La Historia

Last week, I had the opportunity to Co-Dean a week of camp at Indian Lake Christian Service Camp in Darlington, MD with Katie Gerber from Mountain Christian Church.  We had 61 4th-6th graders (4 of which were from YCC- Alexis Lashley, Max Hoffman, Jonathon Minneman and Lorayne Minneman)!  Among other things, we had one on one devotion time with God, learned about praying in color, worship, story time about God, games and A LOT of laughter!

La Historia-The Story...We spent the week looking at God's story for us.  The cool thing-the middle of the story is still being written.  The beginning and the ending are written down and the plan is set, but the middle-that's up to you!

Day 1-Creation!  It was great discussing this as we sat in God's creations!  We could hear the wind rustling the trees and the birds chirping.  We could see the beautiful greens in the trees, the blue in the sky and the river.

Day 2-Catastrophe!  Sin entered the world...and we keep sinning!  I don't think the kids will ever forget this lesson as we had little catastrophes set throughout the day for them as a result of continuous sin.  It was so HORRIBLE...no syrup for our french toast, no ketchup for our hamburgers, no salad dressing for our salads, and at canteen...only water!!!!!

Day 3-Community!  God starting rebuilding a relationship with man and he used men like Moses, Abraham, Isaac and Joseph.

Day 4-Christ! God sent His son Jesus to die on the cross for our sins.  

Day 5-Completion!  Celebration!  Jesus didn't stay dead...He arose and is preparing a place for us in Heaven!

I had a great week with all the kids and the leaders (despite the HUGE spiders I had to encounter many times:) And I can't wait til next year!

Some of the boys praying in color.

Some of the girls praying in color.

Crafts

Ultimate Sports

Jewelry Making

Dance

One  of the families performing their synchronized swimming routine during Olympics night:)

Finding Gummi worms in Whipped Cream

Worshiping 

Movie Night!

Messy games- finding marbles in oatmeal using toes:)

Moving cereal using water and your face:)

Marshmallow stamps...each team had a different condiment and had to "stamp" other teams using a marshmallow:)

The Izzo family-they were our Mission focus this week.  In a few days, they are moving to Nicaragua to be full time missionaries!

Gabe-one of our teen leaders getting baptized

Gabe getting baptized

Anthony getting baptized

Micah getting baptized

Shelby getting baptized

Jake getting baptized

What Should We Do?

Last night in Kidz Zone, we started a new parable...The Parable of the Good Samaritan!  We learned that God wants us to care for others.  We started out by listening to some different examples of things that happen in our life and how we should react to them versus how we want to react to them.  Before getting too far in to the parable, we have to figure out: Are you my neighbor?  The kids listed their siblings and their next door neighbors.  We then acted out the parable...the kids did a great job!  And at the end when asked: Who is your neighbor?, there was a resounding "Everyone!"

So, where do we go from here?  When the kids are watching us, like they always do...how do they see us?  Do we act like the priest who was too busy cleaning his robes as he walked and when he saw the beaten Jewish man he crossed the road? Do we act like the man who worked in the Temple who shielded his eyes and crossed the road when he saw the beaten man?  Or do we act like the Samaritan who, even though the Jewish man was different, stopped when he saw the beaten man, bandaged his wounds, took him to an inn and gave money to the innkeeper to continue to care for this man?

In His word, Jesus says to "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself."~Luke 10:27.  Are you doing this?

Kidz Zone Happenings!

Oh my!  How did it get to be May 4th already?  The past 5 months have been crazy and hectic.  Kidz Zone is hopping and having fun:)  We have been having a great time worshiping Jesus, learning about Him, and studying the Old Testament on Sunday mornings.  On Weds. nights, we have been studying the Parables of Jesus.  We have learned all about The Parable of the Yeast, The Parable of the Talents, The Parable of the Prodigal Son, The Parable of the Lost Sheep, The Parable of the Vineyard Laborers, The Parable of the Mustard Seed, The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant, The Parable of the Rich Farmer, The Parable of the Sower and The Parable of the Persistent Widow.  We have learned a lot and have had a ton of fun doing it.  Following are some photos of the kids in action:

Finding their lost sheep.

Working on Memory Verses.

Building our faith tree from a small mustard seed.

Showing our love for Jesus and others on the first warm Spring night.

How many times should we forgive someone when they hurt us? 7 times 70 times...we used bird seed to demonstrate that we can't count how many times Jesus wants us to forgive.