Video Wednesday: Giving & Does God Exist?

Today we're featuring two short videos. The first is actually a commercial made by a Thai telecommunications company. The message - give without expecting anything in return - sure does hit home, though.
The second video is just a short, humourous look at how some people view those who have a belief in God.
We hope you enjoy both videos.

Thank you, Glenda Q, for sending in the "Does God Exist?" video!

Austin is the winner!

Beat Uncle Bryan's fish by one inch, hence the winning smile. 

Thanks for sending this one in, Loretta.
It is fun for us to see your smiling grandson!

Wedding shower for Bryn Q. - August 25th, 2013

Melanie K. and Alison Q. teamed up together and put on a wonderful wedding shower for Bryn.

So many ladies came out to the party and even some little babies joined in at OCC.
There was plenty of good food, music, laughter and games.

The theme for the party was Egyptian or Mediterranean for Bryn's involvement and love for her friends, preschool children, and families in Cairo.

The beautiful gifts were an added blessing for the young couple, but it was mostly the getting together and fun we had that made it into such a great time.
Thank you to everyone who participated!

It was particularly nice to have the young friends of Bryn's make a real big effort to get there in time for the shower. So sorry Rachel could not make it, but she sure did help out Bryn before the wedding at Fairmont.

Melanie brought great mood music and wrote on the chalkboards in such neat print.

This was a fun but difficult game.

She is sure she is going to get married in a week!!

Hummus, pitas, crackers, sandwiches, cupcakes, and more. Yum!!

Vicki was one of the winners of a gift card on the Bingo game of gift ideas.

Lovely colours and so nicely decorated.

Adorable Rourke and his mummy.

Jodi, Ali, Bryn, Cherlee, Julie

Becky, Heidi & Tess, Melanie, Ali, Bryn with fancy ribbon hat, Jodi, Cherlee, Shannon, Caitlin, and Julie
Yay for friends!

One of the creative hat makers.

Melanie tying on the bonnet hat.

The happy bride-to-be.

Beautiful Sabbath ~ September 14th, 2013

Once again we are happy to meet for Sabbath School and church service at our little church by the pond.

It is such a special blessing to have the little pond as it adds so much to the children's Sabbath School and to the beauty of our place.

This Sabbath we were thrilled to have Edith back to lead out in the Sabbath School program.

She talked about her history and how family worshipped years ago.
We gain strength from hearing others talk about their faith and their families.

Edith asked three questions from the church service the week before and invited any one to share their answers that had thought of during the week.

Thank you, Edith, for your part in the lovely Sabbath day.

Lesson study is always an interesting time studying the Bible and sharing thoughts about the lesson.

Happy Edith sharing at Sabbath School.

The children's class is so happy to have the pond to go to some days.

Trying out their froggy faces by the pond.

Such a fun frog face for the kids to make and learn about how God made the creatures we enjoy seeing.

Our neighbour.

A beautiful Sabbath day.

Bible story about the bitter water.

Another of the children's activities from a different day.

Brightness all around.

The cups the children used for tasting the "bitter" water. Wonder if they got some "sweet" water after, too?

Down by the pond to see if they can see any turtles, frogs or dragonflies.

Carol's beautiful touch we enjoy each Sabbath morning.

Nice power point by Sylvia behind Don, who is Praise Time leader this day. It was a fun praise time with lots of good singing!

Our last Praise Time hymn... it was good to hear such enthusiastic singing.

Paul tells a very interesting children's story, but he does slip and give the punch line away too early, causing the adults to enjoy it.

Laughing at his use of the word  bear instead of animal or dog.

The special music led by Keith and Don and sung by the rest of the church folks  ~ "In Moments Like These."

Don M. reading us a letter from his cousin, Lonnie.

Options of how to follow along in your Bible.

Sharing Ten Reasons to Be Thankful.

Reason 1: Because He has blessed us. Ephesians 1:3
Reason 2: Because He has chosen us. Ephesians 1:4
Reason 3: Because He has adopted us. Ephesians 1:5
Reason 4: Because He has redeemed us. Ephesians 1:7
Reason 5: Because He forgives us. Ephesians 1:7
Reason 6: Because He lavished His grace on us. Ephesians 1:8
Reason 7: Because He has made known to us the mystery of His will. Ephesians 1:9
Reason 8: Because we all have obtained an inheritance. Ephesians 1:11
Reason 9: Because the Holy Spirit seals us. Ephesians 1:13
Reason 10: Because God guarantees our future. Ephesians 1:14

At the end of the service we joined in singing the hymn

We praise Thee, O God, for the son of Thy love
For Jesus who died and is now gone above.

Hallelujah, Thine the glory, Hallelujah amen!
Hallelujah, Thine the glory, Revive us again.

So glad to have visitors come and share the morning with us.

Happy to have happy Ruby back again. She had a nice holiday in California with her son and his wife and their daughters.

Video Wednesday: How's Your Love Life?

My mum shared this video with me, and asked if we could featured it on our blog. It's another wonderful video to share with all those who read our blog. I hope you enjoy the message, too!

