For as long as I can remember, Christianity has been in my life...

Whether it be by going to church, potlucks, Agape Feasts, or just simply praying, I've been locked in it since birth really...

And quite frankly, I wouldn't have it any other way...

Even though life hasn't always been perfect... Church being no exception.

For those who missed my previous blogs, it's worth noting that my dad grew up Catholic, but then found his way towards the Kingdom Hall as a late teenager, before discovering the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the 90s...

And that's where I was raised.

My mom, however, hardly ever went to church as a kid.

She was apparently baptized as a baby in a Catholic or Baptist church alongside her twin sister, but that was pretty much the extent of it for her back then.

When she met my dad, they both connected over their love of entertaining, music and I'm sure their uneasy upbringings too.

Growing up in the Adventist church meant things went a little different for me compared to most Christians...

For starters, unlike most Christians, we believed that God created the world in 6 days and then rested on Saturday, making it the "Sabbath"—which basically means day of rest...

It was also the day where we'd go to church, rather than going on Sundays like most Christians do.

The Sabbath day would also start when the sun goes down on Friday evenings, and end when the sun sets on Saturday evening.

I don't remember how strict we were in regards to that routine when I was younger, but I know for a fact that we aren't super strict on it now (except my sister—she changed, especially after we got baptized together last summer).

It definitely didn't stop us from missing the occasional service or Sabbath school because of other stuff happening on Saturdays, like Santa Claus parades or other events we were set on going to.

I even remember back when I was in elementary school that we would just go to church for Sabbath school sometimes and then go straight home right after—mostly because our dad was just exhausted from how much he worked.

Our mom stopped going to church at some point after we started going because not only did she find it hard to understand but also, she was being judged by some people there telling her what she shouldn't do. Such as drinking alcohol, wearing jewelery, make up and dancing (of all things!) What makes this all even more facinating to me is that not only did I end up learning actions to the songs at the Christian summer camp our church had every summer for the kids but also, the main person who judged her would also give my sister and myself bday cards every year around our birthday and two of what would become my fav things to watch growing up in general.

Like most churches I'm sure, our church had different classrooms you were placed in based on your age... We were first in the Cradle Roll which was for toddlers and babies, from there we went to the Kindergarten class, Primary, juniors, and then youth/teens.

I remember doing a lot of singing and playing with instruments when I was in the Cradle Roll class.

Even back then, and as I moved up into Kindergarten and Primary, the teachers would tell us stories from the Bible...

As they talked, they would stick characters and pieces together on a felt board to bring the story to life... It was pretty cool.

When I was in the Kindergarten class, we did a lot of fun arts and crafts stuff alongside all the singing.

We learned about Bible stories through puppet shows, and being read to with that board where they placed felt characters from the Bible on as they taught us.

The Primary class was definitely one of the better experiences I had while growing up at the church, even though my sister and I were bullied and made fun of quite a bit during those days (and in Kindergarten too).

Because even though I had sort of made friends and had fun in Kindergarten with all the crafts and the lovely teachers we had, Primary had some other great teachers, original songs, and prizes!

My dad also started to teach sometimes or join us during our Primary classes to make sure we felt at ease there...

He also helped us study hard and do even more than we had to with the homework we got from classes during the week!

We were only expected to read and study our lessons during the week for Sabbath school on Saturday (and memorize the books of the Bible and memory verses if we wanted to get points and prizes)...

But our dad had us writing out the memory verses on paper as well.

It's impossible to remember every single detail of how everything worked in the Primary classroom...

But I do remember having to earn our Bibles on top of everything else we worked on there.

It wasn't too bad, though, because of all the cool prizes our teacher got for us to choose from if we had enough points to get them.

I recall getting Police Lego sets with my points, as well as some Lone Ranger ones, and even Hello Kitty bath sets one time too.

We also had these other things we'd sometimes add Christian stickers onto, though I forget exactly how they worked.

And if that wasn't enough, every year around our birthday, our teachers would gift us a birthday card and possibly something else too.

It always seemed like our teachers in Primary—especially the main one we had—were so thankful for how well-behaved my sister and I were...

There was the odd time as well that we would go back to the Primary class after we graduated from it to visit or just join for their Sabbath school class again...

Mostly because of how hard or different the Juniors class was...

But luckily our teacher didn't mind at all, and was always happy to see us and welcome us back in.

The last class I recall being in at the church before I left it sort of permanently—like almost ten years ago—was the Juniors class.

