Trusting God When Things Get Scrambled...

During Junior High camp this past July, God really stretched us in our faith and trust in Him. I gotta admit that going through the trying times is not always exciting, especially when one is in the midst of the ordeal. That camp was full of times like that, yet when it was all said and done, God was glorified and lives were transformed and forever changed.


As mentioned before the teachers for the week became the kitchen staff for the week as well. Not much was organized and we all had our times of wanting to throw the towel in. And just when you thought there wasn't enough food to feed everyone, God provided and stretched our supply or provided a way to get more.

Toward the end of the week, we were suppose to be serving homemade Macaroni and Cheese. Dear Elissa, the girl who volunteered to take on leading the kitchen for the week, spent about 3 hours while we were in classes, etc, boiling all our noodles, not an easy task when you're feeding about 250-300 people!


We were told at the beginning of the week, that the contents in a clear, non-labeled bag was the cheese sauce we were to use. From the beginning Elissa, Amanda and I thought that the color might have been correct (a yellowish like cheese), but we all felt like it was really too liquefied.


Well once when Elissa was done with the noodles, I came in and started to help out and then Amanda. I pulled out the "cheese sauce" and we decided to just pour some in a pot with the noodles. I began stirring it over a medium high heat and then to my shock, something very weird happened.

"Elissa, um this is curdling," I said.

Elissa's response: "WHAT?!?!"

Now, considering pretty much every meal before this was prepared in stress and disorganization, this was just the icing on the cake.

I said, "Okay, we'll maybe it's the type of cheese sauce that we have to heat up and thicken separately before we add it to a pot with noodles."

So I got out a small pan and added a small amount of cheese sauce over it, again over medium high heat. I'm sure what I said next was Elissa's definite icing on the cake.


"Um, it's curdling again!"

By this point we had less than a half hour before dinner, a couple of hundred very hungry mouths to feed and nothing besides noodles prepared. Anything else we could prepare was incomplete with ingredients.

And what is a person suppose to do at a time like this? Pray, laugh, cry, mourn, throw a fit?

We started panicking and then that led into laughter. By this point we called Aaron and Keith in and they taste tested the unknown bizzare looking substance.







The look on their faces was so priceless!





And then Keith announced, "This is EGGS!


Oh my goodness, by this point I'm definitely in laughter mode...what else can we do. We got the advice of our camp director, Erin and soon we were off trying to make our own cheese sauce.


I went to the fridge, found a tub of margarine, a half a package of shredded cheese (not enough), some parmasan cheese and milk. I returned to the fridge, where I thought I definitely had only seen a half a package of cheddar cheese to my surprise to find 2 MORE BIG BAGS OF SHREDDED PARMASAN! Praise God!!!

So I got a big pot out, began melting butter, melting cheeses, adding a bit of milk, salt and pepper and began stirring!!!










By this point, everyone is pitching in to help







When it was all said and done, we made the many batches of Mac and Cheese with success and it was such a hit, kids wanted seconds and we were actually able to give them seconds for this meal! AMAZING!!! God really saw us through and way provided, as we trusted in him.

JOSH SAYS:
My wife is amazing! She is such a great cook...just look at me! She was very modest in this post...if it wasn't for her quick thinking and her mad cooking skills we would of had some angry and hungry junior highers...not a pretty picture (trust me!). Thank you Anna!

Pictures from Junior High Camp

I thought I would finally post up some pictures of Junior High Camp! Enjoy!

Triangle Lake: Beautiful!




Josh and Marcus:




Aaron and Amanda Anderson, a couple we've really grown close to. Their FABULOUS!




Mr. Brian Friesen, youth pastor at Valley View




Erin Loftis, director of camp for the week. Dale, our fabulous sound dude is in the background with little Ryder Loftis



Melanie and Trisha, our two most recent additions to our junior high staff. Love them lots! Their AMAZING!




Tim grilling...nice dude, nice!





Relaxing on the beach and chatting with Trisha





Our class we taught on Joy:
























Keith, our dynamic camp speaker, youth pastor from Bend. Do you like our background for chapel?!







Tim and his guys...





