PARTAAAAYYYYY!!!!!!

It’s party time!  Hopefully you all received the email & hard-copy invites.  So, again, our place is at 2207 Henderson Highway; right on the corner of Glenway. 

You can arrive by 6:00 p.m. and disperse anywhere between 10:00 & 11:00 p.m.  Don’t forget to bring a toonie for Samaritan’s Purse.  We’ll purchase a gift together on Friday. 

Also, please remember to bring a snack to share.  Doesn’t matter what; i.e. chips, brownies, death by chocolate trifle (hint hint Mary :p), whatever!  I’ll provide the pizza and pop. 

And remember, GRADE SEVENS are invited!!!!

Look! This is a map; it even shows where we live. Good idea, right?

FRIDAY This Week

Remember how I said I might need some extra grace come January? OK,
I'm invoking that now! LOL. Totally forgot what day of the week it was
already, or that there even was youth this week. Whoops! :p

Youth is Friday night at the church from 7-9. We'll study the Word,
play some games (Blokus anyone???) And be all around cool people!

Next week we will have our Christmas party! It will be at mine and
Katie's house on Friday the 17th. Things will get underway at 6PM.
We'll have pizza and pop and everyone can bring a little snack maybe?
I say instead of a small gift exchange this year we'll put some money
towards a gift for someone else from the Compassion Canada gift
catologue. Bring a toonie each for that and I'll throw in the rest,
and we will pick a gift together! More details will follow later this
week.

Peace,
(a very tired and confused) Cliff :)

--
Sent from my mobile device

Gimme FUEL

Hey Hey Hey,

Back to a Wednesday night Bible study this week!  7-9PM, you know the drill.  This will be our last Wed night event of 2010.  The next two weeks will both be on Friday night. 

Dec 17 will be our 2nd annual National Lampoon’s Christmas party – make sure to wear your best Christmas sweater!  We may have it at the church, but we may have it at my house!  I’d like to have a Christmas party for everybody here, but this will be right in the middle of exam time for Katie and I, so we’ll have to keep you updated on that one!

Thinking about Jan-June 2011, I think what we will try this time around is a wider mix of Wed & Fri nights.  On weeks that there is TnT or LnL we will have a Friday night games night at the church, and weeks that there is not pre-teen we will do the Wed night FUEL Bible study.  This will cut down on driving for parents with younger kids, and will still allow me to get a break on weekends every couple weeks.  Both Wed and Fri evenings would be 7-9PM.  Thoughts?  mike@willowlake.ca

Peace,

Cliffy!

p.s. Great job to all the teens for shovelling on Friday night!

Bring a Shovel!

Hey hey, it's time for a Friday night youth group!!!! Right now Friday's forecast is sunny and -11 . . . I'm kind of praying that it snows! Here's the deal; bring a snow shovel Friday night, whether it snows or not on Friday, and we will walk through our neighbourhood and see if we can find any driveways or sidewalks that need shoveling out! Then we'll head back and have hot chocolate, play some games, and all that. And DON'T BE A HERO - wear a touque, mitts, boots, etc! We haven't had a service project this year yet, and this is a great suggestion for something we can do in our community! And don't worry Micah, because your arm is broken you can be foreman ;)

There is LnL on this week as well, so we will be done by 9PM for you parents who have offspring at both events.

A Blog Post

Yup, this is a blog post.  Youth this week is Wednesday evening for another instalment of FUEL.  We will be studying Romans 13:11-14, which is the passage Pastor Mark is preaching on this week.  Make sure to bring your Bible.  If we get over 15 teens out I will have an AMAZING announcement . . . maybe :p  Bring your Bibles!

FUEL This Week

Well, those of us who went at least had fun at the Bombers’ game last week!  It was fun to hang out with some of the teens and yell and scream and act like animals; ok, not really any different from any youth group but still fun! Don’t pay attention to the empty seats behind us; they only seem empty! :p

This week we are back for FUEL Bible study on Wed night at the church from 7-9 PM.  There is no school on Thursday so I’m hoping to have lots of teens out!  This week we will finish off 2 Thessalonians.  It’s a short chapter so read the entire thing ahead of time!   We’ve taken a bit of a more ‘ad-libbed’ approach to the Bible studies, still in search of that ‘perfect’ approach to studying together. 

