"Today was a terrible day because..."

[[Desolate Divine]]

Okay, so this is a rant about youth group and church stuff, so some of it may not make sense.
One thing that I am passionate about with youth group is inviting kids to come to church. See, even if they get absolutely nothing out of the sermon, they still become part of that community, and it gives us another hour or so a week to spend with them to hang out and build relationships with them. Hell, even if I got absolutely nothing out of being at my church, I'd still go for them.

Except the thing is, the last few years, we have sucked at inviting them. In 2014 we had a youth pastor who ran an extremely tight ship, and made sure leaders were attending church every week, and inviting kids to come along as well, and honestly, church had a thriving youth and young adults demographic because of that. However he left and from 2015-2017, we got a new youth pastor who didn't put much emphasis on inviting them to church, and was a fair bit more relaxed. Ever since then, numbers slowly dropped off. She left late last year and now we are running youth group as leaders, without a pastor currently.

In the last three years, we have had three kids from youth group start coming to church. Lachlan has been coming for 3 years pretty regularly because I invited him a few years back and offered to give him a lift. Emily and Ethan started coming because of Sunday Chills, a program I started on a Sunday Afternoon to make it easy for kids to be invited and stick around for church, however Ethan and his girlfriend who goes there broke up and he hasn't been since.

Either way, all the kids who have come to church, have been from my invite.

Basically my worst fear for these kids is that they go through youth group, finish year 12, and that's it. We don't see them again. Hence why I want to bring them to church. So we still have contact with them.

So at the start of this year, when the leaders gathered to plan the first term, I put it out there. I asked "Do we as a leadership team, see value in getting kids coming to church." The answer was a definite yes. So I asked "What are we doing to make that happen."

The point I was trying to make is that overall we are doing nothing to bring kids to church. The only invite they get is me inviting them to Sunday Chills, however I'm the only one doing that, so most of them don't come.

They missed the point. Completely. They said that we are doing Sunday Chills (which I am mostly doing, occasionally with one other leader, and get no offers of help with), and giving them the option to come to church (which is BS because if we were, in the last three years, we'd have had kids come to church that I haven't invited. But we haven't).

I left it there and hoped that some people would get the message, because I knew that those who are ignorant, would rather stay ignorant than realize they're being slack.

Anyway, so term starts. We just had Week 6 of term 1. And here is what's pissing me off.

We have three guy leaders. Myself, Michael and Joseph. We have six girl leaders. Santoshi, Lauretta, Jemmah, Nicole, Lydia and Bella. Lydia goes to a church that her dad runs which clashes with our evening service, so she is exempt from this, as is Jemmah who goes to our morning service, because she works Sunday nights.

The last six weeks, at the evening service, Joseph, Michael and myself have been there. Once, Nicole has shown up. But other than that, NONE of the female leaders have been coming. Which means that if one of the youth girls I invite to Sunday Chills and Church comes along, they will not have a leader to hang out with that night, and chances are they will not come back. And honestly, I don't think any of the four leaders who aren't showing up have an excuse. At least not one that holds any ground. Bella goes to another church in the morning and will use that excuse, but that's just not good enough. Honestly, if you only have the time and energy to go to one church, then it should be this one, because being a youth leader isn't just a Friday night job.

Basically, I am pissed off because all of these leaders agree that we should be doing something to bring kids to church, but none of them are actually willing to do anything to make it happen. I would rather them say "I can't be bothered" than agree with me but do jack-s***. At least then they can't play victim when I call them out for it...

[Noblejanobii]

My parents just called. My dog is in the hospital with a large stomach tumor. Her stomach is filled with blood and her intestines are a mess. My parents coming to get me now so I can go see her at 7:30 tomorrow morning. And after I see her, they're probably going to let her go. She's almost thirteen and a half. I always knew this day would come. But honestly I'm not ready. I've had her since I was 5. She was always smiling at me and when we took her to the kennel the house always felt so empty. She brought the place alive. God, I'm crying so much right now. I don't know what I'm going to do without her. She was the puppy I got for Christmas after my first dog died. I'm not ready. I remember all the times she ran off and I would have to chase her. I remember how she played with the neighbor dogs and the rest of the kids. I still own some of the clothes she teethed on. Heck, my favorite glasses case was gnawed on by her. I haven't played with her nearly enough. I haven't hugged her nearly enough. I haven't told her I loved her nearly enough. Why did she have to leave me so soon? Not even five days ago I was joking with my mom about making her an emotional support animal so I could keep her in the dorm with me. She was like a sister to me and I'm losing her.

This isn't the first time I've dealt with this, but I forgot how painful this is. My chest hurts, I feel sick, and I just want to wake up from this nightmare.

[Cleobel]

@Noblejanobii I'm so sorry to hear about the loss of your beloved dog. I can't imagine how painful it must be for you. My heart goes out to you and your family as you grieve the loss of a very lovable member of your family. May she rest in peace. I'm here for you if you need to talk.

[Chakramaster]

@Noblejanobii I'm sorry to hear that Noble. It's always really awful when our beloved pets are with us from such an early time and it seems so short to us. They live a lifetime in a short 10 years or a few more. They leave behind so many great memories though. Don't let those treasures fade. She helped bring you happiness that will last through your lifetime. Though the parting hurts, that treasure will live on through you. If you need to just chat or anything just send me a message or DM on Discord or PM. Whatever you may need to. We are all here for you if you need it, Noble. Sorry again for your loss of such a beloved member to your family.

