Extreme Week '08...

If you are looking for an extreme and fun camp for your kids, nephews, students, etc. this is the place to be. Register and don't miss out!

FREE

August 12-15 

FOR STUDENTS ENTERING 1ST-5TH GRADE

Flamingo Road Church: Doral Campus

located at

Ronald Reagan High School

8600 NW 107 Ave

Doral, Fl 33178

REGISTER ONLINE AT:

www.flamingoroadchurch.com/extreme-week

Go to camp without leaving town!  Nightly themes, team competitions, games, high-energy worship, interactive, kid-friendly Bible study, and lots of fun! EW '08 is far from your typical summer camp.

on vacation...

heredes and I are on vacation in Marco Island. Whoohoo! There is like nothing to do but relax and chill- it's great! Right now we are enjoying a movie and dinner. I'll try to put some pictures, but I have to remember I'm on vacation. :). The beach is okay. Actually it is nice, but I'm so afraid of dark murky water that I almost cried- but I didn't. Just wanted to give a little update.

Here's the deal..

So, Matthew McConaughey just had his first baby boy with his brazilian girlfriend Camila. Now you may ask, "What's the big deal?" Well, the deal is the NAME he chose for his son.
First, if you know Heredes and I, you probably know that if and when we have our first baby boy his name will be Levi ? Ribeiro. This is the same name Matthew M. gave his son.
While reading up on the story, he said that one special gift he will give his son is a passport and that he would like to live in Brazil so baby Levi can learn more about his mommy's culture. Ha! I just laughed because I am married to a Brazilian and I just want our kids to be full of culture. :)
Third, this was just cool. They asked Matthew why he picked the name Levi and here is what he said: "Levi was another name for the apostle Matthew in The Bible. They were, in fact, two names for the same person". And then, "Our son was born at 6:22 pm," Matthew goes on to say, "and this particular time represents my favorite verse in the book of Matthew in the Bible: 'If thy eye be single, thy whole body will be full of light.'"
Now here is the cool thing. Yesterday, Heredes read to me the verse he read during his quiet time. Yup, you guessed it- Matthew 6:22. And again he read it and wrote it in his journal today.
With this said, we just got so excited to hear the name and that he went to the Bible- which is so beautiful. So, Heredes and I are stamping the name Levi ? Ribeiro for our future baby boy. [Of course, God knows when that will be and if it will be a boy] I just had to share this because it was so cool!

Job Opening...

Cafe Bustelo is looking for several exciting, full of life  people to apply as crew members for the new opening of their Coffee Shop at the Gaansevoort Hotel in South Beach.  Read below to apply today.  Trust me- the coffee is awesome, the feel will be cool, and you'll be working under great leaders.  If your looking for a job, this is the place for you!

Orange Forum...

About two weeks ago, before leaving to Peru, I had the opportunity to go to First Baptist Church of Ft. Lauderdale for an Orange Forum with Reggie Joiner. As you may know, or not, I was supposed to go to the Orange Conference a few months back, but because of some health issues [that ended up to be nothing- I don't think] I was not able to go. So, to have this opportunity was just awesome! You can check out more about the Orange  Conference here. I decided to post my notes from that day for my volunteers at FRC Kids Doral and other leaders/volunteers out there.

How does Spiritual Development Occur?

with Reggie Joiner

1. Remember it is a process
- It can’t be managed; It’s a God part
It’s not something that is taught; it is Organic
It’s not something that can be systemize; it’s personal
60%-70% drop off of teens leaving Christianity.
We lose if our kids don’t leave as Self Feeders.
It’s not something that can be easily measured; it’s gradual.
Illustration of the rings on a tree- showing growth
Can’t always be seen, because it is too SPIRITUAL

2. Defining Moments that cause growth:
Life Changing Truths [Biblical content- eg. a message]
Significant Relationships [Mentors, etc.]
Spiritual Disciplines [first time you learned what a quiet time was, etc.]
Ministry Responsibilities [serving, volunteering, etc.]
Pivotal Circumstances: [moving away, a death, etc.]
God is more interested in my relationship with Him than being happy for a moment.

Defining Moments 1-4 relate because we can manage them. Pivotal Circumstances are unexpected.

The Role of the Small Group Leader.
They model five faith skills and model the top 5 defining moments.
They are there to show up in their kids lives!
People coming besides others is huge
SGL holds the KEY to spiritual growth
5 Faith Skills [Every SGL should create a safe place and implement:]
Navigate the Bible
Personalize/Memorize Scripture
Dialog/Pray to God
Articulate/Share their faith
Worship with your life:
Leaders/Volunteers should be worshipping with the kids
We do it together to remember that the next day is a sacrifice. [Corporate- like when we take the Lord’s Supper/Communion]
Worship plays as a symbol; we live it everyday

Little Deeper into Defining Moments:
Life Changing Truths:
There is a few truths that are important for our kids to learn with the little time we have with them. Its not our job to teach them the whole Bible before they leave our ministry.
Breakdown of teaching LT:
Pre-k: has truths
Children: learn other truths
Teens: learn more truths
It’s better to teach less and provide an effective and creative presentation.
3 Dials [relate to teaching kids truths at their age appropriate level
Love God [Wonder]
Understand Yourselves [Discovery]
Love Others [Passion]: pursuing a loving relationship with others
Jesus’ example [prioritizing scripture]
Love the Lord your God with all your heart
Love yourself
So you can love others

** The HARDER road is the one we should take, not the easiest road.
The easy road: believing, as a volunteer/leader, that Children’s Ministry is a babysitting club
The Hard road: learning, as a volunteer/leader, the values of Children Ministry/Discipleship and the difference they [you] make
Let’s take the HARD road

-Significant Relationships: Small Groups
As a Children’s small group leader/volunteer you DON’T need to know all the answers [we will never have all the answers] but build relationships with kids by BEING THERE

Ministry Responsibility:
Allowing teens 9-12 grade to serve now so when they are adults they continue in growth as they follow Christ
What kind of teens do we want to raise?
Consumer teens- Church is all about and for me [no!]
Plug In- rolling up their sleeves and serve others [yes!]
Again, SPIRITUAL GROWTH is a PROCESS.