Also I’m wondering if we should have a parents meeting soon, or if just another survey would be the easiest?  With Pastor Mark leaving on sabbatical soon, and other duties falling upon me this winter I’m asking for a lot more grace than usual :)

Cliff

Turning 101

Yes, the last post was our 100th post. woohoo! lol

Anyways, just a reminder that this coming week youth is on Friday night (Oct 22nd). Sound like we'll be having a 'minute to win it' showdown. I'll round up some prizes this week. Bring a friend out!

I am away in Calgary most of the week, so if you need me email is the way to go. Also, next week I am in Vancouver until late Friday so there will be no youth at all.

Later skater

This Week

Youth group is on Wednesday this week, 7-9 PM at the church. We will
be doing our 4th installment of the FUEL Bible Study. Just a reminder
that the previous studies are available for download on the left-hand
side.

Next week youth will be on Friday evening from 7-10 PM. I'm thinking
video game tournament right now.

Hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving,

Michael

--
Sent from my mobile device

High Octane

This week youth is again on Wednesday evening, at the church from 7-9 PM. We will be doing our third installment of our Bible study, FUEL. Make sure to bring your Bibles again! We will be studying 2 Timothy 2:8-15, so feel free to read over it a couple times before you come and reflect on what it means.

If you’ve missed a Bible study (or two) they are available to download, right here on the left hand side! The hope is not only for the teens to study a bit more of the Bible, but that these studies provide an opportunity for family discussion. I know it’s hard to find time to do so, but I’m hoping that you will make the time to do so, somehow.

***ALS0***

The annual Manitoba Youth Retreat is again at Winkler Bible Camp this year. It is from Oct. 22-24. HOWEVER, I don’t know if we are going yet. I am supposed to be in Calgary for some denominational meetings the week leading up to the retreat and then Vancouver the following week and would like some time at home with my wife (and my schoolwork) in between if at all possible. We were supposed to have a Friday night youth group on the 22nd, and I am wondering if we can simply go ahead with that still? My trip to Calgary is up in the air right now, but for sanity sake I’m wondering if either way we can miss this retreat? It’s hard, because the teens enjoy the retreat (usually :p) and it’s a good opportunity for them to mix with other Christian teens, but the scheduling of the weekend couldn’t be at a worse time for me. Let me know your thoughts, please, by email or comments here.

Hope you’re all enjoying the amazing autumn weather!

Word up,

Cliffy

I ONCE WAS LOST

Well, the temperatures are cooling, the leaves are changing colours, the combines are in the fields, it can only mean one thing:  Corn Maze baby!  Yup, youth is on Friday this week, and we are heading to A Maze in Corn just south of the city, along with Cornerstone and FEC youth groups!  Cost is only $2.00/student.  PLEASE EMAIL Michael BY TUESDAY EVENING IF YOU ARE COMING!!

We’ll meet at the church to leave by 6:45 PM and be back for pick-up at the church at 10:00 PM.  Bring a friend if you like; $2.00 for them as well.  We will have a fire pit, hot dogs, marshmallows, etc.  Bring some change if you want drinks or anything else from the concessions.  There’s also prizes up for grabs.

Again, please email Mike by Tuesday evening if you are coming so transportation can be arranged.

Thanks,

Michael

Don’t Let Your Tank Run Dry!

We had our second FUEL Bible study last night and another good turnout, and even better discussion! At the end of each Bible study there is opportunity for parents and teens to interact with each other about the passage and application. Parents, don’t let this opportunity slip by!

If you missed the first FUEL you can download a copy of the leader’s guide I made here and the student’s copy here.

The second leader’s guide is here and the student’s copy here.

