Southern Appalachian Yearly Meeting and Association (SAYMA)

of the Religious Society of Friends

PO Box 2191 Abingdon VA 24212-2191 276-628-5852 AdrninAsst@saynia.org

2001Young Friends Epistle

This year has been a time of solid love and commitment. We began our journey in August with a Nurturing and Steering Committee retreat. Together we focused on the query "How can we encourage positive interactions within our community?"

Our next retreat, which was for all members of the SA YF group, was in September and was held in West Knoxville. We volunteered at a local homeless shelter and spend quiet time in outdoors worship sharing.

In October we gathered at Penn Center for our annual retreat of bonding with the islanders and helping them beautify their community areas. It was a weekend of enjoyable work followed by a potluck organized by the local people and a joint talent show.

In November we met in Asheville for a weekend of relaxation and self-expression. To achieve our goal, we bathed in natural hot springs and played games with the focus of self-expression.

Chapel Hill hosted our next retreat in January. Over the weekend we participated in workshops on human rights and interrupting violence.

Next the Nurturing and Steering Committees met in Columbia, South Carolina to discuss how the year was progressing and we planned our retreat schedule for the upcoming year.

In March we gathered in Asheville once again. This time we went to a shelter for battered women and children. There we cleared space for a garden and playground, painted a building and helped organize their thrift shop.

Our last retreat was in April at Hard Labor Creek State Park in Georgia. We enjoyed a weekend focused around conflict resolution. We had an afternoon of activities on the theme, then a heart circle and drum circle around a bonfire.

Now, here we are at SA YMA Yearly Meeting. Throughout this weekend we have joined the wider

SA YMA community for workshops and inspirational speakers. In addition we had our own workshops on yoga and an energy workshop with John Calvi. We held a graduation ceremony for our seven seniors and together shared an emotional night of reminiscing and farewells.

Together we completed another successful year of spiritual growth and community. Thank you for supporting us in our efforts to grow with you all.

SA YMA Junior Yearly Meeting 2001 Epistle

Junior Yearly Meeting coordinator Georgi Schmitt presented the epistle below, as children joyfully displayed full- body silhouettes, action drawings with feelings, and a hand garland. They sang a song and closed by sharing their individual highlights: building boats, splat ball (baseball with oranges), kick the can with Phil (Neal), Quaker ball, juggling, candle making and calligraphy.

Our theme was Friendship. The theme's connecting link to Yearly Meeting was the aspects of friendship that lead us to being whole.

Every morning started with Meeting for Worship followed by the "Squeeze Game." On Day One we discussed the appropriate or not appropriate squeeze after group prayer. Some comments by the children: "Sometimes it stops my prayer," and "It lets us know when we're finished."

During the course of our time together we: juggled, played games with Susan Penn and Virginia and David Wood, sang, listened to stories, swam, drew action body figures, outlined our friends, made candles and boats and then sailed the boats on the pond. Some of us did calligraphy. We all played Splat Ball and most joined in Quaker Ball.

Budding caring and friendships and discussions emerged as Nicholas took Irina's hand to help her stay with the group as they hiked to the farm. Children spoke of the death penalty: "I don't think the death penalty is right but I think it's better than dying in a cage." "We are friends because we stick together even when we're mad." Some of the highlights of the weekend were expressed by the children as part of the final session.

Spiritual balance, friendship and caring--all aspects of wholeness--all parts of Junior Yearly Meeting 2001.

Junior Yearly Meeting Friends offered the following epistle of advice to grown-ups.

--Don't try so hard to have fun. You don't have to spend a lot of money. You don't have to have lots of fancy stuff. Just go in the back yard and play with your kids.

--Show your emotions. Kids show emotions a lot more than grown ups.

--Don't read boring books.

--Don't lose your sense of humor.

--Don't judge things by how exotic and fancy they are. We should judge things by how fun they are. If you didn't come into the world to have fun, what did you come into the world for?

--Don't spray paint unless it's for a good cause.

--Don't kill something just to have something dead on your scavenger list.

--Use your resources wisely. --Take a day off.

--Don't punch anyone.

--Violence isn't cool or entertaining.

--The death penalty is just killing more people.

--What's the use of killing more people in Afghanistan than were ever killed in New York?

--War is pointless because violence just causes more violence.

--Don't plan to bomb Memphis because some of us live in Memphis.

--Try not to waste food.

--Don't put your toxic waste in other countries.

--Don't incinerate nerve gas -it goes into the air and lands on people (like me).

--Why the heck are you building nuclear warheads if you say you are not going to use them?

--Don't bomb other places because God has a reason for making them.