Tio Max this is for you...

Well, I didn't ADD all the pics I wanted to. Here is a picture of my uncle and his family. Thank you for opening your home to me. Love you guys.



Middle picture- left to right: Max, Maga, Maxito, Tais, Marce

Back from Peru- FRC Lima...

I have been dying to update my blog since before I left to Lima, Peru. There is so much to say. Here is a run through of my trip to FRC Lima.

FRIDAY:
- Got to the airport 3 hours before flight took off. Paid $100.00 extra for an overweight bag.
- Flew out to Lima with my team members: Melissa Nadlman, Ricky Garcia, and Brian Fuller.
- Arrived in Lima around 11:00 pm. Didn't leave until midnight.
- Steve and Dorcas took us to our hotel.
- Shared a club sandwich with Melissa and we went to bed like at 2:30 am.

SATURDAY:
- Woke up at 6:45 am and met up with Raul and Heather and the rest of the gang at the gym.
- Got ready and had a breakfast buffet. Yum. Bread and honey is good.
- Off to meet the FRC Lima team at the Radisson.
- Watched a video message from Pastor Troy and then broke off into our teams. Melissa- First Impressions, Ricky, Fuller, HP- Mag, Marcy- Children's Ministry.
- Had an excellent time with Mariana and Patty talking about vision, ministry, and getting to know each other.
- Ate some awesome food. Tried Ceviche for the first time. DELICIOUS!
- Each member [from FRC USA :)] explained one of the ETHOS. Yes, I said it all in Spanish.
- Spoke some more with the team and went back to our hotel and got ready for dinner.
- Walked around Larcomar and then ate at the Vaca Loca.
- Had coffee with the girls and Ricky of course. [He was our bodyguard] We had some good talks.
- Spoke with hours with Melissa [awesome] and went to bed.

SUNDAY:
- Didn't go to the gym. [not feeling good]
- Left for service at our FRC Lima campus
- Observed and experienced worship there and the Children's Ministry
- Later had our final evaluation, last Q & A time with our teams. We ate at TGI Fridays
- Said our goodbyes and went back to our hotel.
- Bought a calling card to call my husband [finally!!!] So good to hear his voice and my mom's as well
- Said bye to my FRC USA crew and my uncle picked me up
- Had an awesome time with my mom's family. Uncles, Aunts, cousins, grandma, etc. Ohhhh it was GREAT!

MONDAY:
- Shopped at the mall with my aunts
- Saw Raul and Heather. LOL.
- Ate at BEMBOS. Yummy!!
- Went back to uncle's home
- Spent time with my beautiful grandma [who looks great! She has cancer, but it is going away Praise the Lord- I believe that]
- Said my goodbyes :( and off to the airport
- Almost missed my flight because of the horrible traffic.. but we did play who can spot the most volkswagon beetles. Girls won!

TUESDAY:
- Arrived in Ft. Lauderdale, on time, and gave my husband the biggest hug and kiss!!
- Had breakfast at Panera Bread
- Got home, showered, crashed until 3:00 pm

In a nutshell that was my trip. I just can't express how grateful and honored I am for my leaders to trust me to go over and share and cast vision and so much more. Thank you for the opportunity to see my family as well. Thank you Lord! Thank you church family!! Praying that next my Heredes and I can go together and serve overseas. Here are some pics from the trip. We did more than eat. LOL. I have other video and pictures on my video camera that I haven't imported yet. :)

Mi new Mii...

My new Mii since I cut my hair.

FRC Kids Doral Newsletter...

Here is our Newsletter at FRC Kids. Hopefully some of our families, or new families who have never visited FRC Doral, will be able to check this out.

4th of July and other stuff...

This Fourth of July, Heredes and I joined some of the FRC Doral team for a parade. It was so humid! It was about an hour walk, but we did get to pass out a lot of flyers for our Extreme Week camp in August. After the parade, we drove to Granada to watch my cousin and some friends play for a picnic. They did so great! When that was done off we went to the Doral park to pass out more FRC and Extreme Week flyers.
We had a great time meeting families and kids. I had this bean bag toss game and it was a hit! I have to give props or recognition to my husband, number one, for helping me and supporting me and to TWO special little girls that just rocked my world. Mia and Vicky- they are my little missionary girls. Mia is going into 2nd grade and Vicky is going into 4th grade and they passed out flyers and talked to kids with no fear and with such passion. Watching them share their faith by inviting a child to Extreme Week and church through a flyer was so encouraging.
The remainder of the day, we quickly packed up all our things to run to our car before the rain caught us. The ugliest storm brewed up- with purple lightning and grey clouds. We didn't see fireworks, but we did get to pass out lots of flyers and God's love and go home to shower and sleep.

On another note, I leave to Lima, Peru this Friday to do some training and meeting our Lima team. We had our meeting today and it is going to be so much fun. I am very excited to meet the team and work and grow with them. I also get to stay one extra day to see my family. Yayyyayayya!!! I am so happy and grateful for this opportunity. That's all for now.

Desert Song...

Watch.