Junior Yearly Meeting is for young Friends through 8th grade. During Annual Sessions in July the JYM Committee offers engaging activities on the Scattergood School and Farm campus. We spend time at the farm, play games like Capture the Flag and attend Meeting for Worship with our Iowa Yearly Meeting community every morning. We do crafts, swim in the pond, read stories and talk together. We also write an epistle sharing our experiences. In the spring JYM meets during Midyear Meeting, gathering in the little cottage next to the Bear Creek Friends Meetinghouse. Registration information for the Junior Yearly Meeting gatherings can be found at the following links: Midyear Meeting and Annual Sessions.
Junior Yearly Meeting Epistles to Friends Everywhere
Dear Friends Everywhere,
We gathered at Scattergood Friends School and Farm, at Iowa Yearly Meeting Conservative’s annual gathering, and we did many fun activities. We enjoyed playing ping pong in the game room (which is also called the student lounge). We also liked swimming in the pond and going for a bike ride followed by ice cream. It was fun to visit the Scattergood farm where we fed pigs, played on hay bales, and went into the barn with Rosie the cat, Ned the donkey and a sheep. Meeting Rosie the cat was the favorite part of yearly meeting for some of us. She is 17 years old. We picked basil at the farm that people will eat at dinner tonight, but we got a little hot while doing so.
A lot of us are looking forward to going to a water park together tomorrow, and also playing capture the flag on the lawn tonight, maybe with some Scattergood high school students. We are also looking forward to playing with water balloons after we write this Epistle.
We had a good time at our yearly meeting and hope you had a good time at your yearly meeting too.
Yours Truly,
The Friends of Junior Yearly Meeting
Hello from Junior Yearly Meeting of Iowa Yearly Meeting (Conservative), meeting at Scattergood Friends School!
We have been doing a lot of things together. Every morning we went to meeting for worship and then checked on Ned, the donkey. We fed apple cores and grass to Ned and checked on his sore eye. He would come trotting over whenever he saw us coming, even when we didn’t have treats.
We made crafts out of recycling, including boats that we floated on the pond. We jumped and ran on the hay bales at the farm, and played Capture the Flag with Young Friends. Water balloons were a blast. It was fun making giant explosions of water and having the water spray in our faces.
We listened to a story about how we are born with Light within us. We each had a candle to show that. We were missing Lucy and her light because she wasn’t there that morning, but just as we were thinking that, she walked in! We listened to the story again so we could see her candle lit.
Some of us lived in the dorms with our families, all of us in one room. That was interesting! We are looking forward to coming back to yearly meeting next year.
In friendship,
Asher, Liam and Lucy
Dear Friends Everywhere,
Greetings from Junior Yearly Meeting of Iowa Yearly Meeting (Conservative), meeting at Scattergood Friends School in West Branch, Iowa, from July 24-29!
We have had a lot of fun this week as we ran, learned, and played together. Every morning, we went to worship. Then we met with adult Friends who talked with us about George Fox, peace, and how God lives within each of us.
We dug potatoes on the Scattergood farm, we jumped on hay bales, and we took a walk on the prairie. We saw a huge ant hill there. We went on a scavenger hunt all over Scattergood. We also did a lot of things with color. We made tie dye shirts and bright blue slime. We also made mini volcanoes out of baking soda, vinegar and food coloring. If you combine all the colors together, it really looks like you’re a mad scientist.
Several evenings we joined Young Friends. We played capture the flag with them, and had a campfire by the pond. Our favorite place at Scattergood is the game room.
We look forward to coming back next year!
In Friendship,
Asher, Liam, Maya, Samir, and Shelby
July 28, 2017
Dear Friends Everywhere,
Greetings from Scattergood Friends School in West Branch, Iowa! Junior Yearly Meeting met here again at Iowa Yearly Meeting Conservative Sessions from July 25-30. The week was a busy one, full of playing outside, swimming, farming, singing, laughing, and so much more.
