the last 2 weeks!

Well, for those of you who read my blog rather regularly, you know that I tend to miss my weekly blog updates when I travel. So is the case this time too! I went to North Carolina to join a group of friends, family and supporters for a yearly retreat/vacation. Our host and friend Mr Powell Harrison invites a large group of us to enjoy his family home on the Outer Banks. This year, as in the past we enjoyed deep fellowship, Bible study, worship and lots of fun. My parents joined us for the second "week" and I caught up with friends that I generally only see on this trip. It did not disappoint this year once again. I come back from this trip refreshed and excited and envigorated by the people time and fellowship. We always share our year and our prayers and hopes for the next year. Even the Tropical Storm Hannah was mild "enough" to be exciting but not to keep us from staying. We weathered a very windy night on Friday but by Saturday afternoon the skies were blue!
This week, right now in fact, I am with colleagues in Arizona taking a Child Safety Seminar and today (Thurs) we are meeting within our department to discuss the future of our camping programs. It is always enjoyable to spend face to face time with my colleagues who are usually spread out over the country. We return Friday to our homes.
On another note. My landlord/colleague/friend Tori's daughter is getting married at our home this Saturday! Very exciting! the groomsmen will be preparing themselves in my house, which is in the backdrop for this backyard wedding! So Saturday will be a fury of activity and I'm looking forward to it!

a gathering in CA from CT!

Last weekend, I got to go up North a bit and visit with the Todd's )while they were here on vacation) and Doug with his friend Emily. We met at the beach where Texans, Jenn and Jason were taking surfing lessons and the five of us hung out for the afternoon and I stayed through the night and went home the next day! It was so sweet to revisit our memories of times working in youth group in Connecticut and to remember the lives that we were involved in while there. It has been 2 years since I saw the Todd's and it felt like just a few days. Doug has recently moved to Pasadena to work with a mission there, having just finished raising support is now fully active at the mission offices. It was kinda hard for us to believe that we were together so far away, out here in CA!!! Who would have thought a few years ago, of such an event.
Wednesdays youth group meeting was the first big one since school has started. Once school begins we see the kids more consistently. I am sad that the freedom of summer schedules are over. We have a new youth intern, and he has begun to prepare the schedule for the fall and winter and it seems like there will be many opportunities to be involved in kids lives. Yeah!
As Fall approaches, my schedule will be very busy. I travel a lot for both business and for family, in the Fall. This year will not be different. I go to Tuscon, AZ in Sept for a ministry training event.
Looks like I'll be staying in San Diego a few nights a week with a friend at her house. That will make it easier for me to get to work and will keep me off the highway so very much; but it also allows me to keep low rent and to enjoy the peaceful countryside where I live now. That is an answer to prayer for a solution to my travel woes and I get a friend in the mix too!

To translate or not to translate in Jamaica?!

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2008/september/5.15.html

This article was brought to my attention as an example of the struggles that translation organizations face as they strive to provide the Scriptures in the heart languages of God's people around the world.
The task of translation is not an easy one and as you can see, the current trend towards "globalization" provides some interesting dialogue on the topic!
We value every language as unique and important. When scriptures are translated into someones heart language, they then WANT to read! Once they can read their own spoken language, it is then easier for them to learn a trade language! See the article and see how this problem is discussed in the particular situation in Jamaica!

