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

Sunday, July 24, 2011

Saturday, July 23

Hey everyone at home, this is Olivia! As I’m sure you’re all aware of, today is Saturday; the fourth day of our indescribable mission trip adventure...  Wow, as I was typing that I got shocked all over again at how few days it’s been, and how wonderfully long its felt. As each day goes by, I’m more than astounded at how God is growing more in each and every one of us in bigger amounts than we could ever imagine. I know I myself already feel like a new person, and we’re only half way through!

Today’s missions included not one, but TWO migrant camp visits. As BJ called it, it was our big “push”. We left at about 12:30, and physically, I was beat. Tiredness is not a helpful addition to the emotions and feelings we’re all experiencing on this trip, but the upside of that, is God is definitely bigger than all of our tiredness, and has constantly overcome it emotionally AND physically! I noticed this morning that we were all tired and grumpy, then we had our hour long quiet time in prayer and devotions, and everyone came back completely energized and joyful, more or less. As we pulled up to the first migrant camp, (we’d been there two times before) I remembered my little companions or “buddies” as I call them that I had made at this camp the two previous times I had come, and started worrying if they wouldn’t be there for me to pick up and swing around the second I got off the bus.. But, to my surprise, I jumped off the bus, and my little buddy (whose name I can’t pronounce or spell) runs out to me and says, “I missed you last night after you left!” I almost cried. I was so indescribably touched. And through that, God totally lifted me up. He knew I needed that little amount of love and cuteness to put a permanent smile on my face for the rest of the day. Then I looked around, and watched as everyone got off the bus and had similar moments with their own little buddies. I was overwhelmed at seeing the amount of Jesus-like love and compassion for these people who have so little and need so much, and our group was giving them exactly what their deepest hearts desired:  Jesus. The truth about him, and his love, intimacy, and friendship coming out through us. You can progressively watch in the pictures Kerstin took, the children’s smiles grow larger from the when we get there, to when we leave. But that’s not only the beginning to it... Today between the two camps, all together, about 23 people were lead to Christ. Can you say PRAISE GOD? Praise God! Man, how I love it here. I want to do mission work like this every single day of my life.

Backing up a little bit to the hour long quiet time I mentioned: God showed me a verse that gave me joy and peace of body and mind all day long that I would love to share with everyone in hope of spreading joy and peace in all of your hearts back home...  (Acts 2:23-28)I see that the Lord is always with me. I will not be shaken, for he is right beside me. No wonder my heart is so glad, and my tongue shouts his praises! ... My body rests in hope. Lord, you have shown me the way of life, and you will fill me with joy of your presence”. I’m pretty sure this verse speaks entirely for itself. Our Jehovah Jireh never fails. Thank you, Jesus!

So, that’s a wrap on day four.  At the moment we’re going over the schedule for tomorrow, and it’ll definitely be another crazy day. But, in spite of all the craziness and business, I can’t wait. I can already feel God has new mercies and truths to show us that’ll blow our minds away.

Love - Olivia

Friday, July 22, 2011

Friday, July 22


Jen here. This summer I decided to take a class to do my senior project. Since I really wanted to go on this mission trip I decided to do my project on missions. Problem is… now I have to get up each morning and drive from Mt. Vernon to Monroe to get to school by 8:00 a.m. The last two mornings I have struggled to get up out of bed and drive. Last night and this morning I prayed to God to help me to choose joy and be alright with this situation. I just love the creative ways he chooses to answer prayers. While driving to school this morning the sun was covered up by big purple rain clouds. As I kept driving and praying, little bits of sun started to break through and turn the clouds a soft pink color. I kept driving and the sun kept rising. Finially I could start to see the shape of the sun come through this massive dark cloud. All around my car were dark clouds and fog but the sun kept fighting to get though. I was on highway 2 getting close to home when it finally broke through the dark clouds and as it did a dove flew across the sky in front of it. It was incredible. It was like through this God was telling me that no matter how much darkness is in my life, no matter what bad situation I am put in, or no matter how hard Satan is trying to pull me away, He is always there. He is always fighting to get rid of the darkness. Just like He sent His son to take on all the dark places in my life. I just thought that was a really awesome thing He did for me today. Please keep praying for all of us, that we might choose joy and know that God is always fighting for us even in the darkest of places. 

