Winterblast 2018

Last weekend we hosted our in-town winter camp "Winter Blast." Twenty-five middle school students came to the overnight lock-in Thursday night and 75 high school kids came Friday night through Saturday afternoon. We prayed for 100 kids to come and exactly 100 kids came.  Our out of state camp speaker, musician, and games people, did a phenomenal job sharing God's love and supporting leaders and kids as they dove into some of life's deeper questions.  For more stories and photos, click here.

Winter Blast is one of the highlights of our year in Sitka Young Life.  It is a huge opportunity to provide an extended Young Life event.  We host two lock-in events.  The first for middle school students and the second for high schoolers.  We fly in a speaker, musician, and program (people to lead games).  This allows our team to focus on being with the kids instead of running camp. The team this year did a great job creating positive energy and sharing about Jesus in a way kids could relate to. The camps included several special events that kids loved: a trip to the gymnastics/ America Ninja Warrior gym, Alaska style laser tag, wallyball, basketball, slackline indoor "snowball" fights, and endless games. Kids enjoyed eating 20 dozen cookies, Philipino food, spaghetti, and a gourmet breakfast, which included a donut wall.  We made lots of great memories and were able to share about a God who is fully and totally in love with each of them. 

This year we spent more time informing and updating our prayer team before, during, and after the event, and the effects of their prayers were felt.  Leaders reported that students were open and honest during cabin times and that they were able to process many deeper questions.  The great news about having a camp in town is that leaders have been able to follow up with the kids in their group.  

There was a large team of adults who volunteered with the event.  We had 13 adult leaders and 5 student leaders engaging with the kids and leading cabin times during the events.  Ringleader Yvonne Christner organized the kitchen crew, 12 people who prepared two late night snacks, two gourmet breakfasts, and two wonderful lunches - also leaving the place spotless.  We also had additional volunteers help run laser tag, help with greeting and registration, and help with setup and clean-up. With this level of volunteer support, we were able to offer the camp free of charge so that every kid who wanted to go was able to attend. Thanks again to everyone who gave and volunteered in order to make this annual event a huge success!

Awesome Leaders

Bill on his Boat taking guys camping

In Young Life, we are all about forming positive relationships with young people. Young life leaders become relationship building professionals.Since there are many different types of kids, we need many different types of leaders. Read about an amazing couple whose lives have been changed when they said yes to God. Click here to read more about Bill and Carin Adickes.

Bill's wife Carin first introduced him to Young Life after she got involved with the Young Life prayer team. Carin was on the prayer team when her own 2 boys graduated and left for college, Carin then started volunteering with the girls Bible study campaigner group. She enjoyed being with the girls and sharing about what God has done in her life.  Carin then recruited her husband to join the boys campaigner group and Bill connected instantly with boys because of his similar past. Guys breakfast soon became one of BIll's favorite times of the week.

Later in the spring Bill joined the guys for a camping trip with 7 guys to Middle Island. There the guys did some brush clearing around the cabin and Bill cooked. Every morning and night people shared stories from their lives and stories from the Bible. After that trip, the boys started going over to the Adickes house and it wasn't long before Bill had recruited a couple of guys to be his deck hand for the summer when he started commercial fishing.  This past summer 3 guys lived with the Adickes and 4 guys worked with him on his boat.

The Friday night Bible study crew

Bill and Carin work with the guys and help them develop life skills like: fishing, driving, finding jobs, time management, and swimming. This last fall when school started, Bill started a Bible study every Friday night for his guys and their friends. Every Friday night high school boys go to the Adickes to play games, eat snacks and join with other men from the church and look into God's word.   Bill and Carin continue to walk through life with these guys.  They have been there for baptisms, suspensions, falling classes, graduations, first jobs, drivers tests, swim lessons, paper routes, weekends away from the dorm, camping trips, and when the guys just need someone to talk to. God's faithfulness shines in the life of Bill and we are grateful to have the Adickes as part of our Sitka YL team.

