What Is EYG Youth Programming? 

Some of you may be wondering just what is entailed with youth programming. Currently, it includes the activities that happen monthly through the EYG (Ecumenical Youth Group). This is a collaboration among four local churches who each provide two lay leaders to form a committee that then spearheads combined youth activities. The EYG was started several years ago by Rev. Dave Hedgepeth, who was first a youth pastor and then an interim head pastor at First Pres. The four churches involved are First Pres, Prince of Peace Lutheran, Holy Trinity Lutheran, and St. John’s Episcopal.

Laura and Tanya took over from Lauri the coordination of EYG. In August, the leadership team met for a retreat to map out activities, which occur about once a month throughout the year. Activities for middle school and high school youth occur separately, which means double the planning and time commitment. In addition, both the middle school and the high school youth embark on separate summer mission trips. Lauri used to take care of all the nitty-gritty organizational details for both monthly programming and mission trips, including logistics, venues, fliers and publicity; this past year, all of those details have fallen to Laura and Tanya.

Many Very Successful Activities 

Under their leadership, the EYG youth participated in service projects for the food pantry, retreats, scavenger hunts, and fundraisers like the poinsettia sale and the Palm Sunday breakfast. Laura and Tanya instituted a very successful new activity this year called “Santa’s Night Out” where the youth provided child care and activities for children at church so parents could go out and get those last-minute errands completed. The youth also had overnight retreats and services at the Beaver Mountain yurt and participated in a Youth Spring Fling with other churches in Salt Lake City. This is just a sampling of the types of activities.

Laura Sawyer and Tanya Rice have served as the Youth Group Coordinators for our congregation and the Ecumenical Youth Group since last summer. First Pres owes them a huge debt of gratitude. When we were scrambling to find leadership for the youth programming upon Lauri Muller’s resignation to pursue other opportunities, Laura and Tanya stepped up. Because they so graciously volunteered to undertake this huge job, we were able to take a year to search for an Associate Pastor whose primary responsibilities would be for children and youth programming at First Pres.

They even serve on the Pastor Nominating Committee tasked with finding their replacement. More than anyone else, they are keenly aware of the great need for an Associate Pastor who can provide not only programming but also spiritual guidance for our children and youth occurring all year long. Of course, each of these activities takes tremendous effort from the leadership team. Attendance at EYG events has remained high this year: around 10-15 kids for each high school activity and around 15-20 kids for each middle school activity.

Summer Mission Trips 

The year’s youth activities culminate in separate mission trips for middle and high school youth. These trips are always a highlight of the year for youth and leaders alike. The high school youth choose from several locations in the West with a group called Youth Works who organizes service activities. The upcoming trip for the high school youth will be in Vancouver, BC, at the end of June and will include working with the local Salvation Army food/homeless shelter and with a Kids Club for deprived children in the inner-city. The middle school youth will complete service projects in Boise, Idaho, at the end of July and then go to Luther Heights Bible Camp for the remainder of their trip. Of course, planning and executing these trips is a big logistical challenge for the youth leaders and takes all year to pull together.

Up Close and Personal with Sawyers and Rices 

If you have already had the pleasure of getting to know Laura and Tanya, you know how dynamic, bubbly, and enthusiastic they are about our church and about our youth. They are both parents of young people and they have experienced first-hand the many challenges faced by kids growing up as a minority in an LDS-dominated culture. They understand intimately how important it is for our church community to get behind all efforts to help our children and youth grow spiritually and to nurture them along this challenging path.

Laura has been a first-grade teacher at Woodruff school for the past 22 years. She and her husband Jay were married at First Pres after coming to Logan from Delaware to go to college. They both have been longtime alpine ski coaches at Snowbasin and enjoy sporting activities of all kinds. Their daughter, Katelyn, is a freshman at Oregon State U this year, majoring in Social Work and Psychology. The summer mission trips had a huge career path of service and social work. Their son, Jake, is a freshman at Logan High who enjoys baseball and football as well as skiing. In addition to working with youth, Laura has planned and executed the Vacation Bible School at First Pres every year for the past twelve years! It has become a summer feature, eagerly anticipated by parents and children alike, drawing up to 80 children each summer.

