youth@holy trinity

C'est la rentrée!

Ok...it's new year for Youth Group! Welcome back to everyone...I hope your holidays were wonderful. First things first...did you all get my letter that was sent to your houses? If not, let me know, and I'll send it again, or you can pick one up from the back of church.

Briefly, it said the following...

Sept 10th is the rentree barbeque - it'd be great to see you all there, to meet new and old faces, eat new and old sausages, and have a generally good time.

Then, Sunday the 11th is...Kickoff for the new year! New sessions of both Lycee and Youth groups, with lots of great stuff to look forward to.

Then...Then...the next sunday, the 18th, will be our first social for both groups...

BOWLING!!!
Directly after Chuch...
Bring 10 euros
Ask your parents if they can drive!

I'm looking forward to seeing you all very very soon! --Mitch

Updated!

So I took a little time updating the website...sorry! I was injured (and the culprits will remain nameless). But, alas, I've put up the photos of the campout from the beginning of may. Highlights: Jessica and company dancing around the campfire to someone's ring tone. In fact, there was lots of action around the fire...go figure! Lots of food, a little rugby, a prayer time at night...could life get any better?

After a loonnnngggg night...

Thanks so much to Karen and Mark for their help putting together the campout with me, and thanks to all those from the American Church, St. Michael's and Holy Trinity for coming. I had a blast, and I hope you guys did to. I'll post the photos soon (after I get a good night's sleep!) but in the mean time here's a nice shot of Corey from Friday night's fire!

Campout!

The campout with Youth Groups from around the Ile de France is coming up on May 6-7, so mark your calendars! It'll be in the field right next to church (out church, Holy Trinity)...We'll sleep over Friday night, and then have a day's worth of activities, etc on Saturday, including a cookout, etc! Should be gobs of fun...

ROPES Course...

The ROPES course is...cancelled. Aww...

But have no fear, we'll reschedule it for after the vacances scolaires. Too many of you were ill, at rugby games, tired, or gone. Plus it's pretty rainy today.

In the meantime, have a great holiday, and I'll see most of you in two weeks! I'm off to the USA (yes, I have a mother and father, too, and they miss me!) on Monday, so I won't be there on May 1, which is a family service. Ciao!

350 Euros!

That's how much Chioma, Jessica, John, and Romerick raised for children in Africa whose parents died from AIDS. Well done! I'm proud of you guys for taking the initiative to find sponsors for this cause, and for giving up a weekend you might have spent, well, eating!

If you missed the email I just sent out...

Here it is...

Hi guys and gals! Time for another edition of "what's coming up in Youth
and Lycee Groups?", the question on all of your minds...

As always, the Sunday morning series is continuing...last week we
watched scenes from Goldeneye and X-Men and learned about what faith
meant (as James Bond bungee jumped down hundreds of meters worth of a
nuclear power plant!). This week...how and why should I read the bible?
Scenes from Armageddon, The Hunt for Red October, and more.

Notice...weekend of 21 May: HOULGATE! Beach, fun in the sun (although last year
there was an enormous thunderstorm), and a weekend to learn about...the
HOLY SPIRIT. That's the theme of the weekend for the youth - Lycee and
Youth you are all invited - we'll have our own building to hang out in,
and a whole youth programme independent from whatever the adults will be
doing. So I really encourage you guys to come along - it should be a
great time, and the more the merrier!

Lycee Group, remember Taize? "Oh, yeah!" you say. It'd be great to think
about going - we've had a couple missed attempts now - after you guys
finish your exams and the bac? The first couple weeks in July I thought
would be prime candidates for a week there, which would be a great time
to take a step back from the craziness of this past year, and
prayerfully reflect about your futures...We'll talk more, but think
seriously about one of those two weeks.

well, if you've read this far, felicitations. Have a great day, and see
you Sunday!

Famine Forms

The sponsorship forms for the 24-hour Famine can be downloaded...Print out as many as you need, and remember it's in two weeks on 2-3 April. We'll be sleeping over at church, meeting there at 12h or so for games, activites. Don't bring money for pizza, and more info can be found at www.24hourfamine.org.uk

Download PDF Format
Download Microsoft Excel Format

Bowling!

