It's me again! I wanted to write about how tonight's communion went. I wanted it to be one of those times when God's love is SO evident, and His presence is SO overwhelming. I've only experienced that feeling a few times in my life, not many. It's that feeling that gives me the most hope that I'm gonna make it... that I will not fall because I know God's gonna catch me. I didn't end up finding that feeling tonight... but I found something else. I realized how awesome this Body of Christ is. I realized how many brothers and sisters that I have that are going through the same thing, or even more than me. I realized how much God has blessed me! They are my family. They are my accountability. They are the people who will help this generation turn around. I found a new love for Christ also though. Hearing about other people's struggles and the pain that they are going through helped me so much! Before you think, "Wow, she's weird," let me finish. People came to me for advice, and I gave them advice I've been searching for, for myself. It gave me so much hope. I know now I need to learn to rely on God, not myself, not my family, not my friends. God, being our Father, wants me to rely on Him. I know that now, and I'm trying. This trip has brought me way more than I expected. During worship tonight, I prayed God would break me, empty me, and fill me with Him. I was about to cry because I couldn't feel it. I couldn't feel God's presence like I used to. Then, out of no where, God showed me He was there. I felt peace. God's presence was so ALIVE in that room. He definitely broke me. How amazing is He?!?! We will never know. We just need to have faith that He will continue to show us bits and pieces of His grace, mercy, love, and of His glory.
We love You, God! Thank You!
California Team (LENNY'S TEAM!)
1 John 3:16
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Who Would Have Thought?
This week has gone by so fast. So many good things have happened. It's crazy. I never pictured it this way. All week, it's like God has been supplying us with little puzzle pieces. Every conversation, every message, ever Bible verse, ever song sang, have been pieces of the puzzle. Every once in awhile, one piece will fit with another, and it goes on and on. I never thought that one, little, two minute conversation could end up changing my life a day later... that it could be applied to my life in such a way. God gives us these pieces one by one. We just need to recognize that we need to put them together. My whole perspective on life has changed SO much! I honestly can't believe it. God has had so many different things planned for us that we never expected. He is so AMAZING! It blows my mind! How can He be so good to us? I don't understand.
Not only has this trip changed my life, but it's humbled me. A week before this trip, I was in this to get a kid to accept Christ and to take the glory for myself. I prayed that, that wouldn't be the reason why I was doing it, but my selfish mind got a hold of me. Two nights before we left, I decided to get into 1 Corinthians. I was reading through it, and then I saw 1 Corinthians 3:6-9. It says, "I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building." I was like, "WOAH! Wake up call! Thanks God. *as I'm laughing to myself*" I was immediately struck with this humbling feeling, knowing that this was NOT about me! I feel so stupid for thinking that in the first place. The glory goes to God alone. I'm glad I understand that now. Just like I said before, this was another puzzle piece for me. It fits with another.
On this trip, I had 8 people in my 5 day club group: Natalie, Lisa, Bret, Heath, Kyle, Enroco (Seth Martin), and myself. Their were about 7 kids in our group, and three of them accepted Christ this week (Jeremy, Joanne, and Kaitlyn)! So praise God!
Another AWESOME story, is how Karlee Gaston brought two little girls to Christ at Huntington Beach. Brandon W., Karlee, and I were drawing verses in the sand and randomly asking people if they wanted to know Jesus. Like two minutes after we started, we started talking to these two little girls. Karlee asked them if they wanted to know Jesus, and they both said yes! So she talked to them about Him, and explained His love. She prayed with them, and they both accepted Christ into their hearts that day!!! How awesome is that?!?!
God has molded my heart into something different this week. I'm looking forward to seeing what He does in all of our lives tonight! :-)
So thank you to all who prayed for us! And thank You, Lord, for how You allowed this week to end! It couldn't have been any better. And to all my brothers and sisters in Christ in this group (not just in my little 5 day clubs group), thank you so much for how easy you made my first year at clubs! It's been awesome! Thank you for being so accepting to all us Frosh! You have no idea how much I appreciate it! I love you all!!! Don't forget to get in touch with Daryl Huf, so we can get the Spoons party planned! I pray God blesses you. He's definitely blessed me with the opportunity of knowing all of you! So thanks!
God Bless!
