this is no longer my blog

When planning events for our extremely small and often uninterested young adult group, I try and listen to what ideas they may have. So far, the events that they have suggested have resulted in extremely low attendance. By low attendance I mean as low as me and one other person. Take, for instance, watching The Luther Movie. When we met to see if there was interest in a young adult group at church, the gathered young adults suggested that we get together the next month and watch The Luther Movie. So I planned a viewing of the movie, popped several bags of microwave popcorn, bought some soda, borrowed the movie from Supervising, and set up shop in the youth room (with couches and comfy chairs it was the best option for watching a movie). Out of the eight of us that planned this activity, only three showed up. So we watched the movie and ate too much popcorn. Then, some suggested going out to eat for supper sometime. So, I planned that. I found a restaurant in nearby bigger town that was recommended by the parish administrator, for being fun and different, and the waitresses dress like wenches. However, only one other person showed up for that. Finally, our last event was based on a suggestion by a non young adult member of the congregation. It was the cook out, and that was the largest attendance at a young adult event yet. Not counting me, we had 7 adults, three kids, and two babies.

However, this last time I went back to suggestions from the group. Someone suggested bowling. We had gone bowling before, and had only three other young adults show up. But I figured, since I enjoy bowling, we'd give it another try.

I planned Young Adult Bowling for this coming Sunday at 3:30, which I thought would give us enough time to bowl and not miss any major mealtimes. I said family was invited, because the bowling alley in town is a very kid friendly place. I sent out e-mails and gave the information to the church secretary to put in the newsletter and bulletin. A couple days later, PD comes and shows me, in the bulletin, next to the announcement for young adult bowling is the announcement for her sister's wedding shower which takes place the same day until 4:00. She thought that, for those who wanted to go to both, we should bump the bowling to 4:00. I agreed, willing to give up the half an hour. So we announced that Sunday that since the printing of the bulletins that the time had changed. But I forgot to tell the secretary. And she's been getting in trouble for inaccuracies and carelessness in our publications. She printed the announcements for this past weekend with the time at 3:30, but when she saw my report to church council had it at 4:00 she told me that I needed to let people know, when I did announcements in church this past weekend, that I didn't tell her that the time was changed. And not wanting her to get in trouble for my mistake, I did make a little joke about it. I said that the time had been changed and I apparently told everyone else except for the secretary, so she didn't know to change the time in the announcements. But I told them we were still bowling on the same day and the same place, just half an hour later.

When last we bowled, which would have been in April, I called ahead to the bowling alley and said I wanted to reserve four lanes. They told me that on Sundays they are not busy, at all, and so for future reference I would not need to call ahead for lanes on Sundays. (Can you see where this is headed?)

So, I was planning on calling ahead sometime this week, just to be safe. But I didn't need to. Earlier this week, PD went with a couple of the youth to go bowling, and saw that the bowling alley's new summer hours include being closed on Sundays. So she called me to let me know.

I wasn't sure what to do. Luckily, church council met that night, and it includes a couple of the more active young adults. So when it came time for me to report to the council, I told them what had happened. They were all as shocked and surprised as I was. I told them that, as of right now, Young Adult bowling was officially cancelled. They said that we should just go to Neighboring Podunk to the bowling alley there. I said I was a bit hesitant to go to other bowling alleys in case people brought their small children or babies, and I didn't want to expose them to bowling alleys. Church council president said her husband (whom I affectionately refer to as Chuckles) was a bowler. I asked her if she was trying to improve my opinion of bowling alleys. But then people said that the bowling alley in Neighboring Podunk is not bad.

So yesterday morning I remembered to tell the secretary that bowling would take place in Neighboring Podunk (after calling to make sure they'd be open and lanes would be available... I've learned my lesson!), and still the time is set for 4:00, although their summer hours include closing at 5:00. So, we'll bowl for an hour, and then maybe we'll get some ice cream or something like that. That would be a fun young adult activity, right?