In one hour starts our finaly YouthWorks programming week....CRAZY!!

So this update will be brief..

Last week we had 2 groups from Iowa, 1 from Seattle and 1 from Hollywood. It was overall a good week. On Friday when they left we did our grocery shopping for the last time! I don't know if I've ever been so happy/relieved in my life!

Today groups come from North Carolina, Colorado, and 2 from California...

Please pray for us for endurance, strength, passion, vigor, wisdom, unity and for God to transform everyone this week!

Friday the students will leave and then we're done!!! Well, I guess Friday will be a busy and packing up day.. Then Fri night we're having a potluck at the church and inviting everyone from church, and all of our ministry partners in Anchorage for a celebration/goodbye party. Should be awesome!! WE have a slideshow and presentation and everything!

One week from today we fly a red-eye from Anchorage to Denver and will arrive in Denver Monday morning for the Western region debriefing... Then Tuesday Aug 8th I fly back to Minneapolis! Yay!

All righty....here we go... ready again for God to do some awesome things.

Love,
Sarah

Week 5 of YouthWorks in Anchorage...

This week we had a youth group from Michigan, close to Grand Rapids. It was a smaller than usual group with 16 girls, 1 guy and 5 adult leaders, so 22 in all. A very small group.

It was not my favorite week... probably my 2nd least favorite week. I don't have tons to write about the week except that we did our normal routine and things went well and as planned. We heard from the adult leaders that many students were incredibly impacted by all the programming...the ministry sites, club, etc. So this is pretty awesome!

Some favorite moments of the week:
1) Again, the poverty simulation. While the students didn't have a dramatic change and eye opening experience this week, the discussion after the simulation was very honest. Much of the discussion revealed how much the participants believe the poor and homeless they met and saw are themselves to blame for the situation they are in. This allowed Amanda and me to share a lot of our understanding/experiences with the poor and to also share some of the potential societal, family, governmental, influences, as well as fallen sinful humanity in general that affect some individuals negatively, and sometimes indirectly cause poverty.

2) Soup kitchen: I got to pray with a woman named Gloria. She came up to me to ask if the soup kitchen could provide her with clothing. We talked for awhile and she asked me to pray for her, because she struggles with alcohol, as well as with being taken advanged of by men. Will you please also say a prayer for Gloria?

3) Again, the community picnic. This week we were intentional about NOT inviting many people so that we wouldn't end up with 250+ people again. We had about 40, which was perfect. There are 3 people who have consistently been coming to our picnic every single week: Esther, Freddy and Sam. I really love these 3 and hope to post their picture up soon. They are 3 people met at Bean's Cafe, a day shelter that houses and feeds people during the day. These 3 are so wonderful, joyful and kindhearted. Every week when we show up, Freddy always makes his way over to our vans to help us carry out all the food we've brought for the picnic. The past 2 weeks, Esther and Sam (they are brother and sister) have invited several members of their family even, and this week there were about 10 of their family members there. I could go on and on about them... But I will share one meaningful experience. When we left I ran over to say goodbye to them, and as I gave Esther a hug she told me that she loved me. I told her I loved her too, and I truly do... She is a beautiful woman...

4) Remember the student I wrote about last week who had a homeless man tell him that he could tell the student was thinking about starting drugs? Well I found out the following converstaion had happened with the same student with the director of the soup kitchen...Patti, the director of the soup kitchen wrote:
"Last week we had a group of students here on a missions trip. As I was shucking corn with a young man, he asked me for my life story. Knowing our time was short, I only shared the important parts, my story of salvation. I asked for his story. With big brown eyes that looked sadly into my heart he said "I don't have a story, that's why I came on this trip, I am hoping to get one." With an invitation like that, I jumped in with both feet and shared the gospel of Jesus with him. He was eager to hear of Jesus and shared some deep hurts from his childhood, which was far from idyllic." (more later)


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Two more weeks of YouthWorks programming. Tomorrow we have 3 groups arrive... One is from Hollywood, and one of the others may be from Iowa? Not sure. We'll have 63 students this week... I must say though that I am very ready to come home. I am tired and depleted... I feel like this every weekend though, and then once the students arrive Sunday afternoon I get excited and energized again. I hope and pray this happens again this week. :)


