Western Young Friends Epistle 2025

Dear Friends,

The annual Western Young Friends' New Years gathering was a great success this year, thus maintaining its 50-year streak of connection and Friendship. This is a unique event for Young Adult Friends (YAFs) in the Western states to connect with Spirit and each other as they ring in the new year together with silent worship, among other things.

We wrote our epistle collectively by filling in hanging poster papers that gave prompts for us to complete. The task was to "finish the sentence ♡."

1) What a beautiful time we had together celebrating connection by…

• Helping Alma cook amazing food!
• Enjoying our first year at OVY camp while remembering Sierra Friends Center fondly.
• Hunting for chanterelles together! (Mycelial Networking)
• Having heartfelt conversations.
• Connecting with old friends.
• Playing board games
• Washing dishes & trading off cleaning up
• Dish diva dancing
• Worship sharing in a tiny camper

2) The New Year’s Eve worship was filled with…

• Tears of relief.
• FIYAHHH
• Cuddle puddles
• Casting our negativity into the fire / Dreaming of genocide money in flames
• Awaiting 2025 in silent worship
• Not a cellphone in sight
• Plotting Anti-colonial Bible study

3) It was soooo funny when…

• Nate fell while everyone was dancing.
• Kiernan and I shredded chicken
• Meg said anything
• Biting with elinor
• Zac + Meg sang Do re mi Quaker edition

4) It sure was cold outside, but that didn’t stop us from…

• Having a magical bubbly time!
• Jumping into the pool
• Going to the beach
• Mushroom foraging!
• Stargazing
• Sleeping

If you have any inquiries about next year’s event, you can reach the coordinators, Max Paris(PYM) and Megan Cody(NPYM), at [email protected]. You're also invited to pursue the website to learn more about this marvelous event. https://www.newyearsgathering.org

from Megan Cody, North Pacific Yearly Meeting (1/12/2025)