Youth camp and a communal Sunday

Today was a super happy day for me. The day started with picking up Lydia and Mary from youth camp. I was delighted to learn that they had a great time and they want to go back in July for the reunion that whole families are invited to. I can’t wait!

When we got home, Lily and I worked on the house and then we hosted home-church.

I led a discussion about scripture, what it means to each person, how it manifests to each person, and what recent scripture people had been touched by. The discussion was so rich, including a folk-lore expert who explained that scripture often does not need to be written, because historically scripture/myth/folklore was communicated verbally, and once it is written, it’s frozen in time and future generations often can’t relate to it as well, not being connected to the time in which it was written. I thought that was fascinating. We explored the negative aspects to scripture (trying to control people), and the positive aspects to scripture (guiding during difficult times, comforting, inspiring) and what scripture means to each person. People shared that scripture could come from a therapist, a tv show, a friend, traditional scripture or even our own thoughts or words (reminding me of one of Lily’s poems). And I loved hearing about the recent things that inspired people lately. I had such a good time, and the group lingered almost an hour afterwards just chatting and bonding. I REALLY love my community of Christ people.

After church, we had Carla, who is our Pastor, and her husband Cuzma (spelling?), and their two kids over for dinner. It was so amazing to get to know them more. Carla has been a member of the Community of Christ her whole life and has been all over the world working for the church. Cuzma’s father was the first person in the Ukraine to join the community of Christ, and now there are 5 congregations there. Cuzma and Carla met in Missouri while going to the Community of Christ temple. Cuzma also had incredible perspectives on the war in Ukraine especially since he has parents who have been affected twice by the conflict (first in 2014 and now again in 2022).

After a delightful dinner, Lily and I crashed on the couch. I got up to get all my tomato cages and fertilizer set up and put the kids to bed, and Lily helped clean the kitchen and tuck kids in as well.

What a happy happy day!