SUMMER STUFF 2010

Here's a look at stuff we're into this summer!

From SUMMER 2010 A

We've been meeting on certain Mondays to do local service projects both in town, and for people of our church. We call these "Mission Mondays," and as of mid-summer, we have helped at the Habitat for Humanity "RE-STORE", helped the Public Works plant 50 trees alongside a town creekbank, and painted/organized at the home of a member of our congregation.





As far as our Sunday night UMYF meetings - the summer is quite different. We meet for a couple of hours on select Sundays, with a differnt theme each time. We've had a movie night, an outdoor recreation night at the park, and now looking forward to a couple other new ideas later in the summer.

Almost every Tuesday we meet together at a local resturaunt to enjoy lunch together. These meetings, dubbed "Lunch Bunch" rotate around different resturaunts in Athens, giving us quite a variety of different foods to share together.

Of course, we also had our St. Louis Mystery Trip this summer and are about to leave on our JH Mission Trip to Augusta, GA. For pics from these, please see their related posts.

Check back for more pics as the summer goes on, and look forward to our annual YOUTH WEEK activities (August 1-6), which are certain to be a blast!

ST LOUIS MYSTERY TRIP 2010

ST LOUIS MYSTERY TRIP -- SUMMER 2010

MONDAY:

The first day - on our way!

TUESDAYScience Center, Forest Park, Downtown, Cardinals!



 WEDNESDAY - SIX FLAGS
[We need some pictures... please send!] 

THURSDAYGateway Arch/Riverfront and trek home.




THE CLUES - REVEALED!

Clue #1—Borders a major body of water.
Answer: St. Louis is located on the western shore of the mighty Mississippi River.

Clue #2—”Advertisements contain the only thing reliable in a newspaper”
Answer: This was meant to be Googled and revealed as a THOMAS JEFFERSON quote. Jefferson was the architect for the famous LOUISANA PURCHASE—which is forever memorialized by Gateway Arch in St. Louis (the “Gateway” to the West).

Clue #3—We’ll see some pirates!
Answer: We’ll be visiting National Geographic’s REAL PIRATES exhibit at the ST LOUIS SCIENCE CENTER.

Clue #4— This code leads to the sweetest deal ever made: M D N L ‘
Answer: M D N L ‘ are HALF of the characters in the name of the famous restaurant chain, MCDONALD’S. HALF of McDonald’s famous “Golden Arches” is ONE, lone arch—much like the GATEWAY ARCH in St. Louis. Jefferson’s DEAL with France to buy the Louisiana territory (what we know as the Western USA) for only a few million dollars has certainly longtime been regarded as the best bargain America has ever landed. The Arch in St. Louis represents the “Gateway” to this property, thus leading to that which is regarded as the best deal ever made.

Clue #5—It will be easy to see Orion and his friends in this night sky.
Answer: We will be visiting James S. McDonnell planetarium at the renown St. Louis Science Center, where we will be able to see many constellations and uncountable stars, projected on the planetarium dome ceiling.

Clue #6 –Roosevelt once did house its soul.
Answer: Roosevelt [Roosevelt Airport in New York] once did house its [St. Louis’s] soul [spirit].
Charles Lindbergh’s famous flight across the Atlantic Ocean left from Roosevelt Airport in New York and landed at Le Bourget Air Field in Paris, France. The name of the plane: The Spirit of St. Louis.

Clue #7– Depending on the time of year, you may spot ravens or orioles here.
Answer: We’ll spend a short bit of time in St. Louis’ FOREST PARK—a beautiful 1000+acre in-city park that includes several museums, the St. Louis Zoo, and plenty of trails, open space, and ball fields. FOREST PARK is also famous for it’s year-round bird-watching, as many different types of birds, including ravens and orioles, migrate through the area at different seasons of the year.

Clue #8—We’ll be dealt a 4 of hearts, 5 of spades and 7 of clubs, all around an ace of diamonds.
Answer: These, of course, are all standard playing cards. The key is that they surround the ace of diamonds… The St. Louis Cardinals baseball team are known as the CARDS for short, and when in the field (known as a diamond) they surround the pitcher (known as an Ace if they are exceptionally good—and the Cardinals have a few that are). Taking this further– the 4 could refer to catcher Yadier Molina, the 5 being first baseman (and NL MVP) Albert Pujols, and 7 being outfielder Matt Holliday.