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Thursday, June 18

10:10 pm.  Bob and Marilyn

This has been an awesome week.  We have seen so much spiritual growth in the students.  You should be so proud of how they have stepped up and worked, ministered, played and self-evaluated their lives.   They are amazing -- the weather is terribly hot (105), very humid, and quite uncomfortable, yet we have heard ALMOST no complaints (hee hee).  They have had close sleeping quarters, and yet we have been comfortable.  We have 1 ladies bathroom for 28 ladies, yet we make it work!  Where ever we go, people notice our students and give us incredibly positive feedback.  Today at the French Quarter, a lady said "you must be a group on a mission trip.  I can just see it!"  Now we think it's awesome--your students are recognized by their behavior that they represent Jesus Christ!   

It's been very exciting talking the the residents in New Orleans about their lives for the past 4 1/2 years since Katrina.  They have incredible survival stories and stories about rebuilding their lives.  Many Christians we've talked to are hopeful about their future and encouraged by groups such as ours who are still willing to come and help.  Be assured that God is at work in New Orleans and we have had the privilege to be a small part of it. 

9:45pm.  Blair

Today we were asked to pray and listen to God to try and figure out what we should do for the day as our ministry. I'm not sure if it was originally meant as a faith exercise or if the team leaders forgot to plan for Friday.  If you read Rachel's blog, this is the ATL that she referred to. We all split up and spent about 15 minutes praying to God about direction for the day. Throughout praying, I kept thinking about music. Eventually I felt as though there might be something to that, so I kept on tht train of thought and came up with the idea of playing on the streets of New Orleans as street musicians. I suggested this to the team and our team of guitarists and vocalists left for the French Quarter, the tourist trap of New Orleans. We went to a street outside some shops and started playing through sets of music that had been originally dedicated for either playing for the team or playing for children for ministry purposes. We attracted some attention while we were there. A policeman passed us by, smiled, and resumed patrolling the streets. After a while, a lady came up and talked to Marilyn Mack. We learned that she lived in another state but often visited New Orleans, and she had never seen Christian singers in a place such as the French Quarter. She told us that she was very impressed and she was going to return to her home church and talk to her pstor about us. Some time after that, we packed up and left.

One of the main ideas I took with me today is the power of prayer in regard to direction. If I hadn't sat down and prayed for a while, I wouldn't have thought of playing as street musicians. I don't know the effect of what we did, but I know that it was part of God's plan for the team.

Wednesday, June 17

10:10pmng
Rachel Watts
Wow. Today has been a really cool day. Equipo dos finally got to work at the job site. :D It was awesome. We scraped and I think we finally finished scraping the house and most of us started priming it. Unfortunately we didn't get to finish the house and we won't get to go back. Tomorrow we are doing something called an ATL. No clue what that is but we will find out in the morning. Then this evening we had our cook-out. That went quite well. We had quite a few people show up and they were all affected by the Lifehouse skit. I was totally touched by their reactions. During the point when Jesus comes in and holds them off they started cheering and clapping, I just wanted to cry and was so grateful. There were a lot of kids there. They have nothing else to do so they love it when people come in and do stuff like this. So at the end a little girl came up to me, she couldn’t' have been more than 12 years old, and she asked me why my shirt was torn off when they are fighting me back. So I had amazing opportunity to share the gospel in a little way. I was completely blown away and glad. Even though it's sad that they understand and see that stuff every day it was awesome that they got it. They understood the point and everything that came with it.
After a while we started a dance circle with the djembe and while we were all dancing and making complete fools of ourselves a little boy named Tigger {idk it's what he said} told me to tell another girl about my skit. I didn’t' realize that she hadn't been there to see it, So I asked her if she remembered seeing different people and when she shook her head no I realized it; so I explained it to her. I also took it upon myself to explain it all to her as well. So she got the explanation of the symbolism as well as parts of my own personal story. It was one of the coolest experiences of my life.
Overall this week I have learned to listen as well as to pray continually. The concept of praying continually takes on a whole new meaning with listening prayer. It's a really weird part of faith that i've never been very open to, much less realize what exactly it is. And my random comment for today; I freaking love music!!!!!!!! Yeah!. So smile y'all cause it's healthy.

10:30 p.m.
Myra Franzone
Today we woke up and went to a work site, my group started on a prayer walk. We prayed for which way we should go and when we started walking and we walked by these beautiful flowers and Reggie looked at them and said I need to kiss my wife and he ran back to the house. For some reason I thought he wouldn't be coming back and soon enough Lauren comes running saying Reggie sliced his finger open we have to go back he is going to the E.R. We soon found out that there was a lot of work to do at the house and we think it was God’s way of getting more of us to work on the house. A couple hours later we were told Reggie had to get his finger amputated. It was a lie he is actually fine he just needed eleven stitches. Later when Reggie got back he took us on a prayer walk and it was really cool because we walked by this house and it got put on my heart that we really needed to pray for this house we saw, one second later Matt said I think we need to pray for this house. It was just really nice to have conformation that it really was the Holy Spirit speaking to me. Today was a great day and a lot of people in our group grew closer to god. And we were able to make a lasting impact on the community.

