Nae's Heart » Youth Activities

Tent Camp 2010

Renae — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 18:15:03 +0000

Last Monday -Wednesday I had the opportunity as a youth leader to go camping with the teens. ¬†We call it Tent Camp and use it as a time to build relationships with each other, but mostly with the Lord. ¬†We have a huge emphasis on devotions and talking about your walk with the Lord. ¬†It was great we had 19 teens and a dozen leaders.

Hanging out

I was confronted during Tent Camp with some things in my life that weren’t glorifying to God. ¬†I had the chance to right some of those things and to allow the Lord to start working on the others.

Some of the highlights were setting up the tents, which some of the teens had never done before, hanging out at the beach and surfing, small group discussions about the devotions, singing around the camp fire, storytime with Pastor Matt reading from Screwtape Letters and just the nature that God made.

The guys setting up a tent that was "missing pieces"

Come to find out all the pieces were there so it got set up properly the next day!

Those who didn't want to swim hung out on the shore

The sun shining through the leaves!

One of the most important things that we learned was that our ultimate purpose in life is to bring God glory. ¬†No matter what happens in our lives God wants the glory… Through life or death we should be giving Him the glory.

this is my ring with the sun shining on it to make a heart in the shadow...

A 25 Hour Day

Renae — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 01:12:25 +0000

Well My Friday started normal at 5:45 am… Getting ready for work. Unlike most Friday’s, this one promised to be over 24 hours. Like always we arrived at work around 7 am and went about our normal duties. At 9 am I drove a group of teenagers to Knott’s Berry Farm and then went back to work. I worked from 10 am-12:35 pm and then went to get my allergy shots and pick up some cookies for the youth game time at the church. At 4 pm, James and I left the church in the van I had driven earlier and met up with the teens leaving Knott’s. We headed to Portillo’s for dinner. When all of the teens had eaten their fill and relaxed for about an hour we loaded up and headed to Boomer’s. The teens drove the golf carts and mini-golfed until 10:30 pm and then we headed back to Bethel.
We arrived at the church at 11 pm and the fun really began. We played a game of soccer in the auditorium with fog and strobe lights… we played a twist on the previous mentioned game with pool noodles. I didn’t stay inside for the strobe light games since they give me a major migraine. Next we had a worship service. It started at 1 am with lots of songs and testimonies, and then Eric gave a short challenge about the mercy of God. We finished the service about 2:30 am and then let the kids loose on the property to find the youth leader who was hiding… this is fun because we have to be very quiet since it is early morning. We played 3 rounds and then we played a game with balloons in a completely dark auditorium.
The highlight of the night was playing Communist Church. The youth leaders were the communists and the kids were the Christians trying to get the hidden contraband… when they found one of the hidden items they had to give it a leader and the leader had to leave and not play the rest of the round. We played 6 rounds of Communist Church and the kids loved every minute of it.
The activity ended with most of the kids falling asleep while watching a movie from 5:30 am-6:45 am. Since clean-up had been done before the movie started James and I left at 6:15 am. We hit our bed at 6:45 am and I didn’t get up until 3 pm Saturday afternoon… James didn’t get up until 4 pm. We had a wonderful brunch of scrambled eggs and toast and watched a movie. so basically I was up for 25 hours and then got 8 hours of sleep.
I hope you all have a great weekend!

Sunburned

Renae — Mon, 17 May 2010 14:26:47 +0000

So on Saturday James and I went to the beach to reserve a fire pit for a school bonfire. I should know better than to spend any time in the sun without sunscreen on but I was trying to even out a slight burn that I had gotten on my feet. So I put sunscreen on my legs and face. I was wearing sweatshirt so I didn’t need to put any on my arms and I didn’t put any on my feet thinking that I would put it on later. Well I laid down to take a nap and completely forgot to put on sunscreen. This was not a smart thing to forget as I now have the most beautiful red feet. They hurt so bad. I stayed home from church yesterday because there was no way I was going to wear shoes. Ibuprofen and aloe vera have been my best friends. I am at work today but I am wearing flip flops. My feet still hurt really bad but life goes on.

