Snow doesn't stop MSM!

This week we had a smaller group than usual because of the beautiful snow fall and business trips (for both Loren an Hannah). Grayson caught Allayna, Leah, and Wes up on what they have been missing the past week or two in youth group. We all discussed what we've been up to and the students recommended some books (so impressive they read so much! keep it up guys!).

The students were reminded about the upcoming Winter Retreat and it sounds like they are starting to get excited about it. Grayson and Allayna both have been on a school retreat before but never a church retreat.  If you intend to go on the Winter Retreat please register soon! The deadline to register is this Sunday 1/22

While having some tasty treats, we talked about the books of the New Testament and how they were organized.  We learned that IANS (books ending in  -ians)  are letters mostly written by Paul to churches in different cities such as Galatia, Phillippi, Corinth, Rome, and Ephesus. We decided if we at All Saints were to receive one of these letters, the book of the Bible would be called Seattlites :)   The churches were established after Jesus' death that was detailed in the first 4 books of the New Testament, or the Gospel- the good news.  The letters were sent to the churches for encouragement and and correction.

After this we went outside a little bit early for a snowball fight and proved we all have terrible aim!


See you all next week!


Wes

Come to me...

MSM has found a pretty sweet groove lately. We meet in the Middle School Lounge (room 101 downstairs) until 11a and then head upstairs to the loft. From up their we are led in worship along with the rest of the All Saints community. When the music stops we head back downstairs to the Lounge where we play a couple games, study the Word or a theme, and then play a few more games. Usually their are some snacks and silliness thrown in there too.

Today after worship we played charades. Watching Chase try to act out "snow tubing" was awesome! Grayson easily acted out "playing soccer" and "dancing like Michael Jackson" while Cameron was an all-star guesser. Even Bella got in on the action and acted out "flying".

Next up we dove into Matthew 11:28-30 which reads
28The Jesus said, "Come to me, all who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 for my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light."

We talked about things that stress us out that would make us weary. We also talked about what a yoke is and why Jesus would tell us to put one on. Then we talked about some the characteristics of Jesus that we can learn from Him such as humility and gentleness and what learning from Jesus would do for our burden.

Since we want to learn to make reading the Bible a daily habit we are going to ready these three verses every day this week. If we can memorize them that would be cool too, but really we just want to read the Bible every day this week.

And at the end of our time together we finished up with a couple more games including "Finger jousting" and "Ultimate Ninja". It was a good day to be a Middle Schooler.

Hannah

Things to Know...
- Winter Retreat: Feb. 3-5 We are going to Miracle Ranch for a weekend of fun, fellowship, music, speakers, adventure, good food, and games. It's going to be an awesome time. All Middle Schoolers and their friends are encouraged to attend. The cost is $100.
Registration and Information for the MSM Winter Retreat are available at  THIS LINK If you have any questions about how to register, let me know.
- Rock & Worship Roadshow: Saturday March 3 Some of the biggest names in Worship are going to be at the Key Arena! Mercy Me, Tenth Avenue North, Sidewalk Prophets, and many more will be there. You are not going to want to miss this event so mark your calendar today. The cost is $10. More details to come.

MSM Winter Retreat

It's here! It's here! The long awaited Registration and Information for the 2012 Winter Retreat is finally here!

Information

• All middle school students are invited and encouraged to attend this awesome experience! So bring your friends!
• We're going to Miracle Ranch in Gig Harbor. Miracle Ranch has a ton of really fun stuff to do. I love doing fun stuff, so you can trust my word. They have a high ropes course, horses, paint balling, basketball courts, crafts, and loads of other cool things.
• We'll leave Friday, Feb. 3 at 4:00p and come back Sunday, Feb. 5 by 1:00p.
• The cost is $100 for lodging, activities, meals, worship bands, and guest speakers. Some financial assistance available.
• Packing lists and carpool information are coming soon.

Registration: All four of the following steps must be completed by Sunday Jan. 22nd.

• Complete the online registration by following THIS link. If you have any problems with the link or the registration process please email Hannah at middleschool@believedoubtseek.org
• Complete the Crista Health and Consent Form and turn into All Saints Concierge or MSM staff.
• Complete the Crista Waiver and turn into All Saints Concierge or MSM staff.
• Make payment online or in a giving envelope at All Saints. Be sure to include MSM Winter Retreat on the Memo Line.

Questions?
Email Hannah at middleschool@believedoubtseek.org

2011 Recap and 2012 Precap

Today a small MSM group met to look back at some of the highlights of 2011...
- Seeing lots of Sounders games
- Getting more involved at All Saints
- Getting a new job
- Graduating from college
- Getting an XBox 360
(just to name a few)

Another highlight was our December Jr & Sr High Combo Event: SNOW TUBING!

The Snow Tubing event was a huge success! We all had a great time playing in the snow! Afterwards we enjoyed Pizza and Fun. Big thanks for James Lehman, Zach Lansdowne, and Loren Halstrom for driving and Jolie Lansdowne for providing lunch!

We also looked ahead to 2012 and thought about what we'd like to do...

Doesn't that look like a lot of fun stuff? We realize it's an ambitious list, but that's ok, we know we don't have to do it all.

See you all next Sunday!