Bri Leenders
Proverbs 16:4
Not only has this trip changed my life, but it's humbled me. A week before this trip, I was in this to get a kid to accept Christ and to take the glory for myself. I prayed that, that wouldn't be the reason why I was doing it, but my selfish mind got a hold of me. Two nights before we left, I decided to get into 1 Corinthians. I was reading through it, and then I saw 1 Corinthians 3:6-9. It says, "I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building." I was like, "WOAH! Wake up call! Thanks God. *as I'm laughing to myself*" I was immediately struck with this humbling feeling, knowing that this was NOT about me! I feel so stupid for thinking that in the first place. The glory goes to God alone. I'm glad I understand that now. Just like I said before, this was another puzzle piece for me. It fits with another.
On this trip, I had 8 people in my 5 day club group: Natalie, Lisa, Bret, Heath, Kyle, Enroco (Seth Martin), and myself. Their were about 7 kids in our group, and three of them accepted Christ this week (Jeremy, Joanne, and Kaitlyn)! So praise God!
Another AWESOME story, is how Karlee Gaston brought two little girls to Christ at Huntington Beach. Brandon W., Karlee, and I were drawing verses in the sand and randomly asking people if they wanted to know Jesus. Like two minutes after we started, we started talking to these two little girls. Karlee asked them if they wanted to know Jesus, and they both said yes! So she talked to them about Him, and explained His love. She prayed with them, and they both accepted Christ into their hearts that day!!! How awesome is that?!?!
God has molded my heart into something different this week. I'm looking forward to seeing what He does in all of our lives tonight! :-)
So thank you to all who prayed for us! And thank You, Lord, for how You allowed this week to end! It couldn't have been any better. And to all my brothers and sisters in Christ in this group (not just in my little 5 day clubs group), thank you so much for how easy you made my first year at clubs! It's been awesome! Thank you for being so accepting to all us Frosh! You have no idea how much I appreciate it! I love you all!!! Don't forget to get in touch with Daryl Huf, so we can get the Spoons party planned! I pray God blesses you. He's definitely blessed me with the opportunity of knowing all of you! So thanks!
God Bless!
Bri Leenders
Proverbs 16:4
With God there are no coincidences
Hi my name is Myciala. I didn't really know what God had in store for me this week. When we first came to California I was like hey this is gonna be fun! I didn't really know how he was going to use me this week. My five day club team has been amazing. I've gotten really close to the other people in my group this week. I'm glad that I got to know them. I also become very attached to the kids from our five day club group. This week God has used the five of us in changing fourteen lives this week. These are the names of the kids that became Christians this week, and the names of the people in my group that talked to them about Jesus.
Yoli- Accepted Christ with me this week
Alin- Accepted Christ twice this week. With Brandon and I.
Lezli- Accepted Christ with me this week. She's one of the kids I've gotten really attached to.
Lezli & Myciala
Alexx-Accepted Christ with Nolan and I this week. He's one of the other kids I'm really going to miss seeing.
Alexx
Johnathan- Accepted Christ with me this week.
Andy- Accepted Christ with Brandon
Israel- Accepted Chris with Ryan
Marina- Accepted Christ with Me
Raymond- Accepted Christ with Brandon
Marissa- Accepted Christ with Ally
Jordan- Accepted Christ with Nolan
Hung- Accepted Christ with Brandon
Karla- Accepted Christ with me
The three kids that I've become really attached to are: Alexx, Yoli, and Lezli. It's amazing how God has brought me to Yoli. I asked her if she wanted to accept Christ and she said yes. So we went through a booklet called "Peace with God," and at the end of reading it she closed her eyes and repeated after me. She accepted Jesus into her heart. It was really great. After that she hugged me, and she started to cry. She's like, "I feel so stupid that I'm crying, I just feel so happy inside." and I told her that it was okay to cry. During this time that I was telling her about God it seemed very key to her that someone loved her that much. She found it hard to believe that someone could love her no matter what she did wrong, and that He could see all the pain and tears she's cried. I kept drilling that into her because that's what I've also found comfort in. It was really a God thing that we connected because she was able to open up to me and tell me things that she's never told anyone before. After I was hugging her she just looked sad. So I asked her if she wanted to tell me what was wrong. She said no so I asked her if I told her some of the things I've experienced in my life so far if that would make it easier for her to share. She nodded. So I went on and told her some things that I've been through. She just started crying really hard. She told me that her dad has beaten her mom. She told me sometimes it was for no reason. She said that he hadn't beaten her for a while. Though I don't know how long that has been. The things that she's gone through in life are very hard. I kept telling her that it wasn't fair what she's seen, or things shes gone through. I prayed over her, and after a while of her crying she stopped and thanked me. I was also crying. It was a God thing. I just made sure to let her know that in time everything would get better. I told her that the hard things in life made you stronger, and though it's hard to think about that now later you will understand. She found real comfort in that. I was really glad that God put me in that spot at the time because I'm really happy to know that I was able to help.
