Alright folks, so tonight is the one of the mostl anticipated and awaited for nights of the year...

The Hayride

Now a couple things you need to know (and tell others)...

1. Bring $5 to help cover the cost of things

2. Go to the washroom before we leave and strech your bladder as there are no washrooms

3. Tell all your friends to come as it will be awesome! Also, our group is in charge of leading the worship for the evening, so that's cool!

Now then, the evening will have a time of worship and then after that the 'worship' will continue as we mount the wagons and engage in HAYFEST 2007 (because all great things have the word Fest in them)...take note, you will have 2 options for the hayride!

1. You could go on the un-anabaptist inspired wagon of mayhem where the participants will convince themselves like little children that what they are doing is extreme (see above photo).

OR

2. You could go on a truely extreme wagon...let the nay-sayers and their name calling of this wagon (i.e. "wussy-wagon") fool you...this wagon is trully extreme! The name calling is all part of it (this is nothing new for our people...we've been called bad names before). Tonight some very brave young men and women will gather on a wagon for The Flight from Russia Simulator. Join as we remember what so many Mennonites went through...were it not for their braveness there would be no Mennonite church in Canada!


So tonight, choose...will you embrace the worlds notion of what is "extreme" or will you do something trully extreme and experience the fear and drama of The Flight From Russia Simulator? The choice is yours...as for me an my household we will remember our past so that we won't be doomed to repeat it!






Also, don't forget to be getting in your Fast pledges!

Friday and the 30hr. Fast

Hey everyone,

Alright, so I want to encourage you all to get out there and be asking people to support you for our 30hr. Fast in November...we have just under 2 months which should be a good amount of time to be getting donations.

Think big...ask people on your facebook group, your family, at church, teachers...I'm going to have something put in our bulletin at Scott St. so the members will know we're doing this, all you need to do is start asking people...trust me a lot of people will actually be excited to give to such a great cause!

I put the word out to the members on the Scott St. facebook group and youth alumni and I heard back from someone saying to tell you guys to be asking them and they'll for sure support you...so, that's what I'm doing.

Currently we are at $260 which is around 11.5% of our goal, so we got some way to go, but if we all pull together I know we can smash that goal!

Now then, as to what we're doing This Friday for youth, it's our anual News Paper Fashion Show...so bring your creativity and see if you can out-create the legendary Sharktapus!

I don't have any pictures of the Sharktapus on hand, but here are some vintage youth shots from way back...and why yes that is Becky Lowen (nee Bartley) & Brenda Krumrei (nee Klassen) as Homer & Marge Simpson; Tim Durksen as a beautiful bride and Jordan Plett as I don't know exacly quite what...

Oh, and don't forget to vote on what your favorite September event was...

For those who are keeping track, Charity's Craft Night was the big winner for August with Make a Movie night as a distant second.

Fire safety and this Friday!

Firstly,

I thought what with school starting this might be a good video to expose you to and help you all be informed in the importance of fire safety!



Nextly,

This Friday we are having a retirement party for Vic Fast, there will be a ton of fun and entertainment...however, I can't promise that we'll have a roast to the level of the following for Vic



But I may be wrong.

Also, we'll have a special guest appearance from my fellow Water St. resident Phil Reimer for our opening and many more surprises!

So, come one, come all to the retirement party for Vic.

Remember Youth starts at 7pm now...see you then!

Pastor Tom

Bible Study Kicked-off

So last night Youth Bible Study started off to a great start! We talked about how you would like to see Tuesday Night's look for this year (content & format wise) and you gave some great input...

So, as per discussion...Next Tuesday we are going to start going through the Gospel according to Mark leading up to Christmas. We're going to spend the next couple weeks looking at the life of Jesus and I'll try to throw in some things to "spruce it up a bit" (i.e. media clips, activities, whatever I can think of)...I'm looking forward to some amazing discussion!

Then in the New Year we'll probably kick it old school and look at the Old Testament some more.

THIS JUST IN...Every 1st Tuesday of the month we're going to switch it up! On those nights we'll break from our regular study and seperate for a guy's n' girl's discussion night! The girls will be at 2A Water St. (Char and my place) and the guys will be upstairs at 339 Scott St. (aka the youth room).

Also last night we dreamed together as a group for things we'd like to see happen in our youth group and had an amazing time of prayer! I'm really excited to see what God is going to do this year!

Peace...and see you all next Tuesday at 2A Water St.!

Pastor Tom out...

Youth Sunday on Friday!

Alright, so to you're left you will see a picture of Robert Mason behind the pulpit at Scott St. MB Church. That picture is from last years Youth Sunday service and Rob was preaching. It's really cool that we have a church family that allows and has enough faith/trust in its youth group that we can take over the entire service!

So, this Sunday (September 9th) the youth of Scott St. once again will take over the entire service.

We're doing it all...greeting, ushing, leading worship...you name it*. So if you haven't been asked to do something for the service yet then talk to me (Pastor Tom)...I want to involve EVERYONE in one way or another! Email, call, something!