We started the week with the daily worship we share with the greater Yearly Meeting, and then discussing this year’s theme of “Building Bridges”, as well as our own personal experiences with that. Later that day, we collaged our souls onto paper using National Geographic magazines donated to us by Scattergood School, and then put them on display for the rest of the Yearly Meeting to enjoy. We also that first day, had a very exciting ice cream adventure, where it rained so hard, we had to turn around as soon as we arrived at the store because it started to flood, and didn’t manage to get ice cream until we made a return trip later that evening. That same evening, we went to a sing-along lead by Tom Rawson, a Friend from Seattle, who also came and did a workshop with us the next morning.
Over the week, we learned about Quakers all over the world, and then wrote letters to Quakers around our age living in Kenya in an effort to get to know them better and build bridges of our own. Then we went swimming in the pond-an activity that was repeated multiple times over the week. That night, we drove to a movie theater in Iowa City, and watched films that we all enjoyed a lot. We also went to the Scattergood School Farm one morning to help harvest onions for our meals. We ate fresh pears and cherry tomatoes, interacted with sheep, pigs, and baby turkeys, and finally had a blast jumping around on top of freshly rolled hay bales.
We used pastels on the sidewalks of campus to draw the flags of countries all over the world, most importantly a half-Kenyan, half-American flag that we took a picture of to send to our Kenyan pen pals. One night, we had a campfire down by the Scattergood pond, where we swam, sang, told stories, and ate some delicious, sticky s’mores. On our last day, we took our annual trip to the Tipton Swimming Pool, where we enjoyed the water slides. We wrapped up the week by hosting the IYM(C) Talent Show.
Overall, our week was a blast, and we are looking forward to meeting again next summer
In Friendship,
Chris, David, Rhyla, Gillie, Lucia, Liam, and Samuel
Minute:
Dear Junior Yearly Meeting,
Thank you for joining us this week.
Thank you for your participation in our yearly meeting.
We enjoyed the onions you harvested. Thank you!
Thank you for helping our Peace and Social Concerns Committee deepen their awareness of the dangers of greenhouse gases and the ravages of war.
Thank you for writing personal letters that teach us how we too can build personal bridges.
Thank you Claire and Thomas for being part of JYM.
Thank you for helping us feel such joy and optimism and thank you for witnessing to the certainty of God’s presence in our midst.
Thank you.
July 25, 2015
Dear Friends Everywhere,
This week JYM met once again at Scattergood Friends School in West Branch, Iowa from July 21-26. Over the week we have had a lot of fun while also learning and serving the greater IYMC community. We were a smaller group this year than in past years, but that didn’t stop us from doing a lot. We did a lot with the high-school aged Young Friends, such as picking tomatoes on the Scattergood farm for meals throughout the week, and playing capture the flag and card games.
IYMC’s theme for the week was Growing in the Light, so we focused a lot on nature, the environment, and stewardship. We painted a 12-foot mural, with pictures of the environment (flora and fauna) and prayers for the earth. Our main project was selling bouquets of prairie plants to benefit FCNL (Friends Committee on National Legislation) and their lobbying work against climate change. We picked plants from Scattergood’s prairie and avoided all of the wild parsnip, and then arranged the plants and sold them to members of the yearly meeting. We made $330.02 total.
We went to the evening collection where Trish Bruxvoort-Colligan gave a concert, where she and her husband did a variety of songs, from a song about cows in the driveway to a powerful and emotional song about a girl fleeing Prussia during World War II. Other activities over the week included painting birdhouses, playing fuβball (soccer), and swimming at the local swimming pool. We also made a campfire and cooked marshmallows by the Scattergood pond. The week ended with the talent show, which is always a highlight. We learned a lot during the week, had a lot of fun, and look forward to next year!
Peace to All,
David, Chris, Roo, Maya, and Thomas
IYMC Junior Yearly Meeting Friends
Minute: It is so very special to have Junior Yearly Meeting come and talk to us. Thanks! You have such good leaders and we thank them also. We noticed how much JYM helped out at mealtime, such as being servers and sweepers. We also thank you for raising funds for FCNL.
Your beautiful mural is fantastic. We are impressed, and hope that the mural can be hung in the dining hall so we can continue to enjoy it for the rest of our stay.
