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!