Message from the Director

Getting to the end of the term is quite an achievement. There's been a lot work, a lot effort, and perhaps as the old saying goes - a lot of blood, sweat and tears.It is good to take a breather! Rest and recuperate. Enjoy and relax. No bells or sirens. No assessments and no deadlines. Just breathe! You made it!

Take time to switch off and just be. Maybe even smell some roses. But whatever you do, also be thankful. We have so many reasons to be, as we live in a beautiful city with so many freedoms. A really good way to show gratefulness is to hang out with people who will join you appreciating all that God has given us. So whilst enjoying the break from school, check out all that is going on across our city within the 24:7 YM network these holidays.

So go on, live freely for God, Full On, Full Time, All the Time and we'll see you at a youth group somewhere!

Last week we had the great opportunity to minister to the following schools and parishes with a packed week:
Salvado Catholic College : Byford - Led by the Spirit Confirmation Retreat
St Peter's Catholic Primary School : Inglewood - Forgive & Forgiven Reconciliation Retreat
Star of the Sea Catholic Primary School : Rockingham - Led by the Spirit Confirmation Retreat
St Jerome's Catholic Primary School : Munster - Led by the Spirit Confirmation Retreat
St Dominic's School : Innaloo - Reconciliation Parent Workshop
Mandurah Catholic College : Stewards of Creation Retreat : Over Two Days
Servite College : Stewards of Creation Retreat : Over Two Days

Last Sunday 24:7 Applecross saw another AWESOME night full of games, laughter and food! We started off the night with some vibey ping pong, games of UNO, basketball, footy and soccer. Our MC's Ellena and Jerome warmed us up with an exciting game of 'Kitty Wants a Chair'. The young people and leaders had to move to a different chair when someone looked at them, trying to rush before someone stole it! We then shared some delicious food as we had fellowship time. We then transitioned into the last night of our term theme 'Breaking the Ice', where Daniel gave a testimony about his encounter with God, and breaking obstacles to form a better relationship with God. We were led by Ellena and Jerome with reflective praise and worship as we entered into a time of prayer, with a box for prayer intentions, and an interactive activity where we wrote and glued any obstacles in our life to a cross, symbolising us letting go and giving to Jesus. We are SUPER DUPER keen to see everyone again for our end of term games night celebration! Also, iStand is coming up Oct 1-3 for Years 9-12, so talk to Ellena or Daniel if you want to join!

Last week at 24:7 Balcatta we had a break from all the talk to discuss everything we have learnt over the past term. The night started with a new game, the was pretty much the opposite to limbo. Everyone started on one side of the rope, that was about 1.5m high, and had to get to the other side without going under the rope, around the rope, or touching the rope! Some very interesting ideas were developed. We then moved on to play kitty wants a chair. For the content of the night, we each got into small groups, where we discussed several questions about talks we have heard from across the term, finishing it off with a big group discussion. Join us next week for our encounter night!

24:7 Ballajura Youth Group had an absolute banger of a night last Sunday! Our evening began with the all-time classic "Card Rugby" - a game of strategy and speed, where teams had to race to find a particular card in a scattered deck, and stealthily get it to their team's goal - without getting discovered and tagged by the opposing team! This was followed by good old fashioned 'Octopus', which had us all out of breath! After this, we had a talk from Angela, which concluded our term's Gospel Message theme by examining the life of Saint Peter. We discussed how Peter sometimes struggled to live out the Gospel message (#relatable), but how ultimately though the grace of God he was able to overcome these hurdles, and live out the Gospel message. We examined ways that we could overcome these same struggles, just like Peter did. Lastly, we had a time of reflective praise and worship led by the very talented musician Stefan, in which we had the opportunity to respond to the term theme and reflect on how we can live out the Gospel message more fully in our own lives. We look forward to seeing you in two weeks time (October 3rd) for an epic games night to celebrate the holidays!

Last youth group at 24:7 Bassendean we finished our theme of community in Christ with some games, food and a talk from Xavier. We talked about how we are all involved in communities throughout our lives and Christ is always calling us to be involved in His community. We talked about how in the book of Acts, the apostles are brought together as the early church and how we are all called to be part of that same church and to be in relationship with Christ and one another. Next youth group we have a games night planned for our school holidays event!!

Last week at 24:7 Floreat it was our final night of content for theme #BLESSED. Joe Phillips gave his testimony about suffering persecution on his faith journey. The young people were then given a time to reflect on all the beatitudes that they had been learning about over the past term, and where God could encouraging them to grow in a particular beatitude. Next week we will be have an epic games night to celebrate the start of school HOLIDAYS!! The night will be filled with fun games, challenges, awesome prizes and have a quirky theme. Stay tuned to find out more in the email and Instagram to see the reveal of our fun night theme.

