Where to even begin?

Lots of exciting stuff is happening hear in St. Louis. At the St. Louis Mennonite Peace Center the community garden has benefited from some serious rain and is producing substantial yields. Quite a few classes have made it out to the garden to harvest their crops. Mustard Greens are the most recent crop to become mature. Delicious dishes of greens and spinach have been prepared by several teachers and members of the fifth and sixth grades at Columbia Elementary have consumed more hot sauce then one would believe was humanly possible. Soon, lettuce will be ready for students to make salads. Currently the garden is cursed with a delightful problem: an overabundance of food.

Restorative Talking Circles continue to be active at Long Middle School though the hectic end of the year schedule has proven to be a challenge. As part of a Restorative Justice curriculum which was implemented by Community Conflict Services at Long Middle school students experience a weekly talking circle in which students sit in a circle with a facilitator and have discussions using a talking piece to give all students a chance to contribute. Community Conflict Services, a group of organization committed to promoting restorative justice practices in St. Louis, continues to explore ways to strengthen and expand its current school peace programs. The St. Louis Mennonite Peace Center staff will continue to be an active member of Community Conflict Service in the coming year.

As always we as a unit remain thankful for all the special connections we have made throughout this year. It has been a truly wonderful year and we continue to be blessed by the support of friends and family both near and far. Thank you and may God continue to bless the United States.

Meal cooking

With Wednesday night rapidly approaching our VS Unit is in desperate need of ideas for the Bible Study potluck that we will be hosting. Our Bible Study features a group of young adults who study the Good Word and its implications and relevancy to our modern lives.

Tonight’s topic will be ‘Spiritual Geography.’ We are incredibly fortunate to have a group of intelligent, biblically literate young adults to explore the Bible. These same young theologians are also great cooks and sometimes make our contributions to the potluck dinners seem inadequate.

That’s where we need your help loyal blog readers (the three of you are bond to come up with something). We need a vegetarian recipe that will win the respect and admiration of our peers. If you can work the theme of ‘Spiritual Geography’ into the cuisine it could help us earn bonus points. Help us! You are our only hope. We’ll be checking up for responses throughout the day.

Here are some of the ingredients we have on hand

2 peppers
Frozen broccoli, green beans, or peas
Bag of potatoes
Bag of onions
Rice
Butter
Milk
Peanut Butter
Flour
Sugar
Diced tomatoes
An assortment of beans
Pasta
Apple sauce
Garlic
Oil, Canola, and Vegetable Oil
The most common spices (garlic, onion, oregano, Italian, pepper, cilantro, ect…)


To encourage participation we will post a picture of a chicken skydiving when we get 3 responses. 5 will earn you a picture of a llama parachuting. 10 will get you something even more special. Time is of the essence we beg for your assistance.

How warm is it?

Weather Report

The Midwest recently was the recipient of an arctic cold front bring season low temperatures to many regions. It's times like this the it is beneficial to remember how fortunate we are to have nice furnaces, blankets, coats, and hot coca. Furthermore, we recommend making a cup of coffee and mixing a pack of hot cocoa in with it. It's a sure cure for the blues!

MVS'ers steals local sports opinions and pass them off as their own

What isn't a sure cure for the Blues? More injuries. The team has had four of its six top players injured. This is devastating for a young team that already had questionable depth to begin with. Bottom line is the team has been forced to play players that simply should not be in the highest level of hockey at this point in their lives. Still the the team plays hard and viewing their NHL Hockey matches are generally an enjoyable utilization of time.

Interstate 64/4o closed

A large portion of St. Louis' interstate 64 is under construction and will be for the majority of the coming year. This has made navigating St. Louis slightly more cumbersome for the current MVS'ers. Several roads are much more crowded and much less enjoyable to drive our auto carriage along. The plus side is that it will encourage us to use public transportation more frequently and discover new exciting ways home (sometimes even intentionally).

And now the reason you all read our blog: pictures of dogs pulling decorative carts!

