the positive attitude a great deal. I will no doubt produce more poetry these few days than I would back home in a month.

--Kerrigan A.C.

Fresno is very flat and sunny. This morning we went to church. We’ve basically been eating and relaxing before we go to work tomorrow. Nick brought rap music so everything has been cool here.

-Mike

Father's Day

Hey all fathers! Happy Father’s Day!!! We love you very much and hope you are having a fun day and eating lots of yummy cake, like the kind we had after church today. Today has been a day of food for us. We started the morning off with a Father’s Day Pancake Breakfast provided by the Men’s Club. Shortly after church we went out to a Vietnamese/Chinese restaurant that served us very large portions for very little money. Tonight we are invited to a BBQ at the home of someone from the church to welcome us to Fresno. We will also get to go swimming.

At service today this amazing teenage boy, Max, sang a solo in Raise Me Up and he was hella good. He was a bass with a really good range. We all think he should move to Berkeley and sing with SoS.

We also got informational sheets about the Hmong culture. Some of us are already noticing differences between their culture and ours, and are wondering how this will affect us throughout the week. One of the differences is that, in traditional Hmong culture, “The male role is to carry the family name, to do outside work and to control the family. His role is to ensure the family has enough food, to protect his family, and to communicate for his family. The female is to be in the house to care for the children and the grandparents. The female’s role is to cook, sew and to wash the clothes.” In the traditional culture, “battered woman have no significance,” because “it is believed that to behave you have to suffer pain.” Another difference between our cultures is that, in Hmong culture, their ceremonies may include animal sacrifices.

On a lighter note, we have received our secret buddy assignments, and have been having fun raiding the craft supplies. Louis says we are “getting our craft on.” The small gifts are supposed to appear Wednesday.

Love from,

Elizabeth and Becca

Anticipating Workcamp 2007

The Winthrop Senior High youth group will be traveling once again on its annual Workcamp. This year, the group will go to Fresno to work with the Fresno Interdenominational Refugee Ministries, a program working within the southeast Asian community there. There are about 60,000 southeast Asian refugees living in Fresno. Most recently, the U. S. Department of State decided in December 2003 to allow the 15,000 plus, Hmong residents of Wat Tham Krabok, Thailand an opportunity to resettle in the United States. About one third of them resettled in California. Our youth will be staying at First Congregational Church of Fresno and will be working with Rev. Sophia DeWitt, program director of the Hmong Health Navigation Project and friend of FCCB. During the day they will be tutoring elders who are learning English and working towards taking their citizenship test. In the evening, they will be co-leading a community children’s program offering games and activities to primary school aged children and their families. In addition, they will take a day to visit Grant Grove and have a BBQ at FCCB members Jim and BJ Spitze’s ranch. The team will be commissioned during worship on June 10 and then they leave Saturday June 16.