Ladera Ranch WyldLife: Bigger or Better

From a penny, to a dog ramp, to a snowboard...

Bigger or Better was so much fun last night! We had about 40 kids join us at Founders and then broke up into teams of 5-8 kids and spread out through Ladera. It was such a good night on so many different levels.

Matt Wright got a new bike... he was amped!

Having the group split up into smaller groups, each with at least one leader, gave us the opportunity to get to know kids better. The team I was with were kids that I hadn't gotten the chance to hang out with a lot before this. 

We traded a chocolate Christmas tree ornament for this iPod!

We were also able to have conversations with different people in the community about what WyldLife was and what we were doing at their door. So many of the people we talked with were excited to know that something like WyldLife was happening in Ladera Ranch. Most of them were excited about finding something funny for the game.

Rolling in the golf cart

It was pretty incredible to see what some of the teams came back with! One team came back with a fully functional bike, a scooter, and a toddler bike. Another team came back with a mattress, a dog house, and a hockey stick. The 6th grade boys team were able to snag a whole case of snack-packs and a plastic candy cane that there were super excited about. The all girls team were able to somehow get a golf cart (I'm thinking it might have been a pre-made deal)! The 8th grade boys team got a really nice baseball bat, a ton of candy, and a giant lacrosse goal. My team came back with a complete snowboard and a fully functional iPod.

It was great seeing everyone have so much fun last night

On a whole, the night was blast, kids and leaders got to know each other much better, and we were able to do more work in earning the right to speak into their lives with the truth and love of Jesus. These events go so far in getting into these kids' lives. As we show them we enjoy doing fun things, and letting them do things they haven't done before, we earn their trust, and end up getting the opportunity to help them make better choices in life and share the love of Jesus with them as we go. 

The 6th graders were so psyched on this case of pudding!

Bigger & Better

Hey there! Just shooting out an update about our first Wyldlife club of the year! 

For our first club we did a game called "Bigger or Better". The object of the game is to have 5-6 Wyldlife kids team up with 2 of their awesome leaders. After creating teams each group is given $1. From there each team sets out into the neighborhood going door to door trying to find something bigger or better to trade for their dollar. One item a team found to be bigger or better was an old door!

With all this being said we do this game for a very awesome reason. Not only is it a ton of fun, but this game creates life long memories with their leaders. Stories are told for years to come. Stories of the crazy old lady with the falcon that told us to go away! Or stories of from our leaders who were students playing this very same game. The legends live on and on.

Here's a short list of the things we where able to get that were deemed bigger or better:

front door

real electric guitar

the Wii game "rock band"

a bodyboard

lobster fishing hoop net

a refrigerator dolly

trader joes bags

a surfboard

Overall the night was a blast! Students got to experience an evening filled with energy and excitement. They got to wander the neighborhood with an adult who truly cares about them and wants to share their life with them. 

Thank You for allowing us to wander the neighborhood and have these sacred moments with our Wyldlife students!!!

-Dmar