March 2011

Bowling Night - 9th

Tonight we met up at the church to go on another bowling trip, after we got our huge group together we took the bus and an extra 2 cars, as we entered the bowling alley we jumped onto the lanes and started the intense games of bowling. Of course Dave and Adam being the bowling pros that they are dominated the rest of us, with their spiffy custom bowling balls, the afternoon was full of fun and excitement as we played and laughed with enjoyment. At one point Austin decided to be the group clown, like always, and sat in Dom's lap insisting that Dom come up with a story to tell him. Dom's quick thinking and story skills came up with an amazing story that lit up Austin's face like a young child on christmas morning. After our night of bowling fun we headed back to the church to return home and rest for the night.



Spring Break Camping Trip - 12th-18th

We started our journey to Arkansas early in the morning, though everybody was tired we were full of excitement about the days and nights to come. As we packed into the bus and attempted to make the roadtrip as fast as possible we chattered and snacked on chips, cookies, and whatever else we could find. Upon our arrival at subway we ordered all our weird and fascinating sandwiches, enjoying our meals we had a multitude of laughs, and unfortunate soda spills. Back to the bus we headed to continue on our trip, over the numerous rocky roads and dirt hills we climbed inching closer and closer to our destination. Once we finally arrived at Buffalo River State Park we put on our packs and hiked our way through the mountains to our camping spot. As soon as we had camp all set up we enjoyed some delicious dinner prepared by our amazing cooks, and built a fire which we danced and talked around for hours and hours until everybody was ready to head to sleep and start hiking again the next day. When we woke up the next morning we packed up our camp and headed out for out next hike, THE DEATHMARCH which was feared by many of the youth attending, we hiked on through and encouraged eachother every step of the way, finally reaching the top we hiked the rest of the way, reaching many youth group landmarks, and at one point me and Dom were conversating when all of a sudden my bootlaces decided to conveniently hook onto my other hiking boot thus throwing me onto my face on the dirt trail, fun fun fun. After I regained my composure we continued to the bus and came up with a new landmark named "BootLace Trip" where I had been struck down by the mighty force of my hiking boots. As we reached the bus after enduring a long and exhausting hike up the mountains and trails we packed back into the bus to drive to the Horseshoe Canyon Ranch where we were anxious to set up camp and enjoy the many activities they have there (including working bathrooms) after camp set up was complete we ate another delicious meal and met up with Harvey, our rock climbing instructor who matched us up with our climbing gear and lead us to the beautiful rock walls we were going to spend the rest of the day climbing. Most of us were hesitant at first to start ascending the walls, but after encouragement from the leaders we finally picked up and everybody joined the climbing bonanza. Once we hit the top Dom had each of us kiss the rock wall and turn around and look down at the ground (SCARY) to have a picture taken, though some people, not going to mention any names... *cough* Jon *cough* decided that the rock wall needed a little more lovin' than necessary and gave it a more passionate kiss than expected, it was a fun experience for all of us and we continued back to camp to get the fire going so we could relax and eat dinner. Once the men in our group gathered the wood the ladies started another amazing meal which everyone enjoyed to the fullest extent because we have such greatly talented cooks, after our meal we enjoyed our warm fire and talked in fellowship for a while before heading off to bed. The next morning after a good night's sleep we continued on to our caving expedition where we hiked and explored numerous caves and waterfalls that were brilliantly beautiful. Squeezing through cracks and bumping heads on the way we crawled our way in and out of the amazing caves. Once we reached the outside world once more we hiked back to the bus and started our trip back home, our heads filled with memories and laughs, powerful worship experiences, and the fellowship we have with our family, we knew that the time we spent together would be something we could look back on and enjoy for years and years to come.
- Jon Lutherbeck