Hello Fall - Nov 2017 Sitka YL update

Fall is a busy time with ministry, Alaska All state, and our annual Sitka Young Life Banquet

One of our favorite parts of doing Young Life ministry is that it affects families as well as students.  Here is a quote from a conversation with a parent this past month:

 "I want to thank you for the interest that you took in my Jon.  Jonathan needed something in his life when you took him under your wing. I'm listing the positives that I have seen in Jon since his association with you and your group.  He has become a happier person with himself and with his family.  He is not so critical of  our family and has become open with his brother and sister.  He is more tolerant of people and empathetic toward people who need our help. At first  I wasn't sure about the religious association, but it has seemed to help him. His new found faith of God has given him confidence to go out on his own and try to make the right decisions on his own.  He is now becoming the person he wants to be and the person I want him to be too. He is more complete. Thank you again."

WITH KIDS: This year we have 120 kids regularly participating in club with with 15 leaders in our middle school and high school groups.  We regularly have 20 leaders meeting with 60 kids in small group campaigner Bible studies.  Our leaders work to develop relationships with kids through these weekly events to build connections and share life and the Gospel message with kids.

ALL STATE CONFERENCE: At the end of September we took 17 leaders to the all- Alaska Young Life conference. We got a chance to connect with more than 200 Young Life Staff and volunteers from around Alaska and had an incredible time of worship, training and encouragement. One big area of growth this year was seeing all the people from rural villages that attended the conference. Aaron had a chance to meet and discuss ministry in rural villages with leaders from 7 different rural  communities from around the state.

SITKA BANQUET- October 23rd was a great evening of sharing about Sitka Young Life with our community.  Our speaker Kent Williams started the evening sharing that Young Life elevates Jesus and his love through relationships. We also had a chance to  hear from past and present leaders and kids about how this ministry of Young Life has impacted people in Sitka and around the state for the past 20 years. A big thank you to everyone who made this year's YL Banquet a success!!

Thank you for your prayer and support of ministry in Sitka...

Chris & Aaron

Great JAM

What girls said that they learned from the Jesus And Me weekend-

"...how important God is in my life."

"...that if I keep seeking God, he will find me."

"...that God has a plan for us."

"...I was amazed and my eyes were opened."

"...I continually need to remind myself of how worthy I am."

Thanks for supporting the leaders and kids in this discipleship weekend. 

JAM 2017

2016 JAM

This weekend Sitka Young Life will once again be partnering with local churches to host a high school girls discipleship weekend called J.A.M.  - Jesus And Me.  Girls will be covering topics such as prayer and devotional life, navigating social media, dating and relationships, and how to grow in their relationship with Christ. One of our goals is to put on this event free of charge for the students.  If you would like make a donation to our campership fund- click here  Please remember our girls and leaders in your prayers this weekend.

Who turns away volunteers?

Why do thousands of young people give up a month of their summer to go volunteer long days in a place far from home?   This summer I had a chance to work with kids who did just that. Highschoolers & college students from across the country left their homes, jobs, and friends to serve at Young Life camps.  Click here to find out why Young Life literally has waiting lists of young people wanting to volunteer.

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Young Life camps promise to give campers the best week of their lives and have strategically designed all of their summer camps to be 5 star resorts for teens.  Kids at Young Life camp stay in deluxe accommodations, are served delicious food by wait staff, are catered to through a variety activities, and get a chance to hear about Jesus.  The high standards of excellence at Young Life camp require a large staff to attend to all the details.  In order to keep camp affordable for kids, Young Life depends on an army of volunteers  to keep things running. At Washington Family Ranch Creekside, the camp where the Routons and Vorons served, there were over 100 volunteering for the month.. The volunteers comprised of 44 highschoolers (work crew), 42 college students (summer staff), and 15 people post college age serving on assignment team.

Large numbers of these volunteers came to faith through Young Life or had powerful experiences in Young Life, which helped them to grow in their faith. Coming to Creekside this summer showed how these people desired to growing in their faith more than making money or hanging out with friends and family.  

This summer I served on assignment team, as a work crew boss, overseeing highschoolers.  Work crew is broken into smaller teams and they do things like: wash dishes, clean bathrooms, do laundry, landscape, and serve meals. Summer staffers, or the college age students, prepare the food, serve as life guards, facilitate the high ropes course, lead camp games and activities, and much more. These volunteer leaders come to camp to serve but leave camp changed as they are pushed to the end of their natural strength and then have to depend on God. 

