If all goes well, Fountain of Youth teens will be headed to Camp Berea for “Deep Freeze” the weekend of March 23-25, 2012!! The speaker that weekend is Brian Pruitt, a football player who had a career-ending injury in 1995 just before the NFL draft.

Any teen who has been a regular member of Fountain of Youth, or who has attended Fountain of Youth for 4 weeks prior to the deadline for registrations, is welcome to attend. Teens who attend LHCC but do not attend FoY may be able to go as well, depending on several factors; please contact Michelle (contact info at bottom of this post) for more information.

We need a $50 deposit by Wednesday, January 18th, from each teen who plans on going. The total cost will be $135, with the balance ($85) due on Wednesday, February 22nd. Camp Berea has paintball, which is an additional cost of $10 per hour. If you want to play paintball, you’ll bring your extra money with you to Deep Freeze and pay there.

Camp Berea is selling out like crazy (guess they’re really popular!), and that’s the only weekend left, but it’s the weekend we were hoping for.

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IF we aren’t able to get into that weekend at Berea, we’ll shoot for the same weekend at Monadnock Bible Conference Center, to see Greg Dyson, executive director of The Lion’s Den. The cost for Monadnock (“Encounter 2012) is $128.

Monadnock has revised the medical form they were going to start using. It can be completely filled out by a parent now; you can see it here: Encounter 2011-2012 Medical Form

Any questions or concerns? Please contact Michelle by email or call/text her at 401-573-7532.

NOTE: Teens must be regular attendees of FoY to attend this activity — for at least 4 weeks before Sept 7th — because of the need for leaders to know the teens traveling with us, teens to know and respect leaders, and because of space limitations.

FAMILIES ARE WELCOME TO ATTEND IF THEY PROVIDE THEIR OWN TRANSPORTATION. Teens who are not regular attendees of FoY may come with their families, but hang out with other groups if their parents are in agreement. :)

CHAPERONES: We definitely have three adults going, Pastor Peter, Michelle Quillin, and Ryan Blanchette, and maybe a 4th in our new young adult leader, Brianna Quinn.

After consideration, I’ve decided that all FoY teens attending without families must be in an adult-supervised group, because those teens will be eating together in the parking lot (see “COST” below) & we need to make sure everyone is together in groups that can access the van. Teens may switch groups at meal times, or if groups meet up inside the park.

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BANDS:

Doors open at 10:30 am, First stage 11:30 am, Second stage 3:30 pm, and the Music ends at 8:00 pm.

Ride all the rides at Six Flags and see the bands you want to see (Both local and national acts).

Here’s the Fall Quest 2011 Line-Up so far:

Peter Furler (former front man of The Newsboys)
The Afters
Stellar Kart
Special guest host John Reuben
Me Without You
Write This Down
Dominic Balli
House of Heroes

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COST:

1) Tickets are $26 each if we have at least 15 in our group, $30 each for 10 or more.
2) Meals are expensive at Six Flags, around $15 for a burger, fries, and soda. A large pizza is $30. To save money, all teens are asked to bring a sack lunch & dinner that can be kept cool in coolers we’ll leave in the van; leaders of each group can take their group out to the parking lot to eat together at mealtimes. I’ll purchase a couple of cases of bottled water for mealtime beverages.
3) Souvenir drink cups are $30 for three, with free refills all day, if you want them. Bottles of water inside the park run about $4 from what I’ve heard, and there are water fountains somewhere. No drinks or foods are allowed to be brought in from outside.

See Six Flags New England’s website for more information, lists of restaurants, games, snack bars, rides, etc.

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DEADLINES FOR REGISTRATION, PERMISSION SLIPS, and MONIES

On Wednesday, Sept 7th, a raffle will be held at FoY for the top 3 scorers on the weekly New Testament Quizzes. The winner’s ticket to Six Flags will be paid for!

REGISTRATION DEADLINE: All teens traveling with FoY must register by the end of FoY on Wednesday, Sept 7th, so we know how much group tickets will be and whether we’ll need additional transportation. Permission slips will go home that night.

MONIES & PERMISSION SLIPS DEADLINE: ALL MONIES and permission slips are due to Michelle Quillin on Wednesday, Sept 14th, with no exceptions. Please get your monies to Michelle as soon as possible before that date; make checks out to Living Hope Christian Church. Checks may be mailed to Michelle [see Facebook Group for address] if you won’t see her at church or FoY.

Tickets and any souvenir cups will be purchased online on Thursday, Sept 15th, and there can be no refunds after purchase.

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PERMISSION SLIPS WILL BE AVAILABLE AT FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH, and on the FoY Facebook Group in the Docs section soon. I’ll alert everyone when they’re up! :)

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I think I’ve got everything covered! Any questions, concerns, or advice? Ask them here, email Michelle or call her at 401-573-7532.

