SYL Renewed Day 3 2021

 

(Link to yesterday's video- click here) In Young Life, we walk through life with kids- through the highs and lows. In this, we have seen that there are a couple of factors that impact a young person’s faith: first, a relationship with a  caring adult mentor, and second, a group of friends who are pursuing faith together. These relationships with other Christians are exactly why we encourage students to connect to a local church. When students leave Young Life, it is vital for them to be included in another faith community. For the past couple of years, we have been building stronger relationships with leaders in local churches leaders.  This fall, Sitka Young Life is providing a community-wide youth leader training for these local churches. The goal of this group is to equip people to connect with youth in their own churches. So far, we have had some profound helpful discussions and for strategies to reach the current generation.  Currently, we have eight new leaders from four different churches who have teamed up with other Young Life leaders for this training. It has been very exciting and encouraging for all the churches involved. In addition to leader training, Sitka Young Life has been providing a community-wide youth group, where the youth leaders from those 4 local churches bring their students together. The leaders from the churches don’t have to plan the meeting or get supplies, they just show up and connect with the students from their church at the event.  Young Life staff coordinates everything else.  At the end of the night, the students break into groups with leaders and kids from their own church to reflect and share. These gatherings have been fun and encouraging for both kids and adults.  We hope that this collaboration will jump-start youth ministries in churches across town and that those churches can partner together with Young Life to reach the rest of the youth in Sitka. Thank you for partnering with us in this venture. Tomorrow we will be sharing our plans and activities in and surrounding COVID. Click Here to Donate

Sitka Young Life P.O. Box 2046 Sitka, AK 99835

Day 2 SYL Renewed 2021

 

Do you remember your first encounter with Zoom? This is an amazing feat of technology, but it doesn’t take long to figure out that as long as you wear a nice shirt, no one has to know you are still in your pajama bottoms!  As COVID slowly evolved, each community had to figure out how they would move forward with their own safety measures. Likewise, each Young Life area had to figure out which action plans would be most appropriate for their community. In Sitka, we adapted to hosting Young Life club and campaigners on Zoom.  We invited students to bonfires and hikes.  We met with kids for bike rides and McDonald's runs, went on walks, and worked on house projects. In December, we even had a month of drive-in Christmas movies.  We sent thousands of texts and beefed up our presence on social media. We made fun memories with young people as we helped them process what was happening during COVID. Sitka Young Life has a group of amazing leaders who have been the “boots on the ground” during these times.  Currently, seven of our dynamic leaders are employed full-time in one of the two local school districts teaching, mentoring, coaching, and advising. There is even one leader working at the community teen center. Our leaders are engaged and amazing. Together we are a strong team.  Overall, things here in Sitka are progressing and we are meeting again weekly with kids. As of now, due to mitigation plans, we are hosting separate gatherings for students of the two school districts.  On the Sitka side of the bridge, we are having game nights and multi-church Bible studies using the Alpha curriculum.  Since Mt. Edgecumbe kids haven’t been able to leave the school while the COVID risk level is on high, we have been given permission to host Young Life club and Bible study campaigners on campus.  SLY is back on the ground running and it feels good.  Thank you for being a part of the team.  Let us know if you have an interest in being a leader. Tomorrow, we will have a chance to share the exciting ways that SYL has been partnering with local churches to reach teens and encourage them in their faith. Donate Here

Sitka Young Life P.O. Box 2046 Sitka, AK 99835

Where the magic is happening Click the above video to see if you can see anything of Sitka in this video... it is like magic Talk about fun! We had so much fun at Zoom club that we almost stood to our feet.  We plan on doing more Zooming this fall with some pretty special people Camp archive Look at all the fun we would have had at camp Donate Maybe we can try this next club? It is a little less awkward for everyone this way... (May take up to 2 hours per round)

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End of Year

Merry Christmas

I wish you could be there for the 40 high school kids who wake up 90 minutes early every Tuesday and Friday so they can meet for campaigner Bible study.  I wish you could see the sheer bliss as 35 middle school kids create chaos at club and then get to hear about Jesus.  I wish you could just peek in to see kids shed the burdens they carry and get to be a kid, to be loved, and to hear about a God who radically loves them.  It is your prayers and support that make this ministry possible.  It is people like you that make it possible for kids to experience love joy and hope in Christ, through relationships with caring adults. You are impacting the kids and families in Sitka and 100 communities around the state.  If you would like to make a year-end gift,  CLICK HERE. (Please note our website has recently changed and use AK23 to designate to Sitka Young Life.)

