What an awesome crew:

All the people who dressed for the occasion!

The boys

and the ladies….

We celebrated Madison’s birthday! (..”Happy Birthday tooooooo yyoooooouuuuu!!!”)

And we played our awesome WHITE ELEPHANT gift exchange game!

Where people got lots of awesome stuff… like this Justin Bieber poster!!!

which comes in close second to awesome Birch Mason Valentines Day cards!?!?! 

People also got some old movies… on VHS! (What is a VHS!?!?)

and some awesome boxers!

All I wanted for Christmas… was a HUG!!!! (ahhhhhhhhhh)

And don’t forget…

SHABOODEQUAY’S QUESTION OF THE DAY!!!

I still don’t understand some of the answers on this board… !? However, I have one last question for you = would you rather have a…

JUSTIN BIEBER poster

or a

BIRCH MASON valentines card!?!?

This past Sunday, we went to Zaxby’s and ate lunch before we went to our main objective… We went downtown to the Valley Rescue Mission to help un-pack and organize all of the toys they received from their Toys for Tots toy drive and then we helped them set-up shop for the families in the area to get awesome gifts for their children! It was a great opportunity to serve and I was so impressed with our students and their willingness to get in, get crazy with the toys, and serve the VRM! All in all, it was a great time and we look forward to helping again next year! 

After the VRM, we went to the Smith house on Biggers Rd. and instead of decorating our usual Ginger-Bread Houses, we let the students be creative with their own sheets of Rice-Crispie-Treats! And the results were awesome…. check it out!

Good job Cullen, Luke, and Ricky… nicely built! The creation below started as one thing and ended another… thank you MS boys!
I have to admit, the houses below looked MUCH better before they started to fall! And the winner was….Good job Micah, Trey, and Laura!

This week = our White.Elephant.Christmas.Party!!!!!!!!

Bring a wrapped gift $5 or below AND bring a Christmas goodie for all to enjoy!

The theme for this year was, “What are you standing on!?”Our speaker, Michael Dean, did a great job preaching the Gospel to our students by challenging them to “pick up their cross daily” and follow Christ! We talked about the deceitful Rock of Self that we so easily try to stand upon, the sturdy and incredibly solid Rock of God, and then the gospel centered Rock of Christ that we are to share with others. The weekend was full of beautiful scenery,an awesome devotional led by Youth.Volunteer Allen Whitley,crazy games before our nightly worship and talk,great times around the camp fire! (this was taken the last morning on the trip… everyone was barely moving! and an awesome hour and a half long Adventure Race that went all over the farm while both tribes played tug-of-war over part of the pond, threw darts at balloons filled with paint, guided a blind-folded tribe member through a ropes course, pushed a hay bale down to the bottom of the field,took their tribe across the whole pond while one member had to blow up and take a pool float to the other side,they had to complete a life size Sudoku puzzle made by our very own Joshua Schuster,navigated through a gigantic maze while stopping to do different stations…like pulling their whole team through a hoolahoop while holding hands and standing on a 2×6,throwing tons of balls and frisbees into a bucket from 20+ feet away, then playing the favorite stumper Mad Gab,and then participating in an eating contest where every member of the tribe had to eat something off of the string without using hands and this included anchovies, mushrooms, peppers, pickles, donuts, and caramel covered apples!The final obstacle had the students throwing their ROCKS from the swinging bridge (or bank) into a bucket and when it was full enough, it raised their tribe flag! We also had an awesome dance party…and were entertained each night by our Emcees = John and Alfi (aka Josh Schuster and Allen Whitley!)All in all, we had an incredibly blessed weekend where God was glorified, good food and fun fellowship was constant, relationships were strengthened, and no one was hurt! We praise God for his many blessings and consistent goodness! Many volunteers, parents, and members of the church made this weekend possible – so a special thanks for all of you! You know who you are. AND a special thanks to AJ and Jolyn Morris for allowing us to use their farm and for their incredible generosity and help!

– Chew 12 Pieces of Bubble Gum and blow a bubble. Make sure a leaders sees you, or you’ll be in trouble!  – Figure out the Word Puzzle on the board:    _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _   _ _ _   _ _ _ _ _ _

 Clue:The angels and the Pastor both sing alike,

Words from the book of Isaiah, may it be near a mic!?

– Build a 3-story house using some playing cards, beware of some numbers of the Queen of Hearts! – Play ladder-ball and hang all of the ropes, even if you keep messing up = don’t loose all hope!

 – Go to the kitchen and look at the sink, what would you use to clean up some stink? Go look below and there you will find, the number of spoons you need before the end of time.

– Text DR the sentence written on the board. Pay attention to the details, they shouldn’t be ignored! He has to check to make sure you are right, so don’t go too fast but use all of your might!

