im Gina and i 've been here since i was in 7th grade yes i know your probley wondering wow how did she do that but i have been here for awhile. I have seen youth leaders come and go but have gotten used to are new ones that are very welcoming and friendly. I have a blast every time here this is where you can let out your stress and energy out so your leaders can get to know you.If you are shy and embaressed you can talk to them alone and they will give you feedback on anything. So everytime i come here i have any emotion and they will talk to you. I love how any highschool memebr can come and join and have a good time. BUT YOUTH GROUP IS THE BEST !!!
2010 baby wooop wooop lol
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
hannah
im a new comer and they were so sweet to me my 1st time.
this is one fun place
its not like all churches
we like to POP LOCK AND DROP IT
the learder are so fun and very welcoming......
this i shannah and i would like to see more ppl here.
hello :) about the youth???
Right now were about to pop lock-it drop-it. lol But the youth is a really neat, cool, wonderful place.
My name is Sean and i am a current youth member. This is my first time posting a blog so it looks like its going good so far. If you show up early like i usually do you get a free meal :) Its called Taste and see. Even if your not a current youth member you can still have fun hear. There is yoga and dancing and other great things here. I come for the Youth group as i have already said :) Anyway this Youth group i am a part of is the senior high youth for 9-12 graders. our group is really fun and we do many community service opportunities as well. This saturday were going to The Az Scream Park!!! I'm so excited about it!!! Its the same day as my b-day!!! thats it for now later! :)
My name is Sean and i am a current youth member. This is my first time posting a blog so it looks like its going good so far. If you show up early like i usually do you get a free meal :) Its called Taste and see. Even if your not a current youth member you can still have fun hear. There is yoga and dancing and other great things here. I come for the Youth group as i have already said :) Anyway this Youth group i am a part of is the senior high youth for 9-12 graders. our group is really fun and we do many community service opportunities as well. This saturday were going to The Az Scream Park!!! I'm so excited about it!!! Its the same day as my b-day!!! thats it for now later! :)
Friday, July 13, 2007
Savannah/Rumplestilskin’s Blog
$@n Fr@nc|$c0 is a beautiful place. Even though we have been mainly staying in Hayward, California, our visit to San Francisco was definitely unforgettable. The church that we have been staying at is so nice and the people are very friendly. I certainly enjoy the weather here better than the Phoenix weather. In my opinion this week has, so far, been an experience that I will remember forever.
Today we didn’t really travel much. We woke up and we were mainly working on things around the church. We were split up into three groups and were sent to do different tasks with different people. I was sent to sort through files and label new files with Lacey, and Faith. We worked very well together and we got a lot done!
Around 12:00 pm. We all met in the kitchen for lunch. Today’s lunch was slightly different then the other lunches throughout the week. Today we were on a mission to empty the refrigerator. We were to only leave the food that was there when we first arrived.Later on after lunch we went into the music room for a drumming lesson. It was a lot of fun and very noisy. We all had so much fun beating on the drums and playing on the xylophones. My favorite instrument to play was the cow bell. Katye Jones perfected the bass and even led the group in a couple songs that we all made up together. The routine we were going with was that someone would volunteer to lead and they would play any beat that they could think of and then throughout their beat everyone else would join in trying to fill in any blanks in the music they could think of. For a few of us it was the highlight of our morning.
After our drumming lesson we all piled into the vans and headed for Hayward Plunge, the public pool. Half of us relaxed in the pool and the rest of us took the swimming test and spent our time flipping off the diving boards. Later on after the diving we all played freeze tunnel tag in the water. I think that the game was my favorite part of swimming. When the swimming came to an end we came back to the church and went back to work and finished our jobs.Today was a lot of fun but I am excited to head home tomorrow morning. We have to get up early and do some finishing cleaning then we are going to head to the airport. I’m not sure what time we will be arriving back in phoenix but we are required to be at the airport by noon.
I’m eager to get home and see everyone in my family that I miss so much. I love them and I can’t wait to see them.
- Savannah Andrade
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Kyle and Marilyn and Mark
Did we mention that we love you all?! Thanks for the use of your beautiful facility, the drumming session, the use of the kitchen, the game room etc. You are the personification of extravagant welcome! We will miss you and are blessed (or "beatituded") by your presence and patience!
The Last Supper...
... of work camp is being prepared by Max and Gina as I sit to write this! I am exhausted, but elated that this has been such and enlightening and educational week! Our days have started around 7 a.m., leaving for work sites by 9:00, and then home again by 3ish. The kids have found free time to play games, swim, eat, converse, blog, shoot hoops, eat, listen to music, and did I mention eat? Katye is STILL a vegan, despite the wonderful food choices, and has been eating quite well too! Each night we have shared a dark "candle time" where we have engaged in amazing, passionate, and thought provoking discussions. I am constantly amazed at the way that the kids' minds work and the insight that they possess.
Yesterday's experiences in San Francisco are still fresh in my mind. City of Refuge UCC is truly answering God's call to educate, help, and inspire so many lives that others have left behind. Watching the kids interact (ending with double-dutch jump roping) with some of the staff was quite a site to see. Bobby Wiseman (the kids loved him) and I spoke at the end of the day about what a mutually rewarding experience this was for his staff and our youth. Beatitudes kids asked some really blunt, honest questions yesterday. Questions that Bobby said were important ones for his staff to answer about their lives. I think you parents would be proud!
I want to thank Ted for his easy way with the kids and contagious sense of humor. Thanks to Max for always challenging conventional wisdom...and for well-above average culinary skills! :) To our wonderful congregation, thanks for helping make this trip possible. This has meant more than words can say!
In Gratitude,
Dana Bender
Lacey’s Blog!
