Friday, July 29, 2011

Wednesday, July 27

Caleb’s Blog

Hello so yesterday was awesome! I started by waking up and doing a dudes session. It was awesome. I got to clear the air with some people who I had had disagreements with and get to talk and get to know some people better. It is really cool since this is my first mission trip. I have really grown closer to the guys and girls on the trip. After the guys session we got together and prayed about what we should do for the day. We started the day off by cleaning up the kids playground. The whole playground was covered in gravel, and under all of that was a path that went around the playground. It was back breaking work but it was awesome to get done and look at our work. After that the kids put a cross on the path that we cleaned up . I also realized that worship was not all about singing – it’s about praising God. Cleaning up the playground was worship, which was awesome. J Then we started praying and me and 3 other people thought that we were feeling called to go to a park and share the word of God with people. So we got on the bus and went where ever God took us. We went to the first park and we got to pray over a family there. 2nd park nobody was there. 3rd park was awesome! We got to talk to some believers and non- believers. Then we did 2 skits (Dare You to Move by Switchfoot and Everything by Lifehouse (the one I was in)) and we got to share the word of God with some people. Then we get back to get our shower stuff. And I see an awesome face! One I haven’t seen for a few days. It was SETH CLEMONS!!!!! :D Then we went and took a shower. After a shower, we decided to hide Seth from Zac and Darryl (who rode in a different car) and we made it half way then Darryl screams “SETHHH” and jumps. Which was awesome lol! Then we ate dinner and at dinner Jordan, Olivia, Jonathan, and Nick were at worship practice. And when they came back, we had Seth hide in the prayer room and we started praying about him. And he jumps out. The look on their faces was awesome!!! Then we walked to a church nearby and went to the worship. It was really upbeat worship. Our whole church was rocking out and dancing. We ended up getting the other people at the church to dance to. I really loved the worship it was a great time to rock out and worship God at the same time. Then we got back and hung out, then we got to pray and do hi, lows. And then go to bed. Falling asleep to Seth’s stories. J

Sad that the mission trip is almost over. But I’m going to finish strong, this has been one of the most awesome 2 weeks of my life! I have grown so much more in Christ and in myself! J Love you all and hope to talk to you soon.

Love, Caleb xoxo

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Tuesday, July 26

Hey peeps, Jojo here! After I started building my hotdog, Kerstin unexpectedly asked me to make a blog about yesterday, so here I go!

The morning was really relaxing. We started out with having a free time, intended for us to spend time with God and start the day off with Him. While a group of us were worshiping, the music pastor for the church we are staying at led us in an amazing worship circle, which was really cool! After some awesome ravioli for lunch (props to Rhonda) our group headed off to a new migrant camp, where we hung out with the kids, danced, and did a puppet show. During that, Nick grabbed Darryl and I aside to go talk to a few guys that watched our skit from a distance. Nick started the conversation by asking “you guys speak English?” and immediately started sharing the gospel. It was exciting and inspiring to be a part of that! After we got back, the group worked on service projects around the church except for me, Nick, Jonathan, and Olivia. Us four were asked to be part of the youth worship band for a nearby, large church youth group. The practice was long, but lots of fun! The worship is much more professional then we’re used to, and the songs more complicated, but we’re going to do the best we can do for God, and are really excited to be playing for the youth group tonight! And…… The leaders surprised us with a Dairy Queen trip where we all chose an ice cream blizzard! Yummy. We finished our day with high/lows, and headed off to bed to sleep, eventually.

The trip has been awesome and I don’t want to leave! See you later,

-Jordan

Monday, July 25

Zac’s Blog Post

Sup kiddos! Yesterday was awesome! We got to sleep in, it was heavenly! The only problem is that Nick sleep talks a lot. I will not share with you guys what he said, but it was really funny. ;)

It was going to be a day of rest, but it really was the most emotional day of the week. Many of us got in fights, and many “snapped”. Lots of girls cried, and some guys got a little teary eyed. But by the end of the night, the leaders had a night of worship. There were tables full of crayons and paint. Many of us painted things on what God has laid on our hearts! I felt like God wanted me to paint the names of the kids that really touch my heart at the migrant camps. One girl in particular that I drew was named Laura. Laura is a 7 year old girl, her Dad hits her and her mom. It broke my heart. She really liked me, and I really liked her. Saying goodbye to her was so fricken hard! So I wrote her name on the piece of paper along with a bunch of other things. It was amazing to me to see that I could worship through painting. At the end of the night, we all took communion. It was awesome to just wipe the slate clean again with our Lord. It was awesome!

                                     Peace out!

P.S. I miss Seth!

