Pastor Ron's deep thoughts and shallow entries

Youth Leader's Christmas Gathering

2011-12-22T22:19:00.000-05:00

I love our youth leaders. They do such a great job year in and year out. We don't get much time to just "hang out" though, so this year we decided to have a Christmas get together with all of us. We held it a Janine's house.

I brought the wine, and a lemon meringue pie that no one touched. That didn't matter because there was lots of other better food there. Cream cheese, fruits galore, chocolate covered ginger, chocolate pudding.....notice the trend...lots of milk products. For a guy who's lactose intolerant, you'd think these youth leaders were out to get me or something. : )

We socialized for a bit, and then played a game that I've never heard of before. In fact, I can't remember the name, but Jeannine will comment on it and tell us all what it's called.

I have to say, I loved it, and tolerated it. A crazy game for sure.

Mel had to sit behind a chair and make a fort and stay there until her next turn.

Jeannine, bringer of the game, laughed and laughed at us. I ended up having to compliment her EVERY time she had a turn. That was fun...really! : )

I had to wash my feet in Janine's sink (sorry about that Janine, it wasn't my idea). Janine gave me a spray bottle. I then had to hold the card between my toes until my next turn....what kind of people think up these things......I also had to dance with Kevin, but he took the two backspace penalty rather than go a round with me : ) I was hurt!!! bahahahah I wasn't about to take a penalty, so I danced with myself. We have video of that too, but I'm not putting THAT up....yet! : )

Janine had to speak like a gospel preacher (so not her) as she read out her cards, and Andrea had to roll dice, pick her nose and yell every time she rolled a 2. I have video of it, but I won't embarrass her with it.

Janine had to wear this Christmas Tree decoration around her neck for the whole game, and do other strange things.

This is what this game does to you..... : )

Time went quickly. I think we need to do this with a section of our youth group sometime. It would be a BLAST!

We soon departed ways.

As we draw to the end of another year, let me just say that it is truly an honor and privilege to work with you Kevin, Ken V, Jeannine, Janine, and Mel. Andrea it has been fun having you around too for this 1/2 year. Blessings to you as you bring two new people into the world soon.

Thanks for your work as youth leaders, and friendship. Have a blessed Christmas time and see you in 2012.....

YAHOO!!!!!!!!! : )

Friendship and Coffee Break Christmas Get togethers

2011-12-22T21:42:00.000-05:00

Friendship Group

While our CIA/ETM Christmas party was going on downstairs in the church, Friendship group was rocking upstairs with their own Christmas party.

Every other Tuesday Friends gather for fellowship, faith building, and of course food!

Friendship group has been growing over the past couple of years. Tonight there were close to 70 people present. WoW!

It takes lots of volunteers, like Sandy, to make this ministry succeed. Our friends have lots of fun while at Friendship group. If you would like to help out being a mentor on Tuesday evenings, drop me an email at youthpastor@calvincrc.ca and I'll hook you up.

Coffee Break

The next day, Wednesday, it was time for Coffee Break to get together for their Christmas gathering (Boy, the church was hoping this week). They began decorating after we were done on Tuesday night. Janine gathered a couple of YP to bring up some couches and they decorated the fellowship hall with festive cheer.

There were going to be games to play, as well as time to socialize, and if you wanted to you'd be able to do a craft.

The morning soon arrived and people gathered together.

I like the idea of having couches in the fellowship hall. Cozy....hmmmmm : )

Whether couch or chair, the fellowship was sweet! : )

As were the snacks on the table...SWEET! : )

The group gathered in the sanctuary for a short Christmas program. Hey, Annette, I didn't know you played the flute..you learn something new every day........... : )

After the program, it was back into the fellowship hall for a relaxing time of fellowship together. Blessings to all of you as you break for the Christmas Holiday time.

CIA / ETM Christmas Party

2011-12-22T21:18:00.000-05:00

December is upon us and our youth ministry season is drawing to a close. This evening was our annual Christmas Party for CIA/ETM.

We started our evening by getting ready to go out for some Christmas Caroling. I think William is a bit spooked by the whole idea... : )

We went out caroling; 35 people strong. Could be a bit intimidating for someone who comes to the door, but most people loved it. Only one person wouldn't come to the door. We sounded pretty good, and were able to be a blessing to those surrounding our church.

We went to several homes. At one place, as we neared the end of our singing, the gentleman started to cry. He was moved by our singing and just the idea that we'd go out and do this.

I liked the idea so much, I decided to invite people to do this again the coming Sunday evening. We had some of our youth come out, some young adults, and some congregational members. 24 of us in total. It was another great night, and those who were home loved our singing. A nice way to meet those in the community.

I think we'll have to give the church more notice and make this a Sunday evening event next year. What do you think fellow Calvinites....????

After about 45 minutes of caroling, we headed back inside for some Christmas games.

This one involved using gloves and unwrapping chocolate. Torture to watch....Jacob is taking this way to seriously.

Lucy seems to be having more fun.

The idea for the evening was to wear an ugly sweater. I don't think Jeannine got the memo, because she actually looks okay in her outfit.....and I see Andrea made the picture with her belly showing...AGAIN! bahahaha

The next game involved balloons, pantie hose and reindeer. Here Rosy, David and Jonah get the balloons blown up.

Fontana and Alexa stuff their stockings with the balloons.

Oh, here are the gifts we brought. They are for Christie Lake Camp, to be dropped off tomorrow.

Our snack food for the evenings. What party would be complete without snack food.

Oh, back to the evening. So, the end result was to make your nylons look like antlers. I think Fontana is a natural.

: )

Look at all the cute reindeer. Better you than me. : )

On to the next game....building ginger bread houses, with accessories.

Gaelen and Michael got just a bit too into the costume spirit.

Janine had a nice sweater...though the pink didn't thrill me much....I'm not sure if she actually wears that sweater still, but if you do Janine....it looks nice...movin' on.... : )

When you make ginger bread homes, and use icing for mortar, you are going to have some people do silly things. Figures Fontana is in the middle of it once again.

You too Hannah!

Chris' group got pretty serious about their house.

Fontana's group....not so much...it looks more like a ginger dump than home....

Someone got to me too.....

This house turned out pretty good. I like the driveway...if only I could taste it....just a small bite...

All this house building was making me sweat...whew...well, really I was wiping off MORE icing....

Another nice looking place. Lots of work gone into this one.

This house was good too. I like the car with wheels of peppermint.

After the homes were finished, Mel, Jeannine and Janine judged them. Fontana's group did NOT win, in case you were wondering.

Jacob helped clean up after the ginger bread making.

LOTS of garbage and icing.....

Chris and Jacob having some fun. They COULD be brothers.

A group shot of everyone in their ugly sweaters.

Hey, where did everyone go?

Oh, there they are, and they're beating me up...again!

Snack time.

The Gluten free girls.

After Snacks it was time for some Christmas Trivia. I think Michael used his I phone or pod to get the answers...though he denies it.... : )

The groups were then split into 2 and one half did pictionary....

While the other half did Charades to guess Christmas Carols.

Got a problem with your back Jacob.....

Soon it was time to go home. The next day I brought the gifts to Christie Lake headquarters in Ottawa. They were very thankful for the presents.

I'd not heard of Christie Lake Camp before this. Here's a picture of there grounds on Christie Lake. A nice place. They do work with the Caldwell area kids, and we partner with the Carlington Community Chaplaincy so we are indirectly partnering with the same place. Neat.

All in all another GREAT Christmas celebration time. Time to have some fun and time to be a blessing to those in our church neigbourhood and other children.

Have a blessed Christmas CIA/ETM'rs.

Mission Fest - Dec 10, 2011

2011-12-12T11:03:00.001-05:00

On Saturday, December 10th, about 16 of our Peru Team fanned out into the city of Ottawa to Serve. As we've done our Peru trips, I've been thinking about a way to get our Congregation serving together in our city too, and a thought came to my mind several months ago.

We go to Peru every other year, and serve there, but the sticky point is when we return and apply what we have learned, discovered, etc. in our daily lives. So often we can slip back into a regular routine, similar to what we were doing before we went.

One way to combat that is to find ways to serve where you live. Hence, I decided to use our Peru group as a pilot project for doing just that. It proved to be quite rewarding for all involved. At first I thought we could combine the event into a fundraiser too. Get sponsors for serving. A couple of people did that, but most just volunteered for the sake of volunteering. Neat!

I spent a couple of months seeking out places for us to volunteer at. I discovered a couple of things as I did this. One is that there are MANY MANY places that need volunteers in the city of Ottawa. Second, is that it's not always that easy to match our gift set with those out there wanting volunteers.

For some places there's a tonne of red tape needing to be filled out. In other places they don't take anyone under the age of 18. Things can change on the fly too. We were scheduled to volunteer in a place, and then that place cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances. I don't blame anyone for having to work so hard to get places to volunteer, but it was an eye opener for me.

Our group met at Calvin at 9:00 am. We opened with a short devotion to set the day. It came from:

^{Matthew 20: 20 - 27}

²⁰ Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to Jesus with her sons and, kneeling down, asked a favor of him.

²¹ “What is it you want?” he asked.

She said, “Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom.”

²² “You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said to them. “Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?”

“We can,” they answered.

²³ Jesus said to them, “You will indeed drink from my cup, but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared by my Father.”