Permission slips are required because of the movie’s themes; you can print them out from the Docs section on the Fountain of Youth Facebook group. Parents can also sign the permission slips when they bring their teens.

Teens, please invite your friends, & have them bring permission slips with them (their parents can just write a note giving permission).

Parents are welcome to stay for the evening and see the movie, too!

Any questions or concerns? Please contact Michelle by email or call her at 401-573-7532.

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Note from Michelle Quillin:

I watched the movie myself, and while the movie doesn’t glorify the lifestyles of today’s teens, it certainly is authentic and I suggest parental guidance and discussion. There are Christian teens in the movie, plus a youth pastor and youth group (a typical youth group, with teens who are there just to hang out, and teens who really want to grow in their faith). The main character is a guy who is torn between the two worlds and two groups of friends, so your teens will see those two worlds in this movie. The lifestyles depicted aren’t exaggerated, nor are they downplayed.

I want to recommend two websites to you to get info on this movie and others. The first is Christian Answers, where you’ll get a main review written from a Christian perspective, plus a slew of comments from other Christians and moviegoers, divided into “Positive,” “Neutral,” and “Negative.” Here are the reviews for “To Save a Life” –

Spotlight on Entertainment’s review of “To Save a Life”

The second website is a great one for getting all the the details about every single incident of violence, sex, and profanity in any movie. If you check out some of your favorite “tame” movies, you’ll see that the writers of these reviews pick up on things you may even have overlooked or not noticed. With that said, reading the details might also make a movie sound much worse than it is when the scenes are in context. Here’s the review for “To Save a Life” –

Kids in Mind’s review of “To Save a Life”

Fountain of Youth Recap: March 9, 2011
by Ryan Blanchette

Wow what a night!  First off let me give a warm welcome to our returning youth Nicole who has been absent due to the unfortunate turmoil of an overload of homework.  Glad to see you back.  We are also very grateful to have with us this week Becca Banner, an old friend of Michelle and Christa’s from Quidnessett Baptist Church.  They met at the rollerskating night a few weeks ago and she decided to grace us with her presence this week at Fountain of Youth…and what a night to come!

Minute-to-Win-It was awesome this week! Christa came up with an optional game for the teens, peeling and eating a whole boiling onion!  The first person to eat the whole thing and stick their tongue out for us to see it was gone would be the winner, but it was more of a challenge than that.  As the teens started eating their onions (participants were, Abby, Emily, Becca, C.J., Chelsea, Tyler, and Aidan) most of them started to nearly gag at the taste of it, nevermind their eyes watering and their sinuses clearing up! By 1 minute in the only contestants left were C.J., Chelsea, Tyler, and Aidan.  Just when we thought Chelsea was going to hold her own against the boys, she had to back out.  As the challenge progressed, it looked like Aidan had it won for the night, but out of nowhere C.J. chowed down his onion, taking small quick bites, and pulled away with the victory just seconds before Aidan finished his!

So in rightful order of those who actually ate their entire onion, First – C.J., Second - Aidan, Third – Tyler.  Riveting!

After that was the greatly-anticipated Scripture Challenge.  Any of the kids who wanted to participate against Michelle and myself memorized a pre-arranged list of Scriptures.  Of the teens who wanted in, we had Abby, Aidan, and Becca.  Each person had to read their chosen verse (picked by Christa from a basket) word for word from their own translation.  To go first….Me (Ryan)…of course.  But with flying colors I zipped through John 10:27-30, not without an inital hesitation, though.  Following me was Abby who had to recite John 3:3.  She completed the task, but not without missing a word or two, scoring for her team only 1 point, bringing the challenge to a total of 2-1 at the end of the first round. 

Next up was Michelle, who slowly but surely made her way through John 3:36, but again, mixing up a few words and scoring only 1 point for the Leaders team.  After Michelle, for the FoY team was Aidan who breezed through John 13:35 with ease, tying the score up at 3-3. 

To begin the third round I was left with either John 1:1-3 or John 3:16-17.  Now, we all hope for John 3:16-17, one of the most known scriptures in the Bible.  So, continuing on with the challenge, Christa leans over and with a wide smile on her face declares that I do in fact get to recite…the other one, John 1:1-3!!  However, having been memorizing it for some weeks now and also hearing it from the teens reciting it to win points and candy week after week, I was not frightened or discouraged and spoke out that verse like a champ!  Not really, I had to stop and think about it and nearly messed up but made my way through…word for word…to put the Leaders up by 2, leaving Becca now with having to recite John 3:16-17, which she did victoriously!  

You know what that all means now…OVERTIME!

