Christmas Day Service

So the service on Christmas Day, December 25, 2009, started off pretty bad for me. Shortly after praise, my camera fell and the base of my camera flash (Canon Speedlite 580 ex ii) broke off so from the start, I was pretty upset. Overall, it was an extremely blessing worship service. Pastor DL's message was awesome, the praise was awesome, and the presentations were all entertaining. Here are some pictures.

Sermon time

Prayer

Baptism

One of the presentations

And another....

And another...

And announcements.

Again, it was an extremely blessed time and I'm really looking forward to the end of the year worship service. For those who want to come out, service starts at 10:30. If you would like more information, feel free to contact me.

Harvest 2009 Youth Winter Retreat

Hey guys, sorry for not updating in a long time. I've just been pretty swamped and haven't had time to sit down and update which is surprising because we're on winter break but..... yea. So without further a due.....

     Two times a year, Harvest is blessed enough to have their annual summer and winter retreat. From December 21-24, Harvest went on their 2009 Youth Winter Retreat at the Lakewood Retreat Center. It was truly a time of un-ending blessings and praise to God. We had an amazing speaker, Pastor Byung Ham (Pastor B) from Baltimore and our praise was led by our very own Pastor Albert. This retreat was filled with overflowing blessing and a constant example of how much Christ loves us.

This was one of our ice breakers and as you can see, some of us really got into the game.

At our retreats, we have 12 small groups and 6 teams. Within each team, they compete against other teams in games, skits, and other activities. One activity was to create a team name and create a skit based on certain criteria of one type of animal and a movie (i.e. monkeys & The Titanic). This skit was based off of the criteria of "Sloths and The Grudge."

Another game was to try and build the tallest/strongest structure with paper, tape and a balloon... obviously this team failed.

So this game required a lot of physical work. Basically, you have one balloon tied to one leg and you have to go around and try and pop other peoples' balloons BUT keep yours from getting popped.

Team preparation for some outside games.

The point of this game was to direct your team mates, while they're blindfolded, to find your team's designated object for your team.

This game is called magic shoes. You basically have to get your team across the field BUT each person can only go across once ON THEIR FEET but they can also only be carried across twice. Kind of confusing....

This game required you to put panty hose over your head and eat apple sauce through the panty hose.

Every year, each team has to come up with a skit based on a certain criteria and within a certain time limit.

Another skit

Our pastors during our Q&A session. Pastor B (left), Pastor DL (middle), and Pastor Albert (right)

Group picture

     Overall, it was an amazing time. People were blessed beyond measure and lives were extremely changed through the power of Christ. As we've come back from the retreat, please pray that our hearts would not be on a spiritual roller coaster but that our love for Christ and the immensity of our passion to worship him would be made permanent. Too many times do we come back from the retreat replenished and refueled but that fire for Christ soon dies after about a week or two so let's really pray that our passion for Christ would burn strong that we may live in Christ everyday. May we make Christ a person in our lives, not a product.

In the song "Hosanna" written by Hillsong United, there is a portion of verse 2 and a part of the bridge that just speaks so clearly and I pray everyday that this would come true in my life and the life of Harvest.

Verse 2:

I see a generation

Rising up to take their place
With selfless faith
With selfless faith

Bridge:
Heal my heart and make it clean
Open up my eyes to the things unseen
Show me how to love like you have loved me

Break my heart from what breaks yours
Everything I am for your kingdoms cause
As I walk from earth into
Eternity

Let's really pray that this would come true in our lives today.

ISA Festival 2009

So every year for the past four years, the Indian Student Association (ISA) at CCHS puts on an ISA Festival around Thanksgiving. This festival usually includes some dancing, fashion shows, samosas, henna tattoos, etc. This year was pretty cool. I was looking back at last years and not only was the festival better this time around, I noticed that in the past year, I've grown so much BUT I still have much to learn. Check out the post from last year and compare the pictures to the ones from this year hehe. Here are some pictures from the festival. Enjoy!

Like always, the festival was held at the school amphitheater.

This was one of the most popular/impressive performances.

Just to show some of the beauty in Indian Saris (Indian dress)

Another performance

The purpose of the fashion show was to show off the different clothing styles from all parts of India

At the end, a couple people were able to get up on stage and learn parts of the typical Indian dance.

Not exactly the typical Indian dance but....

Henna tattoos.

Some of the models/performers.

So there you go. Overall, it was a great way to spend the last day of school before Thanksgiving Break. Now with a week off, I'm hoping to get some impressive photographs (we'll have to see how well that'll work out). In the meantime, feel free to look around my blog, check out previous posts, etc. Have a great Thanksgiving!

AvalonFest

     On November 14, 2009, Avalon Presbyterian Church had their fourth annual Avalon Fest. Avalon Presbyterian Church is currently meeting at Whispering Oaks Elementary School but the fest was held on the 10 acre lot that is currently in the Avalon Presbyterian Church's possession. The time was such a blessing and God really gave his provision. The weather was perfect, no one got hurt, and it was a time of fun and fellowship; we couldn't have asked for anything more.
     Our Harvest Youth Ministry was able to help out at the fest and even had our own booth which will hopefully draw more people in the community out to our church and that Harvest could soon become their home church. Our motto at Harvest is to "glorify God by equipping Christ-centered leaders to transform the world."
     Through this small action of helping out at the Avalon Fest, we were able to serve the people of the Avalon community. Once again, it was a perfect day, a perfect fest, and a time of never-ending fun, joy, and fellowship. Here are some pictures!

This is a portion of the land in which the festival was held on. The fest was on about 10 acres of land which belongs to the Avalon Presbyterian Church.

This is only a portion of the view that you can see from the lot. You can see Downtown Orlando and many different regions of Central Florida from this one location. It is an amazing site.

Here is the Harvest booth. Our booth consisted of an information table and a face-painting station.

Here are some of the game stations.

Here are some of our helpers.

This was the booth for the professional face-painter.

There was a fire-truck there for the kids to see and climb around on which was a good safety pre-caution and "booth".

They had a pretty cool hay ride that took us on a small tour of the area.

Some of our guys just goofing around.

And this was my "assistant" photography, Hilaree.

I didn't get too many good pictures but I felt like these were worth sharing. Again, the fest was an awesome time of fellowship and relaxation. Be sure to stay tuned for the fifth annual Avalon Fest next year. I can't wait!