Christian Youth In Action

The Lord really blessed CYIA this year! I attended as staff. Esther was able to take TCE 1 (Teaching Children Effectively course 1) and Phillip was a second year student.

It was a full two weeks, and it will be hard to sum it up in a single post...but I will do the best I can:)

Lots of lasting friendships were made

One of the biggest blessings (I thought) was in the evening right before bed, when we girls gathered together and shared what God was doing in our lives. A staff girl would start with a topic and then the girls would all share their own thoughts...it was priceless!

We met new friends...but also caught up on the "old" friendships

The dining situation was different this year...the cooks cooked all the food at a house away from camp and then drove it in...we appreciated ALL the work that went into getting us fed:)

:: Friends ::

Class Time

Learning to use the visuals...

Chapel

Bible Lesson Demo

Songs

One of my favorite parts of a 5-day club is the singing! I still remember the songs that I was taught when I was little...and most likely the kids in a 5-day club will too...it is so fun to give them something worthwhile to sing about.

Several of the staff brought their kids along for the week, and they loved to listen to the students practice!

Practicing for a Bible Lesson evaluation

Recreation

The pond...

...paddle boating...

...and of course...Volleyball!!

Now, let me just say that if you are hoping for some good competitive, rousing games of volleyball CYIA is not the place to come:) Rather if you are looking for an outdoor, semi-active social sport...you will not be disappointed *smile*

There were a couple times that we got a few good volleys:)

Fun Night

The fun night this year, to put things briefly, included a scavenger hunt involving clues and a word puzzle. While the students were searching for their clues most of the staff were trying to sabotage their attempts...

Armed and dangerous...lol

A couple of the clues...

• If you die you’ll float, if you live you’ll sink. (this clue was found in the pond)

• If you are having trouble finding this clue, why not send off a smoke signal? (The campfire)

• Imagine getting a big brown box for Christmas. You open it up and instead of finding something delightful, you will wrinkle your nose in disgust. (The dumpster)

In the end they would unscramble the words to find out where their pillows were hidden (we had beforehand taken all the pillows--sorted according to room--put them in bags and placed them in the back of the van...which was then driven down the road.

The winning team had no LOL (Labor Of Love--chores) for the next day, their LOL jobs were then completed by the losing team:) Between that, and the fact they were looking for their pillows, it made for a very heated search:)

I hope this gives you a taste of CYIA...it is pretty hard work for 1st year students to learn and complete the long list of evaluations, but we had a great group this year! They were amazing!

May the lives of children be reached and changed this summer as these missionaries seek to spread the living truth of God!

Dan

Happy Birthday Dan!!!

Whenever I think of you...I thank God that He made you my brother!! Just the other day I was giving someone a lecture on being observant, just like you:)

Thank you for your sincere heart for God.

I miss you...and I don't think the people out there in VA, really know what they got when you came to work for them:)

Your life is proof that God is real.

I love you so much!!!

"He follows my decrees and faithfully keeps my laws. That man is righteous; he will surely live, declares the Sovereign LORD." Ezekiel 18:9

God's Amazing Love

I mentioned in my post on my graduation that God had been teaching me about His love, and how I shared a little bit about that during my speech. I also mentioned that I wanted to share some of my thoughts with you. Well, in preparation for CYIA I was able to write my thoughts down and so I thought I would post them here. I originally wrote this (with help from Grace W.)to be shared with a prayer partner at CYIA. May God use this in your life to draw you closer to Himself.

God’s Amazing Love

Together with your prayer partner, take turns looking up these verses and reading them outloud.

• Lamentations 3:21-33
• Romans 8:35-39
• Zeph. 3:17
• Psalm 36:5-10
• Ephesians 3:16-21

According to these verses we realize that God’s love for you is so immense that we cannot ever fully comprehend it in this life.

Share with your prayer partner 3 ways that God has demonstrated His love to you.

Now I would like to challenge you to think of God’s love in a way that you may have never thought of before. Do you realize that God’s ways of demonstrating His love do not always seem very loving?

Think about this. Anything that God brings, or allows into your life is meant only to draw you closer to Him and mold you more into His image. This means that things that you may consider hurtful, difficult or just plain “unfun” are really the instruments that He is using to shape you into who He wants you to be.

In light of this think to yourself of 3 more ways that God demonstrates His love to you.

Spend some time thanking God for His indescribable, unfailing and incredible love.

(Also during this time share prayer requests with each other)

Special thoughts

It was so sad to not have Dan & Bethany at my graduation...but they were so sweet to record a little something for me:) We played it over the speakers during the short program at my open house. I know some you requested to hear it...so here it is!!

I love you both!!!

My lifesaver:)

Happy 17th Birthday Esther!!

Where do I begin?!?! Esther and I are sandwiched in the middle between 7 boys...so lets just say that life has been an adventure! And there is no one I would rather have shared that with then you, Esther! It has truly a pleasure to be your sister!

Esther is a true servant, through and through! She is always ready to jump right into a project...wth her whole heart! I don't even know how to adequately describe her. When I'm down she makes me smile, when I'm tired she helps me with my work, when our clothes are dirty she washes them, when I don't have time to fix dinner on my day she does it for me. If anyone needs some good solid help who do they call? Esther!

Esther, you have been an immense encouragement to me personally! May the Lord bless you as you serve Him joyfully with your whole heart! I love you SO much!

"...Instead, whoever wants to become great amoung you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave- just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many."

Matthew 20:26-28

CYIA here we come...

Esther, Phillip and I are all attending CYIA again this year:) We would so appreciate your prayers for the 2 weeks that we will be there, June 8th-19th!

We LOVE to get mail (packages are great too) and our address is;

CYIA Anna Beasley

2349 State Highway Spur 34B

Firth, NE 68358

Sorry this is so short...but my list is calling me:)

Stay tuned for pictures!!!!

Then and now...

Quite a few years ago Betsy made us this "Best friends share dessert" dessert...and so celebrating that fact we had our picture taken together.

Let me just add that while growing up with Alatheia I used to always wish that I could, someday, be taller then she was...

Alatheia rediscovered this picture when she was compiling pictures for her graduation board and we all had a good laugh over it...and then Mrs. Larsen suggested that we do a "retake" of that picture to see how much has changed. So we grabbed the closest bowl, (it happened to be a bowl of black olives) some spoons, and a camera, kicked off our shoes and did our "retake".

Let me just say one thing....be careful what you wish for *smile*