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4 THE SHEPHERD • OCTOBER 2025 • SAINT SPYRIDON GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH OF SAN DIEGO October’s quick tip for families: PRAY TO- GETHER. The family prayer is 5 minutes that can be added to your bedtime routine. Brush teeth, read a book, pray together , go to bed. Pros of the family prayer: it helps bring your family together at the end of the busy days, gives you some insight into your kids’ worries and joys, and directs our hearts and minds to God as we head to sleep. One way to start a bedtime prayer is the Three-Step Prayer: 1. Say the Our Father together. 2. Each family member says one prayer request and one thanks (for example, please help me to do good on my test tomorrow, thank you Lord for my friend sitting with me at lunch. Please help my Shepherd article to turn out good, thank you for a great conversation with Anastasia). 3. End with this quick, but mean- ingful prayer from “Hear Me: A Prayerbook for Orthodox Teens.” In Your hands, O Lord, we give our soul and our body. Bless us with Yourself, have mercy on us, and bless us with eternal life. Amen. Side note: after prayer is not the time to lec- ture about not studying for that test, but the morning can be a great fresh start to offer help or prayer for that test. The Three-Step Prayer 1. Our Father 2. Ask and Thanks 3. Give the day to God. I encourage you to try it with your family for 2 weeks and tell me how it goes! If you have questions about Youth Min- istries at St. Spyridon, call Julie Dennis, Youth Ministries Director, 619-618-5116 or email youthministries@stspyridon.org. Learn more about St. Spyridon Youth Min- istries on our website: https://tinyurl.com/ stspyridonyouth. Follow us on social media: Facebook - St. Spyridon GOC San Diego and Instagram - @youthstspyridon Little Angels Playgroup Come join our playgroup for children under age 4 and their parents/grandparents/caregiv- ers! We meet in the Lower Education Building on Wednesdays from 9:45-11:00am. This is a great chance to build relationships with oth- er families! We have Bible story time, Bible songs, lots of playing, and time for parents to hang out! Sunday School The new Sunday School year began on Sep- tember 7th, and we had a wonderful turnout! A heartfelt thank you to all the families who contributed to the fellowship hour. Your sup- port was greatly appreciated. On September 14th, Sunday School witnessed the Proces- sion of the Holy and Life Giving Cross. It was a beautiful experience for the children to be part of one of the Twelve Great Feast Days of our Church. We feel so blessed that all of our classes are full this year. Each Sunday, we provide a small snack for the students as they arrive at Sunday School. Snacks include granola bars, chips, crackers, trail mix, goldfish, and more. The teachers find that the snacks help the stu- dents to maintain attention through the end of Sunday School around noon. This school year, we expect to have over 50 students par- ticipate in Sunday School each Sunday and are in need of snack donations. If you would like to donate snacks for our students, please reach out to me at csperri6@gmail.com . We are still in need of two Classroom Help- ers for our Preschool Class. Curriculum and training is provided! If you’re interested in helping, please contact me at csperri6@ gmail.com. Thank you for your continued support, Ms. Tina, Sunday School Director GOYA (Greek Orthodox Youth Association) INTRODUCING THE 2025-2026 GOYA YOUTH BOARD: President: James Burrell 1st Vice President: Tea Brown 2nd Vice President: Emma Brown Treasurer: Sia Paraskevopoulos Secretary: Maria Paraskevopoulos Members-At-Large: George Burrell, Kosta Mellos, Athanasia Georggin, James Dennis, Lucas Brown, Harrison Shue The GOYA Youth Board has been work- ing diligently on planning activities for the school year. Here are the tentative dates and activities: October 11th , 8:00-10:00am, Junior GOYA - Fishing at Santee Lakes October 19th , 6pm, Senior GOYA - Bonfire November 16th , 2:30pm, All GOYA - Friendsgiving December 13th , 5pm, All GOYA - Christ- mas Party January 17th , all day, All GOYA - Ski Trip Meráki Young Orthodox Service Group Meraki is on the move! Our Meraki Youth Group times will be changing in the next few months. Keep a close eye on emails and texts to keep up to date. In October, Meraki will be baking with Philoptochos on October 11th from 12:30pm-2:30pm. We will have lunch and bake some yummy Greek treats! Meraki is for children in elementary school. Preschoolers are encouraged to join with an adult. For more information, reach out to Ju- lie Dennis, 619-618-5116. YOUTH MINISTRIES