A few pictures from Day 2 on the Slopes!

The Stache crew is gearing up to shred the slopes!

The Boarder girls!

As Young Life tradition would have it, club follows an incredibly tasty meal. (And meals are especially good after you’ve been on the slopes all day!)

As club begins singing is loud, despite the tired skiers! Laughter rolls across the room as the skit characters enter.  Two characters from Plano West kick off things with a game. PHS’ very own Amy White was called on stage to participate.

While YL skit characters are typically funny, Jace Thompson has a gift for making people laugh, especially with the character Mohamad Gomama. “I’ve come to tell you about life. Not life like you know it, but life I know it.”

After a few songs that slowed the tempo, Todd took the stage to share the gospel. While many of these kids have heard the gospel, some haven’t. And like one of the Ft. Worth leaders shared in leader meeting, “We never out grow the gospel.”

He started with a story about a trip with his dad, uncle and brother to the Boundary Waters. After days of camping and canoeing, the trip was coming to an end. As the first canoe went down the river to scope out the waters ahead, the canoe flipped and Todd’s dad was caught underneath. Todd heard his brother yelling for help and ran to lift the canoe off of his trapped dad. After much work, he and his brother finally freed his dad. Todd used the story to illustrate that no matter how hard we try, we can’t save ourselves. Sin, our choice of self over God, has created a gap between God that we can’t repair. It took someone else to do what we weren’t able to do for ourselves. Todd shared about the sacrifice of the cross and what the sinless son of God endured on our behalf. He beautifully emphasized grace, a word that in such a performance based society is hard to fully grasp.

As the talk came to an end, he shared one last illustration, that of a seed. You see a seed is dead. It lacks life. And no matter how hard a seed tries, it can’t grow on it’s own. We are just like a seed, without Christ, we have no life. Todd prayed, closing the talk, and invited kids to come to the stage to pick up a seed as a reminder of their state without Christ.

Afterwards the kids went to cabin time with their leaders to talk about what they heard.
-Erin

Everyone rose early, eager to eat breakfast and hit the slopes! It was a great day of skiing at Winter Park. Here are a couple of pictures!

Crooked Creek Ranch is this year’s host to the DFW YL Ski Trip. The camp is just as beautiful in the winter as the summer, however it has a very quaint feel with the soft white blanket of snow covering the grounds.

After the kids got fitted for their skis and boards, the buses pulled into camp Saturday afternoon. A flurry of kids filled camp. We enjoyed an incredible meal and laughed at the ridiculously funny skit characters. Then Todd spoke at club.  He shared the story of when he fell 17 feet out of a tree, with a running chainsaw in hand. After standing up from the fall, he checked every part of his body to make sure it was all okay. He used this story to show the importance of “checking in” to make sure things are okay. Since the Ski Trip falls in the middle of the year, it is a perfect time for the kids to “check in” with their hearts and make sure things are “okay.” Todd shared from scripture the passage where Christ checks in with His disciples. He asked the 12 who the crowds say He is and who they say He is. Todd concluded his talk by asking the students to discuss the following questions in their cabin time.

What are you most excited to leave back in Dallas? What did you hear tonight at club?

Who do your friends say Christ is? Who do you say Christ is? Who does your life say Christ is?

Please continue to pray for Todd as he shares truth and for the hearts of kids as they receive truth!

-Erin

It is always special to have our entire Richardson Area Young Life family (committee, leaders and staff) together to celebrate Christ’s birth. From incredible food to fun games and great conversation, the night is one to remember. We couldn’t begin to thank everyone that played a critical role in making the night all that it was. So we will say “Thank You” to committee and the friends of Young Life that spent countless hours making sure the details of the night were just right! It was a night like none other!

Here are a few pictures from the night:

Need a cute gift for Valentine’s Day? Look no further! From Funky Hats to Cute Scarves and more… all items are $16. Proceeds from your purchase help send Young Life kids to camp this summer! Email kidstocamp@gmail.com to place your order! (Click on picture to enlarge the image) We accept cash, checks (made to YL) and paypal. You can pick your order up at the YL office or shipping is available: $4.95 per item or $10.95 for three items.

Funky Animal Hats: Black Bear, Snow Tiger, Sock Monkey , Owl, Wolf, Mountain Moose, Brown Monkey and the Rowdy Raccoon, The Lion
One size fits all.

Head Wraps: Winter White, Brown, Black and Berry Red
One size fits all.

Scarves: 

Flowered and Stripped Scarves: Multi-Color Brown, Multi-Color Teal

Fun Furry Scarves: Gray, Cream and Brown.

Fluffy Scarves: Brown/Olive and Turquoise/Gray

Just In! Scarves: Brown/Tan, Pink/Gray, Black and White

Flex Necklaces:

Skinny Flex Necklace: Silver, Multi, Bronze, and Gun Metal

Regular Flex Necklace: Multi

Questions? Email us at Kidstocamp@gmail.com. We’re happy to help!

Pearce’s Mr. Christmas Tree

In case you missed the night, I’ve included the talent from each grade (thanks to Rob’s videoing!).

Sr. Talent:

Jr. Talent:

Soph. Talent:

Fresh. Talent:

Despite the busyness of this time of the year and the rainstorm right as club started, a lot of kids still came. Laughter could be heard all around as the kids participated in a friendly competition. Grades were competing against each other to see which one could get the most clothes pins on their team representative’s face. The Freshman walked away with the victory!

As always, the fun and laughter gradually took a turn to things more serious as the night progressed to the talk. Last week, Laura talked about how this world isn’t how it was intended to be and shared about post secrets, a place where individuals go to anonymously post secrets. She passed out paper and encouraged the kids to anonymously write what they would post. I used last weeks secrets, written anonymously, to continue the message of ‘This Life is Not How God Intended It to Be.” We talked about Sin, the disease of the heart, choosing self over God. And how the things they listed out last week were symptoms of our choice of self. God had something far greater planned for us, but we chose self. Sin’s difficult consequence we often like to skirt around, but a life eternally separated from God is a very real and disturbing thing. The unfortunate truth is that because of our Sin, that is what we deserve. That is the penalty, the wages of our Sin.

You could have heard a pin drop in the room as the kids watched what they and their friends had anonymously written on the paper flash across the screen…  (here are a few)

I am completely ashamed of the person I am

Sometimes I act like someone I’m not

Rumors hurt more than people think

I lie to my parents, girlfriend and God about porn.

I can’t look at myself straight on in the mirror because I hate the way I look

I am more broken than I sometimes pretend to be.

Sometimes I smile just to hide my worries inside.

Sometimes I feel like I am not loved by my parents.

I am hopeful that happiness will come

I have a reputation that I don’t deserve.

It is tough to be extremely skinny

I smoked to kill the pain, but it never works

 I AM surrounded by love. Why is it my heart is stained with hate?

 I’m afraid to let people in because every time I do they end up hurting me.

Trying hard to be perfect ends up breaking me instead

During this time of the year, the talks at club get harder. Harder to give, and harder to hear. But “Harder” certainly doesn’t mean it isn’t worth sharing. TRUTH is what matters and truth is what changes kids’ lives.

Please pray for leaders as they are processing hard truths with kids this week. And pray that the hearts of the kids are eager to receive the good news of the cross that is to come!