Young Life with Lauren

I made an Ibook!  You can get it for free!  http://store.blurb.com/ebooks/339816-life-in-his-word

Hi everyone!  This 1st semester of the school year has just zoomed by so fast!  I am so thankful and blessed that the Lord has truly grown our ministry with an abundant amount of kids and new leaders!  This is definitely an answer to prayer!  Our club has grown to about 50 kids per club and a handful of new leaders to care for these kids. It is exciting to see the fruit of serving in Young Life for the past couple of years, it makes it so worth while.  

Thank you so much for all your prayers and your financial support, it is a huge blessing!  I am especially thankful for all of your prayers!  If you can please pray for

• New relationships to be built between kids and leaders
• That the Lord will provide rest for the leaders during the winter break to spend time in His word and time with Him.  
• Please pray for my encouragement.  I feel like this season the Lord is teaching me about having compassion for others and have more of an understanding of each person’s situations.  it is quite humbling but feels so good at the same time.
• The girls that I am doing a cabin time with are graduating this year, I am praying for  one girl that I have known for a while that our relationship will grow and I can bring her and her friends to Woodleaf this summer.  
• Please pray for finances for this year.  I still need to raise $4800 for the year.

I am so happy to share with you how awesome this 1st semester went at Young Life San Clemente.  

“Becoming a Christian not only means believing truth.  It means finding a treasure.  So evangelism becomes pointing people to treasure, that is more valuable than everything they have.” - John Piper

Thank you for being a part of helping these kids find this treasure that is so precious.

“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up.  Then in His joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.” -Matthew 13:44

I am encouraged by all of your prayers and your support.  Love you all!

 “Be still, and know that I am God; 
    I will be exalted among the nations,
    I will be exalted in the earth.” -Psalm 46:10

Throughout this past semester this has been the key verse that I keep coming back to.. “BE STILL, and KNOW THAT I AM GOD…”  (Psalm 46:10)  This has been continually been a humbling season of knowing that I am not in control but the Lord is and when i am still and let Him move, it is fruitful and it grows my faith in Him because of how faithful He is.

This past school year in Young Life has been awesome!  We had an amazing group of leaders as well as an abundant amount of kids.  It has been a blessing to see each and every one of the leaders put such an investment in their kids throughout the school year.  Which in turn, at Woodleaf was rewarding.  We brought 49 kids, most of the kids that attended Woodleaf had pretty good relationship with the leaders before attending.  However, at Woodleaf I was able to witness the relationships grow deeper and their love grow stronger not only for each other but for Young Life San Clemente as a whole.  The best part about that week is 24 kids came to know Christ at the end of the week and seeds were planted.  It was so exciting to see how the Lord moved throughout the week.  Please continue to pray for the kids that went that they will continually thirst for Christ.  

Another trip that I got to experience this summer was Santa Cruz Adventures.  This camp was so different than Woodleaf but SO AWESOME!  It is more of a discipleship camp for kids who already made a commitment to the Lord.  Therefore, they had more down time to just spend with the Lord and grow in Him.  My friend Kellie and I took 3 girls on this trip.  One of the girls didn’t know the other two before going on this trip and by the end of the week they all became so close and had such a motivation to continue their relationship with the Lord.  I am excited to continue to take kids on this Santa Cruz Adventures experience.

Overall, camps this summer were awesome and now we start all over!  Thank you so much for all your prayers and your support in Young Life.  Please pray that we can continue to meet new kids where they are at and continuing to love them because Christ loved us first.

Love you!

My Senior girls!

Freshman girl cabin time!

“Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who alone does wondrous things.  Blessed be his glorious name forever; may the whole earth be filled with his glory! Amen and Amen!” Psalm 72:18-19

I was reading Psalm 72 today and It made me reflect on this past year in Young Life and how the Lord did wondrous things; providing leaders, providing an abundant group of new kids this year, and HE ALONE did that.  That is the number one thing that I learned this past year is I do not have control but He does.  HE ALONE does wondrous things.  I am just merely a sinner who is given the opportunity to be a part of what He is doing, only through the justification of Christ. What a blessing that is!  

We made it!  This year has gone by so fast and camping season is coming up!  We have 54 high school students (mainly freshman and sophomores) attending Woodleaf this summer and 10 leaders!  It amazes me how the relationships have been built this past year!  Please be praying for our leaders and kids.  Specifically leaders!  It is a draining week and my prayer for leaders is that they can take this time to rest before camp and really being prayerful about their kids going into camp.  But that they can also rest with the Lord and just be replenished in Him!  Please be praying for our leaders!

