Well, we are nearing the end of the holidays and I hope you all have enjoyed then. I know that those that came to YOTN with me had a great time and learnt a lot about Jesus as an added bonus!

Planning for term 3 is underway and it is shaping up to be a lot of fun. We are starting next Thursday with bowling at Bowlarama. It is $16.00 for 2 games and I am really looking forward to seeing you all there and catching up on how your holiday went.

This term we are going to look at what grace is and how God has been so gracious to us in so many ways. Grace is unmerited favour - getting stuff that we don't deserve. I have personally found that God has been so faithful so many times it defies belief. Even yesterday my new Telecom phone died (they tell me it was the SIM card). I waited ages to get any service and by the time I got to the front of the queue I had to go as my lunch break was over. My phone still wasn't working and apparently I would have to fillout oodles of forms, sign my name a million times, get new sim cards, do data transfers......... I didn't have time so left the shop and prayed over my phone as I ran back to work. It has been going fine since - PRAISE the LORD!! God was gracious to me and saved me going back to get their awful customer service again!!!

My prayer is that this term you will learn Gods favour and leran to trust Him that He will come through for us.

See you at the bowling!!!

hey guys - time to get out and get sponsors!!! We will meet tomorrow at 7.30 at the church and DO THE FAMINE. Please bring warm clothes and sleeping bags and mats. Please also bring video cameras or cameras with videos in them as we will need them throughout the weekend!!! Pleeeease pass the word around and get sponsorhsip and DO THE FAMINE.

Please note there is no youth group tonight - there is a healing service with Western Carryer in the main church! I'm sff skiing!!! (I wish) but hasn't God dressed the mountian well today!!

Well, I hope you all had a wonderful Easter and while you were stuffing yourself full of Easter eggs you took at least two minutes out of your day to think about the reason for eating them. The eggs symbolise new life, the life that has been given to us. From whom you ask?? From the person who was without sin and sent into the world to die the most horrible death imaginable. This death allowed us to have direct acces to God as the vail of the temple - the really thick curtain that blocked people from seeing God was torn in two and now we can talk to God like we can talk to our friends. It is all pretty incredible adn if you were the only person on the earth he still would've done it for you.

This term we are going to start it off with a blast from the past. We are going to have an 80's party and I am really excited about it. I have got the music and am about to head off to the op shop for some clothes - I'll see you all there!!

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday and know that your most amazing youth leaders are praying for you!

Love Jo and the St Marys Youth Leaders

As many of you know I was knocked off my bike last week. The lady did stop but I didnt get any details from her. At the time I said to her 'Go home, I forgive you'. While I sat in a truck that took me home it seemed easy to say.

As time has gone on, the bill to fix the bike tipped nearly $300.00 and the injuries and timeframes for healing to allow me to get back to riding my bike, kayaking and fooling around are made longer and longer the frustration is kicking in and I really want her number so I can give her an idea of how I am and what she has done to me. What am I really doing - I'm trying to allow myself to be God, to tell her what she has done wrong and that she should correct it - I am trying to do things in my own strength which aren't mine to do.

While it has been very frustrating God has also used it as a time to tell me that He is my strength, He is the one who can do the things I think I should be doing, He is the one who can pull through when I can't. 1 Cor says that God is my strength in my weakness. Maybe God wanted to weaken me to prove it!!

I still have to take up the daily battle of forgiving her but hey, I have so much to be thankful for - I am alive which is more than what happens to some people who are hit by cars!!!

See you all at youth group tonight. I love you all

Phew!!! I am not very tech savy but I think I have been able to create a blog for you all to read!!! I think that is very exciting!!

Well, Ryan has moved back to America and got married so I have taken over as the youth worker at St Marys. It is a huge honour and challenge but also very exciting. I hope you will all be at least a little bit nice to me! We have also got some new leaders - Mark Dowle, Will and Janice. Kate, Brian and Sandra have come abck for more and where would be all be without Nigel??!!! Please be nice to the leaders so that we don't scare them all away!!

The New Year has started and youth group has also started. We are all meeting on a Thursday night now at 7pm so you are more than welcome to attend. For those who are interested, core gorup is on a Thurday night at 5pm - also at the peace hall.

Sunday youth church has also started and last Sunday we had 96 people present!!! That is a record and very exciting for us all. We look forward to meny more times when the room is packed to the brim.

As always, our Lord is very faithful to us and helps us out in all our times of need and I have needed it as I have started this new job but Jesus is helping me so much and that is fantastic. I encourage you to ask him for help whether it be little or big things. He will always come through for us - He promises that in the letters that he wrote for us that we call the bible.

 I look forward to seeing you all on Thursday nights and Sunday church.

Jo

This term we are talking about how there is a God who loves us so much he sent his Son to die for us, His name is Jesus. There are so many of us that don't really know what it is like to be loved. We are talking about how we have an Almighty, Everlasting God who loves us with an everlasting love, never less but always more.

How would your life change if you "Learned how to live, loved"? As I asked the question of our youth, "How many of you know you are loved"? I was deeply grieved by the number of hands that didn't go up. How could they not know they are loved, I thought to myself. Jesus died because he loves us.

If you had billions in the bank that would free you to do just about anything you wanted to do, because you would know that you will not run out of money. Well it is the Love of God that frees us to do more as well. The bible tells us that if the "Son sets you free you will be free indeed!" Free, well what does that mean? Free from sin that ties you down. Free to love others, Free to love yourself and more importantly... Free to BE LOVED! Of all the things you could ever know to be true, know this... Jesus Loves you!

For God so loves the world (that means me and you) that he gave his one and only Son (Jesus) that whoever believes in him will not die but have everlasting life. For God did not send his Son to condemn the world but to save the world through him. John 3:16-17

Hope you have a blessed week! See you on Thursday!

Has it been a long time or what? Nigel has been bugging me to update this for a while now. So, to please all of you and nigel I am doing my job for once. I will try to be better at this. This is me doing better....lol

We have a new forum setup on the website. Still in the early stages but will give you all another way of keeping in touch with each other.

Click here to go to the forum - post a message!

It sure has been a while sense I last wrote! I am sorry about that!

What a great start to this term we had. I hope we all learned a few thing about relationships. We will be talking about relationships throughout this whole term. Relationships between you and friends, the opposite sex, your parents and most importantly with Jesus. We are gearing up for a few really fast weeks. This weekend we are doing the 40hr Famine here at St. Mary's then we will have a normal week then it is Queens Birthday weekend and we will be off to Fuse in Wellington. So if you want to go to Fuse get those rego forms back to us asap, it's coming up fast!

Now is the time to start wrapping up your Famine books and gathering all you money. This weekend is sure to prove to be a fun weekend. But, more than that it will help us understand what it is like to be someone who goes without food all the time, not just for 40 hours. The Famine is a great way to raise money, but also awareness in ourself and the community! We have great things planned this weekend....You won't want to miss it!

God Bless you all and we will see you on Thursday!