Having just recited their verses, the teens got the chance to sit back and watch Michelle squirm for the Leaders as she had to recite one of the bonus questions, Romans 3:10-11.  A bit slow coming out of the gate, Michelle eventually worked her way through and triumphantly accomplished the task at hand, giving the Leaders 1 point to take the lead 6-5!  After a brief pause for judging due to some of the girls reading over the Romans scripture between rounds, Abby was chosen to be the one to recite out Romans 3:22-24.  Not even a line was recited as Abby had to withdraw and forfeit her turn, giving the Teens 0 points to finish out the night, leaving the Leaders the champions of the challenge!  That’s no excuse for me though, having also failed at my Bonus Verse, Romans 1:16, and not able to capitalize on the crushing blow of outscoring the FoY team.

With most of the night gone then, we didn’t get to spend much time on our topic discussion of learning to love one another through our actions and our speech, regardless of who it is we are dealing with. 

Note from Michelle: As we recited Scriptures, we stopped to expound on those that dealt with the way we treat one another. At the end of the challenge, we talked about next week’s topic — Responding to others with Grace — and how the way that we treat others reflects directly on Jesus, who we claim to represent when we call ourselves Christians. We asked the teens if the way that they speak to one another on Facebook reflects love for one another, and how those who don’t know Christ are reading their walls. What do they see?

One subtopic that came up earlier in the evening was loving those who feel Christians as a whole have not been very loving to them, in particular people who label themselves homosexual or bisexual. 

Note from Michelle: This is a major issue for our Christian teens who go to public school, as many of their peers now identify themselves as gay, bi-sexual, or confused about their sexuality. How are we as Christians to respond? How would Jesus respond? How did He respond in similar situations, when we read the gospels? These are the questions we’re tackling as we study God’s Word.

Many feel we will condemn them and look down upon them for their sexual orientation, when in reality, as Christians (followers of Christ’s ways; disciple of Jesus) we are to love everyone [Michelle: and condemn no one].  Even if we don’t personally agree with someone’s decisions, that is by no means a reason to not love the person, for they too are a child of God, and to hide away our love for them is a manner of hatred and discrimination. 

Note from Michelle: Next week, March 16th, we’ll be discussing in great detail what God’s Word says about how our words can hurt or heal, how to speak the truth in love, how to respond with grace when we are offended, and examples of “sticky situations” in the Bible where various men and women of God were tested in this area.

With love in Christ,
Ryan Blanchette
c: 401-439-8373
w: 401-596-6658

Fountain of Youth Recap: March 2, 2011
by Ryan Blanchette

We are missing a week due to me not feeling so well last week (February 23rd), but we made up for it with a message from Snow Camp.

We picked up our wonderful time with the teens this Wednesday starting first with time for the leaders to pray as Josiah led the draft results for the Minute-to-Win-It game.  Ashley and Leah came away the champs as Michelle had to offer a tie-breaking question.  The game this week…a puzzle!  Michelle had cut up a breakfast cereal box (Honey Bunches of Oats w/Almonds) and the girls had one minute to try and put it together.  For the first time ever in the history of FoY’s MTWI challenge…we had no winners!  Both girls tried their very best but failed to complete the cereal box puzzle in the time alotted.

Afterwards we broke into our announcement time.  Not many announcements this week.  The big one was who we chose as a group to sponsor from World Vision, and the winner was Eunice from Uganda.  A sweet little girl from a small village who loves to jump rope.  The girls are excited to be able to send her a new jump rope.  The next announcement is a rather obvious one, and it’s about how the weekend went with Snow Camp.  We talked about the power of humility and God’s sovereignty over our lives and the Spirit moving within us at times we feel we aren’t capable of performing the task at hand, or better yet, the Spirit working in people’s lives when others feel that person may not be qualified.  It was a good talk as we spoke of the overwhelming results of grace through Zandra’s hospital visit, Christa’s talk with the young girls, and the group discussion that ended at the most perfect time as Michelle and Zandra were just arriving back…in good health!

The message this week was about that of our actions as Christians and how the world is able to recognize us as different because of them, and where our heart is in those acts. Are we doing it for ourselves to just look good, or are we doing it for the sake of others?  Matthew 25:34-40 was the scripture passage discussed and it was a wonderful message as the teens spoke up about how some people do see the difference in them, or better how they see the difference in the world due to the Spirit dwelling within them.  They recognized the signifance of the King, Jesus, separating us at the end times by sheep and goats, as Aidan so well put that with his experience with goats, they tend to be extremely stubborn and have to be dragged along rather than willing to follow…unlike the sheep who know their Master’s voice and follow willingly.

Next week we have our Bible Verse Challenge as the teens take on me and Michelle, determing whether they get their pizza party or not, and also giving them the chance to score points for their team too!  It’s going to be interesting to see how well these kids know the verses.

