day 086. [family]

At camp one of the things that we talked about heavily and made it an important thing was our church family. Some of the pastors said that if they were to pass away they would rather leave their children with someone from the church over their own family. That's just how important it is to get rooted into a church family.

On top of that, that night so many people gave their lives to Jesus and we were able to welcome them to the family. You're probably wondering why I'm talking about this when camp was about two weeks ago. Well, you see, I leave this Friday to go back to the University of Portland. My good friend Aloysia (she's a college student now) leaves tomorrow morning for college. Devin Tanner & Courtney Tuttle, they leave on Tuesday. Nathan Young leaves on Wednesday.

They are part of my family. They are part of my church family.

So I'm coming to realize that a lot of my post this summer have most definitely been about God. It's what I do. For those of you that didn't see this side of me during the school year it's probably because I tried hiding it. Why I hid it? I don't know, but I don't want to hide it this upcoming school year. But yeah, this is a big part of my life and it's a part of my life that I don't mind sharing with you :)

Anyways, I wish I could remember what was going on during church, but I can't. haha. After church though I went to go play some volleyball. It was good. A LOT of the high school girls were there and it made playing that much more fun because we were actually playing volleyball. Not just passing the ball over back-and-forth.

When I got done with that though I got myself ready for Youth Group. I went to both Jr. High and High School. Why I went to Jr. High tonight? I don't know, felt called. High School Youth Group was where it was at though. Just like in Jr. High we shared our testimonies as to what God did during camp. Some of us even spoke on what God has been doing in the last 18 months. The thing is, I don't know if you can question our testimonies because these were our experiences with God. They were that real.

The hardest part about tonight though was we had to say goodbye to the seniors that were leaving for college this week. Something that was also hard tonight was saying goodbye to the youth group, again. I thought it'd be easier this time around, but it definitely wasn't. There were faces that I didn't say bye to last year because they weren't part of the youth group. There were faces that I didn't say bye to last year because I wasn't close with them. It's funny what God can do in a year. It's funny what God can do in a summer. He brought people to the youth group. He brought relationships in my life that are real and true.

As typical though, the youth group headed over to Applebee's to spend one last Applebee's with the parting seniors as well as those that are just going back to college. It was PACKED that night. Bless those servers who have to deal with is. I say that like we are a burden because we definitely can be sometimes.

Afterwards though Steven and I hung out for about an hour and a half just kind of talking. Like we usually do. I can't wait to hang out with Sharmaine and Steven this week. It better happen!!

PS. So there's a story behind the photo. Corey has a tendency to get pictures with all the Asian girls ... just like that. I kind of wanted a picture with Corey. What better way to do it? haha.

day 079. [cut-off]

It's a Sunday, what else do you expect me to write about?

Well besides going to church and youth group today, I do have to say that it is ... FLIPPIN HOT IN OAK HARBOR!! In fact, it was about 80 degrees in the later part of the afternoon. Talk about flippin hot!

In other news though, church was good. It was definitely nice to see everyone I went to camp with again. It was much nicer because I was well rested and did not have to deal with being on a bus full of people that wouldn't be quiet. Moving on. Russ gave a good message today on how we as a church should be in the middle of this transition. Actually, I should say in the middle of the transitions going on at the church.

For those of you reading and wondering what's been going on at Living Word, this is what's been going on:

• Associate Pastor Andy Mahoney has become the Senior Pastor at New Convenant
• Children's Pastor [K-5th Grade] Janelle Ibaven has become the new Associate Pastor at Living Word
• Children's Pastor [1's-4's] Renee Walstad has become the Children's Pastor for all ages
• Youth Pastor Angel Esquivel has been called to plant a church in the Tri-Cities

A lot is going on, but even in the midst of this the church seems to be holding up. It was a great message from Russ on how the church has to continue to seek God out through what may seem like a storm.

As for Youth Group tonight, Tommy spoke tonight. Let me say something before I go into what he spoke about, I love it when Tommy speaks. God is really using him to speak to the youth that was put before him tonight. Tommy, you are seriously doing some serious God work. Thought I'd let you know, if you're reading ;)

Anyways, he spoke on holiness and what it means to be holy. Talk about an eye-opener. Especially an eye-opener that came from right after camp, ha. Seriously though, God was definitely using him to speak to us tonight. Going to miss him when he leaves for Life. It'll all be good because all of us college folks will be going our ways in the next few weeks!

Afterwards, instead of going to Applebee's with everyone I went over to Tasha's to watch Lord of the Rings. I don't know what I was thinking because I was seriously hungry the whole time and was texting Laura Nagel [who was right next to me] about how hungry I was. Good thing was, Laura was hungry too. She felt my pain!