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Thursday, July 21

Sami’s Blog Post

Yo. So today we visited the same migrant came for a second time. Moment we stepped out of the bus kids were jumping on us. I found some kids in the tall grass and decided to participate in ‘grasshopper’ catching. That was fun till the grasshoppers started pooping in my hands, so me and a couple girls who had latched on to me went and made trails and messed around etc.

Today was especially cool for me because yesterday I had met a 9 year old girl, named Esther, who was, to put it bluntly, super mean. Well, that’s not the cool part. What’s COOL is the girl found me again today and after talking and hanging out after a while, became a lot nicer. I enjoyed her niceness the most when I ran into stinging nettles and she found a fern and rubbed it on my leg for me. It doesn’t sting anymore (:  I felt God moving when I saw her emotional barrier go down and allowed me in. How amazing Jesus is.

Leaders:  2  Students: 10

Today Abbey and I volunteered to give a Bible lesson for the children about God’s love. That went pretty well considering the fact that all the kids at like 3 years and younger only spoke Spanish. Which is another neato thing, today forced me to remember my two years of Spanish. I’m thankful for it because a little 3 year old named April clung to me the whole time during which I was trying my hardest to communicate to her through Spanish. Okay so yes, the two years of brutal homework paid off.

Helping at the camps puts everything in perspective for me, and it makes me very grateful. Playing in dirt and bathrooms without TP are the usual for them, and they wear smiles on their faces everyday.

The church we’re staying at, Crossroads, was having worship practice and invited all the youth(and Seth… of course) to go sing or do whatever on stage. It was like Hillsong on steroids… or the local church choir… okay so a mix of both. It was pretty gnarly.
This church also owns a cafĂ©, yes… coffee 30 seconds away has made this trip quite heavenly. Tonight they have open mic night, and the youth… and Seth… are going to go up any second now to do ‘Appy Day reggae version. Who doesn’t love worships songs with Jamaican accents?

God has been so good. Through the ups and downs, He is victorious. Wooh! There’s been lots of bonding, snuggling, laughing and whatnot. We’re having a great time. Well, this concludes Sami’s blog, I’m gonna go buy a coffee. Much love. Peace.

Wednesday, July 20


Hey! This is Abbey writing! I am doing great personally and the team is learning a bunch! Yesterday was a real eye opener for me and I am guessing most of the team. We woke up and headed to the church we are staying at. It is in a warehouse building slightly like our mother church Cascade. We set up camp and headed to the migrant camps. I was getting excited to work with the kids and was slightly disappointed when we delayed our visit to stop and talk with a group who was joining us at the migrant camps. However, the disappointment went unfounded because I got to meet a couple of awesome Christians who have a huge heart for missions.

We finally headed to the camps and when we got there the cutest little kids were playing outside. We got out and ran to set up games and play with the kids. Most of the small kids only spoke Spanish or Mixteca (the native language of the Mexicans) so I got to use some of my very limited Spanish. I found one little girl and I fell in love with her. She wasn’t talking to anyone and she wasn’t smiling or anything. I picked her up and held her. She still had no expression, but at least she didn’t squirm.

As the day went on, I held this little girl as we listened to the worship that the group we’d met up with was leading. It was half Spanish and half English but in the words of Zac Price, “I could still worship to it.” I just held her and whispered a couple words to her in Spanish. Knowing that likely her parents had not told her she was beautiful, I decided to tell her she was. She couldn’t speak English so I told her ‘tu es bonita’. In English that is about the equivalent of ‘you she/he’s pretty.’ So I messed up that but later I fixed it. I don’t know if that helped any or if it was just that I was holding her and praying, but when I asked her how old she was and tried to guess, she nodded when I held up four fingers. I was so excited. She told me her name and then she started playing in the dirt and laughing and giggling. She was so ticklish and I think she loved it!