Soon I’ll have them available on the left hand side as they become available (PSSST TAKE A LOOK TO THE LEFT: THE 2 BIBLE STUDIES ARE NOW AVAILABLE TO DOWNLOAD AND THE REST WILL BE AVAILABLE AS THE WEEKS PROGRESS!!! YES, I AM AMAZING).

I am glad we’ve made this switch; things seem to be headed in a cool new direction.

Cliff

Fuel #2

Hey everyone!
Youth is once again on Wednesday this week - Fuel Bible study #2! I'm
still trying to decide which passage to study this week. I'm wondering
how many of you talked together in your household last week about Fuel
#1 and the discussions? I'm sure EVERYONE did! :p

Next week we are going to the Corn Maze with FEC and Cornerstone. I
will give you more details this week!

Later skaters,
Cliff

--
Sent from my mobile device

The Facebook

Great things happen when parent's give suggestions & feedback. Case in point, Willowlake's youth group is now on facebook! If you find it difficult (i.e. you're forgetful) to get to this blog and check the new posts, but you're an avid facebooker then add the youth group as a friend. You can find the profile here: http://www.facebook.com/willowlake.youthgroup

New posts from the blog are automatically updated as notes in facebook and should show up in your news feed (depending on your settings though).

To see things like videos you'll have to click on 'view original post' at the bottom of the facebook note.

FUEL - The first tank!

This Wednesday (Sept 15) is our first youth Bible study! It will be from 7-9PM in the youth room. This week we'll have an introduction to the year and a study on 1 Timothy 2:1-7. Feel free to read it over a few times and think about it. I'm looking forward to this new direction and hope to see lots of you out!

ARE YOU READY????

Basically:
First youth of the year this FRIDAY from 7-10 PM @ the church!
Games & Prizes!
Bring a friend!
Watch the video!

Later!
Cliff

Vids from SERVE

I've gathered others' vids from SERVE 2010 and placed them here for your viewing pleasure :)

SOON!!!

Hey everybody,
Summer is almost over (booooo), which means youth is starting soon
(yayyyy). Just a little wake up call. Soon the calendar will be full
with all the details and this space will be filled with life once
again.

See you all soon!
Cliff

--
Sent from my mobile device

Done & Done

We are home. That's about all lol. Very tired, very sore. Finishing up
a vid for church, and will try and get you all DVDs soon.

Later

--
Sent from my mobile device

On the road again... ETA

Literally just left town; early ETA is 6:00 PM @ FEC

--
Sent from my mobile device

Last Day!

Having trouble with my phone last night so didn't get an update in.
FINALLY finished our job this afternoon. The windows and doors of Flin
Flon First Baptist are painted and their deck is stained. We're at
Wal-Mart now getting snacks for tomorrow's bus ride. Talent show
tonight, gonna show off my sweet drawing skillz or nunchuk skillz; I
haven't decided yet.

On the road tomorrow by 8:30 AM hopefully. If the trip up is any
indication that means we'll be @ FEC by 4:30 PM. I'll get the teens to
call when we are about an hour and a half out or so; they can give you
a better idea on arrival then.

Later

--
Sent from my mobile device

It's raining, it's pouring

The old man is snoring; for real. We got rained on most of the day and half the people in our room have now moved to sleep in the hallway due to excessive snoring from one of the leaders lol.

The video blog just isn't working out I guess; too many people gone too many directions in the evening. All in all, despite the weather, it was not a bad day. Got lots of work done, and our guest speaker has been helping us out with our work! Jared Berryman won a game, Willyn jammed with the band, and the others seem to have had a really good time. Its a 50/50 split on work ethic though, lol. That's all I got to say about that ;)

Tomorrow we work for the morning then we are off to Baker's Narrow with Cornerstone & FEC for a day @ the beach.

Goodnight - Keep Praying!!!!

ZZZZZZZZZ

No video update from yesterday - I fell asleep
too early. We had a few delays in the morning
that set us back in our work but once we got
going it was not bad. Not great, but not bad lol
(scraping paint is not fun). These boys need
more proetein in their diet! Off to catch the bus
for this morning. Later

Day 1 - a success?