Fountain of Youth Recap: Snow Camp, February 25-27, 2011
by Ryan Blanchette

I can’t help but be overjoyed in the thought of how wonderful this weekend went for our teens involved in Fountain of Youth as we embarked on our first every journey to Monadnock Bible Conference in Jaffrey, NH for Encounter 2011 Snow Camp.  This truly was a milestone in the progress of Fountain of Youth as all of the teens who came with us were all rookies to the adventures, freshmans to the experience, and first-timers to the snow camp atmosphere.

Of those among us we had Emily, Becca, Abby, Caylee, Zandra, Elizabeth, Josiah, and CJ.  For our leaders there were Michelle, Christa, myself (Ryan), and a guest appearance by our van driver, Rick Bringhurst, an elder of the church.

The closeness we all developed over the weekend was beyond what possibly could have been anticipated, but to a degree expected.  I got to hang out with CJ and Josiah for a great portion of the trip and got to really see the heart for God these young boys have and it greatly impressed upon my heart the satisfaction of working with these young teens.  Josiah and CJ both thoroughly enjoyed the snow tubing hill as well as the game center where Josiah showed off his Ping-Pong skills and the boys were taught the basic rules of playing some pool on a crooked table.  CJ was able to show up most of the youth group in his riveting play of Lazer Tag as he joined me, Josiah, and Elizabeth in a game versus some of the guys from the weekend’s worship band, KaelumWay.

The girls on the other hand had their play at Ga-ga, a below the knees style dodgeball, where our girls took it home with multiple victories over the other youth groups, sharing the title between Becca, Zandra, and Emily. (Emily came in second against me, so I rightfully crown her victorious for that match against the other teens).  For a good portion of the day Saturday, the girls spent some time indoors at the pool and lounging in their room relaxing from the long and busy day.  They enjoyed their own game of Lazer Tag as Zandra came out as the reigning champ with the high score.  We cannot fail to mention though the unfortunate accident on the tubing hill where Zandra was practically run down by a tuber and during the evening portion of the message being given over the weekend was taken to the hospital to check for a concussion.  The great news though is the miracle God provided in protecting her precious head and she was able to leave the hospital negative for a concussion and felt much better upon her return later that night thanks to the wisdom of the doctors at her service and care.

This weekend however was not all just about the games, but about the rich lessons being taught by Claim Your Campus’s founder Jeff Eckert.  He opened up the weekend with a thrilling story of God’s great work at hand when he told us of how his flight was cancelled to NH Friday and the only flight leaving Grand Rapids was to NJ and would be landing at Noon.  A 6 hour drive from NH, it was an extremely slim chance that Jeff was going to be able to make it up for the weekend.  However, God’s provision allowed for Jeff to make it as a group from NJ was traveling up that day for the weekend and had one seat left in their van to carry Jeff and his bags with them up to NH.  In all of this teaching us that even though obstacles get in our way, when God wants us somewhere, He’s going to make it happen and that was the message for Friday night.  There was no mistake that anyone was there this past weekend, teen or adult.  God had a purpose for us all to be there and He wanted to reach us at some level, no matter what it was, and that we should strive to be in tune with what God was looking to lay on our hearts.

Following that Friday night message, Jeff opened up Saturday morning with another great story that really hit home to many of the teens.  He spoke of a story about 3 young children perishing in a tragic accident of falling through the ice on a backyard lake after their mother had warned them of the thin ice.  Their 5 year old brother who watched it happen, was later reunited with the cop (Jeff’s friend) who was the first on scene that disturbing morning, as Jeff’s friend was leading a discussion group in a prison room years later.  This little 5 year old boy, as an adult years later, was mistakingly brought in for failure to pay child support payments (he never had children!), but through God’s provision this boy– all grown up — spent that time listening to this much older man give a detailed account of what had happened, and what he’d learned about God, that chilling morning so many years before.  Jeff taught the teens about how God warns us to not do things, and it’s not because He doesn’t want us to experience them, but because He knows the devastation that can come from it and He wants something so much better for us.  Life is made up of moments and instant circumstances that change our lives.  The choices we make though is what will determine whether it will be a good or bad outcome.  As long as we are living for Christ, and following His word and doing God’s will in our lives, we won’t ever be steered wrong.  Now sometimes bad things do happen, but in it all God makes blessings out of those situations.  Just as God brought that little boy back to Him through the story by the cop on that day years after the tragedy.