July 26, 2014
Greetings from the children of Junior Yearly Meeting of Iowa Yearly Meeting (Conservative). We have come together at Scattergood Friends School and Farm.
We have worshiped with adult Friends and had Bible study. Also camping, kite flying, water games, yoga and candle making. We played capture the flag with older kids. Capture the flag is an awesome game you play outside. It requires both running and strategy.
On the first day together we took a field trip to West Branch to visit the presidential museum of Herbert Hoover, the thirty-first President of the United States. He was Quaker and showed Quaker testimonies through his work and his life. He started life in a simple two-room cottage with only one bedroom. In his time at West Branch, women and men sat on different sides of the meeting house. This was so women could have equality. He was a good president and showed the Quaker testimony of community.
Participating in Junior Yearly Meeting are Kieren Ashley-Shanahan, 10; Gillie Schmidt-Quee, 10; Callum Ashley-Shanahan, 10; Reader Warner, 6; David Rhoades, 10; Chris Gauder, 11; Mya Yamaki, 6; Eleanor Lindhorst, 10.
Minute: It's nice to see such a big group for Junior Yearly Meeting. It sounds like it was a fun week - we would like to join you sometime. We think you are lucky to have some wonderful leaders. It gives us joy and energy to see all the fun you have together. Thank you for letting us know what your favorite activities were. This was a smashing report!
August 8, 2013
At Iowa Yearly Meeting (Conservative) this year we had 13 people age 5-13. We had Bible study and discussed Psalms 8:5-9 and what it means to have “dominion” over the other living things on the earth. Then we read Matthew 5:1-11 and thought about the meek and why the meek would inherit the earth. Also in Matthew 5:14-16 we read about lighting our lamp and making our light shine.
On Thursday, when we were discussing the meek inheriting the earth, a crop duster flew right over our building. This was both exciting and disturbing. The crop duster did not seem “meek.”
We went to Suzan Erem’s farm, where she is helping the land recover from bad treatment. She is taking care of the earth by letting prairie grass grow back where it used to live naturally. The grass has roots that are 20 feet under the ground and keep the earth from washing away into the Cedar River. We picked mulberries and blackberries. Suzan is being gentle and meek with the earth.
We helped Don Laughlin make a dragon kite. Tomorrow we are going to try to fly it if there is wind.
We did pottery with Shumpei Yamaki, the Scattergood pottery teacher. We got to try hand-building and throwing pots on the wheel.
We shelled and cooked black beans from a garden.
We gathered apples, cut, boiled and milled them into applesauce for the yearly meeting folks to eat on Saturday morning for breakfast. We took the apple cores and bad apples to the baby pigs at the farm.
We played capture the flag with Young Friends.
We attended meeting for worship with the adults each morning. The first day, we tried to notice things outside us, like an ant, a crack in the ceiling, and the speed of the fan. The next day we tried to notice things inside us. We noticed a very calm feeling, feeling good and almost warm, feeling love, and having expanding thoughts. We noticed that if you forget to notice what’s going on inside, you might not notice feelings, especially small ones. Bigger feelings like sadness are easier to notice.
On Friday night we had a picnic, played tag and watched a movie and had microwaved s'mores and pizza since it was raining outside.
We made up a skit about Grimm’s Fairy Tales that we will perform on Saturday night.
Peace in motion,
Josh, Emily, Vivian, Eric, Morgan, Kieren, Callum, Gillie, Mia, David, Simon, Evelyn, Chris
Minute: We enjoyed the delightful presentation of the excellent and thoughtful Junior Yearly Meeting report. Thank you for giving us so much joy, and thanks also to your leaders who have been with you this week. Once again Junior Yearly Meeting has taught us how a yearly meeting can go. We appreciate their patient teaching.
It has been lifted up for us the possibility of finding ways for the youth of IYMC and North Carolina Yearly Meeting (Conservative) to stay in communication with each other through the year, and someday even visit one another.
Junior Yearly Meeting
Iowa Yearly Meeting (Conservative)
8th Month 4, 2012
This year at Junior Yearly Meeting we have six kids. They are Morgan Cripps, Gillie Quee, Eric Horein , Chris Gauder, David Rhoades, Reader Laughlin Warren. The main adults are Jean Sandstrom, Deb Fink, and Carol Gilbert.