Blueberry Muffins

According to a recent polling of Mennonite Voluntary Service workers in Metropolitan St. Louis blueberry muffins are one of the top muffin choices. Chocolate chip muffins also did well in the poll and garnered support from a variety of demographics. Lemon Poppy finished poorly on the heels after a series of ads linking the muffin to failed drug tests. Representatives of Lemon Poppy seed decried the ads saying that the attack ads were simply trying to distract voters from real issues such as taste and texture. Pumpkin muffins rounded out the top three, confirming what experts had been saying all along, that despite being a healthy and satisfying choice pumpkin too much of a seasonal pastry to win a general election. Despite a poor showing, Bran muffins vowed to be back in the future. In statement release to the press Bran's advisors said, "Sure, Bran might not be a sexy choice like Banana Nut or Cinnamon. It may not have the name recognition of Blueberry. However, we remain confident that a few years down the road people will come to a sudden realization of just how valuable, and ultimately essential, of a choice Bran can be."

Words

As the St. Louis MVS unit boldly looks towards the future we stand united and poised for action. Anyway, it's been good times in St. Louis. Real good times. The writing below has a pattern. See if you can figure it out.

Steve
Saint Louis
Matt Chris Steve
Mennonite Voluntary Service Unit
Attending St. Louis Mennonite Fellowship
Eating Burek at a Bosnian Cafe
Watch the Balloon Glow in Forest Park
Cooking Holiday Feast with the help of friends
Digging a hole at Columbia Peace and Hope Garden
Mediating conflicts with Community Conflict Services of Metropolitan St. Louis
Observing the crew members of Serenity finding their way through space
Planning Restorative Justice Curriculum with Mary, Carrie, Pierre, Ebony, Clark, and Margaret
Seeing a burned Cathedral which was turned into a beautiful work of art
Exploring faith issues with Sam, Rachel, Amy, Jake, Adam, Dan, Heather, Amanda, and Chris
Being thankful for all the people I've meet and experiences I've had in St. Louis

That's all for now. Check back in a couple of months.

Steve

Update on our lives and Such...

So, it's been three months since we moved to St Louis (two months for Chris), and we've made pretty good lives for ourselves in the process. We have been welcomed by our sponsoring church, St Louis Mennonite Fellowship, and it has become a vibrant faith community for the two of us. We have been blessed to be here in their move from the burbs to South City St Louis, just a few blocks from the MVS house. It's really been a formative time for the church and for the two of us as we participate in church life and discern what our role is in this new neighborhood. Chris gave a sermon a few weeks ago on the Greatest Commandment... We don't remember much of what he said, but he did say something about the foundation of faith resting on our capacity to give and receive love. Or something like that...

From tie-dying at the church retreat to carrying a piano and stove up a flight of stairs, we have been encouraged to become a part of what God is doing at SLMF. It has been inspiring to see how enthusiastic members are about sharing their gifts and contributing to the life of the church. There seems to be no spectators at SLMF.
There are a lot of people who know what service is all about. They've been there, and have contributed in their own unique ways to make us feel even more welcome in St Louis.
We have also shared some good times with MVS'ers Dan, Amanda, and Heather. We have grown closer over the past coupla months and they have done a good job of keeping us out of trouble.

We also have a lot of random silly stories...
About a month ago, Steve and Chris saw a poster for a rock show hanging at "The Diner", a 24-hour eating establishment just down the street. The band is called "Kentucky Knife Fight", and a few days later, Steve, Heather, and Chris headed down to the show in Granite City, Illinois. We were enticed by the possibility of appearing in an amateur music video and loads of free pizza. After driving around Middle of Nowhere, Illinois for over an hour, a two story barn and gloriously well lit country mansion surrounded by prodigious pumpkin patch. The barn was filled with black lights, old farming equipment, vintage signs, and other random freaky-deeky Americana nostalgia. The show left nothing to be desired, and after listening to good tunes and eating our fair of free pizza, Heather, Chris, and Steve decided to steal the largest pumpkin in the pumpkin patch (pumpkin picture included).

Oh, and we made an ice cream cake out of whip cream and loads of ice cream sandwiches for our Wednesday night Bible Study. It’s so easy we were able to make it in the car. One of these days, and you know how long it takes us to post anything on this blog… we’ll share this story, and the amazing automotive ice cream cake recipe. Stay tuned.

Chill out!

In all seriousness, we will have a blog post tonight. Now you know we're for real this time...

--Things you might hear about.

--Making ice cream cake in the mvs car.

--Stealing a pumpkin from a rock show.

--Watching Fireflys in November.

--Preaching fire and brimstone at SLMF.

--Election day shindigs and good time merriment.

I know we kept our fans waiting but hold on to your britches cause you are about to experience some turbulence MVS style.