Yoli
Yoli- Accepted Christ with me this week
Alin- Accepted Christ twice this week. With Brandon and I.
Lezli- Accepted Christ with me this week. She's one of the kids I've gotten really attached to.
Lezli & Myciala
Alexx-Accepted Christ with Nolan and I this week. He's one of the other kids I'm really going to miss seeing.
Alexx
Johnathan- Accepted Christ with me this week.
Andy- Accepted Christ with Brandon
Israel- Accepted Chris with Ryan
Marina- Accepted Christ with Me
Raymond- Accepted Christ with Brandon
Marissa- Accepted Christ with Ally
Jordan- Accepted Christ with Nolan
Hung- Accepted Christ with Brandon
Karla- Accepted Christ with me
The three kids that I've become really attached to are: Alexx, Yoli, and Lezli. It's amazing how God has brought me to Yoli. I asked her if she wanted to accept Christ and she said yes. So we went through a booklet called "Peace with God," and at the end of reading it she closed her eyes and repeated after me. She accepted Jesus into her heart. It was really great. After that she hugged me, and she started to cry. She's like, "I feel so stupid that I'm crying, I just feel so happy inside." and I told her that it was okay to cry. During this time that I was telling her about God it seemed very key to her that someone loved her that much. She found it hard to believe that someone could love her no matter what she did wrong, and that He could see all the pain and tears she's cried. I kept drilling that into her because that's what I've also found comfort in. It was really a God thing that we connected because she was able to open up to me and tell me things that she's never told anyone before. After I was hugging her she just looked sad. So I asked her if she wanted to tell me what was wrong. She said no so I asked her if I told her some of the things I've experienced in my life so far if that would make it easier for her to share. She nodded. So I went on and told her some things that I've been through. She just started crying really hard. She told me that her dad has beaten her mom. She told me sometimes it was for no reason. She said that he hadn't beaten her for a while. Though I don't know how long that has been. The things that she's gone through in life are very hard. I kept telling her that it wasn't fair what she's seen, or things shes gone through. I prayed over her, and after a while of her crying she stopped and thanked me. I was also crying. It was a God thing. I just made sure to let her know that in time everything would get better. I told her that the hard things in life made you stronger, and though it's hard to think about that now later you will understand. She found real comfort in that. I was really glad that God put me in that spot at the time because I'm really happy to know that I was able to help.
Yoli
Forced to write this..
I'm being held at gunpoint right now to write a blog from a guy's perspective on the last few days, so here goes:
I'm sure everyone has been posting the fun filled days we have had, so I'll skip those and just talk about the "Matt, Erica, Morgan, and Corey" 5 Day Club Team. We didn't have an 'adult' leader, and we were located at the church...so we had a somewhat frustrating week in the fact we had an average of 7 kids a day. However, an answer to prayers last night, as we had 20 kids, mostly from the ages of 4-7, and we had 12 kids accept the Lord as their personal Savior. This was despite perhaps our worst night as Erica was sick, so we only had 3 leaders...we basically ran 3 mini 5 day clubs.
Other than that, it has been fun to see people express their faith outside of the team and outside of the 5 day clubs. Adam, Ryan, and I had a chance to share our faith at the water park with a 14 year old boy named Leonard. He has lived in nearly every continent, and has seen nearly every religion possible, and his family doesn't really believe in anything. We talked for about 45 minutes in the lazy river, so that was pretty exciting, despite nothing really amounted, just the fact he was asking questions was really uplifting.
As this is my third year, it has been really nice to see the teams closeness and comfortableness (hah those aren't words are they?) with each other. There hasn't been any issues whatsoever with the exceptions of a few colds and dehydration.
Uhh the gun is still being held right now, but they said that was good enough for now, so I guess that's all I will right about.
PS, it's Beccas Bday and Bret and my first time to disney land tomorrow!
