North Pacific Yearly Meeting

Annual Session 2003
Epistles from Children, Central Friends, Junior Friends and Young Friends

Paxon, seven months, and Carolyn had fun times playing with baby toys. Paxon laughs a lot even though he is teething and needed to gum some of the toys. His favorite toy, I'm guessing, was the big red play ball. Carolyn enjoyed being a part of Paxon's 1st yearly meeting.

We made art with crayons, ink stamps, and sidewalk chalk. We played with play dough, dinosaurs, and trucks. We blew bubbles and listened to stories. We waded in a wading pool and ran through sprinklers.

We talked about the Peace Testimony and how to make peace ourselves. First, we defined "plenary;" when adults talk a lot because they have nothing to say. This is what we want to say about peace. If you want to hit or punch somebody, you are probably really mad. You can talk it out instead and then be Friends. We think it is important because everybody is important. If you have peace you can have more friends. Patience, Avery, Savanna, David, Lynn, Jordan, Daisy, Blake, Kaeli, Jessamyn, Michaella, Sam, Zea, Baibi, Timothy.

To Friends Everywhere,

We are kids at NPYM at Missoula MT. While we were here we:

• Drew lots of pictures and modeled with clay. We are very artistic.
• Played games like keep away, pass the shoe, rock, rock, Big wind blows, soccer and others.
• Worship sharing with queries on the Peace Testimony and walking our talk.
• Wrote a play called "that of God in the Jungle." We wrote it, made characters, created costumes and props and put it on at Friday Night.
• We met a lot of nice volunteers from the adult Meeting.
• Did a workshop with the Missoula Children's Theater.
• Played in sprinklers and got wet.
• Went to the park, rode the carousel which went really fast, and at ice cream. We had fun and we're looking forward to next year.

Our Central Friends Group consisted of Carl, Rachael, Noah, Tom, Rosa, lris, Cierra, Tamara, Bryo, Lilly, David and Angela (who came this morning). We could tell you that we had a totally peaceful time with no fights, arguments, lots of worship sharing, and never getting wet or dirty. That, however, would be a lie. That last bit is virtually impossible, what with our service project on a farm, and millions of flooding sprinklers on campus. If silent card games count as worship sharing then we probably set a record. As for the arguments, each Central Friend has an opinion-- usually totally unique. Playing tag between 2 people, which Rosy says is flirting-- all the time, even if just gluing sequins to each other's arms were regular activities. On community night we didn't have an act, but between acts we came up with an idea for next year. During the day we had a lot of fun eating and throwing ice, and at night we sang karaoke in the dark. And we took a special trip to the carousel and ate ice crown, and watched a movie about Amish kids who cuss a lot. Yesterday we went to the Junior Friends stand up and listened to music or-- DANCE. In preparation for Central Friends camp we watched a video about Lewis and Clark and made journals like those on the journey.

Overall we had no schedule-- thank you! And by the way-- we lime epistles.

Dear Friends--

One fine evening for Junior Friends Camp 2003, we met at Logan State Park in Northwestern Montana. Located just across the highway and early morning truck drivers, our site was overrun with noisy squirrels and swarming yellow jackets. We were on Middle Thompson lake, complete with two docks perfect for late night, large group stargazing. The heat drove us into the lake; silt from logging drove us out into the most wonderful bathrooms many of us have used at a campground. This year, as in many years past, we spent a majority of our time in productive business meetings. We planned a work party for the entire group consisting of picking up trash p nearby free campgrounds. However, a good portion of our group got hopelessly lost on the drive there. Their frustrated attempts to find the site and their near miss with a deer motivated them to instead clean up our own campground in the end. The other group (the non-lost one) found a lot of garbage including probably a million cigarette butts and an exhaust pipe. The camp host led us to an exciting rope swing over a lake that many of found to be our favorite part of camp (besides the business meetings, of course). Many of us went on safaris, discovering that not only is Middle Thompson Lake home to such wildlife as Dell the camp host and his grandchildren, but also the wild crab, a crustacean-like animal that lives in harmony with Shelly and Steve, the lake turtles. We were serenaded by Michael Jackson throughout our camp, with lead-to-lead batteries in our cars. We had an interesting talk with our much-appreciated F.I.R. The group was enriched by the addition of many new faces and voices this summer. We hope to encourage participation and input from a more complete array of our JF meeting. On the fifth day a long and probably hot ride brought us to the spacious campus of the U. of M. in Missoula where we joined the larger NPYM meeting. We were spread out on the large campus and had much fun and difficulty dodging the numerous and often malicious sprinklers. Our schedule consisted, mainly of business, which took a lot out of our free time; Worship sharing; and dance. We gained an acute recognition that a lack of simply fun activities is as detrimental to our group as that of too much business. We need to find a balance of work and play in the spirit. In a combination of work and fun, Junior Friends and adults had the choice of a variety of work projects to choose front ranging from making food and building walls to planting and mulching. We also managed a large excursion to the campus arcade for a fun time of pool and foosball that was enjoyed by all who attended. We even got our picture taken with the local bride on our way back to the dorm room. We spent most of annual session in meeting for worship on the occasion for business. We asked ourselves how we cm be personally accountable for our actions and true to our JF community.

This year at NPYM, young Friends over the age of 19 discerned a clear call to create a space within NPYM to nurture their particular spiritual and community needs. Some of us came to annual session this year with the understanding that we have moved through our experience of Jr Friends into an ambiguous place within the larger meeting. In this situation, we have felt a leading to develop a community of our own. Other young adult Friends were joyful to find such enthusiasm around the idea of a Young Friends group. For all of us to recognize this shared need was comforting and empowering. We came together four times during annual session, each time drawing a larger and more enthusiastic group. During one of these meetings an older, seasoned Friend stepped forward, offering to fill the position of an "Old Friend" Young Friends Coordinator to assist with further communication among the group. This Old Friend coordinator would work with a coordinator selected from within Young Friends. These positions are of great value due to the transitory nature of young adults. We are hoping that with the help of an eager Steering Committee we can carry momentum, into future Yearly Meetings. We hope to build a clear, and satisfying path from the vibrant Jr. Friends community to adult participation in NPYM. We believe this is an important and timely addition to NPYM efforts towards intergenerational communication.