Grace Youth are taking orders for sub sandwiches now through January 30th. Order forms are available in the church bulletins, the RCLS office, the Grace office and on the GYM bulletin board. Return your completed form to any youth board member, the church office or the Wingren mailbox. Sandwiches will be available for pickup Saturday Feb 2nd at 5:30 pm or Sunday Feb 3rd at 9:15 am.
Order subs for yourself or to be donated to families at the Ronald McDonald House or Hope Lodge. These sandwiches are delicious fresh and may also be frozen.
Join us Saturday night for our 5th Annual Cookie Walk from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m.!
Remember to come early for the best selection as this event has become increasingly popular over the last few years.
While cookie walk may make you think ‘cake walk’ it is not quite the same, but it is certainly easy. Our cookie walk works like this:
When you arrive, you purchase a container for $10, then walk along the tables and select which treats you would like. Our able bodied and energetic youth workers will be glad to put your choice in your container. When you have completed your selections, enjoy a cup of cider or cocoa and relax, you may just have finished your Christmas baking 
We ask that this year you weigh the your container on the way out; we are collecting statistical information for future reporting. All monies raised from this event will be used to fund future youth activities and servant events. We thank you for participation and hope to see you there.
After a very successful day at our work site we are ready to return home (the 24 hour bus trip aside) and have intentions to be pulled out of New Orleans earlier than expected. We completed mowing and raking the city park and everyone was amazed with the obvious improvement. It gave all of them a real sense of satisfaction. Fortunately there were no real problems while at the site…aside from a few fire ant (they were thick in the grass and went up pants legs when mowing over them) bites and some pretty red skin (for which we will be offering aloe gel on the bus trip home!). There are kids in this neighborhood that will have a place to play. It has been reported to us that the formaldehyde in the FEMA trailers is high and the benefit of the kids having a safe and clean place to play is immense. Everyone is showered and currently packing the busses. They are going to be thankful for the air conditioning as the heat index here today was near 110 degrees! We will eat supper shortly and then we are off…we will have kids phone you about a more approximate return time. Continued prayers for our safe return!
We have safely arrived in New Orleans after finishing a very powerful closing ceremony in Orlando yesterday! The youth were very pumped as we left Orlando and motivated to go into the world share the love of Christ. The mood turned a little somber last evening when we heard of the tragedy in Minneapolis. We joined as groups and prayed for the victims and survivors and their families. We spent last evening in Pensecola, FL at the Howard Johnson before driving into New Orleans this morning and getting started at Camp Restore. Some of us on the busses held our breath as we crossed many very long bridges! Our afternoon at Camp Restore was HARD work, but everyone can already see results. We have been charged with clearing a local park (2+ acres in size) with playground equipment that had grass up to our waists. The first set of youth used weed wackers to knock down the grass, the next set used mowers to cut the grass, the next set raked the grass that was there and put it in piles for some to bag up, and the final group will come in and mow the grass at the lowest setting on the mower. The project will probably take most of the day tomorrow, but the benefits to the children in the neighborhood will be priceless. There were already kids in the neighborhood driving by and smiling with excitement to see that someone was taking the time to help out their neighborhood. Another one of our priorities is staying hydrated - at least a bottle of water every half an hour. We are back at the church now, have had supper and are looking forward to a refreshing good night’s sleep so that we will be prepared to finish our project tomorrow. We will leave New Orleans tomorrow after our work and showers, and look forward to seeing everyone on Saturday. Pray for our group as we finish in New Orleans tomorrow and as we travel Friday night and Saturday. Our guess is we will not blog again before our return, but will try to post pictures for tomorrow if we get a chance!
Well, we’re at the end of another activity-filled day! Today’s theme was Chosen in Christ. This morning we again started off with our family group Bible study before heading to the convention center for the “big” Bible study. Today’s was led by Pastor Lehenbauer and the band Fusebox. It was an energetic look at the difference between making choices based on ourselves versus what it means to be chosen in Christ and how that helps us discover who we are. After Bible study we had a chance to visit the Live It area and the ChoZone again before our sessions started. The kids also enjoyed more concerts this afternoon - “Lost and Found” is still a favorite - and most of our backpacks are now covered with autographs from their favorites. In the afternoon we all took in another Fusebox concert, which was followed by the speaker Bob Lenz, who had a great presentation about what God’s unconditional love really means. This evening’s mass event was a worship and communion service. In the words of one of our youth, “God did it again - it’s the feeding of the 25,000!” This evening the kids are packing their suitcases, cleaning up their rooms (I hope :)), and visiting with new and old friends. Following the mass event tomorrow morning, we’ll take off for Pensacola. We should arrive around 9pm, and then on Thursday we head to New Orleans. We’re not sure when we’ll be able to update again, but will do so when we can. Please pray for our closing events, safe travel, our work in New Orleans, and our youth.
