High School Christmas Party

THIS SUNDAY- 2pm at the Church if you need a ride- otherwise meet at the bowling alley at 2:30pm. Bring $10 for bowling and dinner and another $10 if you plan on staying for the movie. Merry Christmas!

Home!

So obviously I did not have internet access over the weekend to try and update the blog, which was a bummer. BUT, we did have an amazing time in Inglewood, Compton, Watts, and Los Angeles. We visited congregations, played through all of the red apples to apples cards, saw a historical landmark, made new friends, danced in church, ate lots and lots and lots of great food and gave thanks to God for being able to do all of it. More stories will be shared soon...

On the road again!

We are getting ready to embark on the largest youth trip yet at Saint John's. The youth chose unanimously to return to Inglewood for our fall service learning trip.

Generally when I tell people that I am taking 12 high school students and 4 adults with me to Inglewood, Watts, and South Central LA, they usually respond by saying, "WHY???" or sometimes, "Whoa..." Well, as we discussed last night in our getting ready meeting, there are plenty of reasons why I am taking them there. First, of course, is that we had an amazing experience last year. The youth really shined. They approached our trip with open minds and hearts, which paid off in the end. Yes, the inner city feels like a totally different world then our quaint Central Coast. And in many ways it is a different world. And yet, there is a part of us that is connected to the people there through our Christian faith. The trick is that we have to filter through a lot of stuff to get to that connectedness.

I have often asked myself, if Jesus were alive and walking the earth today, where would be choose to spend his time? Who would be his companions? Where would I have to go to meet him? The gospels demonstrate time and time again that Jesus chose to spend his time with people that the rest of society would rather ignore- tax collectors, prostitutes, Samaritans, people with leprosy, fishermen, women with less than stellar reputations.

Is there a chance that Jesus might choose to spend his time with the poor and struggling of Watts? Is there a chance that he might choose to talk with the kids who take to hard life in the streets? Is there a chance that Jesus might want us to notice these people too? Is there a chance that we might meet Jesus when we go to meet our brothers and sisters in Inglewood?

Well, I feel it is worth it to take the trip to find out. And I pray for God's blessing as we journey.

Oh the Memories... (Inglewood 2008)

ROCKSTARS!

We had a great time at the Rockstar Middle School Youth Gathering last weekend. On Friday afternoon the 10 of us loaded up into 2 cars and headed south. We got there right in time to catch the first Mass Gathering with Agape (Lutheran Christian Hip-Hop artist David Scherer). The theme encouraged us to look to God as our rock and salvation. On Saturday we had workshops, another session with Agape, time for swimming and then 7 hours at Universal Studios! Saturday night Agape gave a great concert- everyone was singing and dancing, while at the same time learning more about God's amazing grace. Sunday morning we worshiped together with holy communion and heard the story of how Jesus comes to us in the poor, hungry, homeless, sick, and imprisoned. Agape challenged us to find an issue that we care about and to try to make a difference in that area of the world's need. All in all God was really good to us this weekend!

Rockstar: Middle School Youth Gathering!

We are having a great time this weekend in Woodland Hills. Unfortunately I can't hook up the camera to show any pictures yet, but they are on their way. We had a blast at Universal Studios, Agape is amazing, and now we are getting ready to close the weekend with worship together.

Welcome 7th Graders and Congrats Confirmands!

We want to especially give a shout out to all our 7th graders who we kidnapped for breakfast a few weeks back!

And congrats to all of our confirmands for doing a great job on their speeches! We made them get up for breakfast too the day before confirmation- but we did not make them skip down the pier! More pictures to come!

Dustin showing off his prize he won at the rockband tournement.






Ally and Conner lifting the tire they won.

Everyone had a great time showing their rockband skills. More pictures to come!

Guitar Hero/Rock Band Night Rocked!

Conner has some amazing vocal stylings!

The High School Youth get to have a game night every once in awhile when we finish up a more serious set of youth nights. Tonight we played Rock Band and Guitar Hero BEATLES Edition. Thanks to Eric and David for bringing their games. Randy was also our Awards Master and he found some pretty creative stuff. Here is the breakdown of who won:

Blue plastic bowling pin: Dustin
Custom painted rock for rocking hard: Kasi
You Rolled Over the Competition Spare Tire: Allie and Conner
"Did Well" Orange Traffic Cone: Tyler
You Obviously didn't see the TV Glasses and Case: Anthony
Pink Rusty Electric Scooter names Opal: Dan

The competition was fierce, but the winners came out victorious. Until next time!

Congrats on the Harvest Festival!