Before I forget to mention, I have senior photos going on tomorrow.

Senior #7 will remain a mystery until tomorrow!

PS. If you're wondering, it's the day where I do my self-portrait :)

PPS. I'm aware that there's something in my teeth. I was just a little too lazy to want to clean my teeth and redo the picture

PPS. Being gone for a total of two weeks to summer camps has made my face REALLY dark. Like beyond what I want it to be, bahaha.

day 065. [jessica]

Disclaimer: Sorry if my posts seem to be a little lackluster. That goes for the pictures as well. I didn't realize how exhausted I really got from a whole week of Kid's Camp. Trust me though, once I get over the exhaustion things should get back to normal!

Moving on to what I did today. Obviously I went to church, which was to my surprise ... shocking, haha. If you read the Remember When's you'll know that there's one remember when in particular that scared the crap out of me. Well, yesterday was Janelle's first sermon as the Associate Pastor at Living Word. She managed to use that story in her message. Luckily, people thought it was more funny than alarming seeing as most of those leaders were Living Word Leaders!

I'm just glad that she has a sense of humor towards it. I mean, it was done and there's nothing we can do about it other than joke around about it, haha.

I went home after church, but what I did, I normally don't do. So I normally don't attend worship practice, but since I had to give Erika a ride there, I decided that I might as well stay and take some photos, which I obviously did. What I loved the most was Jessica was leading worship for both Jr. High and High School Youth Group.

If you don't know Jessica, you're missing out. She's such an awesome person. She is truly someone who lives her life for God. It's been amazing getting to know her since the end of my Junior year of high school. It was so much fun to see her yesterday! Wish I could have hung out with everyone at Applebee's yesterday.

Anyways, Youth Group was yet another good one. We talked about homosexuality and how as Christians we should respond to that. It was something I feel people needed to hear whether or not they were ready to hear it. Like Angel said last night, sometimes we are called to feel uncomfortable.

Afterwards, instead of going to Applebee's with everyone else, I just decided to go over to the Ross' place and watch Kate Plus 8 with Kristen. I know, I hung out with Kristen after having spent a whole week with her at Kid's Camp. This was different though because we weren't with kids, it was just us. Honestly though, we were still kind of in Kid's Camp mode, haha. I honestly wish we could hang out more this summer, but we're both so busy! When Nate, Danny, Isaac, and Levi came home from Wild Waves I stayed there for a bit to watch some X-Games, which to my surprise was actually fun to watch.

PS. Seriously though, get to know Jessica if you don't already know her. She's awesome and she has some awesome words of wisdom in her 19 year old brain :)

If only she liked robots instead of dinosaurs, then she'd be pretty close to perfect ;)

day 051. [flustered]

Seeing as I don't have Summer Deployment or Senior Portraits to put up, I figured I could put up the three-day-late self portrait.

If you're wondering why today's post is titled flustered, it's because that's how I feel right now. Maybe even a little frustrated. It all started with a phone call last night. I'm not going to go into details, but that phone call has made today seem like the longest day ever.

Anyways, I started today by having to force myself out of bed to get ready for church. I'm not going to lie, I almost didn't want to go to church because it would have meant having to see people that would potentially ask me if I'm alright. There would be some people who would know just by looking past the fake smile that something was wrong.

I even told myself this morning that whatever tears that felt the need to surface to my face, I would hold them back. But then Laura (worship leader) said something that pretty much was my cue to let all the tears go. She said something along the lines of how it's hard to go to church sometimes when there's so much going on, but that we have to let it go and give up to him. That was my cue because then I found myself letting all those tears go.

He's teaching me how to be real.

Seeing as I had a break from taking senior photos today, it didn't mean that it was a complete break. I still met with two of the seniors today to help them pick their clothes out. One of them was James, who I'm doing his photos tomorrow. The other was Caytie and her photos are on Tuesday. It should be tons of fun doing their pictures. By the way, more seniors to come this week, so definitely keep an eye out on that!

After picking clothes out, ha, I went to Youth Group. It was another awesome night. Tommy Guns spoke tonight on what God looks like. It was really what I needed. I guess you could say that I'm emotionally broken right now because I've just been in tears today. I've also just felt the need to cry for awhile. What Tommy had to say though was so awesome. He really is preaching the word of the Lord. Love ya Tommy!

As usual, ended up at Applebee's tonight with the Youth Group. I definitely miss the times with these guys, ha.

That was about it for today. Senior photos tomorrow!