Greetings from HOT and MUGGY Floriday! Today was another day filled with lots of activites.The morning began with our “Chosen Frozen” attire in an attempt to blend in with the other 1000+ participants from the Minnesota South District. With that many bright blue shirts, it wasn’t nearly as easy to identify our youth! Our morning began with our family group Bible study time followed by a large group Bible study focusing on how God continues to save sinful people through the use of his CHOSEN children. God has chosen us through baptism to proclaim his love. The sessions are motivating our youth to make a difference, so we continue to pray that the flame that has been ignited in their soul will burn strong once we return to Rochester. After the large group session our youth were once again free to explore different small group sessions, on-site servant events (i.e. donate blood), booths representing areas supported by the LCMS, and concerts. Our youth have enjoyed The Katinas and Lost and Found in the concert area. They have experienced many different small group sessions that they are excited to share upon our return. This evening was another large group session featuring Micah Parker, the founder of Trust Guys, who used sports analogies to symbolize our relationship with Christ and shared personal life stories. The Jesus Painter and liturgical dancers also performed. The variety of things shared is immense and powerful. Thank you for your continued support and prayers. We know the kids are worn out, but are taking in all possible opportunities. We have one full day left before the closing on Wednesday morning. Tomorrow evening will be spent in worship where the youth are excited to experience the body and blood of Christ with 25,000 other Lutherans.
What a day. The morning started out early for the counselors with a 7:15 meeting for updates. The morning started even earlier for several of our youth participating in the 5K run. Twelve hundred people showed up for the run, and we are proud to report that Shane took 4th place. Andrew Weckwerth and Stacie also finished in the top 50. We had “family” time with our small groups and discussed the meaning of Community! We quickly moved on to the topic of the day…Chosen with Others. It began with a large group (only 8000) Bible study focusing on how God walks with us in our daily life, and four youth shared their experiences about how they were chosen to carry out God’s plan in their lives. Then the youth had the opportunity to do small group sessions, take in concerts, visit vendor booths, and meet new friends from across the nation. The youth were very excited to take in the session provided by the Jesus Painter. We spent some time explaining our RAuschestertin t-shirts, but looked great as a group carrying our Minnesota Twins dressed Spiderman. This evening highlighted another “mass” event with awesome music, inspiring stories, and intriguing topics to dialogue in our small groups. The evening was energetic and provided never ending Hope in the lives of our youth. Currently our youth are participating in a rousing game of Ultimate Chicken. Any guesses on what Ultimate Chicken is? Continued blessings from Florida. Please keep the youth and the chaperones in your prayers.
What a day…Have you ever wondered what 25,000 backpacks look like in 5 different piles? We are able to tell you and have pictures to show you. Have you ever wondered what a waitress carrying a necklace made up of 18 receipts looks like? We are able to tell you and have pictures to show you. Have you ever wondered what it looks like to see 25,000 people get into a mass event? We are able to tell you and have pictures to show you. We have had another wonderful day. Unfortunately our first organized gathering event (the pool party) got rained out by what some youth seemed to think was a hurricane. We had the opportunity to walk down International Drive and eat as a group at TGIF prior to the mass event. We were able to get fairly decent seats for the opening event, considering the amount of people racing for them. They have an excellent sound system and screens set up so everyone can see without difficulty. The opening event was filled with excellent music, inspiring speakers, and a LOT of ENERGY. We look forward to several more fun filled days. Thanks for your continued support and prayers. Blessings from Florida.
Photos from the first two days have been posted online. You can find links to the daily galleries from the GYM Gathering page. If the day has passed and you don’t see a gallery link yet, be patient, Internet access may not always be available or reliable.
Today was a day spent at one of the well known parks in Orlando. We boarded the busses early this morning to be at the park when it opened to take in the whole day. Our group had the choice to visit the “movie” side or the “amusement” side of Universal Studios, and it tended to be evenly split with the group meeting at the Hard Rock Cafe this evening for dinner. The youth are having an awesome time and are prime examples of Christians Chosen to Celebrate. On the “movie” side of Universal Studios the group had the opportunity to experience an 8.3 earthquake to an F5 tornado. They helped ET return to his home planet and found out the rest of the second Shrek movie (on the honeymoon). They felt tarantulas crawl over their feet, a donkey spit in their faces, and conversed with the “non-communicating” pharoah on stilts. On the “amusement” side it was one roller coaster after another. They stood in line for nearly 2 hours to ride the HULK but all seem to agree it was worth it. The spiderman ride was reported as ‘awesome’ by one, and they were enthused by the dualing dragons. Shopping was also a big hit with some; while others were thankful they didn’t have to participate in the shopping excursion. We all ate together at Hard Rock Cafe with other churches from across the US. The hostess said they had served over 600 people today who are in town for the Gathering – that was at 6pm and included only the ones they knew of. We have begun to network with churches and youth from all over, and the youth are building up excitement for the big event starting tomorrow. Thanks again for your continued prayers and support!