I have been a little worried about my finances.  I would like to ask you to pray for me in this area because it is really where I have a hard time trusting God.  But, I have got to say that so far He has provided for me right when I needed it.  However, I know that I don't have but a few more dollars in my YFC account coming back to me and I am worried that it won't get me back to Texas and pay all my bills too.  There is also the matter of wether I will be going to school or not next semester.  Right now I don't have the money to go to school.  I also talked to my boss back at the YMCA in Benbrook and it doesn't look like she will have enough hours to give me when I come back.  So, I am pretty much without a job and wondering if I should try to go to school or not next semester or if God has something else in store for me.  I feel like God has prepared me for something this summer like possibly a job in youth ministry or at least ministry somewhere.  I know that God will reveal his plan in due time but it definately still stresses me out when I think about it.  Especially with only 2 weeks left here before I head back to Texas.

I was just pondering today how much I feel that everything that I am doing here is part of God's plan.  From the time that God called me to do this I definately had my doubts.  I didn't know if I could ever step out of my comfort zone enough to do half of the things that I have done.  I didn't know how I would ever raise the money to do this and I definately was afraid of failing but I made a decision to rely on God and it has paid off.  God has been here with me every step of the way.  I have been stretched out of my comfort zone on more than a few occasions since I have been here.  Things that I never would have done before I came here I am now doing on a regular basis.
 
I also cannot help but think that I must have been made for this.  When God created me he must have had something just like this in mind.  I am using every gift that God has given me, everything that I know how to do and I am enjoying it.  I am using my computer skills to help with the Kix Kids website and to help set up a computer lab that will be networked and connected to the internet through a DSL connection.  I am using my guitar playing and singing in order to lead worship services for the kids and adults.  I am also using my ability to communicate with and teach kids and am developing my ability to share Christ with them and others too. 
 
I also feel like there is so much more that God is doing here that I cannot even see right now.  It is amazing how He works.  One day almost half a year ago he laid it on my heart to come here and minister to these kids and today I can already see that it was not only so that they may see Him in me but that I might see His work in myself and in what He can do through me.  I don't know why I ever doubted that He would take care of me and provide for me if I followed the path that he laid out for me.
 
He has.  He provided a wonderful host family that I am staying with.  I love them like my own family and will be sad to leave them in a few weeks.  The boys (Luke and Lee) are like the brothers that I never had.  They are so cool.  We have had so much fun together watching movies, playing video games, having rubber band wars, going to the keys, working on computers together, and lots of other things too.  Leroy and Lori have really welcomed me into the family and made me feel like I was at home since the day I arrived here.  I definately plan on seeing them again someday when I am passing through the area and I will definately keep in touch. 

God is awesome!!

This is a picture of the beautiful scenery right outside the front door of the house that I am staying at!

Summer Daze Club has been really great! We have just completed the second week and the kids are really enjoying it. I have been helping in lots of ways. One thing that I have done that has been new to me is that I had to teach the bible story center. Teaching kids is not new to me but the planning was. Every time that I have ever taught for something like VBS or camp before I have been just handed a curriculum and all of the supplies and everything all ready to go but this time I have had to do a lot of the planning. I didn't know the first thing about planning the activities but my intern coach (Stacy) sat down with me and helped me out last week. I am teaching next week too but this time I have pretty much figured most of it out on my own!!
 

We have also been having a high school bible study on Wednesday nights. This weeks study went well. Quite a few kids showed up and we taught them how to do an inductive bible study. We had one student one kid that sounded really excited about being able to study the bible on his own but said that he did not have a bible. We made sure that he had one before he left. I am so encouraged when I hear kids getting excited about the word of God.
Another activity that we have been having for our high school and middle school kids is Friday night live. Every Friday night we open the youth center up for the kids to come hang out and to get them off of the streets. We often have different themes and play all kinds of games. Last night we had a rapper called JDUB come and rap for the kids. The kids loved it!! He is a very talented rapper and he is using his gift for God.
 

Yet another project that I have been working on is the computer room at the youth center. Today I went and got 4 of the computers set up. I am working on one of them right now. I am excited to get it all up and running because we are going to get a DSL internet connection for that room and the kids will be able to use the computers as a resource during the school year to work on school work. I am also putting a lot of work into the Kix Kids website. I have added tons of new stuff to it including games!! I am constantly finding more things to add. I would like to do something similar for the Couts UMC web page if they would allow me to do it. The Kix Kids website can be found at http://www.kixkids.com
 

Last but not least, I am getting my discipleship group started today. Two of the boys that were in my cabin at camp are brand new Christians and I am going to meet with them once a week and just hang out. I hope to be a positive example to them and to be able to show them how to grow deeper in their relationship with Christ.
 

I know I have written a lot but I haven't gotten to update the site in a while and I wanted you to know how everything is going. I also mailed out a prayer letter to everyone who is sponsoring me this summer. It tells about my experience with one of the kids at camp. I will probably be posting it in the near future for everyone to read in case you did not get one in the mail.

My Mom asked that I post more pictures with me in them (and not just a picture of my backside on the climbing wall) so here are a couple. The third one does not have me in it but I had to post it anyway. I have another good one of me and the kids that I will hopefully be able to post soon.

Today was another great day of Summer Daze Club. We took the kids swimming and played games in the park. They really loved it!! Tomorrow we have Friday night live for the high schoolers.


The Miami YFC Summer Intern Team. Me, Mary Ann, Verity, William, and Jean Rico.


And Here We are Again!!


Left to Right: Stacy (my intern coach), Mary Ann, Verity, Renee and the baby is Adianna.

Today was the first day of Summer Daze Club. This is a program for elementary and middle school kids that we are running Monday through Thursday every week from now until I head back home. Between this program and the high school bible studies and other activities that we are planning we are going to be pretty busy for the next 5 weeks.

The first day went well. The worship team led a few songs for the opening assembly and then we rotated the kids between 3 different stations with different activities. The theme for Summer Daze Club is the olympics. We are talking to them about how God wants them to join his team this week. It has been a lot of fun.

Our memory verse this week is.

Know that the LORD is God.
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people

Psalm 100:3

I hope that all of you have a great week and I will be updating again soon.

Alright. Maybe I'm going overboard with this photography thing but I know you love to see the smiling faces of all of the wonderful youth I am working with and I love taking the pictures. So, here are some more camp pictures. I love the tool that I use to upload these because it automatically resizes them and makes them much easier to upload over this dial-up connection. I just wish it would work for the kix kids website. I can't seem to find a good tool to resize them all at once and it is a chore doing them one at a time. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy the pictures (especially the one of my smiling face).


Williams Drumming Class


The Girlz


Just Chillin


The Boyz

In this game that we played they had to dig gumballs out of the pans of flour with their mouths.


The two guys who came to rap for us.