Kalia lee November 16, 2010 Service Project Paper
My service project I did was help the FHBY (First Hmong Baptist Youth) plan an appreciation for their congregation. Their youth president, Chimeng Lee had talked to me about how their congregation have been overwhelm with fundraising for the church and other organization that are in need of fund for disasters. Since they have over worked themselves, it seems like the fire have gone down and he wanted to bring that fire back up to encourage them to keep doing what they do because whatever they do, its life changing. What I did was I gathered up the officers from the FHBY such as the president, vicepresident, security, song director, treasurer, and younger youth representative. I sent out an email to all the officers to let them know that I will be holding a mandatory meetings for the officers. At our first meeting, I proposed a proposal that stated what Chimeng talked about. I wanted to the other officers input on it as well so I have decided that we would go around for everyone to say what they think of this proposal. Once everyone agreed to play a part in this, it was time to really start planning. What I thought was a good idea was to organized them into groups such as the decorating crew, food crew, activities/games crew, worship crew and lesson crew. I have planned meetings for each of the crew so I get a since of idea what they are doing. We all met for about an hour each weekend to know exactly what needs to be done. The decorating crew, we've discuss about what kind of theme they wanted to do. It took a while because we all had so many ideas but after a while we all decided on go with "HMONG." They wanted the congregation to dress in Hmong clothes to know who they were and to
understand why they were so unique. They decided to pick colors such as pink, blue and orange. It was a representation of Hmong New Year colors. The decorating crew wanted to get traditional Hmong clothing and cloth to hang and display on the tables and walls. The food crew, we've talked about what kind of food they wanted to serve at this event. They were thinking very Americanize food but I've asked them if they knew majority of the elderly parents or majority of the modern Americanize parents will be coming. That topic was discuss for a while and we finally came up with a list of food to satisfy everyone. The list of food: Appetizer: fried shrimp chips, wraps and cream cheese tortilla wraps with jalapenos, Side Dish: Rice, pumpkin soup, fruit salad, Main Dish: Stuffed Angel wings, fried chicken, springrolls, and boiled pork with green vegetables, Dessert: Pumpkin Bread, cheese cake and Hmong Jell-O. The activity/game crew, we've discuss about what kind of games or activities they can do to get the whole congregation involve. For sure, kid games were easy to plan but what about the adult games? They came up with an activities for the parents that is called " Do you know this hymn?" Basically you put the parents into 3 teams, someone will hum a hymn song and the groups will have to guess what is the name of the hymn song. For the grandparents, the game the crew came up with is called " Bible Charades ". The grandparents would need to drawl a character from the hat and act out what he/she thinks that particular character acts like in the bible. For the kids, they planned out bible Pictionary for the kids. Those were the activities/games the crew had came up with. For the worship crew, I'd talked to them about what kind of song they wanted to sing to get everyone energetic but at the same time the songs were meaningful. It took some times to really go over the songs and they came up with two sets. The first worship set will open at the
beginning and the second set will close for the ending of the lesson. They wanted to do an alter call where those who are suffering and wants to surrender themselves to God will come up to the alter and the officers will pray for them. The last crew which is the lesson crew; they wanted to have a lesson that talked about remember to say thanks. They have figured out that saying thanks can go a long way which I thought was pretty true. So I've told the crew to do some bible searching for ways to say thanks and what is the real meaning of thanks. After a couple of weeks, we've came back and putted the lesson together. I also reminded them to incorporate why they are doing this appreciation to their congregation as well. During the event, I was there as a helping hand to make sure things went accordingly to what the group had planned. If I saw someone that needed help, I would go and help that particular crew. What was addressed over this issue was that within the church family, they had so much things that was going on, they forgot about one another. They forgot about understanding the encouragement of one another and being there for one another. They have been having family problems not understanding the younger generation, not willing to cooperate with one another, accusing of others and their identities, judging, and accusing of others about taking their jobs. I've done some research and found that one age group would feel left out while other groups wonder why things cannot be about them. According to "Standing on Giants", when we talk about worship, the younger generation love music where they would use music to express their feelings. As for the elderly parents, they don't enjoy loud music and so that puts a block between their relationship and their communication. Another thing they mention in "Standing on
Giants," they talked about the lack of connections between generations and the treat of creating a church that is filled with people just like you. I've read about when a leader arises, there are more and more problems. I believe it is probably due to the lack of communications. Maybe a certain kind of leader does not really know how to communicate with others which causes problems within the church. Another problem that might have happen could be the gender issue of allowing women to lead. At my local church, a couple years back they did not allow women to lead worship because according to the bible, Eve tempted Adam to eat the apple and if they were to allow a woman to lead the congregation then they are allowing the woman to tempt the congregation into temptation which really didn't make sense to me. I wanted to break that norm because I truly believe that God have called upon me to use my voice to sing and lead his people. I stepped up with a worship band and we started using our talent to worship. After two years, the congregation realize that it was ok for a woman to lead. At times, the deacons are still iffy about it but they tend to live with it because seeing me make a big difference within the congregation have changed lives. That is why I still do workshops on how to become a better leader.
