June 2016

Salute to St. Luke's 2016 Seniors!

Laine Fletcher is graduating from Lowndes High School as an honors student. Laine has been involved in many school activities, including the Beta Club and the Drama Club. Her junior year, she was her Thespian troupe's secretary, and her senior year she was the drama club and Thespian troupe president. She was cast in every production at her school all four years, and she even directed her own musical review her senior year. Laine has been attending St.Luke's since she was a child, and she has been an acolyte as well as a lector for the nine o'clock service. Laine will be attending Lagrange College in the fall and will be majoring in musical theatre and minoring in biology. She is excited to begin this new chapter of her life and is thankful for her loving and supportive St. Luke's family.

Raymond Mickel’s family is blessed to an-nounce the graduation of Raymond Mickel from Branford High School. This milestone did not come easy. Raymond was confronted with several challeng-ing hurdles that he has successfully navigated while maintaining focus on the need to help others with a similar plight.
As you are aware, Raymond was diagnosed with Leukemia at a very young age and went through nearly 3 years of treatment. Cancer has extremely negative short term and long term side effects on the body, but it can also damage the family unit. But through it all Raymond rose like a Phoenix, with God's help, and continued moving forward.

In 2nd grade Raymond started to ride his bike to help other children and families going through Leukemia. After 10 years, he and his brother Colby have ridden their bikes hundreds of miles on the bike trails of North Florida, and raised over $10,000 for Leukemia research. Raymond absorbs all expenses for his rides, which equates to 100 percent of all donations going straight to L.L.S. While going through treatments at Shands, Raymond always requested glow sticks, so he could hang them on his IV pole. Raymond still goes up to the fourth floor at Shands, and hands out glow sticks to all the kids. They are still a very valued commodity. The kids there still love talking to someone who has gone through hard times, and they also get to clearly see that cancer does not stunt your growth.

Raymond thanks everyone at St. Luke’s for ALL you have done for him. He is blessed to be a life long member of St. Luke’s and a “ Cradle” Episcopalian. Raymond was Baptized at St. Luke’s on 06/26/1999, received his first communion on 02/04/2007, began his Acolyte duties on 02/11/2007, and started assisting his Grandmother as Usher on 05/07/2008. He was Confirmed on 04/17/2016 with his brother Colby. He is in awe that so many great people truly care about him, and his future.
He will be attending Santa Fe College in the Fall, but is undecided on a major.

Blake Ulmer will graduate, with honors and a scholar diploma, from Suwannee High School on June 4, 2016. He is the son of Jeremy and Julie Ulmer and grandson of George and Joan Blake and is a lifelong member of St. Luke’s. While at St. Luke’s he has participated in many youth group activities including being the Easter Bunny and attending Happening #131.
As a very active student at Suwannee High School, Blake played basketball all 4 years earning a varsity letter 3 years and serving as team captain 2 years. He received the academic award for basketball 4 years, was named the 2016 Defensive player of the year, was named to the 2015 Gainesville Sun All Area basketball team honorable mention and selected for the State of Florida All Star team by Down Under Sports.

He serves on the Board of Directors for Interact, is a member of the Beta Club and was selected as 2015 Beta Club Sweetheart. He is also a member of National Honor Society, National Society of High School Scholars, HOSA and the Class of 2016 Spirit Committee. Blake attended the Congress of Future Medical Leaders in Washington D.C. to receive The National Academy of Future Physicians and Medical Scientists Award of Excel-lence. He will complete the Allied Health Medical Academy at SHS, where he will earn an industry certification as a Certified Nursing Assistant.  

He has earned a Bright Futures Scholarship, was a finalist for the Marvin Jones Scholarship and has been offered academic scholarships to Jacksonville University and Florida Southern College. Blake plans on Majoring in Biology and Pre Med. His goal is to become an orthopedic physician.



May 2016

DINNER ANGELS!

Many thanks to the many angels who provide delicious meals for our Youth each Wednesday!t

Our youth group did a great job conducting the Wednesday night service at St. Luke's!
Many thanks to DEACON PHYLLIS for assisting the children.

June 2015

Youth Group AttendsFSU Baseball Game

On May 9th, the Youth Group traveled to Tallahassee for a rain date makeup game, because the got rained out in April when they went to Tallahassee to serve at Grace Mission. They were to attend the game after a morning at Grace Mission, but the original plans had to be can-celled due to the weather. A great time was had by all!

Go Noles! 

February 2015 

Youth Ski Trip 

In the words of the youth attending “The youth ski trip was a fantabulous experience!” The youth who went on the ski trip were Cameron Simpson, Talynn Cameron, Emily Boggus, Andrew Boggus, Bryan Turnan, and Madison Carroll. The group departed St. Luke’s at 6:30 AM on Friday January 16th taking advantage of a holi-day weekend. They joined other youth from around the diocese and boarded the charter bus at Diocesan House in Jacksonville. They enjoyed two full days skiing at Cataloochee Ski Area and stayed at the Blue Ridge Assembly YMCA lodge. They left North Carolina on Monday morning , returning to Live Oak in the early evening. No broken bones, some bruises and sore muscles were the result of a great time had by all. St. Luke’s Youth had the opportunity to meet and get to know many youth from other churches from around the Diocese and to make lasting friendships. A big thanks to the chaperones and all who made this trip possible, especially Livesay Boggus, who kept the group on task and on time, with everyone having fun all the while!