Merry Christmas!

Aaron and Chris

Christmas letter 2019

    

During Christmas, we often hear the phrase that “it is more blessed to give than to receive,” but to be honest, it never made sense to me.  As                             

a child, I learned that I really like receiving, yet the giving was always done

under compulsion.  So really what does the word “blessed” mean?  Often it is associated with personal gain, favorable circumstances, or even financial wealth.  In reading the Bible, we get a different idea of what the word means. In the Christmas story we see the King of Kings humbly coming down - submitting and serving, and finally sacrificing for those who rejected him.  It doesn’t make logical sense in many ways, but Jesus tells us that we too will be blessed if we will follow his example.  Sacrificial living does not come naturally, but

this year I have learned something and I can see the Lord continuing to shape my heart.  I have seen example after example of how sacrificial living really does increase faith, and bring joy.  Through it, we can experience deeper love, and we stand more in awe of the God we serve.

            Here are a few examples of how I have seen this in Sitka Young

Life this year.  A new leader coming to life while forming friendships with

kids and getting to share about who God is.  A prayer team member who

felt led to start a youth gathering at his church and then hosted 12 kids for pizza.  A student who donated a month of his summer to scrub toilets at a camp, only to develop deep

friendships.  Financial partners who help send kids to camp. Or people

who volunteer to cook elaborate breakfasts for hungry teenagers every

week and then go out of their way to make sure every kid feels loved and

cared for.  

Here are a few highlights from ministry this year:

•     One of our SYL grads (Dolena Fox) coming back to our banquet as the keynote speaker and sharing about her heart for her home village and how God is using her to reach those just like her back home in Bethel.
•      Leaders investing in kids and new kids coming to YL
•     A student leaving club and saying “this is my happy place”
•     Campaigners with MEHS students has tripled in size
•     Committee members continuing to take an active role in supporting ministry in Sitka
•     An atmosphere at club where kids feel welcome and where even the quietest student I have ever met loves to come and be a part of the group 
•      Serving with a student for a month at a Young Life camp and

seeing God grow him: 

• Having our first leader/ student meeting spoken entirely in the Y’upik language.·         
• Taking 18 high school kids to camp and hearing from campers       how that one week of camp changed their life
• Taking 9 middle school kids to camp and seeing God grow the group together and plant seeds.
•  Taking a commercial fishing boat to transport kids to a cabin for a weekend camping trip of laughter, food, and seeking God.
•  Ministry capacity expanded by having a new volunteer office administrator      
• Growing relationships leaders around churches around community by meeting with them and partnering in events like all Sitka Worship nights and Winter Blast.
•    Winter blast in February where 58 high school kids and 25 middle school kids got to come together and have fun with friends and leaders and have a chance to talk about who Jesus is.
• People giving sacrificially to the ministry to help pay for: camp, buses, food, club, rent, staffing, leader training, kids being disciplined.

Thank you so much for partnering with us this past year in our mission to reach all the kids in Sitka and Mt. Edgecumbe with the message of the Gospel.  This ministry is only possible because of heroes like you who pray, volunteer, and partner financially.  This last month there have been some changes in the Alaska region and Young Life leadership has asked Sitka Young Life to take on a bigger role in reaching rural Alaska.  Our end of year goal is to raise an additional $10,000 to help us to continue to move the ministry forward with students here in Sitka and to impact students from around the state of Alaska. Please consider helping us meet this goal by giving an end of year gift. You can mail your gift in the enclosed envelope or go to www.sitka.younglife.org  and click give in the upper right-hand corner. 

            This Christmas, may we be truly humbled by God’s great gift, and truly experience his full blessing.

Merry Christmas,

Aaron Routon, Chris Voron, and the Sitka Young Life Family