Aslan Newsletter of November 12, 1997
Although it is often difficult for our Aslan kids to tell us how much our programs mean to them, we hear an earful when one of our activities has to be canceled!  Our annual thirty-mile "Shore Challenge" bicycle ride for our Long Branch students has now been rescheduled four times due to bad weather.  This last Saturday, the kids wanted so badly to have the ride that they were willing to bicycle through a rainstorm.  Hopefully, we will complete the ride this Thursday.

During a 25-mile training ride several weeks ago, one of our young ladies had a real problem.  First of all, Courtney had not eaten breakfast and came in a bad mood.  Second of all, she forgot to bring something to eat for lunch!  Courtney did nothing but complain the entire first half of the ride.  Just before lunch, the riders had to climb a long hill on a dirt road.  Tires were slipping, and some of the children had to walk their bikes most of the way up.  Everyone but Courtney was working hard to get to the top.  She got off her bike, sat down and refused to budge.

Lynn Ann rode back down the long hill to try and encourage Courtney.  The tendency was to want to drag her up the hill - kicking and screaming - but Lynn Ann tried reasoning with her.  Courtney was pouting, dejected and angry, so reason appeared to be out of the question.  She sat there blubbering about how she was not going up the hill.  Besides, she had no food for lunch - even if she ever did get up the hill.  Lynn Ann assured her that there was plenty of food to share, and she gave Courtney a choice.  Either ride to the top, or her grandmother would have to be called to come pick her up.  That got her attention really quickly!

In the process of showing Courtney how to zig-zag her bicycle up the hill, Lynn Ann fell hard to the ground on her bike.  Although she was not hurt, this served to jar Courtney out of her self-pity.  Almost instantly her attitude changed for the better.  With Lynn Ann's encouragement, she was up the hill in no time and a different child!  Courtney ended up with more food than she could possibly eat!  After lunch, she then led a group of riders on some mountain-bike trails through the woods.  It was nothing but smiles on the 12-mile ride back home!

Thank you so much for your support of Aslan through your gifts and prayers.  Although our children are often told by society that they will never succeed, we know better.  Along with a good dose of God's love, all it takes is someone who expects something from them and believes in them.  Day-by-day and one-by-one, lives are being changed through the work of Aslan Youth Ministries!

Most sincerely,