Last night the senior pastor at our hosting church here, First Covenant Church, invited our team over for dinner. His name is Pastor Ron, and we had a WONDERFUL time there. He grilled steaks for us and the entire meal was AMAZING! It was so great to just spend time with him and to relax - he's a passionate and charasmatic man.... Not only did he feed us with delicious food, but he also fed us spiritually. He gave us an unexpected "mini-sermon" during our peach pie dessert. It was incredibly satisfying and filling - the sermon that is. He talked to us about his spiritual journey and how God had led him to where he is today. He spoke to us about what it is to depend and trust in God for all of our needs and how He will supply each and every one of them. He talked about the Holy Spirit and how He works in each of us as Christians to guide us and work powerfully through us. He also talked about how God rewards the obedient, and "shows up" especially powerfully whenever we are on the EDGE....

It is scary for us to put ourselves out there into the world of the unknown and to trust and rely on God instead of ourselves.... Following God is RISKY and indeed scary at times... But our faith and belief system is not based on comfort, relaxation and prosperity. Yes, we do experience these things as part of following God... But Jesus has called us to die to ourselves and our earthly nature, to love our neighbors as ourselves (with the definition of neighbors including even those who hate us), to put others first, to serve and not to be served, to give money and time out of a place that we don't believe we have enough to give, and soooo much more. As a follower of God I didn't always understand this, and certainly didn't live it... And even now I'm still learning... A lot of the things Jesus has called us believers to do does not make ANY sense in the eyes of the world. We are constantly putting up protectors that cause us to worry and be concerned about our own satisfaction, image, security and dreams and desires.

My Prayer:
Dear Jesus, please please make us more like you. You have told us in your word that we are to be ministers of your reconciliation. Please help us...show us how to do this. You lived a humble, compassionate and radical life in which you put others first, spent time with the outcasts and unlovables of society, in which you had no where to rest your head and loved everyone with an unconditional love. This is so hard to do in a world that tells us it's good and right to satisfy ourselves. Please fill us with everything good and true that you are oh God. Please show us more of you in our lives so that we as Christians will be a breath of fresh air to the world that show love, peace, humility, compassion, kindness, and patience. May we reflect your goodness so that our aroma will be one in which people find you and seek you and are drawn to you through us.
In Your name, Amen.

Wow wow wow'ed by God in Anchorage this week!

This past week was a great one with lots of great and awesome things God did in the lives of the students!!

Our 3 groups were from the San Fransisco area, Idaho and Seattle area. They were great and worked sooo hard this week!

Unfortunately I don't have lots of time to write now, but I'm gonna write kind of bullet-point style about some cool things.

1) Again, the poverty/homelessness simulation was awesome and eye opening for students... almost every group talked to homeless/poor during the time and learned a lot!

2) Every Thursday we have a community picinic where the students invite all the people they met in the community that week that they have served or worked alongside... The last 3 weeks we had 20-30 people show up. This week BLEW us away!! We had 250!!!! We fed soooooo many of the homeless and hungry in Anchorage! AWESOME!! We had so many that we had to make a couple shopping runs as well as run back to the church to grab all the extra leftover food we had... At one point Amanda and I prayed that the food would multipy (we still had a LONG line of ppl in the community, but only 40 hamburgers left, and none of our 70 students had even eaten yet!)... So God didn't multiply the food: He multiplied the number of people we fed though!! He doesn't always answer our prayers the way we want. :) It was a wonderful experience. So many people came because our students were meeting and talking to SOOO many people this week in the places they were serving.. Plus, word also spreads. :)

3) One of the students had an amazing conversation with a man this week as was serving at a place called Bean's Cafe, which is a homeless day shelter. The man told the student that he could tell he was thinking about starting to use drugs when he arrived back home after the trip... He told him NOT to start and that it would ruin this student's life, just as it had his own. The amazing thing is that this was TRUE!! This student had considered starting to use drugs when he got home... After this incident with the homeless man, he told his entire youth group about it and what had happened, that he had thought about starting use drugs, and that he heard the voice of God directly through this man telling him not to!! Awesome!

4) I heard directly from many students this week that they had grown a lot in their relationship with God and that they wanted to serve and know Him more, and to serve more at home in their communities... This is so exciting!!