Super Bowl and Sickness

Renae — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 21:04:52 +0000

Well yesterday was the Super Bowl and a very busy day for our youth group. ¬†We do an activity every year called Main Event and this year was no different. ¬†As we prepared for the big party we also took the time to pray for the visitors and the message that Matt would be giving. ¬†We barbequed hotdogs, put out candy and chips, we got the stuff ready for nachos… and then the game started. ¬†We had at least 100 teens… We went through a lot of food but the best part was all of the visitors heard a clear gospel message and were given the chance to speak with a youth worker… Yes the Saints won in a huge upset of a game, the kids ate so much candy and junk food that they probably went home sick, and I didn’t actually get to watch the game because of serving in the kitchen, but if the message made one teen think about their eternity it was all worth it…

Why the part about the sickness in the title, you may ask? ¬†well yesterday I had a really plugged nose and today when I woke up it was a full on cold so I stayed home from work and have been sleeping all day… I have a lot going on the rest of the week and I can’t afford to be sick, but then I stop and realize that God is still in control and he know what is happening in my life. ¬†I hope I feel better soon… I am going to go back to sleep now. ¬†Hope you all have a good day!

Long Busy Weekend

Renae — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 16:49:36 +0000

Well, I am glad that the weekend is over but I still don’t think it was long enough. ¬†Friday, I only worked for an hour in the morning and then had the rest of the day off because it was a half day. ¬†So after work I went shopping for a party I was going to and then headed home. ¬†I spent most of the day relaxing. ¬†Around 4 I took James some clothes since there was a youth activity that night and he had been at the school all day and I headed to a bridal shower. ¬†For the party we went to Yard House for dinner and then back to the house to open presents. ¬†At 9 I headed back to the school/church for the rest of the activity. ¬†Since it was broomball and we didn’t have the iceskating rink until 10. We had a great time and I enjoyed watching people eat it hard on the ice… By the way Broomball is playing a game with balls and paddles on the ice without iceskates on. ¬†We left the rink at 12 and headed back to the church so all the kids could go home.

On Saturday, James was up and at a friends house at 8 to go skeet shooting. ¬†Since I had nothing to do I headed up to Pomona to hang out with Ruth and Miriam. ¬†I really enjoyed spending time with them. ¬†I was back in the area around 5:30 and picked James up from Bethel. ¬†We had a relaxing evening at home and went to bed at 9 which became 8 when we turned out clocks back. ¬†James had a cold on Sunday so I went to church alone, but he is at work today and will hopefully have a good day! ¬†I will have pictures of Broomball up soon.

Lots of Time with Friends and Family

Renae — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 20:22:53 +0000

Well, On Thursday, James headed off to Ventura for GSACS Teacher’s Conference and I headed to Ontario Mills with Alyssa and Marissa. ¬†We went and got my hair cut, said hi to my parents, went and got the Altima from Tim, and then meet up with Ruth and Hannah in the mall. ¬†We had a great time wandering in and out of stores, trying on fancy dresses, and being a little crazy at times. ¬†I left the mall with the girls around 3:00 and headed home. ¬†We watched a couple movies and then headed to Sonic for dinner. ¬†After dinner we went back to my house and watched another movie and then played Apples to Apples. We went to bed around midnight.

On Friday, I woke up around 8 and grabbed my computer. ¬†The girls woke up around 9 and we had a lazy morning just hanging around the house watching movies, doing our hair, and listening to music. ¬†Ruth came ¬†over around 1 and hung out with us, then waited at the house while I went and dropped the girls off. ¬†Mom and Dad A got to our house around 4 and I went to pick James up from the church around 4:30. ¬†We fixed dinner and then headed out to watch James play softball. ¬†After the game we came home and had dessert. ¬†We were all pretty tired so we went to bed a little earlier then normal.

On Saturday, We were all ready to leave the house at 9:15. ¬†We headed to the mall to do some shoe shopping, then to the bead store to buy some supplies for about 4 sets of jewelry for Mom A. We headed back to the house for lunch and to meet up with Ruth and Mom and Dad W. ¬†While Mom and Dad W ate some lunch Mom and Dad A took a walk with Ruth and James. ¬†Then it was time to start making dinner. ¬†We had steak, corn, and fruit salad. ¬†Ruth took off to spend the evening with Hannah and the rest of us headed to yet another mall. ¬†When we got home from the mall James got Mom and Dad W and Dad A to play Wii bowling. ¬†They all had a great time. ¬†After bowling Mom and Dad W and James played golf. ¬†We had a great time with everyone.

