Neah Bay, WA

Learning to Serve
by Rosemary Sternbeck
Ministry Staff

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We have experienced a very busy year in Neah Bay. It has been a bit tricky to prepare lesson plans and activities for the younger girls—Morning Star Girls Club, and the older girls—Morning Star Mentoring Program, that although are separate, complement each other. Let me try to explain.

Preteens and teenagers are by nature very self-focused. After all, everything about themselves is changing rapidly. Throw school and other “pre-butterflies” into the mix and you have your hands full! This year we have attempted to give the older girls plenty of room to “stretch their wings” and yet be “other” focused. My most asked question is “what does that mean, and what does it look like.”

Of most importance, is our foundation. We have been discussing:

• What is the Gospel and how do we communicate it?
• What does it mean to study the Scriptures and how will that build our faith?
• And always, always, always, to be thankful for God’s grace and the gift of His Son.
  

If the older girls were trying a new recipe we sometimes had them prepare extra and set it aside for the younger group to sample the next day instead of eating it all or taking some home with them. At the end of our year, the older girls made desserts and props for the younger girls’ play, “The Strongest One.” They helped behind the scenes and cheerfully filled in for “actresses missing in action.” They made cupcakes and cookies for fundraisers and manned the booth. They sewed quilts for the layettes gifted to new moms. One of the layettes went to a Quileute grandmother for her grandson. He has had some problems from birth so I get updated pictures of him and a progress report for the girls. I take back news to her of the girls asking about him as they continue to remember him in prayer. We try to do something special for the seniors every year. This year the girls made beautiful bouquets out of tissue paper arranged in cans covered with fabric and put them on the tables. Both groups of girls made key chains of beads and olive shells and the kind ladies of the LWML English District sold them for us.

The younger girls spent several meetings sewing pajama bottoms. Afterwards we had a pajama party, made individual pizzas and ate popcorn. At the party the girls used fabric markers to add pictures to a friendship quilt. The older girls later added Scriptures, and when it was finished, our good friends Terry and George Putnam, saw to it that it was sent to Haiti. Along with the play they presented, they decorated the tables with sachets they had sewed and gifted them to their mothers.

Recently, Sheri Timber, from Lame Deer Montana on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation, Circle Of Life Lutheran Church, contacted me. As a result of a tragic accident, three young women died leaving 12 little children motherless. She had heard of what we were doing with Girls' Club and wanted information on how to start her own group in an effort to reach out to her hurting community. We talked many times and I gathered a box of patterns, books, some crafts, and sewing items to help get her started. As I shared with my girls of Sheri’s progress, the idea started to form of making a trip to Montana to meet Sheri’s girls and help them learn to use the sewing machines and share some recipes. The girls in both camps quickly bought into this idea and it started to take on a life of it’s own. We made the trip in August and it was a wonderful exchange between these young women from two tribal cultures. Now the girls from Muddy Cluster are considering making a trip to Neah Bay!

It is sometimes when you least expect it that you hear  a word of encouragement . One of the ladies that helps me was at the youth traditional dance practice. A mother and grandmother came up to her excited to let her know that the dress their daughter/ granddaughter was wearing was one she had sewed by herself from the knowledge she had gleaned from Girls Club. Another mom made a special point of letting us know how much she appreciated having a safe place where her daughter “felt welcome and had the freedom to express herself without being judged.” I am proud of the girls’ accomplishments and their heart for others.