And while the experience there was okay, it was a huge stretch from what I was used to in the Primary class.

Juniors ended up just being so basic...

You studied during the week, went in to read the lessons, read other stuff like the missionary story, got a free Christian magazine for teens, and that was it.

We didn't get any prizes for going there.

Actually, I think I might've been in another class eventually after that for a bit—like the next age up.

There were snacks there sometimes, as well as Bible studying together, prayer time like in any of the classes, and singing hymns with a piano player, but it just wasn't the same.

I think my sister and I made like one friend, and that's really it growing up at the church...

I say that because while I do recall being friendly with a kid in the Kindergarten class, I don’t really recall their name or staying in touch.

There were a few other kids that my sister and I tried to get close with (one I still sort of am), but they were a bit younger than us—to the point where they joined the class we were in after we had already left it.

The one friend we made in the church I think they ended up moving somewhere else (or that's what I recall hearing) before we could get their contact info to keep in touch.

When we were still really young, my sister and I were part of this scouts type group at the church which used to be called "Eager Beavers" but for whatever reason is called something else now.

I don't really recall much from when we were in that club but apparently one time we went to this local park and rode a mini train with them.

My sister and I also started going to Vacation bible school at our church quite early on in our lives and that happened like for a whole week every summer from like the morning to early afternoon in the downstairs area of our church especially.

The camp would have a different theme each year but the earliest one I recall was actually a different structure and was just cooking/baking in the kitchen.

They called it, "Kids in the Kitchen" which is quite a brilliant name for it if you ask me.

At Kids in The Kitchen, I recall us making some type of sweet bread, muffins, this pizza recipe too I believe, as well as cookies perhaps.

Those were the days really.

Every other year of Vacation Bible school after that I remember it having the same idea in regards to how it worked...

The only difference was the change in themes each time and what we learned about, as well as other minor changes I'm sure.

Every year after Kids in The kitchen we were split in groups by age with leaders, singing songs and learning actions early on at camp to go with them, followed by camp skits put on by the camp sometimes, and then other stations we would go to during the camp days such as a craft section, other bible studying areas, snack and bible story, (or just snack) and the running games in the parking lot behind the church outside.

The snack at camp was pretty good at times but given the picky eaters my sister and I could be, sometimes we wouldn't like it.

I was more picky with the fruit, whereas my sister couldn't stand how the mini pizzas smelled/tasted.

However, there was quite often fresh cookies to eat too and juice (long as all the guys didn't take them all).

Some of the themes I recall experiencing growing up at Vacation Bible School (VBS) were as follows: Gold Rush, (Digging through God's word as well as earning prizes by memorizing memory verses and stuff) Kingdom Chronicles, (I remember the most from this year of camp probably due to how catchy the songs were and my interest in Disney at the time, not to mention the bouncy castle) Camp Courageous, (this one I think I found a bit weird but it was still fun) and then Ocean Commotion which I believe was the last Vacation Bible school I went to before I aged out of the camp.

I couldn't say for sure if every Adventist church had this...

But I remember growing up at the church, another one of the fun things I got to do there (besides the fun offering I got to do sometimes by going around with other kids around my age collecting money from the people in the church pews/seats, or the weekly Children's story where an adult would invite the kids on stage to listen to them and sometimes help share a story with a Christian message to it) was this thing that me and other kids would be called by the Pastor or whoever was onstage to go to just before the preaching began...

Which they called "Children's Church".

During Children's Church, we would almost always do something in regards to learning more about the Bible or something along the lines of Adventist history, but there was also the odd time where it was something different.

Such as when we would sometimes be there just watching some Bible sing-along songs.

Or, more to my enjoyment, the times I recall getting to watch really one of my most fave shows as a kid (during church of all times!).

At least I think that was when this memory happened.

And that show was The New Adventures of Madeline, for those who are curious...

I guess it's really not that surprising in nature to think that the teacher who ran the Primary Sabbath school class and Children's church played it for us, because she's from England...

I really do think maybe Children's church was put into place so that it could keep the kids engaged and out of trouble...

Though that didn't always make much of a difference.

Looking at everything I've put here so far, I think I'm gonna have to put anything else I want to say into a second part. Probably with why I left the church too and what going to other churches was like for me after being raised an Adventist. Hope you enjoyed this blog though :). I have lots of stuff I could right about in the future including like the stuff I dealt with this year.

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