Student Ministry Newsletter- Mar ‘09

There have been several highlights from our student ministry at Aloha Church of God this past month. Here are a few:

• Our students volunteered at the Oregon Food Bank warehouse: We partnered with other volunteers to process 7560 pounds of oats. That comes out to 22,680 meals/ bowls of oatmeal for Portland's needy, or 311 meals per volunteer!
  
• We finished our teaching series on the growth and maturity of the New Testament church.
  
• Garth resumed his high school campus lunch visitations with students.
  
  
• Schools have to make up for missed snow days, so we made up for our church's December weather cancellations with a "make-up" Christmas week.
  
  
  
  On Wednesday night, we decorated faces with shaving cream Santa beards.
  
  

 

Warner Pacific College admission counselor Alyssa Draper was on hand to judge the quality of each carefully shaped shaving cream beard.

 

After we cleaned up, Alyssa enthusiastically shared about Warner Pacific with our students.

 

• Garth and Kathy's place was the place to be that Saturday night. Our make-up Christmas party wrapped up a week of better-late-than-never Christmas joy.
  

 

• Of course, we threw a Super Bowl party at Garth and Kathy's the next day.
  

 

 

• A couple weeks after Alyssa's visit, Garth took Aloha High School students Alissa, Kenny, and Kevin to Portland for a WPC campus tour.
  

Thank you for continuing to pray for the growth of our student ministry (and for Garth's dad during his recovery from melanoma surgery!).

In Christ,
Youth Pastors Garth and Kathy Hamilton

 

As always, here some bonus pics:

We pray hard, but we also play hard

 

Will prepares to flash the applause sign for a sermon illustration

 

Stacking our trays with delicious food, compliments of Warner Pacific College

 

Striking a pose during Christian family bowling night at Park Lanes

A Slightly Snowy Update

Kathy and I were praying for March snow, and it arrived just in time for our hike last Saturday. The snowfall was short lived, so most of it melted away almost as quickly as it had accumulated.


Gail’s Creek Trail was badly damaged from the previous winter storm. Fallen trees and branches were strewn across the trail, and the path was washed out in a few places. We hiked in as far as we could before turning back at the trail closure signs.



I helped Kathy navigate most of the rougher spots, but I backed off for a moment to photograph her climbing over some frozen branches. What a trooper! I plan to upload more photos from this hike in the future.




We actually got a tiny bit of snow accumulation at home on Sunday and Monday. It wasn’t much, but I always welcome an occasional break from our typically mild Northwest climate. Clicking on this photo should enlarge it enough to see the falling snowflakes. This pic was taken from our back porch.



Finally, here is a photo that didn’t make the cut for my last “Arctic Blast” retro blog post.

My dad took this shot of Kathy and I at his house on Christmas morning. I wanted to post it here because Kathy looks so beautiful, as always.

Let It Snow... In March?

Note: Photos were added here on 3/8/09. Additional winter storm pics can be found on my January 2 post.


The forecast calls for more snow this weekend in the Portland metro area. I hope it starts falling in time for Kathy’s and my hike on Saturday! Either way, I am happy with the snow levels that have hit the Portland metro area this winter.



Last Thursday’s snow accumulation wasn’t too impressive, but waking up to a view of white trees prompted me to make an early Americano run around the corner to Black Rock coffee bar (pictured above, from this winter’s second snow event in January). Whether or not our snow storm earned the news media’s “Arctic Blast” moniker, this has been the best winter weather I’ve seen in my life.


The snow started falling on Friday, December 12. I caught my first glimpse of it while driving home from a class reunion at Warner Pacific College.


On Sunday morning, the snow started to accumulate while we worshipped at church.


On Thursday night, December 18, we met my family at a yacht club on the Columbia River for a tour of the annual Christmas ships parade.

My parents, Kathy, Summer, and I boarded a friend's yacht and gazed out the windows as the other brightly lit ships bobbed past us.

We even ventured outside to the deck, breathing in the chilly air as we weaved through the display of floating Christmas imagery.


By Saturday, ODOT had issued a warning for motorists to curtail any unnecessary driving. Of course, I used every excuse I could think of to drive my Jeep all over town.

The icy ruts were the cause of several accidents, many of them worse than the pile up in this photo.


Sharing the road with only a few other brave souls allowed me to rescue stranded drivers at will, glide through sparsely populated stores, and, most importantly, replenish our depleted supply of Peet’s coffee beans.

Running out of coffee qualifies as a household emergency, right?


Other fond memories of the 2008 “Arctic Blast” include:


Our neighbors building a sharply dressed snowman…






Kathy contemplating life, falling snowflakes, and the future of the Dallas Cowboys…




Our snow covered cars (yes, there is a blue Camry buried below)…






…And spending Christmas Day at our parents’ house in Vancouver.

Student Ministry Newsletter- Feb ‘09

2009 did not begin quietly for Aloha Church of God's students. We rang in the new year with the Insomnia 2009 all-night party, hosted by Vancouver's First Church of God.