On Sunday morning, Mom and Dad A left around 8:15 to head home and James and I headed to church. ¬†After the morning service we went to Lori and Eli’s house for a birthday party for Luis, then headed home to take a nap. ¬†Sunday night after the service we headed to the Lopez’s house for GASS (gathering after sunday service). It was a very encouraging time of singing and testimonies.

On Monday, it was back to work. Then because I had the afternoon off I went and hung out with Sarah and Chase. ¬†I was back around 6 to eat dinner with James and head to Meatchew. ¬†Meatchew was very encouraging and uplifting.

Finally, today, I have a regular Tuesday and will finally have an evening at home with just the 2 of us. ¬†I am really looking forward to spending time together.

25 1/2 hours of pure fun!

Renae — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 23:38:16 +0000

So our youth group did an all-night activity ¬†called Spring Bash. ¬†It was so much fun! ¬†It started on Friday… The High School and Jr. High students went to Knott’s Berry Farm… James and I both had to work so neither one of us went to Knott’s. ¬†But we meet up with everyone at 5:00 pm and went to Portillo’s for dinner… It was good! ¬†From there we went to Lazer Guest in Fullerton and played Lazer tag from 8-11 pm… From there we went to AMF Bowl in Fullerton and bowled from 11:30-1:00 am… From there we went back to Bethel, it was about 2 am when we got back… We played Sardines for an hour… then came an aggressive game like capture the flag except it was with balloons and the goal was guys against guys and girls against girls to pop all of the other teams balloons… After that we had a time of testimonies and singing… this took us to about 4:00 am… then we played a game called Communist Church, it is played in a completely dark auditorium and the kids get let in and then the leaders catch them and put them back outside… Matt is going around opening random doors and letting the teens back inside… the goal is for them to find the blue glowstick which is hidden and get it outside without being caught… ummm this is a very¬†hazardous¬†game as the chairs are not very nice to your shins… ¬†Around 5 am every one went upstairs to the youth room and some people rested while others played Wii… at 6 am we had breakfast and then everyone went home to shower and sleep.

James and I got home at 7:30 am and went to bed… I was up again at noon, but James slept until 4:30 pm and then went back to bed at 9:30 pm… I went to bed at 10 pm… I am still trying to catch up on sleep but I am doing great and the activity was a success!

Hope you all had a good weekend!

Iron Chef (ACTS style)

Renae — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 16:30:08 +0000

So the activity on Saturday was a huge success. ¬†Our secret ingredient was cocoa powder. ¬†We had to use it in 3 courses: an appetizer, a main dish, and a dessert. ¬†We left the church at 12:15 and headed to the store. ¬†We had a couple cookbooks and chose recipes on the way so we would purchase all the ingredients we needed. ¬†For our appetizer we decided to do biscuits, of course they were chocolate biscuits because of adding the cocoa powder. ¬†They were pretty nasty tasting after they were cooked, they tasted fine before they were put in the oven.

Chocolate Biscuits¬†¬†

¬†For our main dish we made Stuffed Spinach Shells. ¬†We used ricotta cheese, cream cheese, spinach, and of course cocoa. ¬†:) ¬†You couldn’t really taste the cocoa. ¬†They turned out okay. ¬†I wouldn’t make them again, at least not with cocoa.

Stuffed shells

For dessert we made a chocolate pizza. ¬†It had a sugar cookie crust, cream cheese & cocoa for the frosting, and peanut butter chips and chocolate chips on top. ¬†We also drizzled chocolate sauce over the top. ¬†It was the best hing we made. ¬†

Chocolate Pizza

One of the other teams made things like: Chocolate¬†croissants, chocolate breaded chicken, chocolate mousse crepes, rice with chicken boullian, cocoa, and cinnamon in it.

¬†The third team made: Chocolate covered strawberries, Chocolate tri-tip, Layered chocolate mousse. ¬†

I was tired of chocolate at the end of the end of the night. ¬†Sounds funny but it is true. ¬†

Our team came in 2nd. ¬†We were happy with that. ¬†

For more pics you can go to the pictures page or click on this link Pictures