“For the past two nights we have been in Eugene, OR. On our second night here we ran the Wednesday night youth group at the church. Three of the local church youth groups all meet together to make a group of about 20 kids. We had an amazing time with them, singing, playing games and doing a Bible study about friends.
 
I have been impressed this entire year by the youth of today. I wish I would have had the knowledge and the faith that these kids already have when I was growing up. I have been very blessed at seeing these youth and being a part in strengthening their faith. When kids remember who you are, months after the youth event they attended, and sit under dim church parking lot lights after youth group to fill out a little white card to receive more information about ministry opportunities, it just blows my mind.
 
In 1 Timothy 4:12 it says ‘Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.’ This has been so true for many youth and I encourage everyone that reads this that the word ‘young’ in this verse means ‘young at heart’ to me. So I pray for myself and everyone else that we may never be looked down upon because of our young heart but to be an example of Christ. So many times, actions speak louder than words.”
 
~Andy Wiedemann 
 
 
“We hit trusty ol' I-5 in the morning, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, to make a return trip down to Winlock, WA for a lock-in. Winlock is an awesome little town, equally proud of Mt. St. Helens and being home to the world's largest egg, and it was great to see the youth and other folks from the congregation again. We played a program, drank some Mountain Dew, and had an awesome lock-in.
 
Our host families came to pick us up sometime after midnight when we had finished our closing worship set, and Colin and I went together. The place where we ended up was really cool. The guy lived on a farm that had been in his family for some hundred years, although he wasn't much for farming. He was a potter; he had planted trees on a bunch of his 60 acres and converted the old barn into an art studio. We stayed in the farmhouse, while our host dad slept in a one-room cottage a stone's throw behind the house.
 
I also enjoyed myself at the post-service potluck the next day, where we Colin, Andy and I made up for some of the lack of conversation time with our host dad from the night before. We talked about art (my mom is also a potter), music (traded favorite radio stations), North Carolina (he has a daughter at Chapel Hill, I live in Asheville), among other things and he was such an interesting guy. I don't know when or how, but I hope I do see him again, and it was so cool how much of a connection we could make in just a short time.
 
Before leaving I dug through my duffel bag and found one of my homemade CDs to give him, with original songs. He traded it for a mug he had made. ‘I love trading,’ he said. It was so cool! Now I have this awesome mug, and more than that, a reminder of a new friendship that's waiting for me in Winlock.”
 
~ Matt Canniff-Kuhn
 
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