²⁴ When the ten heard about this, they were indignant with the two brothers. ²⁵ Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. ²⁶ Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, ²⁷ and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— ²⁸ just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Quite an arrogant request of the mother, and more than likely the son's as well. I think the reaction of the others was justified. I loved Jesus' response. Our day was going to be a day in which we were not first, or the greatest, but rather servants doing whatever needed to be done. We were going out, not to be served, but to SERVE.

We ended up going to places that were, for the most part, already connected to Calvin in some way.

Our first group stayed right in Calvin and did a task that hasn't been done in a long time: Cleaning the toys in the nursery. They get pretty gross, with kids chewing them, sneezing on them, etc. So, a small group got to work disinfecting things. Here's Jackie showing me she can spell...or something like that.... : )

Lucy and Madii helped Michelle wash toys upstairs using our industrial dishwasher.

I came back from getting some kitchen supplies to find them finishing off cleaning mats that the toddlers used. Apparently they cleaned more than Michelle thought they would.....awesome job.

One of our Cong. member's basement flooded several months ago, and the basement needed cleaning out. Here's Ian smiling and caring stuff upstairs.

It looks like Chris B is having fun too, though I think he could carry a bit heavier items....hmmmm : )

Here's the group planning strategy with Mary-Jane and Graham as to what to do next. They were very appreciative of the help in getting things cleaned up so they can get the basement redone a bit more.

I traveled on to the Bibles For Mission Store to check up on another group of ours. We were going to spend the day helping clean up a large storage area. As you can see from the picture, it's pretty big...and apparently not heated. I didn't know that, so some of our group were pretty cold, but worked hard to stay warm.

Chris found a record apparently made by Fontana. I didn't know she had a record business. You learn something new every day. : )

Ben sorted through boxes and boxes of stuff. Some was kept, some was gotten rid of. Nice hat Ben.

My son found this plate from our church celebrating it's 40th anniversary. He gave it to me, and I think I'll place it in my office somewhere.

Zack got the best job. Smashing old furniture.

He then placed it in a dumpster.

I left for a bit, and when I came back it was coffee time. The place is a community of its own and you can tell this when you stay for coffee time. : ) Here are Colin and Reg relaxing.....but I know that's what Reg does most of the time anyway.....(tee, hee).

I moved on to a house run by Jericho Road, where I found Mina and Wilma hard at work cleaning up the kitchen. This home is a place for men with mental illnesses to live and function in society. It's a wonderful ministry. One of it's residents comes to our church.

He wanted me to take a picture of his drum set.

It's very nice.

I'm always amazed at how Mina can multitask. She talks a blue streak, and still manages to work so hard....

amazing : )

I wasn't so sure about Leah and Megan though. They just talked to me the whole time I was there.....no, they worked hard too...really! The all did a great job cleaning up the kitchen and pantry, and a basement freezer.

They were done early, and had never been to The Mission before, so they took a trip downtown to see it. Apparently they were in the way, so they left. Being downtown, and having time on their hands....what do you think 4 women went and did for about 1 hour.....you guessed it....SHOPPING. : )

Ian's group ended up helping out at the mission. They decorated the cafeteria eating area for Christmas. Here's Chris beside the Christmas tree they put up.

They cleaned off tables and chairs, and well as went next door to the offices and helped out there.

The final place we served was at Park Place Retirement home. My son just happens to work there, but not in the basement. There was a Christmas Bridge/Euchre tournament set up for the residents and Marg, Jackie, Madii and Lucy were to be hosts. They ended up playing cards as well and had a hoot with the residents. They do get cranky if they loose you know.

Jackie enjoyed herself as she learned how to play cards.

Lucy made sure everyone has juice and food. Good thing there was liquid because it was about 100 Celsius in that room. I was only in there for about 10 minutes, and I wanted to curl up and go to sleep.

Here is the room full of people playing and having fun. Service comes in all sorts of packages, doesn't it! : )

After we were done our serving, I wanted to gather us back together again so we could share a meal and talk about our day together. Mary-Jane offered to prepare that meal. That was greatly appreciated. Service begets service sometimes. My wife helped out as well.

When Mary Jane sets out to do something with food, you just know you are going to have lots of it. This time was no exception. The snack food alone was a meal. : ) Those chips are so addictive....keep me away!!!!

We would have started our meal at 4:15, but that group that went SHOPPING lost track of time (go figure) and arrived RIGHT on time..... :) We sat down prayed and then had our meal.

There was salads and rice and.....

.....Tonnes of meatballs.

Joycegina and Mary Jane taking a break while we all eat.

After our meal we talked for a bit about where we went and what we did, and how we felt about our day. All in all it was a good day of service.

I'm hopeful we can do this again next year with families of Calvin and be a blessing in our city. Stay tuned fellow Calvinites for more information on how you can get involved yourself, or with your family unit.

Trip to Montreal - Seafarer Centre - Dec 2011

2011-12-11T21:10:00.000-05:00

If you are a member of Calvin CRC, December brings many things. There's the Calvin Christmas party (see another entry on that one) as well as packing shoe boxes full of stuff for Seafarers that pass through the Montreal Seafarer centre.

I've made it an annual tradition to bring those gifts (as well as gifts from a couple of other churches) to Montreal with our youth. I think it important that they see this place, and know that there are some neat things going on near them that help bless others.

In past years I've had up to 15 or so come with me to Montreal. We usually go on a Sunday afternoon, but this year I decided to try Saturday. Well, let's just say that people seem busier on Saturday than Sunday. : )

The only takers I got this year were Judy and her son David. Not that I'm complaining, because I'd go if it was just me. I was actually looking forward to taking just two, and Judy had never been before, so this would be a good experience for her.

We begin by taking a picture of all the wrapped shoe boxes. This year Calvin packed 65 of them, with another 27 coming from two other churches.

David and Judy brought bags to help take the parcels to the van with. I think they were laundry bags. Not a bad idea.

The back of my van with all the gifts. We are ready to go!

It's about a 2.5 hour drive with good traffic. We left at 3 pm, and arrived pretty much at 5:30 pm. I only took one wrong turn this time (I hate driving in Montreal). Only a 5 minute delay. Yeah!

When we arrived, the Manager, Albertha, helped us unload all the gifts, and then gave Judy (and David and I) a tour of the building.

She began with the location of the centre in relation to the rest of the port.

This is the library, which around this time of year doubles as the present storage area. They move about 1500 parcels a year through here.

Judy saw the chapel, the really old and solid billiard table, the quiet room where all the Bibles are kept, and we even got to go into the back room (I'd never been there before). Lots of plaques of past people honored, as well as pictures of the old centre. Quite interesting stuff.

This picture is the wall of money. Some time ago (no one seems to know when) people began putting currency up on this wall from their respective country. There is LOTS of money up on this wall. Very interesting to look at.

After about 1.5 hours we left for home. Albertha was a fountain of knowledge. It was nice to hear new things about the centre.

We arrived home again by about 9:30 pm. Another nice trip, and another opportunity for people from all over Ontario be a blessing to seafarers at Christmas time.

In case you wonder if your parcels make a difference, Albertha told us a story of one woman who was very depressed at Christmas time because she thought no one cared about her. The captain had placed the parcels at the doors of everyone on Christmas morning, and when she opened her door, she found a parcel; just for her.

She cried because she knew that she was not forgotten. Someone had taken the time to wrap and pack a shoe box just for her.............I'm reminded of Jesus' words in Matthew 6: 1 - 4:

¹ “Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.

² “So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. ³ But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, ⁴ so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

The centre has just come out with a new video. It's very well done, and worth a look. Click on this YouTube link below and take a look.

Montreal Seafarer Centre Promo video

GEMS/Boys Club enjoy a Visit From Missionary - Sheila

2011-12-11T20:33:00.000-05:00

On Thursday, December 1st, GEMS, Boys Club, and even our Men's Group had the privilege of hosting one of our missionaries, Sheila D.

I was supposed to set up a projection screen that evening, but got tied up in an intense Volleyball Game. I arrived just before 7 pm and set things up. Someone else ended up taking pictures for the evening. I'm going to have to give him/her some lessons on flash use....sorry for the blurry ones.

Sheila brought lots of cloths for the kids/adults to try on later in the evening.

Mouy is always smiling.

Here is Sheila giving a presentation to the GEMS, Boys Club, and apparently the Men's Group too. Cool!

After a short time with everyone, Sheila spent some more quality time with just the GEMS group :) .

I wasn't around for this stuff, but I have my daughter sitting beside me right now telling me what went on in these pictures. Here are some of the girls volunteering to show how babies were carried in Nigeria.

(I'm typing as my daughter is speaking, so bare with me). Here Sheila is getting the group ready to do a race where you had to pick up the "uniform" for school and then go and tie the "baby" around your back, and then pick up the bucket and hold it on your head like the girl is doing to the left in the yellow shirt. Then you had to walk to the end of the room and there were tables where you had to take off all your stuff (but not the cloths you came with) and there was notebook and paper. This was like a pretend school and you had to copy out stuff.

Here is the group starting the game.

Here you see one of the girls in costume and holding the bucket, which, incidentally, Katrina said, contained water....and was HEAVY. Looks like Mouy is enjoying herself. Maybe she should be doing this game too! : )

Here they are at the end, doing the school work. The ball was used to kick back to the next person to simulate playing soccer.

Here is Katrina in costume and holding the bucket...with a LITTLE help from Jackie. I guess they filled them up pretty high.

After the game it was time for a fashion show. Sheila helped many of the girls put on their head scarfs.

The leaders helped out too.......

....And apparently tried some on themselves. Hmmmm, could pass for a wedding dress maybe Jackie.? (tee, hee).

