While summer heats things up here in the Phoenix area, we haven’t let it slow us down one bit!
For the young people at our local, it’s been a busy past few months! The Intermediate and Junior Young Peoples enjoyed a trip to the McCormick-Stillman Railroad Park on April 21st. Everyone had a great time, as there were several rides to be enjoyed as well as a huge indoor model train museum.
A salsa competition was hosted on May 5th to benefit the Young People’s groups and help fund activities. Many delicious and unique salsas were shared to be tasted, voted upon and, ultimately, complement a huge Mexican dinner prepared by our youth. Jared Ely won first place, with Easton Yates scoring second place and Amy Kimball coming in at third.
On June 16th, the Young People and Intermediate Young People had an exciting afternoon of laser tag (their choice)! It was a sizable group with 14 kids total. They certainly got the chance to burn off a little extra energy!
We were blessed with the baptism of Alexis and Jeremiah Bartlett on the morning of June 17, and Logan Jacobsen, who was baptized on June 3rd at the Washington retreat, also received the warm hugs and welcomes of the congregation later that evening. It’s always such a great blessing to witness God’s people make their decision to follow the Lord and receive His spirit, especially the little ones! 
Vacation Church School was held the week of June 24th here at the Phoenix local. It was a busy and exciting time for all of those involved, with 34 kids in attendance ages 3-15, and a total of 6 classes. Topics included: virtues, Book of Mormon heroes, parables, the structure of the church, and remaining faithful. Outside of class, the kids got to enjoy making edible crafts and enjoyed lots of pool time! The week ended with a Sunday evening program on July 1st, and the kids were rewarded afterwards with root beer floats for their hard work.
Let’s be sure to remember those that need our prayers and are facing important life decisions, health concerns, and other struggles. The ways in which we have been blessed are too many to count, but we still continue to face challenges every day that we need to seek God’s guidance for, that we might better know the path to take which best glorifies Him.
God Bless,
Katie Ely
