Ski trip stuff, Sunday Seattle visit, and next week's youth group!

Here's the scoop! 

Some people that paid to go on the ski trip could not make it due to sickness or other issues. You can checkout the ski trip flyer posted on this blog a couple of weeks ago for more information. On the flyer you will find that after January 13th you can receive 1/2 back. Here are a few of the reasons why we have to do this.

1. The renters of accommodations charges a certain amount and so I see how many people might show up and divide the cost by the number of people. So if people drop out at the last minute the price for the accommodation does not change and I can't go back and say to the ones that are going, "I know I told you $100.00 but at the last minute 3 people dropped out so the price is now $120.00."

2. In the past I had several people sign up for the ski trip and at the last minute they decided that they had something better to do. By requiring people to put a nonrefundable deposit down it holds people at their word because there is money riding on it. Next year I am going to make a change that if a person cancels within the week of the ski trip that person would not be entitled to get anything back for the reasons mentioned above. The only exception is if a person finds someone to go in their place and then that person would pay the person that could not make it. This person would also have to be approved by the youth leaders before that person can go.

3. We really need to have a accurate count because numbers change everything. For this past weekend if we had 20 renters in our group we could have gotten about a 20% discount b/c we would be considered a group. If we had 20 renters and 1 or 2 people pulled out that changes the cost for everyone.

4. This is an extremely great deal because many youth groups tack on the cost for each of the leaders to the student's cost and also the cost of food. How we do it is that both the food and the youth leaders costs are taken care of by the youth offering and donations.

Some of you might question why youth leaders don't have to pay. The answer is that some of them due (they will not let me pay for them) but another reason is that they work their tail off preparing for the trip, organizing for the trip, and in some cases they take off of work so they are loosing money to go on the weekend. Over the many years of youth ministry I find that you have to take care of your volunteers because there would be not youth ministry without them.

The purpose of this post was not to call anyone out or shame anyone but to inform people on 0what it takes to organize something like the ski trip. I also wanted to post it so that in the future I can send people with questions to this post instead of rewriting all the information. Check with your teachers and coaches to see what they go through as they plan away games and other activities to get a full perspective.


Ok, moving on....

This Sunday Ria and I will be taking people down who want to visit Lee Sue at the Ronald McDonald House in Seattle. If you are interested please let me know because we have limited space. We can take 9 people in the church van so let me know today.

Details:
-Departure: meet by the church van at 12:15 (after the morning service)

-What to bring:
1. Snack: eat a snack before we leave or bring one with you. We are going to try to pick Lee Sue up and take her out to eat in China town if I can find it :)
2. Money for a late lunch and possibly dinner
3. (Optional) you could bring a silly hat for Lee Sue, a good book, her favorite food, a game that she can play in the hospital, a photograph of you, a stuffed animal, flowers, or anything else that would encourage her.
4. Your healthy body. Because Lee Sue's doing chemotherapy, her immune system is weak. If you have a bad cold or the flu it's best that you wait until another time.

-Return: we will leave between 5:00 and 6:00 pm from Seattle and arrive in Lynden between 7-8 pm.

If you want to join us send an email (danh@firstcrclynden.org), Facebook me, call me (360-nine 27-nine 722), or text me.

Our next youth group is our family dinner! YES! We are going to be at Molly and Mindy's home. If you can make it, meet at church at 6:45 or at Molly and Mindy's home at 7:00 pm. I hope you can make it.

Some advanced notice: For our next Family dinner on Wednesday, February 20th we will be meeting at church for a Chinese New Year's celebration. We are asking that each Chinese student bring a traditional dish for us for dinner. Since I don't know the names of the dishes I am asking if there is a international student that would like to come up with a menu so that each student brings a different thing.

Why isn't our next family dinner on February 27th? Because the 27th is the start of your midwinter break and several people usually attend the state basketball tournaments or go with their family on a mini vacation.

