This Sunday we will go to Wendy's immediately following worship. Bring your calendars and ideas so that we can plan upcoming activities.

ADOPT A FAMILY DELIVERY THIS SATURDAY!
I need help delivering back to school supplies this Saturday. We meet at 9am at church. With a little help it goes pretty quickly. By myself it takes a long time! If you think you can help deliver on Saturday give me a call. Thank you!

Monday July 30th is the next lock in. Plan to bring friends, games, movies, snacks and soft drinks. We were going to participate in the prayer breakfast on Tuesday, but there isn't going to be one, so I'll bring breakfast. Let me know if you are coming and how many people you are bringing.

Other upcoming events:
August 3rd Celtic Fest in Dublin, Ohio
August 5th Host Punch Bowl
August 12 Youth Lunch @ Wendy's
August 17-18 ??? Camping Trip

Celeste

Today at the Global Mission Event, we woke up (late), and went to a global warming presentation that gave information on how to increase the energy efficiency of your home. After that, we went and had a lovely lunch with Pastor Gary. Then, we went to a session about improving the lives of people in Africa. Soon after, we went to another session about free trade, and we are planning on working with Divine chocolates, which is owned by farmers in Africa (we can sell in Dayton/Church). Then we went to dinner and then to Globalfest, and finally back to the dorms to play some cards.

Matt

Ok well the youth right now are at a global mission event. This event has been organized by the ELCA and it is such an amazing experience to be around about 1,000 Lutherans who are so passionate about God. So far I have been to a session on buying fair trade products, one on being a world hunger advocate, and how to kick off a successful mission event. I have learned so much here that I cant wait to take back and use in life and in the church. I cant explain how great it feels to be around so many people that belive in God just as strongly as I do. Yesterday we listened to a speaker from Rahwanda who lived in a Pastors bathroom for 91 days without speaking in the hope that she would survive. When she came out of the bathroom she discovered that she had no one left. Her entire family had been killed but even then she believed and trusted in God. She found it in hersefl to forgive the people who killed her family, friends, and neighbors. She was such an inspiration to me to always forgive and trust in God and know that he has a plan for all of us. I am so glad that i was able to experience this and I would like to thank the congregation for this uplifting opportunity.
Chelsie Cooper

Today's been pretty eventful. We went our separate ways to go to different group activities (though, largely, many of us stayed together) and we got to hear about a lot of important things like Fair Trade (buy it!) and the Lutheran World Federation. It was very neat stuff. Here are a few pictures to whet your appetite until we return home to share this stuff with you. By the end of the trip we'll have some individual posts from more people than just Mom and myself. Isn't the internet neat?


(We're listening in on a presentation)


(Pastor Gary came to visit us and listen in on a few speakers for himself)

So I know it looks like I didn't update this thing since we got here, but trust me, I did. Unfortunately, there was a formatting problem and I didn't want to re-type it all so I took it down in hopes of editing it later. Now I find that on Saturday, the "we showed up safely" post is already somewhat implied and no longer necessary. So anyway, we'll be doing some more group activities today and I'll be posting pictures. We hope everyone's doing well at home.

Brian

Last night we heard an amazing speaker, Immacule'e Ilibagiza. She is a survivor of genocide in Rawanda. Her story was heartbreaking, but her message was uplifting and hope filled. She spoke of trusting God no matter how dire your circumstances and reminded us of the special relationship we have with him - he as our father and we as his children. We all agreed if we had not been able to do anything else here, hearing her speak made this trip worthwhile.

Today some of us are going to hear presentations on Global Warming, Is Peace Possible in the Middle East, Fair Trade Chocolate and Welcoming a Stranger in a Time of Fear (a session discussing immigration.) This evening there is a Global Fest which looks like it is going to be a lot of fun. The movie Blood Diamond is playing after dinner as well, so some of us are going to watch that. We will try to post some pictures later in the day.

Peace,
Celeste

Hello, world! This is Brian Hoerner. I've pretty much commandeered the youth blog from my mom to keep it all up to date. We're going to be heading to OSU today to spend the weekend at the global mission event. While we're there (assuming I have internet connectivity) I'll be keeping everyone here up with what we're doing. So keep an eye out for updates, it's gonna be a fun weekend.