Jackie and Mouy in costume.....lovely.

All the girls lined up ready for a fashion show.

Carraugh showing off her great looking dress.

A final group shot of everyone.

Thanks for coming out Sheila and sharing with our church the work you have been doing in Nigeria.

Blessings to you in your continued work.

Bunraiser - Peru 2012

2011-12-11T19:02:00.000-05:00

On Tuesday, November 29th CIA/ETM, and anyone who wanted to help us, took the evening to dress up 3924 buns. Several youth going to Peru sold them to help raise $$ for their trip.

We needed more help than just those who sold the buns, and people were gracious and helped out. THANKS to all who did.

The event started with Andrea, a friend of hers, and myself picking up the buns from Kanata Costco. They filled up my van, with all the seats out, and some more had to be put in Andrea's van.

Here are all the buns stacked in boxes. WOW, we are going to be here for a while, since they all have to be cut and then dressed with cheese and ham or salami.

People would be trickling in all evening, but Andrea wanted to get started on things right away, and I didn't blame her. Here they are cutting the cheese (bahahahah). No, real cheese actually. It went quickly with the machines they were using. I gotta get me some of these.

Fontana was the first to arrive. She began cutting the buns using an electric knife. Kind of scary to watch. I think only 2 people ended up cutting themselves...but no worries, no blood got into the buns.....

These three didn't sell any buns, but they came to help out anyway (two being WONDERFUL youth leaders). Way to go community......

One of the rules of the night was that no one could eat any of the buns we were preparing. Some forgot to bring dinner (you try to communicate, and still people miss things...sigh) so Andrea ordered pizza for them, and I went to get it.

I think they cut buns for 2.5 hours. 109 bags of 36.

Tobie and Lucy DID sell buns.

They look like they are having fun.

Chris B decided to do things JUST a bit differently.

Megan did an amazing job of organizing this event. Every time I came downstairs she was running, or getting someone to work. Yes, that comment means I wasn't very active in this fundraiser. I was doing other work, and letting those in charge be in charge. : )

There was a lot of meat needed for the buns as well. All needing separating. Melanie helps with the separating. Thanks Mel.

The 3 amigo's. Zack, Tori and Gaelen. Always laughter when these three are together....they even got some work done.

Yes Ben, that's Salami. No Ben, it's not moving.

Andrea eating for 3. Yes, you read that correctly.

We even had some parents come out and help. Nice.

After making buns for hours and hours, it seems that people got a little crazy.....oh, not really. This is how they really act.

Kevin's such a ham! : )

Things are running like a well oiled machine.

Pretty much everyone is there now. We had about 25 - 30 people helping during our peak time. LOTS of noise, and LOTS of fun....well, at least I was having fun since I wasn't in charge this time. : )

Oh, yes, our Driver's Ed people showed up.

Megan put Megan and Leah to work right away. : )

Hannah came to help out too. She didn't have to, but she chose too (social time too you know). I sent her an email thanking her the next day....and she deleted it......

no...

I'm not bitter....

no..... : )

Now there were a couple in the group who didn't help. They had "other" things to do....like homework. : ( Rosy had to come here from Driver's Ed anyway, and the boy next to her had no choice either.

Hey Michael......smile!!!!! Like Ben's doing.

So, maybe I did work a LITTLE bit during the evening. Kevin demanded I zip buns into baggies. I look more like I'm constipated than zip locking....awkward.......as Leah would say. : )

Seems like Andrea is trying to tell me something...waving her arms so fast the camera couldn't keep up. Oh, I know...."Ron, get to work!" (tee, hee).

Rosy had some pretty hard homework to do, so she solicited the help of Jeannine and Megan. I guess it had something to do with opening your mouth and holding it...as you can see Megan and Jeannine doing.....why! ? : )

I don't think Rosy is enjoying her homework time with us....can you blame her with her brother being a pest....yes, those are his lips in the top left corner.

Oh, the joy of siblings......

We finished a bit earlier than we thought we would, thanks to all our extra volunteers. We had to wait for people to pick up their buns, and while that happened, some of our younger youth group members hung out and relaxed together.

Thanks to all who helped out with this bunraiser a.k.a. fundraiser. We ended up helping the members going to Peru make just over $2,000 profit. Thanks to all who purchased buns too. This wouldn't have been a success without you playing your part. : ) I think we might try this again next year, so stay tuned.......

Calvin's 2011 Christmas Party Extravaganza!

2011-12-09T21:57:00.000-05:00

I can't believe it's December already. Time certainly seems to be moving fast. A couple of weeks ago we held our annual Calvin Christmas Party. We host it at the end of November because we don't want to intrude on other Christmas parties happening in our Congregation. It seems to work out well.

We get between 30 - 40 people each year, and the crowd seems to change as the years progress. This year I also had a new apprentice helping me. Jason is our new chair of Fellowship. I showed him the ropes this year, and he was responsible to select some Christmas games.

Here is Jason setting up tables with me. I use a template each year with slight alterations if necessary.

The end result of our labour. The tables turned out nice once again. Remember, presentation is everything!

Here's where our coffee, hot cider, punch, and a new addition (eggnog spiked with some rum) will be placed.

The eggnog went first BTW. : )

I asked Jason to pose near a table.

He reluctantly did so. : )

Our guests began to arrive at 6:00 pm. They partook of the drinks and began to find a place to seat themselves.

The gifts for the ever popular gift exchange.

We opened with some Christmas Caroling, acapella, and then it was time to feast on the various food creations. I LOVE potlucks! : ) Here is one of our more senior members, Adrian, filling his plate. He was the best dressed person at the party in my opinion. : )

This year we had another contingent of young people come out. Nice to see. Doug and Louise joined them. I think they feel pretty youthfull still. : )

A mixing of the generations. Sarah and Amy with some "older folk." : )

That plate looks pretty full Wilma.

Want to leave some for ME! ?????

We had a contingent of young adults this time around too. Nice to see.

Judy took a fancy to a certain salad dish and wasn't about to let any of it go to waste. That's a pretty big dish, Judy. : )

Over the years we've had different sorts of Christmas games/trivia. I asked Jason to come up with the games portion, and he did a marvelous job. Here are Mel and Ian figuring out what the pictures mean when it comes to titles of Christmas Carols.

Mother and Daughter in law working together to get those titles figured out.

People really got into the games.

Sarah and Amy working hard. Amy looks like she's going to get a headache....and hey, that's my hat Sarah!

I always enjoy the trivia part of our games. I enjoy it, NOT because of the trivia part, but what the game seems to evoke in those who partake of them. EVERY year, no matter what the trivia questions are, I (and now Jason) seem to rattle some feathers. : ) This time was no different.

He was challenged on some thing, and I hope he didn't feel overwhelmed by it. I find it all quite hilarious. Seems that when we don't get the facts straight over the true Christmas story, there are those who challenge.....though not always ending up on the winning side.

You'd be surprised how much we infer into the Christmas story, mostly from the Christmas songs we sing so blindly....very interesting indeed! So....did the angles really sing.....or say......you find out and let me know!

Jeannine (and her fellow helper, whom I don't remember) won the games portion. Her gift? Nice Christmas earings...I dare you to wear those on Christmas day Jeannine...bahahah

After supper, and the games to help us digest things, it was time for dessert. These Christmas tree cookies were made by Christine's children. Nice......

We try to allow time for socializing. A "working" Christmas party, just doesn't seem right. Here Judy and Doug talk...probably about that Christmas trivia game.... : )

Here are Eric and Sonja getting their fudge ready for us to consume. I got an early piece....it was AMAZING!

Our youth sampling the desserts. It was all just soooo good, but hard to decide what to eat.

After dessert it was time to clear away the tables and get settled in for the Christmas gift exchange. There are so many different ways to do this exchange, and we've tried several different ones (just read my previous blog entries to find out). This year we decided to keep it simple. Give everyone a number and when it's called out, that person has the choice to pick from the pile or from another person who has an unwrapped gift.

Adrian had a wonderful time playing this game. He must have gone up 10 times to get a gift, and he used his cane to fend off anyone who wanted to trade with him. It was so much fun to watch.

Sandy got a great gift. That container holds fudge made by Sonja. Too bad he didn't end up with that gift...... : (

Kevin is trying to figure out whether to pick this gift or another. This was a set of very nice Dutch cheese spreaders...I bet it was from Adrian.... : )

After the gift exchange it was time to clean up. Everyone helped with that, thankfully, and we were out by 10 pm. Thanks to all who came. It wouldn't have been a fun night without you....see you again next year. D.V.

Peru 2012 - Quilting Fundraiser

2011-12-09T20:06:00.000-05:00

The Peru group continues to find ways to raise funds for their trip. Jackie's mom happens to be a world class quilter, and she offered to host a quilting show and then a quilting training day for anyone interested.

Jackie solicited the help of Jeannine and her mom, as well as Melanie. Here are Jeannine and her mom making sure things are ready for the training day.

10 women signed up for the quilting training day. Here you see them all set up and working hard.

What I know about quilting could fit on the head of a pin, but Margaret looks very in to whatever new thing she is being taught.

Kim seems to be having lots of fun too. So, what's with the gloves???? (Did I mention I know NOTHING about quilting....it shows eh! : ))

Here's Annet enjoying herself, except for the fact that I'm taking her picture.......... : )

Cheryl working hard, but notice.....NO GLOVES.....

I'm so confused!

Here are some large quilts from Jackie's mom.

They look beautiful.

