News: Vancouver

Everything is always News. No matter what the 'news' is. It could be personal, local, national and global. that info is matters, right? Im in washington with my Grandmother. How i got to WA is intresting. I went to a Vancouver Conference with my Youth group (reno) and another youth group (yerrinton). We drove for like 30 minutes and the Yerrington Van broke down! i mean common. So the van started to work again and like we were on the road again. Reno car 1 and 2 set up a movie game which was fun but it took like for ever =) I was in the Reno Van 1 which was the Dodge minivan and Kel, Kass, and Harm and Tayler and James were in the rv2 with me. So we had cds and Miley Cyrus song came on and the girls were all singing and James like couldnt take it. (James and his wife are expecting a daughter and lets say she will not be allowed to listen to Hanny montanny with us.) But James sang to some music like N'sync haha. Poor James. In the Reno Car 1 (munchkin car) was: Dana, Vanessa, Steven, Ryan, and Kyle. Of course i cant leave out my Y town buddies but in the , Yerrinton van was Chad, Jhono, Jared, Matt, Joe, Ericka, Raven, Jenna, Daniel, if i forgot anyone let me know. So here is 3 cars. and lots of people to redding California, we were staying at the Vineyard Church there. So we got to redding and reno stuck with reno and mostly yerrington with yerrington very akward. so we load up and head to the church. as we come in to the parking lot i can feel the excitement from everyone in my car it was so idk heart racing to be away from home with all of your friends... We were calling couches and places to sleep but little did we know that the girls got the smallest room and the guys got like two huge rooms. no fair. So in the girls room there was Veggie Tales all over the walls, as you may guess it was the childerns room. yikes. their eyes were huge. Everyone threw their bags down and went out side to mingle and play football and frisbee.... (not the high light of that night) Once it was dark we all started to come in slowly and play games and get into groups still kinda akward. But towards lights out time (10:30) everyone got to know each other i mean it was cool meeting new people who were idk normal! haha. the girls and the guys seperated but people were txting and i hate to say but it was so hard trying to fall asleep with the veggies staring at me! so once Dana and Vanessa were asleep all the girls went into a seperate area of the room an tlaked it was like only 11 but all of a sudden we heard a voice "Go to bed!!" it was a guys voice every girl jumped and screamed. haha. and so we crawled into our sleeping bags and blankets and peoples phones kept on going off like at random times, we still dont know the prank caller but it was a guy. We woke early the next morning to pack and head to vancouver, longest drive ever, we stopped and ate for lunch switched vans and i ended up in the y town van and we were in portland and the van started to break down on the freeway! omg! =O i was freaked out. but the van made it to vancouver thankfully. we pulled up to Motel 6 and threw our bags onto our beds and freshened up and went to the church for our first session and to meet everyone else. That night was amazing. I learned and felt so much and i watched other in our once two youth groupes form into one and i am proud to say that the Reno and Yerrington Vineyard maybe be differant churches but their youth groupes are one. no joke, these 2 youth groups became one in like 1 weekend amazing! But that night..... people cried people laughed and sang and people became closer to god. People that night became more open and unafraid. At ten something we went to Shari's lets say they had a house full of teens from Nevada and it was a HUGE order, but everyone sat in differant groups and connected then there was Joe. He sat at every table that night. which was funny. We went to the motel and got ready for bed. and hugged everyone goodnight. The next morning the alarm went off bright and early. people went to starbucks or Shari's i got to go to both that morning =) once again Joe sat at every table and i seemed to get hit with paper air planes i mean Vanessa straight hit me in the face with one. so not cool. but that morning was so fun and one of the best by far. even though it was early. We loaded up into the Vans and headed to the church for worship and a class. Worship had to be the best we rocked the house!!! Worship ended and it was class time i ended up in class with Kass, Kel and Harm and Steven..... it was Creation Care and it was learning about how important Tree's are to the earth. after that class was over i went to another and what to do you know i ended up with Kass and Kel and Harm and Tayler again! Vanessa had a plan for us to be together! The class was shoot i forgot the name! oh well but like it was when GoD gives you a word like Soccor and it has to do with a specific person you can prophosise (sorry for the spelling) lol. itt was intresting but i was sleepy....... So after class ended we went to the park and it was BBQ time i was not hungery at all so i played firsbee but my knee started to act up. i soon droped out of the game anyway my team was losing. =) so we took pics as a group and i looked like a dork in every one of them! haha every kid in the Reno and Yerrington youth was sitting in like a circle kinda we all started to pass our phones around to get everyones numbers i mean it was like phones every where! crazy! ( it was a good thing because i tlk to almost everyone everyday) we went back to the church for session and then it was a break so we went back to the motel to go to the POOL! which jared was throwing everyone in the water! it was cold. I went and left early to get ready for that night.... but the room key would not work. again! so i was in my bathing suit in a towel with no shoes and i was mad as heck. so ericka came with me to the office and i got a new one but there was some crazy guy in there so i had to wait for him. but i got my key =) I got ready and soon after everyone else cleared out from the pool to get ready for the night. (i can go play by play but that would take for ever) After the amazing session from the speak again everyone had this feeling in them and i could tell it was differant for everyone but it was a feeling of God. ( i know from the past few days out of Vancouver that the trip wasnt about God thats why i went of course but i found my self more than anything. I know how to trust and am learning how to forgive i can say that my best friends in the world are in reno and yerrington. I speak to them everyday and not seeing them like i did in vancouver drives me nuts! i have found on this trip friendships that will be forever.) So its thursday night and i dont really remember that night. Or i dont really remember friday either everything seems so bunched up its crazy but i know that on Thursday we got Ice cream right before they closed and it was a mad house and i was in the parking lot spinning and eating my ice cream at the same time, i lost my shoe and i couldnt get it back on, ericka had to help me, sad i know. And then on friday we did the church thing and what not but we talked about our out reach and yerrington and reno signed up together for the creation care one where we went into a park and cut back the black berry bushes that were killing the trees. and some people pulled ivy out of the path way, and after we were done we were hot, sweaty, dirty, scratched up and wanting lunch. We drove to a burgerville which is like the In'n'out of Cali and the whatanurger of Texas and the Egans of Washington. But there burgers were horrible. and thin. we met up at the church adn most goups talked about what they did and how it made them feel, i did not go up on stage, i have major stage fright. (and i must tell the truth people must wonder how they have a bunch of teenage girls and guys constantly together and there is no feelings like .... but there is and there was there was the crushes and omg he is sooooo cute and omg look at her. it happens but some of us are over it and others not so much!!! but i wont say names..... =) Saturday night was the concert and it was a blast we shook the church and i forgot to mention when we would worship the reno and y town youth group would hold hands and sway together and after each session we would have a group hug. I love everyone of theses people in m two church one youth group. these kids are wonderful and i trust everyone of them.) Saturday was also our last night in Vancouver on Sunday my parents were picking me up and everyone else was hedding home =( so sat. night we went to taco bell and had a blast james was being funny and it was a night to remember, after that we went back to motel 6 for the last time to sleep but we went to Vanessa's room so every youth could pray for the leaders, it made us all cry because the trip was coming to an end. Sunday morning we woke up and packed. went to church and i hugged everyone goodbye and left with my parents. i cried and i still feel a little depressed since the trip is over but i really cant wait untill thursday i get to see EVERYONE from the trip!yay! well my story is over.....

