...although typical for us...

...is really not typical at all :)

We have a service called TNT. Basically it is an alternative service that happens at the same time as our main service. It is held in the gym where it's dark, the worship music is loud, we have coffee and doughnuts and it's much more laid back and relaxed. One of the things about this service is that it requires a lot of set up. And right now, our teens are doing most of that.

Sometimes it's hard to remember that they are still teenagers...

...but they always have a way of reminding us:


I'll leave you with a couple of pictures from Sunday:
This is our "alter". It's a cross.

One of our kids is really into wrestling.

Not the kind you do on a mat in high school.

The kind where you throw things at each other and do ridiculous moves.

I wouldn't think of this as being a problem...

...until he hit me with a chair....

Apparently, he wanted to try out one of the moves.

I forgot to post this picture from when we went to PLNU... and really, it deserves it's own post:
Yes, that is Isaac.
And yes that is the trunk of my car.

...and I guess that's our fault because we took them to one.

One of the things that is cool about the Nazarene Denomination is that we have a university... several actually... but the one that our district is connected with is Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego, California. It's actually where I went to college and it's a great school.

Once a year, they have something called Preview Days. It's a chance for kids from the Nazarene churches to go and check out the school. They stay in the dorms, eat in the caf, go to a chapel and a class and if they're seniors, they do their admissions interview. The school also does some other fun activities for the kids while they're there. This year, we took 7 teens down. It was quite an adventure. Things like this are always fun when we have a smaller group of kids because we really get to have fun with them and get to know them better.

I have some kind of funny stories... but I thought I'd share a few pictures also! So enjoy!

This was on the way down.
I was driving.
We decided to have a contest to see who could blow the biggest bubble...
This was mine.
I didn't like Crystal's... so I popped it :)This is me and one of my boys (Kyle) at a rest stop on the way there.


This is Isaac.
He's super cool.
But you might notice something kind of odd...
He's wearing fake eyelashes...
And they're on his eyeLIDs...
We love him :)
This is the Greek Amphitheatre (with the ocean in the background!). It's kind of famous at PLNU.This is the baseball field (in the background) and the track. Notice the ocean again?This is me and Javier... he is "hexing" me.
I don't know why.
Some of us down by the cliffs... this is actually on PLNU's campus!
This was taken on our way back up the cliffs... you wouldn't believe how many different versions of this picture we have with all of us trying to get in on it!
This video is from our hike back up the cliffs. The teens headed up the way we came down. Then Javier took the "easy way" and told me to try it.
I did.
It wasn't so easy.
I got stuck.
The teens laughed. And videotaped. And this is what happened.

We really enjoyed the time at PLNU, but before we knew it, it was time to head back home. We got on the road and decided to take our time... so we pulled off at a gas station (mostly because there was a lot of traffic and I panicked :) and then we decided to head to the beach for a while.

Remember Isaac?
We love him.

As soon as we got to the beach, the boys ran up this sand hill and posed for a picture:
...Then they pushed each other off of it...
Typical boys.

Shirley, me and Crystal... the only girls that went. We had fun!
There's a lot of love in our youth group :)I'd like to take this moment to thank God for Javier. Because before he came along, the boys did this to me... now he takes them on:
Don't worry... no teens were harmed in the making of this blog...
The next stop was the McDonald's dollar menu...
There are no words...
I'm really not sure about them sometimes... but they sure think they're funny.
One of the jokes that started circulating (i don't know how) is they would come up to me and say "Diandra my arm is swollen!" and then flex their bicep. At McDonald's it got taken to a whole new level... "Diandra, I have a headache":
We stopped at a Rest Area on the way back. The kids were making Sims of all of our teens... it was pretty funny! They were playing with the little Sims, and I hear Crystal say,
"Is that a hamster? Or a dog?"
:)We returned home safely and all the kids had a good time. I am reminded again about how wonderful my teens are and how cool my job is :)

...I've had one since Wednesday night in youth group.

This might explain it:



Because at any given time on Wednesday night before and after the worship service... there are 4 or more balls flying through the air. For some reason, they all seem to end up at one central point: my head.

