Greetings Friends from OVYM Middle Youth!

The most important thing we learned this year is that God has a sense of humor. We learned this during our skit titled, "What Adults Really Think in Meeting."

We visited the Quaker Archives and listened to Tom Hamm tell us about "taking away all occasions for war." George Fox had two feelings about this. First, the spirit of God in him was too good to kill others. Second, he believed that the War of the Lamb (i.e. Armageddon) would occur in his time, so he wouldn't fight until then. Tom also mentioned a few funny stories including one about a student butter rebellion. The students claimed that the 100 pounds of butter was rancid therefore feeling the need to give it to the pigs who enjoyed it immensely. The dean however, stated that he had purchased it from his brother-in-law whom he trusted.

Our service project involved decorating and personalizing folders to send to Kenyan children who can't afford school supplies. We sold craft projects to raise money to donate to Right Sharing of World Resources, Friends Disaster Committee and for more school supplies for the Quaker school in Kenya.

We also enjoyed a marvelous canoe trip, a challenging rock climb, swimming, arts and crafts and spending time together. We look forward to seeing each other again next year.

Middle Youth Group, OVYM