Wow! I think my head is still spinning from the whirlwind trip we took to Southern California for Spring Break this last week (March 21-30). Joel and I and our intern, Becky, along with 5 Apache teens all had a blast and got a lot of great footage for our documentary journey along the way.
First, we stayed in host homes at Hope Community Church in Long Beach. Sunday morning, Joel led worship at church and after church we headed to a skate part in an urban area to hang out with the skaters and some homeless people. We served them hot dogs, chips and drinks and were able to chat with some of them. It was a good opportunity for our kids to see what urban inner-city life can sometimes be like off the rez.
Monday was surf lessons with Bob Mabry! The group absolutely LOVED learning to surf and really got into it! One of our teens, Waymond, went after just about every wave I think! Afterwards, we hung out at Huntington Beach, got some fish tacos and did a little shopping not to mention beach volleyball too.
Tuesday we headed to one of the most beautiful beaches in California: Laguna Beach. We walked around the artsy downtown area to check out the shops and art galleries. Later we grabbed some sandwich fixings and headed to the main beach area for a picnic on the grass just behind the beach. After getting some interviews done for the video, the teens were the ones brave enough to get in the water to splash around and body surf a little bit (it was COLD!!) while Joel, Becky and I hung out and soaked up the rays on the sand. It was a beautiful sunny day!
Wednesday we headed to a lovely park in San Pedro to get some interviews done then headed to check out the tide pools nearby. We walked down the side of a cliff to the shore and scurried over the rocks to peer into all the little pools. We saw starfish, anemones, sea slugs, a few fish, and TONS of hermit crabs. I personally could’ve stayed there all day, it was awesome! Later, we visited the Korean friendship bell and a park with a lighthouse, it was a relaxing day. Later that night, we went to our next host church, Trinity Lutheran. Their youth service was that night, so we were able to meet some of their youth group members and connect with the pastor as well. We really enjoyed meeting so many great, welcoming people.
Thursday we headed to Venice Beach which was…interesting. There was definitely no shortage of things to see. After that, we went to Santa Monica Pier and the group enjoyed going on some of the rides on the pier and playing games. The beach was also right there to walk around at. That night, we headed to Saint Paul’s Lutheran in Orange (after 2.5 hours of traffic…yikes) for a BBQ with our host home families. St Paul’s really spoiled us! We loved hanging out with the families we met.
The next day we set out for “the happiest place on earth”: Disneyland! Yep, we spent ALL DAY (yeah, I counted, it was about 13 hours) at Disney. We had a great time and the group rode rides like crazy and just tried to pack as much in as they could. St Paul’s also paid for a fabulous lunch for us at a nice restaurant inside the park. One of our students, Ariel, videoed just about everything she could in the park so we think we got some great footage! It really was a great day!
Saturday, we got caught up on pick-up interviews at the church, then headed over to the youth pastor’s home to make homemade frybread with beans and cheese for his family and us (and I got to make fresh lemonade with his two adorable daughters.) Afterwards, we all went to Wendy’s, a friend of the AYM’s, house where we swam in her pool, ate snacks and hung out until the church service at St. Paul’s that night.
Sunday morning, there are 3 services at St. Paul’s. The guys attended the first, then helped with Sunday School for the younger kids for the other two. The girls then attended the latter two services. The attendees at St. Paul’s were so welcoming; they laid hands on us and prayed for us and also took up an offering for AYM. We felt so blessed! That afternoon, we went back to Wendy’s and she took us to a galleria mall for shopping, a movie (in 3-D) and lunch. Later, the group all headed back to St. Paul’s one final time for the youth service that night.
And the next morning, we headed home. I can truly say that this trip was awesome! We felt so blessed and welcomed by all of the host families and churches that we were able to meet. I think the students’ eyes were opened even more to the world outside the rez and being able to meet and mingle with people and stay in their homes was really good for them. Thank you for your prayers for us for this trip! I believe it was a life changing experience for them!
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Friday, September 12, 2008
Monday Night Discipleship Home Group
This year we have instituted a Monday night discipleship group. This is a by-invitation-only meeting just for students that we feel are really have a hunger and desire for God based on their words and deeds. We felt we should have a separate group for them so they could have more one-on-one attention from staff.
The environment is different. Instead of meeting at “The Kennel”, we are meeting at the staff house (Derek’s house) just around the corner from “The Kennel”. We felt this would be a more intimate setting than the youth center and it would not hold all the distractions that the youth center sometimes has. The agenda is similar to a Bible study: two staff members share a lesson from Jesus’ teachings. The goal is to learn about the life of Christ and to learn the “culture of the Kingdom” that He taught (Sermon on the Mount). Also, Marissa is cooking dinner for the kids too (yikes!), as it runs from 7-9pm.
Next, we have a discussion time where the teens’ can bring forward any questions or thoughts they may have. Here, we have more time to discuss and more time to delve into the depths of Scripture. We encourage the kids to share what’s going on in their lives (what they’re struggling with), so we may break into small groups. Also, in this environment, we can also provide some individual counseling time, if needed.
