SPY Day 2

Today was our first full day here in Christiansburg, and what an awesome day it was! After breakfast and mini clean (different cleaning tasks around the church for each group) we joined Fieldstone UMC for worship. It was a beautiful modern worship service surrounding SPY's theme for the summer, "Let there be..." as we look at God's act of creation and the ways God continues to create in this world! We were reminded that God doesn't just say "ehh that will do" or "yeah, that's alright" when God creates. Instead God says, "It is GOOD!" 

After worship we headed to the Cascades for lunch and our hike to the waterfall.  It was a beautiful day and the youth had a blast swimming in the waterfall. 

We came back to Fieldstone for dinner then had a chance to drive out to our work sites to see the scope of the work we will be doing.  Unfortunately one of our sites required more work than was realized (an entire new roof) that is beyond the scope of our abilities and SPY's budget.  Please pray for this family as they along with Fieldstone UMC and The Christiansburg community figure out next steps to repair their home.  The construction crew is taking a look at a few other sites for us and we should know in the morning where we will be headed. Rich, MacKenzie and Brooke arrived safely this evening, so now we are a complete team of 17! 

We ended the night with an awesome worship service! 

Again, thank you for your prayers. Please keep them coming tomorrow as we begin our work! 

Grace and Peace,

Rev. Lyndsie Blakely

SPY Youth Mission Trip Day 1

14 of our team of 17 have safely arrived in Christiansburg! The remaining three will arrive tomorrow       afternoon as they had a few scheduling conflicts.  Tonight we had orientation, a tour of the church, some games in the basement, and a great worship service. Then there was free time to watch a movie in the sanctuary, play board games or cards or head down to the basement to shoot some hoops before bedtime.

We are excited to worship with the Fieldstone UMC community tomorrow morning then head out for our hike and swim at the Cascades! I appreciate all your prayers and support for our team.  Keep checking back on this blog for daily updates and pictures as we serve in the New River Valley this week!

Grace and Peace,

Rev. Lyndsie Blakely

Spring & Summer Line Up

We have a full schedule of lots of fun activities and mission projects lined up for this Spring and Summer with FUSION Youth Ministries!  Check out the schedule below and let Lyndsie know what you'd like to be involved with!

Sunday Mornings throughout the Spring & Summer: Sunday School

Join us each Sunday morning from 9:45am-10:45am in the youth room for Sunday school.  We will be focusing on various mission activities throughout the summer.

Saturday, May 2: Heart of Virginia Mission Fundraiser

The youth will be selling their handmade necklaces during the Heart of Virginia festival (9am-3:30pm) to raise money for Imagine No Malaria- our conference wide mission project to help eradicate malaria around the world! We need your help!!! Email Lyndsie to sign up for a 30 minute shift to help sell these necklaces during the festival.  Please consider giving a half an hour to help with this amazing mission project!  Check out more information about Imagine No Malaria here: http://imaginenomalaria.org

Sunday, May 3: FUSION Gathering GAME NIGHT

This is our last regular FUSION Gathering meeting before we break for the summer!  Come out from 5:45-7:30pm for pizza, snacks & games.

Sunday, May 10th: Youth Usher

Make your momma proud by helping to usher during the 11am worship service!  Please let me know if you are available to serve in this way.  Don't forget, there is no FUSION Gathering this evening.

Sunday, May 17th: STOP HUNGER NOW Mission Event

Right after the 11am worship service, we will have a potluck lunch and then help pack 10,000 meals for Stop Hunger Now!  You can register to participate here: https://stophungernow.secure.force.com/events/SA_EVENTS__Home?id=70170000000llxAAAQ  We need lots of hands to help pack all 10,000 meals and all ages can participate!  Join us for this wonderful mission event!

Sunday, May 24th: Pentecost Sunday

Come and help us celebrate as our confirmation class joins the church at the 11am worship service.

Friday-Saturday, June 5-6: Youth Lock-in

You've been asking for it, so here it is!!!  Join me from 8pm on Friday to 8:30am on Saturday for our youth lock-in at church!  Food, games, and fun all night long. RSVP by June 2nd so I know how many to plan for.

Sunday, June 7th: Graduate Recognition

We will be honoring all our high school and college graduates during both worship services!  Come and be a part of the celebration of their accomplishments!

Saturday, June 13th: Summer Kickoff Festival

Join us for this family fun and mission event!  We need all the hands we can get to help bag up 42,000 POUNDS of potatoes from the Society of St. Andrew Potato Drop!  We'll have music and other family fun activities going on as we work on this mission project.  Come and help feed the hungry in our community!

Sunday, June 28: Youth Usher & VBS Decorating

The youth are scheduled to usher at the 11am worship service.  Please let me know if you are available to help.  Also, we will be having a quick lunch right after the worship service and then we need lots of help to decorate the whole church for VBS!!  

June 29-July 3: Vacation Bible School

Yes, you are now too old to be a participant. BUT, we need your help volunteering!  Let me know if you are available to help that week from 9am-12pm each day.  You can also register as a volunteer here: http://2015.cokesburyvbs.com/farmvilleumc

Saturday, July 4th: Fourth of July Cookout & Pool Party

Come celebrate the 4th of July at our youth cookout & pool party at the Fillman's House from 6:30-8:30pm! RSVP by June 29th so we can make sure to have enough food available, and plan to bring a side item to share.  The Fillmans live at 41 Fletcher Drive, Farmville, VA 23901

Wednesday, July 15th: OCC Christmas in July

Join us at 7pm in the social hall as Operation Christmas Child kicks off their 2015 mission year.  Help us fold shoe boxes and make craft items to be packed in the boxes for children all over the world…all while eating delicious ice cream and desserts!