What really broke my heart and still breaks my heart is that this four-year-old bundle of laughter was growing up in a life where her parents are working all day and don’t have time to love on her. She is growing up in a place where the laundry is hanging on lines to dry, because guess what? They don’t have dryers. She lives in a place where even the seven-year-olds swear. Can you imagine?! I started crying because of the hopelessness and then I remembered a verse that Jordan had found. James 5:4 Look! The wages you failed to pay the workers who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. The part in bold gave me hope. I realized that God had just sent help to the kids! Then I was crying with happiness. By the end I didn’t want to leave. I wanted to turn around and go back. I am sure underneath the joy and desire to go back I was exhausted because I’d been holding and spinning and chasing kids for four hours.

In closing I have to say that I was sad that training camp was over this morning, but by the end of the day, I was grateful that the training camp was over because that was nothing in comparison with what I experienced yesterday! Even the catching up at the end of the day and sharing our highs and lows was amazing because Rhonda Hillabush’s arm was partly healed. It had been hurting and Hannah Roddy felt called to pray for it, so we prayed Korean style (we all pray at once and out loud) and by the end Rhonda’s arm felt much better. So basically God is rocking this place and it was only the first day of the mission’s trip! I am loving life and hope you guys are, too. Love you all!


Hello! This is Aron :P  So on the 20th we made our first contact with the migrants.  Both of these days we’ve been at the camp I’ve spent a considerable amount of time playing soccer.  There aren’t many kids that are above the age of 10 or so, but the kids that are were quite good.  Zac and I really hit it off with a kid named Jesus, and he was teaching us some tricks.  Anyways, moving on from soccer, I was quite impressed with how quick the kids are to trust us to the point of piggybacks, hugs, spins, and other general things that require trust.  Like, once I saw a little boy get hurt then latch onto Sam.  Also on the second day I gained the ability to tell them apart.  I’m sorry! But when I was first there all that popped out to me was that they were all short with black hair! 

General living conditions here are good, especially since us guys get to sleep on the second floor of a coffee shop next to the main church.  Our room has foosball and gutter ball, which is cool!  Also for the people who wanted to know (I know they’re all over the place) I mastered the front flip.  HIYAH! 

So in my opinion this mission trip is quite successful in being fun and in its intended purpose.  I saw lots of kids actually paying attention during the lessons.  Although I noticed that many of parents that were there were blatantly not paying attention.     I think this mission trip so far is awesome!

Tuesday, July 19

Hello! This is Suki writing! (AKA Christina) Today was our 5th and final day of training camp! We were allowed to sleep in this morning for the first time and had a slow and happy time getting ready for the day. :) During breakfast, (Oh by the way it’s Sami’s birthday today) all the boys marched in the kitchen and BJ announced that we had to follow the tradition of throwing Sami in the pool on her birthday. That announcement was followed by cheering of bystander and the screaming and pleading of Sami….. After Sami’s pleads, the boys stopped to reconsider. You see Sami was cold and tired and had just received her first cup of coffee in 5 days (big step for Sami!) so they were starting to feel bad. So in the pause I shouted “Let’s throw Zac in the pool in her place!!”  Hahahahaha! With a shocked look on his face, Zac was picked up and carried outside and with a fight he was chucked in the pool. A Price for a Price - her debt was paid. :)
Breakfast was followed by worship and quiet times and then we were off the church for another activity. We were going to the church to see the “No Hope Room” which is basically an intense interactive drama. This activity was designed to prepare us for intense situations and to learn how to deal with them.  The drama was several scenarios put together that the migrant workers could have been through. Some of the scenarios were of a woman being abused and people doing drugs and alcohol. The room was dark and smoky and there was loud metal music; there was a strobe light flashing and people screaming. It was the feeling of having all your senses being overloaded with extreme confusion and intenseness. The moment I walked in the room I was hit with an overwhelming feeling of fear, sadness, and helplessness. I imagined migrant children having to going through abuse and the horror of it. This thought killed me; to think of an innocence child being beaten for something they didn’t do or deserve.
We were sent into the room in our “family” groups and were only in there for maybe a minute, but it felt like a long time. After we left the room we joined other groups that had already been through it and talked about how felt about it. By the time the whole group was together again most of us were crying. We were allowed to go back in the room and interact with the people in the drama; each person had a moment of growth because of the experience. We all found strength and hope through it. For me, my eyes were opened and I had overwhelming compassion and mercy for people who have gone through stuff like that. I saw the boys suddenly become men and choose strength to defeat their “families”. We were all afraid of interacting with the people but the men of each family stepped up and led the way. Overall today was probably the most intense day of training camp but had the most strengthening moments for the team.