                                     Zac  ;)

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Sunday, July 24

Hey people it’s G-Baby. Day 5 of our trip has just come to a close. So out of will (and a little by force of Kerstin) I’ve decided to blog about it. [Kerstin’s note: I would use the word request instead of force, but whatever. J ]

It is always a great treat to go to a different church and experience the way they bring praise to the Lord and share His good works.  The folks at Crossroads Church invited us to be a part of their worship team on Sunday.  I believe there were a total of 20 people on their stage which is a little bigger than ours at Adventure. Needless to say it was crowded. Worship was fantastic; we had 5 guitars, 3 drums, 2 pianos, 1 synthesizer, and about 9 singers. The best part was that they played some of the same songs that we play at our church, and that was a huge reminder of just how big God is, and proof that all churches are combined to make the body of Christ, even though we aren’t always in contact with each other.  I think at times a lot of us forget that. I know I forget all the time, but days like these in some way remind me that I am not alone, and that our church is not alone, and the mission we try to accomplish for the same God, is not one we have to accomplish alone.

After that our team did the Lifehouse Skit. As always, it was extremely heart-warming but had most people in tears. After that, Olivia shared her testimony. She had talked about what it was like to be born in a Christian family where her father built a remarkable legacy with the Lord. She continued to say that her father had died when she was in seventh grade, right when she needed him most. She talked about what it was like to seek God in the middle of her storm, and her journey with overcoming the loss of her father. Olivia’s willingness and openness to share her story to a room full of people she’d never met or talked to before was really inspiring to me. The strength and courage it takes to do that is paralleled by little else in this world. I can’t wait until I get the opportunity to share mine. I hope it hits people like Olivia’s did. To see the amount of people come up to Olivia and say that her testimony helped them understand and recover from the death of a loved one.  Like all of us, she has a remarkable back story, and a tough one. However, all of our lives and all our stories come together to stand as a testimony to the good work that the good Lord has done, and is willing to do for everyone.

 Then the worship pastor came up to speak. He talked about how his wife had a disease where her immune system would attack her eyes, and how she was slowly losing her sight. It got so bad that she couldn’t get her license renewed. He talked about how for twelve years they prayed for healing, and they asked other people for prayer, they still had the hope and faith that God would heal her. But two years ago they had given up hope, they were beginning to accept the reality that this would be something that they would have to live with. They tried one last time, and Joe, the pastor speaking, had asked some good prayer friends to pray for this tiny, expensive bottle of medicine to work. And it did. With 6 months of treatment, her eye sight had returned to the point that with glasses she would be able to drive again. It’s now been 9 months and that tiny little bottle they received 9 months ago still hasn’t run dry. He came to a point where saw that God always provide healing, but he won’t always heal what you’re asking him too. When his wife was almost blind, grocery store outings became a family event, he was the one picking up and dropping off the kids. God had used this to heal the selfishness and pride in his life. He used to heal the relationship between him and his wife, but also the relationship between them and their parents. I was reminded of my mom as I heard this story. Now that mom’s back has been healed, I wonder what God had healed in her life before he healed her back. I doubt I’ll ever understand how God works or why He works the way He does, but I do know that everything He does is for my good. For our good.

On mission trips there is usually always a day in which everybody breaks down. That was today. Everybody seemed to be either really snappy or really sad. But I love the way that Aaron put it. He said, “I don’t think people are in worse moods.  I just see people becoming more self-centered.” He was right. I remember feeling just like I deserved things, and I was wondering what God had planned for ME, and how things would affect ME. Everybody was short tempered, and things were just getting worse.

Today also happened to be Seth’s last day with us. He had to go back to work, but before he left he had called a meeting for the entire group. The last few days his quiet times had consisted of asking the Lord about each and every one of us. The last 4 hours of the night consisted of Seth telling us the things he had heard.  He told all of us something different. For some it was the power their words held, for others it was the vulnerability in which they lived their lives, and reminding them that vulnerable is not another word for weakness. For me he called me a friend - steadfast and loyal. No words could have spoken to my heart any better or clearer. Right before Seth had spoken to me I was feeling down, I had made a mistake with Bj and I was just feeling like an awful person. What he said had lifted me from that dark place. After he had spoken to me, I was grateful that Seth was a part of our team.  I imagined what the night would have been like if he wasn’t there.  As we spoke about Seth many of us were in tears, and as Seth spoke to us he was in tears. We were told about how Seth and Bj had met for the first time in a Denny’s at midnight two years ago. All the anger that was held in our hearts toward the group and toward our selves, melted into sadness. And when we let that sink in and cried out in our sadness, and in our pain, God took that moment and brought healing into all of our lives. As the healings came and the chains fell, our sadness turned to rejoicing. As our night concluded and Seth left, we just hung out and had conversations about our days, some consisted of apologies (I know a lot of mine did). Other conversations consisted of what had just happened. As bedtime approaches you can see the same exhausted but joyful face on all of us. Goodnight all sleep well. We all can’t wait to see your faces when you see how much we’ve changed. It is unfortunate that I can’t tell you all of the stories right now, but remember...

 “Good things come to those who wait”.
Adios
G-Baby