I started as an assistant coach for the Bible Quizzing program at Spring Arbor Free Methodist church for this paper. We meet once a week on Wednesdays for a little over an hour. My job was to work with another assistant coach and a team of three girls and work on how to memorize John for the once a month Bible quizzing competition. With my other coach and the girls we work on memorization skills, practice quizzing and we also have fun. We want our girls to remember that the information that they are memorizing is important and should last them for the rest of their lives. Each week we study a new chapter of the book of John. There are also specific quote verses that need to be memorized for the quiz competition. Each month there are about six or seven quote verses. This is where the strategy comes in and they must figure out who memorizes what and what chapters each girl places all of their focus on.

For the other hours of the community service, I went and installed smoke detectors with the Spring Arbor Church of the Nazarene Church and pastor Jonathon Weathers at one of the mobile home communities in Spring Arbor. While installing the smoke detectors I was able to see some of the conditions that families lived in and how some families had to sometimes cram into the small space of these homes. I also had the chance to hear some of these people’s stories. It’s also interesting to see how the community has fallen apart. There are several empty lots where people have moved their homes or some of the homes are still there, but no one lives in them. It is slightly depressing to see what the condition of some of these homes and communities are like. There was one trailer that I went into where the smoke detector was so old it was a square box on the wall.

I love the girls at Bible quizzing. They show me how wonderful Bible memorization is and that it can be fun. I wish that when I was growing up I had the opportunity to participate in a program like this one. The quiz that I went to in Winona Lake was a wonderful experience. I have never seen God’s Word flowing through so many people in one area. The competition is really intense. I think that it is important to encourage the girls to win, but at the same time I have to encourage them to remember what they are studying. A win at a quiz meet will only last so long, but we want the Word of God to live in their hearts forever.

Installing the smoke detectors was really important. The entire time I was doing it I felt emotionally connected to each mobile home. If they don’t have the smoke detectors they are endangering everyone that lives in them. There were so many children and I would hate to hear about a mobile home going up in flames and there being lots of children fatalities. It was fun helping people who are a little less fortunate than us. Jonathon told a story about how someone who actually lived in the mobile home community that we were working in won a home through a bank and is now on the way to own a house. I love the redemption story and I think that there are so many people in those homes that can have a redemption story if they just realize their own potential and that God loves them. We handed out flyers to the Nazarene churches  (Spring Arbor Church of the Nazarene and Jackson First Nazarene) that are involved in the smoke detector program.

The lessons that I learned mostly came from Bible quizzing. I learned that by memorizing the Bible I could be a better witness to everyone. I know that these three girls will be amazing witnesses to the people they meet because of how much of God’s Word that they know. I think that it is also important to be a mentor to youth who are learning the Bible. They look at the Bible in a different way than I do and I love learning their perspective. The girls also keep my faith youthful and full of life. Through these girls I learned that anyone can have an impact on us and they make me want to be a better Christian. The lessons I learned from installing smoke detectors is that some people just need someone to listen to them. We are all storytellers and if there is no one willing to listen to our stories they get bottled up and we don’t know what to do. I also think that it is important to go out and do work to help those who we wouldn’t normally approach. These volunteer programs help us get involved and play a part in the growth of our community both spiritually and socially.