That evening was the most powerful of the weekend as Jeff spoke of his experience skydiving.  He told the story of how as he was sitting on the edge of the doorway holding the crossbar waiting to jump, he became comfortable in just holding that bar and only looking out rather than taking the jump.  That’s how many of us live our lives.  We are just holding that bar and being a fan of Jesus, becoming comfortable in where we are but not actually taking that leap of faith, not taking that step out of the door, and actually following Christ.  That was the message of the evening and ultimately the weekend.  He asked the teens whether they were ready to follow Jesus, to live their lives for Him rather than just being a fan. Were they ready to recommit, or for the first time ever ready to commit, themselves to following Jesus?  I tell you, I expected some kids to get up and walk through the doors to the sides (girls to the right, boys to the left) but half of the room was eventually empty as the teens made their ways down the stairs to talk with their youth leaders or camp counselors.  5 of our young teens got up and went to go speak with a leader.

Following the Gathering and the talk by Jeff, each youth group split up and went to their designated area to discuss more intimately, and as a group, what they were experiencing for the weekend.  We had a wonderful discussion with our teens as we talked about living as a Christian and understanding that when we feel the guilt of doing something wrong, it’s because we are convicted by the Holy Spirit.  We taught them that following Christ is an act that isn’t going to just happen.  That you won’t just one day become a good Christian, but that it takes practice and it takes time to grow and develop into that mature Christian through daily readings of the Bible, daily devotions, and through constant prayer.  To understand that our desires of our heart will grow stronger over time as we keep into practice what will keep us on track with Christ was a powerful moment of discussion with the kids.  Many of them admitted that over the weekend through their interaction with other Christian teens and through the messages received by Jeff, they felt a calling to come closer to God and wanting to be closer with Christ, developing their faith.

This weekend was one that will never be forgotten and will be a great reminder of where we came from as we work with these teens and are able to look back down the road and see where we had come from with 8 young hearts for Christ.  With the presence of the Holy Spirit working through us leaders, we’ll hopefully eventually be able to lift up all these teens involved right now and will be able to claim them as the firm foundation for what Fountain of Youth becomes over the years as they are the building blocks for developing a program for those to come behind them.

With love in Christ,
Ryan Blanchette
c: 401-439-8373
w: 401-596-6658

Fountain of Youth Recap: January 19, 2011
by Ryan Blanchette

Note from Michelle: Announcements were made about the 30 Hour Famine. Teens were each sent home with a 3-page packet of info, including a link to our Team Page on World Vision, an updated schedule of events and activities the weekend of the 30 Hour Famine, a flyer for the concert on Saturday, January 29th, and information I need about each teen taking part that weekend. If you didn’t receive one, please let me know by email, or see me on Sunday.

Last night was a great night. We introduced quite a few new things to the teens this week and I know I’m excited, as well as Michelle and Christa, to see the encouraged growth and dedication by these teens.

First we began our weekly prayer box. At the end of the night each willing teen writes down a prayer that they have, one that they feel comfortable with sharing, and once all the prayers have been placed in the box each teen then pulls from the box and will pray for that person’s request throughout the week. If there is a prayer they feel they don’t want to share with the other teens but want the leaders to pray for, they can submit their request but on the back of the card write either of the leader’s names, or simply just write “leaders” and we will all pray for those requests during the week.

Second, we began our team challenge last night by picking our teams. For those in attendance, we drew names at random, going back and forth placing them on either my team (Ryan) or on Christa’s team. So far the breakdown is listed as this: Ryan’s Team – Emily, Josiah, CJ, Tyler, Taylor, & Matty. Christa’s Team – Abby, Zandra, Chelsea, Aiden, Becca. (Note from Michelle: Teens who weren’t at FoY when the names were drawn will be assigned to a team when they’re there!) The points system will be 1 point for each of these: being present at FoY, bringing your Bible, bringing a friend, reciting the weekly Bible verse. Then, 5 points will be awarded to the team that wins the quiz at the end of the night. The quiz material will be on the previous week’s lesson, plus random questions about things that happened at FoY the previous week.

For next week, the Bible verse to learn is John 10:27-30. So get reading!!

Note from Michelle: Once a team reaches 350 points, that team’s members will win a prize of some sort, and the teams will be dismantled and new teams drawn. The purpose of this exercise is to build relationships and unity between the teens at FoY, encourage them to reach out to friends outside the group, memorize Scripture, and be encouraged by the young adult leaders!

Third, we also began establishing a more comfortable space for the teens. We broke down the tables and allowed the teens to sit anywhere they wanted and even on the floor if they felt comfortable. Matty took advantage of the option and sat on the floor…he was really rather comfortable showing up in his pajama pants too!