Praise be to God! Many more exciting things happened.... I got to have so many conversations with students this week about their lives, and how God had challenged them this week.

Next week we have a group coming from Michigan, I believe... A VERY small group this week compared to usual... only 20! This will be nice, because I think we'll be able to have more conversations with them and get to know them better..

Only 3 weeks to go! The weeks are flying! I come back August 8th already... I'm kind of envious because my youth group back home at Woodland Hills is leaving this week to go on a YouthWorks mission trip.. I wish I could go with them! I see how all the youth groups that have come grow so close together and have their eyes opened and I see how impacted they are to come home to make a difference..

Did I mention that 32,000 students will go on YouthWorks mission trips this summer? Pretty exciting... Especially considering the theme of God's beauty, mercy, justice and humility .... I've seen students eyes be opened to the poor and needy here in Anchorage left and right. How awesome for all these students to go back to their communities and to have a passion for service and love toward others, just like Jesus...


Waiting and expecting to be even more wow'ed by God...


Blessings,
Sarah

Tears in Anchorage this week....

What a week! It was by far the toughest week for me, as well as for the rest of our staff since our journey with YouthWorks this summer...

It was tough for a few reasons. First, since it was the 4th of July week many of our ministry sites were closed, and therefore it was difficult finding sites for our students to work at and keep them busy. And the ministry sites we did plan as backups this week didn't work out so well either... We had a low turn out for our kid's club too. Many things this week also went wrong logistically...Early in the week I, personally, already felt exhausted and ready for the week to be over... As a team, we also faced some of our most difficult conflict yet, and as a result, some of us felt discouraged, upset and frustrated...

From the beginning of the week - even on Sunday as the Pennsylvania team arrived we just felt a call to prayer for the group that God would work in their hearts in a very powerful way during the week... We prayed for this, and really felt strongly that God would for sure answer our prayers, since He had laid this so strongly on our hearts...

And even though this was our by far worst week ever, with ministry sites and kid's club not working out so well, and we felt strung out and at odds with each other, and I myself didn't even feel that connected to the students (especially early on in the week) GOD did an amazing work in the hearts of the students this week!!! He completely answered our prayers and absolutely blew us away for how He could work despite all our team struggles this week!!!! Praise be to Him! He totally works in our weaknesses! It's all about Him and not us...

The students this week were different than in prior weeks... most of them had never been on a mission trip before (unlike previous weeks), and from our perception many of them seemed uncomfortable even talking about God in a personal way or even at all...

Things changed pretty dramatically during the evening of our poverty/homelessness simulation, which we did on Wednesday night.. usually we do it Tuesday nights, but we changed it up because of the 4th of July. During the simulation we always split up into groups and walk around a 4 x 4 block area of downtown Anchorage and try to imagine what it would be like to be homeless. We pose such questions as where do I sleep, how do I find food, how would I spend my time.... We also try to talk to people in different areas where homeless people hang out and sleep and even ask them questions. Maybe it sounds like a strange activity, and I thought so too at first, but every week it's been a powerful experience for the groups, and helps them see things and understand better what a homeless person faces each day...

But it was especially powerful this week....

We as staff always accompany a group and my group started off brainstorming some answers to the questions we had posed.. Some of the people in my group really didn't seem to get it, and came up with pie in the sky ideas such as "well, they should just work harder and get a job...", or "just get over it..." They didn't seem to understand some of the limitations that face some homeless people such as mental illness, addictions (especially alcohol), the unique situation Alaskan Natives are in as a result of not being able to live as they originally did, as well as many other limitations...

Then we met a man named Philipp. Phillip is a homeless Alaskan Native, and also a veteran. We spent about 20 minutes talking to him, and as we did, other groups taking part in the simulation began to join.

Philipp did many things during that time. But mainly, he did 2 things: first, talk about his experience about being homeless and poor and difficult times he has, and second, speak the truth powerfully of his love and joy he has in his relationship with Jesus. As he spoke, tears fell from his eyes, and as he shared, tears fell also from most of our eyes.... It was pretty awesome and one thing that struck me was how he spoke about how his HOME and hope is found in God.... even though he has no real home. We had heard this same truth at the soup kitchen during devotion times (the staff there always do a devotion "mini bible study" before they serve food).

