Blackjack Leads to Jesus

When the FSY program was first introduced a few years back, Nathan was super excited about it. Unfortunately, Covid delayed the program by several years which means Nathan never got to go. It was just one more disappointment associated with the pandemic. Well, this past week that wrong was somewhat rectified. Nathan was able to experience his first ever FSY session, just as a counselor rather than a participant. Nathan originally applied to be a counselor for just the one week that the ASL FSY will be held, but after looking for a job for months and with no prospects on the horizon, which we all think is weird due to the many help wanted signs posted all over and is in no way due to complacency on his part, he opted to pick up an extra week so he can have some kind of income over the summer. He was assigned to a session at Boise State University, so on Sunday he drove to Provo to catch the shuttle to Boise. Yes, I know that seems like a lot of wasted travel hours since Logan is so close to Idaho, but that is the way FSY travel works. You catch your transportation where and when they tell you to.

When Nathan returned home this evening, he had loads of stories for us. Apparently, the group he was assigned to ended up being the worst group in terms of behavior, attention, and medical issues. It made for a wild and crazy week. With illness, attempted late night forays outside of dorm rooms after lights out, kids flashing gang signs in group photos, and a bunch of other random stuff, Nathan was pretty worn out by the time the kids went home. However, he still managed to connect with that tough group of boys and came away glad that he had chosen to participate. 

The catchphrase Nathan came home with that he felt summed up his week is “blackjack leads to Jesus,” which definitely requires some explanation. On Wednesday evenings of FSY, they have a late-night pizza night for the kids. After consuming their treat, Nathan’s boys settled down to play cards and asked him if he wanted to play blackjack with them. His initial reaction was to say no because that is really not his thing, but the Spirit told him to stay. And he did. He played blackjack while the boys bet using the snacks they brought from home. Nathan told me that his relationship with those boys changed that night. Somewhere between dealing the cards and complaints about lost Poptarts, Nathan and those kids bonded. They were still a handful, but things were different for the rest of the week. So, listening to the Spirit led to blackjack led to bonding led to a more respectful youth group led to a more uplifting experience as they let the gospel sink into their lives just a little bit. Hence “blackjack leads to Jesus.”

Overall, and despite being seriously sleep deprived, Nathan enjoyed his week and would do it again, which is good since FSDY begins in just over a week!

Matthew also spent the past week experiencing FSY for the first time. Getting him there took a lot more planning and work than it did for Nathan though, since we had to figure out a weeklong food plan for him in a situation where he had no control over his schedule, was away from home, and could not safely eat any of the food being prepared for everyone else. We have long since learned that freezing individual meals prior to trips is a great way to go since eating granola bars and fruit snacks three times a day for days on end gets very tedious, but in order to make them an option, you need to have a way to keep food cool and a way to heat it before eating. 

We listed all Matthew’s allergies and requested accommodations way back in January when he registered (which I actually did while sitting at the computer for a good half the day trying to get the one weekly session that did not conflict with marching band or our fantastic vacation), including that we would supply a microwave and small refrigerator if needed. I was in contact with the accommodations team on multiple occasions as they worked to find a solution, but it was less than a week before his session started that we finally got it all worked out. This is still really new for everyone running the program too, and they were figuring things out as quickly as they could. After exploring several options, they settled on one that would fit all of Matthew’s needs. 

BYU runs two full sessions of FSY at the same time. The only difference between sessions is which dorms the kids are housed in. The solution was to move Matthew from the session he was registered for to the other session which would put him in a dorm room that already had a mini fridge as well as its own sink. There was a microwave in the lobby so that covered all his bases. Since it was a last-minute move to one of the rooms reserved for just such last-minute needs, Matthew also had the room all to himself which is always good for his mental health. Having a roommate that he doesn’t know and who is unaware of his food needs always stresses Matthew out. And with good reason. Over the years we have found that people who have never needed to think about all the implications of having severe food allergies, there can be a serious learning curve about how to manage food safely. Something as simple as touching a food item can make it unsafe for Matthew to eat, so having someone who doesn’t know and understand the drill in close proximity to his food makes him nervous.

With the logistics squared away, Matthew was able to jump into everything else with both feet. He really clicked with his group and the entire week was a huge spiritual boost for him. One of his counselors was named Matt and another of his group members also claimed the moniker so having three of them with the same name was kind of a fun coincidence. My Matthew arrived home today tired but spiritually renewed. He will be eligible for one more session of FSY in two years. Although he will have recently graduated high school and won’t be able to register until after the younger teens, I think that if he can make it work schedule wise, he just might go again.