I'll get a quick video update tomorrow night for
you all! Today was a good day; started with
church @ Flin Flon First Baptist then a chilli
lunch provided by the church ladies - they've
got nothing on Terry's horse meat chilli :p.
Spent most of the day hanging out and getting
to know others. Enjoyed supper together then a
concert and the first from our speaker Lynn
Cole. Then a couple games and finally bed!!!! I'
m waiting for Baden to fall asleep so I can try
and steal his air matress - hope he's a deep
sleeper ;) Start work Monday; we will be
painting and sprucing up Flin Flon First Baptist!
All the teens are doing well and making new
friends! Keep praying - safety, fun, weather and
health (I have had a fever off & on today).

More tomorrow!
Cliff (as everyone already knows me as lol)

SERVE - Preface

This Week

Hey all,
sorry for lack of updates; I think I'm nearing a nervous breakdown!

Anywho, this week we are meeting at Willowlake for 7-9PM. This is our last time at the church for the year!

Next week we will be serving at Union Gospel Mission on Saturday, June 26 from 6PM - 9PM. Pickup and drop off there!

This Week is Special!!!!!!

Hey People!
This week we are celebrating the graduation of Emily & Gordon!!!! We will meet a little early this week and end a little earlier; 6:30 - 9:30. We will be sharing a celebratory meal together, that's why the earlier start. We will be having pizza, salad, dessert. Please bring $2.00/teen to help with costs! Could you please let me know by Tuesday (tomorrow) evening if you are coming?
Thanks!

Also, SERVE people, don't forget this Friday is your last chance to get me your registration costs!!!!!

Back at it!

Hey everyone,

I hope you had a great long weekend!  I spent most of my time working at the cabin getting the plumbing and electrical working again.  A couple more days and the cabin should be in good shape and this means we can hopefully take a trip out there again as a youth group sometime this summer or fall! 

But, enough about the future, let’s talk about the present.  We will be meeting this week at Willowlake from 7-10.  Part of the evening will be spent producing a video (hopefully one where Jared doesn’t end up puking at the end of. haha!).  This is your chance to be famous.  Seriously.  To find out what exactly I’m talking about make sure you’re there!

Also, a reminder that next week will be our grad party for Gordon and Emily!  We will share a meal and stories, and possibly song … if you know what I mean ;)  Because this is a supper we will start early – 6:30 to be precise and go to 9:30.  I will need to know by next Tuesday if you are coming so I can get some shopping done earlier in the week, and would maybe ask that each of you could bring some sort of dessert/snack! Thanks!

See y’all at okie dogs!

Victoria Day = No Youth

Just a reminder first of all that there is no youth this week because of the long weekend.  I hope you are able to spend some fun time together as a family!  I’m doing some serious fishing!!!!

Also, a reminder that your payment for the remaining balance of your SERVE registration costs are due no later than June 4 (this means you can even give them to me early)!  PLEASE MAKE CHEQUES PAYABLE TO “WILLOWLAKE BAPTIST CHURCH” and either hand deliver them to me or leaven them in an envelope in my church mailbox. I’ll send out an email to those involved with SERVE detailing their remaining costs.  Thank you!

June 4th will be our grad party.  This year we are honouring Gordon McNabb and Emily Diehl!!!!  We may do a small potluck; I will let you know next week.

Peace

Money In The Bank

The chilli cook-off raised $397 for our trip to SERVE; this means that our transportation costs are pretty much covered now!  Most of you worked pretty hard and for that I am grateful.  Also, thanks to the parents who helped out and big thanks to those without children who pitched in and ensured I was able to leave the church at a decent time!

This week we will be at the church on Friday night from 7:00-10:00 PM.  See ya then!

Roller Disco!

Hey hey,

so this week we are heading to Wheelies for a night of rollerskating with the pre-teens; should be a blast!!!!  Cost is only $4/teen and we will take care of snacks.  Don’t worry if you can’t skate, neither can I!  We will tie a pillow to our butts and give ‘er!  Meet at the church on Friday at 6:30.  If it is more convenient, parents can drop off their kids at the roller rink for 7:15.   Pick up at the rink at 9:15 or at the church at 10 pm.  YOU MUST EMAIL CLIFF BY WEDNESDAY EVENING IF YOU ARE COMING SO RIDES CAN BE ARRANGED!

