On Friday night the St. Peter ACYOA youth of Watervliet, NY, had a 1/2 Lock-In from 7pm to Midnight.
It was an action packed 5 hours! The young adults made a delicious spaghetti and meatball dinner with all the trimmings, salad, sauce and garlic bread. They broke bread and shared friendship. During the dinner, the ACYOA group discussed their upcoming 3rd Sunday schedule for November and December, which includes bowling and the traditional homemade Christmas cookie making for shut-ins. Plans were discussed for January, when the youth are planning a parish-wide Scavenger Hunt as a fundraiser for the Church's capital campaign and front entryway project.
A fun ice-breaker activity was led by the Chair, Tanya Tutunjian, where everyone had to guess a fun fact about each person in the group. Creative answers made it difficult to get the correct answers!
At 10pm, the youth went to the local Price Chopper in Watervliet and played Der Hayr's Grocery Games. The ACYOA members broke up into 3 groups. Each group was given 15 minutes and 20 dollars to purchase food for a local shelter. The guidelines included, purchasing the most amount of food, the most nutritious and not going over budget. A few twists and turns during the 15 minutes made it quite the challenge. Thanks to Price Chopper for allowing Fr. Stepanos to use the store's microphone system, and for being patient with 12 youth cruising through isles with carts and food.
After arriving back at church, each group presented their purchases and strategies hoping their group were crowned the winners. The real winners are those in need, who will be fed the plentiful food that was purchased.
Ice-cream and donuts were eaten and enjoyed by all and closing out the evening was a discussion led by Fr. Stepanos about "Fighting off the Evil One." The section of the Armenian baptism service about the Renunciation of Satan was read and then discussed. Each young person, using their cell phones, researched the definitions of the devil's tricks found in the renunciation section of the baptism service, namely, the devil's deceit, his wiles, his counsels, his goings, his evil will, his evil angels, his evil ministers, his evil agents and his every evil power. Together we read the prayer and renounced the evil one. Each youth took home those prayers to read, especially over the next few weeks.
The evening concluded with the reading from the 1 Peter 5:8-11 "Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings. And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen.
A fun and enlightening evening was had by all!