California August

July was a pretty busy month for me but August promises to be a bit slower. I can be at the office more consistently. I work a day or two from home but the other days I work at the National Network of Youth Ministries office, where the activity has also picked up after the crazy summer schedules. My fellow co-workers seem to enjoy popping into my office as it is decorated with spears and arrows and bamboo and a palm tree. I collected a few artifacts from the Temecula office and am privileged to display them in my new place.
We are working on putting together a new kind of short term mission trip for teens with our partner organizations. Hopefully we will get the big details settled in the next month and can begin to advertise it. The purpose is to give teens an opportunity to experience mission options in our organization other than simply translation. This trip will hopefully highlight the work of vernacular media! (meaning non-written forms of scripture). Pray for swift planning and sufficient participants! Another area that we are beginning to explore is how to get teens involved in missions through technology. I talked to a friend this last week who has some interest in the idea and we are gonna start brainstorming how this might work. A way to get teens involved in missions NOW through their abilities in IT! Please pray for the right connnections (meaning that we meet and talk to the right people in the right positions for promoting the idea within our organization).
In the local youth ministry area for me.....our church just said goodbye to our youth pastor, on good terms, and we are in the ever familiar, search "mode"! oh yea! But in the meantime we just met with our new intern for this year. We are hoping to see spiritual growth in our students and an effective ministry despite the lack of formal leadership. I love this kind of ground level ministry. It's actually what I really live for! Seems promising for this coming school year, and for some reason last nights youth ministry meeting reminded me of how MANY of these kinds of planning meetings I have attended in my 15 yrs in youth ministry! Ya know? Ministry never changes!? It seems like we're always dealing with the same issues.....how to show kids Jesus in such a way that they fall in love with Him and want to pursue Him for themselves, while at the same time having fun!!!! Ah, youth ministry! Keeps us young!!! (seriously! I was actually asked last week, if I was gonna be going back to college soon! hahaha!!! nice......."how old do you think I am?" I said) don't ya love teens?! I DO!!!!

6,347 days left in the countdown to Vision 2025!!!

Dagney

More Wisconsin....oh how I love it!

There is no way that I can tell you how much fun it was and how refreshing to go back to Wisconsin. You'll just have to wade through a bunch of pictures this time! But that's more fun anyway, right? Of course, I'll say "something".....you know me! After last weeks blog report, I had a girls sleepover at the Grovers (permission granted, for those of you who wonder!) and then went up into more Northern Wisconsin with my friends the Allinghams to their family cabin. I got back on Sunday in time to clean up (no running water at the cabin nor indoor plumbing!) and get to Faith EFC for Sunday services. The next few days I packed in time with people, both my girls and other friends from church. THANKYOU to the Lovett's (and especially Sorena) for loaning me their car! Tuesday I reluctantly packed up and took the shuttle to the airport in Minneapolis. Once again my spirit and mind and heart had slowed down to the pace that seems to be the healthiest. I had had quality time with people that I care about. I had soaked in more beautiful farmland and taken a few walks. But got to tell you about Monday afternoon. After breakfast with the Clark ladies, I visited with the Berglund family, catching up on their "to-do"ing" and then we all went over to the Bartz's farm. OH MY GOODNESS!!! Soooo much fun. The Bartz "clan" was frantically baling and storing the hay to beat the expected rains. They allowed me to climb up in the hay mow (sp?) and watch as they finished the last batch. They placed each bale on a (don't know the official name) motorized ladder thingy (how's that for official? hehe) and it then dropped off up high in the barn and a couple girls and Chris helped stack it. I didn't take my camera! I know, bummer. Just believe me it was so beautiful, that big old barn smelling of hay with the late afternoon light streaming in through the cracks in the walls and the big opening at the end. MAN! I am so impressed with how much work it is to do what they do at a dairy farm. Wow. Paul Bartz told me some interesting stuff about the hay and how they manage that. Did you know that cows don't taste their food? They only smell it! yeah, picky cows! hehe.
The best part about being there apart from the gorgeous scenery was visiting with the people that I know. They still made me feel like family and it felt like I left yesterday. I am so grateful that God sent me to Wisconsin last year. Who would have known I'd love it so much? I was blessed by the significant conversations that I was able to have and renewed friendships. I sometimes wonder why God would remove me from that place so soon. Only He knows the answers to those questions. But I got to be there for awhile, and my life is richer for it!
Before I left someone asked, "are you going for work or for vacation?" I didn't know how to answer. I felt like I was going back to re-establish the contacts I made in ministry and yet I knew that it would also be a comfort and refreshment for me. I had promised the kids I'd go back before a year was over, and well......I got back exactly the week I left last year! whew, just made it! So somehow God allows ministry and personal refreshment to go hand in hand.
Hope you enjoyed the pictures! (they include girls sleepover, cabin time with the Allinghams, little girls tackle-box, cows outside my window at the Grovers, local scenery, Kayleen and Cole at the Bartz's farm)
Dagney

visiting my friends in Wisconsin!

