St. Theodore's Youth Mission Project    June 18- 20, 2009

Congratulations to all participants in the St. Theodore's Youth Mission Project!

Those attending were Rebecca Brown, Reid Brown, David Dawkins, Benton Guess, Raleigh Guess, Meredith Harris, Mason Leak, Merrill Leak, Jon McCormack, Michael McCormack, Kim Oehlert, Emmy Schaller, Wade Schaller, Tyler See, Sam Simpkins, Schaefer Simpkins, Kevin Spooner, and Ryan Spooner. Give them all a big pat on the back!  

The first-ever Youth Mission Project was an outstanding success by all accounts. The program consisted of three equally vital components; service, Bible study, and responsible living.

We began our days with an intensive Bible study. We spent our afternoons on mission projects designed for inreach and outreach. In addition, we worked with an awareness of sustainability and responsibility as the children took on responsibility of preparing, serving, and cleaning up lunch without using paper products.

Our four mission projects were designed to help the St. Theodore's community as well as our local community. Our younger children spent Thursday afternoon deep cleaning the EYC room.

Friday afternoon they went blueberry picking to supplement our Confirmation luncheon held on June 21st. They also had plenty to spare and shared with the Bishop and the entire congregation. Meanwhile, our older group went to the Samaritan Center in Rogers one afternoon and packed 570 toddler bags with treats. And as if this were not enough, they then sorted through hundreds of pounds of school supplies.

The next day, we traveled to the offices of Sharing and Caring in Bentonville and helped sort through and organize many boxes of various items as well as clean and store hundreds of signs for the organization.

Youth camper study was anchored in a close study of the scripture of Matthew 25:31-45. Against this backdrop, students discussed how they serve God at home, at school, at church, and in the community.  Then they took a “Help Wanted” survey to challenge the amount of real time each one spends in service.  The survey was layered with other biblical examples of service.

Youth campers were challenged to discern the difference in community service and Christian service as they searched for application of God’s call for their service in the world.

Finally, youth campers were challenged to memorize the ‘Summary of the Law’ in Matthew 22:37-40.

After reviewing the Ten Commandments, they were interested to learn that these New Testament  verses in Matthew were a condensed version of the Ten Commandments in the Old Testament.

On the second day, a missionary who will leave for Africa in August came and spoke to the whole group of campers.Her ministry will be with children. She spoke of how God has prepared her for this ministry throughout her life.

She invited students to come to Africa next summer to visit and minister to children in Namibia.  Students were left to contemplate how they can help in a child-to-child or teen-to-teen ministry in Africa.

On our final day, we celebrated our successful project with a fantastic canoe trip along the War Eagle River. With the irreplaceable guidance of our resident canoe expert, Dr. Al Addington, we spent a beautiful day enjoying incredible scenery as well as happy fellowship.

Finally, our mission project was recognized in certificate form, signed by the, Bishop for the 18 participants at church on Sunday.

They are: Reid Brown, David Dawkins, Raleigh Guess, Meredith Harris, Mason Leak, Merrill Leak, Emmy Schaller, Reid Brown, Rebecca Brown, Benton Guess, Michael McCormack, Jon McCormack, Kim Oehlert, Wade Schaller, Sam Simkins, Schaefer Simkins, Kevin Spooner, and Ryan Spooner.

Congratulations to all!