What a week of Hard working!
I had this whole bright idea to do videos and post daily but once we were done working down time was a rarity. So instead we have about a million photos to share with you and stories we will share in September at our Missions Celebration night!!! We (all 25 youth and leaders) were able to bless 3 families this past week and what a sweet blessing for each student and resident that was. Students were given the chance to share their lives with residents and residents were able to share their lives with us. We were so excited to have 3 children we hung out with, which made our week just that much sweeter. we spoke about the road to Emmaus, and where we are on the road this week during our morning and evening program which hit home for many. As we ended our week we were able to gift the 3 little boys with some nerf guns and school supplies just to show them how much we truly care for them! Pray for students as they have made the journey home and continue to walk the road with Jesus. Stay tuned Missions Celebration the whole Church is invited!!!! Day two complete and i think my clothEs and me (before a shower) smells worse than the unshowerEd boys we have running rampid. Dont worry The boys finally showered Late last night. We Just got back fROm a day of Acomplishments. Both of our residents have been so greatful and we have been beyond blessed!!! We were unplesantly woken up by some awful kindergarden song about its Sunday but all in all a gReat day!!!
DAY 1 IS COMPLETE!!!!
AND WHAT A DAY IT HAS BEEN. WE WOKE UP TO THE SOUNDS OF THE CIRCLE OF LIFE AND NO, I DOn't MEAN GIGGLY GIRLS that haven't tamed their hair OR THE SMELLS OF NON-SHOWERED BOYS who havent showeRed since yesterday (maybe even the day before) BUT THE SONG PLAYING OVER THE LOUD SPEAKER WITH A VOICE SAYING, "WAKEY WAKEY WORK CAMPERS, ITS TIME TO RISE AND SHINE!!!" NOT THE WORSE WAY TO WAKE BUT NOT THE MOST PLESANT AT 6:30 IN THE MORNING, BUT ALL IN ALL A WONDERFULY FIRST DAY. We aRe on the road to Roanoke, VA we should arrive by 2pm. Please keep us in your prayers as we get to serve others this weekend.
Over the last few months our students have been working hard to prepare for 2017 Missions. This is, for many, their first mission trip in youth ministries as well as mine (Danae) ever! I am beyond excited to get to spend an extended amount of time with them this summer! We are only a few weeks out and we are going to need a lot of prayer.. Students get to serve others during this time away and i can't wait to watch Jesus work in each of their hearts. The purpose of this blog is to post daily while we are on mission trips! We will share prayers, pictures, and things we are learning and EXPERIENCING during each Mission trip. Students as well as leaders will be sharing keep on the lookout for New posts!!!. Middle School Missions July 7-10th High School Missions July 16-22nd "God worked on me in a few ways during our week in Costa Rica. It started on Sunday when we attended worship at the Los Chiles church. It was an unfinished room, with plastic lawn chairs and a podium with speakers. With our group and theirs, I think there were 60 or so people in the service. Although all the singing was in spanish and the words of the pastor were choppy in translation, I have never felt people so in touch with God. They sang with all their might and you could feel the energy. It's an energy I have never felt in church.
On Tuesday, our youth woke up early, rode the bus to the village (approximately 3 hours) worked in the heat until it was time to leave, then rode the bus home (another almost 3 hours). When they were back at our hotel getting ready to eat dinner, the members of the Agua Viva Serves team invited anyone who wanted to go to come to the Catholic church. There were a number of African and some middle eastern refugees that had been there a while and they had ordered some pizzas to take over. Although many of them were exhausted and dirty, several went over to meet the refugees. And the meeting turned into a dance party. God gave them the courage, the energy and the freedom to bring joy to people they did not even know. The final way God worked on me was when we were sitting on the bus to leave Los Chiles. Fransisco, one of the members of Agua Viva Serves who was working with us asked to speak to all of us. Although there was a translator, his message came through without it. To the point of tears in his eyes, he thanked us not only for coming, but for investing ourselves in the community for the week. He told us that he, and his other team members, now considers us family. It was clear that we not only provided a physical resource (clean water) but also emotional and spiritual resources." As for what I am going to do next, I am not sure. I think God has me looking at everything through a new lens and only he knows where he is going to take me. I do know that I have been doing nothing but sharing the experience with everyone who will listen. Encouraging others to take the opportunity to partake in a mission trip, and thinking about when my next opportunity will arise. #costarica2016 This past week our high school youth and leaders were blessed with the opportunity to serve in Los Chiles, Costa Rica. In the coming weeks we are going to ask youth and leaders to tell us about how God worked on them this week and what they are going to do next. Check back soon for the first post!!! #costarica2016Have you ever seen something go viral? Maybe you saw one of those videos from a singing competition show where a candidate everyone expected to be terrible ended up being amazing. Or maybe you saw a meme with the president or the pope or Kermit the frog that was totally hilarious and you just happened to notice that it had been shared over a million times. Or it’s the GIF of the weatherman reporting from the middle of a hurricane who literally gets knocked over by the wind...again and again. Or it’s any video of cats.
