HAPPY NEW YEAR! retreat and more...

Sunday is the deadline for signing up for the
retreat. Many of you have expressed interest in attending the retreat but I have very
few commitment forms. I need to know as soon as possible who is coming. Here is the
important information...

When: January 23-25, we will leave after school on Friday and be back around 1 on Sunday
(so before confirmation)
Where: We will be going to Oglebay in West Virginia
What: There is an indoor pool, as well as a fireplace, TV and kitchens in the cabins
where we will stay. There will be time for fun and games, as well as some Bible study
time. This will be the end of our January series on prayer.
Who: Hopefully you! All youth are welcome, and friends are welcome as long as we have
the appropriate paperwork.

The cost is $35 per person, but if that is a problem, do not hesitate to let me know and
the youth group can cover costs. If you have other questions, please let me know. The
most important thing is that I need to know who is coming. It is best if you can commit
at this point, but if you want to come and are not sure, that is helpful to know as well.
It helps me figure out how many adults I need and other logistical things.

On another note, I am still looking for a parent who can provide dinner on January 18 for
youth group, so if you might be able to help with that, I would appreciate it. Other
things going on in January are regular meetings for the first 3 weeks, and the week after
retreat will be the sub sale and also the winter jam concert. As always, you can check
the blog (sunburyyouth.blogspot.com) for up to date information, and sign-ups are on the
bulletin board.

Thank you all for all you do to help me do my job successfully, and for giving me the
opportunity to get to know your youth. This first year of being mostly full time (I went
full time June 1, was 30 hours a week before that) has been a great learning experience
for me and I am so thankful for all of you. I wish you and your families a wonderful new
year, and I am excited to start a new year of youth adventures.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Don't forget the Christmas party for youth group this week. Bring a white elephant gift - something from home or that costs $5 or less if you buy it. Nothing else is necessary - just come for a fun night of food and games and presents...

There's no youth group on December 28 so this is the last youth group of the year! :-)

We wish you a merry Christmas!

Tonight is caroling! Meet at 6:30 in the dining room tonight, and bring a plate of homemade cookies. and DRESS WARMLY, it's going to be COLD!

Tomorrow, meet at the church at 5pm for the trip to the zoo - if you have not told me that you are coming, I need to know AS SOON AS POSSIBLE so that I can make sure we have enough drivers. We will be back by 10. There will not be food, so eat before you come, or bring either food or extra money. The cost to get into the zoo is $10.

The Christmas party is coming up as well - bring a wrapped gift that is something you have from home that you know longer want (funny is good!) or something that costs $5 or less. We will have food and games at the party, which will be from 5-7 on Sunday December 21. Let me know if you have questions!!

I hope all your Christmas preparations are going well! MERRY CHRISTMAS!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Can you believe it's already a few days into December? There are some exciting fun events coming up in youth group as we prepare for and celebrate Christmas...

This Sunday (Dec. 7) we will be having a Bible study and talking about Advent. Youth group is at the regular time of 5-7, but dinner is in the YOUTH ROOM because of the football banquet that is in the whole lower level. There will also be a leadership meeting.

Then, Saturday Dec 13, we will be joining the 2nd Saturday ministry and going caroling. Meet at 6:30 in the dining room and bring a plate of homemade cookies. Families are welcome. DRESS WARMLY! We will carol and then come back to the church for hot chocolate and cookies.

Sunday Dec. 14 we will go to the zoo for the wildlights. Meet at the church at 5. Eat before you come or bring food as there will be no food. Also bring $10 for the zoo (plus any other money you might want) and DRESS WARMLY!

Finally, Dec 21 we will have a Christmas party with a white elephant gift exchange. Bring a gift that you have at home but no longer want or something purchased for $5 or less. More details will be worked out at the leadership this Sunday.

If you have questions or want to RSVP for anything, leave a comment or contact me some other way... and have a GREAT day!

Movie night!!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!

If you are going to be in town for Thanksgiving, we are having a movie night on Sunday. We will be watching Evan Almighty. Youth group Sunday will be from 5-7:30. We will still have dinner at 5 in the dining room and then we will watch the movie.

So come! :-) It'll be fun!!

Teen Nite

Don't forget Friday night is Teen Nite! Shawn Harper (www.shawnharper.org) will be the speaker during the Jesus break - and those who have been there for Shawn before will remember him ripping the Columbus phone book in half or bending the bar of steel in his teeth - but he has a great message too! So come Friday night for a night of faith and fun!

In other youth group news - this week is team building games and activities to conclude our healthy relationships series. It will be fun activities that will help us work together as well.