What Phillipp did during that time was completely change the group of students I was with and they began to see homeless people as individuals with great worth and very lovable... As we walked away, I couldn't believe the things I heard out of the mouths as the students who I had heard earlier assume so many negative things about homeless people... One person said he felt as though God had spoken to him, and he also said he'd never heard the gospel presented so passionately and with such conviction. One other said it made him so upset that a veteran would be living on the streets! But everyone in my group was amazed at how a homeless man could make them feel so much and move them in such a powerful way... all were disgusted at the injustice they had seen and from this point on they felt it their duty to truly make a difference in this world..

Witnessing this transformation in the students was truly MIRACULOUS... Last night on Thursday much of the same things happened. Every Thursday night we have a community picnic at a nearby park and we invite people we have met throughout the week at our ministry sites... We had a great turn out this week with about 20-30 people! Most of them were from the soup kitchen and from the day shelter, as well as a homeless family that comes to kid's club. Almost all who came were homeless and most also Alaskan Native. Our students got to have so many great conversations with their new friends and really hear about how life is for them and hear their stories... Again, this was very powerful.. they began to see and understand how some people end up homeless and how homeless people are just as valuable as they themselves are, but end up often being overlooked.... This really upset our students this week and again, their hearts began to burn for injustice...

Thursday night is actually my favorite night because of the community picnic... I'm getting to know some of the people at our ministry sites better to the point I know them by name and have been able get to know them, and it's great to spend more time with them at the picnics... I love seeing the students get to know our guests too! Many of the people I've spoken to have shared how meaningful these picnics are for them, and they are so glad to be invited! They are touched that students would come all the way from the lower 48 to serve them, and they said they hoped others in Anchorage would hear about this so that they too would have compassion for the marginalized homeless in their city....


Thursday night after the picnic we came back to get ready for club... I walked in the sanctuary to prep, and almost all the students were sitting in there with tears in their eyes as they talked about how they had been changed... Then they began to pray together and as I overheard their prayer, I was so touched. I heard such things as "God we love you" and "let us not forget the homeless and poor back home" and "let us continue to serve and love others..."

Our God is an awesome God and He reigned victoriously this past week in Anchorage!

Anyway, as my title to this blog suggests, there were a lot of tears this week in Anchorage at our YouthWorks site... I myself cried tears of frustration for team dynamics and just overall frustration, tears of sadness for this fallen world of suffering, as well as tears of joy for the work God has done in people such as Phillipp, as well as the work God did in our Pennsylvania team this week... The teens cried a lot this week, as well as our staff team... It was an emotional roller coaster in many ways...

I myself was quite homesick this week and I've missed Libby, my family and friends so much! I was so sad at the thought of having to be here for 4 more weeks!!! While I still am exhausted and overwhelmed in light of 4 more weeks of programming, I'm also in a place where I am depending more on God and trusting in Him for his goodness for the rest of the summer... At the moment I'm not finding as much joy in my job, but I know this will change... And I know God will do more awesome things! This next week we have our biggest group yet! 65 students will be here... from 3 different states! I don't know yet where they are all from, but one group is from California...

Much more happened this week, but I have to go to bed now and sleep!! Tomorrow we are actually going to spend some time sightseeing! We're going to see a glacier, and I'm SOOOO excited!!!

I pray God grants our staff team peace and rest this weekend... we are pretty tired! Please keep us in your prayers for endurance, strength, contentment, energy and freshness to our coming weeks...

I hope you are all well!

Love,
Sarah


Philippians 3:12-14
Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Second week of YouthWorks....

(see pictures in the posting below this one...)

The second week of groups coming here to Anchorage was even better than the first! This week we had two groups come again. One was from North Carolina, and the other from southern Alabama. I really enjoyed both groups a lot, and again, I felt there were several students during the week that I connected to more than others, and this was fun!

Here are some highlights from the week:

1) The week was WAY less stressful! Not that the previous week was so stressful, but I always felt I had to constantly think about what was going on and how to do everything, and anxious about how stuff would go. But I think this is normal, because I had never done a YW week before. But this past week was so much more relaxed because I felt so at ease with my role and everything that we do...