Several of you spent some time at our Harvest Festival Booth last weekend. With your help we raised $150 for Habitat For Humanity through selling quilt tickets and $100 through running the basketball game. Here is how you voted to distribute the $100 we raised for us:

$25 to Habitat for Humanity
$25 to Pennies for Peace (check out the link to learn more!)
$25 for Middle School
$25 for High School

Congrats on this great way to give something back and support some great organizations!

And if you are over 16 years old you can come and work at the Habitat for Humanity site in Grover Beach in a few weeks (Oct. 16-17)!

Youth Group Officially begins this week!

This Wednesday Night- EPIC begins again!

Ryan and Terilee are excited!

Are you excited!

The schedule for youth night is more or less the same, with the addition of our new Fine Arts Ministry: The Movement!


4:30-5:30pm Confirmation/Junior High Youth Group

7-8:30pm High School Youth Group

Junior High, we will be studying together our confirmation stuff! High School we are trying out some new material- come and check it out!!!

Introducing our High School Theme for '09-'10!

"Breathe"

The inspiration for the theme this year came from the song "Learning to Breathe" by Switchfoot. I was listening to it after we got back from our trip New Orleans for the National Youth Gathering. And as I was listening I realized that sometimes life just gets to busy that I forget to breathe. And I found myself wondering, where is it that I go when I need a break so I can catch my breath and get focused on what is important? I had to think about it for a little bit.

This year I pray that our Wednesday Night youth groups will be able to be one of those places for you. We all face a lot of pressures in our lives- from school, family, friends, etc. Those pressures can be good or bad, it kind of depends. Sometimes we need to relearn what it means to breathe in God's grace every day and be released from the pressure and remember that no matter what God is with us.

We will be changing up the way the room looks, changing up the routine for what we do together, and offering some new cool theme nights- Art Therapy Night, Doubt Night, and a lot more. I hope that you take the opportunity to come every week to be present and breathe in God's love for you, just as you are.

The leadership desires that youth group will be a time and place for you to feel welcome, cared for, and empowered to go out and make a difference in the world!

Newspaper Coverage

On July 22, the local New Orleans Paper did a great story about the youth gathering. Click the link below to take a look:

The Times-Picayune

Gentilly Terrace Elementary School

Here are a few shots from our day of service. We didn't even know what we were doing until we got on the bus this morning! It turns out that we got to do the finishing touches on the hallways of Gentilly Terrace Elementary School, just in time to surprise the parents and students at the start of the school year. The principal of the school has been trying to get it painted for two years, but did not have the budget. The school was flooded during the storm and had water up to the windows for several days. We met the principal and she shared that having the groups come has inspired the faculty to include the junior high kids to continue the project by having them paint the upstairs hallway. The principal's goal is to empower every single child to graduate from high school.

Our group worked incredibly hard to make sure our area was spotless when we left and they did a wonderful job! Here are some of the pics, and take a special look at the video below- there's messages for you!

Day of Service!!!

Mmmmm Crawfish!

It's a little bit warm!

So it was definitely hot outside today, really, really hot! But we spent the morning in the air-conditioned Interaction Center in the Convention Center. It was basically a big playground/information center/store/fun activity/a thousand other things that was the length of 6, count 'em 6, football fields. Unforately I (Pastor Sarah) forgot my memory card for my camera and my phone so I had to go back to the hotel to get them. I did however run into a ton of wonderful people I know and get some good Old Lutheran gear the store! I hope Kevin likes his present!

It is a beautiful thing to see so many people committed to "living lives worthy of the gospel." The Holy Spirit is the part of the Trinity that we say is the creator of community. Well, the Holy Spirit is working fast and well at the National Youth Gathering this year. Everywhere we go we make new friends! God is also working in the midst of the 16 of us as a group, strengthening relationships or building new ones. However, this kind of overstimulation did get a bit overwhelming a few times and I think we are still learning how to move and function as one organism and not just 16 individuals. We are getting the hang of it though...slowly but surely. It is an adjustment for all of us who are used to looking after mainly ourselves to remember that every decision we make affects the rest of the group. But these are life lessons that we will take away from New Orleans and back into our day-to-day lives.

We are also getting ready for our service day tomorrow! I pray that we will all get rested and ready to go so we can be fully present in that experience! Today we walked along the river and I was able to share with some of the group just why the Hurricanes were so devastating. I think it makes a difference when you can look at the river and imagine it overflowing into the streets.

Please pray for us as we prepare our hearts to be one small part of God's justice for all in the world.

God's Peace to you!
Pastor Sarah

Some pictures for your viewing enjoyment

Hurray for Day 2!

