How Church Changed Our Family | Trinity Talks Podcast

Hello everyone and welcome to this week's episode

of Trinity Talks. My name is Kyla and I'm so

excited to be joined here by the Nash family,

or at least three members of the family. We're

going to talk a little bit more about your family,

a little bit more about what it's like being

a family here at Trinity and all the different

ministries and things that you've been involved

in. So thank you so much for joining me, folks.

Thank you. Maybe we'll start by doing some introductions.

Maybe we'll start over here, and you can just

give us a little introduction of who you are.

Sure. Thank you. My name is Jen Nash, and I've

been a member of Trinity. Oh, I actually don't

know, but I'm a number of years now. My kids

came through Camp Trinity, and our family started

to come here. I am in school right now. I'm in

a career transition, midlife, and enjoying being

a parent and getting more involved in my community.

Okay, awesome. Thank you. I'm Carter. I'm 12

years old. And I love playing sports. I've been

coming to Trinity, I think, all of us around

four years. Yeah. Yeah. Cool. What sports do

you like to play? I like hockey, soccer and football.

OK, very cool. So you've got like all the seasons

covered. And lacrosse. And lacrosse too. OK,

very cool. Yeah. And what about on the end here?

Hi, I'm Alexis. I am 10 years old and. I love

just hanging out with my pets at home and my

neighbors. Okay. How many pets do you have? We

have two pets. Two pets? Are they cats, dogs?

We have one dog and one cat. Okay. Very cool.

So, yeah, we want to just start by getting to

know you guys a little bit, getting to know your

family a little bit. So maybe first question

is, what's one... thing that you have learned

from somebody else in your family and this can

be something like really simple or something

like really big but what's one thing you've learned

from somebody else in your family um how to be

confident about myself and not to hide who I

am okay cool and like how how did you learn that

was that like something that somebody like taught

you or just like showed you actually my mom's

told me that all my life yeah I should be who

I want to be. And I followed that. And yeah.

Yeah. That's awesome. I'm so glad. That's such

a good lesson to learn. Yeah. What about you,

Carter? What's something somebody's taught you?

I learned how to play hockey fully from my dad.

Yeah. Okay. Yeah. So like, did you like start

that like when you were really young? Yeah. Yeah.

Okay. And he like taught you how to skate and

like how to all the different moves and that

sort of thing. Yeah. So now, do you think that

you're a better hockey player than your dad now,

or is he, like, still pretty good? I mean, my

dad can't really skate right now, so. Oh, right.

That's right, because he broke his leg, right?

So you're definitely on top right now. Okay,

okay. Yeah. Very good. Oh, yeah. What about you,

Jen? What's something you've learned from someone

in your family? Gosh, that's such a big question.

It is. I think that. My kids are my greatest

teachers, I would say, to be honest. Of course

they are. So much confidence. I love it. You

know, one of the first things that comes up for

me when I think of learning from my kids collectively

is I've learned a tremendous amount about forgiveness,

asking for forgiveness. wanted to and repair

in our you know in our relationships and such

but I think if I think individually I was sharing

a little bit earlier Carter has a really good

healthy sense of competition and I've learned

a lot about competition from him and okay tenacity

and giving things your all he's always been I

remember when he was a first in sports and sport

ball where it was like introduction to everything

and he would go he gave it a lot of energy right

And Alexis is so patient and kind and compassionate.

And I see her with children and people. And I

learn a lot from her about how to be patient

and kind with people. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's

so cool that like often we think that like parents

are there to like teach their kids things. Right.

But like you're also teaching your mom stuff.

Oh, yeah. That's super cool. Learning every day.

Yeah. Okay, so then what is one thing about you

that's, like, similar to someone else in your

family? Or is there, like, yeah, is there, like,

a family trait that you're like, ah, we're all

like this, or, like, I'm like somebody else?

No. What do you think, Jen? I think we all love

a good laugh in our family. We have a little

saying where it's like, no fun allowed in this

family. And it just creates a lot of fun. And

we all love to laugh. That's something we all

enjoy. We like to create space to make light

of life with each other. That's one way we're

similar. That's a really good trait to have,

for sure. Yeah. What about you guys? What are

some ways that you think you're similar to other

people in your family? I think, like, compared

to everyone else in my household, I think we

all have kind of the same strive to do the best

we can, if not better. Sure. Okay. Yeah. Just

be like, okay, we're always going to give it

our best. We're always going to do it. Yeah,

that's an awesome quality to have. Yeah. What

do you think, Alexis? Probably that we all have...