2) Because the week was less stressful I was able to pray TONS, and this was great... I felt more prayerful and closer to God than I have in a long time, and could just focus on how good God is and remember and meditate on His truths. I also prayed a lot more for the teens that came this week, for our team and for my friends and family back home. It's amazing how praying for others makes me feel so much closer to them and makes me love them more! I'm sure this is no coincidence!

3) I got to go to so many of our ministry sites this week and LOVED it.. This week we divided the students into 4 groups and I got to work with a different group every day! Monday and Wednesday I went to the Downtown Soup Kitchen with 2 groups where we made lunch all morning and then served it to 300+ people in the afternoon. I got to meet and talk to a lot of people and this was great... It's also great talking with the students while we are doing the lunch prep.. I enjoy this time so much! Tuesday I worked for the Park & Rec again where we cut trees and "beautified" a park. This was also a good opportunity for conversation with the students. Then on Thursday I went to St. Francis, which is an emergency food shelf. We stocked shelves and then the students did personal shopping with people as they came in to get the food they needed.

4) On Monday our evening activity is always driving to Flat Top Mountain and hiking. As we were driving there this week it looked like it was raining. We prayed and prayed that it would stop, because we didn't really have a backup plan. After we had driven to the mountain where we 'd start our hike, it wasn't raining, but was incredibly foggy... Visibility was like 25-50 feet! You couldn't see any views! By the time we got to a lookout point where we stop each week, the fog started to lift and slowly it dissapated and you could see the beautiful views! It was pretty amazing!

5) We do this activity on Wed night where students articulate the mercy God has shown them in the past and in turn, how they can show God's mercy to others... Some of their responses absolutely blew me away and I was touched by them to the point of tears. It completely encourages me and touches me to the heart for anyone to understand God's mercy toward them and they got this!

I know there are many more highlights, but I just can't think of them now! Again, I'm pretty exhausted! Overall it was a good week though, and again, we got feedback from the adult leaders of the students that they felt the week was eye opening, and just a time where the students had grown in their understanding and love of the homeless and poor, as well as in their faith. We had prayed for this all week and so hearing this was a blessing!

Here are a few lowlights from the week:

1) Our team is a bit exhausted, and by Tuesday already we felt pretty worn out.. Luckily we bounced back pretty quickly though. But again, really little free time during the week.

2) Tonight I was on a walk and ran into a guy downtown where a lot of homeless and poor people in Anchorage hang out. We had met him - Ed - earlier this week and invited him to our community picinic that we have every Thursday night. We always invite people we meet throughout the week to the picinic. It was awesome talking to him. He's Alaskan Native and was so thrilled to share all about his life, culture, etc. When I ran into him tonight he was completely drunk and beligerent (sp) and it was such a sad sight. It was just another example of the hold that I feel that alcohol has over this city! I feel I see drunk people more than I've ever seen, and smell alcohol on so many I walk by. There was a guy with him named Ace. He really wanted to talk so badly so I got to sit down and talk to him for a while. He didn't seem to be drunk like Ed was... Ace is Apache, and moved from Arizona to Anchorage 6 years ago. He shared with me how alcohol was ruining his life... how he had a steady job, but spent all his money on alcohol. As he sat and shared his story with me, he started crying and then asked me to pray for him. He said he respects Christians and believes in Jesus and the bible, but doesn't want to go to church because of his problem with alcohol. I asked him if I could pray with him right then and there, and we did, and then talked awhile longer... I enjoyed talking with him, but also so saddened for the hold that alcohol has on his life. Please pray for him that God can give him the strength to be freed of his addiction! I could tell from talking to him that the addictive cycle is just crushing any possible satisfaction from life...

I want to write on and on about my feelings about this situation and others like it that I've experienced here, but I just don't know how to articulate them... I'll sum it up by saying it just makes me sad.
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I feel like in writing my blogs that I've been very superficial, and I don't like this... I don't really like being superficial, and I hope I'm not giving this impression. So far my experiences here have been very meaningful and I've seen a lot of things that have got me really thinking and growing, and I've seen God do awesome things in my own life, as well as the students. Being a tad bit exhausted though and just generally, I'm having a difficult time articulating myself...