1. Corey Nissen
2. Trenton Ngan
3. Richie Manchesney
4. Greg Gallup
5. Haley Hancock
6. Kayla Kudla
7. Chelsea Ansari
8. Ashley Smetona
9. Maddie Mallory

Another camp that we are attending is our YL Santa Cruz Adventures July 15- 20.  This is for students who attended Woodleaf twice.  One of my leaders, Kellie Smith and I will be taking a group of 5 girls on this trip.  I have never been to this camp before, but I heard awesome things about this trip and I know it will grow our relationships with the girls to a deeper level as well as their relationship with the Lord.  What I love about this group is all the girls know each other and the relationships with the leaders and the kids on this trip are very tight knit.  Please be praying for Kellie and I, that we will have rest before this trip.

Another wondrous thing the Lord has done is He provided me a group of girls to live life with for the past 3 years.  My Young Life girls are graduating this year.  it is bitter sweet.  It has been a blessing to be with them through their time in high school but sad that they are leaving for college.  But I know that the time had to come at some point.  My prayer for them is that they will pursue a relationship with the Lord on their own.  That their hearts will be regenerated and that they will really just desire the Lord and have it be their own relationship.  Please pray for my heart as well that I can let go and just trust the Lord will take care of them.  

Thank you so much for all of your support and prayers in Young Life.  I am so thankful for your partnership on this journey together!

Love, Lauren

Hi everyone!  Thank you so much for your support in Young Life!  This 2nd semester has been going by so fast!  God has been so faithful in providing a consistent amount of kids (around 40-50) per club.  It has been awesome to see the leaders growing relationships with the kids.  

I have been in a transition season not being in school anymore and really focusing on time with the Lord and Young Life.  This has been such a fruitful season in my heart.  I know I am growing.  Pruning in the heart can be painful but I know it is good for me.  One of the biggest things I am learning right now is just the reality of how much I need Jesus.  That I am a sinner and that I need Jesus’ grace and how much he really means to me. 

“But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” - James 4:6

 Knowing how much I need Jesus, it excites me more for these kids to get to know Him and have that yearning and need of Christ daily to really thirst for the Word of God.  I am excited to see how the Lord will use me to speak truth in their lives.  

Praises

• God provided new leaders!  With the abundant amount of kids leaders were in need and God has been so faithful!“The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” - Luke 10:2
• One of the freshman girls that I have been working with the past couple of months just turned in her money for camp!  I know that because she is going her whole group of friends will be going!
• The freshman cabin time that we started has grown into a group of 8 consistent girls going which has been awesome!
• I have been feeling spiritually replenished.

Prayer requests

• God will provide me wisdom in leading His people.
• That I can have faith in the Lord that He is leading me and I am not leading myself.
• I have some senior girls that I have been working with and they are all in fights, please pray that the Lord will bring unity.
• That the Lord will regenerate the hearts of these kids that we are working with.
• Pray for the Leaders that they can be encouraged and motivated to serve Him.

PANCAKE BREAKFAST- that the Lord will provide financially for kids to go to camp this summer!

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ALL OF YOUR SUPPORT!  Please continue praying!

“Awesome is God from His sanctuary; the God of Israel- he is the one who gives power and strength to his people.  Blessed be God.”-Psalm 68:35

Love you guys!

Lauren

Hi everyone!  I hope your holidays went well!  We just got back from our Big Bear Leader retreat this past weekend.  It was a quality time with the Lord and together.  It was really restful I think everyone really enjoyed themselves.  

This has been an interesting break for me.  I finally graduated from Cal State Long Beach this past semester which has been a huge blessing.  It has been interesting with our break in Young Life for this past December.  Transitioning from being in school to not being in school has been really different.  It is a huge blessing to have a job I love.  One thing that I have been praying about is my time.  I can easily turn my free time into Young Life 24/7, my prayer is that I can really rest with the Lord and take the extra time I have with Him.  I feel like the Lord is blessing me in abundance that I have such a thankful heart.  I am so thankful for Young Life.  

“For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven.” (Ecclesiastes 3:1)

This is a new season I am transitioning into and I am looking forward to it.  If you can please pray for:

• - FLORIDA, I will be attending an all staff conference in Florida.  I am really excited because Tim Keller and Francis Chan are the guest speakers!  Please pray that I can really focus while I am there and just be encouraged by the community.
• - Upcoming Semester, we start Young Life 2nd semester in February.  
• -Leaders- that they can truly rest during this time and be replenished for the upcoming year.
• - That the Lord will soften these kids hearts to accept Him.
• - Patience and wisdom to lead

Thank you so much for all of your support and your prayers!  

Love,

Lauren