junior youth group..learning to consult

ayana poking aquia & making her giggle

today's jr. youth group session was full of learning how to consult.  they needed to decide if they wanted to accept a new person to the group.  after a difficult process, they decided not to include him, as most felt they had bonded well and didn't want to begin getting to know someone else. 

 
later in the session, 2 of the 3 girls that showed up very late had never come to one of our meetings -- we were surprised to see them.  this required another process of consulting about how everyone felt about them coming so late, as well as feeling like their group bonding was being interrupted by people they felt weren't really a part of the group yet because they have missed a lot of experiences already (yet we're only on our 4th meeting). 

Breezes of Confirmation..lesson 2

we decided that, in the future, if anyone arrives later than 15 minutes, they would not be able to make it to the meeting that day.  they also decided that it was only fair to let that other person join the group as well, since they basically still didn't know 2 of the girls.  what a process of growth it was!  it was emotional and full of exercising the virtues of equity, patience, understanding and loving kindness.