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Imagine a crystal clear evening gathered around a campfire with friends to mark All Souls/All Saints. Now make that 30 friends in a parking lot in Burnaby, with games, a craft, hot chocolate, smores and prayers. Make those friends youth from six Anglican and Lutheran churches in Coquitlam, Burnaby and New Westminster and you have a good picture of Kindle My Heart, a youth event held the evening of Sunday, November 1st.

The brainchild of Lauren Pinkney, youth leader at St. Alban's Burnaby, this event evolved as a way to gather youth responsibly during the pandemic. First imagined as a smaller event for the joint Holy Trinity Cathedral and St. Alban's youth group, it gradually expanded into a regional youth gathering.

While they are from six different churches, the youth quickly got to know each other through interactive games. A short reflection on All Saints preceeded the simple lantern craft, following which participants waited patiently for their turn roasting marshmallows for smores (only three people near the fire at a time to maintain distancing). We closed with Night Prayers (see accompanying photo).

Lauren and Tasha are already talking about a safe Christmas gathering and are mulling over the theme, "mask-erade." All HTC teens--this includes our kids and grandkids who don't attend on Sunday morning--are invited to all youth group events. Check us out!