Please Note: We have made every effort to put the tools in place to allow direct communication for our short-term missions teams, but please be aware that due to technology differences (especially overseas), there may be challenges in the ability to update this blog on a regular basis. Thank you for your understanding.

“Baggage Claim”

Posted: July 26th, 2009

Team Members, check your email for “baggage claim” info…

Stateside Day 8 – VBS Day 4

Posted: July 24th, 2009

Today’s lesson was “The Bible is God’s Word”.  We had several other kids accept Jesus into their hearts today! (Woo hoo!!) After the VBS we went to a local pool to swim and enjoy the diving board and awesome water slide!  Then, we raced back to the church to get ready for parent night, which was a big success.  The kids showed the songs they had learned this week to their parents, and Pastor Ben talked about what we’ve been teaching the kids.  There was a slideshow, and the parents got tours of the “Jungle Room”, “Underwater Room”, and “Surf Shack”, followed by cookies.  We were greatly encouraged by the positive responses we received from the parents, thanking us for the work we were doing.  Hopefully this event helped introduce some of them to Alameda Hills Baptist.  Another highlight was a fire truck showing up to fill the dunk tank that we got for tomorrow’s carnival.  We also made a trip to the local Super Target for loads of candy for the carnival!! We are excited about the carnival but also sad that it’s the last day. We will miss those kids sooo much!!

The following link will show you some of today’s fun times!

VBS Day 4

Stateside Day 7 – VBS Day 3!

Posted: July 22nd, 2009

Wake up call was once again at 0600. (What does the “O” stand for?? Oh MY it’s way too early!!) Chow to follow; French Toast and Scrambled eggs drowned in powdered sugar and maple syrup. The perimeter was then secured and made ready for inspection at the start of VBS and the subsequent deployment of candy craving kids.

Kurt initiated the opening rally with screaming yelling and sugary promptness at precisely 9:00AM local time. The festivities began with cup stacking tactfully executed by the male cadets. Today was a big day for our teachers.  They had the privilege of sharing how these kids could know that they would be able to spend eternity with God, because “Jesus is the Only Way”. A preliminary number showed that at least 8 kids accepted Christ as their personal savior. Praise God.

We then moved on to the closing rally where the children were to eat pudding and M&M’s with ketchup with no hands. The leaders faces were then plastered with shaving cream and flying TRIX cereal.

Lunch was a trip to the Colorado Christian University cafeteria to eat lunch which gave the VP of student life an opportunity to speak about what CCU had to offer as a university.

After lunch was a period of free time, which was spent by some at a local park while others stayed at the church to sleep, or play hide and seek. While at the park a friendly game of Ultimate Frisbee started up. Full contact Ultimate that resulted in Dave Leenstra flying more than once; the man is a human tower. Kevin, Brandon and Dave all wound up in a three-man pile up in a mad fight for the Frisbee. After the game was ended the bus was loaded up and headed back to the church. A majority of the park goers desperately needed a shower!!

Dinner was a surprise trip to Brothers BBQ, a local chain of very fine BBQ beef, pork and chicken. The restaurant had three Café racers suspended from the ceiling and a plethora of old signs, steel fans,  and license plates.

Tonight at group time we had the priviledge of hearing Barbara Doty’s testimony. From being planted the seed of truth at a VBS she attended as a youth to relying on God for strength and understanding while battling cancer. What a blessing it was to hear a Godly woman be so confident in knowing that God is in control of her life. We all prayed confidently together that God would fully remove any sign of cancer in her body and give her family the peace in knowing that we have a God that loves us and has a perfect plan for our lives.

What a great day of new beginnings and an excitement for the two days left of VBS. Tomorrow night is parent night. Please pray that as many parents come that can, and that they would be curious and excited to see what their children have been learning at VBS.

Click the link below to share in our memory’s!