On Fourth Day we decided to take turns being clerk and set our agenda for the afternoon. We heard Bible verses and stories, including one about the Peaceable Kingdom and one about the Raccoon and the Eagle. After hearing a story about the God Seed, which is a seed that God puts in every baby that’s born, we made people out of cardboard. The people’s faces were photographs of ourselves that Jeff Kisling made for us.
We had several other guests who helped us. Dan Treadway took us for a story walk in the graveyard where we found the graves of people in the stories he told. Sandy Robson from FCNL taught us how the people in Washington, DC spend our money, and we talked about how we would divide the money pie. We made pie charts with pictures. Patricia Morrison, a singer and storyteller who visited from Mountain View Meeting, talked to us about stories and helped us tell our own stories. Gillie’s mom, Jenny Schmidt, helped us make two giant trays of lemon bars out of real lemons that we squeezed ourselves and eggs we cracked ourselves, with some help.
We hunted for apples in the orchard but didn’t find any. Fortunately there were a few on the farm that Gillie’s dad Mark Quee found for us. We used those, and peaches from the store, to make two delicious pies.
Every afternoon we played water games to keep cool. It was fun to fill balloons, throw water on each other, and play games like relays and tag with wet sponges. The water felt good, and if someone didn’t want water thrown on them, we didn’t do it. In the evenings, we played in the game room and watched a movie.
Friday night we camped at the Scattergood pond, roasted marshmallows, and visited the singing in the meeting house before we got in our tents and listened to stories until we fell asleep. On Saturday we went swimming at a public pool.
Love,
Junior Yearly Meeting
Iowa Yearly Meeting (Conservative)
Minute: There are no words to describe how much we love hearing from Junior Yearly Meeting. We appreciated the very interesting report and are glad you shared it with us. We also especially enjoyed the lemon bars you made for us. We deeply appreciate the Friends who worked with Junior Yearly Meeting. They did a lot of really cool things!
July 30, 2011
Dear Friends:
We are a small group this year, with four most of the time and three others participating part of the time. But we’ve done a lot. We have made little wooden boats, played the Yoga Garden Game. During The Yoga Garden Game we learned different yoga poses. The music visitor, Bill, brought his banjo and played different songs. We went to the Scattergood
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Farm, there were lots of animals and hay bales to jump on. We learned these testimonies: equality, peace, stewardship, integrity, community and simplicity. Integrity means let your life speak. Your outer self reflects your inner self. Stewardship means protecting and caring for the earth. At Scattergood we eat a lot of food that is grown in the garden here. It has been hot here this summer. Only one place here has air conditioning, so we stayed cool by swimming in the pond and sitting in front of fans. We had a lot of fun at Scattergood, especially swimming in the pond. When we were at the pond we tried out the wooden boats that we made. On our camping trip we found a toad and cricket and made s’mores.
In Friendship,
Junior Yearly Meeting of
Iowa Yearly Meeting (Conservative)
Minute: The Junior Yearly Meeting stood courageously while their good report was read. We very much enjoyed hearing it and getting a chance to know them a little bit when they introduced themselves. We look forward to getting to know them more and more in the years ahead. Our thanks go to their loving leaders.
July 31, 2010
Dear Friends,
At Junior Yearly Meeting, we had a total of 12 children participating, but not all at once! This year there were five six-year olds.
A clerk visited our business meeting and showed us how Friends make decisions. We practiced making decisions in a way that makes everybody happy even though we don’t always get everything we want.
We talked about “Tapping into God’s Love” like a tree gets water from its roots and we get sap from maple trees. Then we made a tree from paper maché, adding more branches each day.
The Young Friends joined us in tie-dying cloth napkins. We also made steel drums, dipped candles, and pancakes.
We played games like Ladder Ball, Capture the Flag and Bat-Wad. A guest came and taught us how to do yoga, and we taught her some new “yoga moves” that we made up. Another guest helped us learn percussive hand games.
