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This month we feature
Marissa Renee Mahanna AKA: Missy
High School: Mahtomedi High School
School/Community
Activities: Dance (Midwest Youth
Dance and Theater)
Church Activities: Youth Group and veteran of Search Committee
Favorite Song: I Believe by Blessed Union of Souls
Proudest moment: When I won the “Judges Choice Award” for best
performance over all at a dance competition.
Collections: I collected
clowns and horses for a long time when I was younger, but I don’t really have
any ongoing collections.
Favorite St. John’s
Memory: Pocket Prayer of course!
Favorite movie: The Art of War and
The
Replacements
Last good book you’ve
read:
Second Helpings
Best advice you’ve
been given: Don’t change yourself to
find friends, by being yourself the best of friends will find you.
Where you hope to be
in 10 years: I don’t know where I
hope to be tomorrow, but anywhere that I am happy.
If you could have
dinner with any person, whom would you choose? Myself as a
10-year-old. It would be interesting.
How can church become
more youth friendly?
Bring Junior and Senior High together for
youth group sometimes.
A Few Words from our Youth Minister Alison Feigh . . .
When was
the first time that you truly felt that you were becoming a grown-up? Was it
when you could finally lift the garage door by yourself? How about when you
were asked to watch your younger sibling for the first time? For some the
transition into becoming an adult is as simple as a specific birthday, and for
others it is far more complicated. The transition into adulthood is something
that is difficult to pinpoint and does not flow in a straight line. Our church
community will be gathering together on two separate occasions, The Rite of
Affirmation and Confirmation, to honor our youth in their own non-linear
journeys.
On February 1st at the
9:00 service, we will be celebrating our parish’s 8th Graders in the
Rite of Affirmation service. This rite marks a spiritual passage as the youth
prepare to leave the Junior High program and begin Confirmation studies the
next fall. The parish gathers together to pledge their support of these youth
as they prepare to explore and question their faith. As a part of the beautiful
liturgy, the Senior High youth will be providing special music and one of our seniors,
Sarah Prochnow, will be preaching. It’s
a chance for us to acknowledge that the steps they’ll be taking in the next
years may be difficult, but that they will have the support of our community to
lean on.
Our
parish will gather together again on Sunday, March 7th at the 10:30
service to celebrate the Rite of Confirmation with Bishop James Jelinek. I
always tell youth and our parents that the two-year confirmation process that
we use is not a curriculum to prepare the youth for Confirmation, but is
instead a curriculum to prepare the youth to make their own choice about Confirmation. We have three youth; Rachel Ford,
Muriel Gilbert, and Anne Moertel, who have each decided to confirm their faith
in Christ and take their place as adults in our church community.
The Rite of Affirmation is not the
beginning of a faith walk, just as Confirmation does not signify the end. Our
parish welcomes little children and adults to question, learn, and explore
within our liturgy and through our Sunday School and Adult Education programs.
Faith formation is truly a life long journey.
We are reminded of our commitment to the life long process in our
church’s mission statement. We seek to
provide a spiritual home for children, youth and adults as they travel on their
journey of faith through the wilderness of human experience. I hope that
you are able to join with us for these two services as we acknowledge important
milestones for our youth in their journey through the wilderness.
Confirmation
- It is not the end of the journey
Junior High Ski Trip
Youth
in Grades 6-9 are invited to participate in the Diocesan ski trip over the
weekend of March 5th-7th at Giant’s Ridge. Forms are due on Feb. 14th
and can be picked up in Alison’s office. Alison will not be able to chaperone
as it falls on Confirmation weekend. Parent volunteers are needed to chaperone
this event.
Senior High DYE
St.
John in the Wilderness will be hosting the
Senior High Diocesan Youth Event
beginning at 6pm on Friday, February 27th and ending at 11:00am Sunday,
February 29th. The theme for the event is “Living with Labels.” Registration forms can be printed off from
our church website and sent in to the Diocesan office by Feb. 20th with the $20
fee. Megan Mahoney is serving on the youth design team for this event.
Confirmation
Bishop
James Jelinek will be presiding over our Confirmation Service on Sunday, March
7th at 10:30. Three of our 10th Grade students, Rachel Ford, Muriel
Gilbert, and Anne Moertel, have made the decision to be confirmed at this
service. Please plan to attend the service to honor these young ladies and
their commitment to Christ.
Senior High Bowling
The
Senior High youth group will be going bowling during their normal youth group
time on February 8th. Please meet at the church at 6:00pm to travel to the
lanes together. Alison will be out of town, so Bonnie Peck and Deb Schmit have
volunteered to provide transportation and chaperone for the evening. If other
parents would like to assist, please talk to Deb.
Souper Bowl Sunday
The
Junior High youth will be collecting monetary donations for the White Bear Food
Shelf after church services on Sunday, February 1st. This is
part of a National
Outreach event that raised $3,540,770
for local food shelves in 2003. Our youth will collect money for the food shelf
between services. Look for youth
carrying large soup pots.
Super Bowl
The
Senior High youth group will meet at the Schmit’s home in Vadnais Heights at
5:00pm to watch the Super Bowl (and the commercials) on Sunday, February 1st.
Each youth is asked to bring a dish or snack to share. Please sign up in the
Parish Hall if you plan to attend.
Rite of Affirmation
Our
church has a special service to honor our 8th Grade youth. We gather together
to pledge to support our youth in their faith walk as they transition into high
school. This year’s service will take place on February 1st at 9:00am. The
Senior High youth group will be proving special music as well as having one of
the youth, Sarah Prochnow, do the sermon.
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