Sometimes we all have a lot of energy and we

all just love being outside. Okay. doing all

kinds of stuff okay cool so you guys sound like

a really like go go go kind of people oh yeah

we do balance with resting like sunday mornings

we come to 11 15 because we sleep in right yeah

yeah yeah oh we do we do yeah you guys had enough

rest too we try and balance for sure for sure

see they're still sleepy right now before 11

15 yes there you go yeah Okay, so what's one

thing that is, like, different? What's one thing

about you that's, like, unique from other people

in your family? Um... A thought? Yeah, what do

you think? Probably how I always, outside my

house, running around the neighborhood. Okay.

Playing with all my friends. Because, well...

Yeah. You're like a very social person. Yeah,

I have a lot of friends in my neighborhood who

I love to play with. That's awesome. Yeah. Yeah,

it's great. Unfortunately, it's all girls, so

Carter doesn't have the same kids in our community.

So actually, it's one boy in our community. He's

two years old. He's two years old? No, he's not.

There's another boy who is about in seventh grade.

Ah, so a little bit older. Okay. Anyway, so there's

maybe a couple boys around, but lots of girls,

lots of people for you to get to know and to

play with. Yeah, that's awesome. What about for

you, Carter? What's one thing that you think

is unique about you? I really like messing with

my pets. You're, like, messing with your pets.

Okay, so Alexis cuddles them, and you play jokes

on them? Okay, so, like, what do you do to play

jokes on your pets? I'll, like, pretend I'm going

to throw my dog a ball, and I'll, like, put it

behind my back and watch her kind of get confused.

Right, yeah. You also, like, make videos of them

with weird, like, little music clips and such.

I've attempted at making and editing videos before.

Okay. but it's like fun that like they're both

funny enough that it works out sure yeah okay

that's that's cool that's fun like you just like

that so like the sense that i'm getting is that

like you're maybe a little more goofy yeah yeah

you're like the fun funny guy yeah very cool

yeah he is Yeah, what about you? What's one thing

that's unique about you? They say that I sometimes

don't have a sense of humor. Mom, take a joke.

You take a joke, Mom. I don't get the sarcasm.

I often say, I guess one thing that makes me

unique from everyone is I embrace my... my inner

weirdness, like inner uniqueness. And I guess

that's many times where I say to them, be who

you are, find your weird, find your uniqueness

and let it shine. So I guess that's something

I'll own. Yeah, that's awesome. That's such a

good thing to own, I think. Just noticing I am

unique in many ways. And that is wonderful. That

just makes me who I am. Right. And like, I think

it's a testament to like what Alexis said before,

you know, like being really confident. Like if

your mom is confident, then she like helps you

to feel more confident. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Okay.

So. As you said, you guys have been around the

church for a few years, and I think Jen said

you started at Camp Trinity, right? Yes. Yeah,

so you both went to Camp Trinity? Yeah. Okay,

so what was that like? What did you do at Camp

Trinity? Well, I want to say it was actually

pretty good, except for last year when I stepped

on a bee. Oh, yeah, that's probably less good.

But it was always just like... I loved it there.