For January 2015

Youth Ski Trip
The St. Luke's youth and adult sponsors will be traveling to Black Mountain, North Carolina, on Friday, January 16th, along with youth and adults from all over the Diocese of Florida. They will be traveling by chartered bus and staying at the YMCA Blue Ridge Assembly. We have eight youth and adults participating in this trip.

Please keep them in your prayers for a safe and wonderful experience which will strengthen our Diocese and build life long friendships. They will be returning home on Monday January 29th. The youth sold tote bags and earned enough to off set their ski trip costs by $100 each and Father Don is also matching what was earned to further reduce individual costs of the trip. A special thanks to Sheila Bouchard for helping with the sales.

 

St. Luke's Youth Group Takes to Slopes!

 ---- Left to Right: Lindsey Brothers, Laine Fletcher, Live-say Boggus,Brittany Turnan, Emily Pfender, not pictured are chaperones Tammy Williams and Elaine Fletcher

 ***Five members of the St. Luke’s Senior High Youth Group joined the youth from five other churches in the Diocese of Florida on the 1st Annual Diocesan Ski Trip. One hundred and twenty-two youth plus adult chaperones traveled in three buses to Ghent, WV to ski and snow tube over the Martin Luther King Holiday. Not only did everyone have a great time, but had the opportunity to worship and participate in fellowship together. Hopefully this will be the first of many such trips. Our  youth now turn their attentions to plan-ning a mission trip to Cuba in the future.

END OF YEAR CELEBRATION YOUTH PARTY AT THE SIMPSONS

A great time was had by all. Leaders Hal and Janet Airth thank the Simpsons for sharing their home and being a wonderful host and hostess. By unanimous decision, they were named they were given the Dinner Angel of the week award. Although totally unexpected, the Airth’s greatly appreciated the thank you card and gift and expressed what a joy and a pleasure it has been working with these wonderful and talented young people.

Raymond & Colby’s 2015 Ride for Cancer 

The boy’s completed their 2015 Ride For Cancer on Saturday, May 2, 2015. on the newly completed Lafayette Bike Trail. They started at the Hal W. Adams Bridge on the Lafayette side of the Suwannee River and headed south down SR 51. The trail turns East on CR 354 and continues approxi-mately 9 miles to SR 27 where it ends. Round trip is around 18 miles and took almost 3 hours with breaks and lunch. The trail is nice and wide, and very smooth. They saw six deer along the way. In the last picture there are actually 2 deer standing behind the boy’s at the very end of the power right of way. The day started out nice and cool, around 59 degrees, and only reached 72 by the end of their ride. The sky was the most beautiful blue, without a cloud in sight. It was probably the best day ever in the 10 year history of their riding in this fundraiser for cancer. They did joke about as they get older, their bike seats seem to get harder, but besides that not one problem arose, which is extremely rare. The Lafayette Bike Trail is an excellent trail, and not too terribly long. It would be great for a half day of family fun!

All the money the boys raise from their ride, goes di-rectly to Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, (LLS). Thanks to your generous support to LLS, this is a new world. Like Raymond, hundreds of thousands of children diagnosed with blood cancer are today living normal, and produc-tive lives. LLS is at the threshold of amazing break-throughs for children with blood cancers. Your money accelerates miraculous new treatments and healing therapies once thought impossible. Cures today, not someday. That’s the goal! And you are at the heart of it! 

 If you would like to donate to their ride, please make checks payable to Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, and mail it to:

Raymond & Colby’s 2015 Ride For Cancer

16151 198th Terrace

O’Brien, Fl 32071

St. Luke’s – Live Oak well represented at Diocesan Acolyte Festival

Six Acolytes from St. Luke’s traveled to St. John’s Cathedral in Jacksonville on October 7th to participate in the Diocesan Acolyte Festival. Attending were Raymond Mickel, Colby Mickel, Laine Fletcher, Livesay Boggus, Cameron Simpson, and Bobby Pfender. They were accompanied by Gail Mickel, and Father George.

The Festival was kicked off by a Eucharist celebrated by Bishop John Howard, which included all acolytes processing into the cathedral following their church’s banner. Father Don Woodrum, as Canon for the Santa Fe Region assisted Bishop Howard. Following the Eucharist, there was an opportunity to meet old friends and make new ones over lunch. During the afternoon, seminars were given in various acolyte skills, culminating in the Diocesan "Acolyte Olympics." 

Our youth from St. Luke’s won second place "over all" in competitions involving 15 different churches, including large churches, such as Christ Church – Ponte Vedra and St. John’s Cathedral. It was a wonderful opportunity for our Acolytes to learn and grow in their ministry and to share fellowship. 

Our adventure continued, as we were leaving to return to Live Oak, our church van threw a fan belt and we were left stranded. Stranded that is, until the Church of the Good Shepherd (Jacksonville) loaned us their van for our return trip. The Church of the Good Shepherd is also the church that came to Live Oak this summer to help with flood clean up. Our special thanks goes out to Father Jeff Reichmann and the Church of the Good Shepherd, as well as all those who helped plan and pull off this wonderful event.