Here is a brief update straight from the mouths of our team members:

Anthony: Everyone's our best friend
Sean: The taxis are "great" but Frances disagrees.
Conner: I got the most high fives.
Allie: We met AGAPE!!!!!!!
Savannah: There's lots of long lines...everywhere.
Eric:We met lots of new people- and they are awesome people.
Denise: I think the weather has not been as bad as we all expected.
Dustin: Three Green Peas are awesome.
Stephanie: It's hard to walk on these sidewalks with crutches! Hi Mom!
Brooke: The mashed potatoes were gross...I was disappointed. And it rained and it was amazing!
Brian: Food's great.
Leslie: My feet hurt but I'm still going shopping tomorrow.
Michelle: I heard an awe-inspiring speaker tonight.
Pat: We saw lots of great T-shirts, but ours is the best.
Frances: I had a grrrreat lunch on Bourbon Street! I thought that pirate was a statue.
Pastor Sarah: I'm pretty sure we have the best group here! And everyone loves California!

We Made It!

I'm not going to lie. Today has been a loooooooong day. Everyone had to be to the church at 5:15am, so we all had to get up really early to start with. Then we had a few mishaps getting here. Unfortunately someone (not from our group) ran over Stephanie's big toe with their suitcase and it ripped off a portion of her nail. We took here to the doctor here and they were really helpful, but she is on crutches for a day or two. Please pray for her!

Yes, it was a process and a lot of things did not go according to plan.

But now that we are here, we can really feel the love around us. We just barely made it to the first mass gathering, but the part that we did experience was incredible. The picture posted here (I'm too tired to figure out how to rotate it right now) does not even do it justice. At the center of the stage is a cross that is probably 40 stories high- reminding us of what we are focusing on. Our speakers were amazing, the music was awesome. We really made it!!! We looked around and there were Lutherans as far as the eye can see!

The youth have been such good sports all day long. I have not heard any complaining- just positive attitudes and patient hearts. They didn't get to eat lunch and we didn't get dinner until after 10pm (That's a long story.) But they are all still having a blast and glad to be here. I also appreciate the way that they are taking care of each other and being appreciative of the other sponsors. I am very proud to be their pastor.

Tonight the theme of the mass gathering was "Speak the Truth." Part of our calling as Christians in the world is to not be afraid to speak the truth about the world and speak the truth to the world. I pray that God's truth can be etched into our hearts this week.

Here are a few more fun photos from the day:

Less than 24 hours to go!

For nearly a year now we have been getting our hearts, minds, and wallets ready for the ELCA National Youth Gathering in New Orleans and now the day is nearly here! Tomorrow we will leave at 5:15am to head down to LAX. We'll be joining 40 other people from the Central Coast who will be our travel partners across the country. That seems like a lot of Lutheran teenagers, but it's nothing compared to the amount that will be gathered in New Orleans for the week: 36,000 people!

Personally, I am excited for this trip for a few reasons:

1. This is my first time to a national youth gathering- I've been hearing about them for years.
2. We have a great group of people going from Saint John's.
3. I have had the privilege of going to New Orleans 3 other times and this will be a great 4th trip.

Once right after the hurricanes I co-led a trip of 12 college women from SD to the Gulf Coast to do hurricane relief work. We did all sorts of labor in people's homes and around the city of Ocean Springs, MS. The second time was a year later I was chaplain as a group of 200 college students from St. Olaf (my alma mater) spent spring break doing hurricane relief work. Our group mainly helped build a food bank from the ground up. The third time was when I was MC at the Youth Ministry Network Extravaganza last January. All three of those experiences were formational for me as I was discerning my call to be a pastor in the Lutheran Church, as well as in my Christian faith. I hope and pray that this trip will be as inspiring for the youth as my past trips have been for me.

God is doing great things in New Orleans. I have experienced that first hand. I am so glad that we get to be a part of it!

Looking forward to seeing everyone tomorrow morning- bright and early!

Pastor Sarah

20 days and counting!

Here is a picture from the 2006 National Youth Gathering in San Antonio! If you can imagine 36,000 people who all share a common bond: Christian faith through the Lutheran lens. That's like the entire population of Arroyo Grande, Grover Beach, and Oceano combined coming together in New Orleans this month- but the majority will be high school youth!

We'll be staying at the Roosevelt Waldorf Astoria just off of Canal Street and you will be able to follow our trip here on the SJ Youth Blog!

Snuggie for our Graduates!

Congratulations on graduating from high school, Eric and Anthony! We hope that your Snuggies help you to remember a few things: 1) You are awesome! 2) The Youth Group wishes you well as you prepare for college, and 3) God's love surrounds you and is as close to you as a Snuggie!

May God bless you in this new venture!