Over 300 middle and high schoolers got crazy at this annual event.




Highlights included two concerts (The Nathan Arnold Band led us in worship through midnight)...




...a message by Pastor Don Doe...




...an inflatable obstacle course, door prizes, an interactive game with Warner Pacific College...




...adrenaline-soaked sleep deprivation (even through 6 a.m, as we snapped this pic while waiting in line for breakfast)...




and a Mountain Dew chugging contest (between Ben and Kenny) gone horribly wrong. Anyone with a hankering to see a photo of Ben's anticlimactic, gut wrenching (no pun intended) finale should request to be added to my "private" www.flickr.com contact list.

 

We are concluding our study of the church's beginnings with a unit on instructions for spiritual growth, as found in the epistles of the New Testament.

One of the more memorable moments was staging a minor food fight between theater students Alissa and Kevin to illustrate loving (and not so loving) methods of resolving disagreements. This vignette, taped by Derek and featuring a random cameo by Will, also touched on themes of gender discrimination and legalism.

Public service announcement: any foods harmed in the filming of this production will be matched by a donation to the Food Cupboard ministry.

 

We would like to say a special word of thanks to those who have already helped out our student ministry in 2009:

• Wendy: for being the best ministry volunteer leader ever!
  
  
• Sharon (pictured further below with Pastor Tim, at his installation ceremony): for teaching our students while Garth and Kathy were in Canby at the SHAPE pastoral development retreat, for filling in as our supportive Reaching Servant , and for helping us with our fundraising efforts.
  
  
  
  
  
• Janelle: for being a guest speaker on January 14, inspiring our students with her own disciplines for spiritual growth.
  

---and last, but not least---

• Pastor Tim: for starting out strong with his pastoral leadership and following the vision that God has given him for our church.
  
  We were pleased to honor him at his installation ceremony on January 25^th.
  
  
  
  We got even more bang for our buck when Ben gave his debut rock star performance for his dad during the service!
  

In Christ,

Youth Pastors Garth and Kathy Hamilton

Here are a couple of bonus pictures, not included in the church newsletter:




After getting knocked out of a Wednesday night crowdbreaker, Derek cries out to the heavens, "Why?"




ROMANS 16:19 SAYS!!... Well, our student ministry does strive for excellence in what is good. But who knew that praising God could be so hard on the furniture?

Inspiring Update on My Dad

Note: Check out the photos I added to some older posts this week, including our vacation to South America. Also, my August 2, 2008 blog entry has one of my favorite pictures of Bo and me hiking together.

After being diagnosed last month with Clark Level IV melanoma on his neck, my dad Doug Hamilton (or Bo, as we call him) had a successful surgery last week. On Tuesday, Bo received the news: he is now probably cancer free! Praise God for answered prayers!!


This photo is of Bo and Vive driving away from the hospital, just hours after his successful melanoma surgery! Bo looks great!

Our family has received a flood of support throughout this ordeal. Bo wrote a note thanking the hundreds of people (whom we know of) who lifted him up with their prayers and encouragement. You can follow the link to his note here: http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ddg3vg8n_1pwqq3kgj

If you prefer Microsoft Office Live, you can click here http://workspace.office.live.com/?id=qACQ0MDU0ZTg5Yy04NWFlLTRmNDctYTcwYS0yMTU3NzU2OGRiZmUAe9TW057xCzlNkDFax1KNrip9ezAiWxzZvCJGlwP9BIoru8B9ABJnYXJ0aGthdEBnbWFpbC5jb20AABQXUtM8klh6bToEIk9jj76lw8aDuwAA&cid=40

Here is the condensed version of the story: The doctors had originally told Bo that this reoccurrence of skin cancer had spread so quickly that it may be inoperable. Worst case scenarios projected a surgery that might have left Bo severely disabled, threatening to forever alter his active lifestyle.

Preparing for this possibility, our family prayerfully spent countless hours in the past month on the phone, over coffee, and in correspondence with each other and with friends.





On the Friday before Bo's surgery, my sister Summer and I met Bo for a hike near Washington State's Moulton Falls.

On Tuesday, February 10^th, our family met with Bo at 6 a.m. at Kaiser Sunnyside hospital for his melanoma surgery. After less than 2 1/2 hours, we received word from the surgeon that the tumor was removed, and that the removed lymph node did not show any signs of melanoma. In other words, they were able to cut the surgery short due to the cancer being less widespread than the test interpretations had indicated! Bo didn't even need skin grafts!

The picture at the top of this post sums up how that day, as well as this chapter of Bo's life, came to a joyful conclusion. Summer's note on Facebook recounts the day with loving detail. For those of you not registered with Facebook, I have posted it here http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ddg3vg8n_2fqg89mgf

On behalf of my dad and the rest of our family, I want to say thanks to all of you who have kept Bo in your prayers during this time. We are grateful that his pre-operation tests were misinterpreted, yet we also know that the Lord had a mighty Hand in all of this. We are truly blessed!