Wednesday, June 1

What kind of youth leaders do you have!!!???  I am ashamed that April 20th was my last post!  That seems like decades ago!

Since my last post, we've had a lot of great youth times!  Some highlights that stick out in my mind, aside from the great Bible studies, include the "I Spy" game in the sanctuary, the town-wide outdoor game of "Bigger or Better", and Carly's ice cream cones!!!

Last night was a lot of fun - me and the girls spent some time right off the hop going over the chocolat cake object lesson that we'll present at the joint youth service next week!  Who knew you could present a Godly lesson with such model-like sass!!!  (You really had to be there!)  Anyway, after the girls got that out of the way, it was music video time!  Lol....  While the girls had left the room, the boys turned on the radio and were blasting a Sugarland song which made Joseph break out into song followed by all the girls dancing around doing 80's like dance moves....QUITE THE SIGHT.  Shane and I had no idea how to respond to this except for laugh at them.  (I think they all thought we were laughing WITH them.....haha!)  Once Joseph satisfied his inner superstar, Shane taught us all a good lesson about respecting our parents.  Next was my personal favorite - BROWNIES!!!  Thanks Q & Alyia for bringing delicious chocolate brownies, chips, and chocolate milk!  After we were all full of brownies we played Blob Tag - which was quite fun although it turned out to be quite difficult to be the first person tagged and therefore I had to keep up with Joseph the whole game!!!  I'm a runner, but not a sprinter!!!

Anyway, all in all it was a great evening!  Thanks to everyone for coming out!  Remember that next week wednesday is cancelled and being replaced with a joint worship night at PV on Thursday.  Details on the time are still to come after I find out at a meeting on Monday!

P.S.  I'll try to post pictures yet, but I thought I'd get my write up out of the way just in case I wouldn't get around to uploading pics!!!

Wednesday, April 20

Wow!  What a fantastic evening we had yesterday night!  I was in awe of how wonderful our time was at youth yesterday.  We took off from RFC at 6:15 and headed over to Morris Fellowship Chapel to do the Journey to the Cross.  Everyone took the journey really seriously and learned so much from it!  We all took the journey individually and got to pray a lot on our own and touch a crown of thorns, taste bitter vinegar, nail a sin to the cross, think about distractions, rip fabric (representing tearing down of barriers between us and God), light a candle, and write our names on a wall with our prayer requests/praise items.  We had a long discussion time afterward and I think I can safely say we all grew closer to God and to each other through the experience.  I felt this was such an important thing to do this Easter season.  I pray that everyone takes their experience into this weekend and really celebrates Easter for not only the chocolate but for the real reasons.  Remember my challenge to you guys - share your experience from yesterday with someone who was not there.  Let's spread the word and the good news about Easter!

Once we were back from Morris we embarked on a chocolate Easter bunny hunt!  Shane and I hid the bunnies in pretty hard places which ended up taking up the rest of the evening.  We all munched on leftover chips, Oreos, our chocolate bunnies and chocolate milk!  YUM!

See you all next week Wednesday, 27th for a Bible study at the hut!  HAPPY EASTER!

Youth Plans Changed - April 20

Hey everyone!

I'm so sad/sorry I couldn't be at the youth event this last weekend!  From what Shane said it went really well - which is fantastic!  I'm glad most of the youth were able to be there!

On another note, Aaron will be handing out papers to all you guys, but I thought I'd post the info up here as well! 

This Wednesday, April 20th, meet at RFC at 6:10 to go to MFC for Journey to the Cross followed by a Chocolate Bunny Hunt at RFC.  Pick up is as usual at 9:15.  And I'm taking care of snack!

Thanks & see you a little earlier than usual on Wednesday!

NO JR. YOUTH THIS WEDNESDAY!

Hey Everyone,

There will be NO jr. youth this Wednesday!  Instead, please show up to meet the potential new youth pastor couple on Saturday at 7:30 at the hut with the rest of the jr. youth and sr. youth!  I won't be there, but Shane will be!

Love ya,
Trish

Sunday, March 20 - Glow Bowling!

Well I think I can safely say that everyone had a BLAST glow bowling last night!  Thanks so much to Bernie and Cheryl for driving a van full of crazy boys while I got to enjoy a car full of wonderful girls!  Well, we headed out at 6:00 from RFC and bowled at Dakota Bowling Lanes from 7-8.  Afterward we went to McDonalds for snack.  Here's some pictures!

The night was filled with highlighter art!  It glows!

My darling Alyia!

The ladies: Carly, Jayelle, Alyia and Paige!