10:45 P.M. Susie Han-
Hi mom and dad. It's probably you guys because I don’t' think anybody really cares about my blog except you guys if you even do care... ANYWHO, today was a tough day. Not just physical but emotional. We spent the morning making lunches, organizing and cleaning a thrift shop, then organizing food donated in a warehouse to put into the thrift shop. It doesn't seem like much but it get5s so exhausting when it's 95-105 degrees F outside and hotter inside a humid warehouse. It took a lot to finally bring myself to give all my heart into the work just like everybody else was doing and keep myself from complaining. Just like every other day of hard work, it was definitely worth it in the end. Although that was not the end of my day. We had a community cookout at a park nearby and it was amazing how God gave us all energy to even get through the rest of the day. The cookout required us all to be on our toes to approach people for conversation, greet them, and prepare food. While that was going on, I amazingly suddenly got a bunch of energy because I ran and ran playing basketball and soccer. Also when I wasn't playing one of those sports, I was dancing with some kids. After that whole night, I still have energy now that could probably let me run 5 times around the block. But I can't do that because its apparently lights out right now. So goodnight mom and dad and anybody else reading this.

2:15pm
Marielle Merry-
We got up this morning at 7:00am, had breakfast, worshipped, and then headed out to the job site for the morning. We were working at Daniel and Debbie's house where we scraped off paint, primed, and weeded their lawns/gardens. It was hard work, but it was still really fun because we were able to talk to each other while we were working. This morning also started out with Reggie slicing open his pinky on a scraper; he had to go to the hospital and now has many stitches on his finger. Please pray that his pinky heals well and that the pain wouldn't be that bad! So far the trip for me has been really amazing. God has showed me how much He has done for me in my life, and I have learned to listen to and obey the Holy Spirit when I feel Him calling me to do something. I am so glad that we have the opportunity to serve the people down here. They are so wonderful and very open to talking about their lives. I am really excited for tonight because we are having a cookout and a bunch of people in the neighborhood are invited, so I hope that God will really use us to touch the people's lives.

 

Tuesday, June 16

4:30pm

Today was a great day.  Last night we were given the oppurtunity to fast, and most of us chose to do so.  This morning we split up into our groups, and headed off to work.  I am in group 3, and we went with group 4 to go work at a house. The owners names were Dan and Debbie, and they told us about what hurricane Katrina had done to them.  They showed us some pictures showing the before and the after, and there was a huge difference.  I spent all morning chipping off the old paint, and cleaning up the weeds in their backyard.  I enjoyed the time during the breaks when they talked to us, and we were able to ask them about their expierences.  I don't think I truly understood the impact the the hurricane had on people until I heard from the people who had expierenced it firsthand, saw the pictures, and heard about their struggles to get their insurance.  God showed me today how much I take for granted.

4:15pm

Monday, June 15

Focus of the day:
How is God using your fatigue for His glory?

5pm
Andrea Petersen-
Today a group of us went on a prayer walk around the neighborhood to pray for the people there and invite them to a Community Cookout we're having on Wednesday. This morning during my devotions, I asked God what He wanted me to do today. The only thing I could think of was the color purple, so I kept it in the back of my head as we went on the prayer walk. While we were walking on throughout the neighborhood, a purple house came to mind. I asked the others that if they found a purple house to tell me, and as we walked we found a lavender house, a house with purple steps, but no purple house. We ran out of flyers before we found a purple house, so we started walking back. As we walked back because we had no flyers left, I was beginning to feel tired and a little disappointed that we had not found a purple house. Just as these doubting thoughts were running through my head, we found a purple house. As we walked past, we found a flyer on the ground. Kirsten DenHartog and I went up to the house and knocked on the door, but no one came, so we left it next to the mail box. I know that that was an act of God, and I'm excited to see what He will do next in the days to come.