Here's Jackie's mom helping Jane with some pattern techniques. Way over my head, but it looks like Jane is enjoying herself....which is the objective on a day like this. : )

Lunch was a time to talk and get acquainted.

It was also a time for the help to eat. I was texted telling me that soup was on, and there were meatballs in the soup. Luckily I was just next door at Food Basics. I arrived rather quickly. The soup was delicious.....

Jackie and Jeannine wanted the church sign changed to advertise the quilting trunk show. Here they are getting ready to change the sign once again. I think they had way too much fun doing it.

All in all it was a successful fundraiser for the group of four. Nice job ladies. A special thanks to Jackie's mom for coming from Toronto to Ottawa to participate in this great event.

Leaf Raking for Peru Team - Nov 5th

2011-11-18T22:39:00.002-05:00

After our evening concert fundraiser, some of us got up early and travelled to the outskirts of Ottawa to rake the leaves at Brian and Ruth's place. We've done this in the past. They pay us for doing this. It's no small feat, as you will see.

A group of us arrived about 9:15 AM. John, Ben, Tobie, and Lucy had arrived a bit earlier because they needed to leave earlier due to a basket ball game.

Now you need to know that there are a lot of leaves on this property. A thick layer that takes some time to clean up. This group worked hard this morning, for sure.

I borrowed a very nice gas powered blower from Fontana's dad. I gotta get me one of these. Amazing, fun, and all around cool to use. : )

Fontana wanted to use it, but NO WAY was I going to let her do that. She needed to WORK for her pay. : ) She's doing a great job of that here.

Everyone worked hard to get that front yard cleaned up. It was a beautiful day for leaf raking.

Apparently Brian has a leaf blower too, so John used that one. Ah, toys for the boys. : )

Here are John and I helping those doing the raking by hand. Like kids in a candy shop.

John's nicer than me. He let Ben use the blower, eventually. : )

As you can see from the backyard, there are a lot of leaves to rake. At least there was no dog poop this time to contend with.

Megan looking at me wanting to use the leaf blower too...NO WAY! : )

Ok, Ok, so eventually I softened and let Fontana use the leaf blower and I raked. She was pouting...what could I do!

We used a large tarp to move the leaves. Easy, and less work than using garbage cans. We just placed all the leaves in the back corner of the yard.

Megan eventually got her way as well.

There were LOTS of leaves. We ended up simply walking them over to the pile because they were so thick. It was easier than raking.

The remaining group sitting in the pile of leaves. Whew, a lot of work, but rewarding to see it completed.

Fontana jumped in and was covered. She's in there somewhere...can you find her?

The boys jumping in. Nice air.

Megan and Fontana did not want to be outdone so they jumped in too.

The finished front yard.....

...and back yard. Nice Job everyone!

Ruth, far right, rewarded everyone with hot chocolate and brownies. Gaelen looks very happy. : )

The house was warm in the sunshine, and it looks like Fontana has succumbed to being relaxed and cozy. She fell asleep pretty quickly in that chair.

The boys relaxing around the table, finishing off all the brownies.

Oh, I think Fontana got hold of my camera again. I gotta keep that away from her.

I drove my crew home. They are a strange bunch, but I like them. Thanks for all your hard work. Your reward??? The cheque is in the mail............... : )

Peru 2012 - Fred's Concert and Fundraiser Nov 4, 2011

2011-11-18T21:56:00.000-05:00

As our Peru 2012 team prepares for their Learning Opportunity in March Break they are attempting to raise funds for their trip. This year we decided to ask Fred if he'd once again host a dessert concert with/for us. He graciously agreed to.

On Thursday, Nov 4th, the group set up the church in preparation for the big event. We move all our couches into the sanctuary (I've discovered we have a lot of couches in our church) and put the piano in the centre. This gets us up close and personal during Fred's concert. Jeannine, Fontana, Yvonne and maybe Tobie/Lucy all showing off their lifting skills.

Couches, couches and more couches.......

Furniture was also used for placing coffee cups and desserts on.

Here are Wilma and Andrea getting things organized on the stage. I'm not the greatest interior decorator, so I delegated. They did a fantastic job.

Here's Madii preparing our donation envelopes.

Always a smile on her face.

Madii and Mina meet for the first time. No time for small talk. Time to get to work. : ) Nah, the two of them could talk your ears off.....really! : )

Ben thought up a neat design for placing the desserts on. I never knew he was that creative. I liked it.

The finished product. We turned the sanctuary stage into a cozy concert place. I can hardly wait until tomorrow night.....I wonder how many will show up....hmmmmmmm

The fellowship hall ready for our patrons to arrive. It's Friday evening now and we have set things up. We have coffee perking, desserts being cut, and tables set up for socializing before the concert.

Here are some of the group getting their desserts ready. They all looked yummy. : )

A twist on Ben's design, but looking good.

ummmmm....well....yes.....that's BEN! : )

Ian hard a work cutting the cake he bought.

I guess not everyone made something from scratch.

Fontana working hard, as well as Megan and Tobie and Lucy. Everyone pitched in really well and things were set to go quite quickly and smoothly. I love it when a plan comes together. : )

Wow, this looks really good.

I wonder who made it? No, it surely wasn't me.

The desserts cut and ready to come into the fellowship hall for consumption.

Our welcoming committee of Madii and Jeannine...hey,

how'd Ella get in there......

Our guests started arriving shortly before 7 pm. There was a social time from 7 - 7:30 pm. People could grab a flavoured coffee and select from lots of different desserts and then socialize for a bit before Fred's concert. I see Madii's still smiling. Her and Jeannine's role was to welcome everyone, explain the evening, and yes, make sure they all got a donation envelope. This is a fundraiser after all. : )

The coffee's were perking, and the desserts just kept coming....as did the guests. Awesome.

Megan and Tobie make sure the dessert tables are kept full.

Other's made sure the coffee and the desserts disappeared.....awesome... : )

Gaelen all smiles.

Sandy looks like he's taking this dessert thing very seriously.

Remember how I said that there was social time between 7 - 7:30 pm. Seems that Harry didn't get that memo. I looked into the sanctuary as I was passing by for something, and there was Harry. All by himself with his dessert. I sauntered over to see what he was up to. He asked me where everyone else was, including Fred. He's late...the concert was supposed to start 10 minutes ago.

I laughed, and so did Harry after I explained to him the 7:30 start. On the positive side, Harry has a great seat....and he wasn't about to move. : )

This picture must have happened just before 7 pm, because I see Harry's in it. At least he got SOME socializing in.

As did many others. We had 80 people show up for the concert. A great turnout.

Jeremy talking with mom and Tammy. Jeremy didn't know it yet, but he was about to become part of the evening......stay tuned.

The ladies enjoying coffee, dessert, and social time.

We even had a contingent of young adults come to the event. Cool. Well, Melanie on the left is actually going to Peru, but the other two came to support. Thanks.

We even had a contingent of the really young come out. They must be future classic concert enthusiasts.

I see my wife and daughter finally showed up.

What a crowd.

Just before the concert began everyone came into the sanctuary and picked their spots.

There weren't enough couches, so the overflow took to the pews. I don't think they minded at all. They were all looking forward to Fred's concert.

Oh, and there he is. Doing an air concert.....hmmm, I don't think that's what they came for Fred....quit clowning around and start heating up those keys will ya.....the pressures on you know. : )

As the concert began, the Peru group began to clean up dishes and replenish desserts for intermission time.

I guess people nominated Ian for dishwasher detail.

I understand he did a wonderful job.

Remember I said Jeremy was going to be part of the concert. Well, he ended up being a page turner for Fred's first piece. That's actually a very stressful job. You have to follow along and turn pages fast, but at the right time. Jeremy did a great job. Fred thanks him as he bows from the applause.

Then it was time to get down to concert business. I scooted in and out of the concert. You could have heard a pin drop in the place as Fred played. The keys were plenty warm by the time intermission arrived.

Here's everyone grabbing another coffee and last minute dessert as they socialize during intermission.

Some desserts we simple and clean, others simple and messy. Here's Larry grabbing something messy, but I bet very delicious.

Wow, what a mess. A delicious mess.

Time to clean up after intermission.

Lots of dishes to do and desserts to clean up.

A larger panoramic shot of the sanctuary with everyone listening.

Fred took a few minutes after each piece to talk with the members of the audience. He explained the pieces he would be playing.

This piece was solely for left handed playing. Being a left handed person, I was quite please to see Fred doing this. I didn't even ask him to. : )

After the concert, we figured out we had a lot of desserts left over. A guest suggested we wrap them up and sell them for $5 a plate. A good idea. We ended up making an additional $100 that way.

It soon became clean up time.

Time to put all those heavy couches back again.

It wasn't always easy getting them down the stairs. This one belongs in the youth room, and it was one of the heavier ones. Thank goodness we had strong backs helping us.

Megan and Madii lifting the smaller, but no less essential elements of our furniture.

Jackie and Phil doing the last minute furniture clean up.

All in all a wonderful event. All who came really enjoyed the concert (and the coffee and desserts too, I hope). Thank you VERY MUCH Fred for donating your talent and skills for our Peru cause. I know you believe in what we are doing.

Thanks to all who came out to support the Peru Team. Your donations helped us raise just over $2,900.

Thanks to the Peru Team who worked hard to ensure all who came out had a wonderful time.

Canadian Youth Workers Convention - Entry #3

2011-11-16T20:32:00.000-05:00

Good morning everyone, or should I almost say, Good afternoon. As I write this entry to you from Starbucks I know that my fellow Calvinites are presently in worship. May you have a blessed time in Worship today.