We've got a group of teens that have started a worship band. The band plays on Wednesday nights before we teach. We've been talking to them a lot about how important their role is. They lead people in worship, and really set the tone for the rest of the service, and for what God is going to say through the message.

Sometimes we talk and talk and it sure seems like it goes in one ear and out the other.

On Wednesday night I realized that sometimes, it sticks.

The kids were kind of messing around during worship, so right in the middle of it, Isaac, our guitar player, stops playing and gives the youth group quite a lesson. I quickly pulled out my phone when I realized where it was going and caught most of it on tape:



It's a little hard to hear, but he basically says that it inst about how they sound, God doesn't care, He just wants us to worship Him. He goes on to say, who cares if you look silly or if people look at you, sing, dance, raise your hands, whatever... just worship God. (that's a bit of a paraphrase :)

Winter Camp is coming up soon.

I was making a plug for it in Sunday School. A few of the kids had just gone to starbucks and were drinking their fancy little drinks (welcome to Southern California youth ministry).

There is a cost to the camp, so I was telling the kids to save their pennies. Here is what followed:

Teen 1: Aw man, I just threw all that change in the tip jar at starbucks!
Teen 2: Dude, it was like 30 cents
Teen 1: No... oh well, yeah.

Later on in Sunday School we were talking about Sanctification. I was trying to explain in "kid terms" what it means. So I used this example:

Before you become a Christian, you're driving down the road in a car and Jesus is running along side of you. When you become a Christian, you let Jesus get into your car for the ride. When you become Sanctified, you let Jesus drive and you sit in the passenger seat.

To which one of the kids responds: "But does He drive full speed?"

There are times when life is hard.

There are a lot of those times when you're a youth pastor.

Oftentimes I find myself discouraged... frustrated... and just feeling down.

But God has this really cool way of turning that around.

At the end of Sunday School, I always ask if anyone would like to pray. It used to be that the kids would volunteer each other, so I'd make the kid that didn't want to pray pray. Then one day I realized that I was using prayer as a punishment (which was never my intention but that was what it had become). So I stopped doing that and started talking to them about what a privilege it is to pray and how much joy God must get when He sees that we want to talk to Him.

So when Sunday School ended last week, I was about to ask if anyone would like to pray. But before I had the chance, one of my teens raised his hand and started saying "oh me, oh, oh me!" you know... like kids do when they cant contain themselves...

And then he says something I wasn't expecting: "Can I pray? PLEASE?"

Possibly one of the best moments of my life.

Lucas is still proposing (if you don't know what I mean, read this).

Friday night I took him and Crystal (Javier's niece) home. On the way to drop him off, he proposed again. Crystal and I laughed and she said something about how it's never going to happen.

Lucas says, "Yes it will, I have faith. God answers prayers."

Then he proceeds to tell us that he asked in his Bible class at school for them to pray that his youth pastor would marry him.

When we were relaying this story to Javier and Sam (Crystal's dad, Javier's brother) later on that night, Sam looks at Javi and says, "Well I hope he didn't mean you."

:)

So again, not really "teen" related... but another update to my life list:

I've been featured on Jasmine Star's blog :)

Here are a couple of my favorites:

I almost feel like just leaving it at that and not even telling you the story behind this picture...

...almost...

...but I like to talk :)

This is Sarah (our intern) and Daniel (one of our teens). This is what Daniel did to Sarah instead of just saying "hello" like a normal person.

But that is why we love our kids...

...they're hands on...

...and they seem to have this weird obsession with hair... anyone know if there is a medical term for that?

Just wanted to share a couple of pictures of what youth group typically looks like.

Here are some of the kids in the gym during the Wednesday night service...
And part of one of our "small groups" on Friday night

Yesterday I accomplished something on my life list :)

I know that this is unrelated to my teens, but since I started writing about it on here, I have decided to continue with updates.

DO A PHOTOSHOOT WITH JASMINE STAR.

It was amazing! It will be posted on her blog at the end of this week or beginning of next week if you want to check it out.

Here are a couple behind the scenes pictures:

I am so thankful that I am where I am.