A Letter from Bud and Cherry in Moorhead

Saint John's Youth Group,
We received the prayer quilt you sent. Thank you so much. That was very thoughtful of you.

We also thank you so much for helping remove sandbags. What a great bunch you are!! We were getting pretty tired and it was so nice to sit back and watch those bags fly into the truck. There is one thing this flood did- it made us all realize what a treasure the youth of our country is. They came from several states and if not for them our cities of Fargo and Moorhead would have seen much more drastic flooding. The river is finally within its banks again. It was above flood level for 61 days and broke the record for the length of time it had done that...

Thanks again for all your help. Words cannot express the appreciation we have for all of you. May God bless you and keep you in his care.

Bud and Cherry Olmstead

Delores' Letter

Hello Everyone,

This is a letter that Delores sent us:

Thank you Ryan, Brian, Eric, Anthony, Reece, Brooke, Allie, Savannah and Pastor Sarah. Your help was really appreciated, so nice to meet you all. Am sending you the picture I took of you group on the sandbags. You can be so proud of the boys & girls that came with you. Tho't of them the next morning, how tired and sore they must have been. They worked so hard. Thank you all very much for your help. Hope they weren't too tired to go out Saturday eve.

-Delores

We were on the news!

The full piece is after the long weather segment.

Fritz and Gladys

We all woke up pretty tired on our 2nd day in Moorhead. Hauling sandbags around for 6 hours finally caught up with us. A little bit of coffee and pastry and a light shoulder rub from Pastor Sarah helped to lift spirits a little bit, but it was pretty obvious that the kids weren't exactly jumping up and down at the idea of hauling sandbags for a second day, and this time in the cold and rain.

Going to worship at Trinity helped too and Sunday School got us all chatting, but the real shift happened when we pulled up to a house that afternoon and saw an older gentleman with one leg step out of the garage. Then I heard several of the youth say, "Ok, now I'm glad that we are here." Meet Fritz. Fritz (again not his real name- the nicknames are popular for older couples in Oakport!) is a Korea vet who lost his leg to diabetes a few years back. He would have preferred to do all of the work himself on his house, but he and his wife, Gladys, have slowed down recently. Fritz and Gladys had sandbags up around their whole house, but because they are on a little bit of a slope, the dike was not as high as some of the other homes. So we got our boots and our hats on and started hauling.

And then not soon after we arrived, the news crew from the NBC affiliate KVLY in Fargo showed up to do a story on us. (Click here to watch it- it's on the 5:30-6am segment after the long weather forecast.)

We were all amazed, but it only took us 3 hours and we were able to finish the whole house! Fritz had a Bobcat, which helped a ton and we had some healthy boys vs. girls competition to keep us motivated too. It felt really satisfying to walk away knowing that tomorrow was going to be a fresh start for them. Here are some before and afters:

Josh and Kyle- what super guys!

I want to take a moment to especially thank our hosts in Fargo/Moorhead- Pastor Josh and Kyle. Josh and I went to seminary together at Luther. I actually met Kyle at the Youth Ministry Network Extravaganza in New Orleans in January. I was one of the MC's for that event and he volunteered to come up on stage and sing High School Musical in front of several hundred of our colleagues in ministry in order to win some free stuff. I don't know if he uses the free stuff much, but I'm sure glad that it gave us an instant reason to meet! Kyle and Josh are both on staff at Trinity Lutheran Church in Moorhead, MN.

After our day of work and our AMAZING showers (THANK YOU YMCA!), Kyle and Josh gave us a walking tour around the river area and shared more about the flooding and the impact that is has had and will continue to have on them and on the entire community. We saw the Red River at 30 feet, which is still considered flood level. We saw a road and a park that are still completely underwater. We also saw the huge dikes built up along the sides of the river. The pictures really can't adequately show just how much water there still is- everywhere you look!

Josh and Kyle also shared their stories and the choices they had to make in the midst of the crisis period. It wasn't easy, and it was amazing to hear just how complicated life became for everyone. And since Josh and Kyle both work in ministry they also shared their deep concern and care for the families of their congregation. Ministry can be challenging on any given day, but ministry in the midst of a natural disaster- that's a whole different story.

Then they even took the time on a Saturday night to join us for dinner, Dairy Queen, and a little bit of hanging out at FiF Street (the Trinity Youth Center.) Thanks Josh and Kyle- you are 2 super guys and an inspiration to all of us!

Mission in Minnesota- Day 1!

Well, we have completed Day One of service of our Mission in Minnsesota/ND and I am very, very, very tired! After getting up at 5:30am this morning and driving 3.5 hours up to Moorhead, we spend the day moving sandbags! Now it is after midnight and I am finally heading to bed.

