AHG- Service, Leadership, Friendship

I hope that one day, when the girls read this blog, they will ignore my bad spelling (disguised as typos), and even worse grammar, and that they will smile and remember all of the wonderful opportunities and fun times they had growing up.  

Once again, we had a really great experience at a recent AHG Service Day.  September 20th was the American Heritage Girl's National Day of Service.  The charter church for our troop runs a food pantry that is open to the public twice a month.  So, we decided that the food pantry would be an appropriate place to serve.

 The girls were given paper bags and asked to collect non-perishable food about 10 days prior to the service day.  I will be honest and say that we did not go collect canned goods.  They day I set aside to do that, it was raining all day.  So, we just scoured our own pantry.

 The girls earned 3.5 hours of service by working at the food pantry.  They started off by emptying bags and sorting the cans into the correct boxes.

 Then they worked in the "shopping" area, where people who are in need pass by and pick up a certain number of items at each section.  It was fun to see the girls take pride in their displays!

 Nicole said to me "Mommy, I had no idea that there were so many people who were hungry!"  She couldn't believe that this many people needed help receiving food.  I think she felt very rewarded by the day.

 The girls worked really hard throughout the morning.  I never heard one complaint (from mine or any other girls).  They were given a variety of other jobs such as bagging candy (for the children who come through), sorting clothes, making bags of beans, carrying bags, etc.

The girls have asked if we can go back and serve again.  They really loved the ministry.

I enjoyed listening to the members of the church who run the pantry interact with the people who came. They constantly invited them to church.  You could see that many of them knew the stories of those who came, asked about family, prayed for the people, and worked not just to fill their physical need, but their spiritual need as well.

American Heritage Girls has been a fun organization to be involved with.  I am thankful for the reminder to serve others, and the values it is instilling in our daughters.  Besides opportunities for service, AHG also offers girls opportunities to be leaders, to share devotions and testimonies, to participate in proper flag ceremonies, and so on.  

Hannah got to be in her first official flag ceremony earlier this week.  Nicole got to hold the AHG flag and Hannah was the AHG Flag guard.

Nicole also was given the opportunity to share a devotion.  I was so proud of her.  She stood on a stage, in front of at least 100 people, used a microphone and shared about her experience at the food pantry.  Then she quoted a large portion of Mathew 25 as a way to share with the girls how we obey God when we help and serve the poor.  Yeah, I cried.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecTLYGUJ4bc

I found out that their unit is working on their needlework and also the Bible Basics badge.  I don't know anything about needlework, so I think it is really cool that they are learning about it. 

One last word about AHG....yesterday, both girls were extremely upset because "They never get to spend time with just each other and have fun, the way the used to".  I guess they don't notice that they are homeschooled and are with each other constantly, but that's besides the points.  I offered the suggestion that they pick an AHG badge to do together.  One they both would be interested in.   They can spend time working on it together, build memories, have fun, and use as little help from mommy as possible.  

Part of their set design

Making their puppets

They took me up on it!  All day yesterday they worked on their Puppetry badge.  They had a great time using a hot glue gun, designing puppets, planning and then performing a puppet show.  

This was their little stage

The big scary giant

Nicole chose the optional activity of learning about sound effects.  Hannah is holding up a tornado (purple sticks), Nicole was making a tornado sound by mixing small beans in a container.  She was snapping sticks and pulling on duct tape to make thunder.  It was cute, and made her think "out of the box"

So, one more feather in the hat of AHG....a way for sister to bond with one another.  I have heard the next badge they want to do with each other is Cake Decorating :)