Rock, Paper, Awesome event!

On Saturday, Feb. 5, I was treated to one of those wonderful experiences that anyone who has ever planned an event prays for: exceeded expectations.  The event in question was a gathering of young people from four Kitchener-Waterloo area churches: First Hmong Mennonite Church, Chin Christian Church, First Mennonite Church, and Grace Lao Mennonite Church.

Q: What do these churches have in common?

A: They all have teens and young adults that inspire me and make my job so enjoyable.
Also: They are all part of congregations whose members came as new Canadians, either as immigrants or refugees within the last 30 years or so.
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So, back to the exceeded expectations.  First of all, we had close to 60 participants - our initial optimistic estimates were 50? MAX?  And the energy they brought with them!  Well.

Exhibit A) A group of youth walk in the doors of Grebel, all rockin' the youthful daring fashion that I am too old for.  I welcome them:

"Hi guys, welcome!  Where are you from?" I meant what church are you coming from.

Lead guy with spiky hair: [with broad smile] "We're from Burma!  Where's the bathroom?"

And it only got better from there. 

Enter Felipe Gonzalia, former-fellow-intern at MCCO this summer and youth leader at First Mennonite.  Check out this video for a glimpse of the joyful madness that ensued when Felipe started working the crowd with an epic game of Rock, Paper, Scissors.  See if you can spot our Executive Director Rick Cober-Bauman in the mix.  Not since attending the Summit in which MCC's governance structure was discussed did Rick find such energy.



The rest of the afternoon and evening featured can best be captured in photos:

Packing Health Kits and knotting quilts for MCC's relief aid shipments.  Big thank-you to Material Resources coordinator Wendy Cotter for taking the time to show us how it's done.

 Fellas with cool hats learning how addictive knotting can be.

 Thla and crew from Chin Christian Church pack health kits.

Rick Cober Bauman getting in on the knotting.

 Went outside to load our boxes and lo! It had snowed a foot since we started.

 "You may think this string is ugly but to me, it was the string that held my life."

Lee Vang from First Hmong Mennonite Church holding the bag that contained a school kit ... that she received in a refugee camp 31 years ago in Thailand. More on this moving and remarkable story here.

The wonderful energy carried through with a tour of Grebel and ended with a delicious dinner prepared by the famous Grebel kitchen staff.  There are no photos of this because I was busy eating, thank you.  

I will end this post with the words of a participant who posted on the wall of the facebook event afterwards and really sums up well the energy and general feelings of the day:

Soooo amazing!!!!! Looooved it!!!!!
Can't wait for next time! Hope to see everyone there!
Really fun! People who didn't come you missed out yo!!!! Come out next time!!!!

[Ken Ogasawara works with MCC Ontario as the social media guy and the connecting with immigrant/first-generation churches guy.]