I pray and pray for God to open my eyes to Him daily and show me, my team, and the students more of His truth and love, so that we in turn can reflect this to the world. I pray that God would give us His eyes for the poor and homeless so that we might see such people as He does - with completely unconditional and perfect love. I feel very inspired and as a Christian, I just feel the desire to be more and more like the person Jesus was as He walked the earth... In my role each night as I give talks, I get to speak God's word from the following passages: Luke 5:1-11 (our theme being "open your eyes to possibility", Matthew 9:9-13 (open your eyees to beauty), Luke 10:25-37 (open your eyes to mercy), Matthew 20:1-16 (open your eyes to justice), John 13:1-17 (open your eyes to humility). As I speak from these scriptures I know they are beginning to affect me and I know God is doing a work in my own heart. How awesome Jesus was and how radical His message... His message that we believers are called to follow! I'm especially feeling that the Matthew 20:1-16 passage has been especially meaningful and transforming for me.. Especially the way that we (we being YouthWorks) are interpreting this passage... This may sound strange, because it's not the traditional way the passage is interpreted, and initially I had problems with this, but the message we are trying to convey this summer re: that passage is about JUSTICE, and namely: Justice is making sure everyone has what they need, regardless of whether it seems fair... regardless of whether we think people are "deserving" of it... What do you think about this? Read the passage and let me know... :)

Ok.. well, it's 1 am here, and I need to get to bed.. Tomorrow starts another YouthWorks week... This week we have a group coming from Pennsylvania (sorry Josh if I butchered the spelling!). I'm pretty exicted, because there are actually 4 groups coming from 1 town, and they are all different denominations: 1 catholic, 1 lutheran, 1 presyterian, and 1 other one that I can't remember. I love this!! I pray for unity this week!

All right, good night everyone! Thanks a lot for reading this, it means a lot to me! I can't wait to share with you all more in person! So far YouthWorks has been a great experience and I'm so glad I'm a part of it. The summer is flying by. 5 weeks down, 5 weeks to go!

As God opens our eyes to His possibility, beauty, justice, mercy and humility, I pray He also opens yours too...

Have a great week!

Blessings,
Sarah

Here are some pictures finally. :) A couple of these are from the airplane that just turned out AWESOME! There's also the one of my team...Pete, Andy, me, Amanda, up at Flattop mountain at the top after a long hike. Then my favorite, me, Andy and Pete. I love this picture, because it looks like the front of a CD cover, with me as the lead singer. :))



Pictures Finally!!

First week of YouthWorks programming in Anchorage....

Yeah.. the first week is over and it went GREAT! At least from my impressions it did... It seemed to go lot better than I expected.

We had 2 groups this past week, and both were awesome! I really enjoyed the high schoolers so much and felt connected to many of them even started the first night they were here!

I'd like to write on and on about my impressions and experiences, but I'm EXHAUSTED! But I'll write out a few things:

The groups again, like I said were great. Both were from Methodist churches, one from MN, one from TN. The adult leaders were also pretty great. Some of the hardest parts of the week were coordinating meal prep, as well as just staying on top of the schedule... The best parts of the week were getting to know so many awesome high schoolers and talk to them, as well as serve alongside them at the different ministry sites we have partnered with here in Anchorage. I didn't get to go to too many this week, but in the future weeks I'll get to go to more. This week, I spent a morning at a park working with Anchorage Park & Rec picking weeds, an afternoon at an organization that works with seniors where we cleaned and washed windows, a day at Salvation Army sorting clothes and getting to know some of the men who are in rehab working there, as well as building a park. Yes, a park! We all volunteered for this organization called "Kaboom" where they build parks in 1 day. It was awesome!!!

I'd say my favorite part of my job is getting to go out to our ministry sites and working alongside the teens. Not only do I get to also serve as a volunteer at those organizations, but I feel the best conversation happens during these times as well. I love it!

Club was fun and high energy each night and it was a great opportunity to try to connect their serving during the day to God's truth and love.

Our theme this summer @ YouthWorks for each week is "Open Your Eyes." Each night during club we have a theme that I end up speaking on, and they are as follows: open your eyes to possibility, beauty, justice, mercy and humility. And God has certainly blown away my expectations in that I've seen that He really did open some of the participants eyes to these last week... This was an amazing blessing to observe this!!

