Best Game you can name

Brett Hull is St. Louis hockey legend who was honored with much clapping, cheering, and yelling of "lace them up Brett we need you," a phrase that becomes less humorous each time it is yelled from a distance where said retired hockey can't possibly hear you.  Indeed on  Tuesday,  Blues fans united to celebrate the golden era of Brett Hull hockey.  I don't remember a lot about Brett's Hockey career but I do remember that if he was at his best when he skated down the edge of the rink, made a sharp turn slightly before the red line, hit the turbo, held the shoot button as his momentum carried him across the front of the goal, then released before the goalie could recover.  No one could do that like Brett.

It was fun to see a lot of former players stop by the Scottrade Center to honor Brett Hull's inclusion into the Hall of Fame.  The current Blues played a good game themselves and snapped a four game home losing streak.

Still the real story of the night was Brett Hull a small lad from Belleville, Ontario who came from a humble background and went on to becoming the ambassador of fun.

Special thanks to Dan Worth for inviting me along to the good old hockey game.

JAM day

Today we had a jam day which stand for Journaling and Meditation or something like that.   While this once a frequent experience for residents of St. Louis MVS these events have become few and far between.  Many people point to former MVS'er Amanda Maust as leading the opposition to this powerful chance for MVS'ers to reflect on their time in MVS, think about the direction they want the rest of the year to take, and generally enjoy the company of their fellow MVS'ers.  We may never know why Amanda made it her personal vendetta to eliminate Jam days.  However, we do know that we thoroughly enjoyed experiencing a JAM day and want to especially thank Pastor Samuel for leading our morning session.

Dave Herholtz: lasagna making prodigy

Dave Herholtz, member of St. Louis Mennonite Fellowship and MVS Support Committee member, may be the world's greatest lasagna maker. He and his wife Quincy recently invited the MVS'ers over for supper last Saturday.  As we (well the half of our unit who aren't vegetarians) were about to dig in Dave casually mentions that this is the first lasagna he's ever made.  As we ate it became apparent that Dave had natural ability, some latent skill in the art of pasta creation that was just waiting to be tapped.  Friends, I tell you the truth there is no way someone makes a lasagna that tasty on the first try unless they are a prodigy.  I'm still at a loss for how he found the perfect blend of cheeses to accompany the ideally seasoned beef and still managed to have the pasta impeccably cooked.  At a certain point though my head was spinning, I had to stop and accept that, though it defied logic, I was in the presence of a lasagna making legend who had yet to grasp his own genius.  Will he continue to be a dominate creator of lasagna or will he like many other prodigies be unable to live up to the lofty expectations that his early work created?  Only time will tell and we as MVS'ers only hope we will be invited back to their household to find out.

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