-Hannah

Upcoming Dates:
-February 3-5 Winter Retreat at Miracle Ranch Registration information coming soon.
All middle and high schoolers are welcome to attend this event (whether they regularly attend All Saints or not)! We'll leave Friday evening and head to Miracle Ranch. There we'll spend the weekend with other youth groups from around the Northwest listening to speakers, playing games, running around the Ranch, and rocking out to live worship music! Cost: $99 (includes meals). If you are able to sponsor a middle or high schooler so that they can attend this retreat please donate through All Saints and write MSM on the envelope or online. We would love to be able to provide scholarships so that all of our students can attend. Attending? RSVP w/ Hannah.
-March 3 Rock & Worship Roadshow at Key Arena (MercyMe, Tench Avenue North, Sidewalk Prophets and more perform! Stay tuned for more info.

Hair Today. Gone Tomorrow.

This week we discussed the two main rules: Love God with all our heart, and love each other as we love ourselves, as Jesus said in Matthew 22:34-40.  What does it mean to love God?  We love the people in our lives by hugging, getting to know, spending time with, and being with them.   Jesus goes on to say in Matthew 25:24-40 that if we feed, visit, take care of, spend time with,or be kind to the least of people, we have done the same to Him.  
We talked about ways we can take care of others and show God love, such as the Christmas clothing drive that All Saints is starting.  The kids are encouraged to bring in and help collect used or new winter items such as hats, gloves, and socks for the kids at New Horizons.

Each student also helped to cut Wes's hair, which was then donated to Locks Of Love, a non-profit that makes wigs for cancer stricken kids who can no longer grow their own hair.  The kids left with a homework assignment for the week: find a way to serve someone new in their lives.


- Wes


Before... getting hair braided and tied!                                        After... hair is bagged up, ready to be donated

TTTTF&FA (things to talk to friends and family about)
- Scarf, Hat, and Glove drive for New Horizon's. Bring new or gently used gear to All Saints by Dec. 4.
- No MSM on Sunday 11/27.
- No MSM on Sunday 12/25

- Inner Tubing at Snoqualmie!! Dec. 17th. We'll arrange carpools and head up to the hill to spend the day playing in the snow (tubing from 9a-11a). Then we'll warm up with hot chocolate and lunch in the lodge. Liability Waiver.  Cost: Age 6-12 $17, 13+ $19, plus food money or a sack lunch. Invite your friends!! This is one of the most popular events with All Saints Youth each year!

- Youth Winter Retreat. Feb 3-5. All middle and high schoolers are welcome to attend this event (whether they regularly attend All Saints or not)! We'll leave Friday evening and head to Miracle Ranch. There we'll spend the weekend with other youth groups from around the Northwest listening to speakers, playing games, running around the Ranch, and rocking out to live worship music! Cost: $99 (includes meals). If you are able to sponsor a middle or high schooler so that they can attend this retreat please donate through All Saints and write MSM on the envelope or online. We would love to be able to provide scholarships so that all of our students can attend. Attending? RSVP w/ Hannah.

Why Jesus?

It was an awesome week at AllSaints. We worshipped together with the congregation (sneak a peek up in the balcony and you might catch us rocking out with everyone). For our talk, we continued to discuss who Jesus is. We framed our thoughts by watching a video that took a look at the actual places Jesus visited in Israel. The video showed some cool locations, including the Church of the Nativity – the designated birthplace of Jesus –since it’s not known exactly where he was born. Another spot that was explored in the video were the Southern Steps, leading up the Temple.

The video led into the segue that talked about Simeon, the prophet. He was a dude that was waiting for the Messiah to arrive, in fact he had been told by God that he would not die until he had seen the Messiah. This story reminded everyone that the Jesus fulfilled many prophecies and we looked up a few of these, including one in Isaiah (Isaiah 7:14 to be exact!). It’s pretty cool to see how God orchestrated his Son to be the fulfillment of so many prophecies.  We challenged everyone to find another prophecy in the Old Testament that was fulfilled by Jesus in the New Testament. All the middle schoolers groaned that they have more homework piled on, but I think they’ll be up to the task.

A few good games were enjoyed as well. We got to play Ninja Warrior. Lots of fun and lots of laughs!

Upcoming Events…

-       - Inner tubing event in December. Enjoy the snow in Snoqualmie! Date and time TBA
-       - February Youth Retreat! We are going to Miracle Ranch from February 3^rd to the 5^th! More details on the way!

I hope you're having a great week!

- Loren

The Two Bratty Sons

This week at MSM we talked about the story of the two bratty sons (aka the prodigal son). We probably should have called them the Two Greedy Sons, but they were brats too, so it fits. We'd all heard the story before but it was interesting to explore the significant impact the younger sons request for his inheritance would have had on his family. He was basically saying that he wished his Dad was already dead and wanted "his" money now. Ouch! What a thing to say!

We also talked about the bratty older brother who couldn't understand why his Dad would take the younger brother back. He thought he was doing everything right by working hard for his Dad, but he was selfish too, just in a different way.

The Lock-In was a huge success! We had a great time. We played hard and then afterward slept hard. A live band came and led a time of worship for us which was loud and fun. Then we used mousetraps (scary!) to talk about what voices influences and how we know who to listen to. After that we played video games, hiding games, and run around games all night/morning long. Everyone was respectful of each other and our church which was awesome. They even requested that we have another Lock-In next month, but us adults are going to need several months of rest before we do it again.

Stay Tuned...
-  for information about an upcoming New Horizon's Scarf, Hat, and Glove drive. Details coming soon.
- Youth Snow Inner tubing Event in December. Date and Time to be determined.
- February Youth Retreat! Mark your calendars for the Youth Winter Retreat to Miracle Ranch Feb. 3-5 details coming soon.

Grayson, Louis, and Alex!

Noel, Allayna, Da'Zor, and Heiwon!