Saturday, October 27, 2012

               Through my experience hear at Qwanoes I have had many opportunities to not only participate as a leader but also follow and observe other leaders in action. I’ve come to recognize different qualities in leaders that make them good leaders. Some of these qualities are such as good listening, adaptability, and friendly confidence.

                These qualities I have noticed in many of the excellent leaders here at Qwanoes and in the Kaléo Program. But even though these are excellent qualities for a leader, for a follower sometimes they can be hard to follow. In a group of people usually everyone will come into the group with their own agenda and opinions. It’s a good thing for the leader to be adaptable but they can only adapt to a certain point, and sometimes it can be hard for followers to help out and also be adaptable. I know this is certainly true for me, I know I struggle with thinking my agenda is the best way to do things and sometimes that can make me into a bad follower. Another area in which I think I have followed badly is by not following instructions entirely or by slacking off. I think that there have been occasions in which I've not been prepared. One example this year was during the women’s retreat I was assigned to work in the Kitchen and because I didn't understand the schedule and I didn't ask questions I ended up showing up to work in the kitchen at 12:00 p.m. instead of 6:00 am.

                I think a  good follower needs to respect the leaders in the authority. This is an area that I think I have done well in. What I try to do to be a good follower, is to do what is asked of me right away and with a good attitude. Personally I think I have done with well within the area of my everyday life here at Qwanoes . I try to do everything the leaders ask of me right away and with a good attitude.

             October 11, 2012

In my church I haven’t had much of a chance to connect with Kids from my youth, as seeing that I have only gone to two youth groups and most of the kids in the youth do not go to church on Sundays. But the ways that I have tried to connect with them is in small group time. I have learned most of their names, but really haven’t had a real conversation with them as of yet.

                As for the pastor and people in other leadership roles, I feel as if I have made better connections.  Every time we walk into the church I feel very welcomed, there is always someone that takes interest to make conversation with us. I feel like we have made some good connections with the pastor’s son in which we have had good conversations with and he has become more like our friend.

                Overall I feel like the connections really need to be made to with the Youth, I also think that it will be the biggest challenge of this year to be able to get to know the kids. My experiences that I’ve had over the last two youth groups are that the kids are very out of control and that in this atmosphere it is really hard to make those one on one connections, especially when you are putting all your efforts in to trying to calm them down. My hope for this year is that I will be able to make connections with the youth and be able to share with these kids. As for our connections with the ministry groups in the church I think are great and I hope they continue that way.