Also, we are going to be celebrating Andrew and Stephanie's baby boy named "Daniel" (just kidding about the name---this is the name that their baby should be named but I guess I will have to let them decide since Stephanie is doing all the hard work for him). This is an opportunity to show our love for Andrew, Stephanie, and the little ankle-biter/poop factory that should be here in March.

I am very excited for this little guy to come. Not only because Stephanie is going to get to the point where she will do anything to see her feet again but also because Andrew is going to make a great Dad...Andrew will you be my daddy?

It's traditional to bring a gift for the baby or their parents. The baby is registered on Target's gift registry and there might be something that you can go in on with others.  If you can buy a gift that would be great, but if your strapped for cash don't worry about it...Calm will pay for the gift for you :) No seriously don't worry about it...just come and celebrate.
More information to follow.

Thought questions for the movie we watched in youth group.

“Blue Like Jazz”

In the movie Don experiences many hurtful events that causes him to question and reject his beliefs. What do you do when experiences don’t fit what you believe about God? Example: How can you believe in a loving God when a classmate gets cancer, when the person that you like does not like you back, or when there is a mass shooting in an elementary school?

In the movie Don’s mother, church, and youth pastor hurt him. How do you forgive people that claim to love God but inflict pain on you?

Someday you might live in a place where Christian’s are a minority or even a place where people ridiculed you for your beliefs. How are you going to respond so that you can represent Christ accurately to the world?

Sometimes when Christians get asked to defend their faith they get really defensive and even get angry at the person that is debating with him or her. Why might this not be the best approach?  What would be a better way of defending your faith?

Because Christian’s aren’t perfect sometimes they can hurt others and sometimes they do it in the name of God. How would you defend Christ to these people? 

Tonight: Wednesday January 23rd

Tonight's youth group will start at 7:30 in the church basement. We hope to see you there.

Dan

News, news, news

We found a deal on another cabin so we have a guy's cabin and a girl's cabin (there are more girls so they get the bigger one). It's going to be fun. See you later. 

Dan

• PARENT AND HOST HOMES HELP NEEDED FOR HIGH SCHOOL YOUTH:

We love food at High School youth group and there are several reasons why: 1) As teenagers, we are always hungry. 2) Food is social and we are social people, so food helps us bond. 3) Did we mention that we are teenagers with appetite as big as the Grand Canyon? Parents – we are looking for some of you willing to host a family meal at your house and/or supply a snack for a youth group night. Please sign up in the back of church or contact Dan Houston if you are willing to help. Thanks for your support! 

CALL DAN IF YOU CAN HELP WITH ONE OF THESE

JANUARY 30TH--FAMILY DINNER

FEBRUARY 6TH---SNACKS

FEBRUARY 13TH--SNACKS

FEBRUARY 20TH--FAMILY DINNER---Celebrating the Chinese New Year---We will have this dinner at church and we ask our international students to make dinner and share their culture with us. 

MARCH 6TH--SNACKS

MARCH 20TH--SNACKS

MARCH 27TH--FAMILY DINNER

APRIL 10TH--SNACK

APRIL 24TH--SNACK

MAY 8TH--SNACK

Description of family dinners: The last Wednesday of the month.  We will be having a family dinner together hosted by a family in our youth group (last semester each of the leaders took turns). On these nights you can meet at the leaders home or be picked up at church at 6:45 pm. 


Contact Dan if you can help!   

Wednesday, January 16th

Join us for a study break...come and go when you please. We are meeting from 7:30 to 9:00 for board and card games. Bring your favorite snack and a game that you like to play. If you're busy studying and can't take a break, No Worries we will see you next week.

~The Youth Leaders

Ski trip Roster

Tanisha, Sophia, Molly, Mindy, Kristen, Yumi, Abby, Megan, Anna, Julia, Flora, Ria, Jill, Stephanie
John (Abby's brother), Nathan, Johnny, Zach, Marshal, Calm, Jesse, Andrew, Dan