Pulling from discussions a lot of youth are talking about in today’s world, plus some themes found in the popular movie “Fireproof,” we will seek answers to the following questions:

• How did/does God show us his unconditional love?
• Why should we love (God and others)?
• What should be the main reason/motivation for serving God and others?
• Do we obey God’s commands because of the consequences (good, e.g. rewards, or bad, e.g. we get hurt)?
• Do we serve the church/do things for others for selfish reasons?
• What sacrifices do we need to make to fully commit ourselves (or give our all) to God and his will?
• How do we learn (or what steps can we take) to love God/someone unconditionally?

On Friday night, the discussion will center on “How God showed/shows us His love, and His command on how to love,” followed by a sermon wrap-up by our guest speaker for the weekend, Pastor Edrey Santos.

For Sabbath, we continue with our theme of “Love” with Pastor Santos. As usual, potluck will be provided. The fun will continue on 2pm Sunday as we celebrate Mother’s Day, and will be filled with games, food, and fellowship. Come out… be blessed… reunite with old friends and make some new ones as well. Hope to see you guys there!

The newest edition to our youth curriculum is lovingly called Faithbook. Funny enough, the term Faithbook has evolved to mean a handful of things to us. But first – the beginning. Richard introduced to us the concept of a youth Bible study using a prayer journal. The youth leaders take turns providing a passage of scripture as a topic for the night. We utilize the R.E.A.P. method to analyze the passage. Here is the broken down acronym:

R – Read and write down the scripture
E – Examine the text. What is happening? Who is speaking?
A – Apply the text to your life.
P – Pray. Write out a prayer that’s honest and real.

Praying with the people you love is the best way to grow as a person AND as a youth group, as Richard shows us

We are given time to write in our journals (Faithbooks) and discuss the topic. However, the option to share your entry is optional. Privacy with the Lord is respected. The purpose of our Faithbooks are to encourage the youth to delve into the Word for guidance in ALL aspects of their lives and to draw closer to Christ and be able to claim a personal relationship with Him.

Today, not only do we call our jounals “Faithbooks,” We also call this youth worship time as “Faithbook.” We also use it as a verb, as in, “What time are we gonna Faithbook?” Use all three in a sentence and you get “Don’t forget to bring your Faithbooks to Faithbook so we can Faithbook.” It’s been a blessing for our youth in so many ways. I look forward to it every week.

- Jennye Baysa

“The youth lock in was unbelievably fun and a definite success. We had all the essentials… Apples to Apples and other board games, girls cooking AMAZING food (Thanks Jill, Jennye, Ellen and all your little helpers), and boys with their video games, but we also did a number of new things. A few of us stayed up till the sun came up, a major feat in itself as our last record of staying up was held at Jennye’s house at the inconceivable time of 5:30. Talking and just learning more about each other, we just didn’t want to go to bed. The next morning Jennye and I had a ping pong tournament with the boys. As amateurs we were naturals and almost beat the boys, but didn’t want to hurt their egos, so we let them win. The end of the day consisted of everyone chowing down on Jill’s world renown pancake breakfast before having another round of Apples to Apples. By then half the house had come down with something, but I’ve always thought that to be a major indicator on how good a lock in is. Thankfully we had Jennye’s delicious, spicy soup to help soothe our throats. Right before we left we played a little Guitar Hero…my now most favorite game ever!! I am definitely looking forward to having another lock in in the near future. Spending time with this youth group before I have to leave is something I will absolutely miss.” – Janet Cometa

“This past lock-in at Ronnie’s house was absolutely a blast! I have to admit, I have fallen in love with lock-ins. This is only my second lock-in within my whole life and I can already pronounce my love for it. The weekend lock-in meant a lot of laughs, great food, bonding, and of course, being locked-in a house with some of my favorite people. This particular lock in was special to me since my older brother, Raymond, and my cousin, Benny (a*k*a Timmy, Bennihana, etc.) were both going as well and since I don’t really get to spend a lot of time with them, this was a special time for me. We were also blessed with the presence of the bride and grom themselves, Ate Memorie and Kuya Duane.

The lock-in started late on Saturday night but our Iron Chefs (Jennye, Jill, and Ellen) along with the rest of the girls were still able to whip up a delicious late Mexican dinner complete with chicken tortilla soup, Spanish rice, and fajitas. !Muy Bien! After dinner, the girls decided to entertain the boys in song to convince them to clean up. It was quite a difficult feat but I do believe the boys love when we girls sing to them, especially Mr. Agui-NALDO. When the songs ended and the dishes were washed, we were all amped to start our favorite game of Apples-to-Apples and then Taboo. Cranium was missed but Apples-to-Apples provided lots of screams and laughs. After the board games, the boys went off to do what they do best, Halo, and the girls with the older guys went off to do what we do best, talk and get to know each other more. It was a fun and relaxing night that ended early around 4:30/5am. We were all able to squeeze in a couple of hours/minutes of sleep before waking up to Jill’s banging in the kitchen and Jennye’s prominent voice, always one of my favorite ways of waking up.

Breakfast was as delicious as dinner. Jillian Fortin can’t seem to do any wrong in the kitchen and delivered us fruit-filled crepes, turkey bacon, and eggs benedicts. (I make sure to include details of the food to show that our Iron Chefs do not simply throw cereal or microwaveables at us, they really throw down in the kitchen!) After breakfast, we had more memorable moments with Apples-to-Apples and Guesstures. The rest of the day was spent on the games, great talks, Wii (which I absolutely loved!) and Guitar Hero. Going home as always was quite sad but I’m sure Ronnie was ready to have his beautiful house to himself again.

This lock in provided so much fun for all of us and I really cant wait for the next one. I say that I love lock-ins because of the food and the fun but I really do treasure these moments that we all get to bond. Some of us are going away soon and being able to spend this time together means a lot to all of us. And as we grow together as friends in our fun and games, I do believe we are growing together as a church family as well. I sincerely feel blessed to have a group of friends to laugh and enjoy each other’s company with but that will also pray with me and for me.” – Maria Paguinto

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