As the pavement turns to dirt roads Old shoes walk many miles, And hope always appears. Believing is the first step to faith. As sweat glistens on one’s cheek, When medicine is handed. A healthy child has become. Believing is the first step to faith. Patty cakes and sing song tunes Fill the air with laughter and joy. A child’s smile can make the world go round. Believing is the first step to faith. Colors and brushes hit the wall’ Splattering joy and happiness A mural of children and Romero show us love Believing is the first step to faith. Children sit in plastic chairs. Jumping with excitement and ready to learn. English and Spanish are combined with God’s love It is shone through. Believing is the first step to faith. Although these words are few It is the first step for generosity and happiness. We can help share But only if we believe and have faith.

“From the Thirty Hour Famine I learned that minorities in South America deserve a second chance and more opportunities.” Arindam, 14

“The famine taught me about the strength the needy have to survive” Dan, 17

The Amazon River basin is an amazing area of the world and the youth of the Deer Park Presbyterian Church spent the weekend of March 6-7, 2009 studying it while raising money by fasting during the Thirty Hour Famine. This was the thirteenth consecutive year the youth group has participated.

Fourteen young people raised over $4,500.00 in this year's famine. Almost ninety per cent of active church members supported the youth by contributing money to their effort. In addition, during our Saturday afternoon food drive at local supermarkets, individuals donated money and, more importantly, food to be donated to local soup kitchens and pantries, which are in significant need of donations due to the recession that we are experiencing.

Here is what some members of the group shared:

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“One of the main things I experienced during the famine was the kindness of people. While doing the food drive, we, of course, meet people who want nothing to do with us but others come out and donate bags upon bags of food.” Stephen, 19

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“The food drive reminds me every year how many good and generous people there are – and how generosity can be passed from person to person. The work one youth does brings out the best in others”. Frank, Assistant Youth Leader

Prior to the drive we did several of the activities in this year’s Tribe Game. One activity, Hide and Seek was modified as follows:

Youth had been separated into teams representing the countries of Peru, Columbia, Brazil and Bolivia. After describing the beauty of the four countries, the uniqueness of their wildlife and plant life, we also looked at the poverty and the struggles of their people.

Prior to Hide and Seek, we discussed the instability of the region. In this area of the world, governments, both local and national, come and go and sometimes it is hard to determine who is your friend, your ally, and who is not. Our version of Hide and Seek was created to demonstrate this instability and what it feels to be a part of it.

The Game: Hide and Seek

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With the youth present on their “country teams”, we randomly picked which country would be paired with which country. For example, it could be youth from Peru and Brazil against youth from Columbia and Bolivia. One individual from each pair of countries was chosen to be “it”.

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Youth, who were not “it”, were given one minute to hide. Once the minute was up, the two youth, who were “it”, had two minutes to find those hiding, who were members of the other team. If they found a member of their own team, they said and did nothing. When your hiding place was found by the person from the other team, you were taken to jail. No running away from the searchers was allowed.

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When the two minutes were up, those who were “it” and those not found stood on a separate side of the room from those in jail. Teams were once again chosen randomly. This part of the game led to discussion. For instance, the searching youth on the Brazil team, in round one, could have found many members of the Columbia team while being “it”. Yet since we chose the teams randomly in round two there was a one in three chance that Brazil would be paired with Columbia in the coming round and, thus, start out at a disadvantage. All the searcher’s work was lost because the people he/she captured and took to jail were now his/her teammates. We spent some time talking about this before round two.

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Since we didn’t want youth to stay in jail for the game, the following rule was created. Once the new teams were chosen, each could release members in jail to hide again but there was a price to pay. For every member released, the team forfeited fifteen seconds of search time in the upcoming round. For example, if one team released two team members, while the second team released three, there was still a minute for all youth to hide but the person who was “it” on team one would have one and a half minutes to search while the second team’s searcher would only have a minute and fifteen seconds to find those hiding from team one.

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After every round new pairs of teams were randomly chosen and, after playing six rounds, we announced there would be one more round to play after the upcoming round. Peru and Columbia opposed Bolivia and Peru. The searcher for Peru found all the members of the Bolivian team while few other youth were found. By the luck of the draw in the final round the Peruvian leader drew Bolivia as his partner. By the time he bailed his newfound members out of jail, his searcher had half the time to search as the opposing team and the team lost the final, ultimate round. It ended up being a perfect example of what some people in the Amazon River basin must feel when the powers to be realign themselves constantly.

We concluded our famine with two thoughts from scripture. I asked the youth, “Was Jesus ever truly hungry?” After some discussion, one mentioned the time he was tempted by the devil to change a rock to bread. We then stressed that our God, because He became human, understands hunger and other needs of the poor people of the Amazon as well as our own needs.

Turning to Jeremiah 29: 11-13 we read, “I alone know the plans I have for you, plans to bring you prosperity and not disaster, plans to bring about the future you hoped for… You will seek me and find me because you will seek me with all of your heart.” We reminded our youth the God made this promise to the people of Israel when they were in captivity in Babylon and, when they turned to him with all of their heart, he touched the heart of their captor to release them. Similarly he will meet the needs of the impoverished people of the Amazon, through efforts like the 30 Hour Famine.

If you would like to know more about our 30 Hour Famine or how to do one on your own, please write to: TimFerguson@christianyouthgroup.org

Here are links to: Thirty Hour Famine 2008

More ideas, like Hide and Seek, for youth to continue Spiritual Growth while having fun and making friends... click: From the Mountaintop