Happy New Year, everyone!

Last weekend we got back from our Young Life Utah snowboarding trip. We took 9 kids. One of these kids was Phillip, who had never been to anything with Young Life before. He only heard about the trip through our lunch club at Madison High School.

Phillip is a senior and plays football and basketball. Two of my friends sponsored Phillip to go on the trip for free. He had never been snowboarding. He had never even seen snow before!

Skylar, one of our leaders, lent Phillip everything he needed for the trip- snowboard, boots, and clothes. All he had to do was to show up.

I wish you all could have seen Phillip’s excitement. He skipped the snowboarding lesson on the first day, and just went for it. He was out snowboarding more than any of us combined, and by day 3 was as good as the rest of us. When it was time to leave the mountain each day, some of us were so tired that we would be on the bus already, half an hour before it left. Phillip would come right from his last run, and hop on the bus about 5 minutes before it left, covered in snow. He didn’t want to miss a minute.

The last night of club, all the kids were invited into a relationship with Jesus. The other 8 of our kids had accepted Jesus into their lives, and were at all different places in their walks with God. Phillip loud and clear, was the first one you could hear repeating the worship leaders words of the prayer. When everyone was told they could open their eyes, there was Phillip’s hand raised (along with many, many others).

On the bus on the way home, he said to me across the aisle, “Chelsea, thank you.” “For what, Phillip?” “For making all of this happen.” Then he sang, somewhat off-key to the tune of Rockin around the Christmas tree — “Standing around on the Christmas tree,” just that line, over and over. It was pretty funny, and hard to miss his excitement and the impact this trip had on his life. I just had to share this story.

God Bless,
Chelsea

What a fun, crazy, busy week this has been! Monday we had a fun Young Life club! Kids dressed in their halloween costumes, we played games, and leader Matt Knox talked about having Jesus in his life.

Wednesday- Halloween, I turned 25 and took the Wyldlife kids “reverse” trick or treating. We filled up bags, walked to Clairemont Square, and handed out our candy! We trick or treated on the way back, and ended up filling the bags back up. It was a different, fun, memorable experience.

Also Wednesday, leader Matt Knox attended UC High’s lunch club with Urban Youth Collaborative leader Nate Landis. Thursday leaders Matt Knox, Jonny Sherfy, Joey Partyka, Mark Presley and I lead Madison High’s lunch Bible Club, and I did a talk on letting Jesus be your Lifeguard.

Thursday night at our Fall Banquet we celebrated what God is doing in Clairemont Young Life! We raised double the amount of money we had hoped for–Praise God– and had a great time of fun, laughter, fellowship, with guest speaker Mike Curran. Mike is an area director for Young Life in the Point Loma area. Thank you to everyone who came to this event, and thank you to Haley Montgomery for the awesome music!

Friday an old Young Life leader came to visit for the weekend- Noah Lopez. Noah was a leader from 2001-2003, and now lives in San Jose. He got to go to the Madison High School homecoming game with us on Friday night.

Saturday Noah helped our Young Life group sell hot dogs at the Preschool Carnival, which was a lot of fun. We decorated my van with window markers and streamers, bought two bottles of sparkling cider, then later picked up five Madison high students for their homecoming dinner and dance. We took them to dinner, then gave them a ride to their dance. It was so much fun and we were able to reminisce about the old days, when we were in high school.

This weekend two Young Life girls accepted Jesus as their Savior! This is why we do what we do! Stay tuned for more updates. For more pictures, see the gallery. God Bless you!

Chelsea

Please join us on Thursday, November 1 from 6:30 pm-9:00 pm for our Young Life Fall Banquet and Concert! It will be a delicious dinner, student testimonies, music by up and coming artist Haley Montgomery, special entertainment, speaker, silent auction, and more! We are currently collecting silent auction items, such as gift baskets, gift cards, etc. Tickets are $10, children are welcome!

Please contact the church office for additional information.

Last weeks activities included Young Life club, Wyldlife club, University City High Bible Club, and Madison High Bible Club!

Naniel Rut, a Sudanese refugee and student at University City High School, found a teacher to host the Bible Club at lunch, invited students to come, and made fliers. All we had to do is show up with pizzas and an awesome speaker! It was a very good turnout for our first lunch club on Wednesday, and I look forward to what God is doing through Bible Clubs this year. This Wednesday we handed out fliers with information on Young Life and Northminster Presbyterian Church service times.

-Chelsea