Change of plans

Retreat has been rescheduled for January 23-25. This is NOT MLK, Jr. weekend like we originally talked about because of cottage availability. We will leave Friday after school and return Sunday early afternoon. We will be going to Oglebay in West Virginia. Commitment forms and $35 will be due by January 4, 2009.

In other news - this Sunday will again be a regular youth group meeting. We will be continuing our discussion on healthy relationships with a focus on building healthy friendships. Youth group is from 5-7.

Puppets is moving from Monday nights (with tonight being the last Monday of puppets) to Sunday afternoons at 4, when there is no Confirmation. See me for a complete schedule.

I think that's all I have for now... hope you are all having a great beginning to your week! :-)

Sunday

This Sunday is a regular youth group meeting from 5-7 with dinner at 5 in the Dining Room! Plan to be there as we discuss how to begin a new friendship...

Also if you are interested in going on retreat December 12-14, please sign up ASAP. There will also be commitment forms due by November 16 and $35 due by December 7.

Fall Xtravaganza!!

Don't forget this Sunday is the Fall Xtravaganza! It's at regular youth group time from 5-7, wear a costume. And bring $3 for pizza and a bag of candy to share... Let me know if you have any questions... HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE!! :-)

November preview: We will be talking about building healthy relationships with parents, friends, and non-Christians. Hope you can join us for these conversations.

Upcoming stuff...

So the make a difference day is October 25 and I need to know if anyone is interested in going. If we are going to Mansfield, we would leave at 7am and be back by 6 or so. The OSU game is at 8 that evening, so you would not miss the game. The jobs would be more like things we do on work mission - cleaning yards, winterizing houses, etc.

If you are interested in helping PLEASE let me know ASAP. If you are interested in helping but can't commit to the whole day, let me know that as well and we can look at some local options.

Also - remember that the Fall Xtravaganza is on the 26th. It's at regular youth group time from 5-7. Wear your costume, and bring $3 for pizza and a bag of your favorite individually wrapped candy.

One more thing - if you are going to the be at the SUM family reunion on Sunday from 4:30-6:30 and would be willing to help lead games for a half hour of that time, or if you can stay after church and help decorate, that would be great as well. Comments, emails, etc. are greatly appreciated!

Youth Group this week....

Sunday's schedule:

Between services: if you can help sell Kroger gift cards between services that would be greatly appreciated!

12-2 Lunch at Pizza Hut and highway clean-up
3:30 Confirmation for those who are in that class
5-7 Youth group - TACOS are for dinner! Discussion will be about giving of our time, gifts and abilities, and money as the church enters the Capital Campaign.
7 Leadership meeting to make plans for November and also for the year.

Remember these upcoming events and sign up if you haven't already:
Harvest Festival October 11 starting at 4
BWFWS Walk October 12 (you also should to be raising money for this cause), starts at 1
Church Family Reunion October 19 4:30-6:30
Make a Difference Day in Mansfield, October 25, more details at youth group on Sunday
Fall Xtravaganza, October 26 at the regular youth group time, more details to follow :-)

October Teen Nite

In October there are going to be some special things going on at teen nite to help pay for the ministry center, that we use so much during teen nite (the gym, dining room, game room, etc.) Here is the important information:

Activities:

• Jail: For a quarter you can have your friend arrested, who can get out of jail for a quarter or stay in jail for 10 minutes. You can also buy an immunity card for $1
• Cornhole: a quarter to play
• Karaoke: Free
• Guess how many: you guess how many Hershey kisses are in the jar and the closest person wins the jar. Each guess is a quarter.
  

For purchase:

• Glow Bracelets: $1 each
• Temporary Tattoos: a quarter each
• Care bears: sold by the children of our church, each costs a quarter, you write your name on it, and then it is displayed in the church
• Sweepstakes: Everyone gets one entry into the sweepstakes prizes. Extra entries may be purchased for a quarter each or 5 for $1
  

Donations:

• There will be jars in a few places for people who want to make direct donations

Normal activities:

• There will still be basketball, dancing, both game rooms, and food in the dining room
• There will NOT be a movie
• Admission is still $3

So bring some extra money (especially quarters) and some friends and come to the church on October 17 from 7-9:59 for a fun Friday night! Leave a comment or contact Katy at the church office with any questions or comments.

canoeing

don't forget to sign up if you haven't already. Make sure to eat lunch beforehand or pack a lunch. we're leaving church at noon and will be back at 6...

other things to sign up for: cleaning up trash on Oct 5 12-2, harvest festival Oct 11 4-clean up is finished (or early in the day to decorate), and the bwfws walk Oct. 12 at 1... and remember - you can sign up by calling or emailing me, by leaving a comment here, or by signing up on the bulletin board by the stairs to the youth room.