We went swimming in the Scattergood Friends School Pond and roasted marshmallows at a campfire there, even though it was raining a little. It was perfect for telling ghost stories.
In Friendship,
IYMC Junior Yearly Meeting
Minute: We listened carefully and with delight to the report presented to us by the Junior Yearly Meeting Friends. We notice and appreciate how Junior Yearly Meeting welcomes newcomers in their group. We see the benefits of JYM, not only at the end of the week when we hear their report, but also during the year and in the years to come. We recognize all the loving work that goes into preparing and leading JYM youth. We thank the leaders and the youth for all they teach us. We especially thank Emma Deutsch and Carol Gilbert for their faithful service, as well as their many helpers.
August 2, 2009
Dear Junior Yearly Meeting Friends Everywhere,
Hello! This is Iowa Yearly Meeting‘s Junior Yearly Meeting; we are at Scattergood Friend‘s School near West Branch, Iowa, and our topic is ―Making Peace with the Food we Eat‖. Our age group is 5-13. We have done a lot of fun things this week like swimming with the Young Friends (high school and college age) at Scattergood pond, Fawcett pond, and Tipton public pool, where we had ice cream. We‘ve done a lot of food activities including making Claydough (edible Playdoh), shucking 200 ears of Scattergood-grown corn for dinner, and making apples into fruit leather. We talked about the Bible in terms of food, like the story of how Jesus fed 5000 people with only a little bread and fish, but had leftovers that were more than the original amount of food. We also talked about a few other stories from the Bible. We played some games with the Young Friends like Mao, Wink, Capture the Flag, Kung Fu, Pool, Air Hockey, Foosball, and Ping-Pong. We learned many things about agriculture from Scattergood farm manager Mark Quee, from Kathleen Plunkett-Black who threshed rye for us that she grew, and from visiting the Scattergood Farm. We also had a campout and ate S‘mores. We also did fun activities like playing with a parachute, making card houses, and doing a scavenger hunt. We went to meeting for worship every morning for about half an hour with adult friends. Finally, on Saturday night we had a great talent show with a lot of different acts.
This week, we learned a lot about, Food, Friends, and Farming. We can‘t wait till next year!
In Friendship,
Emily Rhodes, David Rhodes, Vivian Crowal, Thomas Greenler, Alejandro Rubinstein-Nadeau, Jonah Kruse, Elise and Bobby, Darby Ahouse, Oonagh Ahouse and Gillie Rose Quee
Minute: We listened with joy to the delightful epistle/report prepared and presented by Junior Yearly Meeting Friends. There were twelve children participating this year. It has been refreshing to witness the energy of these younger Friends this week. We appreciate the gifts that leaders Penny Majors and Carol Gilbert bring to their work with this group.
August 2, 2008
Dear Friends Everywhere,
The Junior Yearly Meeting group of Iowa Yearly Meeting, Conservative has been doing many fun activities this year! We are six kids and two adults, with other adults helping out during the week. We are from ages seven to eleven years old. On Wednesday, we had a lot of fun with water balloons, and we had a business meeting about deciding how we wanted to play with water balloons. We discovered poison ivy near the JYM building. On Wednesday afternoon, we made a big timeline, 1000 feet long, all the way across the Scattergood campus.
We have been talking about our ancestors. We made family trees and talked to our parents about our grandparents, aunts, uncles and other family members. Our family members who lived 100 years ago lived much differently than we do. We made bread by hand and dipped candles in wax. This is different than what we do at home. We were making bread the way our ancestors made bread and apple pie. You can make light by a candle. We also worked to find our Inner Light. We cranked an ice cream maker to make some very rich ice cream.
We all went to a concert by John McCutcheon. He threw a baseball to one of us and autographed it. He talked to some of us. We listened to a story about the girl who wanted to squish the ant, and the ant started talking to her. The ant argued that she shouldn‘t step on him. Her friends played a game where they stepped on ants, because they ate their picnic food. The ant asked the girl, If you were me and I were you, what would you want me to do?‖
On Friday night, we camped out at the Scattergood farm. We jumped on hay bales, chased chickens and cut wood with a handsaw. We ate hotdogs and waited until we saw three stars to make our ‘smores. We have made many great friendships and are hoping to see each other again next year.