Yesterday was another great, but long day. Lots to take in and digest in the days to come. I'll let you in on some of those elements as we move along in the blog. I'll be finishing this entry in the Vancouver airport, as there's a Technology Seminar I want to attend before our final main session. I need to be updated on some of this techy stuff that my youth are in to so I don't look so old when I ask for help with things....(as my son likes to tell me). : )

After my time blogging at McDonald's yesterday, I had a bit of time to kill before our main session. I went back upstairs to find my roomie still fast asleep. We seem to be on different time schedules, and I would have thought it would have been me doing all the sleeping in. Time changes can actually be a good thing for me at times. : )

After "freshening up" I went to the display booths and spent a good deal of time talking with Marcel about youth ministry issues and the like.

I found a speaker from yesterday I needed to touch base with on some things. These seminar speakers are amazing. They hang out, stick around and are there if you have questions.

Our Third large session started at 10:15 am. It began with a dance group called "Refined/Undignified" A group of students from Regent College that use hip/hop dance to speak into the lives of young people. They were amazing to watch and I am looking forward to seeing them this evening for a more full length performance.

Hannah and Tori, you'd love this group.....and maybe should consider going to Regent College to be part of it.....???? :)

We were led once again in worship by Jon and his Band. A wonderful time of worship.

Our Main Speaker this time was Iona. The theme of her talk was that things don't always go as we plan them to go, and that God values those times in our lives. Things may not be going okay, but God is with us. What we remember is more important than what we know, because when trials hit our lives, it's the remembering that anchors us in Jesus, not always our knowledge. Interesting point which I hadn't thought of before.

After the session it was time for lunch. I wanted to try a place that served burritos, but it was closed, so it was back to the same restaurant as yesterday. Here's a picture of the inside. I had a really good spicy meat lasagna with Caesar salad. It was pouring outside, so I got a bit wet, but it was worth it.

Our afternoon sessions were going to be a bit different this year. Youth Specialties identified 6 burning issues they felt needed more dialogue on by we youth workers/leaders, so they set them up for us to attend.

I attended two. The first entitled "Elastic Morality." It comes from a book published a bit ago (I bought it) that outlines where our Christian youth and young adults are when it comes to issues of morality and the church. A really good seminar and the results of our discussions will be made public to us soon.

The one thing that struck me was the group that was surveyed. In this study it was 300 young adults who were camp counsellors at Muskoka Woods. They are considered strong Christians who have a sincere desire to serve God and serve in the church. Having said that, one of the results of this survey was to try to find out where these young adults are when it comes to 3 different camps that the surveyors wanted to highlight.

Camp A is the Black and White camp. Things like right and wrong are clearly defined in the Bible, etc.

Camp B suggests that things are more grey. Right and wrong is informed in the Bible's teachings, but not necessarily truth.

Camp C puts everything into moral relativism, in that what's right and wrong is a matter of personal opinion.

(It's a bit more complicated than that, but that would take me too long to tell you about).

The results of these young adults, active church members, are that there are 40 % in camp A, 40 % in camp B, and 20 % in camp C.

The interesting thing is that among church leaders it breaks down as 95 % in Camp A, 5 % in camp B and 0 % in Camp C.

Think about the implications of that for a while......

The second seminar was related to the first a little bit.

It was entitled:
"Disillusioned or Passionately engaged: Responding to the Rang of Responses of Young Adults who Grew Up in the church."

This workshop consisted of telling us about the results of a yet to be published survey from across Canada. A group of people, with the help of some heavy weight research groups, interviewed many youth and young adults about what has happened to them since attending church as a young child.

I can't go into all the details, except to say that I can't wait to get hold of the research and begin talking with Parents and others about it. It's fascinating, disheartening, and challenging all at the same time.

I'll have to wait until I get home Monday morning to finish off this Blog, so hopefully you'll check it out soon. Gotta board my plane..........

Hello again.
It's Thursday now. Life and work got in the way, so I'll do my best to finish this blog entry and move on to some others still pending.....

Back to this seminar, or group think tank. Some of the preliminary results of this Canadian survey are as follows:

We are experiencing a Hemorrhaging Faith amongst our young people and young adults. Of those who went to church as children, 39 % become sporadic, or non attenders when they transition from childhood to teenage years.

47 % of those who continue on will become sporadic or non attenders between the ages of 18 - 34.

There are certain things that drive young adults to the church, and certain things that prove to be barriers. Initial data suggests:

Barriers:
1. Invisible God
2. Contaminated Community
3. Restrictive Teaching and Beliefs
4. Disengaged Parents

Drivers:
1. Tangible God
2. Vibrant church Community
3. Empowering Teaching and Beliefs
4. Engaged Parents.

There are 4 typologies of those Children raised in the church.

1. Choir = 23 % Faith is authentic healthy, natural

2. Fence Sitters = 36 % They are unwilling to commit to anything

3. Public Square = 26 % They are familiar with church but don't trust it.

4. Spiritually Uprooted = 15 % Grew up in church but don't want anything to do with it any more.

In general, "Most young adults we [the surveyors] met are on a search - for real encounters, authentic communities and freedom to be themselves - and will abandon churches, if necessary, to find it.

An interesting summary that the church better take note of.

We were asked to write prayers down for our youth ministries and churches. We placed them on red and white foam squares. These squares were then collected and made into the Canadian Flag.

After digesting all this great information, it was time to digest some great food. At each conference I have one dinner at the hotel; Pamper myself a bit. I ate at the Hyatt lounge. A nice quiet place. I was seated at a window table and could watch the traffic, and everyone getting wet in the rain.

I was greeted by a very helpful waitress. She ran through all the great dishes of the place, and I chose the French Onion Soup....

...and B.C. Salmon. Delicious. I took some time to do some reading of a book and just relax and enjoy a quiet, delicious meal.

Our evening main session included Refined/Undignified once again, as well as Jon and Band. We then had Doug Fields share with us. He's an amazing speaker on youth ministry issues. I've used much of his leadership material in my years of youth ministry. He talked about church leaders needing to forget about making his/her own legacy, but serve those up and coming so they can be equipped to lead well.

After our main speaker it was time for late night activities. Refined/Undignified played a 1 hour set. They focused on the lies that we try to hide in our lives. It was amazing to watch and a great story line.

Then there was evening, and then there was morning. It's now Sunday AM and I took in an early workshop. 8:30 AM. It was on youth and the digital age. I think it was one of the best workshops on this topic I've ever experience. Matt didn't really talk a lot about the technology, but more of how it has affected our youth. Some interesting stuff I hope to share with parents of our youth and younger ones sometime soon.

The one thing that I really found funny was his observation about how communication has gone. It's sort of gone backwards.

You'd think that we would have begun with the Twitter...only 140 characters of text to communicate with.

THEN we would have been amazed that we could get longer text messages to each other......

We would have been ecstatic to then have someone invent email so we could send attachments and even longer messages to each other...

and finally, that invention of inventions...the telephone...we could actually pick up a phone and talk to one another and get instant responses.......

In reality, things have gone the reverse, and if you think about it, it's strange isn't it........ : )

After this seminar it was time for our last big main session. We started a bit late and I had to leave at noon to catch my plane. Starfield was the worship band this morning. They certainly were LOUD. I actually had to leave the room because the drums seemed to be manipulating my heart beat. While out in the hallway I filled in the CNYW survey form. My way of multitasking. : )

Eventually Starfield settled down and we had some really good worship time together.

Our speaker was John McAuley. He is president and CEO of Muskoka Woods. He began talking about some really good stuff in Revelation, but I had to leave, so I'm hoping to get a copy of his talk somehow.

I checked out of the hotel and then took the subway to the Sky Train. I ended up getting a seat at the front of the train, so I could see lots of great stuff. Here's one of the underground stations.

Ah, the light at the end of the tunnel.....

The rails we are travelling on.

Over a bridge....a bit scary for one who doesn't like heights.....really!

Rush hour traffic.... : )

This picture doesn't do the mountains justice. I could see that on some mountains nearby, they were making snow for the ski hills. Cool! No pun intended.

The airport runway straight ahead. I'd hate for a plane to miss it while I was on the train.

The Vancouver Airport.

My gate for boarding, but, hey, where's my plane. It's almost boarding time.....

Oh, there it is. I forgot that WestJet is a no nonsense carrier. They simply clean up after the passengers are off and reload. I only had a 1 hour flight to Calgary AB first.

A view from my window seat. Alberta.

Landing at Calgary. I love the way the wings of the plane come apart on landing. How does it all stay together.....

I had supper at the airport. A nice Italian fast food place. The sun was setting at 5 pm.

A nice airport overall.

My final flight to Ottawa took just under 4 hours. I organized more blog pics during that time from Fred's Concert...stay tuned for that blog to come soon.

I arrived home just before midnight and Joycegina and Chris came to pick me up....Chris driving of course.

So ends my convention experience. Lots to digest over the next weeks/months, but it's all good stuff.

I hope you enjoyed having an inside look into a Canadian Youth Workers Convention. Thank you Calvin for allowing me the opportunity to receive this sort of training.

Until next time........