Last Sunday was a very chill but still exciting night at 24:7 Greenwood. With free time taken up by lots of dancing, netball, basketball, handball, and UNO, which always gets everyone pumped for the crazy night ahead, we then had delicious food. After eating all the delicious food that everyone brought, we kicked off the night with some sneaky Spotlight. The Greenwood Ninjas blended so well in the dark, we were able to play for ages where eventually Max and Cat needed help to find everyone by enlisting a mini ninja army. In other words, we played: Gang up Spotlight Tag. It was so much fun!!! After everyone was sufficiently out of breath we then headed into a chill Arts and Crafts activity where we all drew our favourite Saint and wrote why or how they demonstrated "Greater Love" which beautifully wrapped up our term theme. Join us the next few weeks for our special nights of the Holidays! Next week on the 26th of September we have our Greatest Love night! Which will be truly spectacular with lots of surprises, prizes, games, live music and so much more. Then the next week on the 3rd of October we have our CHAOTIC CARNIVAL!!! Where we will have live music, dancing, eating contests, games, prizes, and so many surprises! We can't wait to see you all there!!

24:7 Nedlands had a great time on Friday! Beginning the evening with Dodgeball and Wall Tag, we were successfully warmed up for "The Worm Olympics" - which was a crazy competition of real-life (human) worms rolling, prancing, jumping and more across the room in a relay-style race. It was truly a momentous spectacle, with our inaugural Worm Champions blowing the competition out of the water with their speed and superb form. After we settled down from such lofty heights of worm-petition, we heard from guest speaker Elysha, who spoke to us about Eucharistic miracles! We learned so much from Elysha as she walked us through what the Eucharist really is, how the Church verifies a miracle and shared with us some amazing stories about the Eucharist! On Sunday we also had our parish morning tea - a big thanks to everyone who came along -and make sure to register for our upcoming holiday events!!

Last Friday at 24:7 Ossy Park we had an amazing night starting with the rope game where we had to work as a team to get each member of our youth group over a rope. We then went on to play a fan favourite, death ball. We then had a talk from Sam who spoke about a miracle that occurred through prayer at the start of this year. We focussed on the power in praying with expectation. Next week we have our annual youth group talent show. Make sure you don’t miss out it’s going to be a good one. Can’t wait to see you there!!

Last week at 24:7 Servite we played some absolute banger games - Everyone's It, and Sleeping Lions, which featured the Nokia ringtone!? We also had the Year 8’s Stewards of Creation retreat, and it was sensational to see a few faces after the retreat day at youth group as well! Next week, we are looking forward to our talent show! Make sure you get in touch with any acts that you have in mind, and get practicing for what will be a sensational afternoon, and a great way to wrap up the term!!

It was such an awesome time in the South last Friday as 47 awesome young people gathered for our Encounter Night! We had 5 amazing new people to welcome first to kick things off before a game of Categories which had everyone running about the circle of chairs. To follow up we had the Crazy Ball Game which was like Piggy in the Middle with chairs and lots of fun chaos! It was then time to move over to the chapel where we had former Volunteer Leader Syona Fernandez share so beautifully with us on: Who does God say I am? Fr Pier then led us into a really special time of Adoration which was a moving experience for us all. Be sure to join us next week as we have the Youth Mission Team joining us to wrap up our term theme of Identity!!

Last week at 24:7 Subi was a certified banger. We had 15 young people of the highest quality battling it out in some awesome games. Starting off the night we had Soccer Bucket which had what some would call the greatest keep it up game ever. We then moved inside to play a game of Commando, a Subi classic which had people ducking and dodging to hide. We then played a quick game of Protect the President which was a great game of throwing balls and hoping that the president gets hit. Finishing off the night with a game of Have you Been Paying Attention, which was hilarious as the young people battled it out for recent trivia and songs. It was an awesome night and keen to celebrate more at this coming youth group!!

We kicked off the night by playing a 24:7 Whitfords favourite, Categories. This game consistently starts the night super hyped and never fails to get the crowd young or older young to be crazy energetic. We then debuted for the first time Pool Noodle Hockey, where the young people are split into two teams and have to smack a ball with a pool noodle into the oppositions goal. As whack as this game sounds, everyone's competitive side comes to the surface. The last game we played was a quick round of Commando we're everyone had test their sneaking and agile ninja skills to avoid being seen by the Commando. The talk was focusing on day 6 and 7, relating to our term theme creation appreciation. The talk was given by our very own student leader Trinity, who very eloquently and enthusiastically discussed how God created the pinnacle of his creation through us, mankind. She explained how we should appreciate being created through always honouring God on Sunday, the day of rest. Next Youth Group we'll be testing the knowledge of the young people from all the previous talks, 1st, 2nd and 3rd and more prizes will definitely be up for grabs!!