Senior High News
Meet Diane
Well, not actually meet Diane, but get reacquainted with Diane. Diane Baker grew up at St Paul. She is the daughter of Steve and Lynn Lindhoff. She graduated from Johnston High School, and attended DMACC. Diane served as a middle school Logos leader at St Paul for four years. She met and married Mike Baker, then moved with him to live in Mike’s hometown of Moline, Illinois. Diane worked there as a customer service representative at Mel Foster Insurance. They moved back to the Des Moines area to follow better employment opportunities. Diane is currently employed at Farm Bureau. When asked about her hobbies, she responded that she loves to read. But she also commented that she and Mike recently purchased a ‘starter’ home, and are now entering the world of home improvement. Diane answered the call of youth leadership again, this time easing into the senior high Logos group alongside Lisa Dague, Sue VanEssen, Dennis Meyer, and Steve Randall. Now that Steve has accepted employment elsewhere, Diane has volunteered to lead the senior high. She, along with students and parent volunteers, coordinated the Sweetheart Dinner with amazing success. She and the high school students are currently preparing for their summer mission trip. Thanks, Diane, for stepping forward when we really needed you!!! Submitted by Val Nichols
CHAOS - Update on St. Paul Middle School Youth
CHAOS (Christ Has All Our Solutions) has had a busy couple of months ---*As part of our Christmas Mission Project, the Middle School made two dozen fleece hats, then shopped with money that they earned from their Cookie Walk to buy mittens to go with the hats. Valerie used the extra fleece to make scarves. All of this was donated to Youth Homes of Mid America in Johnston. They were thrilled to receive them for the youth and for their families. ---*Sleepy Hollow – Our group had a great time sledding (even had amazing wipe outs) in Mid-January…check out the pictures on the LOGOS board in Fellowship Hall. ---*Fun and Goofy Games are always a part of our CHAOS experience each Wednesday night…this helps loosen up the kids and make them enjoy themselves and often laugh, before they get serious with their lessons. Check out the big bulletin board in the High School Room to see the kids in the Pancake Races, digging heart candy out of snow with bare feet, shaving the girls and giving the boys new hairdos. ---*Lessons have included: discussions on gossip and talking about people; What is Lent? (this went together with the pancake races); and, a middle school perspective on relationships: Are you more popular if you have a boyfriend/girl friend? Our middle school has amazing insight and opinions on all of the topics we discuss. ---*Leading the Ash Wednesday Service. Thank you to all the youth who participated in making the Ash Wednesday Service. A special thank you to Pastor John, Val Nichols, Aaron Wych for assisting with preparation and a huge thank you to John Stafford for working every week with the Middle School Music. He has really made an impact on their lives.
CHAOS Strikes Again!!!
No, don't run for cover. However, it might help to hold onto something stationary, preferably bolted down. CHAOS (aka: the middle school group) is an acronym for Christ Has All Our Solutions. And yes, it is a little chaotic in their midst. Here follows a list of recent (Nov/Dec) CHAOS activities: ~Toured the Hispanic Education Resource Center, and then bleach-washed all of the toys in the daycare areas. ~ Intended to wrap Christmas gifts for an Amanda the Panda family. But when we arrived, there was a note on the door "sorry, closed due to an emergency". Undaunted and still filled with mission zeal the all-girl group did the only thing we could think of - we shopped. And then we took our purchases back to St Paul where we were joined by a couple of our guys, and we produced a freezer full of casseroles for the Salvation Army canteen.~ Our annual performance of Christmas carols via voice and instruments, was staged at the nearest Salvation Army red kettle. We received particularly enthusiastic appreciation for our rendition of "Jingle Bells" on the Boom Whackers. ~ Designed, cut, and assembled fleece hats for kids in need.
The next week, small groups of CHAOS were let loose on an unsuspecting mall, where they were given $$$ and the task of buying as many gloves/mittens as possible. The guys went for function while the girls went for style. Go figure! All of these items were greatly appreciated. ~Lock-In over winter break at St Paul. This included a viewing of "The Nativity Story", followed by a discussion on unconditional love. We also played laser tag (the attendant told us we were the best-behaved group he had seen all week-mercy, what must his life be like!) at the family fun center, followed by more games and a dance competition at St Paul. Later, we were joined by former middle school members, to function as additional chaperones. These guys were great, and added greatly to the overnight. In case any of their former Sunday School teachers are reading this and wondering, these young men were Eric Dreibelbeis, and Patrick Freese (see, it was worth all the effort!) Oh yeah, a few of us got a little sleep.~
We have explored many activities in the multi-purpose room, including basketball, volleyball, human bowling, marshmallow face shots, blind volleyball, steal the bacon, and a host of other great games. Our most recent Bible studies have included Are you a Big Mouth or a Golden Tongue? and Anger Management-How's Yours? With God's help, we hope to continue this momentum. Actually, I don't see any way to stop it.
Submitted by Val Nichols
Music & Fun |
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Fall Hayrack Ride |
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