Canadian Youth Workers Convention - Entry #2

2011-11-12T11:56:00.000-05:00

Good morning. It's 7:50 am in Vancouver, 10:50 am Ottawa time. I got up at 6:45 am again this morning. Had some breakfast at Mac Donald's again, to be able to use their WiFi. Much better food today. Strangely enough, I might be able to get used to getting up this early more often.....maybe...... : )

It's been interesting watching the morning crowd over the past two days. A couple of people from our Convention have come in here, at least the ones wearing their name tags. Many other school kids going off to school, and then there are many homeless people, or people from the tent city just a couple of blocks away coming in and sharing their stories. Quite a variety of social classes gathering in this tiny corner of the world.

Let me tell you a bit about my day yesterday.

I'm impressed with The Hyatt hotel, at times. A very nice place to stay, with people everywhere willing to assist you. I entered one of the public washrooms, and discovered that they don't just have stalls for the toilets, but separate rooms. Really. I'd never seen that before. Very interesting, and expensive.......

I told you about the exhibits yesterday. Here's a picture of one hallway. This exhibit is selling necklaces and beads from a third world country. Many of the exhibits are from Christian Colleges and Universities, or Mission Trip organizations offering Mission Trips in a package that you simply pick up and run with.

Here's the small bookstore. In the U.S. these conventions have much larger bookstores, and many more exhibitors. I was talking with Marcel, our Canadian Youth Unlimited Leaderships Trainer, and he was commenting on the fact that events like this seem to be waning. He wondered about the legitimacy of events like this, and was beginning to think that smaller events might be what people are wanting.

I have pondered that for a bit too. There often seem to be the same seminars that show up on the schedule, and no really big names to draw people out to the conventions.

However, I also know that when I come to a convention like this, I'm more of a veteran paid youth worker, and I come for different reasons that the "newer" and often younger attendees. The seminar repeats are important for those new to the ministry so they start off well. I wish I had that opportunity when I was starting off.

I come more for the main speakers, who, though they aren't well known always, usually have some nugget or two to give to us, and this year has proven that true for me already. I also come to get away from the office for a few days, and listen to what God might be wanting to say about my life and ministry for the upcoming years of my life. In that I'm never disappointed either, though it's not always a joy to experience when God says it's time to work on things.

So, I'm torn on the issue. We'll see what the next years bring as Youth Specialities tries to navigate these waters.

Our main stage area where the bands and speakers speak into our souls.

This is "Lost and Found". Two German performers who love the Lord and are extremely funny. Michael, on the left, does most of the talking. I love his dry as dust sense of humour. Apparently only a handful of people had heard of them at this convention. I found that amazing, as I've seen them at least 7 times now at various conventions. Good for them to have a new audience.

They have funny songs, like "Saskatchewan" and many more serious songs that send a powerful message. They are kind of like Simon and Garfunkle, but with lots of humour. They have many CD's out, with titles like "This" and "That" and "Something." Michael went on and on about how "This" was for sale long before "That" was, etc, etc.

Jon and Band is the main worship band for the weekend. Great worship band with familiar and new songs.

Our first main session speaker was Grant. A Youth Pastor who became a lead Pastor through tragic moral failures of his lead Pastor, in two separate instances. He's Canadian, but ministering now in Bellingham, WA.

An amazing speaker who spoke wisdom from many tragic experiences.

We also had the privilege of having a Skype conversation with a former Army person who was now into youth ministry in Saskatoon, I believe. He's ministering to street kids out of his house. Another amazing story.

After the session it was time for some lunch. I traveled outside to a place I'd scouted the day before that seemed like a nice off the path place, but it was closed. Then I remembered that it was Nov 11th, Remembrance Day. I noticed many of the downtown buildings were closed, and so were the many small restaurants and shops, as they rely on the businesses in the buildings around them.

After a 20 minute walk I found this small, nice place called Moonpennies. They make great Baguettes and soups.

I ordered a Vancouver smoked salmon baguettes and it was good.

After lunch it was time for two workshops back to back. My first one was actually going to be done by Grant. It was entitled "Making your Worst Nightmare your greatest opportunity." Grant shared his ministry story with the two Lead Pastor's who had failed and how he ended up navigating the mess and fallout. He shared how it affected his life, and offered lots of wisdom about what to do when people come knocking and wanting to know things.

I was reminded about how our church had to handle something like this when I first arrived in Ottawa, from a former Youth Pastor. I think we did many things right in the aftermath, but there are things I learned about speaking truth into peoples lives that I could do better. A good seminar and the time went way to fast.

The second Seminar was by Jeff, from another Youth Unlimited organization. I was intrigued by the title when I first saw it...."Leading from the Second Chair: the Best Leaders have Learned to Follow Well." I'm one who is in that second chair, as are most, if not all, Youth Pastor's. Some interesting (and yes even tough) information that I'm still chewing on and need to process more. That's a good Workshop as far as I'm concerned.

I went out to Subway for dinner and then relaxed in my room for a bit. Then it was time for our second main stage session.

Lost and found were once again on stage, and equally funny and poignant. We also took some time honour our Veterans because it was remembrance day. Jon and Band led us in worship and then we heard from Dr. John, teacher at Regent College. He spoke about Theology in Youth Ministry and how we need to be teaching Theology throughout them. For a Theology guy, he was surprisingly funny. : ) Some good things to ponder from his talking as well.

After the main session there were a couple of late night options. Lost and found were going to do a set, but I've seen them often. I really wanted to see a play that was being offered by Me2You Productions called "Screaming Silently".

They are a small group of actors in the Vancouver area who have steadily been noticed by mainstream media for their plays that speak about the difficulties of life. This play was about a father who was a movie director, but had just died, and his kids, in the picture above, were trying to come to grips with the legacy of pain and hurt he had left behind for them.

There were some surprises and some good humour. I liked it. The room was full at the beginning of the play, but thinned out a bit near the end. Too bad, those who left missed a good ending.

Well, it was 11:30 pm by then, still 2:30 am in my brain, so it was off to bed. A good day overall with much to chew on. We'll see what today brings. I didn't like any of the seminars that are going on right now, so my next thing will be the third main session time starting at 10:15 am.

Blessings and talk to you soon..............

A Typical CIA/ETM night

2011-11-11T12:15:00.000-05:00

I thought you might like to know what goes on Tuesday nights when our grade 7 - 12's meet. That would be our CIA/ETM group. Early Teen ministry is our grade 7 - 8's, and CIA is our grade 9 - 12's. Every other Tuesday all of them get together, and the opposite Tuesday's only CIA meets. The group has grown this year for a number of reasons.

First, our grade 9 group is 10 large ish......

Second, we have some imports from Kanata this year.

The group has renamed themselves, Calvata : )

We are about 35 - 38 when all the kids are there. I thought you might like to see a typical night as we do CIA/ETM. We are trying to start something new now. Singing at the beginning of our time together. Hannah's great idea and the group seems to be liking it.

Here are Hannah and Sarah and Madii (got that right this time didn't I Madii) praising it up. : )

Chris and Jacob doing the same.

Some of the songs require actions, and the group is more than willing to incorporate them.

We also have a short Q & A at the beginning of our time together (during CIA meetings as well) where I ask two YP some questions about themselves so we can get to know them better. Seems to be going ok. It also seems that some of the YP want to ask the questions, which is a stretch for a Lion, but good to have. : )

We have games as part of our evening too. The otters in the group head that part up. : ) Did I ever tell you that games never showed up on my Spiritual Gifting Survey....??? Yeah, I think I did (tee, hee).

This game involved lots of moving around. Getting rid of all that energy just before getting more sugar......

Another element of our evening involves breaking down into smaller groups and doing some sort of Bible discussion. The leaders are really enjoying getting to know their group of kids, as we keep the groups the same each time we meet.

I think it's important to build those relationships with our kids, and with a group this size, this is the best way to accomplish that.

We end our evening with some prayer, which varies in type and style, and then we have snack and social time. Parents slowly meander into the space as 9:00 pm approaches. Many just watch from a distance and wonder how we can put up with all that noise....I love it......but I'm a Lion....maybe many of our parents are Ants or Golden Retrievers.....hmmmmmmm

Well, just another evening in the life of our CIA/ETM group. When CIA meets - only - , we do a bit less games and a bit more discussion, and don't have worship time as the sanctuary is being used by our Friendship Group.

If you have any questions/comments about CIA/ETM, by all means contact me or any of our GREAT youth leaders...and they are all GREAT, even if they aren't all Lion's like me (a very good thing actually). : )

GEMS Dress up night

2011-11-11T11:52:00.000-05:00

GEMS continues to meet every other Thursday evening.

This particular evening the group held a dress up evening.

I thought you might like to see what they ended up doing.

They all had to come dressed as some sort of wise Bible Character. Apparently there were many Esther's in the group, my daughter included.

Hmmmm, I wonder who Jackie and Leanne were supposed to be....... : )

There was a short drama presentation, I think, for the group. Hey Cheryl, you didn't dress up....what's with THAT! : )

Soon some fun and games erupted. Something to do with toilet paper....Mouy, you look like your having fun! : )

I think Christine is tolerating it.

Guess the Mummy, or is that Mommy....hmmmm

The mummy is complete and the group is proud.

Who IS that!

I know THAT is Cheryl....can't you tell?

I think the best time for the girls was taking the toilet paper off everyone. What a great looking mess!

A group shot. Everyone looks great.

After the toilet paper, it was time for a craft. Wilma and her daughter Amy set things up. They are great at crafts.

So, just another night in the GEMS ministry. If you have a daughter in grades 2 - 6, bring them out to GEMS. They'd love to meet her...........

Canadian Youth Workers Convention - Entry #1

2011-11-11T11:39:00.000-05:00

It's time again for some training and education as a Youth Pastor. Each year Youth Specialities puts on 3 youth worker's conventions in the US, and they have recently started to host a Canadian one too.

