my "kids"

I like to call the youth in the youth group my "kids". I have watched them grow up since the time I've been at LifeSpring (8 years) and have worked with them in youth group for 4 years. I have enjoyed getting to know them as friends and as a youth leader, challenging them, talking to and about God with them, and of course having fun together! I will miss them dearly when I leave!

We went to the Mennonite Youth Convention in Pittsburgh, PA this past week, and here's some of the things we did (a story in pictures):

 Here's us leaving at 7:30a.m. on Monday morning! We traveled on a charter bus with two other youth groups from the area.

 There were lots of activities to do at the convention center. Along with an entire hall dedicated to recreational activities, each Mennonite college had a booth set up in the exhibit hall, where there were lots of free t-shirts and other prizes. This picture with some of the boys is taken with a Goshen college alumni (Krista, one of our sponsors) in order to win a Goshen t-shirt.

Each day we had two worship services - morning and evening. There were about 4,000 youth there, and it was very high-energy! Probably almost all of us enjoyed the Friday night service the best because we got to sit up front - we knew most of the people in the worship band, and they let us in early to get good seats. It was quite a sight when the doors opened and everyone else flooded in!

We frequently had small group time as well to reflect on our experiences from the day, to share about the seminars we had attended, and to spend some quality time together. This is us playing a new game - "People to People". We're crazy! :)

 On Wednesday afternoon, we did a service project in Aliquippa, PA. This trailer park had a creek running through it that had flooded about two years ago. We helped rebuild the creek bank by "mining" for bricks, rocks and dirt to fill big wire baskets that lined the banks to prevent erosion and future flooding. The black thing behind the youth in this picture is one of the baskets we filled, which is now covered with protective cloth to keep the water from washing everything away.

We also went to Pirates baseball game - a fun way to relax for the evening after a day of hard work!

The girls participated in a "Trash Fashion Show" with these dresses that they had made before we came to convention. They both got to walk the runway on the rooftop terrace in the evening show - complete with spotlights and a catwalk, a live DJ, and lots of spectators and cameras! 

And of course we had fun. This is just us being silly, but I really love the picture! :)


I really enjoyed getting to spend a week with these wonderful youth - what a great way for me to end my time at LifeSpring!