Tomorrow's Senior: James Middleton

day 044. [slurpee]

Coming home at like 2:30 AM and going to bed at 3:00 AM meant that I wasn't going to go to church until the 11:30 service, which is the last of the three services at Living Word. It was awesome to see Jerry Cook giving a message again at Living Word. Some of you might not know, but between Pastor Dave and Pastor Russ Living Word had an intern pastor that was getting us ready for the new pastor. Well, that intern pastor was Pastor Jerry Cook. It was awesome having him around for four months before Russ came in to pastor the church. I loved the message that Jerry gave. It was just one of the many things that God spoke into me today.

After church I went to 7-11 to get a free Slurpee!! I really felt old though because I was with three sophomores and a junior. Well, Jared didn't make me feel that old, but it was Sharmaine, Erika, and Jonah that made me feel old because they are sophomores and I'm technically a sophomore. I thought when they did their free Slurpee's, that it was like the regular size Slurpee's. You see, I had never gotten a free slurpee until this year, ha. Little did I know that the size of the Slurpee was ... down sized. In fact, looking at the cup (it's been washed out and dried) the size of the slurpee was 7.11 oz, bahaha. Oh snap!

I eventually got those guys where they needed to be and I came home to rest and work on day 043's post. After being home I ended up going to Night of Worship back at my church. There were definitely some intimate moments between individuals of the church and God. I myself had an intimate moment that I really needed to have. It was something that needed to happen. He broke me down. I spent a little too much time this past year building up the wall that he broke down two years ago. I needed to be broken. Why? He's going to be able to use me. He's going to be able to work in me. He'll be able to heal the pain that is sitting inside of me. Like I said, it was needed and it definitely was an intimate moment. Tears were worth it.

At youth group Micah spoke on his missions trip to China. It was so cool to hear what God did and spoke to him while he was there. By the way, I want to make it public that I congratulate his mom in having her 10th child. Healthy baby girl. Abigail is her name.

As usual, after youth group we all went as a big group to Applebee's. Before hand though Sharmaine and I went to 7-11 again to pick up another free slurpee! From Applebee's though I went over to my friend Josh's apartment with a few people where we watched Law Abiding Citizen. It was, to my surprise, a good movie. I quite liked it. Not to give anything away ... you should consider watching it :)

We all just chatted for a bit about some random things, but we chatted for a bit, ha.

Anyways, SUMMER DEPLOYMENT is this week. I'm so looking forward to working with the little kids from the church :)

day 030. [lyc]

After missing church this morning because I was up until the sun rose, literally I was up until then. I don't think I can do that often. I need to reboot [robot term!] from school and catch up on sleep while still have the time in the day to enjoy summer, haha.

Although I missed church the best part about today was getting to go to Youth Group! If you're wondering what LYC means, it stands for Legacy Youth Church. Although, when I was in the youth group just a year ago we were known as 701. We never started at 7:01, more like 7:15 or 7:30, haha.

There have been some major changes since I was in the youth group just a year ago, for instance the biggest change has been time. Junior High Youth Group used to be on Tuesday nights and High School Youth Group would be on Wednesday nights. Both are now on Sunday, starting with Junior High at 5 and High school at 7:15 [see, we never started at 7:01, haha].

Unfortunately, because of the day change, I actually never got to go to Youth Group the other times I was home on breaks. Fall break, Thanksgiving break, and I only got to go once during Winter Break. As for second semester, I wasn't even home until the end of the semester, so there went time to go to Youth Group.

But you know what, I've come to realize it has nothing to do what day Youth Group is on. God is working and moving through all of those guys in the Youth Group and that's all I could ask for. You know? That God is creating a movement in people's lives. After all, God moved me two years ago and to this day he still means to world to me. Even if I fail and let people down. If you want to know more, ask me [I'm free to share], or read this post.

Anyways, tonight was like any other night of Youth Group ... AWESOME! You could definitely feel the Holy Spirit in the room and you could just feel the presence of God. The message was great and it was one that touched home base for me. Feel free to ask me anytime why it hit home.

Oh yeah, worship was, as usual, awesome. I really enjoy a good time of worship seeing as it prepares our hearts for the message. You know what I mean? O_o

Because of tradition, the best thing, other than youth group, is our after youth group activity!! We almost ALWAYS go to Applebee's after youth group as a tradition. When we go, we go ... in BIG GROUPS!! We tend to make it difficult, but we always try to be really courteous of the workers there, we could improve on that, but you know we try ...

Awww man, I'm going to be looking forward to these Sunday nights for the two months I'm here. I love all of you guys at LYC!! Keep letting God move through you and just trust in him!! Night everyone :)