Also:

Don’t forget that Sunday is our Chilli cook-off fund-raiser!  For those of you coming to SERVE please do not forget to bring the items that you were asked to bring. 

Word

What to do, what to do...

Hey all,
yup, I am in Vancouver once again; just had some amazing sushi with Katie's cousin and trying to psych myself up for another 8 hours of instruction tomorrow. The people and instructors are great, but it's hard to stay interested when there are mountains and ocean taunting you right outside the window!

Anyways, there IS youth group this Friday . . . I am just not quite sure what we are doing yet! lol. Busy week for me; I was throwing around the idea of having a video game and ping-tac-toe tournament. This would be a good and fun event to invite friends to, so teen send me an email by Thursday if there is interest from friends as well.

At any rate, no matter what we end up doing this week, it will be at Willowlake on Friday, from 7:00 - 9:00 PM! Hope to see you all then!

Oh, and get selling those fund-raiser items for your SERVE registration, and don't forget about the chilli cookoff coming up!

Here's a question: how do you spell 'chilli'? One spell-check says it's with one 'l' another says it's with two. Hmmmmmm...

Cliff

Hey Hey

Hey all, if you didn’t hear yet, we raised $200.50 at the coffee house last week!  God job on the hard work everybody! 

This week we are meeting on Friday night from 7:00 – 10:00 PM at Willowlake.  Bring out a friend if you can! We’ll play some games, maybe even have some prizes (yay for dollar store toys & lead poisoning! :p). 

I will have order forms and sale sheets for teens going to SERVE at youth this week as well.  We are selling frozen foods such as pizzas and desserts and should be a pretty easy way to raise most of the cash for your individual registrations (I hope!).  I will show the teens how to fill out the forms on Friday night.  Also don’t forget that Sunday May 2nd we will be holding our 2nd group fundraiser after church.  It’s the annual chilli cook-off so dig out those recipes and jalapenos!  Each teen going to SERVE will be asked to bring either a salad or dessert (I’ll let you know closer to the date what to bring).

Coffee & Entertainment

This week we are having a coffee house at Cornerstone Baptist Church to raise funds for our SERVE 2010 trip!  If you are coming to SERVE then you are asked to be at Cornerstone by 5:45 PM.  The coffee house goes from 7:00 – 9:00 PM.  Make sure to invite some friends out to it; the more people we get the more $$$ we raise :)  Willyn Whiting will be performing a few songs, along with some people from Cornerstone. 

Hope to see you there!

Good Friday – No Youth

There is no youth group this week for Good Friday.  There is, however, a Good Friday service at Willowlake at 10:30 AM.  Other churches from the city will be joining us.  If you’re around plan on attending; Easter Sunday services are often hard to find a seat, yet Good Friday we find churches coming together in order to have enough people. 

To quote my New Testament professor, Benno Przybylski, “Isn’t it strange that so many Christians want to celebrate resurrection without first experiencing death? This is impossible. Before Jesus could be resurrected he had to die.  If we don’t experience the agony of death on Good Friday, we will never be able to fully appreciate the joy of resurrection on Easter Sunday. Death and resurrection go together.”

See you Friday!

Did you forget something??? :)

Hello everybody.

First, my blackberry is out of commission for a couple days while I wait for some parts to come in the mail, so if you need to get a hold of me email is the way to go until at least Wednesday.

Second, I'm guessing that a few of you have forgotten about SERVE???? I needed the deposits and waivers in last Sunday, and have only received from Micah, Willyn, and Baden. Please contact me this week if you need to make other arrangements financially. I need to get everyone's waivers into the CBWC offices next week!!!!! Thanks.

This week we will be meeting at the church on Friday, from 7-10! Hope to see you then!

