Wednesday night talks by members of our youth group

This coming Wednesday Tomm Patterson, a member of our youth group will be the special guest speaker at Supper, Song and Prayer. 
Below are the texts from previous guest speakers Charlotte and Alice Leavengood:

Talk by Charlotte Leavengood
Sometimes, I lay in my room, thinking about when I die. It happens to everyone. We cannot stop it and we cannot avoid it. God has given us life to lead through sorrow, and happiness. Then we must and join him in the after life. I sometimes wonder, well what the after life is like. Are you sad to leave your loved ones; are you full of joy and happiness? I have questioned this time after time.
What is in the after life? How would you answer? We can never be sure. We can have hope and trust that there will be a good place, that God will reward the good, and punish the bad. My faith in God has led me through tough and scary times. He doesn’t always make everything better, but he tries his best. But, we cannot live our lives in fear, God would not want that. There are many dangerous and scary things in this world. We could go on for days with endless possibilities and events that could harm us, but God will protect us, as much as he can.
So we must walk on and enjoy both lives that we shall have. We will always have questions, and not answers. We must put our faith in God. I have put all my hope, faith, sorrow, fear, and love into God, and he has given back. We must enjoy every moment of this life, sit with our families at dinner, talk and listen to family and friends, and just enjoy life and live in this moment now. Whenever I become scared of dying or of my loved ones dying or of my second life with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, I say God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference.
Thank You.
Charlotte Leavengod



Talk by Alice Leavengood

I’ve been at St. Thomas for over three years now and it has become a big part of my life. I remember when I was little we went to church every Sunday. Then for a little while there we didn’t make it as often, but then we came to St. Thomas and loved the atmosphere and people here. I have been a part of the youth group since sixth grade and had a total of three youth directors, and between all of them, Tammy’s my favorite by far.

The youth group and church have always been a part of my life especially lately. Though I was sad to see Sarah go it’s true that when God closes a door he opens a window. At Sarah’s going away party I realized what a huge crush I had on this boy in my youth group Michael Georgevich. Vise versa. And now he is an important part of my life. I mean I’m crazy about the guy and I thank God everyday for giving me Michael. 

I knew of course that they were going to need to get a new youth director, but I honestly didn’t know she would be this awesome. Tammy, you are kind, loving, and have a very sunshiny personality. You’re wise yet you can still have the fun-loving personality. Which is important if you’re a YOUTH director. The other day Tammy called me and I think I might have come off a little weirded out. But I wasn’t, well, I was. But not by that. You see, two summers ago my mom’s best friend had died unexpectedly. And her name was Tammy. She would always call. We have the same phones we did then so you can imagine my shock when I looked down and saw “call from Tammy” like I had so many times before. For a split second I had this twilight zone/dejavu experience where I thought I was getting a call from the dead and realized that it was the living and lovely Tammy we have here. But the funny thing is, Tammy reminds me of this Tammy. Both sweet, funny, and understanding. Both have this sort of nurturing quality. So all I have to say is I’m glad to have another Tammy in my life, I think everyone should have a “Tammy” person of some sorts. Thank you.
Alice Leavengood