The following student report was submitted by Ambassador League Agent Joshua F. during the 2009-2010 League.
Mission: Tactics - Promote SSI
When something is as great and fun as SSI, you can't help but tell someone about it. And even before joining Ambassador League that's something I've been doing. Whether it be friend or neighbor or someone from church, I normally am on standby to introduce someone to SSI.
Earlier in the year, my family received ten or so SSI brochures. And a week or two later I realized I needed more. When I received the brochures, I began carrying them with specific intent-to hand to someone I thought might go, or someone who might be interested. But not too long afterward, I was carrying one or two with me as if they were my wallet. You never know when you'll get to share SSI with someone, so it helps to be prepared.
On a side note I ask you to look back at the former paragraph. The same is true for sharing Christ with someone. Many need to know, and we have the ability to tell them. But a plus side to sharing SSI with others is that sometimes they aren't Christians, but come to the camp anyway. And at SSI they might (as several have) give their lives over to Jesus, because of the great program SSI has to offer; or because you get more and more chances to share Christ with them if they come.
When you're telling people about SSI you find that they each look at what you're saying a little bit differently. Some might take what you say as if you're sharing a great opportunity with them. Others might take it as you trying to get them to spend more money on something their kids don't need. And others (as was the case in one of my experiences) might think that you're hitting on their daughter whom you've never even met before! But all in all, SSI is something worth telling people about.
One of the biggest chances for me to promote SSI came this March when I was given the opportunity to man an SSI table at a Homeschool Book Fair (yeah we have those). That was both an interesting and an awesome experience. The best part of it was when I, and the others manning the table, we were talking to several different people at once. They all were listening, and as they glanced at the other people who were taking interest they realized it wasn't something they wanted to just walk away from.
At the Book Fair I was able to talk to some who had heard about SSI before and were finally able to understand what it was all about. But for others, it was the first time they'd ever heard about the program. Many liked what they heard and signed up that day, while others nodded their heads and scurried past hoping to avoid having to listen to us. And still others listened to us until we got bored, took pamphlets, and signed up for the e-mail list even though their kid still had years until they were eligible to attend SSI!
Another fun thing at the Book Fair was being able to formulate a general script for everyone I was talking to. But try as I might each time I told somebody about SSI it was a little bit different. That's because each person you talk too is different, and the kids they end up bringing to SSI are a bit different in some way. They're unique. And because the people who come are unique, the camp itself is all together unique. And when you have such a unique camp that makes such a unique impact on others, those who tell others about SSI's uniqueness shouldn't be unique in doing so. All this to say, EVERYONE should promote SSI!