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Day 2 of mission training boot camp

Early this morning, the students awoke to leaders shouting demands that they had only 15 minutes to get their work clothes on and get on the bus.  At the end of this rainy day, the students had worked one of the hardest days of their lives in extremely wet and muddy conditions, doing the unglamorous work of clearing thousands of pounds of brush and sticks.  They were consistently working under the idea that there would only be two meals that day and that we would be working hard until nightfall for two consecutive days with only two 15 minute breaks each day.  When it came time for meals, they were told that their pay had been reduced to cover the cost of their debt, room, transportation, and tools.  What was left was a paltry sum of money to feed their entire family.  The initial joy of working as a team quickly turned less fun when a family of four only had only enough money to share a meal by splitting a bagel four ways, 3 small slices of ham between them, and a couple of apple slices each.  What made it more difficult was to be surrounded by food in abundance but not able to afford it.  After their 'last meal' of the day of maybe 200 calories per person, the idea of having to work yet another grueling day with so little food was beginning to test some of the students.

On the bus ride home, one of the students who had been through mission training before said that what was giving him hope was the idea that we leaders were simply hiding the fact that there would be a feast waiting for them when they returned home.  I challenged him to try and not break the 'game' and instead do his best to imagine himself in the circumstances of someone who had no hope of a feast waiting at the end of the day.  What would he put his hope in then?

It was past dark when the students got back home and they were pleasantly surprised to be able to take warm showers (after getting a whiff when entering the bus full of dirty, wet, sweaty students, we leaders definitely appreciated them getting showers as well.)  After cleaning up, the exhausted students gathered and could smell the feast being prepared, and rumor quickly spread among them about the upcoming dinner.  The leaders of each family were called in and they saw the amazing spread that they had been smelling – crusted chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, rolls with butter, pizza, green beans, salads, strawberry lemonade, and chocolate pastries for dessert. 

But before they could get too excited, they noticed the prices posted underneath each dish and were told how much each family had to share among themselves.  When they realized the money they had would only be enough for one slice of chicken and a small scoop of mash potatoes to share between four people, the despair of being desperately hungry and so close to a feast but not able to partake of it really hit home.  They had to go back and tell their families the unfortunate news.  For many students, they would later say that this was the lowest point of their experience. 

After reconvening and praying over the food, we then shared the good news with the group.  The entire cost of the feast had been paid for on their behalf, and that they could partake of it all for free. 

It took about 90 seconds for all the emotions of anger, relief, joy, and sheer exhaustion to be expressed by the group, but then they ate what must have tasted like one of the best meals they have ever had.

That night, I was able to share the ‘joy’ that I had watching the families struggle through these trials, because inside I secretly knew about the feast that was waiting for them at the end, even if they didn’t know it themselves.  As brothers and sisters in Christ, we have the joy of knowing that the trials we face in this life are only temporary, and that God has gone ahead to prepare a room for us.  We know the way home.  As Paul states in Romans 8:18, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”  I expressed what made me sad was seeing the conditions of the desperate people we were about to meet at the migrant camps, and not knowing whether they knew the good news, that God had prepared a feast for them and that they could eat of it for free.