This week I'm back in my old home of Menomonie, WI! I have been gone from here for almost a year. So hard to believe! Last year, this week was when I moved to CA.
So I came back to reconnect with my girls and to visit other friends. Last night was an informal youth group "meeting". A few of the kids came, we had about 8 total and a bunch of the leaders. We played some games that I picked up in CA with my youth group and friends there and then I got to see how the new Faith EFC band sounds! Got to hear how this last year went and what is going on in the life of the church.
I am staying at the Grovers house, without them as they are in Peru right now! A friend from church loaned me her car, so I even have "free" transportation! Tonight is a sleepover, with basically the girls in the first picture plus another one that I ran into at Wal-Mart last night! I was hoping to see Emilee, and there she was late at night in Wal-mart. I wouldn't have been there except i had to exchange an item from earlier in the day that didn't fit. Which reminds me that this particular girl is so changed! Her countenance is brighter and she seems so much more healthy and happy! I knew it was a "God" thing that I ran into her last night and I am praying that she can come tonight so we can catch up. I met her only a month or so before I moved away from here and I have been concerned for her. I am so very excited to see this goodness in her life! She has been one of those girls that is constantly in my mind and heart.
I was able to go into Connersville and visit another teen, who graduated this year. She and I talked for a couple hours and I got to meet her "new" boyfriend....great guy. The drive to and from her house were amazing. Wisconsin farmland is absolutely out of this world....if you know what I mean. Green rolling hills, barns and silo's peeking out from behind a hill here and there, cows, and waving wheat and corn, straight straight rows of mown grass drying before they are baled. I drive from place to place in awe.
There are a few more days left. More pictures to come! (oh, and the last one is my girlfriend Minda!)

Vision Camp

I spent last week in the Julian Mountains, attending and staffing our Vision Camp, a summer missions camp for teens. It lasted from Sunday afternoon to the following Saturday! There is no possible way that I can tell you about all that happened. We were honored to have in our care almost 60 students from the ages of 12-18. We partnered with Youth for Truth, which is a discipleship program that also send short term teams in the summer to South America. I was a member of a Jr.High team and .....well shall I say, it's been way too long since I had Jr.High experience! whew! The girl in the picture was one of our team members. Each team was named after a language group that just recently completed a translation of the New Testament into their language. Our teams names was Aukan. Our week consisted of 3 meetings a day, of which I taught two sessions on Tuesday and two on Thursday, and games and team/tribal times squished in between! We got to know each other throughout the week and by the end of the week God had done some tremendous things in the lives of the students. We experienced some deep worship times, and watched as kids eyes were open to the reality of the Christian experience. Some received Christ as their own and some decided to spend time this year under the care of Christians in order to find out what Christianity really is all about.
I was personally going through a tough time emotionally, because of stuff the weekend before, but God was also talking to me and revealing some necessarily character growth. He gave me Colossians 3:12-17 and I am still thinking on all that He has for my growth based on that. I needed the camp experience just as much as the kids. God knows all we need. He knows just what to allow in our lives.
I will be going to Wisconsin next week to visit with my students there and church family and friends. I am really looking forward to it. But before that, I am holding a sleepover tomorrow night for some of my small group girls from my youth group! We'll be together that night and I am waiting to see what God will do using that time. Our plan is to continue our time together on Saturday and go to Oceanside for the day at the beach. These "hang-out" times are usually the times that deepen my relationship with my girls in ways that Wednesday youth nights just don't do. So I am praying for these fun times too!

