I felt it was time to give you a brief update on what is going on this fall in the youth program. We currently have 33 youth involved in our confirmation program. I teach the 8th grade class and our focus is on review of the doctrine that they learned in their 7th grade year but also trying to move that knowledge from the head to the heart. We talk about how to put this faith into practice. Pastor leads the 7th grade class who are studying the 6 Chief Parts from Luther's Small Catechism. Kristen Beyer teaches our 6th grade class, leading the group through the Old Testament. She will get them through the New Testament in the spring and have them ready for Pastor's class next year.

God Squad and Jr. High Youth Nights on Wednesday nights have been great. We have had almost 30 kids here every time. We have had some challenges in our game time since the parking lot is being used with construction storage and materials. We have had some great dinners cooked by our moms and dads and also some great devotion time. I would like to thank Keith Simmons for all his help as our God Squad leader. He has been doing this for along time and should be congratulated.

The Sr. High is gearing up for another year of summer servant events and activities. We will again be sending two teams out. The first team will head up to San Francisco for our forth time up there. This is a great first servant event experience as our kids get the change to do a variety of work including working with kids and also helping out delivering food and working in a soup kitchen. Our second team will be heading to China again. We will be tourists in Beijing and then working in a orphanage and also helping at an English Leadership Camp for Chinese girls. It will be a great experience.

The Sr. High continues to meet on Sunday evenings and we always have between 10-15 youth here for those nights. Mike Zsolczai has been a great friend to me and the Sr. High youth program and just comes to hang out and get repeatedly beat by them at foosball. We are also looking forward to helping move the new pews into the sanctuary on the 15th. That will be some hard work but something that we as a group will be proud to be a part of.

I want to thank this congregation for all their continued support to the youth program. In these economic times it would be easy to just cut back in the youth area and just not be able to offer as much but that has never been the case. You continue to pray for us and support my work with the young people of this congregation. THANK YOU!

Jim Meyer