Everyone was inclusive. The leaders were just

so kind to everyone. I just loved hanging out

there. Yeah? Okay. Okay. What about you? Like,

what did you like about Camp Trinity? I liked

how much freedom they gave us. Sure. But, like,

within boundaries, but kind of made us feel like

we're here to have fun. But they trust us enough

that, like, they we can do what we want as long

as it's allowed right yeah yeah so you like get

to you get to choose some of the different activities

that you want to do right and also just everyone

was like welcoming and kind and stuff and that's

a big part of it yeah for sure for sure so did

you guys have like a favorite activity from camp

free time free time okay and what did you usually

do during your free time gecko ball gaga ball

okay cool cool so do you want to there might

be some people who don't know what gaga ball

is so do you want to like explain it a little

bit so there's a big fenced in um area with like

a wooden foldable fence and there's a dirt or

sand pit um and basically you go into it and

um your goal is to hit the ball at everyone else's

legs okay and just be the last one standing okay

and That's about it. You can't, like, hold it

and throw it. You have to, like, hit it like

this. Okay, so you, like, hit it, like, with

your fist. Yeah. Okay, so, like, roll the ball

around and you're trying to hit everybody else,

but, like, not get hit yourself. Okay. Okay,

very cool. This sounds very intense. Because

it's not a very big area, right? Yeah. Carter

likes intensity. Okay, that's good. What about

you, Alexis? What was your favorite thing to

do at camp? Also, Gagaball and probably Water

Day, putting on the slide and putting shaving

cream over all the needles. Yeah, yeah. Okay,

that sounds like fun. Just like for funsies,

you're just like, here, spray you all with shaving

cream. Kind of. Kind of, yeah, okay. That sounds

cool. And I love that they get to go to camp

in the summer and have these great experiences.

Yeah. And it gives us some time, too, to rest

as parents and such while they enjoy camp. Yeah.

For sure. For sure. Yeah. What about, like, are

there things that you, like, learned at camp

that, like, you remember or you think, like,

that was really cool? Maybe you, like, learned

to do something or you, like, learned a new story.

I actually learned how to do this cool. I forgot.

It's like a... It's kind of like a bracelet.

Okay. You take it and then you have two strings,

two strings, two strings, and then you make a

braid out of it. Okay, yeah. And then you can

just turn it into a bracelet. Oh, that's very

cool. Yeah. I learned a lot of stuff, actually.

Yeah? I think the best thing I learned is I learned

how to paddle a board. Oh, that sounds very cool.

Yeah. Yeah. Okay. And were you, like, the stand

-up paddleboard, or you were, like, sitting on

it? I stood up. Wow. I don't know that I could

do that very well. You have a lot of balance.

The first time I did that, last year, the year

before, I tried standing up, but I was with Austin

on the boat. Okay. He kind of... tipped me over

into the water. How rude. Silly Austin. I think

she enjoyed it. Yes, I'm sure. The water is nice

and cool. The sun is nice and hot. I think it

worked out okay. Yeah. Okay. What about some

other things that you've done here at the church?

I know Carter, you've been part of youth group

and Alexis, you've been part of kids church.

Like what have been some of your favorite parts

of doing those pieces? Probably how I always

get to help out Megan sometimes. Yeah. and just

being serious with other kids who are my age.

Yeah, so you get to, like, meet other kids, which

we've already sort of said, you know, you're

really social and really good at that. But then,

like, you also get to, like, help out, right,

and take some, like, leadership. That's super

cool. Yeah. What about you, Carter? What do you

like about youth group? Again, like, kind of

how it's a way to, like, just connect with other

people you might not always get to see outside

of, like, school or a different community. Yeah.

And, like, just the way they kind of make you

feel welcome and, like, how to meet new people.

And then, obviously, like, all the events and

stuff. Like, I think this year we went to Activate.

Couple other places than the big youth retreat.

Yeah, it's all fun. Yeah. Yeah. So you were on

the youth retreat last weekend, right? Yeah.

Yeah. Was there like one highlight for you? Like

a really cool part? Archery tag was really fun.

Archery tag. Okay. So I assume you weren't actually

shooting people with arrows. No, we were. You

were. Okay. Were they sharp, pointy arrows? No,

they had like something on the end of it. Oh,

okay. Okay. So listen, just like... You mean

suction cones? No. A little bit different. Okay.

Interesting. That sounds really fun, actually.

Yeah. Very cool. Yeah. And are there any ways

that like... being part of trinity at camp or

youth group or kids church like have helped you

to learn more things about jesus or like did

like have a better relationship with jesus uh

yeah i think while the leaders try to keep it

like as fun as possible and keep the kids into

it they still find good ways to enter integrate

like lessons about god or jesus into it so you

still learn a lot about your faith while also

having fun with it. Okay. Very cool. Yeah. What

about you, Alexis? What do you think? Are there

ways you've learned things about Jesus? Probably

all the times in camp where they've made us listen

to stories and they'll go back and talk about

it. It's actually teached me a lot. Yeah, for

sure. Yeah, and I know, like, maybe, no, just

earlier this year, I think, right? You got baptized?