Weekly Updates

1. Highway clean-up was postponed until Oct. 5 following the 11 service. We will go to Pizza Hut for lunch and then do the trash clean-up.

2. This Sunday we will be talking about stewardship, starting with the environment but also talking about how that relates to other areas of stewardship as the whole church prepares to enter the capital campaign in October. Remember youth group is 5-7 with dinner at 5 - YUM!

3. Next week (Sept. 28) we will be going canoeing. Bring your lunch to church, we will be leaving after the 11:00 service and we will be back around 6. See the newsletter for more details.

4. Harvest Festival is coming up on Oct. 11, so sign up to help! We will need people from 4-the end of clean-up, and we will also need people to decorate earlier in the day if you are busy in the evening.

5. Big Walnut Friends Who Share (BWFWS) walk is coming up on October 12. We need people to sign up to walk, and those people also need to work on raising money. We will talk more about this on Sunday.

6. SIGN-UPS! PLEASE sign-up for these events - trash clean-up, canoeing, harvest festival and the BWFWS walk. There are sign-ups on the bulletin board by the stairs to the youth room, and you can also RSVP through this blog or by letting me know.

Hope you all are having a great week and that we will see you Sunday night!

Puppets and more...

Remember - if you are interested in joining puppets, they start TOMORROW! that is - UNLESS there is no school. Puppets are at 6:30 on Wednesday evenings. Let me know if you have questions.

Also, THURSDAY is the LAST day to RSVP for the Festival of Caring.

AND you should RSVP for canoeing if you have not already. That is on September 28 from 12-6. Bring a lunch! Youth who have attended 2 regular meetings in September will canoe free, others should bring $10. If you have questions about which you are, please ask!

Time Change

We will now be leaving for the Festival of Caring at 2 and still returning at 8:30. This means we will primarily be going just to the concert, although if there is a little time before the concert, you may be able to check out some of the games and activities. Still RSVP as soon as possible please so I know if I need to get more drivers for this event.

Also - I believe I forgot to mention in my last post that Sunday an announcement was made about puppets. Puppets will be meeting on Wednesdays starting September 17 at 6:30. Let me know if you're interested! :-)

THANKS!

First off I want to thank our new leaders for stepping up and becoming a part of the leadership team, and I also want to thank those who ran but were not successful, and I encourage you all to participate in the planning of events and being a part of the leadership of this group. You are all a part of the group, and while you all may not have official leadership roles, you still are important to the group.

For those of you who were not at tonight's meeting, the new designated leaders are...
President: Alfred Yates
Vice-President: Katie Yates
Secretary: Julia Brown
Social Chair: Sarah Robinson
Service Chair: Zac Moore
Fundraising Chair: Madi Hall

Again, thanks to all who ran and were willing to step up to leadership, whether you were elected or not.

I also want to remind you all to sign up for the Festival of Caring. There was no final determination tonight, so I want to offer this to all of you in blogland - at the Festival of Caring there are games - like ultimate frisbee and gator ball - and activities - like karaoke and square dancing and a jailhouse (where you can lock someone up and they have to pay to get out) and then at 4 there is a concert by The Afters (check out myspace.com/theafters to check out their music. So the question is - do you just want to go to the concert or do you want to go to the games too?? If we want to go to the games too - we will leave around 1; if we just want to go to the concert we will leave at 2:15. So leave comments and we'll see where we are. You can also RSVP here and remember, if you RSVP by Tuesday (extended date) you can go for free! :-)

have a great day everyone!!

Welcome

Hi! Welcome to the Sunbury UMC Youth blog...

The purpose of this blog is to help keep you updated and give you a chance to provide some feedback, and also to RSVP for different youth events. So here's to the beginning of the youth blog!

First news and notes -

This Sunday: Youth group will be at the new (regular) time from 5-7. Food will be meatball subs provided by Chris Sharlike and Jody Daily. We will be deciding on leadership for the new year - President, VP, Secretary, Service, Fundraising, and Social Chairs. If you are interested in being on leadership, you should be committed to attending youth group functions on a regular basis. After leadership decisions, there will be both Bible study and game time, split with 6-7th grade and 8th-12th grade. The focus of this weeks Bible study is "Creation conservation: Why should I care?"


Also - this week anyone interested in attending the Festival of Caring with the concert by The Afters should RSVP by this Sunday to attend for free. RSVP's can be made through the 18th but the concert will cost $5 for reservations made after this Sunday. Check out myspace.com/theafters too get more info on the band. Tentative times are 1-8:30 on September 20th for the Festival of Caring.

Questions? Concerns? Comments? Leave them here or contact me however you know how! And have a great day!