The bowling photos are now officially up (click on William over on the left), for all those who enjoyed yesterday's bowling. For my part, I'm trying to forget the extreme humiliation I suffered! I'm not sure what happened - I think I became intimidated by everyone else. For all those who weren't there, I'm sure we'll be going again, but maybe I'll just watch next time!

A New Term...Mooooo!

Yes, that is a cow you see there on your screen. And now that I have your attention, welcome back to another term of Youth Group! I hope you all had fabulous holidays (I didn't bouge from Paris one bit, so I'm jealous of all you skiers and beach-goers - and of Chioma's Nigerian adventure).

It's a new term, and I hope you're all ready for the next few months of activites! In no particular order, here are some things I've been thinking about, and that we'll be talking about more starting next Sunday.

1. I was thinking we should get together and change the name - "Youth Group" isn't really doing it for me any more...What do you guys think? I'm open to new suggestions, and I've got a few ideas of my own.

2. We should adopt a cow! (Fiona, you might know a bit about this)

3. We have a full slate of outings to think about - Progressive (and strange and messy) Dinners, Ropes courses of course, Bowling, 24-hour Famines, and a weekend away!

4. We're starting a whole new series of discussions and talks next Sunday called "Youth Alpha" with new games, and espcially lots of MOVIE clips (which you guys know best) which illustrate some important things we've already been learning about.

I'll keep you guys updated, and see you Sunday!

Y o u t h G r o u p U p d a t e

What's new? Glad you asked!!!

* Well, after I received 6 phone calls and textos saturday morning with everything from sickness to scouts, Chris and I decided to reschedule the bowling for after your school break...look for details soon.

* We're going to be doing the 24-hour famine in the end of march, I think, with other Youth Groupers from St. Michael's Church, maybe others...

* After your vacances scolaires, look out for some new things in youth group! Most importantly, we'll be starting a 10-week series of activities, talks, days away, etc. called "Youth Alpha"...I just got the materials for it and it looks quite fun! (And active for those of you with too much energy, and also thought-provoking for the more philosophical of youth groupers!) More info to come.

Stay out of trouble!!! And William and Jon...you will not get me. I'm much larger than you (for the moment). I look forward to seeing all of you refreshed and ready for a new term. For those staying home, there'll be youth group as normal!

24-hour famine

I thought these images were stunning. As we've been talking about, the Tsunami has raised not only questions about God - who he is and why this event happened - but also about what we as a lucky group of people can do to help. The 24 hour famine is a great idea you guys came up with...It's something some of you already did last year, and had a good time educating the church and raising a lot of money for villages without water in certain parts of Africa. This year we'll help the Tsunami victims by contributing what we can to a meaningful cause.

So here are the details: be patient - I'm calling some other Youth Groups around Paris to see if they'd like to be involved in the same project. But, as it currently stands, we'll all meet up on a Saturday afternoon and have an overnight with games, activities, movies, etc. you name it, and then we'll break the famine the next day after church...

But the important thing is to raise money by taking your sponsorship form around to people you know - your dentist, boulanger, or teachers and friends.

One question: In the UK, the 24-famine is focusing on HIV/Aids this year...Do we want to support that cause by creating awareness for it, or do we want to support the famine? Just a thought...people are already pretty aware of the problems in South Asia, but maybe less so about orphaned children? Let me know what you think...

Coming Up...

Here are the events that we've been talking about...

4 feb -- Christmas Party...20h

5-6 feb -- 24 hour famine for Tsunami victims...see above

12 feb -- Bowling!

Welcome Back!

OK...It's time to get this website moving and shaking again! I hope you've all had good holidays - I just returned from the beaches of sunny Portugal. So visible sun tan, but I feel rejuvenated and ready for another term of...YOU! Some have told me that in yesterday's session you planned some new and exciting social events for this term, like...Laserquest, Ropes Course, and Movie Night. Ok, those were the less creative ones. Others were camping, bowling (which is a great idea!) and some type of party in a few weeks. Any other ideas? Otherwise, just drop a comment about whatever's on your mind (or heart).

We're always well behaved in Youth Group...