Well I want to start off saying this trip has been soo much fun. We have been doing a lot of things to help people. I personally have helped at this store that is kind of like a Savers/Goodwill store by moving furniture and sorting, organizing, and building. I have also gone to the Alameda County Community Food Bank and helped package foods they could take it to the homeless who need to eat. While I was doing that, some of the other youth were inside sorting folders. It was a lot of fun. On Wednesday we took a lot of tours. I’ll admit it wasn’t all that fun but then we met this one guy named Bobby and that’s when the fun started. We met these girls named Lacey (wow how weird), Jasmine, and Harmony. They were great. They took us on a tour of a GLBT community center. On the way back, we handed out packets of condoms to teach people about safe sex. On Thursday we helped out around the church and went swimming and ate Panda Express in the afternoon. It was fun. And now we will be leaving tomorrow. To wrap it all up I had a great time and I thank anyone and everyone who helped make it possible. I hope to do it again.
Sincerely,
Lacey Millsap
Hannah’s Blog
Hey everyone! We are having a blast in San Francisco ! Yesterday we traveled into the city and went to a church and got a tour of that church. At that church we met a man named Bobby. He was a very nice guy, funny too. Later we got our first and only shower of the week! Woo doesn’t that feel great! After we were all showered and refreshed we looked around China town and some of San Fran. China town is very crowded and fun. There are many things there that you wouldn’t see in Arizona . Then when we were all done looking around we went back to the church and met 4 women. They we actually Trans genders. When we left Phoenix I definitely hadn’t thought of making Transgender friends. They were cool. And Bobby called himself a gay loving man. After we looked around the city we went to fisherman’s Warf. That was fun too. Then finally we got back to the church we were staying at, about 10 o’clock. That day was probably the best day out of the whole week. See everyone later!!
Katye’s Blog!
Hey all! San Francisco has been sooooo much fun! This week has been fun but tiring! Sleep= good!
Yesterday.
Our day was all based on sight.
Well, we went to the tenderloin district of San Francisco and visited the City of refuge UCC Church . Seeing the tenderloin district made us all cringe but we faced the fact and accepted that that’s how other people have to live. On the way to the church, we saw the Golden Gate Bridge , Alcatraz , people looking (wink) at Max and Dana in the car, and lots and lots of pollution. The people at the church talked about many different things including the area, what they do as a church, what kind of people attended the church, and many, many more. One program is the LGBTQQIA (yes?) and it stand for the many statuses of people’s sexual orientation and most of the people that worked in that program were either gay, lesbian, or transgender. They were the most amazing people I have ever met. They taught us that there are people out there in the world like that and that it’s hard to survive when your parents can’t accept the fact that you’re different. We took a break at lunch and found a small restaurant out in the tenderloin, then showered at the YMCA. YAY! J Then, we returned to help pass out condoms and brochures to help people out there have safer sex. I felt like we really made a difference. It was awkward, but we helped. Later, we took the F Market (street car) all the way to Fisherman’s Wharf, split up into groups and had the most amazing time! Me, Sammy, Hannah, and Dana went to Pier 39 and looked out into the ocean and rode the two story carousel (Ya!) It was cold…BRRR…I probably should have brought a jacket. O, well! I’m alive!
The bishop at the church was Yvette Flunder. She was so amazing, too. She was so thoughtful, in the moment, and a Grammy Award winner for gospel singing. Her new CD with the Fellowship Mass Choir was called “We won’t be silent Anymore.” That title really spoke to me. It made me realize that we all need to go out there and make a difference instead of expecting that other people should do it and that only they can make a difference. Although we are all just one person, we can make a difference altogether.
Love, Katye Jones <3
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Big Sam’s Blog
Today we went to the Alameda County Community Food Bank and we sorted fresh produce. Most of the time I spent wondering why people would eat raw cucumbers of which we sorted literal tons.
The rest of the time I spent thinking about the people that worked there and how they ended up holding such crappy jobs. And all this thought, led me to one infinite and unavoidable conclusion … The truth is that life is not fair. My intention in this statement is not to worry or sadden you, I don’t want the fact that your puppy arrived today from the kennel seem superfluous. I just mean that while we who live with petty and inconsiderate problems such as, “my dog messed on the carpet”, or “da.n I lost my ipod”. Others have problems like “I can’t eat today … so I can feed my kids with the 21 dollars provided me by our government” (California provides 21 dollars for families on the food stamp program weekly). While three hours of income at California’s minimum wage in 2007 equates to 22.50 people still can’t afford to feed their kids at the cost of living in San Francisco and the surrounding areas. Most would deduce that people not being able to provide for their kids at a minimum 7.50 an hour have other “expenses”. But from what I experienced today I recognized that people who can’t afford to feed their own or others mouths do not have a social net to protect them … Like people that worked there, doing grunt work … sorting cucumbers and nasty peaches. One of whom … if not more … hadn’t finished high school. But it led me to think, what if they were in their last few days of attendance and had been required to sit at his death bed? What if right before graduation, they were riding in a car with someone who pointed a gun out the window and blew someone’s head off (actually happened to a family friend) and was charged with being an accomplice in a first degree murder … effectively ruining their life in either situation, at least for a year or two. Not being able to get a job because of problems that were out of your control doesn’t seem like a good excuse to be homeless as an ex con or a high school dropout. So the statement “life is not fair”, cliché as it may be can be used to attack the acts of food banks and defend them. Conservative rich believe that those in lines are there for their own actions and are raping the government. They comfort themselves with the statement “life is not fair, you shouldn’t have picked up that addiction you have to whatever it may be”. I used to be a member of this mindset I used to think that everyone more or less chose to be where they are in their life and that we are commanders of our future and fortune … but today made me realize that most of the people in those lines are saying “life is not fair, I’m sorry kids”.