This week’s lesson was on David’s history, and why he was called a “man after God’s own heart.” (Note from Michelle: God calls David a “man after His own heart” in 1 Samuel 13:14 and Acts 13:22) After a brief run through of David’s life from childhood, to God’s choosing him to replace King Saul, his slaying of the Philistine giant Goliath, his escape from Saul, his becoming King of Israel, his sins surrounding Bathsheba, and his seeking of repentance from the Lord, we moved foward into a few of the Psalms. Many, but not all, were written by David during various points in his life. We see that David is not perfect, but he recognizes when he has sinned against the Lord and rightfully turns his face back to him, humbling himself and seeking forgiveness. We all see that he knows he is not worthy as a sinner to be forgiven and granted the gracious mercy of God, but understands the mighty love that God has for him, just as He has for all of us. This is why David was considered a “man after God’s own heart.”

Note from Michelle: For a wonderful study of David, check out this website: Life of David

To close out the night, the leaders each shared a favorite Psalm or a passage from our favorite Psalm. I read through Psalm 118, specifying one of my favorite verses being Psalm 118:24: “This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” Michelle then shared portions from Psalm 139, including Psalm 139:13-16, which speaks of how God knew us before we were even born. One of Christa’s favorites that she read was Psalm 8, declaring how beautiful God has made all things, and specifically Psalm 8:5-8, which states that He has placed man just beneath the angels, and as stewards of all the animals and plants around us.

We will continue on next week with Psalms, diving more into some of our favorites. Each teen was asked to search through and share next week one of their favorites.

Those missed this week: Caylee (who did show a brief appearance!), Nicole (school work – poor thing), Ashley (swim meet), Zandra (who left early because she was not feeling good…we’re praying you feel better!), and Leah. Hope to see all of you next week!

Fountain of Youth Recap: December 22, 2010 & January 5, 2011
by Ryan Blanchette

So we’ve skipped a couple weeks of recaps and I apologize for that.

Over these weeks we’ve had many things happening. Christmas and New Years has passed and new changes are being implemented into Fountain of Youth as well.

The Wednesday before Christmas we celebrated with a Yankee Swap of “slightly used” gifts from our households that turned out to be a riot as Emily opened up the second gift and received a magazine with a picture of Matty inside! The steal of the night, in my opinion, had to have been Taylor coming away with a blue snuggie. There were a few other hot items, and plenty of goofy items but it allowed us all to have some good fun.

Prior to the Swap we had split the kids up into 5 separate groups of 3 apiece and they each participated in a relay game. Each team was given a ball ornament and had to blow it approximately ten feet to where the other teammate was standing. Our guest of the night, Allie Brown, came away with the victory as her team of Ashley and Taylor dominated the event by pulling away nearly a full relay ahead of the others!

After the Swap we had another competition. This time it was a team competition, with Christa and myself as team captains. The competition was extremely close as we went head-to-head answering questions about the traditions and history of Christmas. Bringing it down to the brutal end in our typical FoY fashion, Christa’s team fell short by one point to give my (Ryan) team the victory. Each person who won that night in any of the competitions was able to pick from a bag of Christian pop, rock, and hip hop CD’s that Michelle had brought as prizes. It turned out to be a great night for everyone.

Following that we had the week off due to the holidays, but we were all reunited this past week to bring in the New Year. To start it off, we issued a few statements of change to the youth:

1) We will from now on have a prayer box, so that the kids can put a prayer request in the box. The youth will draw prayer requests from the box and pray for that request during the week.

2) Also, each week there will be a team competition. Christa and I will each have certain youths on our “team” and we will earn points each week: 1 point for each youth that is present, 1 point for each youth who brings a friend, 1 point for each youth who brings their Bible. Then at the end of the night there will be questions based on what was taught the week before, and the winning team of that will earn 5 points for the week. Going to be a crazy year with all these prizes and points! Speaking of which, now our Minute to Win It Winners will be given the opportunity to put their win towards a gift certificate of their choice (1 win equals $1), or they can have their “instant gratification” of choosing a box of candy from the prize bag that night.

The lesson that was taught this past week was about the Wisdom Books: Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, and Job. To learn more about the value of the books, we first took a look at Wisdom from the scripture standpoint: “Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” From there, Michelle proceeded to go around the table asking each youth a trivia question from the Wisdom books. At the end of the night it came down to a 3 way tie between CJ (SeaJay), Josiah, and Nicole who each answered three questions correctly. Between the three though, it was Nicole who pulled away with the victory.

We’ll be learning more about the Wisdom books next week as we dive a bit into Psalms. Certainly some of my most favorite books we’re discussing right now and I so look forward to sharing the wealth of knowledge contained within that text with the youths.

We certainly do hope to see everyone back next week and are most certainly grateful for the presence of those who returned. It was truly an honor to see Chelsea back with us after her absence for some weeks and we dearly missed Caylee, Leah, Aidan, and Tyler. With all the illnesses going around we want to pray for God’s healing upon those youths who weren’t feeling good this past week: Leah, Becca, and Zandra and also for those the youths know that weren’t feeling too good.