In Friendship,
Iowa Yearly Meeting, Conservative
Junior Yearly Meeting Friends
Minute: We listened carefully to the delightful epistle prepared by Junior Yearly Meeting Friends. We deeply appreciate the loving care with which their leaders give of themselves. We enjoyed hearing all the details of their many activities including about the timeline they created on the campus lawn. Their epistle reminds us of the joys of youth. Though the number of Junior Yearly Meeting Friends is smaller this year, their presence on campus is important, and we have learned from what they have shared with us. No matter our age, we are all a vital part of this blessed community.
July 28, 2007
Ha-ram-bee! That means “let’s pull together” in Swahili. We pulled together and helped build a library in Kenya by raising more than $123 by making and selling homemade cards. The library is a memorial to Esther and Isaac Luvaga. They were the parents of Ebby and grandparents of Faisal Luvaga, who are Friends in Ames Meeting.
We are from Wisconsin, Nebraska, and Iowa. There were 13 of us. We went swimming. We wish we had a big cargo net like the one we heard about in Australia’s Junior Yearly Meeting epistle. We made animation movies on Quaker life, ideas, and beliefs. We played wink, capture the flag, ultimate Frisbee, and extreme “Duck, Duck, Goose”, and went camping.
In Friendship,
Junior Yearly Meeting of Iowa Yearly Meeting Conservative
P.S. You can contribute to the Library fund. Contact Ames Monthly Meeting, 121 South Maple Ave, Ames, IA 50010 USA.
Minute: We listened with love to the report/epistle of the Junior Yearly Meeting. We know that the promptings of the Spirit are available to each of us and we need to pay attention. Our Junior Yearly Meeting Friends have witnessed to us in their faithfulness to acting on the prompting of the Spirit they heard this week. We are moved. We will include their epistle to Friends everywhere with the Yearly Meeting epistles. We thank the leaders of this group for their faithful service
Seventh Month 29, 2006
To Junior Yearly Meeting Friends Everywhere:
We have had a great time here in Junior Yearly Meeting. We met at
Scattergood Friends School in Iowa. Although we meet in Iowa, many of
us are from different states like Wisconsin, Nebraska, Kansas, and of course Iowa.
These are some of the things we did here. We carved stone into animals, went swimming, camping, and played outside. When we got breaks we played pool, ping pong, foosball, squid (it’s like the game octopus), ghost in the graveyard, white wolf, capture the flag, and a lot more.
We talked about miracles and we asked the adults what they thought about miracles, do they believe in miracles, and have they experienced a miracle. One person said that a miracle “is something good that can’t be explained.” Another person said that a miracle in her life was “the birth of my daughter.”
Also we talked about Noah’s ark and we discussed what animals were in it. That’s why we made the stone animals.
From being quiet to loud, games to talking about miracles, we all had fun with each other including time with the Young Friends.
Let God be with us all.
From all of us,
Peace
Danielle Black Eyes, clerk
Chelsea Deutsch, assistant clerk
Jr. Yearly Meeting of Iowa Yearly Meeting (Conservative)
Minute: We listened with joy to the report/epistle of Junior Yearly Meeting Friends. We were told that twenty JYM and Young Friends got up at about 5:00 a.m. to help at the food booth in West Branch, raising funds for various causes as RAGBRAI bicycle riders by the many thousands went through town. We are blessed to have these young Friends worshipping with us each day, working with us at meals, and inspiring us with their energy. We especially thank Bill Deutsch and Penny Majors for their continued JYM leadership. We enjoyed the sculptures of possible Noah’s Ark animals made and displayed by JYM on the clerk’s table.
July 30, 2005
To Junior Yearly Meeting Friends Everywhere,
We thank you for sending your letters and hope you like ours. We have done many things during our week in Yearly Meeting. Our theme this week was shelter. The first activity we did this week was to build bluebird houses to help encourage the bluebird population. Another of our challenging projects included researching what the Bible says about
heaven. We had homework, which was to ask two older Friends what they thought heaven was like.