Thanks, Glenda Q., for sharing this video with us!
Don't forget, if you find a great inspirational video to share, please send it to either me or my mum. Thanks!

Sabbath, August 24th, 2013

We were so thrilled to have a visitor come to share with us for our Sabbath School program time this week.

Jonathan and Debra V. brought Joel Michelwait (they are all dentists) to tell us about an orphanage in Haiti that he is involved with. Joel's enthusiasm, photos, and video all stuck a chord with us. Just think of 7. You can watch the video (a bit below) to find out what 7 means.

Thank you, Joel for sharing with us!

Joel was using a bag that the children at the orphanage made.
The ones he brought to sell were all sold already. Excellent work, I think.

We are so thankful that Jonathan and Debra Visscher brought Joel to OC Church so we could learn about Project 7!

After SS we all want to talk to Joel.

Joel shared this video with us during his Sabbath School talk.

Watch it to learn more about New Reality International's Project 7 in Haiti.

One of Carol's fine arrangements. Each week is a lovely surprise!

Jonathan and Alison sang a Selah version of "How Great Thou Art" and Bonnie played the accompaniment so beautifully.

Pictures of a mourning dove for the children to see.

Curious children want to know what surprise Beverly has for her story today.

Tiny mourning dove eggs in the nest.

Everyone loves our Pastor Bob. He pays special attention to the children and they love it.

Walter and Esther Wecker enjoyed their 61st wedding anniversary today, too.

Mauve rose for Esther and Walter.

Video Wednesday: In My Seat

I saw this video around this time last year and was touched by the story. It just popped back into my Facebook feed yesterday, and I realized it would be a good one to share on here, especially considering today's date.
It is a little longer than most of the videos I've featured, but it's definitely worth watching.

Camp Meeting 2013 at Hope, B.C.

B.C. Camp Meeting started on Friday, July 26th and went until Saturday night, August 3rd. Shawn Boonstra, Ty Gibson, James Rafferty, and Doug Batchelor were some of the speakers.
Record numbers of people came to Camp Meeting this summer. It was reported that over 8,000 people were at Camp Hope for the final weekend!

There were Health Talks and Seminars, Praise Time and time to shop at the ABC.
A Pathfinder tent museum was set up and had a lot of interesting items to view in it.
Friends and family gathered to visit, eat, and sit together at meetings.

Here are a few photos to remind you of the enjoyed time together, or if you were not able to go this time, to help you see what went on there the last few days.

Several of our church members were able to attend Hope Camp Meeting for the whole ten days this year. They sure seemed to enjoy it and thought the speakers were excellent.

Let us know what your favourite part of Camp Meeting was this year!

Pastor Justis Saint-Hillair interviewing Linda from Cranbrook.

The lady who invited her to come to the meetings.

Darian Swartz painting on black ties on Sabbath afternoon.

He enjoys this activity in the park in Vernon, and has many conversations about Jesus over the ties.

The display at the front of the main pavilion.

The quartet from CUC sang in a concert on Sabbath afternoon, and it was most enjoyable. This is Joseph Hackett.

Jay Johnson

ADRA fans were handed out and used often.

Mark Haynal, CUC president, spoke on Sabbath afternoon.

Daniel D. won a contest for Scripture Song this year, and he played and sang it on Sabbath afternoon.

We enjoyed his music on his sousaphone.

Leah playing flute along with her husband playing the violin.

So wonderful to hear them. 

Joel B and Jay J with Proclaim the CUC singing group. 

Joel with his cello. 

Joel singing with Proclaim 

It is always so nice to hear Rachel Scuka play her violin.

This was a very beautiful version of  "It is Well With My Soul."

This young man played his violin with a group from Kelowna church. The man who played the soprano saxophone
has been to Orchard City Church before and played at Sutherland Hills for our turn there.

Pastor Jim Weir and Colby Maier played and sang with the Kelowna group also.

What a treat to hear this trumpet group play.

Joel Brousson sang with the CUC group called Proclaim.

These children made a very impressive moss and twig village.

It looked like she was the leader of the moss village.

Offering buckets... I think they used to be used at the old camp grounds many year ago too. Do you think so?
They always made me think of little squares of chocolate.

Offering time

The theme for this year.

Getting ready for the baptism.

A very noticeable school tent.

One way to share.

A late Sabbath afternoon wedding took place outside the little chapel.

A Pathfinder Museum tent was set up with many interesting displays.

These two little ones were so interested and enjoyed looking at the honour patches.

This group was very interesting to hear and see. They are from the Vancouver Filipino church.

The happy newly married couple just alighted from the horse-drawn carriage.

Cherri, Shannon, and Caitlin Gerber led out in this lively children's group.

Grampa was so pleased to baptize his granddaughter.

Sure is a good thing to have Todd Schafer around just when you need him. Some of the trailers are parked pretty tightly and his forklift helped many to be able to leave their spot without their next-door neighbours having to move.

Off to the waterfalls for a little hike. (Photo by Bryn on Ali's camera.)

The falls many people take time to hike to during Camp Meeting.

The views are just wonderful all around our camp grounds.

Leaving Camp Hope. (Thanks for the last four photos, Ali.)