Changes for Youth This Week

Hello everyone, I am home!  Thanks so much for your prayers, support, and understanding of my desire to go and serve in Haiti.  Right now my mind is still in Haiti; I’m finding it hard still to think clearly and am still processing all that I experienced there.  Please pray for the people and country of Haiti; God is definitely at work there, but so is evil and corruption.  I’ll post some pictures below for you to take a peek at.

I have some unfortunate news for our youth group; Siloam Mission has decided to strictly enforce their age limits and legal requirements which has effectively made any further involvement for our group and Cornerstone in the near future virtually impossible.  This week we will, as a result, meet at Willowlake from 7-10PM.  I will make a presentation to the teens on my trip and we will talk about possible ways we can help, even as teenagers half a world away!  I look forward to seeing you all again.  BRING A FRIEND SO THEY CAN HEAR ABOUT THE MIGHTY WORK GOD CAN DO EVEN IN THE DARKEST MOMENTS OF LIFE!!!!

This is where my team and I stayed; camped out on the roof of a house!

The sweetest little boy you will ever meet! 

A church in downtown Port-au-Prince

That’s all the pictures you get for now; you have to come Friday to see the real pictures and hear the stories!

Love you all,

Cliff

Youth for March 5th & 12th

As you all know, I will be travelling to Haiti for a short mission trip from March 6 – 12.  Unfortunately, this is going to have an affect on youth group for the next two weeks. 

This week, Friday March 5th, we will meet at Willowlake for a shortened youth group from 7-9 PM.  This will be a games night so bring a friend; the more people the better the games!

I arrive back in Winnipeg Friday March 12 at 8 PM, but I’m guessing after a straight 24 hours of travelling that I won’t be up for youth.  My faithful volunteers are busy on other possible nights for next week, so I think we will just cancel the youth group for March 12.  I’m hoping that Sunday, March 14 I will be able to talk a bit more with the youth about my trip, so make sure you’re in church and Sunday school that day!

If the times this Friday don’t work for you with the earlier pickup please do your best to make alternate arrangements.  I would really like to see all the teens before I leave, but I know that the 9 PM pickup time might be hard for some to swing with other commitments.

Peace

This Week

Hey everybody!  Not much exciting stuff to write this week; it’s an ‘ordinary’ youth group on Friday from 7 – 10 PM.  Look forward to seeing everyone there!

Goin' for Gold!

This post actually has nothing to do with the Olympics but I just finished watching Maelle Ricker win Canada's second gold for the 2010 games and getting ready to watch Canada's men take to the ice for the first time (note, the "Eh oh Canada go!" chant is not the TRUE Canadian chant!!! It's "Go Canada Go!" always has been, always will be; do NOT let some company tell you it's o.k. to change a notional chant - especially gross Pepsi) =)

Ok, with that out of the way, this week's youth is SATURDAY MORNING @ SILOAM MISSION! The time has changed also from our regular trips to Siloam so pay close attention to this. Drop-off at Siloam at 8:30 AM and pickup at 11:00 AM!!!!

Remember, parents are more than welcome to attend!!! Go ahead, surprise me! :)

Peace,
Cliff

Youth Moved to Feb 15th

Hey all,

a reminder that there is no youth on Friday, February 12th; we will be participating in ‘family fun day’ with the rest of the church on Monday, February 15th instead!  Check out the poster below for more info.  Invite friends and bring a toboggan.  See you Monday!

Coming Up & Congrats!

So it seems that between my schooling schedule & going to other events, we haven’t hit a groove yet for 2010 in the youth group.  We were supposed to go to Missions Fest this week, but in search of that elusive “groove” I’ve decided to cancel that trip and instead just have an “ordinary” youth night at Willowlake.  So, Feb 5th, 7:00 – 10:00 PM at Willowlake.  Games, Bible study, and chillin’.  :)  Hope to see ALL of you there!!!

Also, a big congrats to Willowlake’s very own Gordon McNabb!  He travelled to Edmonton this past week for a huge wrestling tournament and took home the gold medal!  Gord-o is a madman!  If you see him be sure to give him a high-five! 

