On Mondays we want to feature music posts. Today we’re rolling out the recurring series we are calling “Element Sunday Mixtape.” Yesterday’s message was on the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead in John 11. With Covid-19 bringing the reality of death much closer to home and to everyone’s consciousness, it was a timely message. Our Lazarus playlist has songs to remind us about the amazing good news that Jesus is the cure to our biggest problem, sin and death.
Welcome to our new and improved blog, where we hope to keep everyone connected with one another and with God. We miss seeing all of you, and hope that this forum can be a way to share some encouragement, food for thought, and some laughs too! **Looking forward to hearing from student voices too, so let us know in the comments if you’d want to be a writer!
Hope everyone’s doing OK at home, keeping healthy and staying positive during this truly unprecedented time. One of the things we’re going to start is having Music Mondays. We’ll either post about a song, a playlist related to our Sunday message or devotions, or some combination of those. I realize today is Friday, but wanted to kick off our new and improved website with our Shelter in Place playlist. These are some of the songs that have been keeping us positive!
What have you been listening to while at home these days? Tell us in the comments and we can add to our playlist!
It’s been a few weeks since we’ve been able to meet together in person for Element. Looking through the photos from Plastic Olympics 2.0 made me miss the times when we could roll dice side by side, pull boogers out of a guy’s nose, and yes…fight over flying…well, you know what I’m talking about if you were there. If you weren’t there, here are some pictures to remind us of the times before social distancing was our reality. Miss all of you guys!
Look at how many people of different households were gathered together in a room. Something I took for granted.
Fun fact: Roy actually has a can of Lysol Disinfectant Spray in his pocket. He sanitized every piece of the game between each round. Thanks for keeping us safe, Roy!
Who knew that just a couple of weeks after this picture was taken, I would say, “Wow, I wish I could pull a booger out of Louie’s nose with the Element MSers…”
Oh poo…no, really…poo. But seriously, this was a fun night.
Walking down memory lane from just a couple weeks ago makes me realize just how much has changed in such a short time. But there are a lot of things that haven’t changed at all. I’m thankful that we’re still able to connect and be there for one another through zoom meet-ups and even church online.
Hope to see a 3-D version of you soon!
After several false starts, Element MS went ice skating! Here are some highlights…
Michell! 😂 (Check out Timmy’s laser focused concentration.)
Is Chris just posing, or are he and Jonathan about to race?
Who said those seals are only for little kids?
Check out the skating form. Full extension will come in handy for the seal race.
Friends: united we skate… (alone we fall, but I’m not posting any of those photos!)
Bunny ears never get old.
No segregation monster here!
No outing is complete without the group photo!
The beginning of the year is often a time for us to look back at the past year, and think ahead to the new one. What do we want to leave behind in 2019? What are we looking forward to in 2020? What are our hopes and prayers for the new year? And in this case, the new decade as well.
We went to Land’s End in San Francisco, and visited the Labyrinth there…we’ll let the pictures tell the story…
What better way to start off the new year than with friends!
Heading down to the Labyrinth
What an awesome sight — middle schoolers reflecting on the past year while engaging in the contemplative practice of walking a labyrinth.
A moment to look out into the vast ocean and talk to God in prayer.
Element MS is ready for you, 2020!
This weekend at Element MS, we went on a one-day trip to Sierra Lodge! We spent most of the day kayaking at Lake Spaulding. Can’t wait until next time. Hope to see you there! Click here for more photos.
Hi Wesley! :)
Bull’s-eye!
The trip wouldn’t be complete without a group picture!
[Cheesy captions courtesy of Emily Kim]
Last Sunday we welcomed our new friends from ImpACT MS, who will be joining the Element MS family. We wanted to make the kick-off Sunday kind of special, and it was neat to see students working hard to cook an amazing meal, think of fun activities and games, prepare to emcee the day, and more! As you can see from the photos, people had a blast. The food truck competition was a surprise hit, too. We’re looking forward to getting to know one another better in the weeks to come! Click here for more photos.
Our 6th grade game masters for the day!
A mixture of surprise, delight, and lots of laughter.
The popular “Seoul Food” food truck. Notice the card reader with chip and slide options.
The veggie skewers were surprisingly popular, and not just with the adults. Phew!
The overall design winner was the “Dumpling Express” food truck. The dumplings were popular too…one customer even tried to come back in disguise because he had been turned away for buying too many!
There were cheers and jubilation all around!
As we ended summer break, we held our annual summer retreat. We went ziplining, played archery tag, had an awesome praise band, and studied God‘s word. It was a great way to kick off the school year because we had lots of sessions (led by Roy) where we were able to remember God’s love for each one of us, as we prepared for a new school year.
The most memorable illustration for me was about Blondin, a famous tightrope walker. Everyone believed he could carry someone across the Niagara Falls on his back, but no one was willing to actually do it. This reminds me that following Jesus is more than just words. It means actually acting on those words.
Here are some photo highlights from the summer camp, which we should go back to calling a retreat, since that’s what we all call it anyway. :)
We had awesome praise sessions thanks to the Element HS band!
Archery Tag was fun, safe, and sweaty!
We had solo times to reflect on the messages we heard.
(Traditional group photo.) We can all agree that Ember had the best flag. Haha!
Bye! Hope to see you next year!
As they near the end of middle school, the 8th graders went on a special 8th grade outing with their small groups! We did everything from camping and hiking to playing volleyball at the beach, making time capsules, and even watching End Game!
Some of our friends have been joining us for Flex Friday!
