YLA Thinks, YLA Does

 “But for some students in our Youth Leadership Academy (YLA) group, this became their time to shine. “

For Thailand, 2021 has actually caused us more  Covid-19 stress than 2020.  So while things were out of control elsewhere, Thailand held pretty solid at relatively few cases.  But since the beginning of 2021, we’ve had almost 5 different spikes in Covid-19 that have caused us to rethink a lot of our ministries moving forward. 

But for some students in our Youth Leadership Academy (YLA) group, this became their time to shine. 

Normally, most of the program is centered around things we do with the students, like teaching, planning community projects, mentoring, etc.  But with Covid-19 shutting events down, it became clear that what normally happens in person would need to halt for the time being. 

So began the birth of YLA kit YLA tam (YLA thinks, YLA does) which gave the students in different youth homes the opportunity to come up with a project on their own, one that would serve their youth home.  We usually have a dozen or so youth homes come together to do a community project, but because so many homes have different policies regarding leaving and making video calls, YLA students at each home were encouraged to do a project of their own.    

One home in particular had about 5 YLA students, who were feeling ready to implement a project.  Because of being cooped up inside and not really doing a whole lot besides studying online during this season, they wanted to create an atmosphere of fun and enjoyment within their youth home through planning a respite type event that included worship, big group games, lunch, sharing time, and always more games. 

One of the coolest parts though was the follow up.  In talking with the main student in charge of the project, Wit, he can remember when he was a kid and not always being excited about these types of activities with his youth home. He was always in the group of kids who were not into it.  But recently, as he is up front and leading worship or games, he sees those same kids in the crowd, who may not look like they are having a good time, but he now understands the impact these events can have.  Because of course he is now the one leading them.       

In the next couple of months, we look forward to seeing what Wit and other YLA students at multiple homes will do, while patiently waiting for the time when we can meet with them in person.