What a busy past several days I have had. This weekend was the fall High School Retreat. Our fellow congregations a part of the Alaska Conference Youth Board (ACYB) came together for one event at my internship church in Chugiak. We had congregations from as far as Homer (a 6 hour drive) come. The theme for the retreat was "Out of this World" based on John 15:16-19.
Hallway leading to the youth room-blacklights and stars
I don't have a steady hand, but you get the idea
The week leading up to it I spent decorating the youth room and church basement to turn it into outer space.
At the retreat was a former classmate (I guess he could be described as that) and Concordia St. Paul graduate Tim Walsworth who came with the group from Homer as a chaperon. We did some opening mixers and name games which made me think of Prisms (a CSP group who helps with lock-ins). Some of the mixers included the caterpillar race, frozen spoon race, Boppity-bop-bop-bop and "Never Have I Ever".
Caterpillar Race
Caterpillar race
We also had some pretty epic Bible studies. They were engaging, informative, spiritual and dare I say...fun. Each Bible study was centered around a word from our them "Out of this World". The first Bible Study was led by yours truly and was focused on "Out" how we are made to stand OUT for God. The world tells us to lie, gossip, be selfish, etc. but that is not what God calls us to do God calls us to stand OUT apart from the world and walk with HIM. The second Bible Study led by Gretchen focused on "This" and how THIS is the time, as we are given one life to live for Christ. Finally Jamie led us in the "World" how we are called to go into the WORLD for God as His servants.
This was a weekend of firsts for me; first time driving the church van (talk about responsibility! Snow and ice covered roads with 15 youth), sleeping at the church (it's strange sleeping at the place you work), as well as purchasing large quantities of food.
The youth also got to do a service project. We went to the community center up the road from church and ran games for the trick-or-treat extravaganza. Since there is snow on Halloween there are many indoor fall festivals, trick-or-treating, or other, warmer alternatives. The youth ran the carnival games for the 300+ children who came to the event. I think they had a lot of fun doing it too. See the slide show below for some of the highlights from the service project.
The youth also put together a worship service and led the 8:00am SONrise service here at church. They selected and led the music, wrote their own skit and created their own props for it too. I was thoroughly impressed but perhaps I shouldn't be as these students are downright amazing!
making the rocket for the skit...
They are very creative!
The completed rocket-you cant even tell it's a box!
The skit which was the message for the day
Student led worship-They did a fantastic job!
This is what it looked like 9:15am on Sunday-snow and dark-ish
Overall the retreat went well and the food...the food was fantastic thanks to some amazing cooks. The more work in ministry the more I realize how important and vital volunteers are. I've said it before and I'll say it again but volunteers are backbone of ministry, thanks to all who helped :)
Looking back i'm not sure where my energy came from as I had been battling a nasty sinus infection and after little improvement I re-visited the doctor on Friday (the day of the retreat) to find I had walking pneumonia. Despite my shortness of breath and fatigue the weekend went very well. I credit my energy to none other than the Holy Spirit as there is no other explanation. It's amazing how God gives you the strength for all things and sends others at just the right time to help.
I lift up my eyes to the mountains— where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. He will not let your foot slip—he who watches over you will not slumber; indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord watches over you— the Lord is your shade at your right hand; the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all harm— he will watch over your life; the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore. (Psalm 121)
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