Hello my name is Bianca,  I am Maria Randall’s daughter. I have helped the YoungLives Santa Ana Club with decorations and setting up.  Last Christmas  I also had the privilege on  helping out with shopping for Toys for the Santa Ana Christmas party.

The reason why I choose to do a fundraiser for a young moms ministry  is because I  have seen the ministry change a mom’s heart.  I am a young mom and have a 3 year old daughter named Bethany.  I have also attended a ministry for Young Moms and I know how important it is to have a mentor and have a woman in my life that gives me good advise.  Mentors pour their time and hearts into the ministry. I have a wonderful group of  friends that pray for me and have stood  by  my side.

My desire to make jewelry started  when I was young. Recently I started making and designing my own bracelets.  I want to make sure that my jewelry reflects the beauty that God sees in us.

There is one bracelet in particular that  I designed with a young  mom in mind.  While my mom and I were shopping for beads and crystals, we kept remembering and thinking about a particular mom.  She is a Teen mom that was involved in a tragic accident. I wanted to make sure that I designed a bracelet that reflected her. She is such a great example of making other young girls feel and look beautiful. While I was beading the bracelets I kept remembering how one day this mom came to my house and did my Hair and make  up, my mom and I  were going to a wedding that day and she made us look so beautiful. To me that is beauty when you can help other people not just look but also feel the beauty inside.

The bracelet has pink stones and  I used Swarovski  Crystals.  Myrna has named this bracelet after the mom. Recently we had the privilege to deliver one of these bracelets to her mother. She was very thankful and loved the bracelet.

Some of the bracelets I  designed have the word Faith, Hope, Trust or Beauty.

I chose “ faith “ because every young lady should have faith in God.  We are to lay all our cares on God and have Faith that He will answer our prayers. I chose “Trust” because we  need to have trust in God that He will always be there for us, and trust that God will never leave us and He will help us get through difficult times.

I chose “Beauty” because every woman is just Beautiful inside and out.  God has given us that inner Beauty. It also says in the Bible that God will make Beauty out of Ashes. Some of my bracelets have a Crown charm.  This charm also reminds me of the verse “ He will give a Crown of Beauty for Ashes”  Isaiah 61:3.

On the weekend of September 24 I had my first  Bracelet Fundraiser.  A  friend of mine, named Jennifer, came to my house early in the morning to do my hair.  I felt so beautiful and appreciated that she gave up her time to do my hair.   My mom, Maria,  served coffee,  lemonade,  and other yummy cookies and treats.  My mom has a passion for Coffee and Tea and she used her Talents for this fundraiser event.  I have learned a lot from my parents especially my mom.  My mom hosted the first Santa Ana club  in our home and has invited  teen moms to our home on various occasions. I have grown watching my mom serve in the community and she is always volunteering in some kind of church event or helping someone in need. My mom has taught me to not be selfish and always serve others.  That is the reason I  decided to give 100% of my proceeds to this YoungLives ministry. 

We had neighbors, friends and family come to my event. I was very happy to see my Grandma and aunties drive all the way from L.A. county in order to support my event. My aunts have always been my cheerleaders and they have helped me and my daughter overcome so many obstacles.

Some people couldn’t make it but they still ordered a bracelet or two.The event was  such a blessing because I sold half of the bracelets  I had made. I do have bracelets left over and I am continuing to sell at school and work.    If you are interested in purchasing a bracelet, please email me at lulirandall@gmail.com.  100% of the proceeds will go to Younglives ministry. Thank you for reading about my  Successful Fundraiser  Event.

Faith , Trust & Beauty, Bianca Camacho

Hi everyone!
It’s so encouraging to be back and to be serving with you all alongside my family and friends. It was fun to jump right back into the swing of things knowing God is already weaving things into place.
Seeing the new babies arrive, already getting to know one another, running around and playing, hiding from parents, teachers and giggling away without a care in the world…and even sneaking away with a craft supply or two😉

New faces and families reminds me of our humble beginnings, showing us how far we have come, while keeping our focus on people, as we get to know, and build in love. The youth leading worship was amazing and the skits and games are already helping build connections.

Myrna shared a great message that laid a foundation for where our focus is. We had a back to school theme going on this month with a backpack giveaway and our craft was on personalizing notebooks.
It’s a blessing to be invited into these young families lives as our relationships are being built. Truly blessed to be part of this ministry! Looking forward to October club already.

Love and blessings,
Tracy Sumner

We have been doing passion projects and for those of you that don’t know what that is, you can find out more about them here. Terice stepped up to raise funds for YoungLives and plan her very own passion project with something she is very gifted in and loves to do, Holy Yoga. All of the funds from this will be matched by a donor so all proceeds will be doubled!! Below you can read about Holy Yoga from instructor Terice Ziemann.

It is so important for me that people know the definition of the word yoga: union, yoked, discipline etc.  Therefore, yoga postures were discovered 5,000 years ago on the walls of caves. The movement was to help with their breath and healing of people to name a few benefits.  Then, Hinduism inserted it and other religions 2,500 years ago.

The western culture has used this intentional movement and breath in a variety of ways such as to treat PTSD, Trauma etc, but just did not use the word yoga!  Since 2001, Brooke Boon (Founder of Holy Yoga) a Christian took the discipline, posture and intentional breath of yoga but made the Holy Spirit the centered focus. Whereas in traditional yoga we are the center not God!  