VBS Day 3

Stateside Day 6 – VBS Day 2

Posted: July 22nd, 2009

Today, our wake up song wasn’t working, so Pastor Ben decided to do an old fashioned wake-up call. “Waaakeeee uuppp! Good morning, good morning, good morning!” At this time we were all thinking that we’re too tired and Ben’s a dork. The guys got up quickly while the girls had to put away their mattresses and grab their shower stuff. Kurt entertained us by singing “Tomorrow” from Annie (Don’t quit your day job, Kurt.).

Let’s fast forward to VBS. Still recovering from the storm we had last night, we quickly cleaned up to get ready for the kids. We got a few more students today and we were really excited.

As we celebrated that Jesus is God’s son, the fifth grade girls made a cheer and showed it off at the closing rally. The boys just didn’t have the guts to perform theirs. We played a couple more games led by Kurt, and we had a leader showdown. Let’s just say it wasn’t pretty.

After VBS, we all cleaned up the church again, picking up Nerds off the floor, vacuuming up shredded leaves from the storm tracked in by kids, straightening up rooms, and continuing to dry the carpet in the Second and Fifth graders’ room (which we couldn’t use today). Taking a break from cleaning, we ate a delicious meal at the sandwich bar prepared for us by the ladies of the church. Then it was back to cleaning.

Next on the schedule were our daily devotions. Ben reminded us that we had to try very hard to stay awake, because the very next thing we HAD do is TAKE A THREE HOUR NAP! Our nap time really only lasted until 4:15, and then free time started, but a lot of us stayed asleep the whole time. We were all so grateful for this time, because we had been waiting for it all week.

When Todd played the good morning song and woke us up from our nap, we headed straight to dinner to eat some yummy enchiladas. We all encouraged each other to quickly clean up our areas because we would finally get to call our parents and let them know we didn’t get struck by lightning and were all safe.

Most found their phone calls home very touching, and a little of us were feeling quite homesick. Some of the girls talked to their little siblings and missed them very much. Unfortunately, we were unable to talk on the phone forever because we had to give our phones back to the leaders and have team devotions. It was good to hear from home but we knew that we had to stay focused on what God was doing here and be faithful knowing God was handling things back home.

Today’s team devotion’s subject was that God cares about your pain. This was a crucial subject of life’s journey. There were teary eyes everywhere as Ben shared his excitement for going to Heaven and never having to shed another tear again.

As we put away our Bibles, Todd and the leaders set up a movie, popcorn and ice cream sundaes for us to enjoy as our team activity. The movie was Surf’s Up, and everyone laughed throughout the whole movie. It was nice to relax with friends, new and old, after two days of intense ministry work.

We went to bed afterwards and we happily quoted lines from the movie. Ben played the good night song and we fell fast asleep, even after the 2.5 hr naps earlier. All in all it was a very refreshing day, and we all felt very good as we tucked ourselves into bed. Tune in next time for Day 7!

Click the link below to see the fun of VBS Day 2!!

VBS Day 2

Tornado in Colorado

Posted: July 21st, 2009

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/weather/20115235/detail.html

During our night prayer/talk, at about 10 pm, thunder and lighting slightly started to begin and we continued to talk. While Pastor Ben was talking, Brian McFall and Dave Leenstra ran outside and closed all the bus windows. Not knowing this, Ben sent Kevin Doty and Brent Echols outside to close the bus windows. Kevin ran in front of Brent, straight to the bus, then realized that they already got closed. Kevin ran back and turned Brent around to get them out of harms way. Kevin got hit by multiple golf ball sized hail pellets. As the guys came back in, the thunder, lightning, and wind become stronger and louder than ever. Ben made the decision to move everyone down to the dining hall, where we found that a window got busted by the hail. Glass and debris were all over the floor. As a group of our members prayed in a circle, the leaders were trying to find a safe place for us students to stay. As we walked into the 2^nd and 5^th grade room we saw water POURING into the room, so we automatically closed the door and put a towel under the door to try to contain the water from coming into the hallway. Quickly everyone moved back upstairs to the sanctuary and sat in the pews, staying away from any windows that had the potential of breaking.

