Junior youth groups take off in Nevada South

During a recent teaching effort in the Nevada South (A) cluster, a number of junior youth groups and children’s classes were established. Throughout the country, these two activities have consistently shown themselves to be effective ways of building community. In this report from an individual believer in the cluster, you can see the enthusiasm of all the participants in these activities, and the transformation they are bringing to all involved:

Our focus today was to accompany the youth in their path of service. Children’s classes and junior youth groups were held in the neighborhoods, building on the work started by the youth initiative one week earlier. Dozens of children and junior youth attended, both Bahá’ís and from the wider community. Their inspiring stories continue to overwhelm us. Here is one: . . .

We knew today’s junior youth gathering was sure to be a great one. Our team of animators was eager to stimulate the minds and touch the hearts of the young people that we first viewed as students but are now beginning to seem more like equal participants in a process of growth. We knew things could only get better because of the steadily increasing attendance, visible enthusiasm in the children, and the hands of friendship extending past age-gaps and shared with all those involved. All of the animators became more comfortable with their role, and continued to deepen on what animation truly signifies. We are learning more every day about this “structured and organic” process.

Our students are ever-impressive in their comprehensive skills and the children are so thirsty for spiritual education. While we have experienced some challenges, through this process we have learned that animation is incredibly dependent on the adaptability of all its participants. We have been lucky to have been given these experiences to learn from and which we will always keep in mind with our future endeavors.