Winterfest Packing List and Travel Info

Oh Yay!  You're Going to Winterfest! 
Yeah, your 2015 is about to get really good.

Winterfest starts this Friday!  Yip-de-do!  We are so excited you are able to go to the awesomeness of Winterfest this year. It’s going to be a great weekend. We hope you’ll be praying between now and Friday for God to open our hearts and help us to be open to what He wants us to see this weekend.  At the heart of this weekend is growing closer to God and following Him more faithfully.  Even with the fun and such, the spiritual part of Winterfest is the best part about this weekend.  Hope you're excited.

This webpage contains travel details and packing information. There’s quite a bit of info here, so make sure you read everything carefully.

Departure on Friday: 

Alright, here's where it gets tricky.  If you can figure this out, then you'll be good with everything.  We have three places we'll be leaving from.  Here they are:

A&M Church of Christ - 3:20pm.  This is for all adults who can make it by 3:20 and any students who would like to meet at the building.

Consol High School - when school is out.  We will be in the parking lot of Grace Bible Church (our old church building).  When school is out, go potty (WE WILL NOT BE STOPPING FOR 2 HOURS) and then head to the bus.  Look for the 41 passenger bus.  We will try to park the bus somewhere on the East side of the church parking lot (this is the “back side” of the lot; the opposite side of the parking lot from the school building.) We ask all students to try to be at the bus and ready to go no later than 4:05.

College Station High School - when school is out.  We will park on the NW side of the building, along Barron Road, kind of in the back of the lot.  When school is out, go potty (WE WILL NOT BE STOPPING FOR 2 HOURS) and then head to the bus.  Look for the 25 passenger bus with our church's name on the side.  We ask all students to try to be at the bus and ready to go no later than 4:05.

Students from Cornerstone, Bryan High, KOR, homeschool and all other schools should have received an email to talk about where we can meet. 

  

Return on Sunday:
We plan to return sometime around 2:30-3:00 Sunday afternoon. We will update our A&M Youth Ministries Twitter with the exact time throughout the day.  You do not have to subscribe to twitter to be able to see the updates.  You can go to www.twitter.com/amyouthministry.  If you want text message updates on your cell phone, text follow amyouthministry to 40404. (you can text unfollow amyouthministry to the same number to stop receiving those messages at any time.)  You can also go to www.amyouth.net.  (at this point, the webpage is still working, but it could stop at any time)  It will automatically update at the top of our webpage each time we send out a message.  

Here is the plan for luggage:
Students are welcome to bring their luggage by the trailer anytime on Wednesday, Thursday or Friday. The trailer will be located in our church parking lot. The trailer has locks on both doors, and the combination to the back door is 1141.   Please make sure it is locked when you leave. 

If one of your parents wants to meet us on Friday with your luggage as we depart, or if you want to just bring it to school with you, that is fine.

Here is a packing list for Winterfest:

- Clothing for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Dress clothes are not needed for Sunday

- Clothes/pajamas to sleep in on Friday and Saturday

- Toiletries including soap and shampoo

- Towel and washcloth (maybe shower shoes too)

- Sleeping bag and pillow. We will be sleeping in classrooms at a church, so it’s probably best to bring more than just a sheet and pillow. You’re welcome to bring a small mattress or blow up mattress if you want.

- Money for one fast-food meal. 

- Cards, games, etc. for the bus ride to/from Winterfest

- a coat (it’s called Winterfest for a reason)
- camera (optional)

- an open and humble heart

Please do not bring the following:

- iPods, MP3 players, DVD players, headphones/earphones of any kind, personal game players like PSP or DS, laptop computers, tablets, etc. 

- anything intended to play a joke on anyone or anything illegal
- grumpiness or a bad attitude

Cell Phone Information:

Each year we have discussions with parents and students about cell phones and Winterfest.  The consensus of these discussions have been that Winterfest is a short conference, and not having the distraction of cell phones would be a good thing.  So...we'll have ziplock bags and a box on Friday afternoon which we'll ask all students to put their phones in before we depart.  If you need your phone at any time to call your parents, you are welcome to get it.  Otherwise, we'll ask you to not use your phone during the weekend.  As always, your parents can get in touch with you by calling Monty or Heather's phone...and you are welcome to use Monty or Heather's phone at any time to call home.  If your parents want to know when we arrive to Arlington (so that they'll know we made it safely), have them check www.amyouth.net or our twitter page...or they can get text messages by following the information above in the "return on Sunday" section.

A few other things worthy of noting:

- Supper on the way to Winterfest will be from Chick-fil-a.  If you do not like Chick-fil-a, you are welcome to bring your own meal on Friday afternoon.  

- As in previous trips, we'll ask students to sign their name before we depart affirming that they do not have an iPod, PSP/DS or a cell phone hidden in their pocket/backpack/bag.

-There are usually a good selection of shirts, CD’s, books, etc., for sale at Winterfest. If you’d like to bring money for these, feel free to do so.  Winterfest shirts are usually around $12.

-Except for the one fast-food meal you are bringing money for, all of your meals are furnished during Winterfest.  (One breakfast meal will be at McDonald's, and you'll get $6 to spend on this meal.  If you need more than $6 for this meal, bring it with you.)

-You’re welcome to bring snacks. (But the bus stays CLEAN. Very CLEAN.  Super CLEAN.)

-Anything you bring from school (backpack, etc.) can be put on the bus when you meet the group on Friday.

-There are a lot of different youth groups who come to Winterfest, and our group will stay together throughout the weekend. At all times during the Winterfest conference, we will sit together as a group.  If you have friends from other churches, they are more than welcome to sit with our group. 

-If you normally drive your vehicle to school, you may want to arrange a carpool or be dropped off on Friday so that your vehicle doesn’t stay at school all weekend. Again, you are also welcome to meet us at church at 3:20 if you get out of school early.

So…that’s a lot of information. If you read all of this info and have a question, let us know. Again, we are so glad you are going to Winterfest. We’re excited about what God is going to do in the lives of each of us throughout the weekend. We ask for your prayers before, during, and after this trip.