I think my favorite art piece of the night!  So cute!

Lloydy!

Here you go...my butt as I bowled!  I promised I'd put it on the blog...yikes...

Moi et Alyia

James and Joseph (who always likes to look like he's dead in pictures...) and Paige

Paige, me and Alyia

Me giving some love to James...see the next picture for why!

Awwww...

Lloyd and Aaron!

Group shot!!!

That's all for now!  See you guys after our 2 week break!  Hope you have a great couple of weeks!

Bowling Invite

Let's all be honest here...I haven't been keeping up on the last 2 weeks of youth updates...and I'll be honest I don't see it happening before youth yet, but I wanted to post this little invite up for bowling on sunday.  Regular youth is still happening tomorrow though, so hopefully see you tomorrow night at the youth hut!

February 24, 2011

Last night was so much fun!  I think it was the first week where everyone almost seemed just a little exhausted.  Now, it goes without saying that this does NOT mean that there's not screaming, wrestling, and tons of running - but all just on a smaller scale!  I was quite grateful for this because I was surprised I even made it up the stairs into the youth room at the beginning of the night! 

We all had a great Bible study led by moi on church unity.  It was a very good lesson and everyone had lots of input.  We also had a great time of prayer where we shared many prayer requests.  If any of you parents or grandparents read this, I can assure you that through your travels and medical needs you are being prayed for by us!  It's so wonderful to see and hear the youth care so much for their loved ones!

Afterwards we played lots of "Grog" and "Sardines"!  I told them they weren't allowed to complain about playing the same games over and over again - because they really do BEG to play this ALL THE TIME! 

Finally we enjoyed DELICIOUS vanilla cupcakes, chips, and pop!  Thanks James!!!

I forgot my camera this time around, so in case you forget what the youth look like, scroll down to the previous post!  Haha!

See you next week for another Bible study!

February 16, 2011

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!

Oh how I love the season of love!  While we all should love one another on every day of the year...there's still something beautiful about the pressure on a guy to buy chocolate and flowers to celebrate February 14th!  As you can tell - I'm a big fan of v-day!  So, I thought our youth ladies should feel extra special too, and our youth guys should learn how it's done!

First we started the evening off with date picking.  The guys and girls picked candy hearts which paired them up.  The couples were: Carly & James, Aaron & Alyia, and our 2-on-1 date Paige, Joseph, and Lloyd.  We had dinner which included garlic bread, (here's a little advertising for the co-op - the best frozen garlic bread to be created!  I vow to purchase garlic bread all the time from the co-op from now on!), caesar salad, spaghetti and meat sauce, and brownies (another ad for kraftcanada.com - make "Cupid's Best Brownies" - AMAZING!).  In between courses, Shane led the youth in games like v-day word searches, BINGO, and other little games.

After supper, Shane took the boys off my hands, and I took the girls off Shane's hands!  I pampered the girls with pedicures or manicures while Shane got the boys to create v-day cards and write songs for their dates.  Afterwards, we went back to the youth hut for the presentation of their cards, songs, and presents.  IT WAS HILARIOUS!  "Black and yellow, black and yellow, black and yellow..."  (yes, this is still in my head, Lloyd!)

With our extra time we snacked a bit - even though everyone was still packed - and played a game of Sardines.  Sorry to the parents who waited anxiously for their kids!  Apparently Joseph, Paige and Lloyd have a KILLER hiding spot which took FOREVER to find.  Actually, I don't think anyone actually found them...we had to ring the buzzer to get them out of hiding!  Nicely done, group!

Here's LOTS of pictures for you guys to view.  I couldn't resist posting a million of them this time around!

I set the mood with candles and flowers!

Shane's Dollarama tie!  I love it!

Carly and Alyia anticipating the evening of love!

...Lloyd getting prepared too!  Does he really think he needs more energy!?

Aaron all spiffed up!

Carly and Alyia starting the evening a little early!

3

Picking dates!

Who do you have, Alyia!?

Lovestruck?

Everyone around the table hungry!

3-on-1!  Lucky girl!

By far the most serious couple of all!  Haha...NOT!

Cutie pies...

My helpers!  Thanks mom and dad for helping with the food and clean up so I could enjoy the evening too!

...He's just so cute...

BROWNIES!!!

Joseph reciting his poem and presenting his card!

Apparently Paige kissed him on the cheek later....no pictures of that!

Paige's second gift...from Lloyd!  Lloyd rapped his song, rolled on the floor and gave her a beautiful card!

Aaron speaking his beautiful words of love!  Maybe he'll be my valentine next year!?

