Youth and Family

April 16, 2024

 

Youth Gathering Update

We are less than 3 months away from heading to New Orleans for the ELCA National Youth Gathering! That’s less than 100 days! Much of my time in the coming months will be spent organizing and finalizing plans and details to help make this experience a safe and positive one for our youth and adult leaders who will be attending. 

A final mandatory youth/parent meeting was held on Sunday, April 7 to go over final details, travel information, Gathering expectations, and answer any questions parents/youth may have. I am working on contacting families of a few outstanding memorial funds to see if they can be used for remaining Gathering costs.

Our third of five prep sessions was held this past Sunday, April 14. Just as with the other two sessions, we gathered around a New Orleans-inspired meal, used the Getting Ready Materials provided by the Gathering, enjoyed fellowship, created our group covenant for the trip, and did some prep work for a future fundraising event. 

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Youth Events

On Saturday, March 30, Luther Littles and Luther Middles gathered for the Easter Eggstravaganza. There was a story, movie, craft, egg hunt, and plenty of snacks and Easter candy. Even the Easter Bunny made an appearance! Many thanks to Julie Shrader and Helen Graf for spearheading and organizing this event! On Easter Sunday, the Luther League served breakfast between services for quite a crowd. As a reminder, our youth will be leading worship on Sunday, May 12 at both services. 

Pastor Steve and I are working on scheduling an overnight canoe trip for our Luther Middles for late June to replace a week of confirmation camp. As I shared in a previous council report, the summer confirmation camp has not been the most positive in recent years, and after receiving much-needed feedback from youth who have attended, I made the call to switch up what our middle school youth do this summer as a part of their confirmation experience.

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First Communion Instruction*

The first of four First Communion classes began Sunday, April 14. We have 6 youth participating: Aylin Gerspacher, Sophie Hogan, Kara Landes, Evelyn Pignato, Maya SenGuptal, and Wyatt Terihay. As a reminder, this group will be welcomed to the Lord’s Table at the 11:00 service on Sunday, May 5 with a reception between services at 9:45 in the Fellowship Hall. 

 

Peace be with you,

 

Deacon Lindsay