Sheri Snyder, Para-Chaplain
Pacific Youth Correctional Ministries
331 The City Drive South
Orange, CA 92868
714-935-6365
isaiah5812@sbcglobal.net
www.sheri.pycm.org
Financial Support:
Pacific Youth Correctional Ministries (Acct 028)
P.O. Box 8333
San Bernardino, CA 92412
Seed Planter:
July 2011
Bible Study Changes
Monday – Girls Unit Q closed in March. The girls were moved to Unit O where I first
ministered to them back in 1999. In Unit O we had to conduct Bible study in the
hallway with rooms on each side which was interesting. We had several girls listen
to the study from inside their rooms and request we slide the study handouts under
their doors afterward☺. In June, the girls were moved again to re-opened Unit R.
Adjoining Unit S was also re-opened and currently has boys or girls depending on
the population. This now means on a week-by-week basis that Greg and I must be
ready to combine or split the study based on what is going on in the units and how
many youth have signed up. I thank the Lord for a flexible partner☺.
Tuesday – Patti moved to Tuesday nights allowing us to have a team assigned to
each unit. Rob and I are in Unit Y, and Gerry and Patti in Unit Z. Rob has a tremendous
heart for the youth, also serving with Lives Worth Saving gang intervention.
Wednesday – After 12 years of being on our own, Chaplain Rick and I were joined
by new team member Gina in June. Gina is a gifted Bible study teacher having ministered
for 8 years to the women at the Musick jail facility. We have an ongoing need for
Bible study leaders, disciplers, and mentors. Please help spread the word and refer those
who are interested to my website. Our final orientation for 2011 will be on Monday
evening, October 17th.
High School Graduation
Throughout the year, the probation facilities host graduation ceremonies for
students completing requirements for their high school diploma. The recent May
19th graduation at Juvenile Hall was particularly special as Paula received her
diploma. Paula first trusted in Christ at Juvenile Hall and has been a faith-filled
attendee at Bible studies and church services, encouraging others to attend with
her. Paula was radiant! She gave an amazing graduation speech thanking her teachers,
probation staff, ministry staff and volunteers, and others. She encouraged her fellow
graduates in regard to their accomplishments and future goals. She was most definitely
valedictorian of her class☺. At the end of the ceremony, the students give a bouquet
of flowers to the person who has most impacted them. Paula bestowed her gift on
volunteer Kitt who discipled Paula and remains steadfast alongside her. The Lord
definitely showered His love and grace on our dear one.Paula has been at Juvenile
Hall for a long time awaiting resolution to her case. For many youth, this would
have meant outbursts of anger, mental breakdowns, etc. While there have been
times of testing and anxiety, Paula has maintained an overall positive attitude,
maturing as a young woman, and growing spiritually as a daughter of the King.
Please pray as Paula will go to court again this month. Pray for God’s peace and
Paula to know and trust the outcome is in God’s hands.
Lives Worth Saving Statistician
For the past 18 months, I’ve been the conduit for contact information from the
teams working gang intervention on the streets of Santa Ana. I take the detailed
data and summarize it in such a way that we can see overall impact and look for
trends. In June, I began doing this same thing for the new effort to address sex
trafficking of minors in Orange County. Pray for the teams who continue to work
on the streets with at-risk and gang-involved youth. And for the new teams who
are investigating possible incidents of minor sex trafficking. For more information,
check out www.sidebysidechurch.com.
Anaheim Harvest Crusade
Friday evening, August 12th, I will attend the Harvest Crusade with a van load
of youth from YGC. Pray for our time together, and for Chaplain Rick who coordinates
this field trip along with several more from the other facilities.
YGC Summer Girls Event
On August 20th, we will host our 10th annual event. This year’s theme is God
Made You Special based on Psalm 139. We will once again have the girls transform
plain composition notebooks into beautiful journals using scrapbooking materials.
Pray for my awesome team of ladies. I am so blessed that the Lord surrounds me
with sisters in Christ who are gifted in the many areas I am not. Pray the Lord
will prepare the hearts of our girls to receive all of the Love and Hope that He
has for them. At our Spring event, we had one girl Angel walk out… the battle
was on! Angel attended church the next morning and shortly thereafter prayed
to receive Christ. She continued to attend church and Bible study, and received
intense discipleship from the leaders of our mentoring program Jan and Marilyn.
Angel was recently transferred to LA county for placement. Please pray God will
continue to surround her with Christians. I know the enemy is at work because
as I searched the internet for clipart for the event, my computer was infected
with a nasty virus that “hid” my entire C-drive, gave me bogus hard drive failure
error messages, and corrupted the pathways to my programs. Thankfully, I had
backed up my files that morning, and the Lord provided an awesome computer-tech
guy Rob who rebuilt my operating system. If you ever need computer repair or
maintenance, Rob’s your guy☺. Let me know and I’ll put you in contact. As I
drove over to Rob’s to drop off the computer, I was amazed and oh so grateful the
Lord had given me His supernatural peace about the whole thing.
YGC Girl’s Movie Nights
Magdalena – May 5th – The unit coordinator set up the movie using the projector
and a big screen consisting of white sheets hanging on one of the walls. Worked
great! We started with 14 girls but soon the remaining 6 arrived. They were in a
program but said they finished as fast as possible so as not to miss the movie☺.
The girls enjoyed seeing how Jesus interacted with the women of his time and
how they responded. They were really impacted by his arrest, beating, and
crucifixion because they were able to see the contrast of how Jesus treated
others vs. how he was treated. It reminded me of the saying, “One picture is
worth a 1000 words.” For our youth to read the words of the Bible is one thing,
but to see the words of the Bible is an entirely different matter. After the movie,
we had a discussion time. Sara said she thought they all could relate to Mary
Magdalene because although not demon-possessed they have all experienced
the possession of drug addiction and other sinful behaviors. Angel shared how
Jesus has impacted her life. She was learning to find comfort and truth in His
Word. And she looked up 1 Corinthians 13 to understand what true love is. God
is at work… thank you for praying! Our next movie, The Last Sin Eater will be
shown on July 28th. The movie is based on the novel written by Francine Rivers,
and brings to light issues of loss, grief, and forgiveness. Please ask the Lord to
prepare the hearts of the girls to receive healing and forgiveness. Many have been
through so much. They’ve sinned and been sinned against, and find it difficult to
forgive and be forgiven. Praising God for YGC staff who are wonderfully supportive
of this new activity.
Stay in Touch!
Much more goes on throughout the year that won’t fit into these newsletters.
To stay in touch, please check out my website which I update monthly with my
prayer letter, our in-house youth newsletter, and current ministry happenings.
www.sheri.pycm.org
Serving to fulfill His Great Commission, Sheri
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