Luckily, this was the one night that we did our night talk upstairs. So we were VERY blessed to be safe upstairs were God knew we’d be safe.

We are all very thankful that nobody is injured and have the intent to continue the VBS.

So PRAISE the Lord, the we are all safe, and pray for the parents of the kids to let them come to the VBS after this storm. We love you all.

Stateside Day 5 – VBS Day 1!!

Posted: July 20th, 2009

RISE AND SHINE AND GIVE GOD THE GLORY, GLORY! We all started out our day with the loud noise of the wake-up song at 6 am, and quickly got our things together and the first wave of girls gathered their stuff and we all headed downstairs before the song ended. The first wave left for the showers, while the other girls cleaned up their bedding and stuffed all of their things into rooms. The guys (as always) got done in about 5 minutes and girls took forever as always. We quickly ate breakfast and did final touches on some decoration and lesson plans. Our Drama team (in their costumes), and many others of our students went out to the road to wave at cars excitedly. At about 9 am the Outrigger Islanders started to arrive. They checked-in and got walked into the sanctuary where beach balls were flying around and we all welcomed them hyperactively. (: We had the opening rally, full of games, and high energy activities to get the kids psyched about coming. We jumped around, from recreation time, craft time, and bible time. In craft time we made really cool key chains that represented Moses parting the waters. Today’s lesson was ‘God is Real.’ At the closing rally, a lot of the kids were more willing to dance ALMOST as crazy as the leaders. Fifth grade girls started the trend of standing on the pews, cheering on their fellow teammates. (: As the closing rally came to an end, some leaders sadly walked kids to the bus, and ran around the bus giving them high fives and dancing for the kids as they left, hoping the kids had an amazing time and would bring along their friends the next day.

As needed, we went to a laundry mat later in the afternoon. We had a little bit of a rest time there, as people relaxed, colored in amazing coloring books, and walked around to local stores around the area. Some of the stateside team members got some AWESOME free shirts from the U.S. Army recruiting center right by the laundry mat and got a picture with some of the recruiters. As we wrapped up our time there, we folded our clothes and headed to the bus to ride back to the church to eat a well-deserved dinner.  (: It was no doubt, a long, and tiring day for all of the Stateside members. But we kept in mind, this is all for God, and we want to bring as many kids to Christ as possible.

Paul LeBrun and his sunburn are doing much better, but still need prayer for full recovery as it was a HORRIBLE sunburn, and took a lot out of him. Also, prayer for the preparation of kids’ hearts is always needed, and welcome. Along with long lasting energy for all of our members, because these have been long, tiring days and our energy NEEDS to stay high for the kids. Thank you so much to all of you back home, for your prayers and thoughts. We all miss you, but are very thankful for this opportunity to share the gospel with some kids. WE ALL LOVE YOU (:

Click link below to experience the fun!

Stateside VBS Day 1

Stateside Day 4!

Posted: July 19th, 2009

Day 4

Rise and shine time at 6:30 instead of the normal 7:30! Grrrr tired, but determined to clean and get ready for church at Alameda Hills Baptist. Girls took three shifts/waves to go and take showers while the guys did it all in five minutes. The wonderful gentlemen of this glorious trip cleaned the whole kitchen area the night before while the girls had a pow-wow about keeping our things organized and encouragement.  So this morning the gracious girls allowed the wonderful gentlemen to get their breakfast first (which was really really tasty quiche thanks to the marvelous McFalls). After our fabulous breakfast the team did some final touches with cleaning the church, then had a worship session/prayer time together. Then the team headed upstairs to participate in the service at Alameda Hills Baptist. Benjamin Jacobs was able to talk to the congregation about the team and what we will be doing at their church the upcoming week. A video was shown from last year just to give the Alamedians a taste of VBS-student ministry style. Then the dancing/singing team went up front and demonstrated to the congregation the motions, and basically everyone took part in our wacky and fun dance moves. Then the pastor of the church spoke about Galatians 6:7-9 which motivated the team to keep strong and not be weary of the good work ahead of us for VBS. After the service, the team and the congregation headed downstairs to the kitchen for a potluck…mmmmm satisfying and tasty food filled our stomachs as we fellowshipped together forever amen…