We went to two different homes today, helping out some elderly folks who were unable to take down all of the sandbags that had been put up around their homes to prevent flooding. I can't remember exactly how many we moved in total, but I know for a fact that we moved over 1,400 at the first house alone- it was hard work, and we got dirty, but it felt good to know that we were a part of helping to return life back to normal for a few folks who have been through such an emotional experience. And I am telling you, we all appreciated our shower and dinner tonight! The whole team did such great work today- trudging through even after they were feeling worn out. And then we were reminded that we may have been doing this for an afternoon, but these people had been living this for weeks. It's a humbling thing to recognize. In the end, we are so grateful that we were able to serve Delores, Bud, and Cherry in God's name and let them know that we care. The pictures from today are priceless and here are just a few- I think they'll tell the story much better than I can at the moment:

Flooded with Friendship

In just a few hours we'll be getting on a plane and flying out to MN. And as I think back on it, this trip came together so quickly for us- it was like all of the pieces just fit together. And the reason why is because all of my amazing friends were so quick to respond when I sent out a plea for help.

Truly, this trip would have been nearly impossible to set up so quickly and easily without their help. I feel so blessed to have such wonderful people in my life. My friends Jen and Brie and meeting us at the Mall and providing breakfast for us for tomorrow. My friends Cate, Jeni, Colin, Matt, Jesse, Judy, and my brother and sister-in-law, Adam and Kate, are lending us sleeping bags and pillows for the weekend.

Cate is also letting us take her car to haul stuff up to Moorhead, which is incredibly generous!

My friend and Dean of Students Patricia set up housing for us at Luther. We are staying at my friend Josh's church in Moorhead and my friend Marc's church in Saint Paul. My friends Tom and Molly provided the inspiration to go in the first place and have shared their experiences and lessons learned from their trip this last week.

It's a real testament to the power of friendship. They are not doing all of these things expecting something in return. They are simply helping out of the goodness of their hearts. And honestly, I don't have much to offer them anyway- except my gratitude and friendship in return.

Mission in Minnesota

In just a few short days we will be leaving for our Mission in Minnesota to help with flood recovery in the Fargo/Moorhead area for a few days. I just recently read that the weather is going to be chilly when we are there, so I hope you CA kids are ready! We will be flying out on Friday at noon to land in Minneapolis by 8pm. If all of our flights are on time we will get to swing by and check out the Mall of America before we go to stay at my seminary for the evening.

I want to especially give a shout out to all of my friends who are lending us sleeping bags and pillows! THANK YOU!

Easter Breakfast this Sunday!

The youth are once again hosting the Easter Breakfast this Sunday. Come for a breakfast of good old fashioned egg "dish", fruit, muffins, orange juice and coffee. Yes, I will also be sporting my world famous bright orange apron with the hot pad pockets! All proceeds will go to support our trip to New Orleans this summer!

AND High School- we WILL be having our Easter Monday Movie Madness All-Nighter starting at 8pm on Monday night. Do you think you can stay up for longer than me? Do ya??? So far movie requests include- Juno, Wall-E, Indiana Jones, Neverending Story, Batman Forever, The Breakfast Club, and a few more. I'm looking forward to it! Anyone else bringing their knitting projects???

Easter Peace,
Pastor Sarah

Some Highlights from Jazz and Jambalaya

Let the Good Times Roll!

Our Jazz and Jambalaya Dinner was a huge success!!! People of all ages pitched in to help us out in our efforts to raise money to attend the National Youth Gathering this summer in New Orleans. (For more info, check out the link to the right!) Because of the generosity of our friends, family, and church family, over $5,000 was donated to the cause! WOW! What a bunch of hard workers! Brooke acted as our talented and charming MC. Allie, Conner, and Dustin were our Raffle Crew, Savannah and Leslie shared their reasons for wanting to go, Anthony offered an opening prayer, Eric and Brian worked behind the scenes as head waiters, David cooked up a storm, Sean and his dad Mike made an AMAZING video- everyone did a great job! Rich was a great auctioneer, Myron and Cal got our toes tapping to some Nawlins style music! And let's not forget our amazing kitchen crew!!!

I will try to get our video posted online so that you can watch it again too!

Jazz and Jambalaya Dinner this Sunday!

This Sunday from 5-8pm we will be hosting the Jazz and Jambalaya Dinner- with great music, great New Orleans style cooking, and lost of fun! We are raising money for our youth trip this summer to the ELCA National Youth Gathering in New Orleans! We have a ton of great auction/raffle items. We'll have a live auction, a video presentation, live music, and, of course, jambalaya! Dinner is served at 6pm- we hope to see you there!