[Noblejanobii]

@Noblejanobii I'm sorry to hear that Noble. It's always really awful when our beloved pets are with us from such an early time and it seems so short to us. They live a lifetime in a short 10 years or a few more. They leave behind so many great memories though. Don't let those treasures fade. She helped bring you happiness that will last through your lifetime. Though the parting hurts, that treasure will live on through you. If you need to just chat or anything just send me a message or DM on Discord or PM. Whatever you may need to. We are all here for you if you need it, Noble. Sorry again for your loss of such a beloved member to your family.

@Noblejanobii I'm so sorry to hear about the loss of your beloved dog. I can't imagine how painful it must be for you. My heart goes out to you and your family as you grieve the loss of a very lovable member of your family. May she rest in peace. I'm here for you if you need to talk.

Thanks y'all. We put her down this morning. She was munching on treats the whole time and died with a mouth full of them. I got to keep her favorite bandanna and currently have it tied around my backpack. I also got to clip off some of her fur. Not sure what I'm going to do with it but I have it. We'll be getting her ashes and a pawprint in the next couple days or so. It's just really hard, letting her go. I kept expecting her to wake up any second and she didn't. But I got lots of pictures of her. She was smiling until the end.

[Neo Emolga]

Thanks y'all. We put her down this morning. She was munching on treats the whole time and died with a mouth full of them. I got to keep her favorite bandanna and currently have it tied around my backpack. I also got to clip off some of her fur. Not sure what I'm going to do with it but I have it. We'll be getting her ashes and a pawprint in the next couple days or so. It's just really hard, letting her go. I kept expecting her to wake up any second and she didn't. But I got lots of pictures of her. She was smiling until the end.

https://rainbowsbridge.com/poem.htm

I'm sorry for your loss, Sloane. I know what it's like to lose a life-long pet and it takes pieces out of you. But you and your family gave her love, gave her a good life, made her part of your family, and that's something so many dogs only wish they could have. The love she gave to you was the kind of love she got in return and it made her happy to be with you.

Don't cry because she's gone. Smile because she came into your life, gave you happiness, and that she is a part of your family and always will be.

[Noblejanobii]

https://rainbowsbridge.com/poem.htm

I'm sorry for your loss, Sloane. I know what it's like to lose a life-long pet and it takes pieces out of you. But you and your family gave her love, gave her a good life, made her part of your family, and that's something so many dogs only wish they could have. The love she gave to you was the kind of love she got in return and it made her happy to be with you.

Don't cry because she's gone. Smile because she came into your life, gave you happiness, and that she is a part of your family and always will be.

Thanks. I will keep that in mind. It's just hard because it hasn't even been a year since my grandfather died and in that time I've lost he, my grandma, and now Savannah. It feels like a large chunk of my family is just missing from my life and the void in my heart has just gotten so big so quickly that it's hard to handle.

[Chakramaster]

Thanks. I will keep that in mind. It's just hard because it hasn't even been a year since my grandfather died and in that time I've lost he, my grandma, and now Savannah. It feels like a large chunk of my family is just missing from my life and the void in my heart has just gotten so big so quickly that it's hard to handle.

Sadly to say, it is all a part of life. Though they may be in our life for a short time. They help create many memories in which help bring back more smiles than anything. It's a tough hurdle to get past with everything going on. No matter your friends and family will always be there for you. If you ever need us we will always be here for you too, Noble. If it helps, draw or write a story of some of the memories. Listen to some music or do something you just LOVE to do to try and help take your mind off all the hurt. Scars may not heal, but wounds do. In time, everything heals. And as in what Neo posted. We are reunited with our dear ones in the end as well.

[Coru]

My first post in this thread, but it's a well deserved one. Just need to get this out before i go insane.
Lets rename it from "Today was terrible because," to "This week will be terrible because,"
So, Easter break has now started. I finished uni on Thursday and my dad came down to take me home on the Friday. Uni is about 3 hours away from home. He came down and all was good. We had a meal out, had a nice time and got ready to go back home the Friday morning. FRIDAY WAS HELL ON EARTH.
So we left to go home and within half hour we had to pull off the motorway onto a service station (A place with a restaurant complex and maybe a small convenience store. It's only small but theres one every half hour or so on the motorway so people can have breaks from long driving) Dad wasn't feeling well. Next thing I know he's having a panic attack, shouting at me whilst I try to keep him calm. Everyone begins ringing wanting to know what's going on, he's shouting at them and me. I'm getting calls every two minutes from all my family members, all saying ring an ambulance and Dad is shouting at me not to. Obviously I'm panicking at this point too. I go into the station to get a first aider and she also tells me to call an ambulance. So we're stuck on this car park for hours with all these people trying to sort out my dad, the ambulance arrives and we spend a few more hours in the hospital. Bearing in mind this is still two hours away from home in a place we don't know. They don't know what it is but they think it is serious considering they originally considered a heart attack... They say it's calmed down so no longer as serious but they can't find the real problem. My girlfriend was also coming back from uni (we go to the same uni) so on the way back she picked me up because i had nowhere to stay if I stayed with Dad. Flash forward to today, we've had to cancel our holiday, Dad's still in hospital not knowing whats actually happened, he is wired up to all these monitors, upset that he isn't with family, they want to keep him in till Tuesday and we don't know how serious it is. He seems fine in himself but his family medical history isn't exactly something that's giving us hope. This is meant to be Easter weekend. Good Friday most definitely was not good. ugh. It's not like I had enough stress as it is with all the uni work i need to submit in a month.
The next few weeks better make up for this poor excuse of a week so far..

[Pokemon Trainer Sarah]

@Coru Ughh how stressful! It must have been scary dealing with that all by yourself in a strange place. I'm glad it sounds like your dad is okay, and it seems like a good idea to keep him there and monitored just in case. It's a real shame it messed up your holiday. Sounds like you handled it really well and I'm sure when you're dad is feeling better he will be really glad you were there to help. I hope the rest of your break is loads better!!!