…Later on during the night, a small group of the Stateside team headed out to an apartment complex and together in about one hour of surveying, they signed up 7 kids with a ton of possibly maybes. They did this while the rest of the team decorated their rooms, stage, and around the church for the VBS. Please continue to pray for the preparation of the kids’ hearts this next week as we share with them God’s love. Also-for the strength and endurance of the team, since we have been going, going, going and going since Wednesday the day we left. Also-Paul LeBrun has a major sunburn and is still recovering from the pain. Thank you for your prayers and support! We Love you all back home! =)

Stateside Day 3!

Posted: July 18th, 2009

Stateside day 2!! Water World!

Posted: July 18th, 2009

Ohh by the way, Brandon fixed the bus! Yayyy Brandon!

Happy 18th birthday Molly!!

We had so much fun at Water World. People split into groups and went on all the fun water slides, wave pools, and lazy river! Wooo!

Unfortunately, we have a handful of sunburnt people despite the fact that they put on sunscreen three times yesterday. Please pray for their rapid healing so they can accomplish what they came here to do.

Please continue praying for Derick and Mike Leenstra as their health is still not well. Mike is feeling a little better and is up and about, but still not his normal self.

We picked up Costco pizza on the way home along with a big birthday cake (: We celebrated Molly, Melissa, and Drew’s birthdays.

Team devotions went great! Thank the Lord for the wonderful time we can spend learning about him.

Getting to Colorado and the First Day!

Posted: July 16th, 2009

The trip to the airport was uneventful except for some fun bonding times. And thanks to Donna Vogel we avoided a possibly major accident. We then got to the airport where it was also uneventful.  Then we got on the airplane and two hours later we were in Colorado.  However that is where the nights troubles began.  First we got stuck on the tarmac for a half hour because another plane was in our gate.  After getting off of the plane we couldn’t find Pastor Ben and Natalie’s car seat for Madison. So we had to go all the way down to baggage claim in order to claim it. After this we waited until Pastor Ben went and found our bus and drove it to us but he couldn’t pick us up down in baggage claim because the bus was too tall. So we went up to departures so we could all load up and head over to the church.  We were all really excited but as soon as we all loaded up the bus wouldn’t start. So we got back off. And then we huddled up and prayed for only a few minutes before God answered our prayer and the bus started.  With special thanks to Brandon and Bryan McFall.  And please continue to pray for our bus because it continues to have problems. So we finally made it to the church after driving through TWO construction zones and the bus having a max speed of 50 miles/hour. (Please pray for the bus!) So after we got everything unloaded from the trailer we got to bed at 2 a.m. which made for a very long first night. 

Then at 8:30 the glorious wake up song began. We showered at a christian college right next to the church and the showers were warm which was very exciting for everyone since last year we had no warm water. We went to get on the bus to start surveying and…you guessed it…it didn’t start. But we got it in running order thankfully and then our team was dropped off at various street corners with the vbs information packets. We spent the afternoon canvasing the area where some people had very positive responses and some, on the other hand, not so much. Please continue to pray that we will have a lot of kids sign up and come next week.  When we finished surveying for the day we returned to the church and refilled our water bottles and then shortly returned to the bus to go and hang at a park. After returning from the park we ate dinner and we are all now waiting and preparing for a night of team devotions, brownies and sleep time .

If we could also have prayer for Derick who hasn’t been feeling well since we left on the trip. Also for his father, Mike, who has been in severe back pain.  And pray for Ashley’s back that it would not hinder her in all that she does. And prayer for anyone else who has not been feeling their best. 

And tomorrow we are all very excited to spend the majority of our day at a water park near here!