Summer camp

Yeah, I know the picture is TINY! I will get some bigger ones and change them when I can. Ok! I went to camp last week! That's why my blog wasn't updated. My youth group from Sunridge Community Church in Temecula took about 60 kids up to Pondo Pines Camp at Big Bear, CA! We left last Monday and returned exhausted but happy on Friday. I am so grateful that not only is my job flexible enough to allow me to volunteer for such events but it's even part of my job description! woohoo! How lucky am I?
I was privileged to spend the week in the cabin with the girls from this years small group. We spent the day, just about 24/7 with each other! *big smile* The theme of the camp week was "Shine" which was based on Phil 2:14-16 "Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life- in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor for nothing". All 8 teams were named after stars. Our team was called Aimach, which is a star in the Andromeda constellation. The speakers topics were all based on astronomy. It was fascinating and although I've heard that kind of thing before; I was again amazed at God and His immensity and grandeur. That WAS the point actually! :-)
The best part of all of this was that as I sat in the meetings and spent some talk time with my girls, my heart was full to overflowing. I was so blessed by my time with them. I was again reminded of WHY I LOVE youth ministry. I was again reminded that THIS is WHY I do this stuff. That God has made me for this ministry. I can not believe, as I look back, the years that have flown by and the lives that I have had some influence in. They bless me and God blesses me by being allowed to be a piece of their lives. I LIVE for times like this. When God gives you something to do, He makes you LOVE it! :-) I got to see God work, meaning move hearts and change minds, last week. He did it with teenagers. He did it without our help. He spoke to me as well, through a continuation in the passage in Isa 40:26. I've been concentrating on verses 27-31, but then He added verse 26 for me. "he calls them each by name. Because of His great power and mighty strength not one of them is missing". I was reminded that He has not forgotten me. One among trillions. He knows me and He cares what happens to me.
Anyway. That was my week. I was blessed and rewarded. Teens saw God in their own lives and He showed Himself amazing. Whew! Can ministry be any better than this?

Family vacation

We had a great trip! I returned to CA on Monday evening. It all started with Memorial Day party at the Pitts in Stratford, followed by a few days of moving the Pitts in Bethel out of their house. They will be moving in with my parents for the month of June, grandkids and all! We left for Virginia on Friday and enjoyed a week of being together. We were graciously offered a place to stay in Massanutten resort near Harrisonburg, by the Fellenbaums. The weather was wonderful, with the exception of one day of storms but even that was kinda fun. We explored the Skyline Drive at Shenandoah National Park and Luray Caverns as well as the resort pool and horseback riding stables. We took turns preparing meals and generally just enjoyed hanging out together. Our room sat at the back of the 11th hole of the resort golf course and it was fun just watching people putt! The trip ended with a memorial service for my grandfather in Scottsville, VA. That was a really hard day or two for me. I knew it was going to be hard, and it was. I reminded myself that Jesus allowed himself to grieve at Lazarus's tomb, despite the fact that he knew he was to raise his friend from death. So it's OK to grieve, even if it's simply to feel the loss of the persons presence. PopPop is and will be, greatly missed.
The day after I returned to CA I attended my second Para-chapel ministries meeting at Camp Pendleton, the place all the contacts there got started. It was fun to report on the new ministry youth group starting and it was also a personal benefit to meet some of those who also volunteer on base.
I am just getting rolling again with office stuff for my organization. I will be going with my youth group girls to summer camp next week. We had also planned a sleepover this Friday night, before I realized that it will be followed by a week of camp together! oh well! the more the better! :-) I was welcomed very warmly back to youth group last night and it was so encouraging!
As always, thanks for checking in!