Actually, last year. Last year? Okay. Yeah, I

couldn't quite remember. Yeah. This year, I got

confirmed. This year, you got confirmed. Last

year, you got baptized. Right. Okay. Yeah, yeah,

yeah. Yeah, and so, like, that, how do you think

that, like, being part of Kids Church helped

you to, like, make that decision? probably just

learning about how Jesus protects all the kids

and how he helps people through it so I just

felt like I want to do that yeah yeah I know

that's awesome for sure yeah and Jen when you

think about like this church family and your

family like how have you seen these two things

interact like how has Trinity sort of helped

your family if I think back to Life before Camp

Trinity, when my kids first came, I had a longing.

I knew that there was a sense of community that

my family was, I was looking for, that I wanted

to have to bring, welcome my family into. For

me, Camp Trinity was a gateway when Alexis and

Carter came home and they told us about Family

Week. Actually, it was just me who said that.

Yeah, it was you. You were like, we need to go

to Camp Sunday. And so in we came, and I'll never

forget the first sermon was so meaningful. Rob

has a way of delivering sermons from my perspective

and just divine timing for when I need them in

life. And that first sermon gave my husband,

Colin, and I a lot of interesting, topics for

conversation and that was a such an enjoyable

opening experience that had us start coming and

more frequently now we also balance with hockey

sundays during certain seasons of the year but

uh we've now i think as carter said it was probably

about four years ago and now all of the ministries

and the the opportunity to be involved in community

to contribute to give and receive yeah within

trinity and the the the way in which that our

family has felt so welcomed here there's a fullness

now that if i think four years ago there was

a longing that yeah i don't have that same sense

so yeah a lot of gratitude for sure yeah part

of the trinity community yeah and like getting

to meet new people and being part of Like your

family is sort of part of a bigger family, right?

We've contributed. I've brought the, we've contributed

to the meals, the community meals and cleaning

up. And this, the end of May, Carter and I are

going to serve at the community meal as well.

well you have taekwondo so you'll join us after

Alexis she's saying what about me mom and as

well I'm meeting with Sally today I'll do some

more welcoming of people to give back the way

I felt welcome when I came and yeah and the women's

ministry just different ways that we've had touch

bases that I've really enjoyed and Alpha how

could I forget Alpha Alpha program too it was

incredible yeah yeah so Like, what are some ways,

so mom was just saying, you know, that you guys

have been involved in, like, confining meals,

and I know, Carter, you've done some help on,

like, the media team and stuff like that, too.

So, like, what do you guys like about, you know,

like, volunteering or serving with the church

family? I guess it's just how it kind of brings

us even closer to the community here. Sure. And

how we can give back for, to and for all the

people who have been kind and welcoming to us.

Sure. Yeah. Yeah. That's beautiful. Yeah. What

would you say, Alexis? Like, yeah. Probably the

same thing that Carter said. Also to bring to

know people in the community and to bring us

closer to and meet new people that we can just

know more about. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. yeah

there's like i i love this sense that i'm sort

of getting from you guys that you're like very

people people right you you want to like help

people and serve people and get to know people

and that's that's awesome um yeah are there things

that like you've sort of learned as you've been

doing some of that work like when you were doing

like media stuff did you like learn how to do

something yeah cool um i learned how to switch

camera angles with um like um it was like a soundboard

but it didn't um it didn't use sounds yeah it

just had these buttons during like the songs

we could like go to like the piano the singers

um the drums um guitar bass um and we get like

all different angles we can ask the people actually

recording to zoom in and zoom out But yeah. That's

very cool. Yeah. There was a lot of gratitude

to Alex for welcoming Carter into that. Carter,

what was the, come on, just share with us what

we said at home. No fun allowed. What was the

title we called you when you got that first job?

Come on. Assistant to the assistant? AV manager?

What was it? Something like that. We had a lot

of fun. But Carter really, so Alex, thank you

for that. Yeah. Yeah. And if he's not done, he'll

be back from the red shirt. I want to call him

Little A .V. Okay. Because he was younger doing

the A .V., so I want to call him that. Little

A .V., yeah. That's a good nickname, too. Yeah.

So what do you think about, like, you all get

to come to church together on a Sunday morning?

Like, do you think that there's something special

about that or something that you really like

about that? Yes. yeah so throughout most of the

year um like october through around april um

we don't usually get to come as a family because

um my hockey team operates practices from like

8 30 or 9 30 a .m they're like to 10 30 and then

getting undressed until around 11 yeah right

so we don't get to make it a lot but the odd

time out we do um and like all four of us come

it's just different like i can there's i can

feel there's something different there okay yeah

yeah yeah what were you gonna say alexis probably

just kind of coming here with my family means

a lot to me And just to see them all happy being

here and just learning about Jesus. Yeah, yeah,

yeah. It's that chance where you all get to do

something together, right? And that's really

cool. What would you sort of add to that? Yeah,

so it just warms my heart to hear my kids say

that they can feel it's something different when

the four of us are doing something together.