Also Friday we are starting at 7pm so make note of that...and actually this is just the first of a new usual thing...Starting this Friday youth starting time is moving to 7pm so put that into your schedules! Darryl Lowen is going to be sharing with us and then we're going to be practicing and figuring things out for Sunday, so come and find out how to do what you're doing and to support each other!

Also, be praying a lot for Sunday and especially for Danny Fast who is going to be preaching!

Lastly, note that the Summer Retreat was voted by you as our favourite event in July...now vote on August events!

Tom

*Well actually we don't have a sound person, and someone else is doing the prelude as they happen to be in town and really wanted to, but other than that...you name it!

This Friday and some other stuff...

Guy/Girl Night!

This Friday the men and women of our group will be seperating!

The Guys will be meating (er meeting) at Scott St. at 6pm and then going tubing & water skiing!

After that we'll head back to the Wien's place for some midnight meat and possibly swimming...

So bring swim wear and some meat!

The Girls will be meeting at 2A Water St. at the regular youth time of 7:30pm...as to the details of what they'll be doing, I'm not allowed to know as I'm a boy...

This should be an awesome time for everyone!!!

Also, note that I realized I hadn't changed our monthly poll...it's changed now, but you'll only have a little time to vote on your favorite July event as August is almost done!

Be praying for our youth program...your leaders will be meeting soon to talk about this coming year and there are some good/exciting ideas.

Pray that God makes this the BEST YOUTH YEAR EVER!!!

Best Kickball Team Ever

Kickball and Garage Sale

Hey all,

I want you to right now look through your stuff and see if you have anythings that you don't need...that can be sold!

This Saturday our church is hosting a Community Yard Sale and I'll be running a youth table. Hopefully there will be lots of good stuff to sell so that our youth group can keep doing lots of fun and exciting things without it costing you a ton. That's where you all come in.

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE let me know if you have anything you can donate for the yard sale! If you could bring it on Friday, that would be best.

Also, if you can help out on Saturday PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE let me know. I could use some people helping me with the youth table and the church also needs 8 people to help with some kids games.

Let me know ASAP!

Now as to YOUTH THIS FRIDAY...

As you can see by the pictures and the title...We'll be playing:
KICKBALL
so be sure to bring your "A" game because your "B" game just won't do!

Pastor Tom out...

CHARITY'S CRAFT NITE!!!

It's finally here!! This friday is the friday you've all been waiting for... CHARITY'S CRAFT NITE!!! Now keep in mind there are a few things you need to remember to bring, so I've attached the flyer to remind you.

Everyone needs to bring a 20cm square piece of fabric that you feel represents you. It doesn't need to be new. It can be cut out from an old t-shirt, or from wherever you can find a scrap that you like.

You will have a choice of two main crafts that we will be doing ...

1) French Memo Board - for this you do not need to bring any supplies

2) Stencil something - you will need to bring...

• whatever you want to stencil onto
• a drawing or printout of what you want your stencil to be of (keep in mind that you will have to make a stencil out of this so it shouldn't be too complex)

Also, if you can, please bring some money to help with the cost ($5 suggested)

And the most important thing you need to bring is... A CRAFTING ATTITUDE :)

See you there!!

Friday

Hey everyone,

We're going swimming this Friday!

So make sure you bring your swimwear and be at the church for 7:30. We'll be leaving soon there after to go to the Duerrstein's house.

If you're not a strong swimmer, I'm sure that you'll find the video bellow of great help!

"Make sure you constantly practice and never give up. Good luck, and we'll see you at the olypics"

Tom out...

Please Read

Hello everyone,

Bean wrote a great email that I want to get out to all our youth...so I'm sorry if you get this more than once...I hope you all read it AT LEAST once!Here it is:

I don’t know about you, but I had a great time on the retreat this past weekend. Spending time together in nature reminded me again, of the beauty of community and I appreciated the reminder of how important it is to be a part of a group that is not only a safe place to be myself in, but is a safe place to grow and be challenged in.

Mark talked about the importance of the choices we make and I really appreciated the honesty you guys shared with during the sharing time. It’s hard to see the impact that the choices you are making now will have in your future; who you hang out with, how you spend your time and money, the way you treat your family, even the movies you watch and books you read. All of these things will effect the person you become.

Who do you want to be? I read a quote once that said, “Life isn’t just about finding yourself, it’s about creating yourself.” And I guess I want to challenge you to be intentional about exactly that, about creating yourself and becoming the person you want to be. Don’t just go with the flow of things and end up being a person you don’t want to be. Think about who you want to become and then make decisions that will help you get there.

Mark ended the weekend by summarizing the parable of the soils and gave us each a packet of seeds and asked us to think about the type of soil we are. I don’t know if any of you have done anything with that packet of seeds…I’m assuming that most of you haven’t, but I do want you to think about what type of soil you are and how you are or are not allowing God to work in your life and make you into the person he created you to be.

Back to me (Tom)

This Thursday for Bible Study we're going to skip a week with Shane Claiborne and instead talk about some of the things Mark talked about on the retreat. Don't worry if you weren't there, it'll still be good! So think about what Bean wrote and come this Thursday! We'll get back to our Irresistible Bible Study next week (Chpt.12)

And now for something completly different:

Buttons!