Youth Worship Concert

This week we are heading back to Church of the Way to join them and Cornerstone's youth group for games and worship. Church of the Way's own youth band will be performing on this night! We will meet at Willowlake to leave there by 6:45 PM!!! Pickup will be at Willowlake @ 9:30 PM!!! For some of you, it may be easier to meet us at Church of the Way for 7:00 PM and get picked up from there at 9:00 PM, just let me know what you plan on doing! I've included a map for the church below.

See you on Friday!
Cliff (Michael)


View Larger Map

A Prayer Request!

Many of you know that in the summer of 2008 I also worked for a youth ministry run out of Bethlehem Aboriginal Fellowship in Winnipeg's North End.  This church is just as important to me personally as Willowlake is.  Not only did I work there, but Katie's uncle, Dietrich Desmarais is also the lead pastor there. 

Early today (I believe; possibly last night) the church's sprinkler system burst causing extensive flooding to the church and also started a small electrical fire.  The fire department has closed the church for safety reasons until an inspection can be completed and I am sure there will be a lot of work that is needed to be done.  The church's staff and board are meeting tomorrow (Sunday) at 4:00 PM to plan their next course of action.

This ministry reaches out to many of Winnipeg's disadvantaged and is a wonderful community of love and acceptance!  Let's hold them up in prayer; God has a plan in all of this, I am sure . . . now we just have to pray, help if/when/where we can, and wait and see what God has in store!

Peace,

Michael AKA Cliffy

Haiti & Willowlake Youth

So I can't seem to shake the images from Haiti out of my mind today (and I haven't even seen pictures, just listening on the radio!).  I think the obvious thing we should be doing right now is to remember to pray for all in Haiti and their loved ones across the globe that are worrying.  Being so far away it is hard to do much else; however, the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) has already committed $100,000 US and is expected to commit to a total of $1,000,000.00 over the next few years in initial disaster relief and re-building projects.  CBC radio this afternoon projected that the death toll could reach as high as 500,000 people - that's almost all of Winnipeg gone in a flash!  If you want to donate to the MCC to help with their efforts you can do so online at http://mcc.org/ or you can bring cash this Friday night to youth group and I will donate on your behalf Friday evening - we'll do it at youth group on my computer.  At this time MCC can only take cash donations though within a week (at the earliest) they may be able to start taking things like clothing, blankets, toiletries, etc.  Perhaps we can do something more at that time? 

We help others locally with our work at Siloam, this is just an opportunity to reach out further - and there's no pressure here; if you can't donate at this time you can't donate =)  Like I said, prayer should be #1 right now anyways.

Peace,
Cliff

What up? Ain’t no thing!

Hey everybody,

this week is just an “ordinary” week, but as you know, whenever Cliff is around nothing is ordinary!  We will gather @ Willowlake on Friday night from 7-10 PM and take some time to hang out, play some games, and talk about JESUS. 

Also I am hoping to have the first of the Serve 2010 information available for you on Friday night!  If you don’t know what Serve is then you better come to youth and find out!!!  :)

***Also:  I am back to Vancouver for another week of school on Jan 17-22 so there will be no youth on the 22nd.  Can you please pray for me?  I’m sure you think going to Van-city so much is cool and exciting, and it was for about the 1st day, but after this trip I will have spent 20 days of the last 120 in Vancouver away from my wife and all of you; it’s a little draining :’( ***

Peace!

First Youth of 2010!

Alright, there’s not much snow yet on the hills and it’s looking a little cold for Friday evening so we will wait for tobogganing.  This week we will have youth at the Church from 7-10 PM and we will be welcoming the grade seven students into our midst!  This will be a night full of games and entertainment (Cliffy be the entertainment :p).  See you all Friday!

Tobogganing?

I was talking with Virginia Moore today and we thought it might be fun to go tobogganing this Friday evening with the pre-teen group!  Still not sure where we would go or the exact times, but this is just a heads up.  Can you let me know if you’re interested or not?