Tuesday.

Yesterday was Tuesday. Another awesome day in the books. Each day begins with wake up call, breakfast, making lunches, morning devotions and loading up the vans. It's amazing to see the kids each morning...slightly more tired than the previous, slowly grabbing food. The dining hall seems to be filled with tired people yet the noise level is still high. Morning devotions begin afterwards, lead by Pastor Josh (who happened to go to seminar with Pastor Matt). Then it's quiet time. It's great to have time before leaving for the worksites to pray, reflect and read before the hectic day. 

The work day went well and the youth got to go to a pool afterwards. Nothing like a refreshing swim after a long day! Many of our kids choose to relax and read instead of swim. 

We meet as a youth group after dinner. It's neat to hear what everyone is doing, to hear the stories and to connect as a yg. 

Some awesome things are being done here. I can't wait to see what else God has in store for us!

Monday.

Whew. Day one flew by! All the kids headed to their worksites in the morning with great attitudes. By early evening everyone was coming back to the church campus with stories of their day. I'm so excited for these stories to develop this week and then to be shared with all of you! I am hoping to have some of the youth share the stories here on the blog before we get back...but they are super busy going from one event to the next. 

Monday evening we had Hawaiian night complete with Polonesian dancers. It was a fun evening! We then had worship and a message. 

Here are a few pictures to see what we've been up to!

Sunday.

Hello. Sorry for the delay on post number one. I thought it had posted but no :( We arrived Saturday afternoon safe and sound. The flight was uneventful...always a good thing. We were welcome by an awesome host team at bellflower! They got everyone checked in and we were feeling right at home. The leaders had their first meeting and then we all had dinner! Tri-tip sandwiches :) Worship followed, which was amazing! A message then bed. What a great start!

Sunday morning started early with breakfast, devotionals, meeting the 8:30 service then church at 10:30. We all wore our green serve tshirts and had a large group photo. 

After a quick lunch we headed to Santa Monica for a photo scavenger hunt. It was hot! (Don't worry all applied sunscreen at least twice!) We walked the boardwalk and took lots of pictures! 

Selfies :)

4 on a couch...bench? Or let's cram everyone on one :)

Jake took one for the team

We voted Jennifer out...our chooses method of disposal ;)

Our ride...jk

Ice cream ended our hit but fun adventure!

This evening was dinner, worship, message and small groups. Tomorrow beings our work! We are excited to see what god has in store for our work teams! Please pray that everyone would be safe and that the lords work would be done!

-Amy 

And we're off!

bellflower, here we come!

And we're off! Well, almost! On Saturday, the HSYG will hop on a plane headed to Bellflower, CA. We will once again be teaming up with Youth Unlimited on a mission trip. We will be working with a local church in Bellflower, Rosewood CRC. They have some awesome relationships in the community there and we are excited to see what they have planned for us. We will be doing a variety of jobs while in Bellflower, from helping with kid's camps to painting to mending fences, to shelters...the list large and varied! Our YG will be divided into different work groups so everyone will have a different experience! I am looking forward to hearing about what everyone is doing!

Please be praying for our group while we are gone. Pray that our hearts would be open to what God's will and plan is for the trip. Pray that the people we come in contact with would be open and softened to God's will. We are so excited to meet new people and serve, pray that we would be able to work hard and that the glory would go to God! 

We will be updating this blog as often as we can so please check back often! We are excited to share our experiences with you!

fundraiser dinner.

wow...it's been awhile! remember back in march when we hosted a super cool fundraising dinner? let me refresh your memory!

march 15th we hosted a fundraising dinner to raise funds for the hs mission trip to bellflower ca. it was a huge success!

the set up!

the guests

 appetizers

 serving dinner to almost 100 people!! wahoo!

dessert auction...major success!!

 the hardworking group!

the dinner was a major success! it was a fun evening complete with entertainment during the appetizers, a beautiful gourmet dinner, iPad raffle, dessert auction, fellowship and fundraising. we were able to raise over $10,000 which was our goal! i am so impressed with each hs and jh student who dedicated time to helping (whether it was set up, serving dinner, childcare). you all worked so hard and really did an awesome job! congrats!

the evening was full of fun and excitement. we received great comments from guests; saying they had a great time, excellent food and service. my favorite part of the evening was the dessert auction which not only raised a lot of money but was exciting to watch people bid for a bite of tasty dessert!

a huge thank you to those who helped in the kitchen! an even bigger thank you to brandon who planned and cooked most of the meal!! a large thank you and hugs to those who donated and supported the youth group!!

we hope everyone had a wonderful time!

30 hour fast.

this past weekend, the yg gathered to participate in a 30 hour fast. the purpose of the fast is allow each yger to worship God in a new way, to be challenged in their faith, to deepen their relationships with each other and with God. each person gets something different out of fasting but i think all would agree it's a good experience!

this year we spent some time at jubilee reach for a service project. we spent time organizing and cleaning their game closet. hopefully, kids at jubilee reach can find their favorite game or puzzle now!

 And we had a bit of fun, too!

 After our fun at Jubilee Reach we can back to church. We spent some time working on Youth Sunday projects.

 We relaxed, had discussions, devotions,

 and rested.

 :) hehe!

we spent some time watching the lord of the rings...and yes it tied into our discussion about being apart of God's family! amazing!

bedtime was greatly appreciated since bellies were getting pretty empty by that point. on sunday, we woke up, went to church and celebrated 30 hours with a soup lunch after church!

way to go everyone :)