In addition to serving campers, volunteers meet together in small groups for devotions and sharing times, meet one-on-one with mentors, and came together for worship services.  Everyday we all had a chance to read the Bible and journal and have a personal devotional time with God.  

This summer we had 6 former MEHS or SHS students serve at YL camps.  

Here is a little from their experiences: 

"After working at camp I am free to feel emotions again." - Dolena Fox from Kipnuk, AK.  Growing up in a small village Dolena experienced grief and loss at an early age and admitted that the tragedies left her just feeling numb. God worked in Dolena while she was serving and helped bring a healing to her where she can now feel emotions again. "Even if they are unpleasant emotions, it is still good to be able to feel them again."  This fall Dolena plans to go on to YL staff in Bethel, where she lives now with her family. 

I had a chance to work along side of Isaiah from Savoonga and Shawn from Quihhagak. It was truly awesome to watch and see as Isaiah's whole demeanor and countenance change as God freed him from shame and anger.  After camp Shawn summed up his experience at camp into one sentence.  "It was amazing experiencing God at camp, along with everyone who loved God," He said "it was not only great, but was one of the best experiences I have ever had."

If you ever have a chance to go experience a Young Life camp,- Jump On It!

The best week of your life!

A highlight every year is being able to take kids to camp and this year Sitka Young Life had a chance to travel to Washington Family Ranch for high school camp from June 16-24th. We took 30 students and leaders from Sitka to central Oregon where we were able to experience camp with 110 other kids from around Alaska and another 300 from around the Northwest. It is a challenge to summarize a week at Young Life camp.  It was a week of friendship, adventure, spiritual growth, laughter, and sunscreen. Young Life camp included messy games, lots of singing and clapping, ziplines, new friends, group bonding, and the feeling you get when you finally understand how important you are to God. For more pictures, videos, stories and quotes from kids- click here!

This year we had the privilege of going to Washington Family Ranch Canyon with 8 other groups from Alaska. After a 3 hour flight and 8 hour bus ride (traveling with the groups from Ketchikan and Juneau- we arrived as the very first campers of the season.  Here are some videos that describe our experiences: the week overview, rides and free time, county fair, messy games, pool Olympics, and  cabin games

Throughout the week, kids really bonded with each other and their leaders during the various activities and as they debriefed as a cabin about what the speaker shared.  At the end of our week we had many kids step forward to say that they want to walk closer with God.

As we left camp, the kids didn't want camp to end.  Thankfully for them, on our way to the airport, one of our bus tires blew and it caused us to miss our flight back to Sitka... and so we did have one more night together. It ended up being a wonderful experience where we had a chance to take the train downtown and experience Seattle, ride the ferris wheel, as well as have a late night Denny's run, before we finally returned to the airport to sleep in a side hall on the ticketing floor.

Overall, kids felt loved and grew in their faith.  Leader were rejuvenated in an exhausting sort of way.  The below statements are from the kids themselves. Thanks again for partnering with us. This is what it is all about:

  "Throughout this week I have learned that God is there no matter what and before I came here I barely trusted God.  This week has changed my relationship with God "

"This week really opened up a new way of seeing God for me."

"This week at camp has changed my life. Yes, my relationship with God has gotten stronger. I have confessed to Jesus that he is my God and Savior."

"I loved that I could just be myself and not have to worry about what anyone else thought of me. I got everything off my shoulders this week. I realized that I'm not going to be a lone and that Jesus is with me the whole way. I'm so grateful I got the chance to come to this camp."

"This week brought me close to God more than I've ever been."

"This week I think was a re-connection with God for me. I didn't think that God loved me as much as He does and I find that amazing! This will be a big part of my story and I can't wait to tell others like me when I'm a leader someday."

"This week was important for me because I learned that I need to be open and vulnerable with people and with God. This completely changed my relationship with him."

This week to me was learning and growing in God and in my relationships. I just love the care that the Lord and the leaders gave me. I have learned to forgive and to love and care more. I have always loved God but this week I feel brought a new understanding of God for me."