New friends and New ministry

Some of you may be saying, "finally! a picture!". Yes, my friend Kate Sutton, our youth pastors wife, remembered her camera for our "girls night out" this Monday and I'm so glad she did! I always forget! A bunch of us "girls" got together to say goodbye to Kate and just for fun. Kate and her husband Terrance are leaving us and moving back to Chicago. So our church is looking for another youth pastor. I have been very blessed to get involved with a youth ministry team of fun people. We meet after group every Wednesday and this was our first girls night.
Also, on the job ministry front (as opposed to the personal ministry! lol ) We had our second meeting at Camp Pendleton for the new youth ministry starting there. God continues to do things His way, as opposed to the way I expect. A Young Life team is being formed, to be a foundation ministry for the fluctuating military community. We had some new people come, and a few from our previous meeting. I was a bit discouraged, as there were a number of people missing that I expected to see, but as is His way God brought those people that He wanted to be there. Everyone that came was really enthusiastic and ready to begin! The first youth gathering will be an ice cream social next Thursday. There are 800 young people on the South side of the base (which itself contains 30,000 people!!). Please pray with us, that most of these young people will show up. We'd rather have too little ice cream, than too much! :-) The Young Life director here says that the leadership information meetings have been exceptional. He rarely gets so many interested volunteers as we have the last few meetings. God is truly in this. I am just so glad God has allowed me to be a piece of that! It is hard to explain how good it feels, to be involved in youth ministry with military kids....it's kinda like coming "home". If you want to know more about this kind of ministry, check out www.mcym.org
Thanks for checking in! I'll be in CT as of Memorial Day, and then our family is going down to Virgina. I'll be seeing some of you soon!

Just a quick update!

I went to Idylwild, CA this last week from Monday thru Thursday and I failed to take any pictures! So I didn't have anything fun and new to show you. It was a Southwest Recruiters retreat. We meet twice a year and this was my very first time!
I was excited and encouraged as I heard stories from the other recruiters around me. We heard from each region, worked on some new reports done on our personality profiles, and heard from our recruitment director as well. Our days were full and our nights spent online! How funny that email has so taken control of our lives! We all gathered in the same room, but instead of gathering in chatty groups, we all sat facing our computer screens. The very last night we were all able to peel ourselves away from those screens and play a fun game of "Apples to Apples". What a fun silly game!
This weekend I got to go to the CA beach for the first time! I went with my neighbor to Oceanside! So California. It was so nice, and warm too! yeah!
Sunday I was so blessed to be surrounded by friends. Sunday morning after church we talked for at least 30 minutes and in the evening we were all gathered in a friends home to send off our youth pastor and his wife. I am so grateful to begin to have a group of friends, and girlfriends!
I leave next Sunday to go home to CT for a bit and then our family is all heading off to VA for a family vacation. As some of you know, my brother and his wife will be moving their belongings and preparing to leave the country for overseas service. We are getting in some good family time. At the end of that time, June 7 will be the memorial service for my grandfather, John L Pitts III. It is still hard to believe he is gone, and I think that that service is going to be particularly difficult for all of us. It will be held in Scottsville, VA our family "seat". I'd appreciate your prayers for us as we grieve all over again.
I'll update on Thursday and maybe I'll even have a picture next time! :-)

Moving in and making new friends!