Before bed, we sat around and told stories, sang songs, and laughed with pride about all the difficult trials and experiences they had gone through that day.  Many students said that during the next day of work, they would be much more suspicious of the leaders so as to not get tricked again.  They all slept well.  That is, they did until 7:30am the next morning when they were roused to the sound of banging pots and were told they had 10 minutes to get their work clothes back on and get on the bus, being docked 1 peso for each minute they were late.  While sitting on the bus just seven minutes later, looking bleary-eyed, morning-haired, and wearing their damp shoes from the day before, they were told that work had been cancelled for the day and we would be staying home for breakfast and a quiet time with God.  Ah, it’s good to be a youth leader.  :)

Leaders:  2   Youth:  0

Seth

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Migrant Mission # 2

(Written by Seth)-Please note the sarcasm

Considering it was our first attempt to illegally traffic students across the border, we feel it was pretty successful.  On Day 1, all of the students gave us most of their life savings to coyote them across the border (thank you parents!).  Unfortunately, we were caught on the first attempt and had to bribe away more of their savings.  At another crossing, we were ambushed by drug lord guerrillas and, while most got away, a few more were captured and held ransom for even more money.  In one last attempt, the students made a push to cross the border under cover of night while armed border agents with flashlights combed the woods looking for them.  Most were captured by border agents and, unfortunately, the few who made it across the border did not locate their falsified passports.  Luckily for them, corrupt agents took their remaining savings, provided them with counterfeit passports, and sold them into slavery to avoid prison and deportation.  All-in-all, a productive youth event.
Leaders:  1    Students:  0

(Written by Kelsey L.)
DAY 4- Mount Vernon mission/training

Kelsey talking! Well, to only describe today would give you a very small scope into what’s been going on these past couple days, so I’ll give you a briefish outline of the weekend!! We are currently staying at the Hillabush Sr. abode. However, Friday night we students had no idea what to expect for accommodations! The leaders started off with worship and a nice pizza dinner, then promptly divided us up into families. The families were given individual stories about their heritage and 500 pesos. Marcia Ramos was my name. My husband, Diego (Nick Del Degan), my two children, Emilio (Caleb Pang) and Dora (Caitlin Clark), and I were Mexicans trying to cross the Mexican/U.S. border in search of a better life. We paid our coyote (guide) 200 pesos to take us in a car from the church to cross the border. We took many different paths, but there was always opposition.  Finally, after Nick got captured, Caleb, Caitlin, and I, wandered through the forest to reunite with him then get our passports to finally get to the U.S.. Little did we know that we were being trafficked. The next morning we were woken up early and ordered to get on the bus and dress in grubby clothes. We worked all day, 8:30 to 6:30, clearing brush. We got one bathroom break and everything cost money--room and board, transportation, use of tools and repair of them. Food…. Oh food! By the time we’d paid for everything else, there was barely enough pesos to feed one person, much less a family of four!!! We left that day bruised, hungry, and many of us very angry… I know I was at points. However, we all had a much keener understanding of how migrant workers, illegal immigrants, labor trafficked people are treated. Luckily we came home to an amazing dinner that was absolutely FREE!!!!!!!! :D :D Though, Seth lead us on to believe that we’d have to pay….the next morning (Sunday) we were again woken up to work. We all pile on the bus to find that there was no work for us that day!!! Let’s just say, many were hacked at Seth!! We spent yesterday working through testimonies, learning specifics about our trip, and bonding as a group! Today we were woken up much nicer, though Kerstin DID pull mine and Christina’s covers off!!! :/ Most of today was spent mastering our three dramas! We are now done with them! Spiritual attacks keep hitting each of us, and we have to struggle to keep each other upright, but we’re making it!!! We’re excited for our trip and getting more prepared!! Please pray for strength as we battle through strongholds in our life and continue to try to stay at a surrendered place!! Thanks!

Migrant Mission Update # 1

Hello Everyone,
BJ here, we're excited to share a very small glimpse of the life changing events of this weekend.  My hope is that this blog helps you share in the joy of this mission and provides you with the specific prayer requests of our team.  Just a disclaimer - most of this blog will be written by severely sleep deprived leaders and teenagers and will be loaded with funny sarcasm.  I hope you enjoy. :)