Fehu'i - Questions

My birthday was as great as ever. As the years pass by I continue to feel blessed. I live in an amazing country and have met wonderful people. I ate awesome Mexican food (a treat here in Tonga) and saw a whale breach right here in the harbor. In current circumstances with the Government strike I have not received mail in 6 weeks – but I got a package from my family on my actual birthday. Simple delights.

Question: How do you maintain a youth group when the youth are always spending months at a time on holiday in other villages?

I can’t seem to figure this one out. The nature of living in this generous culture is that individuals can just stay with relatives for extended periods of time at no cost. This makes scheduling events or retaining plans almost impossible. This has led to me getting sucked into Harry Potter lately. A friend just received #6 so I feel this distraction will continue.

Question: How do you motivate youth?

I’ve struggled with this for my whole first year. I’ve tried food (too expensive), movie nights (attracts more kids than youth), personal invitations to events (thrown in the trash), and begging/pleading (just makes me look bad). None of it has been effective. I would like more participation in meetings and events, but maybe I’m setting my standard too high. Maybe this is about training myself to redefine participation. Is one youth enough or two? Am I here to change a village or to give a couple of youth some opportunity to grow?

How do you make a yard grow into a beautiful garden?

You’ve heard me complain before about my lack of gardening skills. I recently broke down and asked for help. I was sitting in my yard reading and realized that although I had made several attempts at planting, it looked plain and boring. After five youth and eight kids came through in a frenzy, I now have a little color in my yard. I even have a tire filled with flowering creeping plants. So my solution was to stick with what I know – Ask other people to do it for me.

Until next week.

Love,
Adrianne