Remember, try and get those donations in for 30 Hour Famine. It’s for such a great cause and there’s no better feeling than to know that you’re doing something sacrificially for the sake of someone else.

Fountain of Youth Recap: December 15, 2010
by Ryan Blanchette

R-E-S-P-E-C-T! We found out what it means to me…and the other leaders, Michelle and Christa.

We opened the night up last night asking the teens what they thought of respect, and how best to give it. We had some good answers: not talking when another is, raise your hand silently when you have a comment or question, paying attention and not goofing off (being a class clown). Respect is a way of showing a person you love them as well, and we touched upon that issue…loving others.

Before starting a very heavy conversation and life lesson with the kids, we interupted with a light and fun activity for the kids. Our Minute-to-Win-It! This week it was Abby and Becca. More balloons. The task was to unbutton and remove a coat (they wore Michelle’s) but at the same time keep a ballooon in the air. These kids are quick I tell you! Abby was able to accomplish this with astonishing speed completing it in 15 seconds! Right after her though was Becca ready for the challenge. After fighting with the first two buttons the third became a hassle for her and she knocked the balloon high in the air and ripped (literally… a button came off) the coat over her head to finish the game in…..awww, 17 seconds! So close! (Fitting for Abby though with her Birthday coming up on Friday).

Well after another fun game for the kids we moved onto our lesson. Loving (all) others.

For most of the night this is what we spoke of. Helping teach the teens that they aren’t alone in dealing with difficult trials and that adults face the very same challenges at work and in public and with their friends as well. Reading through John 3:16-21, Michelle led the teens in a wonderful way expressing to them just what those verses really mean. We know that God loved/loves the World (Everybody!) so much that He gave us His Son so that we may have eternal life. We know that. But do we understand it? Later in the verses Jesus speaks about how man will be condemned for not believing in the name Jesus, for he is the light and we must walk in the light to be saved.

Note from Michelle: My focus this evening was to encourage Christian teens and let them know that even Christian adults struggle with being “salt and light” in the world; that we all want to fit in and be accepted, and must daily choose to represent Christ in our families, in our peer groups, and in our places of employment or school. The reading of John 3:16-21 was to show the teens that there’s more to God’s love for the world — that those who do not believe in Jesus are condemned already. We often want to ignore that part out of fear of what people will think, but in doing so, we can easily misrepresent God. We need to share the gospel, that through Jesus, God has offered us reconciliation with Him. It’s Jesus or nothing.

Luke 17:1-3 reads : “Jesus said to his disciples: ‘Things that cause people to sin are bound to come, but woe to that person through whom they come. It would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around his neck than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin. So watch yourselves.’” What I explained to the kids here with this scripture, is that we can’t ignore the fact that there is sin in the world, but we’re better off dying than to become someone who will lead astray one of God’s children. We are all God’s children, and so when we sin in a way that causes others to stumble and sin too, we are not only committing an act against God for ourselves, but we’re also doing it for someone else too. Loving others is something we are called to do, for if we are to live our lives resembling that of Christ, then we must remember that Christ loved everyone too. In fact, he loved everyone so much he hung out with the people no one wanted to hang out with…the sinners.

Note from Michelle: We wanted to express to the teens that because we all want to fit in, sometimes we’ll water down the gospel or take part in things that we either know God’s Word says not to take part in, or things that we’re personally convicted about. We all (teens, too) gave examples of what it might look like to live in the world without becoming like the world, yet not being self-righteous, either, and peering down our nose/pointing fingers at those who are sinning or who don’t know Christ. We want to be known for being loving, kind, compassionate, honest, and other character traits that reflect Christ. Those are the things that draw people to us, and then to Him when we’re given opportunity to share our faith — the source of what makes us different.

Michelle shared with us how during her school years people noticed that she would be kind to those who didn’t like her, and how by turning the other cheek and being nice to even those who mistreated her, others saw how mean the bully really was. Our actions are the single most important way for us to show others we are Christians. It’s how we react to people, how we talk to people. It’s how we LOVE people!

I shared with the kids how hard it is being in the National Guard for RI and holding tight to my beliefs at times because of how immoral some of the guys can tend to be. The dirty jokes, the nasty pranks, the gossip and downcasting of other soldiers…it’s all a plague of darkness that can enter into a person’s world if we start to accept it as ‘okay.’ But it’s not okay. We can’t live with one foot in the world and one foot in God’s Kingdom, it’s impossible for God cannot be in the presence of sin and if we are living in sin then we can’t be in the presence of God. This is why God sent His Son to us, so that our punishment would be paid, our ransom made, and we could live our lives giving glory to God because we have been saved through the Cross.