---Matt Fier
I'm sure everyone has been posting the fun filled days we have had, so I'll skip those and just talk about the "Matt, Erica, Morgan, and Corey" 5 Day Club Team. We didn't have an 'adult' leader, and we were located at the church...so we had a somewhat frustrating week in the fact we had an average of 7 kids a day. However, an answer to prayers last night, as we had 20 kids, mostly from the ages of 4-7, and we had 12 kids accept the Lord as their personal Savior. This was despite perhaps our worst night as Erica was sick, so we only had 3 leaders...we basically ran 3 mini 5 day clubs.
Other than that, it has been fun to see people express their faith outside of the team and outside of the 5 day clubs. Adam, Ryan, and I had a chance to share our faith at the water park with a 14 year old boy named Leonard. He has lived in nearly every continent, and has seen nearly every religion possible, and his family doesn't really believe in anything. We talked for about 45 minutes in the lazy river, so that was pretty exciting, despite nothing really amounted, just the fact he was asking questions was really uplifting.
As this is my third year, it has been really nice to see the teams closeness and comfortableness (hah those aren't words are they?) with each other. There hasn't been any issues whatsoever with the exceptions of a few colds and dehydration.
Uhh the gun is still being held right now, but they said that was good enough for now, so I guess that's all I will right about.
PS, it's Beccas Bday and Bret and my first time to disney land tomorrow!
---Matt Fier
The Fire's Burnin'
Hola Amigos. It's Alyssa. This week started out as 25 students coming down to Cali for a week to go to the beach and Disneyland and do clubs in between. However, our motives have changed as we have seen God work in an amazing way in all of us. Our team has been incredibly blessed with the leaders that we have, with this great community we have been placed in, and by the wonderful Maker that we serve. My club has been meeting at the park and we have at least 30 kids that rotate in and out throughout the week. Kids have been realizing the reality of the truth and so many have chosen to live for Him. I have been blessed to have the great connection with three kids in particular; Andrew, E, and JD (Jared Daniel Strange). Andrew was so willing to listen and even though he is only 9, he has been asking question so he can really figure out what he is putting his life into. We've covered a variety of subjects and put an emphasis on the fact that Jesus is definitely still alive and working in all of our lives. It was amazing for me to realize how many of the kids thought that Jesus died for them and the story ended there. They have all been really excited to learn that the story does definitely not end there and that Jesus is waiting excitedly for them in Heaven. JD has amazed me as well. He's a very slow learner and I really didn't think that he would be able to comprehend the message in it's entirety. However, his neighbor's dad took me aside the other day to tell me that JD has been coming home bubbling over and wanting to tell his dad about what he has been learning. JD's father is now seriously thinking about checking out the love that his son has found, and in joining the church. This week I am loving to see how our team has stepped it up; not just with the kids, but with ministering to people wherever we go; whether it be on the way to 711, jamba juice, on the beach, or while shopping. God is not only working with the kids this week. He's really been showing himself to the community, and to us. We all have so many amazing stories and we are really learning that we don't need to come to Cali to speak the word. We need to be doing it at home too. We have the most important news that has ever been told, and we need to share it with everyone. I was listening to the song "If we are the Body" last night and the line "Jesus paid much to high a price for us to pick and choose who should come." and I have been really thinking about that. So here's the challenge. You guys as parents need to be challenging your kids when they get home to not let the fire of ministry die. Love to you all. We'll be home soon.
Beach not just for the sun....but the Son!
This is Karlee blogging from the depths of Cali to the endless sleeping persons that never wake up. We have some amazing leaders here and have to say that they challenge and encourage me every day that we are here. On Wednesday our entire team took a trip to the beach to have some fun and meet up with another team. A few of us kind of made a tradition to write some Bible verses in the sand every time we made a beach trip and this time was no different. Brandon Wolters, Bri, and I all started to engrave some John 3:16 into the sand. Occasionally we would have some people show interest in what we were writing but nothing to big. So Brandon grabbed a couple of Gatorade bottles that were meant to be trash and started walking down the beach. The significance to this trash was that it was something tangible that we could hand to anyone and ask them what they had to do to get that bottle. They had to receive it and from there we could talk to them about Christ. So Bri and I wrapped in a beach towel walked down the beach with Brandon asking people if they wanted to know about Jesus. Our goal was to show initiative but not force the conversation. As you might guess most people just shook their heads and told us "No". But the first time I personally asked was these two girls playing in the water by themselves. They were very interested in the conversation but I think they were pretty surprised that one day at the beach was changing their lives for eternity. I talked to them unofficially about the handful of hope that states starting with the thumb that 1)God loves me, 2) I am a sinner, 3) Jesus died for me , 4) If I trust in Him , 5) I am His child forever. Finally I got to the question of whether they wanted to pray to accept Jesus into their hearts and without fail they both said "Yes". All five of us kneeled down on the beach and asked Jesus to come into their hearts. And Wednesday, July 18 Cindy and Jenn accepted Christ into their hearts as their Saviour and God. It was blessing considering the waves hitting us and trying to break us down....maybe not the best situation. I am really excited for these two 10 year old girls and I just ask that you would pray for them as they start their new lives as baby Christians to grow and share their faith just as we had with them.