5:10pm
Stephanie-

Wow, It's hard to type with this key board :) Oh well. So today my group was out working on a house for a guy named Daniel. We were scrapping paint off the siding to prep it to be painted later this week and also calking around the windows and doors. It was a lot of work and by the end of it we were all covered in pieces of paint and sweat but we were laughing a lot too. I really got to know the others on my team. We talked a lot and shared jokes while we were on the extension ladders and the roof. It was awesome. The best part was getting the chance to serve God by serving Daniel and Debbie (the lady who lived there). During one of our water breaks, Daniel brought out some pictures of his house before and after Katrina. It was so amazing all the damage that had been done. The water had been ten feet tall at his house and they had to completely redo everything inside because of mold and water damage. Hearing his story was a really good insight as just how important the work we are doing is. I'm kind of sad that my team won't be going back to his house, but I'll look forward to hearing how the project is going from the others who go. Later tonight we are going to go serve food to the homeless and I'm looking forward to that. It'll be my first experience like that. I know some of the others have done that before on other trips, but it'll still be a great experience for us all. God has really been showing me that no matter what you do and even if no one knows you’re doing it, if you're doing it for Him, you will be rewarded, maybe not right away, but it will come. I should go get ready to head out. Bye
Philippians 2:14

Alex Boutelle-
Today we went on a prayer walk in the morning, which was really powerful, because we were constantly asking God what He wanted us to do, say, and where to go. We would go with the urges we felt from the Spirit to share the Gospel, pray for or with people, and sometimes for inanimate objects such as houses and the school we're holding the cookout at Wednesday night. We met this one woman and I had this really strong urge to pray with her and so after we talked to her for a bit and found out she was a Christian, I asked if I could pray for her. She told us she had just been praying for her son, Kenny, who had walked away from the Lord and that God must have sent us to her, so that was really neat. When we prayed at the school, both Abby and I had a really strong urge to pray for Marielle so we did and we found out later that the woman she was with accepted Jesus! Praise God! Throughout the walk, God started using what He's been teaching me lately about how I need to love like Him as in my favorite passage, John 15. During the walk, I started simply loving everything and everybody. And I mean everything- I was blessing/loving every person and house I saw. In a way it was kind of weird, but it was so amazing to be able to experience even a little of the love God has for me. We went to Home Depot in the afternoon to hand out water and talk to the men waiting outside the store for work. When we first got there, I immediately felt unable to talk to them and spiritually oppressed. It was so much harder than the trolley ministry for some reason. Then I prayed and we were able to share the Gospel with one of the only fluent English speakers there. He didn't accept Jesus, but I think we planted a serious seed. The others who could speak Spanish talked to some of the other men, planting more seeds. All in all, it went pretty well.
Tonight we're headed to a homeless shelter to feed them and some of us are going to fast tomorrow to understand the need better. Please pray for the people we talked to and the ministry we're doing on Wed. Night.

5pm

Joanna Fischer-

Hey y'all. Joanna Fischer here. First I would just like to say that I am having a fabulous time - and I think i can speak for my team members too and say the same. We are growing closer together and closer to Christ too. Today my team (equipo dos - woot woot!) started the day by walking around the neighborhood and praying for the residents and the events going on. We also had chances to speak to them and get to know a lot of sweet people. There were several incidences in which two or more members on the team felt the "urge" to pray for a particular person or to do a certain thing. One incidence sticks out in my mind. We approached two women that were sitting on their porch and began to talk to them. Mid conversation Alex felt the need to pray for the two women so we asked if we could and the lady said, "Absolutely! We'd love it - by the way my son Kenny hasn't found the Lord yet." I thought it was so cool that God placed that thought in Alex's mind to show us her needs. After lunch we went to home depot and handed out water. We found a group of Hispanic men standing by the gate waiting for jobs. They saw our coolers and started screaming, "aqua? aqua?". They were overjoyed to get a little refresher on this 100 degree day (or so it feels). We spoke to several people about their lives and God. All I can say is God is good! (Can i get an amen?) Off to a homeless shelter to serve food... Thanks for your prayers. GOD IS GOOD!

1:00pm

Myra Franzone-

Hello this is Myra Franzone. Today my group is at a house and we are chipping paint off the house and covering cracks with caulk. It is extremely hot and so God is using our fatigue to show that even when you are tired we still care enough to show God's love. And that God over powers any tiredness we may feel.

 

Sunday, June 14

10:30pm
John Murray-
Hey y'all, this is John Murray. Today was pretty cool. We went to church at an African American church. It was an experience like none other to say the least! There was almost constant music, along with "amen!’s and "Hallelujah!’s. We had a message from a missionary in Singapore. It was good, and seemed a lot shorter than two hours. After that we ate lunch and then went to the trolleys for a street car ministry. We talked to complete strangers whenever we felt led by the Spirit. Our discussions afterward was really interesting, God can work in so many ways! It is incredible to see God using the students from our church and moving through them. My experience, however, was a little dissapoi8nting honestly. I never got the chance to talk to anyone, but it was likely my own fault I suppose. Anyways, after that we ate dinner and went for a prayer walk and passed out fliers for a community cookout we are going to host. This was probably my favorite part of the day. It was fun to see people’s faces light up when you would walk up to them and ask how they are and invite them to the cook-off. Almost everyone seemed delighted to have the chance to go, some even asked "wait, it’s for everyone?" the culture and lifestyle down here is just so much different than anything I have seen before, but the change is kind of refreshing.