Last Friday my two friends moved me into the new office. We got the desk and file cabinet and chairs all in and I was set! We will be bringing in some of the display from the old office to this one, and Kurt is gonna set it up for me. It will then look a bit more like a jungle. That ought to be fun! You'll see that next week. The next picture is me at my new desk. Looks pretty plain, eh? Wait till you see the fun stuff from the old office. Last weekend, after much mental debate, I went on the womens retreat from my local church. I have never attended a womens retreat and yet I thought this one might be different that what I've heard of before. Well, I was right. This group of ladies was quite adventurous! Most of us went rafting on Saturday and our little raft group had quite the adventure. We got stuck on a rock mid rapid, and although our guide had guided tours for three summers, we needed another two guides to get us "unstuck". That made our raft group a wee bit timid, but we made it the rest of the day and had two more good and fun runs down the river! The biggest reason I attended the retreat was to make some more lady friends. I was so blessed, and made some good new friends. One was also a girl who rode up to the retreat with me, and with whom I found I had a bunch in common with. We both lived in the same area in Hawaii and we talked and laughed about our love of Hawaii and it's idiosyncrasies. I even met another single gal and she is full of life! I thought I've done some pretty cool things in my 33 years, but she definitely beats me to the punch! She's got me thinking that I might try a half marathon! why not?
Youth group has been very rewarding, and the girls and I are getting along really well. We are trying to plan our next sleepover, and their thinking maybe the last day of school would be good.
I am continuing to meet with the Chaplains at the Marine base Camp Pendleton, and we are asking God to help us to know His plan for this ministry with youth and we are looking forward to watching Him use us in the lives of kids and in the building of a partnership with local churches.
Hopefully I'll be getting a new short term trip idea off the ground soon. We're hoping to develop a partnership with a sister organization and this could be our first group effort. The idea is to expose teens to the other sides of our work in our organization and let them see that God can use them in all kinds of creative support roles, working alongside translations projects!
Thanks for checking in again! Come and visit if you feel like it. I have a guest room!

Moving my office

Another year, another move! Hehehe. well, actually we are moving my office from the Temecula location South, to the offices of the National Network of Youth ministries in San Diego. Kurt Scorza on the left (formerly of the dog training episodes) and Paul Johnson on the right are helping me get it all there. I will be commuting from Hemet to the Rancho Bernardo area 3-4x's a week. We'll see how it goes. For now I will be continuing to live in the home I live in now. If the commute proves to be too much and God opens an opportunity for me to live somewhere near the new office, then I'd move then. For now, while the Temecula office continues to be open I'll visit the members there on Mondays and work from home 1-2x's a week. This new location has some very good points too! The office of the National Network of Youth ministries houses youth networking people who communicate with youth ministries all over the nation. Perfect for a member who wants to network with those exact people too! God may be expanding my reach and that of my organization through this opportunity.
I'm continuing also to work with my kids at the youth group at church. We will be losing our youth pastor in the summer and our church is already actively looking for a replacement. So my services are definitely needed at this season of ministry there. I have been blessed to be given the chance for deeper relationships with a number of the girls there and as you who know me know, I am so fulfilled by those relationships. God has specifically made me for ground level, local church youth ministry.
I have been talking to the chaplains at the Marine base and a ministry called the Military Community Youth Ministry and we are continuing to meet to build this youth ministry. I so enjoy getting involved in the lives of military youth and their families. It feels kinda like "home".
Also, it looks like we're finally getting a short term trip opportunity off the ground. It will hopefully be a trip to Cameroon, Africa next summer. We hope that it will be a trip for youth to see the other side of our organization, an area called Vernacular Media! I might even get to go to Africa myself. This thrills me, as I have yet to go to that continent!
So, little moves and big moves...God gets glory in all of them!

San Diego and Youth ministry meeting

Well, it's been over a week now since I last wrote. Since then, my parents came out to visit for the weekend last. The pictures are of the Balboa Park area, and as you can see it's peak rose season!
The Camp Pendleton meeting was last night and it went really well. God drew 9 churches and 13 people, apart from the three of us leaders. The two chaplains did a super job, we had two videos of military moms answering questions about how we could help address their needs. It was very evident that God was in it, as the people who came were passionate about being involved and one church has even been praying for an opportunity like this for a few years now! The Base chaplain is very open to taking assistance and will do all he can to allow us to assist with the youth on base. We are all excited, and i am honored that God is allowing me to have a piece of the action. Not only am I able here to find ways to help more youth, but these are military youth too!
Throughout the process of contacting churches to come to this meeting, I've met and spoken to a number of really good contacts, one of them being the MCYM, or Military Community Youth Ministry. We have been able, through God, to connect with a few really good networks of ministries. It is gonna be really exciting to see how God moves in order to minister to the kids on this base. For some reason He is moving now, and boy am I glad that I get to be a part of it! We're just stepping up to something God has already begun. Can't get any easier than that!