Well, I must say in this month’s Curate’s Notes that I have truly enjoyed fall in New England thus far. I am sure many of you are laughing at me if you already know that I have never experienced a winter in the Northeast. It has been wonderful, though; I even enjoyed raking the leaves. Even the few weeks of serious rain simply reminded me of my childhood home of Oregon. So, once again, thanks Rhode Island for offering such a fantastic welcome these first several months here at St. Paul’s.

Perhaps now that the summer has faded away, the leaves have fallen, and at least one holiday has come and gone, things may be slowing down for some of the busy families of St. Paul’s. Fall sports have finally wrapped up, and so I wanted to offer a brief report of our first few months of youth ministry here. I hope that more of our youth will now have time to join our youth programs.

Our Middle School Youth (MSY) group began meeting during the Wednesday Night Live program. Wednesday Night Live offers an opportunity to share a meal and then spend an hour of activity together as a youth group. While starting with just a few attendants, we have grown to have the fairly regular attendance of approximately ten middle school age youth.

Our High School Youth (HSY) Group has enjoyed several outings and regular meetings on Sunday evenings. There have been more than 20 different youth in attendance at various meetings. Each meeting through the busy fall season has tended to have an average attendance of around ten. Each week we are seeing new faces in the group, and I hope that youth in every St. Paul’s family will consider attending youth group meetings. Ask around we are having a good time!

Faithfully,      Alan Gates