Appreciation

I have helped our local Pathfinder club with a program called Pathfinder Bible Achievement (PBA) for the last few years. PBA is a Bible Bowl type program with four levels where teams advance with a First place when they get within 90% of the top score at any event. I started helping because a few years ago Travis was on the team and no one seemed to be doing anything to help the team get ready for the first event. I found I liked making practice questions, so I have helped the team study the last three years. Last year Travis was too old to participate, Pathfinders can only participate when they are in grades 5-10, but I still helped the team study. I enjoy interacting with the Pathfinders and I like the feeling that I am helping them in some small way get a blessing from the PBA program. At the end of the Pathfinder year, I received a plaque in recognition for my help with the PBA team. I appreciated the plaque when I got it, but I appreciated it even more after Nancy told me that the plaque was the idea of one of the Pathfinders who had wanted to do something for a long time to thank me for my efforts to help them study. It meant a lot to know that it came from a Pathfinder and not just the adults. I am thankful that I received this plaque. It means a lot to me and encourages me to continue to try to help the Pathfinders on the PBA team study and learn meaningful lessons from the portion of scripture they are studying. Some of the adults associated with the PBA program do not appreciate my efforts (a long story with a lot of misunderstandings involved), so it is especially encouraging to know that a Pathfinder not only appreciated my efforts, but wanted to thank me enough that they took the time and effort to badger the Pathfinder leader into doing something to publicly recognize my efforts. I am thankful that I was appreciated.