– Find something that belongs to the Schuster clan, in the children’s department not in a can. 

– Each person has to say a correct mad-gab out loud to big Al, take your time and sound it out and don’t have a COW! 

– Take all of the spoons from the sink that you found, and get some peanut butter and make animal sounds!

 – Make 6 shots from the mark in front of the basketball goal, and don’t take to long cause the heat will take it’s toll!

– Find the matching words from Calvin found in a book, one in the Library and one in the Office… there you must look!      _ _ _ _     and     _ _ _ _ _ _  – Have all of you sit on the sign of the church, and take a group picture before you continue your search! Get the camera from Zach and return it right back!

– What’s 44 x 7 – 11 + 3… then subtract 24 and add onto it 3 more. Multiply then add 21 and 5 then subtract each number by the square root of 9! Go tell Zach and then one more task you will find! (use can’t use electronics)

– Use the water-balloon launchers to hit the spot… do it fast – because it’s hot!

– Use banana-gram letters to write a 10 word sentence, make it quick or ask for repentance! And the winning team was….And the whole group!!!

We will be going through the book of James this Semester during Youth.Group! Below are a few highlights from the book that we will hopefully dive into. I am excited see God’s Word challenge and encourage us to not only be hearers of the Word, but doers.

JAMES – Overview

 Persevering through Trials!

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance!” James 1:2-3

Wisdom (asking for it)

“If any of your lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.” James 1:5

Listening and Doing

“My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry, for man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.” James 1:19-20

 Faith and Deeds

“In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.” James 2:17

 Controlling the Tongue

“Out of the same mouth comes praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be.” James 3:10

 Submitting everything to God

“Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God, and he will come near to you.” James 3:7-8

 Worrying and Sin.

“Why worry when you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a midst that appears for a little while and then vanishes.” James 4:14

 Be Patient in Suffering – God is Sovereign.

“You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near.” James 5:8

 Being Men and Women of your word!

“Let your ‘Yes’ be yes, and your ‘No,’ no, or you will be condemned.” James 5:12b

 Praying for each other.

“The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.” James 5:16b

Will Buck… sliding into first base.Margaret… complaining that I was distracting her!?!?And then she slid into first (safely)!Good game… good game.And then… the fun began!Is this Phillip!?“Get it Girl!” – Erin G.DR = great face.woooooohooooooo! Go Bellah!!!!!!!
WE OWE A HUGE THANKS TO THE ROSS FAMILY FOR LETTING US DESTROY THEIR GRASS AND USE THEIR HOUSE!!!!

]]> http://standrewsyouthgroup.wordpress.com/2011/09/02/summer-re-cap-slip-n-slide-kick-ball/feed/ 0 zmsmith2 DSC_0259 DSC_0245 DSC_0248 DSC_0249 DSC_0252 DSC_0253 DSC_0256.1 DSC_0261 DSC_0268 DSC_0270 DSC_0271 DSC_0278 DSC_0281 DSC_0283 DSC_0284 DSC_0285 DSC_0295 DSC_0312 DSC_0310 DSC_0307 DSC_0316 DSC_0317 DSC_0318 DSC_0319 DSC_0322 DSC_0324 DSC_0328 DSC_0329 DSC_0333 http://standrewsyouthgroup.wordpress.com/2011/08/19/summer-re-cap-restorest-louis/ http://standrewsyouthgroup.wordpress.com/2011/08/19/summer-re-cap-restorest-louis/#comments Fri, 19 Aug 2011 22:14:39 +0000 zmsmith2 http://standrewsyouthgroup.wordpress.com/?p=1801 ]]>

Restore: St. Louis

One trip.

One mission.

Relying on God

Everyone working together

Singing praise to the Lord

Teaching every day

Opening eyes to the truth

Reading our Bibles

Evenings in the park

Stories of Jonah

Telling kids about Jesus

Life changing events

Outward actions

Understanding each other’s needs

Ideas for worship

Servants of God.

poem by Madison Mapel.

This Summer we have had to say good-bye to a lot of our favorite Youth People – the Seniors who are going off to college, and the Molica’s – who moved to Kansas because of Nathan’s job with the Army. Nathan and Veazey have meant a lot to each and every one of us and we are going to miss them tremendously!!! I personally can not tell you how much this couple has meant to me and already miss them like crazy.

Usually, we have a few pictures to show memories of the people who we are saying good-bye to, but with Major Molica, we have LOTS of videos. Unfortunately, the long movie that we showed on this night is too long to post online… however, here are a few pics from our farewell! [The t-shirts were a surprise – and have a TCB (in a flash) on the front with John Rambo’s (a.k.a Major Molica) face on the back saying, “Get Your Fitness Up!”