St. Anthony on the Desert Episcopal Church - Youth Group Blog

Episcopal Youth Event 2017

7/19/2017

Every three years, the Episcopal Church convenes an international youth event so “that the energy of the youth of the Episcopal Church can continue to be utilized in active ministry as members of the Body of Christ.”

This year, the 2017 Episcopal Youth Event (EYE17) welcomed nearly 1,400 participants, workshop leaders, speakers, and volunteers to the campus of the University of Central Oklahoma in Edmond from July 10-14.

Spencer Cihak and Caroline Tetlow represented St. Anthony in an extraordinary way. Please ask them about their experiences the next time you seen them.

Wednesday Afternoon Off

6/28/2017

This is the beautiful spot where the missioners were given envelopes filled with letters from home. Thank you so much to all of you who wrote to our youth. It meant a lot.

Update from Faith Taylor

6/27/2017

I have a lot to get done for my resident's house, but I believe that we will get it all done because my work crew and I get along so well. I'm looking forward to getting to know them and learning how God has led me to be here at this very moment because He is working everyday in my life leading me down my road.

Update from Liz Hengst

6/26/2017

It is only day one, and we have already been so blessed and had so much fun. I cannot wait to see what the rest of the week has for us.

Jack just wants to have fun

6/26/2017

Mission Trip to Norristown, PA

6/24/2017

Nine of our high school students and two leaders leave for Norristown, PA, to join up with Group Mission Trips. This is the 17th annual trip in which our high school youth group has participated. This enthusiastic group will be rehabbing homes for the next week in the Norristown, PA area for the disadvantaged and disabled citizens of that area.

Our missioners always have specific prayer partners for each of them, and this year we are so grateful for these prayer warriors: Barbara Anderson, Joe Dearborn, Jeanne Paige, Karen Twibell, David Maciaone, Cyndi Sax, Jon Thom, Marianne Clarke, Harry Boysen and Jill Kyler.

Youth Group Family Night

1/22/2017

Liz Hengst, Youth Minister

It was family night! We continued our Living Compass journey that we have been working on for the last few family nights at Youth Group. The parents and students both discussed spirituality in their separate groups. I really enjoyed this quote from our Living Compass workbook: “What is true for trees is also true for people. We need a strong root system to sustain us through the many changes in life. For us, our root system is our faith and spiritual life.”

We had some amazing discussions with the teens. The teens had to look at a list of 74 values and pick out the three that were most important to them - their core values. It was so interesting to hear the students talk about their values. This is a great opportunity to talk to friends and family about what values are, what makes certain ones important to you and how we show those values.

Thank you so much to Cyndi Sax and Catherine Gilbert for facilitating these Living Compass family nights.

Youth Service Overnight

1/20/2017

Liz Hengst, Youth Minister

On January 20-21, 2017 a group of our St. Anthony teens joined up with 65 other students from six other Episcopal Churches (one group had even traveled from Tucson, AZ). We met Friday night at Christ Church of the Ascension in Paradise Valley, where we would spend the night. We packed our lunches for the next day, played a bunch of games, had some worship time, broke into small groups to discuss scripture and participated in a prayer wall. Some students stayed up later than others; some way later then others. Students all played more games and got to talk with teens from other churches.

Saturday morning we woke up before the sun came up. We all ate breakfast together and then broke apart into our service teams. There were four service groups in all. Our St. Anthony teens were in two of the groups. Some of us went to Bridging AZ, a furniture bank where we reupholstered chairs and painted dressers, night stands and a piano. These items will be given to people who were obtaining their first residence after being homeless or people with disabilities and special needs. The other group from St. Anthony went to United Way where they sorted, organized and cleaned (erased pencil marks, pulled off stickers, etc.) books for kids who don’t have regular access to books.

It was an amazing overnight and we are excited to join again next year!

Mission Trip 2016

7/16/2016

As we sit here in the Buffalo waiting for our flight back to Phoenix, its hard to focus on all that happened this past week. I think we will keep remembering details as time goes on. In the meantime our missioners will be writing their thoughts and memories of our week helping some very deserving and grateful people in east Buffalo, NY.

Jill Kyler

July 16th, 2016

7/16/2016

This past week has been an incredible experience that I will never forget! I was anxious to get to Buffralo and meet the crew I would be working with since this was my first time on a mission trip. Everyone was very welcoming and ecstatic about the week to come. The owner of the house we were painting was so thankful and inviting. She ate lunch with us and participated in our noon devotions. By the end of the week, the whole crew was like a family. My favorite part of the day was the nightly meetings. We sang songs of worship, discussed our day at the work site and further developed our relationship with Jesus. Throughout the course of the week I met many new friends that I hope to keep in touch with. It was a phenomenal week that has changed my perspective on a lot of aspects of my life. Thank you so much to everyone who supported us along the way!
Alexa Twibell, sophomore