Theology on Safari: 21 August 2012

It’s a whole new phase of life… Our children are now young adults and involved in ministries of their own. This time we decided to ask Caroline (21) to tell you about what she did this summer teaching kids to move into new cultures and global contexts with their families. Here’s her story in her own words. Enjoy!

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This summer, I got the chance to work with Cru (formerly Campus Crusade for Christ) teaching the kids’ program for their pre-field training for missionaries, called XTrack. As XTrack was something I had never even heard of before my team leader, Polly Anthony, emailed me out of the blue to ask me to consider it, it’s easy to see how it was God who led me to this job – and then brought me so amazingly through it. So, knowing both no one and essentially nothing about Cru (I did all four years of college, but we even called it something else, and currently have no staff… so we are kind of our own thing), I arrived in Fort Collins, Colorado, on June 10, welcomed by an ominous column of smoke billowing across half the sky, looking increasingly eerie as the sun set through it.

It turned out, though, to be wonderful, the main reason, being that I had the most fantastic team to work with. Another reason it was great was just how amazing the kids’ program, MK2MK was. It was something Polly had collaborated on over the past eight years, culminating in a color-coded binder about 4 inches thick full of curriculum. And we had 24 MKs aged 5 - 14, split into kids and teens (well, our teen program was for middle- and high-school, so it turned out that three of our ‘teens’ were eleven-year-olds going in to 6^th grade) who were a crazy, fun, earnest, hilarious and incredibly competitive group to teach. XTrack is intended to prepare new missionaries to head out to their field countries (most of them have already spent a year or two overseas – what Cru calls ‘Stint,’ or ‘Short Term INTernational’). One of the neat ways they do this is by having families who have already lived overseas – who either still do or are back in the States, but still working for Cru – come and serve as ‘coaches’ for the participants. For the adults, their mornings were spent in sessions learning about various cross-cultural things, and in the afternoon they’d meet one-on-one with coaches to talk it out.

What we taught the kids was essentially the same things the grown-ups were learning – just aimed at a younger audience and most likely a lot more fun. Our curriculum covered a range of things pertinent to life as Third Culture Kids, from different people groups to dealing with transition to leaving well to managing your emotions and stress to how to be a good friend. The lessons were so creative, though: we used a plant to teach about transition, three colors of play-doh to explain what a TCK is, balloons to talk about how to manage stress, ping pong balls to talk about prayer, and a tray of candy to talk about attitudes and choices. Some of the activities were geared at helping the kids understand their parents’ world. For example, they had to ‘raise support’: each kid was given a continent, and they had to go door to door getting people to give them a certain number points so that they could be missionaries there. (I was pretty stingy with my point-giving – I told them I'm just a grad student with no income, and I only had a certain number of points to give away so I had chosen only to give to kids going to Africa because it is my favorite.) Then the kids had to follow up by writing support letters and thank you letters. During our last week, we had an airport simulation, where the kids had to pack a bag (really a manila envelope packed with pictures of what they were bringing), then go through security and customs, get their passports and visas, get a medical examination and pay a tax. Us leaders were the airport personnel, and we made things purposely frustrating for the kids, who weren’t sure of where they were supposed to go next or where to find each thing. It was actually quite fun to bark orders at the kids all day in various accents – my co-teacher, Emily, was incredibly hilarious with her fake moustache and fake Russian accent (which sounded more like the guy from Despicable Me. And, actually, she used this accent most days.).

Another main focus was observing and adapting to a new culture. We learned the skills for this (Look, Listen, Ask, Think, Do) and put it into practice in a field trip around Fort Collins. The kids had to observe what they saw around town (for example, there are a number of brightly-painted pianos just randomly around the city), make an assumption about why this was the case (“People in Fort Collins must like music!”), and find someone to ask if their assumption was true. On another day, we did one of my favorite activities, called ‘A Meal’s A Meal’. We had a meal made up of five separate courses, and each course had a different ‘culture’: different rules to follow, different ways of saying yes and no, different ways to speak. For example, during the bread stick course, you had to sit on your right hand and only use your left hand; you couldn't bite off a piece of bread stick, but had to tear it then put it in your mouth; boys could only use the white sauce and girls could only use the red sauce; you said yes by snapping and no by rubbing your nose; and you had to sing everything you said. When the kids came in, my co-teachers and I were already eating according to these rules, and the kids had to watch until they felt like they knew what was going on, then join in. We had the best time making up each of the different ‘cultures,’ and even more fun having the kids do them – for example, in one course you had to hang a spaghetti noodle over your ear to signal you were done, and in another, you had to eat Skittles off the floor and get approval of the Skittle color before you could swallow it.

One weekend we took our teens camping, and the next week the kids performed a musical for their parents (called ‘Kids on a Mission,’ of course), and as a reward we surprised them with a Christmas in July party the next day! As you can probably imagine, in the middle of all of these fun (albeit sometimes exhausting) things going on, I was having the best time. And the neat thing as that it wasn’t only the kids and the curriculum that I found so great – but every part of living at XTrack. We got to know and hang out with the participants, and became pretty good friends with some of the young, mid-twenties participants, who are headed to places as varied as Hungary, Lebanon and East Asia! I really enjoyed being part of an internationally-minded community again, and especially loved that my past experiences as an MK were useful and valued – not just with the kids, but for the adults too. One of the neat things we got to do was share with the adults about what a TCK is, and then do a panel answering their questions about our lives as TCKs.

I loved my summer in Fort Collins, not only because I made some life-long friends and got to hang out with some really, really great kids, but because I know it had an impact. The impact on the kids and families I got to teach was fairly obvious, but it also had an impact on me. I honestly think working at XTrack this summer was one of the best ways to prepare for the student-teaching I am about to be doing this fall, both in the practical aspects like getting used to working with kids from 8am – 3pm every day, but also in the attitude it gave me about how I was interacting with these kids. One thing I loved about working with MK2MK was how they encouraged us to really get to know the kids, to form heart relationships with each of them, and even to hang out one-on-one with the teens outside of MK2MK. We also started off every morning by praying as a group. I know a public middle school is going to be different than this, of course, and I won’t be expected or asked to do these things, but I can still have these attitudes and goals about how I interact with the kids I’m working with for myself, which will enable me to reflect Christ during my student teaching. Furthermore, spending my summer in this way further reiterated my desire to work with this demographic of kids (such as international or Third Culture Kids) in the future, as well as to work in ministry. We’ll see how that continues to unfold!

I loved the adventure I had this summer, but now I am moving on to my next adventure: spending the semester student teaching in a 6^th grade classroom at Walton Middle School in Charlottesville, Virginia. This is part of the Master’s of Teaching I am working towards, and will receive at the end of this next school year. I‘d appreciate your prayers this semester, as I know I’ll be stretched and challenged in all sorts of ways!

Thank you,

Caroline

MK2MK at XTrack

With Cru co-staff and friends on our teen camping trip (2^nd from left)…

…and with all 24 kids on a field trip around Fort Collins (back row, far left)

Kids color in maps of the 10/40 Window (the area of the world where most unreached people groups live)

Getting the kids ready for a relay race having to do with learning about unreached people groups

Using play-doh to explain what Third Culture Kids are

Using balloons to talk about managing stress – and how it’s easier to do so when your family-members and some grown-ups help you out

Kids try and catch on as Emily demonstrates the right way to eat Skittles in this course of ‘A Meal’s A Meal’

Some of our kids show off their ‘RAFTs’ – a way to help them remember how to leave well (Reconciliation, Affirmation, Farewell and Think destination!)