They rotate from B.C. to Toronto. Last year's was in Toronto. I went, but didn't blog it. This year's is in B.C. I'm here and decided to blog it this time to give you an inside look at what happens at a Youth Worker's Convention.

It won't be an easy feat putting stuff on the blog, as the hotel (The Hyatt) is charging for Internet use. Why is it that the more expensive the hotel, the more they charge you for things that should be free....? hmmmm

Anyway, I left from Ottawa at 8:45am Ottawa time on WestJet. I haven't flown in a long time, so I was looking forward to it. I love airports and flying and such. Seems that WestJet doesn't provide food in their ticket price either. Not even for a 5 hour non stop flight. I had to pay for it, which I wasn't going to do, so I slept instead. I would have had to pay for the head phones too : (. (I couldn't find any of that on the WestJet webiste) The stewards were very friendly though. A far cry from that other airline that flies in Canada.

I arrived in Vancouver at 11:05 am Vancouver time, 2:05 pm your time now. : ) An uneventful trip, and very cloudy so I couldn't see the mountains much. I took the skytrain to the Hotel. Nice public transit right from the airport to downtown, with only one transfer.

The old adage of taking for granted what you live near came to mind as I looked out the window of the skytrain and saw the mountains. I've never been to Vancouver. What a view. I wonder if people do take this view for granted, or if they look in awe each day and think how blessed they are to see such beautiful mountains all around them......probably take it for granted I bet..... : )

I checked into The Hyatt and here is my room. Quite modern looking and posh. I personally don't like the decor, but hey, it's only for a couple of days.

No shower tub, just a tile shower that drains into the bathroom. Interesting to say the least. I'm sharing the room with another youth pastor from the Island. He took the ferry to get here (a two hour trip). Helps to keep the costs down for a conference like this.

A view of the front lobby. Very nice.

This is Starbucks. The place where I first connected to WiFi to check my emails and Facebook. I'll be trying to use WiFi here once in a while because the room daily rates are nuts. McDonald's has it too, which is where I am right now, putting on what I can before going to my first Seminar. Incidentally, I need to go now and be part of that seminar, so I'll get back to you soon. ....

Hello again. It's Friday morning, Rememberance Day. Don't forget your 2 minutes of silence today. Let me continue from where I left off yesterday......

I'm in MacDonald's again, using their WiFi. Here you see a picture of the registration table. All the information needed for the convention....and chocolate to boot! I love Youth Pastor Conventions...... : )

Just before I registered I went for lunch with some other Youth Pastor's / workers. I don't know many people here, as the convention is in B.C., not Toronto. I'm ok with that, as I usually come for more of a silent retreat experience than to socialize with everyone.

After Registration I sat down and went through the schedule. I do this every convention to let God direct me to various workshops that I should be attending. It's an interesting process of just praying over each session options and waiting for something to stir me. I'm quite excited about what I will be going to (even skipping one, and that's ok because God said it was...... : ) )

Once that was done, I decided to take a long walk to explore the downtown core a bit. As I came out of the front doors, I noticed this very old church on the corner. I decided to walk up and take a closer look. It's an old Anglican church, and it was open to the public.

I decided to go in. A beautiful old church. You could smell the wood, the wax, the love and care of this church.

The ceilings were wood with steel trusses. Amazing to see.

The stain glass windows were so beautiful. Some of them having dates from people in the church dating back to the 1800's. These two windows honoured our soldiers that died at sea.

I continued on my walk and, low and behold, I stumbled across the B.C. tent city that I've been seeing in the news. Just like the ones in other cities. I stood for a while and watched from a distant. As I did, executives and others in nice suits and business dresses walked by. I was astonished a bit, but not surprised, that many of them were jeering the tents and making comments like, "They should get a job," or "What do they think they are going to accomplish with that!"

Interesting to see how people react to others who are reacting to their way of life.

Eventually I ended up at the harbour. There were several warships at the wharf. One was even Russian. Apparently one of the Youth Pastor's knew someone who could get them on one of the Canadian ships, and some took a tour. Sorry I missed that, but, oh well.

As I walked beside the new Convention centre built for the Olympics, I came to the waterfront, and was amazed at the view. The sun was setting behind me, and lighting up the other side of the bay. Beautiful. Again, I wonder if people get sick of the view or not. : )

It seems there's a bit of a water airport here as well. Planes taking off and landing in the harbour. I loved to watch this (like a kid in a candy shop) and stuck around for about 1 hour drinking in the beauty of the place and watching planes take off and land.

Here are the docks for the airlines. They've built new ones to my right, but they aren't used much, as they cost $20 a person more to use. Good old Gov't Taxes.....

A picture of all the condo's / apartments that dot the bay. Stanley park is just beyond them, but a bit of hike, so not sure if I'll get to go there or not.

After my wonderful walk, it was time for some dinner and to connect to the Internet again. Mac Donald's was my other option for WiFi, so I bit the bullet and had some dinner there and checked my email, updated my facebook and downloaded these pics, and others for my blog.

I was interrupted from my blog because my first early bird seminar was about to begin. Here's a picture of the room it was held in. The title of it was "Made by God: Harnessing your personality in Youth Ministry"

I'm always curious about how we tick, and interact with each other, so I was interested to know what new insights I might glean from this seminar. The presenter was very good. Sincere, kind, and authentic. Though he was a professor, teaching youth ministry, he was also volunteering in his church as a Jr. High leader. Cool.

We spent some time doing the personality survey using the "Lion, Otter, Golden Retriever, and Ant (formerly Beaver, but aptly renamed).

Lion = someone who's a leader, needs to be in charge, decisive, solution driven, but can be insensitive and bullheaded....kind of like the Apostle Paul.

Otter = gotta talk to people and be out there. Great games people. Mixes easily, but don't put them in front of a desk all day. Kind of like Peter in the Bible.

Golden Retriever = loyal, avoids conflict, likes deep relationships and a good listener. Kind of like the Apostle John.

Ant = organizer, quiet, likes numbers, analytical, detailed and orderly. Kind of like Nehemiah.

We compared notes to share what each of us came up with. I was not surprised to once again realize I'm a Lion and part Golden Retriever.

We talked about how these different traits in people need to be realized as we do ministry. I realized that I sometime miss the differences in people and expect them to be like me (which is another defect of the Lion). As some of you nod in agreement, remember that you have your own animal likeness and it comes with it's strengths and weaknesses too. : )

As we went through the different elements, people in each category lept into my mind. I bet your interested to know where you might fit, or if you were one who lept into my mind. Ask me sometime and I might let you know, if you don't already know what type you dominate in. : )

Some good stuff to re-realize and rethink about it as I continue on in ministry.

After the seminar, I went to the bookstore and display booths to check things out. I like to look over the books and again let God direct me to 1 or 2 that could help me where I'm at in my present career in youth ministry. I found a couple of books of interest and purchased them.

I then looked around at the display booths, but was once again not too impressed. Maybe I'm just getting older, but the booths don't impress me. Lots of hype for things to simply sell a mission trip, or attend a college, etc.

I was tired, so it was off to bed.

I got up at 6:30 this morning. Couldn't sleep any longer, as it was 9:30 my time. I figured I might as well get up and see what the early crowd actually does. My roomy was still fast asleep.

That ends my first day. I'll see if I will blog the rest while here, or wait until I get home. Check back a couple of times over the weekend to see what pops up. There will be some other shorter entries from other Calvin ministries as well. Blessings to you all. Off to my first large session........

Youth Fall Retreat at Circle Square Ranch - Part 3

2011-11-08T12:26:00.006-05:00

Another activity was skateboarding and basketball, etc. Looks like Rosy is still learning how to skate board. If I recall correctly, she was in the same situation last year. : )

Seems there are many different ways to skateboard.

Looks like this hurts Ian.

John V decided to try sliding down the skateboard park stuff. He's getting older you know, but I think he's forgotten that.

I hope you didn't get any bruises John.

During the activity time the 10 - 12 volunteers met with Dave and John to work out some acts for the evening show.

Dave in his usual dazed and confused pose. : )

High ropes. Here you see the elements that can be used. We only used two of them. It was cold and windy during this time. I don't like heights so I preferred to take video of others being excited, or scared out of their minds......

Kevin tries to make sport out of just about anything. Here he's playing a game called.....hit the helmet the hardest and see who can take it the longest....interesting.

These two were blindfolded up there and were supposed to get the other off the log. Gives me the shivers just taking the picture.

Others in the group weren't blindfolded, but also tried to get each other off the post first. Some in the group simply wanted to get to the top....and then come right down.
I'm with you.

A nice view of the ranch buildings.

Oh, I see Christine and Wilma are enjoying a nice bike ride in the woods. Nice of you to show up for a while. : )

Leah loves high ropes.....

It seems that some people like to sleep up on the high ropes course. That CAN'T be comfortable. : )

The other course we used was a simple climbing course, and you needed to sit in the tire first to be the winner. Well, it isn't really that simple. Here are Megan and Rosy have a contest.

\We discovered that Megan is part monkey. Man, can she climb. Rosy struggled hard to keep up. Megan just laughed at her. Heartless!

Megan's making great time, and Rosy is yelling at Megan.

....and the winner is.....Megan. See the Utube link at the end of the entry to get the full story.

Rosy, you look cold. Get inside before you get sick!

All that outdoor air made me sleepy. You could see that many in the group felt the same way, but before we knew it, it was supper time.

