Good Morning, Friends & Family!


As previously stated, I do apologize for not updating the blog on a regular basis…I guess working and going to school has a way of eating up my time. ;) Well, as promised, I am including some pictures, a city and a state in this blog post.



Sault Ste. Marie, MI







We are moving to Sault (Sue) Ste. Marie, MI for the summer! We have been offered full time summer staff positions with YouthWorks. Typically, a summer with YouthWorks involves little sleep, sleeping on a church or school floor, and hanging out with junior and/or high school students. To add icing to the cake, the city we are in has a poverty level of 17.5%, and the unemployment rate in this city of about 14,000 is 8.3%. Oh, and did I mention the summer involves little sleep? After saying all of that, we are the crazies who are extremely excited for the adventure God has laid before us.


YouthWorks is a multi-faceted non-profit organization based in Minneapolis, MN. In the summer, the organization pours a lot of resources into their short-term missions’ trip program. With over 70 sites in the United States, Puerto Rico, and Canada, YouthWorks strives to show the love of Christ through reaching out to various communities. Reaching out to the community out of love for Christ involves service projects, Kids’ Club, and much, much more. The service projects range from mowing someone’s lawn to helping out in a soup-kitchen for the day. The kids’ program (from what I understand) is Vacation Bible School (VBS) for the community’s children all summer. Monday through Thursday, the children in the community have the option to come and learn about Jesus, and who they are in Him.


Each Sunday afternoon, a new group of junior & senior high school students come to our site in Sault Ste. Marie, MI. These students and their leaders have orientation on Sunday night. Andy gives orientation to the adult leaders, and I along with our two other staff members give orientation to the youth. Each day after the youth & their leaders return from their work site, they have down time for about 2 hours. Dinner is at 5ish, with nightly activities & Club to follow. The activities allow the youth to learn more about the community. Club is much like youth group in that there is music, a message, and the group then breaks up into small groups to discuss the message and the day with one another. Club is my main responsibility for the summer- I will be leading the musical worship time as well as delivering the message each night. Andy’s main responsibility is to take care of the site staff, and the leaders of the groups that come. He also manages the summer budget, and fills in where needed at our service project locations &/or Kids’ Club.


There is so much more I could say, but I don’t want to write an overwhelmingly long post. So many prayer requests have been answered in regard to this summer program. Because of this, we have complete peace about joining YouthWorks in ministry this summer. That being said, please keep us in your prayers…especially the sleep part for me- we’ll be getting an average of 6 hrs a night, and my needy body usually can’t function on less than 7.5. Please pray for strength and wisdom for Andy this summer as he watches out for the well-being of the staff, and our overall ministry in Sault Ste. Marie, MI.