The Holy Yoga Mission statement is:   Holy yoga is experiential worship specifically created to deepen your connection to Christ. Our sole purpose is to combine world class yoga with Christ honoring experience that offers an opportunity to believers and non believers a like to authentically connect with God.  We do this by integrating His Word, prayer,worship and the physical practice of yoga to contemporary and Christian worship music. We would love for you to join us on Friday, Oct. 21st at 6:30p, (the warehouse, 3095 RedHill Ave,Costa Mesa 93636). You can sign up here for this night!

If you would like to know more about Holy Yoga you can check out their website here.

Back to School Club!

As summertime is coming to an end, I became so excited for the Santa Ana YoungLives Club to start back up again. This will be my second year volunteering with the Santa Ana club, and I am confident that God is doing a very good work in this place. All of the volunteers have been praying over this new year, and we can’t wait to see the way God speaks and moves. When I walked into club, I had so much fun seeing familiar faces, and I loved meeting new girls, guys, and babies! I couldn’t believe how much the kids have grown over the past few months. The second I got there you could feel a deep sense of joy and expectancy for the new season of YoungLives.

After catching up with the girls, their boyfriends, and their babies, we started off with an absolutely delicious home-cooked meal and the girls were able to pick out a lot of clothes for their babies and for themselves! I loved seeing how excited they were to receive these items. I am always so blown away by the love and support that gets poured into this ministry. God continues to bring in volunteers with unique gifts and talents that are used to bless the socks off all who are part of this amazing ministry.

After dinner we got into small groups and competed in a series of “minute-to-win-it” style games. I think my cheeks were hurting for a solid half hour after the games ended because I was laughing so hard. This game was the perfect kick-off to an amazing night.

When the game ended we had the honor of hearing our YoungLives area director, Myrna, speak. She shared about her recent pregnancy journey and the excitement and anticipation that came as her pregnancy progressed. She shared that at each ultrasound she and her husband, Yousef, were able to see more and more what their precious babe looked like and could picture more of what life would be like with their new addition to the family. She connected this exciting journey to the journey we experience as followers of Christ. In verse John 10:10, Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full”. This is a promise that Jesus makes to us, His beloved children! He desires that we live a life compelled by His love. The more we get to know Him, the more clearly we can see and understand the life He has for us. We can understand that even though we are going through difficult times in life, whether it has to do with relationships, work, finances, etc., God is still sovereign, God is still good, and God still has a plan to work all things for His glory. This was such an incredible reminder in this busy season of my life. I was encouraged to give all my worries to the Lord, and let me tell you, it’s a huge relief to do that!

At the end of the night, the girls made the CUTEST Pinterest-worthy hanging flower pots! 

while we were doing the craft the guys played soccer and prayed together. We were also able to raffle off backpacks and school supplies to all the girls. What an incredible blessing! This was such a sweet time to end the night, and I am already so excited for club next month. I can’t even begin to imagine the wonderful things God has in store for this ministry. Thank you so much for reading, and I hope to see and/or meet you at club next month 🙂

-Ellen Bosch

I had it penciled in, or should I say “penned in” because I was just so excited for it and I was not planning on missing out! It was the Young Lives Fall Kick Off event!! This was not just a training day all about Young Lives, it was a wonderful, refreshing day of fellowship and drawing closer to the Lord; which every volunteer knows is the source of our strength.

We were blessed with many volunteers who showed up to see what the ministry of Young Lives entailed, and also those who vowed to serve again this coming year.

Volunteers were greeted with a smile and welcomed with delicious pastries and hot coffee (who doesn’t love that)! Myrna, the director of the Young Lives North OC Chapter, introduced the ministry and gave some details and statistics. Did you know that in the Santa Ana School District alone there are 250 pregnant girls, with 70 of them being in Junior High? I think this statistic alone speaks volumes for why the ministry of Young Lives is vital for these girls, their babies and the fathers, too.

Sherri Bennett was our wonderful guest speaker who spoke words of encouragement to all the volunteers, giving us three simple reminders of ministry! Those three reminders were; to rest in Christ, to take times of refreshment and to have fun while serving.
It was such a great reminder to focus on Jesus above everything else because only He can give us true rest, refreshment and allow us to find fun and memorable times in ministry.
I love what Sherri said “In ministry we must not get so caught up that we forget the main ingredient…JESUS!”

In the following session, I attended, Myrna gave the details of what a mentor in the young Lives program does. We were also given an opportunity to meet other volunteers, by praying together, and exchanging phone numbers. I really enjoyed this short time because it allowed me to get to know other volunteers without having to wait until club or later on in the year. We also saw a sweet video clip of a teen dad who shared how Young Lives has impacted him, many of the volunteers were in tears afterwards because the ministry truly changed his life, saving him from many life altering decisions.

Young Lives had a taco lunch waiting for us and it was delicious as always…I mean you can’t go wrong with tacos and chocolate chip cookies!

Then in the last session, I attended Myrna really went into details of the accountability and the special requirements a mentor needs to uphold in order to be an example of Christ and a proper witness of the gospel to those around them and their mentee, as well.

I attended the mentor sessions so I’m not too sure of what goes on behind the scenes to make the club event each month so amazing. I know that they are so selfless from the cooks, to the childcare volunteers, to the musicians, the craft coordinators, and everyone in between. It really is a group effort and I am just thankful to be apart of what God is doing with Young Lives North OC!

“On your feet now-applaud God!
Bring a gift of laughter,
sing yourselves into His presence.”
Psalm 100:1-2 (MSG)

• Kelsey Mendez

Group of mentors discussing the mentor commitment