Hey Everyone,


Well I got some buttons made and here is what they look like:




If you want one (or more) they're $1 each. The Aids Care Now button isn't for sale though...I'm going to use that one as incentive for something we'll be doing in the fall as a group...but collect all the other 5! They'll be available at bible study tomorrow and at youth on Friday! Just one more reason that SSMBY truly is "Group Awesome!"

Retreat!!!

So this weekend is our retreat...if you don't have your forms in already you need to let me (Tom aka youth pastor extrodinaire) know ASAP if you're coming.

I need a rough idea of how many ppl. are coming this weekend so I can plan for rides and food.

Also, if you have a tent, could you let me know ASAP.

Please message me ASAP!
Thanks

Friday Night At The Movies!

Hello Everyone,

So this Friday we will be doing one of 2 things depending on weather...that is wether it rains or not*

If it doesn't rain, then...

We will be playing some lawn games followed by an OUTDOOR MOVIE! That's right we're going to be watching a movie outside under the stars!

So, bring a blanket or a lawn chair (click here for a good example of a lawn chair).

As well dress weather* appropriate

However, if it rains...then we will be making our own movies and watching them afterwards!

So, to recap...Friday, movies=Loads of fun!
Feel free to bring all your friends!

Pastor Tom out...

*Take note of the 2 different spellings of weather and wether as well as their use.

Bible Study's Back!

Hey Everyone,

Thanks for those of you who were praying for me and the rest of our group who were in Montreal!

So, I'm back, and that means so is Bible Study!

We're still going through Shane Claiborne's book, the Irresistible Revolution...if you haven't been out yet for one of these talks I strongly encourage you to do so!

It of course helps if you're reading the book...this weeks chapter is Chapter 10 [Extremists for Love]. So, if you have a copy of the book read that chapter and make some notes and come prepared to talk about it...if you don't have the book, then just come prepared to talk, listen and learn!

Well, I'm off to go see Transformers tonight, hope you're all having a great summer!

Peace,
Tom

P.S. If any of you are free during the day sometime, I'd love to go out with as many of you as possible during the summer...email me and we'll hook something up!

Bonjour!

Hello everyone. I suppose you've all been wondering if we've arrived safely and how we're doing so here's a quick update. We arrived a little later than expected yesterday due to an unforseen amount of traffic, uggghhhh! But we arrived safely nonetheless. We had a little time to get aquainted with our new home and what we're up to this week and then we went out for dinner at a really cool restaurant.
Today we went to a french speaking Mennonite church pastored by a Congolese pastor, it was an excellent service, they even translated for us. The rest of the day was free for us so we roamed the downtown, took in some jazz and explored a couple giant churches, one of which even let Jordan play their pipe organ (see the picture).
Anyways tomorrow the work begins. Please be praying for us, we've a long week ahead.
Au revoir. (that means good-bye in french)

Fire, fire and inferno-fire

Hey Everyone,

So this Friday we're going to my other parents...the Krumrei's and we're gonna have a bonfire as well as shoot some Fireworks off! We'll play some games before it gets dark (Gar is in charge of them, so I don't imagine they'll be dull.

*Bring some money to buy some fireworks! There's a place on the way to the Krumrei's that we'll stop at to get some fireworks and the more ppl. that bring money and get something the crazier our fireworks will be! (But, you don't have to, I guess)

Also, for those who weren't there on Friday for our lounge night, here's some video of me playing guitar hero:



(hint* there is a hidden link in here...as is often the case. Find it. It's of Mexico's Symphony of Fire display from last year...the mission team is going to see this years Mexican display when they're in Montreal!)

Lounge Night

Hey everyone, this Friday is a lounge night...which I'm sure you've guessed by both the title and this picture to the left of the text which show's a typical rendition of what could be any youth from our group lounging comfortably in a couch.

Start time is 7:30...but feel free to come early for 7pm if you want to hang in the youth room and play some fooseball (just so you know that's always an option most Friday nights).

Come out, blow some post exam steam and enjoy an evening of lounging about. There will be various things to entertain yourselves. Video games, board games, just chillaxing and listening to music...it'll be nice!

I'd say see you Friday...but of course that's only a half-truth as I'll see you before that, tomorrow night at Char and my place (7pm)!

P-Tom out...

Cub Car races!

Alright, so race day is upon us...here are the things you need to know:

1. The weight of your car is not to exceed 7 ounces...standard cub cars call for 5 ounces, but with our big boy cars we've bumped it up 2 notches.

Cars will be weighed...cars exceeding 7 ounces will race, but will not be able to win the speed trophy. Just like Ben Johnson we'll strip you of your title!

2. There will be 1 trophy for fastest car and 1 for prettiest car...second place is the first looser!

See you Friday...put your race face on!

Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we may die!

Tonight for youth we're having a Progressive Supper which means we'll be going to a couple different houses and eating food stuff...MMMM!

See you EARLY at 6:30!!!

Also, if you have any pennies, bring em' and put them in our MCC Penny Power Jug! Plus, don't forget to bring some money for the kindergarten we support in Serbia.

Peace!