ELCA Youth Gathering Houston, TX – Wednesday, June 27th, 2018
Posted on Jun 27, 2018 in Youth Blog Post |
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MN HS Mission Trip 2017: Saturday, July 22nd
Posted on Jun 13, 2018 in Youth Blog Post |
“This is amazing grace
This is unfailing love
That You would take my place
That You would bear my cross
You lay down Your life
That I would be set free
Oh, Jesus, I sing for
All that You’ve done for me”
~ This is Amazing Grace by Phil Wickham
I am beyond thankful that I was able experience this past week with these 6 youth. These youth have put in so much time preparing and fundraising for this trip and have given up a week of their summer to go and serve God’s people, people they’ve never met before. At the beginning of the week these youth were friends who tolerated each other. But by the end of the week, they were more like family, bickering, teasing, laughing, and smiling with each other. I have seen passion in these youths to connect with people on a level beyond screens. I have seen them love kids who they’ve known for only a couple days, and I have seen them welcome a different community and culture with acceptance. I have seen them not only break down their personal walls, but their walls didn’t even exist this week. There was laughter this week and there were happy tears. We have been forever changed by the Ojibwe people and by the Youthworks staff this
As this is the last blog post from our trip, please attend our faith sharing services Sunday, July 30th at both 8am and 10:45am service.
Saturday was a long day of driving. We left a little later than we hoped because unlike the previous week, our girls were moving a lot slower waking up. But we still beat my estimated time we’d be on the road. We ate at McDonald’s for breakfast and I was able to purchase
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I saw God the Youthworks Staff, in the Ojibwe people, and in our youth.
I saw God in a lot of ways on this trip. I saw God in all the connections that were made and in knowing that God needed all these people to meet each other. We had to be in each other’s life stories for some reason. I made a really great connection with Amethyst, one of the Youthworks staff and I am excited to help her, guide her, in God’s calling to become a youth director. I remember on Monday feeling like I needed to give this girl my phone number. Um, God, I haven’t even known her for 24 hours! No! When it’s the right time, if that comes, then I will. Tuesday, I felt this feeling again. On Wednesday, Amethyst asked me about youth ministry vs Christian education and I knew at that moment, we needed to exchange contact information. Okay God, I get it now. I saw God through Amethyst and Danielle and all of the youthworks staff pulling together when Danielle was sick this week. I saw God in all of my youth. They included everyone and were open to things they had never experienced before. I saw God in all the hands that were held with the kids and piggy back rides given during Kids Club and our cook-out and I saw God in the laughter and the sunsets.
?~Kelsey Hlavac
?Thank you to Grace and its congregation members for supporting us financially and with your prayers for this mission trip.
This is Amazing Grace.
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MN HS Mission Trip 2017: Friday, July 21st
Posted on Jun 13, 2018 in Youth Blog Post |
?I saw God when all the YouthWoeks staff came to say goodbye to us at the car
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~Gracyn Marchesani
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MN HS Mission Trip 2017: Thursday, July 20th
Posted on Jun 13, 2018 in Youth Blog Post |
This morning we woke up at 7:00 and went to eat a breakfast containing of cereal and breakfast burritos. Around 8:50 we left to go to our service site, which was a house that had a lot of trash and a burnt down house right across the street. Our group, turtle river, worked very hard on our last day of service and we made each other very happy and grateful. When we arrived home, Gracyn, our new friend Julia, and I went outside with our other friends Max and Erik to play frisbee and to hula hoop. After an hour of fun, everyone went to Paul Bunyan park to do a scavenger hunt, which we did not win. Our team name was P.Neff. One of the pictures below shows a P & N and our team!
It was very sad that our last full day was coming close to an end, but that didn’t stop our fun. When we got back to the school we were staying at, we had our large group gathering to reflect our day and to pray for safe travels for the day to come. When we closed the gathering, we all got into our church groups. The YouthWorks staff washed Mike’s and Kelsey’s feet and prayed over them. Affter our leader’s feet were washed, they wased our feet and prayed over us as well. Then, we went to all the YouthWorks staff and washed their feet which they were very grateful for. Half of us were bawling our eyes out, knowing we were never really going to see our friends again. Justin, one of the YouthWorks staff prayed with passion as we closed out of large group.
?We saw God in ways we haven’t seen him before. One way was when we gave two little girls our popsicle sticks and in return, one of them squirted us with her water gun.
?~Sydney Floyd
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MN HS Mission Trip 2017: Wednesday, July 19th
Posted on Jun 13, 2018 in Youth Blog Post |
~Nathan McMullan
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