Saturday, July 18th: The Adventure Park at Sandy River

Join us for 3 hours of fun in the trees!! Cost is $25.  We will meet at church at 5pm and climb and zip line through the trees from 5:30-8:30pm for their new evening climb session!  Afterwards we will relax by the campfire for some s'mores before heading home.  RSVP by July 10th to reserve your spot!! There are limited spaces available.

July 25-31: Project SPY Youth Mission Trip

Our team of 21 will be headed to Christiansburg, VA to do a week long mission of home repairs in the New River Valley.  If you are not a part of this team, please pray for those of us who are!

Let me know if you have any questions or would like to RSVP for any of the above events.  I hope to see you a lot this spring and summer!

Youth Mission Trip Fundraisers

Our youth are selling these great decorated roof slates from the church and handmade necklaces to raise money for their mission trip to Project SPY this summer!  Help support their efforts today by purchasing a slate for $25 or a necklace for $15!  They make great Easter and Mother's Day gifts!

Fall @ FUSION!

School has gotten underway and that means our Sunday night FUSION Gathering meetings will begin in just a little over a week!!!!  We can't wait to see you all.  Here's what you need to know:

FUSION Gathering (aka youth group) starts back on September 7th!  Each Sunday night we will gather in the fellowship room for snacks from 5:45-6pm, then head down to the youth suite from 6-7:30pm for our fellowship & Bible study.

ON SEPTEMBER 7th: While the youth play games and get to know each other, Lyndsie will meet with the PARENTS in the youth room!  Parents, please come this first night for this meeting.  I will have lots of great information for you including a schedule of items to put on your calendar, an overview of the fall with FUSION Youth Ministries, a couple of forms to complete, and I will spend time answering any questions you might have.

Make sure you check out all of the other tabbed pages on this blog!  They have each been updated with new information and pictures.  See you soon!

Project SPY: Day 6

Well today was our last full day here at Project SPY.  Unfortunately, we made another trip to the urgent care this morning.  Ethan cut his finger on a pocket knife and had to get glued back together.  He is doing just fine, though, and we found plenty for him to do with the use of one hand!  I am so excited to say that we all worked really hard and COMPLETED the wheelchair ramp at Ms. Sumner's house!!!  It was a total celebration when the last picket was screwed onto the hand rail.  We all cheered and stood in awe at the thing we had built together!  Ms. Sumner was so excited to see it and take her first walk all the way down the ramp from her front door.  

We owe so much to Rich Meiser, Jeff Postans and Adam (our SPY construction project lead) for being excellent teachers and leaders in helping us to build this ramp and complete the various other projects at Ms. Sumner's house.  I am so proud of the youth for being willing to learn new things, for encouraging one another, and for working together to serve others in Christian love.  They were truly the hands and feet of Christ this week, sharing God's love and grace with those they encountered.  I am so blessed to be in ministry alongside such amazing youth, and it is so incredibly awesome to be living into my calling each and every day.  People don't always get to say that they get to do what they are truly passionate about every day.  My heart and my calling are for journeying alongside youth as they explore, grow and live out their faith, and it is especially an honor when I get to live that out through things like retreats and mission trips.  I can't wait to keep doing what I love each day!

Check out our last day on the work site:

This evening was a campfire, smores and a talent show!

Tomorrow morning we will have breakfast, clean up, pack up and load up and it's back to Farmville.  A huge thank you to Rich, Jeff and Whitney for joining me in leading this youth mission trip, and thank you to each of you again for your prayers and support for our team.  You have been a part of our mission as well and we truly appreciate it.  

Project SPY: Day 5

The weather was BEAUTIFUL today!  It felt like fall.  After breakfast, devotion and packing up lunch, we headed to the work site.  We made some great progress on the ramp at Ms. Sumner's house today!  Check it out:

A few of the youth even took some time to use some of the scrap wood to make a birdhouse!  Ms. Sumner was so excited and asked them to hang it on a particular tree in the back yard.

Tonight's dinner was the community cookout where all of the groups invite their home owners to come and have dinner with us.  Ms. Sumner was excited about the opportunity but wasn't able to make it.  It was neat to see several others from the community come, though, and fellowship alongside those they are in relationship with this week.  Even the mayor of Christiansburg and his wife came to eat with us and thanked us for all we are doing for the community through Project SPY.  

After dinner we had the opportunity to paint a few canvases as a group.  Our theme this week is "Spark".  How do we take that spark God gives each of us and fan the flame to truly ignite our lives for Christ?  So we were able to think creatively about the theme and put it into art.  Each person got a square to fill with their ideas.  I think we came up with some really neat and beautiful creations!  

Tomorrow is our last work day.  We are hoping to finish the ramp, but we're not sure we will be able to fully complete it.  But we are sure going to try!!!  Hopefully we can at least make it usable, then a team can come in next week to do some of the more cosmetic parts like the pickets for the railings.  Time to get some rest so we have the energy to get lots of work done tomorrow!