Even though the word “viral” originally meant something awful, like disease, it has grown to describe anything that starts small and spreads quickly. And that’s what this series is about. Picking things in our lives, the right kinds of things, to go viral—to experience something, and then share it, and have it spread, so that before long something that started small, and maybe even started with us, can end up having a big effect on the world around us. Inside jokes are awesome, right? You probably have some with your friends where you can just say one word and have everyone laughing! Well... everyone on the “inside” that is. In fact, if you’ve ever been around a group of friends who had an inside joke, you probably learned quickly that being on the outside isn’t much fun. Has church every felt that way to you? Like it’s a bunch of people with inside jokes, language, and words you just don’t understand? Even if you grew up in church, there’s a good chance there are some words you hear, maybe even words you use, where the meaning isn’t super clear. And, some of the words most often confused are the same ones that have the greatest impact on our faith. That’s why, during this series we’re going to dive into two of the most common and most misunderstood words in our vocabulary and see how some clarity on what these words mean could lead to more clarity in how we understand our faith.
We're Teaching This
Do you have any close friends? Ones you feel completely comfortable around? Friends you can talk to for hours? If so, you’re lucky. Friends like that are awesome. But chances are you have other friends too. Maybe you grew up around each other. Maybe you work at the same job or go to the same school. It’s not that you don’t like them. They’re great. You just aren’t that close. For most of us, our relationship with God feels like it swings between those two extremes. Maybe you can remember a time, after a retreat or a church camp, when God felt super real and personal. You were BFFs. But then, somehow, things drifted in the other direction. There was distance. And, while you’re definitely not against God, you wouldn’t describe yourself as “close” anymore. We all go through times when our relationship with God seems more “far” than “near”, but what do we do about it? Why does it feel so complicated? And is there anything we can do to keep the drift from happening? Thankfully, in His word, God makes it super clear that His desire is to be close with us. And as we journey back toward Him, we may just find Him running in our direction as well. Think About This By Tim Walker As I stood at the entrance to the gym, I saw the coach walking with my teenage son, and heading straight for me. I took a deep breath and prepared for the words that would come next. “Your son did awesome today in practice. He just needs to work on his shots. When you are at home shooting, make sure he works on how he’s positioning his hand.” I nodded in agreement, as my son and I gave each other a knowing glance. We got in the car and on the drive home, I said, “that was funny. He actually thinks you and I are going to practice basketball together.” “Yeah, I know,” my son replied. It happens all the time. I have three sons and every single one of them is a good athlete—at least that’s what numerous coaches have said. I’m not athletic. At one of my son’s baseball’s games, I threw a foul ball back on to the field. It hit the first baseman. My sons are not mini versions of me—and that’s okay. As my children have grown, I have seen firsthand how God has uniquely created them to be individuals. So it’s an ongoing, ever changing challenge for me to find ways to connect with them. Here are few things I’ve learned along the way: 1. Be realistic, not frustrated. Don’t let the frustrations of their differences trip you up. Your differences give them room to grow. At some point, being around someone different from you is always a little unnerving—even if it’s your own kid, but try not to let it frustrate you. Instead, think of understanding them like putting together a puzzle—one piece at a time. and if you feel adventurous, even try something new. 2. Be a student, not a poser. You don’t have to be good at something to be interested. Let your kids teach you about what they enjoy—whether it’s cooking, sports, filmmaking or repairing cars. Only occasionally will I actually make a shot in basketball. But there is a blissfulness in ignorance, as you can learn something from your son or daughter that is completely new to you. And they’re sure to appreciate you taking an interest, even if it isn’t traditionally “your thing”. 3. Be resourceful, not guilty. Don’t feel like a failure if you can’t be everything for your kid. You were never meant to be—that’s God’s job. But even if you don’t understand how to build your own computer or can’t catch a football, you might know someone who does. An aunt or uncle, a small group leader, a grandparent, a neighbor. I had two neighbors who loved to throw a football to my boys, and my boys enjoyed it. And it was a great opportunity to widen the circle of influence for my own students. I want to be connected with my sons. I want to have a relationship with them, but that doesn’t mean that we have to enjoy all the same things. Sometimes it means we just focus on what we do have in common—like a love of pizza. But other times, it means that I intentionally look opportunities to show them that I care about the things that matter to them. Try This Chances are there are some interests and hobbies your son or daughter enjoys that completely baffle you. This week, try to take an interest in what interests them. Maybe for you that means: • Asking what musical artist they’re into and why they like them. • Going to a sporting, musical or theater event together. • Watching a TV show together that they really like. • Visiting a museum together that celebrates what they’re into and asking them to show you around. No matter how different you are, you can always value their interests by asking questions and paying attention to the things they care about. In doing so, you’re modeling the way for them to take an interest in the interests of others as well. |
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