Here are copies of the meeting minutes I took from the meetings. Meeting about Surprise Church Appreciation Purpose: To appreciate the church, each individual that they do make an influence on us all as a whole, (it seems like the church lately has been discourage, out of contact, lost, not included in certain things so they feel left out, feels like certain people are not loving to certain people)
Date: November 14, 2010 Location: Advent Luthern Church Time: 1:00pm-4:00pm
1. Meeting: Decorating Crew Attendance: Sunshine, Stephanie, Alysia, and Kalia Theme: Hmong Color: Blue, pink, orange, Decoration: want to put up Hmong cloth around the room
ask around to the families to see if they have Hmong story cloth
take tissue paper and fold them up and cut them into Hmong decorating symbols
balloons (pink, blue, orange, silver and black)
table piece
table cloth: pink and black
need sound equipment (please ask worship band)
note: would like for the whole congregation to wear their Hmong traditional costume
need to be at church early to decorate and set up food
2. Meeting: Food crew Attendance: Nouci, Chris, and Kalia Food:
Americanize as in dinner rolls, mash potatoes?
what about the elderly?
Hmong and American? Appetizer: -fried shrimp chips -wraps -cream cheese tortilla wraps with jalapenos Side Dish: -Rice - pumpkin soup -fruit salad Main Dish: - Stuffed Angel wings - fried chicken - spring-rolls -boiled pork with green vegetables Dessert: -Pumpkin Bread - cheese cake
- Hmong Jell-O
Meeting: Activities/Games Crew Attendance: Alex, Cassandra, and Kalia Activities: Parents: " Do you know this hymn?" -the objective is to bet the other team at guessing what song they are singing. -split into three teams Grandparents: " Bible Charades" -the objective of this game is to act out characters from the bible Kids: "Bible Pictionary" - the objective of this game is to draw people/things in the bible that they think looks like Meeting: Worship Crew Attendance: Maylee, Chimmoua, and Kalia Note: Need to take sound equipment and put up the day before - 2 sets of worship songs Set 1: -Ice breaker song: You're my brother, your my friend - Made to worship - Hosanna -Sing, Sing, Sing Set 2: - Glory to God - Beautiful One
-Revaluation Song - Invitation Fountain Meeting: Lesson/Message Crew Attendance: Chimeng, Shoua, Steve and Kalia - wants them get the lesson out about saying thanks, showing gratitude -wants to talk about encouragement - talk about what they see what is lagging in the congregation - talk about ways of showing love and care -remember to talk about why did an appreciation
This was the letter that was sent out. It was in purple because it was their congregation church color.
October 23, 2010 Dear _________________, You are invited to come join the youth for a celebration to honor those who sacrifice time and put effort into the congregation. You don't need to bring anything but yourself and your family. Sincerely, First Hmong Baptist Youth Theme: Hmong ( please dress in your traditional outfits) Date: November 14, 2010 Location: Advent Lutheran Church Time: 1:00pm-4:00pm
Questions or concern, please contact Kalia Lee @ 303-601-5831 or Chimeng Lee @ 303-653-5167
Ms. Kalia Lee Coordinator for FHBY 3490 East 102nd Ave. Thornton, CO 80229 October 16, 2010 Dear Pastor Wameng Vue, To appreciate the church, each individual that they do make an influence on us all as a whole, (it seems like the church lately has been discourage, out of contact, lost, not included in certain things so they feel left out, feels like certain people are not loving to certain people)
Our purpose is to host an appreciation for the First Hmong Baptist Congregation. Each individual have made an influence on everyone as a whole, (it seems like the congregation have been discourage lately, out of contact, lost, not included in certain people so they feel left out.) We believe that this event will help encourage those who are lost and feeling left out as well as a big thank you for those who have done life changing things. We greatly appreciate your time and consideration. Thank you
Sincerely, First Hmong Baptist Youth
This experience have literally changed my life. I have never really thought that saying thank you can go a long way. Throughout this experience, I have had someone come talk about me about how inspired she was knowing that someone out there like me were willing to help those in need of understanding the words of encouragement. She shared her story with me that before this event, she thought about suicide. She was a shy girl who doesn't really open up to the youth and so she was always by herself. Whenever she have family problems, she could never turn to anyone. She told me that she wanted to give up on life because she felt alone in the world. She had no one to turn to, no one to cry to, no one to listen to what she has to say. I told her that I'm really thankful that God had brought me here to inspire her and change her life. I'm sure many others who are out there feel the same ways and are going through the same things she is. We started talking and once you know it, she tear down. She had no one to turn to and she was so happy that I was there to talk to her and inspired her. That was when my business card came in handy and so I gave her my card and told her that if she needed anything, she can always give me a call. I will always be there for her no matter what. Wow, I'm so grateful that you have given me the time to do a service project like this. Doing this have really changed my life. I would have never thought that diving into an appreciation can make a big differences to others attending it and others surrounding it. This is a once in a life time experience for me that will be with me forever. The memories, the friendship, the life changing experience I had, really inspired me to continue on with the things I have a passion for, helping others.
Work Cited/References Bánáthy, Béla. "The Eleven Skills of Leadership." Leadership Development for Youth--White Stag Leadership Camp. 1998. Web. 16 Nov. 2010. <http://www.whitestag.org/skills/index.html>.
"Biblical Church Leadership." John3Thirty. Web. 16 Nov. 2010. <http://www.john3thirty.net/biblicalchurch-leadership/>.
"Church Leadership." Into Thy Word Ministries. 2007. Web. 16 Nov. 2010. <http://70030.netministry.com/pages.asp?pageid=56863>.
Email, By. "Two Major Problems the Church Faces Today | Standing On Giants." Standing On Giants | Looking to Stand on the Shoulders of Giants. 08 Apr. 2010. Web. 16 Nov. 2010. <http://thoughtsaboutnothing.com/two-major-problems-the-church-faces-today/>.