Nachos, more nachos, dessert, fruit, fire pit...need we say more

HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS ARE YOU READY? 

It’s the last Wednesday (September 26^th) of the month and that means a family dinner at one of the youth leader’s homes.  This Wednesday meet at Dan and Virginia’s home (1504 Front Street) anytime between 6:30-7:00 pm (if you want to help prepare the meal) dinner will be served at 7:00 pm. If you don’t know where Dan’s house is meet at church by 7:00  and a leader will assist you to getting to Dan’s. Bring a friend if you wish and an object that describes you. 

There is a lot, a lot of food so you better come. 

High School Camping Trip September 7-9

Here is who is coming this year Jordan, Zach, Mindy, Molly, Anna, Calm, Marshal, Jesse, Dan, Andrew, Stephanie, and Ria.

It's going to be a blast. Here are the people that I need your help to encourage to come: Tyler, Tanisha, Nathan, Taylor, Megan, Grant, Pamela, anyone that I have missed. 


Youth Group on Wednesdays: 

This year we will be diving into 1 & !! Timothy and Titus for our Bible discussion. We will discuss what these passages have to say to us in 2012. We will also do the normal stuff (food, games, zany competitions, and just plain hanging out). We meet most every Wednesday from 7:30-9:00 pm at Church. 

There is one big change this year and that is on the last Wednesday of the month we will be having a family dinner together hosted by one of our leaders. On these nights you can meet at the leaders home or be picked up at church at 6:45 pm. 

The Big Kickoff:

To kick the year off we are staring with a bonfire at the river Wed. September 12th leaving the church parking lot at 7:30pm. We will bring the snacks, wood, fire, heat, leftover fire works, and our wonderful personalities. You need to bring something to sit on (optional), leftover fireworks, maybe a jacket, and your wonderful personalities. 

If anyone has a potato gun that they can bring please let Dan know. 

The fast and easy survey: 

If you have not completed the survey I sent you please, please do so now. It has stuff that I need to know like what kind of frosting you like on your cupcakes. If I don't get your survey you will be getting garlic flavored cupcakes with avocado frosting. Here is the link: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/6RZK8GH  --Thanks for your help. 

Friday, June 29

We started our day early in order to beat the rush of the other groups all trying to pack, eat breakfast, clean, and meet with their host before leaving the sight. Two groups were going to stay one more night at the site. I know that one of the groups was from Hawaii and I am not sure which other group was staying another night. Although we had packed our things the night before, it was still hard gathering our clothes and personal items in the dark without disturbing the other groups sleeping on the bunk beds around us. In one of the guy's dorms there were around 20 bunk beds all filled with guys from the various groups. As you can imagine the room was crowed, warm, and cluttered with all kinds of luggage and personal items.

After gathering our stuff we packed up the van and then grabbed some breakfast. Our host gathered us for another time to debrief and pray, which really helped us grasp everything that we had heard and seen throughout the mission experience. Everyone shared and prayed and then we took some photos of our group with our host. We loved our host and enjoyed getting to know her.

We loaded the van and our host opened the gates for us so we could depart. We headed to Disneyland and noticed the difference between the South Central area, which we had been living, and Orange County. The highway looked new and clean and the sides of the highway were decorated with cool etchings, which were photo worthy to me.

We dropped our van off at the hotel and entered Disneyland. None of the students have ever been there but Andrew and Jill were experts. We quickly learned about the Disney's fast pass system, the different things that have changed over the years, and other unusual facts about the park. I don't know whose eyes were open bigger, mine, or the students. Disneyland is an incredible place filled with science, technology, and evidence of man's achievements. I was just happy to be there, it had been a long time since I visited as a kid and I think that I appreciate the workmanship and skill that it took to create this wonderland as an adult than I did before. We finished the night by watching the fireworks and enjoying one last ride. It was a good day.

Daniel

Oasis

Oasis crew join us this Wed. July 11 at 5:15 at Bethel’s youth house as we head for the Birch Bay water slides. Bring $15.00 which pays for admission and pizza. Please let Dan know today if you can come.

