WAY late photos

This past summer, in July of 2013, a crew of youth and a couple of adults headed to the Blackfeet Reservation in Heart Butte, Montana, to serve on a YouthWorks mission trip.
Internet access was spotty at best, and so the group didn't write blog posts as they went.
But here are a few of the photos - from the mission part of the trip, as well as from time in Glacier National Park and whitewater rafting on the way home to Bozeman.

Fall Fun

The posts here may be sparse, but that doesn't mean the CtK youth haven't been up to much...
Here are some photos from some of the recent - or semi-recent fun -

Carving pumpkins

Lots of pumpkins

Trunk or Treat

The CAR-dis

After Trick-or-Treating for the Food Bank

Bowling at the MSU SUB

Make a Difference

One of the theme songs at the 2012 ELCA Youth Gathering was "Make a Difference," by Rachel Kurtz. Here's the CtK version, offered on Sunday, September 16th, during worship at CtK.

Middle School BBQ and Fun

All middle school students and their families are invited to a BBQ and general all-around-good-time this Sunday, August 12th, 4-8pm at the home of Jim & Angie Anderson. Call the church office for more info! It's gonna be fun!

They're Back!

Welcome home to Robert, Courtney, Julian, Minnie, Kristin and Ian!!

Here's the post on which you four youth can comment and put some final reflections/thoughts/stories, etc. Feel free to comment more than once if you think of something else that you want to say...

Readers: did you hear the news? The ELCA Youth Gathering in 2015 will be in DETROIT!

Sunday Night Reflections

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Wow. That was intense. When you get that many youth together... The essence is difficult to capture.

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There is an aura. An energy. An underlying pulse the WHOLE TIME.

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There is POWER in a group this size. But not just youthful enthusiasm. There was also sincerity. And a need to connect. And hunger for justice. And LOVE. For Jesus. For God. For fellow man. It knocked my socks off. And I don't say that lightly.

We should all be proud to call the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America our home. The ELCA did an amazing job on programming and content. Over the course of 4 days, they inspired us and showed us what it means to be a Lutheran.

There was barely room to breathe. The content came at a tremendous clip. The opportunities for reflection, self examination and soul searching were present at least hourly. When there was a bit of downtime, it was all we could do to debrief and feel recharged emotionally and mentally focused for the next thing at hand. I wish I could just share EVERYTHING right now but the volumes of memories are all swirling at the moment.

Before nodding off tonight, I really want to indicate how proud I am of Robert, Courtney, Julian and Minnie. They are solid and grounded individuals with whom it has been a privilege to bond with on this trip. We have shared a lot about ourselves and I can say with certainty that I respect who they are and what they stand for.

Taxi is coming at 5am. Best get some sleep.

PRACTICE JUSTICE

The ELCA had been working really hard to open our eyes and our hearts to identify injustices. And not just injustice in far away places but also in our very own world. While much of Thursday and Friday were spent in discussion about bullying, which seems to apply to just about EVERY youth here at some point in their schooling, today was the day to go out into New Orleans and serve.

So, we teamed up with two other churches, one from San Diego and one from Virginia, to go help with a literacy project. On the bus ride, we learned that 2/3 of NOLA children do NOT live with their biological parents. Furthermore, the average child is 2.5 grade levels behind in their reading skills. A summer of no reading can set a child back an ENTIRE GRADE LEVEL. Needless to say, we were ready to help with literacy!

We arrived at the St.Bernard Community Center and went to work "putting together" a library. Basically, we stamped books and put check-out cards in them and then arranged by category on shelves. The room Was transformed by the end, enough so that even a 8-yr old that poked his head in could articulate the changes.

So there you go! There would be much more to tell about, but not nearly enough time. We need to get up in about 6 hours for morning worship and then, finally, some free time in the city. For those of us unaccustomed to dealing with 30,000+ teens, it is definitely time for a deep breath. As they say: UFFDA.