Nature Walk:




Paintballing Fun:



Jake and Marcus:

"Come to the Table: A Recipe Collection from Oregon City Evangelical Church"

"Come to the Table: A Collection of Recipes from Oregon City Evangelical Church"

Our Junior High Youth Department is venturing into a new fundraiser with proceeds going toward their annual Warm Springs Indian Reservation Missions Trip, as well as our up-and-coming Girls Ministry. To begin the process of putting this special cookbook together, we need your recipes! So gather your favorite recipes and find your family recipes in print!

To contribute your recipes, please log on to: http://www.typensave.com/. Click on "Log In" where you will be prompted to enter your name, or the name of the contributor of the recipe and the following information:

Group Login: juniorhigh (one word)
Password: ca8du
Once when the above information is entered you will be directed to the cookbook. If you do not have access to the internet, recipe sheets will be available at the lobby Grand Central desk. Complete a form and return to Anna Shelton.

Pre-sale for the cookbooks will begin TODAY. Each cookbook will be beautifully bound and will include 3 additional sections, besides the normal categories: Ÿ Warm Springs Indian Reservation Recipes
Ÿ From the Pastors Table (our pastors favorites!)
Ÿ The Kids Are Cookin! (easy recipes for kids).

A few pages in the cookbook will be reserved for highlighting local small businesses managed by members of OCEC. Please contact Anna Shelton (503) 473-5347 immediately to purchase your spot for your business. Cost of advertising vary, depending on size.

Each cookbook will sell for $10 and arrive in time for Christmas gifts! Junior high students will be available each Sunday at the Grand Central desk at OCEC to collect your orders. Or, you may contact Anna Shelton to place your order. Make your Christmas list now and pre-order your cookbooks today!

Questions? Please call or email Anna Shelton
Telephone: 503 473-5347
Email: annashelton2007@gmail.com

Berry Park

This afternoon, Josh, Jake (one of our junior high interns/worship leader) and I took a small group of our junior highers to Berry Park, a local retirement. Usually about once a year, it's the junior highers turn to lead the service there. We have a regular pastor who visits them and some other throughout the months, but our official opportunity doesn't arise all that often. It seems we're always a bit hesitant to actually motivate ourselves to go, because it's completely out of our element, but we always seem to come back so much more blessed than when we went in...isn't that true of so many things!?

We led them in some hymns and songs that we sing in youth group and Josh had the youth share a bit about their time at junior high camp. We had so many wonderful testimony's of the Lord's goodness and faithfulness.

I love talking to the residents there afterwards, normally the ladies are the ones who attend the service. I chatted with one lady and then walked her down to dinner with one of our sweet junior high girls. Tear filled her eyes while we talked. She was so touched that young people were that courageous and mature with their relationships with God. She was such a sweetheart. I seriously was so touched by her.

Last year I was able to take a bunch of our small group girls to the same retirement home and we played games with them; then they fed us ice cream! Our time with them is always so rich and it always gives us perspective. We are all at different seasons of life. Some of us are just beginning our lives and some of us are nearing the end. But how wonderful it is to be able to share life together; to not think with pride in our hearts, that any of us have "arrived." I love learning from people who have lived their share of years on this earth and also with the young and naive ones who already think they have life figured out! It's such an amazing contrast. Praise God for wherever he has us!

Fruitalicious Camp!

Josh and I just returned last night from a week at junior high camp. As I'm sifting through laundry and cleaning the house again, I can't help but thank the Lord for a trying, yet most fulfilling week. We really felt like our limits were stretched multiple times. We were stoked to co-teach a class during the week. The entire week's topic was "The Fruits of the Spirit." Our class was focused on the fruit of joy. Needless to say that our idea of joy was also expanded during a week of stress and working hard as teachers but also on the kitchen staff as well. I felt at times like Jesus when we was faced with feeding 5000 plus people! God provided, as we know he always does. Yet, I really felt like He was testing our faith during the week to see just how steadfast our belief in his goodness really is. Praise the Lord for those times.

We also got to meet many new wonderful friends! We saw the Lord work in the lives of our junior highers as some came to Him for the first time and many rededicated their lives to Him. I was so humbled to see many of our students lifting their hands and really praising God from the depths of their hearts during worship as well.

God is great!

We'll try to post some pix soon!