Tanya and her husband John moved to Logan from Blacksburg, VA, four years ago so John could begin a teaching job in the Civil and Environmental Engineering department at USU. Tanya taught for a time at Edith Bowen and currently is a student of Interior Design at USU. Her design skills were put to use when she helped Patty Johnson design the upgrades in our Sunday School wing. The Rice children include Logan (l0th grade), Meg (8th grade), and Leah (6th grade). The Rice family also enjoys sports such as mountain biking, tennis, football, soccer, volleyball, and lacrosse. Tanya and John grew up in northern California.

Article by Christine Hult

Our Vacation Bible School will be June 4-8, from 9 a.m. till noon, directed by Laura Sawyer.

During the month of May there will be a sign up for various kinds of help, including a person to lead the games station.

Theme for the week is “Sky-Everything is possible with God!”
Middle Schoolers and High Schoolers – interested in being a Crew Leader? Contact the church office (435-752-0871) you are interested in helping!

High School Mission Trip

As Laura Sawyer describes the High School Mission project, “The trip will be June 24-29 to Vancouver, British Columbia. There, the youth will be building a relationship with Christ and others as they participate in painting and rehabilitation projects, facilitating Kid’s Club and meeting other community needs … under the direction of Youthworks, a national service group.” Those signed up from FPC are: Eric Heins, Jake Sawyer, Dean Stein, Jakob Johnson, and Terry Larson. (For more information about the Youth works organization, see www.youthworks.com.)

Middle School Mission Trip 

Attention, Middle School Youth!!!! The date has been confirmed for the Middle School trip-beginning July 29 with service work in Boise, Idaho, then attending the Luther Heights Bible Camp until August 3. Information and forms have been emailed to all youth. To sign up, please fill out the commitment forms and return them as soon as possible! If you have any questions, contact Laura Sawyer or Tanya Rice.

Our church’s tum to prepare food and set up Bruner Hall for the “Loaves and Fishes” community meal will be Saturday, May 19.

Volunteers are needed to help in any of these tasks: set up tables and chairs, prepare and cook the meal, be greeters, serve the food, wash dishes, and clean up afterwards. (Hours for volunteering range between 9:30a.m. and 2:30p.m.)

To help, sign up soon on the Mission Committee bulletin board (in main floor hallway next to kitchen door) or contact Debbie Gowen (debragowen@gmail.com).

This year we are focusing in two major areas: women’s health programs and sustainable agriculture. In addition we will continue our tradition of providing recreational facilities/equipment and our commitment to continue an educational scholarship for a worthy student. See the display at the Mission Committee bulletin board. Following is a list of projects needing support:

1. Women’s sanitary pad project. Treadle sewing machines ($100 each) to make their own pads in remote areas.

2. Irrigation system for vegetable farming during the dry seasons to support orphans and elderly. $3,500 for the irrigation system, $50 buys a sprinkler head and fittings.

3. Construction of a classroom/community center at a remote school. $1,000 for cement and other materials. $15 buys one sack of cement.

4. Construction of swings, teeter-totters, and other recreational equipment at schools. Also donations of jump ropes, soccer balls, Frisbees, etc. $15 buys a swing seat and chain.

5. Textbooks for our FPC-sponsored college student at Kyambogo University studying economics. $25 towards a textbook

Sewing project for Uganda continues on Wednesdays 

We will meet to sew on the sanitary pads EVERY WEDNESDAY through the end of May. We are making good progress and having a good time to boot! So bring your sewing machine and join us at the Swenson House between 1 and 5 any Wednesdays that work for you! For more info call the church office at 435-752-0871.

Shop for panties on sale 

Non-sewers: if you can’t help sew the makeshift panties, donate gently used ones or buy some on sale. Size: “Girls,” 10-14 or “Women’s” small. “Clearance” sales often have markdowns to $1.

BIBLE STUDY FOR ADULTS will continue to meet during the summer on Tuesdays: 7 a.m. at Einstein’s Bagels shop and 7 p.m. at Swenson House. Both groups will focus discussion on specific scriptures to be used as the basis for sermon topics on Sundays a few days after the meetings.

CHILDREN, YOUTH: Pre-K through high school age classes will continue with their regular Sunday schedule, 9:50- 10:45 a.m., in downstairs rooms. All Sunday School classes will be suspended for the summer months.