Thursday-Day 6

First we woke up around 6 am so that the guys could take a shower, since it was our shower morning. Jill also sneaked in and took a shower! We ate breakfast the normal cereal or bagels. We got in the car at 8 am and went to a Mexican bakery to pick up pastries to bring to Pershing Square. We were divided into two groups to distribute pastries to un-housed people (Jordan‘s term). Our group met a couple from Florida that moved to LA last August. They told us a bit about themselves, other people in Pershing Square and the different homeless areas in the city and how they work. We were also able to have one of the pastries they were very good. We met up with the other group and shared our stories about the people that we met. We then walked to City Hall and went up to the top floor. We took time and prayed for the city from the 26^th floor. When we left City Hall we went to a Farmer’s Market and enjoyed some fresh fruit! We then walked back to the car and headed back to CSM. We had lunch at the site, a little down time and devotions before leaving for our last time at Red Shield. Jordan played some pool, chess, air hockey and bumper pool. Dan played Dominos. Molly and Jill traced more craft projects. Jesse and Andrew played with kids in the game room. After Red Shield we went to an Armenian Restaurant and had chicken or beef, pita bread, hummus and salad. We drove to Santa Monica Beach. We spent time on the beach doing affirmations to each other, talking about our trip and what we have learned from each other this trip. Once we were done the kids ran down to the water for one last time. On our way home we stopped at Target for some summer wardrobe clothing for me, since it is quite warm here and Disney is going to be hotter. After Jill went and picked out cloths for me, she then made me try them on and show her. I ended up with two pairs of shorts, swim trunks and three clean new t-shirt…all of which I don’t need. To ease the pain of shopping we stopped at McDonald’s for ice cream before heading back to CSM for one last night.
Tomorrow we are leaving early tomorrow morning and heading for Disneyland!
~Jordan (added to and typed by Jill)
　

Wednesday Workday

It was another beautiful Southern California day to serve and love others.  We woke at 7:30 and cleaned the CSM kitchen/lunchroom then we headed out the door to Faith In Christ Ministries.  After Andrew reparked the van on the correct side of the street we dug in to four hours of various work projects around the community center, playground, and garden.  Half the team cleaned the community center bathrooms floors and part of the kitchen (Jesse, Molly, Jill, Dan).  The other half weeded the raised bed gardens (Mindy, Andrew, Jordan).  After we got done early, even the sidewalks were swept and weeded.  It's a good thing too, because four large vans rolled up on the urban playground and a legitimate Nike shoe commercial started filming scenes right where we were working.  After our chance encounter with the "film industry" of California we went back again to Red Shield.  The students were expecting us and we had a great time playing all sorts of games with them.  Dinner was at a nice little Thai food restaurant on Sunset Blvd.  Everyone on the team really enjoyed this meal (and some used chopsticks more successfully than others).  We came back to our South LA housing early and had time to relax and play card games.

-Andrew

Day 4

This morning our group started early, waking up at about 6. We each had a small breakfast of cereal or a bagel before heading out into the city. We went to the St. Francis Center, where we served 224 homeless people breakfast, and a sack lunch to-go. While we were there, we saw only some of the many faces from the streets. About 9:30, we finished up serving and cleaning the building, and since we had some extra time, we went to The Coffee Bean for a quick drink. When it came time to go, we all got out of the cool shade and drove just down the street to the Vernon Health Care Center and played some Bingo! Jill called for us, but we had only enough prizes for a couple rounds, and suspiciously the same people kept winning… As we were leaving though we saw one of the women who had played with us wearing the slippers that she had won, which made us feel good that she appreciated her prize. For lunch, we came back to the CSM warehouse, and ate some fruit and a sandwich, or in some cases two or three. At this point, we had devotions and each shared a meaningful verse and why we liked it or how it applied to our trip. At 2:30, we headed out to the Salvation Army Red Shield, where we went yesterday too. We had a LOT of fun there playing with the kids: Jesse and Andrew played basketball and other games in the gym, Dan and Jill were helping in the crafts room, Molly and I were playing around with a 7 year old set of twin girls named Luz and Marisol. And Jordan was helping in the computer lab. We dropped off our host Alisha at the warehouse and then had a free night to do what we pleased. As a group, we decided to go to the Santa Monica Pier, and enjoy the setting sun on the beach. We ate dinner at a burger place called Pier Burgers. The water and sand were great, but Jesse was grossed out by the bugs in the ground J After that, we walked out onto the pier and most of us experienced that for the first time. It was a lot of fun and we all got wet, Jordan trying to avoid the water by hiking the hems of his pants to mid-thigh. This was a wonderful conclusion to a great day in Los Angeles. ~Mindy