But if that weren't enough, God has blessed me with people to work with that I really love.

I get to work for my dad which is amazing! But in addition to that, I have been fortunate enough to really form friendships with our other pastors, and even our volunteers!

We have an intern from Biola University who is completing credits with us. Her name is Sarah. Yesterday, Sarah and I went to Disneyland!

Afterwards, we went with Javier and Sam to get pumpkins and carve them:


The funniest part was Sarah's portrait of Javier on her pumpkin :)
I am continually blessed by my job. It is so much more than a job. I am grateful for amazing people who make it that much better :)

***WARNING: This is not the typical "happy post" that I usually post. I find so much joy in what I do, and I typically write about that, and the triumphs, but today something is on my heart and I really felt like writing about it. So feel free to read, think and comment, but just keep in mind it's not the norm.***

I've mentioned before that I grew up in Oregon. And not only in Oregon, but in relatively small towns in Oregon. I have parents that taught me well... especially when it came to racism and hate. I learned from a very young age that the color of someone's skin was just that... a physical characteristic. That it didn't make them any less of a person. I also learned that we should love people regardless... that Jesus died for EVERYONE... not just the people we like. Those lessons were so important for me to learn. Because of the way I was raised and the person that God has made me, I really don't notice race as anything more than a physical characteristic... like blond hair or brown hair, green eyes or blue eyes, short or tall... Unfortunately, I cannot say the same for the world that I live in.

Our church is multinational. It's even in the name. Cerritos Crossroads MULTINATIONAL Church of the Nazarene/Mas Que Vencedores (yes it's long, but it's who we are). We speak 5 different languages officially and several others unofficially. We live in an area where this is not uncommon... Granted, it is a bit uncommon in the church... but southern California is full of different cultures and languages and nationalities.

It is also full of hatred and racism. I get so frustrated when I see that. I don't understand how people can feel so much disdain towards another human being simply because of the way they look, or where they were born, or where their GREAT GRANDPARENTS were born! It doesn't make sense to me.

That hatred translates in so many different ways. One of those became very real for some of my teens this week. A girl at one of the many local high schools in the area was shot and killed. She was the friend of one of my girls. She was killed at a party when someone came in and shot her. I don't know the details, but I know it was gang related... and gangs are driven by the need for power and surrounded by racial issues which often turns into hatred for no apparent reason.

It breaks my heart to see these things happening... and happening right in front of me. My heart goes out to this girl's family and friends. This isn't the first time something like this has impacted my teens. I continue to thank God for keeping them safe and pray that they continue to make good choices and stay out of harm's way.

Gangs are very real. I never really realized that until I moved here. But now that I'm here and closer than ever to real people affected by real gangs, I am driven to do something. Gangs are full of kids who need Jesus. And I honestly believe that Jesus can really and truly save these kids and change their lives.

I got a very unique invitation in the mail last week.

It was from a church, inviting me to Hell.

Yes, Hell.

It's a Halloween alternative that this church does... I guess it's some sort of show.

I was reading the invitation to Javier and one of our boys was standing there and overheard.

He turns to me and says, "I want to go to Hell."

Then he realized what he said, "Wait. I think that came out wrong."

:)

It takes a special person to be a youth pastor.

There's really a balance between being their friend, their mentor, their spiritual leader, and a little bit of a goof ball.

I was sorting through pictures on my computer today of my kids, and I started seeing a bit of a pattern... so I thought I'd share some proof of the goof ball side. :)

At the fireworks stand... I really dont know what Im doing...
Eating a Popsicle... I think it was for a photo scavenger hunt.
Silly sunglasses
Another one for the scavenger hunt... hanging out in a tree...
In a fountain... you'd be amazed how many fountains Ive been in...
Playing on the playground at the church
Rock Candy... yess!
Winter Camp... He started it.
Girl's night. I promise I do not dress like that on a regular basis.
Trying to get Bernice to smile... it worked :)
Always trying to get the kids to laugh for pictures...
There is no explanation for this one.
More from the playground.
We were dancing. We're actually really good :)