Lastly, we also have more in depth prayer time and teach them about the different ways they can connect with the heart of God through prayer. Here we would like the students to pray for each other, instead of just the staff members praying over all of their prayer requests. We hope to continue to teach them that God hears them and they can go before His throne boldly. Overall, we just want to better mentor and disciple these particular kids.
The environment is different. Instead of meeting at “The Kennel”, we are meeting at the staff house (Derek’s house) just around the corner from “The Kennel”. We felt this would be a more intimate setting than the youth center and it would not hold all the distractions that the youth center sometimes has. The agenda is similar to a Bible study: two staff members share a lesson from Jesus’ teachings. The goal is to learn about the life of Christ and to learn the “culture of the Kingdom” that He taught (Sermon on the Mount). Also, Marissa is cooking dinner for the kids too (yikes!), as it runs from 7-9pm.
Next, we have a discussion time where the teens’ can bring forward any questions or thoughts they may have. Here, we have more time to discuss and more time to delve into the depths of Scripture. We encourage the kids to share what’s going on in their lives (what they’re struggling with), so we may break into small groups. Also, in this environment, we can also provide some individual counseling time, if needed.
Lastly, we also have more in depth prayer time and teach them about the different ways they can connect with the heart of God through prayer. Here we would like the students to pray for each other, instead of just the staff members praying over all of their prayer requests. We hope to continue to teach them that God hears them and they can go before His throne boldly. Overall, we just want to better mentor and disciple these particular kids.
Friday, May 16, 2008
Marissa's first blog post
So I guess this is my first blog post...per the title. I've had a few requests to start a blog so this is not exactly of my volition...but I will try so here goes.
We've been in Arizona for a month and a half now. Let's see...weather. I really am enjoying the endless sunny skies. Ok maybe not endless, its rained twice now I think, both times in the past couple of days. Its definitely dry, not the humid heat of the South. I enjoy the unsticky feel when I walk outside, its a nice change. We live in the White Mountains and our town (Show Low) is at an elevation of about 6500 feet, so, I've heard they get a lot of snow here, which is kinda cool, me being from California, then Georgia. There is a ski resort about 45 min away. The area is chock full of Ponderosa Pines. We are about 3 hours (175 miles)north and east of the Phoenix area (the Valley). So that should tell you a little about where we're at.
Work: work is really cool. Our job is to build relationships with the high schoolers that come to "The Kennel" (our ministry youth center) and just hang out with them, be there for them, encourage them and listen. The Fort Apache Indian Reservation is about 45 min away from us (30 miles?). And the "Rez" as it is locally called, is a completely different world than any I've known before. Their lands are located down the eastern part of Arizona. When you are on the Rez, you will see a lot of poverty, you'd think you were in the inner city or a third world country, but its odd because you are in the beautiful Arizona mountains. It is an odd dynamic.
You will see horses and cows in the middle of the road, you see elk and deer. You see a lot of run down homes or trailers. Its hard to find a lot of good to say. I guess I really feel the people are so interesting though. They are typically quieter than us loud folks. They are, honest, open, they feel a strong sense of pride in their heritage and culture and language. I have enjoyed getting to know this people group that were here way before us Europeans. There is much to learn from their history and where they've come from that's made them who they are today.
My prayer is that God will give them dreams for their brokenness, give them honor where they've been ashamed, give them peace where there has been violence and give them His love where there has been the substitute of drugs and alcohol.
There is much more I'd like to write about the Apache and there is still so much I have to learn.
We've been in Arizona for a month and a half now. Let's see...weather. I really am enjoying the endless sunny skies. Ok maybe not endless, its rained twice now I think, both times in the past couple of days. Its definitely dry, not the humid heat of the South. I enjoy the unsticky feel when I walk outside, its a nice change. We live in the White Mountains and our town (Show Low) is at an elevation of about 6500 feet, so, I've heard they get a lot of snow here, which is kinda cool, me being from California, then Georgia. There is a ski resort about 45 min away. The area is chock full of Ponderosa Pines. We are about 3 hours (175 miles)north and east of the Phoenix area (the Valley). So that should tell you a little about where we're at.
Work: work is really cool. Our job is to build relationships with the high schoolers that come to "The Kennel" (our ministry youth center) and just hang out with them, be there for them, encourage them and listen. The Fort Apache Indian Reservation is about 45 min away from us (30 miles?). And the "Rez" as it is locally called, is a completely different world than any I've known before. Their lands are located down the eastern part of Arizona. When you are on the Rez, you will see a lot of poverty, you'd think you were in the inner city or a third world country, but its odd because you are in the beautiful Arizona mountains. It is an odd dynamic.
You will see horses and cows in the middle of the road, you see elk and deer. You see a lot of run down homes or trailers. Its hard to find a lot of good to say. I guess I really feel the people are so interesting though. They are typically quieter than us loud folks. They are, honest, open, they feel a strong sense of pride in their heritage and culture and language. I have enjoyed getting to know this people group that were here way before us Europeans. There is much to learn from their history and where they've come from that's made them who they are today.
My prayer is that God will give them dreams for their brokenness, give them honor where they've been ashamed, give them peace where there has been violence and give them His love where there has been the substitute of drugs and alcohol.
There is much more I'd like to write about the Apache and there is still so much I have to learn.
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