2009 !Explore experiences

!Explore diverged from its regular format in order to attend Mennonite World Conference in Asuncion, Paraguay, this summer.  Not only was the context different, but so was the configuration of participants. Along with ten !Explore youth were their pastors, eight AMBS seminary students, and four AMBS faculty. The group of 32 traveled together, worshiped together, learned together and played together. Interacting together as youth, pastors, seminary students and seminary faculty was not only the work of this trip, it's the work of the church.

!Explore youth, their pastors, eight seminary students and four professors experienced MWC together--traveling, learning, worshipping.

How did the youth feel about traveling with adults and seminary students?  Hannah Schrock from First Mennonite Church, Iowa City, Iowa, said, “I loved our group and thought that we interacted very well together. We were all very different and it was fun to learn more about what was happening in other churches in North America. I learned so much about working and worshiping together with people who may or may not believe the same things as me. ... I learned many things about how to work with people of different backgrounds, viewpoints, personalities, and worship styles.”

Program director Andy Brubacher Kaethler was thrilled by the way each member modeled critical thinking, careful listening and a willingness to share their gifts in leadership.

There were three main components of this trip:

• attend Assembly 15 of Mennonite World Conference with over 5800 other Mennonites from 61 countries to worship, fellowship and learn with them;
• visit Mennonite churches, colonies and projects in Paraguay; and
• have teaching sessions together to help us understand the historical and theological issues related to the Mennonites in Paraguay and the global Mennonite body.

One of the components of the regular !Explore we kept was the Theological Exploration Groups, where five youth met with a professor, Loren Johns or Rebecca Slough, to discuss a theological issue important to the youth, and think about that issue in both our home contexts and in the global context.

Highlights from the trip:

• Ben Smith, a youth from St. Jacobs Mennonite Church, ON, was baptized this summer and his first communion with the global body was very meaningful.
• Attending the Global Youth Summit just before Assembly Gathered with more than 700 youth, worshipping together and talking about how youth can more actively serve the church and the world.
• Frequent late evening visits to “Biggest Restaurant” for banana splits.
• Being in awe of the natural beauty and grandeur of Iguacu Falls and the beauty and ruggedness of the Paraguayan Chaco.
• Sharing meals together with youth and adults from all over the world, working hard to talk across the common languages of Spanish, French, German and English.
• Learning about the three main groups of Mennonites in Paraguay: the Indigenous Mennonites, the Spanish-speaking or Paraguayan Mennonites, and the German-speaking Mennonites, and appreciating their vastly different cultures.

	In the Paraguayan Mennonite colony of Neuland, the women in the !Explore-AMBS group gathered at the monument honoring the hard-working women of the Chaco who helped to establish homes and communities in spite of hardships.
	Marilyn Rudy Froese and Mary Castello from Kitchener, Ont., were one !Explore youth-pastor pair. They are pictured with Iguaçu Falls (between Brazil and Argentina) in the background.