The next morning the youth, and in particular the confirmation class, made pancakes for the congregation as we ate together before worship.  I know the youth worked hard to serve the meal, and we appreciate the kind donations of fruit, pastries, milk, juice, and so on that help to make these gathers successful.  I believe we have another breakfast planned before the summer, so keep an eye out for the date....you don't want to miss it.

As we rolled into February we started the month with both the Super Bowl and the "Souper Bowl of Caring".  For the fourth year in a row, our youth participated in this event, planning and organizing, so we can collect food and money for the Maine Township Food Pantry.  This year, with the hard work of the Youth Group, and the generosity of both Church members and Child Care families, Messiah was able to donate over 550 food items and over $1000.00 to the Maine Township Food Pantry in 2010.  To see how our effort adds into the total result, as of the end of February, in Illinois, $201,685 and 55,693 food items were collected by 382 different groups.  Messiah Youth did a tremendous job again with this effort.  

As we finished the "Souper Bowl" there wasn't a long wait until the next event.  On February 12th, we had a group of 8 youth, along with two adult chaperones, attend a multi-church lock-in at Eskape in Buffalo Grove.  This was the largest event organized the the Lutheran Youth Ministry Network and over 130 youth and 21 adults attended! We began the evening at Our Savior's Lutheran Church in Arlington Heights with two Worship bands, games, ice-cream social and an informal Worship service.  Then we left the church at MIDNIGHT to go over to Eskape in Buffalo Grove where we played laser-tag , arcade games and bowled until 5am.  Even though everyone was tired, everyone had a great time!

We are working on the next events....On Saturday March 13, the Youth Ministry Network is hosting a  Dodgeball Tournament to raise funds for the World Hunger Appeal.  We have some of our High School students express interest in entering a team.  The youth will need support in this endeavor, and we are looking for sponsors to donate money to fund our team with the proceeds going to the World Hunger Appeal.  The youth will be looking for your support, so please help them.

We are still trying to nail down a date to visit our friends at the University Church at Northwestern for fellowship, worship, and a service project.  It looks like the March date will not happen, but we will aim for April or May before classes at Northwestern let out for the summer.

We are having alot of fun together and building our relationships with each other while finding ways to serve, showing our love for others as Christ commanded.  Thanks to all the youth for their participation and please let us know if there are other ideas you have for events -- both for fellowship and service!