On Thursday our group built two structures, one larger than the other. The smaller one was a short rock structure that was more like a stool or bench. The largest structure was a lodge or Hogan. We had help from a lady named Lucy. We had to cut down willows surrounding our pond so we could tie them together and bury the ends in the ground. Once we had that done we laid a blanket on the ground and about five blankets on the willows. Our Hogan fit ten people.
In the time that we were making the Hogan, we had a two hour break to swim in the Fawcett’s pond. When we were there, we wrestled, swam, sank a small platform in the middle of the pond, tackled Joseph, and watched the giant catfish eat. They weighed about 30 pounds.
On Friday, we went to Habitat for Humanity, and volunteered to help a family from Sudan. Then later that night we went to the Laughlin’s house for a campout in their yard. It was very fun considering they get their energy from the wind/windmill. While we were there we lit a bonfire in a tree stump, roasted hot dogs, and roasted marshmallows to have in s’mores. In between all our activities, the kids of the Meeting played games, such as ghost-in-the-graveyard, capture the flag, hide and go seek, tag, pool, table hockey, and foosball.
We have had a wonderful time this week and we hope to hear from you next year.
Yours in Friendship,
Junior Yearly Meeting,
Iowa Yearly Meeting (Conservative)
Minute: We listened carefully and with love to the wonderful epistle/report of Junior Yearly Meeting. We really celebrate the presence of our Jr. Yearly Meeting F/friends and the leadership and preparation that makes their week possible. We thank the parents for bringing their children and sharing them with us all. We receive the epistle with joy and it will be sent by the Yearly Meeting clerk in Yearly Meeting’s epistle to Friends everywhere.
July 31, 2004
To Junior Yearly Meetings Everywhere,
More than a dozen kids from three states and from Sweden gathered at Scattergood Friends School near West Branch, Iowa from July 27 through August 1 for Junior Yearly Meeting.
We make a project every year. This year we made walking sticks. People used to travel with walking sticks, used them to tell days, and shepherds used them with sheep. We thing they are actually made for walking. Do you think they could be good for pool sticks? Some people do.
We learned that Bible stories, pictures, people, and walking sticks are not always what they first appear.
We went to Fawcett pond, had a hayrack ride, and fed these enormous catfish. We also did games. We played capture the flag and sang silly songs. We camped at the Laughlin’s farm, and looked at the wind generator and batteries that provide power for their house.
We hope to spend more time with kids just our own age next year. Mostly, though, we want people to know we are grateful for the things that they do for us and for the time we spend together. Signed by the members of Jr. Yearly Meeting
Minute: We listened with joyful hearts to the epistle prepared and read by Jr. Yearly Meeting F/friends. We enjoyed seeing the walking sticks they made during the week and hearing about their many activities. We especially express gratitude to adult Friends who provide leadership and give of the time to JYM. We have noticed the way young F/friends care for each other. It is a good lesson for us.
August 9, 2003
We young Friends of Iowa Yearly Meeting (Conservative) met on and near Scattergood Friends School to do lots of things.
On Wednesday afternoon we started pounding wire to make keys for our thumb pianos. Each person pounded at least three to five keys. The hammering made everyone’s arms sore and the ringing of the hammers on metal made all of our ears ring. They could even be heard from the meetinghouse, which is very far away. But all of the work paid off after the finished keys were put onto the wood frames, and how they sound beautiful.
While we were in meeting for worship, we heard many things such as:
· Little children whispering
· Benches creaking
· Coughing
· People speaking out of the silence
The other day in meeting some of us learned an interesting lesson: things that look or seem ugly can be beautiful because of what they produce.
Some of our favorite Yearly Meeting traditions are: swimming, playing capture the flag, camping, playing in the game room, holding the koosh ball, and the talent show story.
In Friendship,
Junior Yearly Meeting Friends
Minute:
We listened with joy in our hearts to the epistle of the Junior Yearly Meeting, which also serves as their report to us. We very much appreciate the message of our young Friends and the Spirit with which it was presented. We value the time they have given worshipping, working, and playing with us. We also appreciate the good work of the Friends who guide them. We are indeed blessed and we want the children to know we love them very much!