Alyia gushing over her card!

HUGS!  I voted them best couple of the night!

James presenting his song - Bruno Mars - via ipod and his card!

I got a poem too!

Exchanging their gifts.

All girls love chocolate!

I think Joseph LOVES valentine's day!

Hahah...I love this one!  Good thing this rose doesn't have any thorns!

That's all the pictures!  See you next week for a Bible study!

Playing Catch Up Again!

Time to play catch up yet again!  Before I go into that, let's start with the announcement for this next week:

This Wednesday we're doing a Valentine's Day party!  It starts at 6:30, (the bulletin says 6:00 which is incorrect!  My fault!!!), in the RFC basement.  I'll be preparing supper and we'll do an evening of games and V-day themed fun!  Pick up is as usual at 9:15!  BRING: $2 for supper and a small gift for your mystery date.  Also remember to dress up!

Alrighty, I have 2 weeks to catch up on starting with the most current:

Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Just this last week was "my" week for youth - Shane and I take turns planning the weeks including planning the lesson and the games.  Well, unluckily for me - I was completely down for the count this last week.  I had full intentions of going to youth, but in my complete sickness I was about to put my jacket on and crumbled to the floor.  Apparently my weak muscles just didn't want to hold me up any longer that day!  So, off to bed I went!  So, thankfully Shane helped me out and played a full evening of games with the kids at the church while I took a nice nap!  He said the evening went really good and they all prayed for me - thank you for that!!!  I am feeling much better now and can't wait for Wednesday this week!  Again, there are no pictures to post since I wasn't there to be camera happy!

Friday, February 4, 2011
This was our joint youth rink night!  We joined REMC, PV, and MFC at the Rosenort Arena for ice games, indoor games and lots of snack!  I was quite busy so I never took any pictures (sorry!), but I think it was lots of fun for everyone!  Maybe you guys could post your highlights - favorite games, etc.!

January 26, 2011

***BEFORE WE RE-CAP!!!  REMEMBER THAT THIS NEXT WEEK'S YOUTH IS NOT ON WEDNESDAY!!!  IT WILL BE ON FRIDAY AT THE ROSENORT ARENA FROM 7-9 - MEET THERE AND BE PICKED UP THERE, NOT AT THE YOUTH HUT!!!  BRING $3 TO GET IN!  THERE WILL BE SKATING GAMES AS WELL AS NON-SKATING GAMES IN CASE YOU DON'T SKATE, AND FOR THOSE THAT WANT TO PLAY HOCKEY - BRING YOUR STICK AND A HELMET!!!  FRIENDS ARE MORE THAN WELCOME!!!***

Now to re-cap!  We had a really, really good youth last week!  Shane led the 3rd and last Bible study from our mini series about the trinity.  Afterwards, we spent some time outside on our huge snow hill at the church (thanks to all the snow clearing!) playing some relay-like games.  We split into two teams and took on 5 challenges: 1)Build a pyramid 3 ft. tall out of snowballs the fastest, 2)Transfer as much snow as possible from one area to the other in a certain amount of time, 3)Toss as many snowballs as you can successfully into a big garbage can in a certain amount of time, 4)Try to find 2 bags of candy hidden in the snow the fastest, 5)Dig as deep of a hole as you can in attempt to completely hide your shortest standing teammate.  After I was completely cold and the youth were boiling hot outside, we headed inside for another fantastic snack - FINGER JELL-O!  I personally completely forgot how much I love finger jell-o.  I have a feeling this weekend will bring me many snacks of finger jell-o to fulfill this re-found snack that I love!  Thanks Aaron!!!

Everyone on top of the big mound outside!

Lloyd getting his game face on!

The winning team - Paige's team - building their pyramid of snow balls.

Carly's team building their pyramid!

Moi and Shane!

Throwing snowballs into the garbage can.

Shane in the line of fire!

The winning team - yet again Paige's team throwing snowballs.

James in the dig and hide - The dug him as far as deep as his bellybutton.

Alyia hiding away in their hole they dug - they only got to her....um....derriere.

Our whole group - wish the picture turned out a bit better - but the gang's all here!

It looks like Paige and Alyia are having a chip-eating contest....Alyia - get in the game!

Joseph showing off his jell-o teeth....how adorable.

The happy family in our youth group - Quinton, Carly,  oh boy....sorry Carly...you'll have to harrass me for forgetting their names...I know Daniella's the one with the bling?

James oh-so-lovingingly tossing chips at me.

Watch out Aaron....does something stink to your right?

Happy-go-lucky Paige!