Coming back to HIM

I was always the church girl, i loved God, and being so open. But I turned 8 and my Uncle Bill had a tumor in his neck.. the doctors didnt catch it in time..... the cancer spread through the rest of his body, the chemo was the worst he didnt look like the man that i spent every holiday with. He tried everyting.... but nothing was helping. He got worse, he was fading away in front of my eyes. During this period of time, my parents were "coming apart" so we moved from Lancaster, California to Las Vegas, Nevada.
My aunt Carol called my mother and she told her that we need to come back to California to say good bye to my uncle. (And i must say my uncle was the best man i have ever known) We packed up the car and drove the 5 hours to their house. My family was there and i drew him a picture od me and him it wasnt the best but it was what i saw me and him under the blue sunny sky, just like it was the year before. I tried to give him the picture, but it was like he was already gone....He didnt even move.. i remember being so scared to even walk up to him.... but i gave him the picture, that one picture was my sense of hope at 8 years old and it was also my good-bye. We had to go home but my mother stayed. A few days later he passed away and i hated God. I would pray for hours to HIM to heal my uncle but it seem as my uncle got worse the more angrier with God i got. I never understood why God had to take him away, it broke the family aprart.
At the funeral i didnt cry, i couldnt, i just sat there, it didnt feel like he was gone, i thought he was just going to walk into the room and say hello everyone. He never said hello again. A few months after my Uncle passed away and i was going further and further away from God and i was becoming a "braty" child.
My parents "seperated" but evenutally and got back together we moved again. We lived in the new town for a few years, never really went to church, my youth group was full of stoners so i stopped going, by this time, God was the enemy, the one that i would not pray too.
In 2006 my parents divorced. My life ended or so it seemed, They were always fighting, So now i had someone to blame for my parents divorce, God. I thought he runs the earth he couldnt keep my life togther? So became the teen that would to what ever she wanted. and i was only 13. I dated older guys that were 16/17 it didnt matter. I wanted to be the IT girl. My mother tried forcing me to church but i would tell her that i hated her and that i hated God.
During this emtional period my parents dated these weird people but me and my Dad got farther a part pretty soon he was the bad guy and my mother became my best friend. 2007 was the worst year so far, I moved again with both of my parents to a new town. They got back together. We found a new church and i found a new youth group. Redemption youth saved me, im sure of it. I have met wonderful people and i have come to understand that things in life happen for a reason, but still i cry for the uncle i lost, i see his face and wonder will i have here his voice again? I hope i do. i had a dream and i heard it, lets just say it made my day. My parents getting back together is good and bad.
But i found God again, my life isnt over, i have HUGE plans. God worked a miricale in me. And i cant prove it because no one is able to see it, but i feel happy in side, anger is hardly there and if it is its the "teen anger" that we go through, now my goal is to become closer with God and build stronger relationships. I have other stroies of how HE has worked in my life. But this was the one that hit home in my heart. I try to help my family and my community, i pray every night or i try to. I want to be the girl that helps people, i want to be known for being something wonderful and God driven. I hope you read this and understand, how hope and faith has saved me from being "one of those girls"
Thanks for reading
-Shel