The Sign Up's Begin for the Youth Pastors Olympics

The above picture is of a dry erase board in my office. Listed on it are the current youth pastors signed up for our September Youth Pastors Olympics.  Last summer we had nine signed up....this year we already have 18...and the Olympics are not until September 11th!  So excited about this!  Aside from bringing youth pastors together for a day of fun and competition, we are taking all the proceeds from the event to benefit a local charity who helps families who have lost loved ones in the war.  Please join us in praying for this upcoming event.  Lots of plans and marketing need to go in, and we are hoping to see this thing grow into one day being a youth pastor Olympics for Oregon...not just our city.  

Berry Picking and Hiking...a Walter Family tradition

Here in the Northwest we have endless outdoor opportunities.  In the summer, you can pretty much find us every weekend doing two things....picking berries and hiking.  We love berry picking with the kids, blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, etc...you name it..if its on a bush our kids are attacking it.  The above picture is Autumn holding some fresh picked blueberries.  That particular day, we picked 36 pounds of berries in 40 minutes!!  Pays to have lots of kids when it comes to berry picking!!  We also utilize the abundance of hiking trails her in Oregon.  Sometimes we hike here in the valley, other times we hike some trails on the Cascade range, other times the Coastal range.  Its always fun, and we are so blessed to live in a place that offers so many outdoor activities for our family. The below picture we took yesterday along the trail.

Ropes Course provides great team building for Mission Adventures

The above picture is of a recent group doing some team building with our YWAM Salem ROPES course ministry, rite before they head up to the course to do some serious faith stretching! On Tuesday afternoons, from 1-5, our Mission Adventures students get the awesome experience of going on our ROPES course here.  The Ropes Course runs around 4,000 people through it every year (March-October), and we are so blessed to be able to include a few hours on the course for our MA students.  It is always a highlight of the week, and kids conquer all sorts of fears, while learning to work as a team while doing so.

Youth Pastor challenges other youth pastors to bring their students to Mission Adventures

Pastor Jon in the video above shares about his time at Mission Adventures!

Mission Adventures Participant Shares about his time with Mission Adventures

Above is a short clip of an interview with a participant we had come through Mission Adventures this week.  Here what he had to say about his time with us!

Kids Serve at Night of Nostalgia

The above picture is of Anders, Aidan, and Abby serving popcorn at our first ever "Night of Nostalgia" outdoor  movie night at YWAM Salem.  It was an absolute blast.  We showed the classic Swiss Family Robinson, and fun was had by all.  Our outdoor system can easily accommodate up to a crowd of 300 or so people, so I am anxious to use it for local youth groups at certain events we have scheduled.  The kids loved serving popcorn, and they even created their own "system of efficiency".  One cool thing was after the movie I had a little devotional with the kids about servanthood, and they all seemed to really enjoy simply serving people this night.  I look forward to lots of these opportunities in the future.  Again,Ii am so blessed to be able to involve our kids in ministry related things.  Aidan is especially excited for the next "Night of Nostalgia" since he found out we will also be serving hot dogs.  Hopefully he will serve them rather than eat them all!

Soccer Festival

This week we are helping out with our churches Soccer Festival!  Most of the kids come from homes around our church, and the majority are from Hispanic and Russian families.  This gives me a great opportunity to bring back my rusty Russian! The above picture is of me giving a Bible lesson during one of the breaks.  Since we have a gap in our busy Mission Adventures summer this week, our staff have been able to come along side a great local church ministry and serve.  It was hot out there today as temps were in the 90's!  The Soccer festival is led by a great guy in our church from Namibia.  So cool to see the nations coming here for missions!