Christmas Party & Gift Exchange (and other news)

Kevan Dec 9, 2009

Christmas Party & Gift Exchange

Annual homegroup Christmas Party and Gift Exchange this Thursday night (Dec 10), at 8:00p at First Pres. We have the Mears Room (it’s where we do SK1). You go up the stairs and the entrance is on your left; you can see it in the Google street view.

Anyway, you just need to bring a wrapped $5-10 gift. We’ll put that in the gift pile, and then mix it all around, and then compete with one another for gifts. Since Thursday is WinterFest, we won’t have dinner-type food, but we’ll have finger food, fruit, and snacks. In the past, there were chocolate fountains and things like that. I don’t think we’ll have that this year… but the Christmas Party is a fun, meaningful way to end the year together as a homegroup. Definitely have to be there. Plus, we have a little surprise at the end!

Friday (Dec 11), we have combined Incom-Parable Wisdom bible study: Koinonia, acts2fellowship, Kairos, and Praxis all together. We’ll be at First Pres beginning at 7:00p. Afterwards, we’re studying.

Baptism and changed lives

This past Sunday, Gracepoint Berkeley baptized 23 people! We got to hear stories from 7 people, stirring many of us and reminding us of our own salvation stories. No matter where we are on our spiritual journeys, it’d be difficult to NOT be able to relate to some aspect of the stories we heard.

Thank God for Will S. (SO) and Hannah P. and Patti S. (SRs) baptisms! Anyone want to join me in congratulating our friends?!

If you missed out, or if you just want to experience it again, or hear from some of the other 16 people who didn’t get to read their testimonies, there are people’s spiritual journeys posted online.

Koinonia Ice Skating

Then we did ice skating last Friday night. We had the whole rink to ourselves. There were newbies (who groped frantically for the wall at the beginning of the night) as well as pros, who took off from the starting block and were tormenting their less skilled peers. There were even a bunch of rascals (ahem, the soph guys) who were picking up ice shavings, packing them, and using them as projectile weapons and back-of-the-shirt stuffing material. I was assaulted by a group of these hoodlums and am waiting for firmer ground to exact vengeance.

We stopped the skating round and round in circles in the middle of the night and got into teams. We made shapes and different team competitions, culminating in a relay race around the rink for the 5 best skaters per team. Plenty of cheering, no spills, and a deft display of different people’s finesse on the ice.

Koinonia Posers

Things to Sign Up for… and other News!

J-Term (or January Term) is an opportunity to get productive during your Winter Break! Expand your mind, equip your hands, and fellowship with your buds and LIFEGroup everyday. You can sign up online for J-Term and find out more info too.

Angel Tree Christmas Party is this Saturday. Our homegroup is sponsoring 6 kids. Many of us have already gone Christmas gift shopping for them (and some are lined up to go this week), but we’re really looking forward to meeting them this Saturday at 4:00p @ Willard Middle School. Angel Tree is a ministry of Prison Fellowship, reaching out to children of inmates and their families.

After the Angel Tree Christmas Party, we have our annual Joyland Christmas Celebration, a kid-sized GLive sort of production for Christmas. If you’re not too stressed with finals, come check it out. It’s entertaining, cute, and fun. Willard Middle School, 6:00p, this Saturday.