Internship Update

My internship is going well. I am interning at my church, at a middle school youth group. I work with the middle school kids every Wednesday night but I am also at the church Tuesday nights and most Sunday mornings. The internship has for sure been different this year than it has in the past two years I have held the position. My first year I became very close with a group of guys who were in 7th grade at the time. I hung out with the same kids last year when they were 8th graders but this year they aren't there anymore so it has been interesting finding a new group to hangout with. On the bright side of the boys I knew graduating middle school is a lot of them go to Cal now and seeing them on campus is so fun! I remember while I was a freshman my brother was a senior and it was so cool and helpful knowing him and all of his older friends on campus, I try to be the older brother for these guys on campus. One of them introduced me to his friends as," Greg basically my big brother". I am really looking forward to getting to know the new kids this year, and getting to know some of the kids I already know better. It is also really weird having a new youth pastor/boss I have lost of lot of the responsibilities that I use to hold, my old pastor and I were so close and on the same page with everything; it's not so much like that with my new pastor, we have a different approach to kids. He likes to treat them as if they are very delicate and fragile both physically and mentally. On the other hand I am a little bit more blunt, I'm not afraid to talk about those awkward pubescent things, and while playing games I am very loud and crazy, like my old youth pastor taught me to be. Sometimes that gets me in a little bit of trouble but old habits die hard and I've been told by some kids that they don't like the new guy. Those situations are a little bit awkward for me because I do see where they're coming from and frankly I agree with them, but I can't tell them that. Some kids have even left the youth group and I've seen them around town and asked them why I haven't seen them in while and they'll tell me that its just not fun anymore. My new youth pastor, Chris, is very set on changing things, he wants them to be his way and to not resemble the old way at all, it is hard to try to suggest things to him because he will immediately shut them down. There is clear division in the church now between people who are willing to conform to the new ways and people who want to keep the old ways and I am caught in the middle, being one of Chris' main guys but also being a caring leader to the kids who wants them to be happy. I'm curious to see how this all works out in a couple of months.