perla and guindalia
This is Rachel posting my thoughts about leading these two wonderful girls to Christ! On Tuesday, our group decided to try a different approach to the "handful of hope." We split up into smaller groups so we could reach to the kids on a more personal level. It worked really well :) I took Perla and Guindalia and we started talking about each one of the fingers in depth. I kept repeating the fact that Jesus Christ had to die on the cross because he loves us so much and He wanted us to live in Heaven with Him forever. They eventually asked how they could go to Heaven. They became apart of God's family that night. My whole face beemed. I was grinning from ear to ear and became so overwhelmed with joy for them that I started to tear up. It was an amazing experience for all three of us. I felt so happy because that's what I'm called for as a Christian. The next day, they brought their Bibles and we highlighted like crazy. It's so wonderful to see that they are so excited to learn more about God and His uncontainable love for His children. My prayer is that they continue to grow way deeper in their faith. Thanks, God! :)
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Food Bank
We had two objectives for this mission. One, pack boxes so that senior citizens living on limited income can have enough nutritious food to make it through the month. Two, beat the record for how many boxes we could pack in 1 hour. I'm proud to say that we did it!! The record was 1000 and we did 1049!! Andre (the Food Bank coordinator) was very proud of us!
Signing in...
Andre telling us what to do...
We all had a great time, here are a few pics...
Cooling off in the freezer...
We're getting weighed on the big scale. Our whole team weighs over 2000 lbs.
Our cooks sure are feeding us well!
Admiring the fruits of our labor!
A few words...
We arrived to our destination on Saturday afternoon. We stopped by the church and met Pastor Andrew (the youth pastor here) and he gave us a vision for how we can minister to this church and to the community. Their senior pastor passed away a few months ago from cancer. They have been grieving and in transition since. Our presence has been an encouragement to them. They are very accepting of us and try to do whatever they can to make our stay as comfortable as possible!
We dropped off our luggage and went straight to the beach.
Rachel's rendering of her afternoon at the beach...a crazy flute player, and a disgruntled ex-employee...then them, 3 girls enjoying the sun
After the beach we went to In & Out burger for dinner...yum, yum!
We came back to the church and got ready for bed.
Sunday morning we got up early for church. They gave us a warm welcome and prayed for us and the clubs. Everyone wanted to meet us...it was like we were famous.
All dressed up and ready to go!
We had lunch and then got ready for our first club. Stay tuned for another update from some students about their experience.
We dropped off our luggage and went straight to the beach.
Rachel's rendering of her afternoon at the beach...a crazy flute player, and a disgruntled ex-employee...then them, 3 girls enjoying the sun
After the beach we went to In & Out burger for dinner...yum, yum!
We came back to the church and got ready for bed.Sunday morning we got up early for church. They gave us a warm welcome and prayed for us and the clubs. Everyone wanted to meet us...it was like we were famous.
All dressed up and ready to go!
We had lunch and then got ready for our first club. Stay tuned for another update from some students about their experience.
More time on the bus...yay
We stopped to take a million potty breaks. We sure drank a lot of water.We did a lot of this...
Mom, Dad, who am I?
the view out our windows for about 100 hours. Sunday, July 15, 2007
A long boring bus ride...
Matt, Bree, Ally & Lisa
Lindsey, Karlee, and Alyssa outside our beautiful bus.
Friday, July 13, 2007
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Getting Ready to Go!
Arrive at Church at 5:00 am Friday, July 13, 2007Please DO NOT drop off your student before 5:00 am; no one will be at the church.
Returning: Sunday, July 22, 2007 at Church
Packing for the trip:
1 medium sized suitcase
1 carry on (backpack or similar)
Sleeping bag
Pillow
Clothes
Toiletries
Towel
Spending money
Bible
Notebook
Sunscreen
Sack lunch or money for lunch on Friday (dinner will be provided)
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