It was certainly a good time with the kids, and I pray that it not only affects them in a positive manner, but that they too can learn to become the light for others to be impacted. Matthew 6:13-16 (a portion from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount): “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men. You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Intead they put it on a stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your goods deeds and praise your Father in Heaven.”

To finish off the night on a much lighter note we had the kids compete against one another in a game. Two groups: Boys vs. Girls! Since we were down in numbers on the girls’ side, Christa joined in to help out. The idea…draw on the person’s back (a piece of paper) what you felt the person behind you draw on yours. Aidan started it out for the boys while Christa started out for the girls. The image…a Christmas tree with a present underneath. Wow…we got some artists in the group, but never should they have a back for their easel! Josiah was interupting himself talking during the game and so wasn’t able to remember what he felt Matty drawing and so came up with a small bird chirping “Kick Me” as the boys’ final picture. It was a tough draw but the girls beat them out having Emily draw on Ashley what was meant to be a present we’re assuming, but turned out to look more a piece of raisin bread haha. It was all in great fun and the girls got the victory for the closest depiction.

We’re going to be having our Christmas party next Wednesday. So we asked the teens to come in with a small present for a Yankee Swap. Something that is just lying around their room that is no longer being used. It can be a hat that’s just sitting somewhere, or a scarf that hasn’t been worn in years. Perhaps a stuffed animal that you can part with? How about a toy you had when you were younger? It’s in the Spirit of giving and so we’d like the kids to be as creative, and polite, as possible in bringing in something to potentially give to someone else (there’s always that chance of getting your gift back).

Note from Michelle: Gag gifts are welcome, too — please see our Christmas Party page for details. Please bring a snack to share as well. Also, we changed the date of the 30 Hour Famine to January 28-29, 2011!

Teens we missed this week: Zandra, Caylee, Nicole, Taylor, Chelsea

Fountain of Youth Recap: December 08, 2010
by Ryan Blanchette

Sorry it’s late everyone, it’s been a busy week right now.

We had a great time on Wednesday with everyone there. We did our kickoff meeting for 30 Hour Famine and I have to tell you…I’m excited! I can’t wait to be a part of this and watch all of you teens getting involved. As part of the kickoff we watched a video and did a trivia contest.

The video was an amazingly touching story of the teens that had won the opportunity to go on the Missions Trip with World Vision to see first hand what the money they raised went towards. Our teens this year will be raising money to send over to Haiti to help with those who are feeling the devastating affects of natural disasters and diseases. For our 30 hour Famine, the teens involved will be given the chance to experience life as it is in Haiti (not too literally though). They’ll be given challenges throughout the 30 hours, working in “tribes” to accomplish their goals but at the same time having to act out a child that they’re representing. Some are not capable of using certain limbs, or are visually and/or hearing impaired as well. It certainly will be a life changing event with Fountain of Youth and I strongly encourage every teen to get involved.

Note from Michelle: Please note, the date for the 30 Hour Famine has been changed to January 28-29, 2011. The teens were sent home with envelopes for collecting pledges and donations to raise money for Haiti. We also let the teens know that they do NOT have to spend the night to take part in the 30 Hour Famine. We’re just staying together to make it easier on everyone since we’re ending late Friday night and starting early Saturday morning. Also, I let the teens know that if any of them has a health problem that precludes them from fasting, to please have their parents let me know. Teens do NOT have to fast to take part in the 30 Hour Famine! If you have any questions, please call me at 401-573-7532!

The trivia contest we had was questions based on world poverty and questions about Haiti, to help prepare the kids for what they’ll be learning during our event. The contest was close as our brilliant teens, splitting the room down the middle for two teams, went back and forth bringing it down to the wire. The final question nearly brought us to a draw, but edging out with one point Ryan’s team was able to go away victors once again through an incorrect answer by the other team. Lots of fun, laughter, and knowledge!

Our Minute-To-Win-It contest this past week was what seemed to be a rather simple task but turned out to be a daunting matter of focus, speed, and agility. (Forgive me, since it’s been nearly a week already I can’t remember exactly who participated) From what I recall, it was Ashley and Caylee who went at it. The task: keep 3 blown up balloons in the air for a minute, or as long as possible. Seems easy right? Not so much…our victor ended up winning with a time of…5 seconds!! Wow!  The leaders challenged one another to see if we could last longer than the teens, with Christa destroying mine and Michelle’s mere single digit times with a smashing 15 second triumph. This task will certainly be done again in the coming year.

A few names we’ve been missing that haven’t shown their wonderful faces in recent weeks: Matty, CJ, Chelsea. Hope to see you all again soon. We’ve missed your company.

“Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.” – John 7:38