The Calnata group (a blending of Calvin and Kanata names) waiting for their turn to get in line.

Psst...."Hey John." "Yes Debbie dear." "If Ron takes one more picture, I'm gonna KILL him!" "But Debbie dear. I have a camera too, and I'm taking all kinds of pictures as well. Besides, he's my friend and if you kill him, I'll have to kill you!" "Oh, yeah, I forgot about those things....ok..never mind then...." Bahahahahah

Chris, where are all your friends?

Wilma stretching before eating. I didn't know that eating required this sort of thing. You learn something new every day.

Someone decided to put dessert on my forehead. Whipped Cream. It actually felt nice and cold.

A mother and daughter moment. Nice when your mom does physio for a living.

Debbie found time to knit during the weekend. She's making me a nice red sweater. I take an XL FYI Debbie. :)

After supper it was time for worship, and then Dave spoke to us again on the theme of Fan or Follower of Jesus. He has such good stories....oh, and that reminds me.....it seems that John V heard one of Dave's stories before and he couldn't quite place it. He thought that Dave may have been stealing his stories from the internet, and then using them to tell about his own family.

Well, he confronted Dave and Dave just laughed. He asked John if he was at the All Ontario last May. Seems that Dave was too, talking on behalf of Compassion Canada....where he told that same story........John....you are certainly getting older......

After Dave's talk, it was time for a 2 hour show from the Fidgets. They used the group that had been working with them in the afternoon, and it turned out spectacular. This picture looks strange, but that fits with all that went on this evening.

Pastor Joe was part of that group too. Here's he's portraying some sort of animal. He was good.

Chris did a skit with John and Dave involving 3, 5, and 7 word sentences. It was great. The Utube link to it is below.

Melanie and Jennifer, the leader from Brockville, had to move Dave and John for a skit called HELPING HANDS. Here is Dave eating John's fist, more or less. Loads of fun. Utube video link below.

After the Fidgets we played a game in the dark. John V and I decided to use the couches to rest our backs. For the next 20 minutes or so we had everyone stop by to ask us if we were spies.

John would simply snap a picture of them with his flash. Some interesting poses came out of those pictures.

Good morning Mel. : )

Nice tonsils Rosy.

After the game, snack time.

More nice hats from Zach and Gaelen.

It's now Sunday morning and the praise team is getting ready for their set......though I don't think Chris is supposed to be playing the keyboard.....

hmmmm, I don't think Hannah got enough sleep last night.

Christine is chipper. She should be. She had her own room upstairs.......where there was no noise.

We played lots of action songs to get the blood flowing to the brain.

Dave concluded his speaking time with us and then we closed with The Fidgets. John and I were involved in a skit called "Slide Show". I got to kiss John, well, almost. . : )
Utube link below as well.

John got to beat me up for trying to do that.

The group that practiced with The Fidgets.

An appropriate pose.

For breakfast we had a small fruit snack, and later on we had a great brunch.

Here's Kevin bugging another youth.
He's such a dedicated youth leader. : )

Gaelen, you're gross.

Don't loose your lunch Maddi.

We ended with a group shot.

So, this brings us to the end of our 2011 Fall Retreat weekend at Circle Square Ranch. Thanks to all of you who came. It wouldn't have been possible without you.

Thanks to Dave and John, The Fidgets. You were great and helped us use the gift of laughter a great deal.

Thanks Dave, for your words of wisdom and challenge during your talks.

Thanks to Andrea and her games crew, and to John and Debbie for doing registration and the groups for the weekend.

Above all, thanks to God for keeping us safe and allowing us to fellowship together and get to know each other better.

Oh, and here are some links to some UTUBE video's of the weekend....and don't mind my voice laughing during the Improv......I was taping and it was funny.....enjoy : )

Chris with The Fidgets playing the 7, 5, and 3 sentence game

The Fidgets play SLIDE SHOW with some of the group

Rosy and Megan Compete on the high ropes course - see explanation on UTUBE

Pastor Joe beats Gaelen in a game of keep away....these two are competitive...

Hannah and Jacob sparring verbally - see UTUBE explanation

Chris (not my son) plays the Question/Statement game with THE FIDGETS

Various Youth Leaders participate in SLIDE SHOW with THE FIDGETS, Your's Truly included.

Jennifer and Melanie play the game HELPING HANDS with THE FIDGETS. Great Stuff.

That's it, that's all, until next year............................... : )

Youth Fall Retreat at Circle Square Ranch - Part #2

2011-11-08T12:26:00.002-05:00

The games continue.......

Here's Zach with his beloved bullhorn.

The next game involved two lines and a t-shirt.

Each person in line would number off, and the same would be done on the other side. A number would then be called, or multiple numbers.......

....and those people would run to the middle where the blue t-shirt was. They would then pick it up and fight for the right to........

....put that shirt over their head and shoulder. Where do they come up with these games? : )

The group had lots of fun with this. There were some pretty good scrimmages. It's more fun when multiple numbers are called. Have a look at the Utube link in the last entry where you'll see Pastor Joe being rather competitive, and agile for his age..... " )

On to the next game.
Maddi likes using the bull horn too.

Our praise team leader, and our "non" chaperone, decided they'd rather go for a jog than sit around and watch/

participate in the games. Here they are warming up.

....and there they go. I heard later that they jogged about 1/4 mile......and then walked the rest of the way.
Way to show off for the larger group. : )

Ummmm, John and Debbie....what's so interesting on the ground? Horse puckies are everywhere you know......

The next game involved paper. I didn't quite follow it, but Simon seems to be following Ben.

Simon and Alex are doing something, but I have no idea what.

Hey, Alex! Get your hands off my daughter.....!!! : )

Now this was an interesting little interlude. Hannah and Jacob having a little "discussion" which I caught on tape. It wasn't an argument, really. More like a "see who can win the discussion, discussion." See the Utube link at the end of the blog.

Hmmmm. Seems that Rosy has had enough for the morning....if indeed that is Rosy.....

Oh, it is. Whew.

On to another game. Maddi and Zack try to get everyone's attention. No small feat with this group.

This game involved smaller groups and they had to do different walking styles and then when something was called out they had to stop and do whatever that was.

So, here they had to sit on someone. The last person/people to do it were out.

Here Megan is supposed to be carried by Anja. Doesn't seem to be working out that well if you ask me. : )

Seems like Dave is having a bad morning or something. Yelling at yet another person. Relax Dave. You're scaring Anja.

When the games were over, it was time to relax before lunch. Seems like this couch is full buddy. Sorry. And what is Maddi doing on the right side of the couch. That looks like it's going to hurt. ouch!

Some took to playing some ball hockey to pass the time away.

And then it was lunch time.
Seems like we just ate breakfast.

Waiting in line for food.
It always proved to be a great social time for everyone.

If I didn't know any better, I'd say that John was starting to look like Dave and John. Interesting...... : )

Someone got hold of my camera. They wanted to get a picture of all the corn muffins I ate. They are soooooo good. I think I ate about 9 this time around.

Andrea decided to pose for me. She's going to give birth to twins in the new year. A surprise for her. Blessings as you move towards your due date.

Seems Kevin and Hannah have too much time on their hands. This is something I hadn't seen before. You tap the other person on the forehead and have them say things out loud. Like, 5 colours in the rainbow. Apparently it's not that easy to do.

Kevin tried it on Hannah as well. Looks painful!

At the beginning of the retreat, I put up schedules all around the place so people will know what's coming up. I also do it so 63 people won't be asking me what's happening next. This enterprising young person decided to become a human scheduler. Again, an "A" for creativity.

Someone got hold of my camera again.
I have no idea what I'm doing here, or why.

Nice hat Gaelen. How many did you and Zack bring along?

After lunch it was time for activities. People could choose from Horseback Riding, Highropes, Improv, Biking, Archery, and skateboarding.
John V and I started by taking pictures of the horseback riding. Here are the stalls where the horses stay.

Here's a group getting a lesson in horse gears. You know: park, reverse, forward, and the "I'll do whatever I want to gear." : )

Here's Casey with his horse.
I'm not sure if he looks happy or not. hmmmmm

It seems that Hannah's horse just had lunch and decided it was time for an afternoon nap. Right there, right now.

If you can't beat them, you might as well join them...which is what Hannah did.

Ah, here's Samson. The horse I rode a couple of years ago; the one that stepped on my foot and wouldn't get off; the one that did whatever it wanted to. The one that has kept me from riding a horse ever since. Good luck riding Samson.

And they're off. All 13 horsepower.

The horses pretty much know the trials by heart. They often stop to munch on things. Before the group set out, the leader told everyone not to tailgate. I laughed. Get it..."Tail" gate. bahahahahah

hmmmm, this horse looks as big as Reuben does. Hang in there horsey, hang in there.

Another activity was archery. This year we didn't shoot into hey bales, but actual hard targets.
It isn't as easy as it might look.

Here's Alex showing us how it's done.

ummmm....Rosy.....nice pose, but.....ummmm...where's the arrow?

Oh there it is. Nice catch Reuben. You should look before you shoot Rosy. Good thing he has strong teeth...BTW, WHAT ON EARTH are you doing near the target in the first place? : )

It seems that some groups got bored and decided to make things more challenging.

Megan, you certainly are brave.... : )

The group could also go BMX biking and several did that as well.

I see that Jeannine is having fun biking. So far so good. No broken bones yet this weekend......

KEEP it that way Jeannine!

ok, that concludes part #2.

on to part #3 and some links to video clips.