Habitat for Humanity Work Days

Thanks to all the construction and support volunteers who worked at the Cleo Avenue work site July 7 and August 5! Some comments from volunteers: "Thank you...for enlisting us and arranging the work day. But please tell me why I'm so tired!" "You  should have seen the disappointment on the faces when Patrick asked everyone to stop for the day. I said,"I can't, my nail gun still has nails left in it!"" "Fue un verdadero placer." "I had a great day!  I'd like to share the pictures I've taken both work days!" "It was lots of fun and getting to know some folks.  Thanks for organizing this." To see more photos, click on this LINK!

Liberia Trip Report

The team recently returned from Liberia with some fantastic memories. I will share a few here. Our mission this time was two-fold: (1) do a discipleship training weekend with 13 of the older students from the schools we support and (2) help train the teachers at the 'Coca-Cola school'. The discipleship training weekend included four of the students that our JHers and HSers support: Princess (10th graders), Naomi (9th graders), Ojuku (8th graders) and Abraham (7th graders). This was a huge highlight for me (Shawn) - to teach the scriptures to our students and spend a lot of time with them. We had a lot of fun too. We taught them a few games that we play with our JHers, including Ninja. Even though many didn't know what a Ninja was, they loved the game. :) Then, the teachers in our group worked with the teachers at the 'Coca-Cola School', showing them new methods for teaching various subjects including English and Math. I think the teachers were helped immensely, and they were very appreciative. Thank-you for your prayers!

In reflecting on this trip, I have two major thoughts that keep bouncing around my head. One is how distracting our lives here in the States are to the two most important things in life: loving God and loving people. Here in the west, we are either too busy to do these things, or we entertain ourselves so much that we don't have time to do either of these two things. What can we do in our busy lives here in Silicon Valley to make these two things our top two priorities? This is a question I'm trying to ask myself everyday.

Secondly, we were privileged to meet many of the children that are sponsored by attendees of PBCC and PBCWG. And, I want you all to hear that it is very evident that you are making a huge difference in the lives of these students. Life is hard for these children, but your faithfulness has helped strengthen their faith, has given them unmistakable hope and has instilled in them a quiet joy. At one point, they sang the song, ‘Because He Lives’, which seems to have so much more meaning when they sing it. Know that God is honoring your commitment to them. Please remember that, and please keep praying for them.

A Beautiful Day

The youth at our church spent last Sunday afternoon (11/13/11) participating in beautiful day activities. If you are not familiar with a beautiful day, it's a day set aside for churches to bless their neighbors. And, on Sunday for three hours, the youth from our church did exactly that. After breaking up into groups, the Jr. Highers and High Schoolers walked around our neighborhood raking leaves and washing windows for free. It was an exhausting day, but many of the comments from our neighbors were that they were very appreciative of our efforts.

Mission accomplished.

Habitat for Humanity Walk Home

Several from PBCC participated in Habitat for Humanity’s Walk Home fundraiser on October 16. The kickoff event took place in the parking lot of Saint Joseph’s in Cupertino. Folks registered at 12:30, picked up their green or white t-shirts, and had lunch. Entertainment was provided by the band Random People. Then after a 15-minute ceremony with short speeches by various officials and a prayer by Gregory Kimm (pastor of St. Joseph’s), the walkers headed out through the green and blue balloon arch for the 4.2 mile round trip walk to the building site on Cleo Avenue. The Walk Home event was one of many fundraising events by local faith communities to raise funds for the materials needed to build one of the four Habitat homes to be built at the Cleo Avenue site. Construction will begin some time in December or early 2012, and PBCC will be recruiting work teams to participate in the construction of these homes.

Habitat Walk Home

Cupcake Fundraiser

Cotton candy, chocolate chip coffee, root beer float, and Oreo-frosted cupcakes in ice cream cones were a few varieties of the 572 gourmet cupcakes offered for sale at PBCC last Sunday.

Not every cupcake would make your teeth ache. Some were sugar and gluten-free. A list of ingredients accompanied each batch. All the cupcakes were home-made.

Kathy Leong organized the event to benefit Pat and Ziggy Lew, Wycliff Bible translators who work in Thailand. She had a small army of bakers and assistants.

One fellowship group got together to make and wildly decorate an especially creative batch (“Go Sharks,” smiling faces). Aproned helpers set up and decorate the tables and sold the goods.

The cupcakes sold out by the second service, bringing in $1,386. Kathy’s comment: “We should do this again next year, yes?”

Click here to see photos.

Celebration Sunday 2011

What an awesome time we all had this past Sunday with our Texas style BBQ and Celebration Sunday. Over 530 people showed up to enjoy the food, fun, and fellowship. The kids had a blast with bounce houses, obstacle course, and bungee run while adults and kids alike enjoyed dunking the likes of Joel Taylor, Brian Morgan, Ryan Hinn, and Shawn Reese in the dunk tank. Great times were had by all. Thank you to all who helped make this event possible! Some pictures from the event can be found "here."

VisionTrust Car Wash In Review

The Jr. Highers and High Schoolers were planning to spend most of 3+ hours on Sunday, June 26th, washing cars. What they ended up doing was washing cars for the ENTIRE 3+ hours because the line never ended! At the end, the driveway had to be blocked off so everyone could go home...

They all did an awesome job, with the best part being that they raised over $1300 for the 7 Liberian VisionTrust students that they support.

Thanks to all who supported the car wash and, of course, to all the students who helped wash the cars!