The Westminster Bell Choirs will present a concert in the Tabernacle Saturday, May 5, at 7 p.m. Come hear everything from jazzy quartet numbers to “Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee” rung by two dozen handbell and chime musicians.

The groups will then ring at First Presbyterian’s 11 a.m. service Sunday, May 6. These performances will close the choirs’ 2011-2012 season, which included more than 20 concerts, flash mobs, and other events.

Special thanks to designers Carole and Clay and Pam Coleman, plus Property Committee, all members and Scouts who labored many hours to construct the pergola, install pathways, benches, flower boxes, fencing and greenery!

Donors of trees, bushes, fencing, benches, pergola vines, and flowers were: Bob and Jan Appuhn, Bob and Doris Bartsch, Brenda Brunello, Dick and Linda Burns, J .R and Bess Dennison, Evelyn Falk, Kent and Carol Gibbs, Tim and Jacquelynn Henney, Jim Jarvis, Dick and Jeanne Jensen, Paul and Patty Johnson, Donna Larson, Bob and Lu Oaks, Sally Russell, Jean Schmidt, Cathy Short, Bob and Betty Taylor, Marilyn and Coburn Williams, and contributors to Martha Jarvis’ Memorial Fund.

• Working towards certification as an Earth Care Congregation by our denomination. We want to grow in our own life as faithful disciples.
• Working with Utah Interfaith Power& Light, Utah Bioneers, Presbyterians for Earth Care and others in the valley to educate and advocate for sustainable lifestyles in our valley. We want to build bridges and make a difference.

RESERVATIONS NEEDED
Lunch will be provided. Bring your questions, your ideas, or just come and listen. To help us know how much food to prepare, please let us know if you’re coming!

Please contact Pam at the office or pamr@firstpreslogan.org or you can use the slip from the bulletin insert in the offering plate on Sunday.

I heard Rob Davies say this during the opening of last fall’s Bioneers Conference. During this presentation, spoken word was offered, accompanied by the Fry Street Quartet providing original music composed just for the occasion, under a big screen that displayed powerful images of both creation’s beauty and creation’s crisis. This presentation was intended to usher the audience into an experience that not only informs the mind, but moves the soul. It worked … and we need more.

The scientific community has spoken, and continues to confirm what we have long known: the creation is wounded. We know that it will require common action to heal. We know that changes in lifestyle and outlook are needed to build a sustainable future. We know these things. But knowing isn’t believing. Belief draws upon knowing, but is more than intellectual assent; it involves the soul. It involves tapping the deep waters of human identity and relationship to shape life that is in harmony with creation rather than at odds with it.

Over the past year, I have become more and more convinced that as we celebrate creation’s beauty and wrestle with its crisis, there is a need for proclamation that not only informs the mind, but moves our individual and corporate soul. I believe that we need the spoken word. We need original music composed just for this occasion. We need powerful images splashed across screens small and large. We need the kind of proclamation that draws upon science and spirituality, conversation and invitation, grace and justice, deep reflection and meaningful action. The focus of this needed proclamation is to call those who are unaware, educate those who are uninformed, empower those who are ready to work, nudge those who are reluctant, and strengthen those who are losing hope. I believe that we can do that. It leads to believing … living what we know.

When the church is at its best, it empowers individuals and communities to live faithfully in ways that bring peace, healing, and justice. When the church is at its best, it brings life like Jesus did. We at FPC are flawed and sinners like everyone else, but through God’s grace we want to be the church at its best. That’s why over the coming year we are going to work on growing in environmental ministry.

What’s environmental ministry? It’s ministry, rooted in a strong biblical foundation, that seeks to nurture a healthy and sustainable relationship with the creation that God has placed in our care. It’s ministry that seeks to bring healing to the wounds that we inflict upon the world. It’s ministry that seeks justice and wholeness not only for people, but for all of life.

The Session (the governing body of our congregation) has committed our congregation to this ministry. We believe it’s a natural calling for our church. We hope and encourage you to be involved. There will be opportunities small and larger to both learn and share, to be changed and to bring change. Take note of the lunch on May 6. Speak to me or a session member about what we are doing. And together we will make a difference, bringing belief based on what we know. –Peace, Paul