They both have their own unique activities. My

husband and I have our own things. Carter and

Colin share hockey. But we move in these patterns,

whereas Trinity, then Sunday mornings when we

do come all together, it is this connective space

where we reflect on how we want to be for the

week. And, you know, it gives us a grounding

that we all hear and take in. you know, messages

of contemplation for how we show up and work

through the week ahead. It also gives us topics

of conversation, too, that it's like little stimuli

throughout the week that I appreciate a lot.

Yeah, it definitely has brought our family closer

together, and we value our time with Trinity

here a lot. Yeah, for sure. Okay, so then when

you think about your faith, and we talked about,

you know, like learning about Jesus from being

part of the church family, but are there ways

that you think your family, your parents or your

brother or sister have also helped you to learn

something about Jesus? Yeah, I think when we

first started coming to Trinity, like I didn't

really get it. And I was also really young, so

it was hard. to, like, kind of make me understand.

But I think my mom, in particular, kind of, like,

pushed me in the right way and, like, made the

effort to show me some stuff. And now I can,

like, I've learned a lot. Yeah, for sure. Is

there, like, one certain thing that sort of stands

out to you? Yeah, just I think I wouldn't have

agreed to be here right now if it wasn't for

her showing me, like, the reason to be in this

community i think the way it's so like open and

friendly puts a whole nother thing on dude except

just being in church sure yeah yeah yeah and

then like now hopefully you like at least like

it a little bit yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah so like

maybe at first it was like ah i'm going because

mom says i need to but now maybe you're like

oh actually this is kind of fun now it's more

of a want to relieve and hurry up mom right there

you go flipping the tables there yeah yeah what

about for you alexis like how would you say your

family's helped you learn about jesus For me,

my mom also teaching us that Jesus saves us kind

of and telling us all the stories that she's

had as a little kid growing up with Jesus. Yeah.

Yeah, for sure. So she's able to like, yeah,

you don't just learn about Jesus like in the

stories at kids church. You also get to hear

stories from your mom. Yeah. Yeah, that's really

cool. Yeah. What about for you? How have you?

Well, my faith journey, my kids speak about that.

Yeah, I had a faith journey early in life and

then it really was Camp Trinity and my children's

experience. As I said, they're the greatest teachers

that brought me back to to Jesus and live like

Jesus, love like Jesus and lead others to Jesus

became a way in which I kind of held that within

myself and within my family. And I've also had,

here at Trinity, we've had other extended family

members join us for Alexis' baptism and at other

occasions. And during our grief, I've used the

prayer channel recently. And we've had a family

member who's passed away. We've had some other

circumstances. 2026 has been a tough year for

our family. Sure. And I've noticed I've... put

out for for others in trinity to pray with me

and being in community versus alone during some

of these times has really meant a lot and to

receive the messages back from from people here

yeah to be seen and witnessed and held during

these times has really meant a lot yeah yeah

so a lot of gratitude for for sure that too yeah

yeah i think it's so cool to sort of see all

of you as A family within a family, as I said

before, you know? Yeah. I just want to point

out with a family member passing away, my mom's

been really brave about this, and it's just,

I know it's hard on her right now because it

was her brother who sadly passed. She's been

really good, really brave, and she's been handling

this very well now, and I just want to point

out how. It's good to do it. Yeah, you have a

really good mom. I do. I think I've learned a

lot about. through Jesus, through my faith. And

with my faith, that's been a rock right now for

this time. So yeah, I've learned a lot. Well,

thank you so much, folks. Like I said, it's been

really fun to sort of hear more about you, learn

more about your family, but then also how, yeah,

you're this family within a family. You get to

be part of this whole community of people that

all love and support one another. And we all

grow in Jesus together. So thank you for sharing

with me today. Thank you. And thank you for tuning

in. into this week's episode of Trinity Talks.

Whatever family situation you find yourself in,

whether you are a single person or part of a

large family or a small family, I pray that you

are able to find yourself within the family of

God and find a community where you can also really

be blessed and be a blessing to others. And we

will see you again next week.