There were a few times this week when I felt I just completely had to depend on God, knowing that He is God and that I am completely in need of everything HE is. I remember just praying and praying that He would be more alive and manifest in me so that I could share His love, and speak His truth. This is my prayer all summer... We all need God so badly... and it's my prayer that I would be more and more like Jesus, and that He would somehow spread His love, truth and joy through me - even though I'm just me and on my own, not that effective at any of this.

I hope you are all well! I miss you all and think of you often! Unfortunately I don't have much time to write/call. This past, we as staff were pretty much "on", that is, working, from 6:30am-11:00pm. Yesterday the students left at 9am, but we ended up working that night until 9pm. Today was a day off and I slept like 12 hours! I ended up getting an air mattress today and I'm so excited to sleep tonight - it will be so comfy! The couch was getting a little uncomfortable.

Ok.. God's love and peace to you all!
Sarah


I will praise the Lord, who counsels me;
even at night my heart instructs me.
I have set the Lord always before me.
Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
Therefore my heart is glad and my toungue rejoices;
my body also will rest secure.

Psalm 16:8-9

I can't believe it .... we finally are officially starting on Sunday!!

Well, we're 98% done with prepping for groups to arrive! THANK GOODNESS!! I'm exhausted.. our entire team is. I did not expect for these 2 prep weeks to be so busy and action-packed. But in the midst of all the work, I've had TONS of fun with my team. We are all getting along GREAT, and we laugh a lot and joke around together. Amanda has probably just as loud of a laugh as I do, and probably laughs just about as much, so I feel right at home, and Peter and Andy are complete dorks/nutty, so again, I feel right at home. :) However, we are all really to start and meet the youth groups and do what we all signed up for this summer: to build relationships with teens, work alongside them as they serve and build relationships with the poor and homeless in Anchorage, and most importantly, to encourage them in their faith and love for Jesus. This is what this summer is about and I'm feeling very excited about it and yes... even READY!

During the last 2 weeks we've met tons of contacts here (last week I went to 3 of the urban sites where we're volunteering at to get oriented: the Salvation Army, a soup kitchen, and a day shelter), and just being there made me very inspired and excited to start serving with the teens. We've also done TONS of shopping, and by TONS, I mean that we've probably purchased like 20+ van loads of different items! CRAZY! Today we went to Sam's and Wal-Mart and purchased $1,500+ worth of food for the groups that will be here this week. I also spent a lot of time planning our evening activities, writing/planning orientations, planning our large youth group time each night (club), and many other things!

I'm so excited! Our first groups this week arrive on Sunday and they are from Tennessee and Minnesota! How cool! 2 of my favorite places! They will be here Sunday afternoon to Friday morning.

Here is what our daily schedule will look like:

Monday through Thursday Schedule

6:30 - Wake Up (participants)
7:15-7:45 - Breakfast Buffet Open (Each participant packs their own lunch)
7:45-8:15 - Clean up
8:15-8:40 - Personal Devotions/Quiet Time to Prepare for the Day
8:40-8:45 - Entire Group Gathers for Prayer
9:00 - Depart for Work Ministry Sites
Noon - Lunch
1:00pm - Return to Work Ministry Sites
3:45 - Cleanup Work Ministry Sites
4:00-5:30 - Free Time/ Shower Time (Dinner team prepares meal with staff)
5:30-6:30 - Dinner and Cleanup
6:30-8:30 - Evening Activity
8:45-9:45 - Club (basically a large youth group meeting)
9:45-10:30 - Nightly Staff meeting (Church Group Devotions)
10:30-11:00 - Hang out with students, prepare for next day, etc.
11:15 - Lights Out


This will be a huge learning curve this week, and I know it will be exhausting and hard at times, but I'm looking forward to meeting the youth, serving alongside them and having fun with them!

Please keep us in your prayers that God will keep us energized, and that He will speak through all of us and use us to bring about His truth and love. Please also pray for me as I will be speaking in front of the group every night during the large youth group time and sharing God's word with them! This is a new experience for me! :)

I love you all! Please let me know how you're doing!

Sarah

Phillipians 4:8-9

Finally, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. And the God of peace will be with you.