God bless everyone, and thank you for all your prayers.

New Orleans. Today I had a great time. We went to the service here at the fire house, did trolley ministry, and went on a prayer walk. First of all, the church service was really fun and loud, but got really crowded so Tommy, John, and I gave up our seats for some ladies and sat back down later after the children left. We sat down next to a black family but had to share a seat with another young lady. So that was quite interesting. The trolley ride - all I have to say about that is that walking up to girls the same age as you is kind of weird because I'm pretty sure they thought I was hitting on them. And last the prayer walk - each group needed two guys, me and john walked past a group of guys around a car giving them an invitation to a BBQ. It was clear that those guys decided for some reason they wanted to attack us. They could have beaten me and John to a pulp and that's all I have to say folks. Farewell citizens of Rochester and good night.

Susie Han-
This is my first blog yay! Anyways today was the most intense working day so far because we started off going to an African-American church and it was very different. It was so loud and open! It was amazing! It was really fun and different. Then after that we were challenged to go out and talk to total strangers on trolleys which sounded pretty scary at first, but once I got into it, it was really, really fun. First I sat by a man that I almost gave up talking to because he rejected talking to me twice. I felt like giving up but something that gave me hope once again was before the man left, he tapped me on the shoulder and shook my and said it was nice meeting me and talking to me. After that I talked to the most people I could and it was worth it. Throughout the day it took a lot of perseverance to not complain and keep on going because I was just plain tired. But somehow God gave me enough strength to make it through the day and stay up right now writing on this blog at approximately 11pm! Anyways people are bothering me because they want to write on this blog so I will get off and get my energy juice.
I love and miss you mom and dad!

12:40pm

Ellen Bashore-

Today we went to a church service, which is in the bottom floor of the building that we are staying in. It was a very upbeat, African American style of worship which was really fun to experience. People were dancing, and clapping and speaking whenever they wanted to, and I even heard a woman speaking in tongues. I thought it was so awesome to see how different people worship, and I honestly got a lot out of this kind, where nobody holds anything back, and we just worship the Lord in any way that we want to. So far, God has really spoken to me on this trip, about my walk with Him and the weakness I have. So far, I have learned to trust in Him with everything that I have and what I do, and that He can do anything, if I just simply believe that He can. After eating lunch, we are going to go do trolley ministry, where our team rides the trolleys in town and we minister to the people who arrive and travel on them. I am a little nervous, but I now believe that God will enable me to share the Gospel with these people. The heat hasn't been much of a factor here yet, I just thank God for the box fans and the air conditioning every day. I love you Mom, Dad, Craig, and Nana, and I can't wait to see what else God has in store for me here! :)

 

Saturday, June 13, 2009

2:31pm

Teddy Folkerts-
Yesterday was great serving and at sundown some of us went over to this old rusted building that turned out to be a cotton gin. It was really creepy and I got everyone good saying “who’s that guy and what’s he doing with a chain saw?” Today has been great. We have been on the bus forever, yet we all are having a great time. This morning the pastor of Lighthouse Community Church invited himself to breakfast at Boomland with us. Before we left, Bob put out a grease fire with his shirt. Not only was he our hero today but yesterday we were putting a basketball hoop up and on the bottom was a black widow and its nest so Bobby smashed it. Good times. Today for lunch we stopped at Sonic and you order by speaking into this intercom which was terribly confusing so we had to say things multiple times and by the end didn’t know what we ordered. I got to play battle of the sexes. bye

Hillary Hook-

Hey everybody! I have been having a great time. I have also learned a lot and grown so much in faith. Yesterday I met a little boy who couldn’t have been more than two. He "helped" me clean windows (in that he didn't make them any dirtier). Last night at the service he fell asleep on my shoulder. I carried him around and held him in my lap for at least 45 minutes before he woke up. That little boy had been hanging around the church the whole day with his sisters (both who were under the age of 8). They were alone outside when we got there, in a neighborhood that's not exactly known for its safety. Those three kids went without lunch yesterday, where I got more than I could finish. This really got to me, and I felt that that was really unfair.This morning during my devotions I came across Psalm 68:5, which says "A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in His holy dwelling." After reading that verse I realized that I might not be able to always be there for those kids, but God will always be there for them. I had heard those facts and statistics about hunger in America, but yesterday was the first time I had been that close to it. You can hear those facts and statistics, you can even read this story, but yesterday was the first time I had been that close to it. You can hear those facts and statistics, you can even read this story, but it really doesn't mean anything until you come face to face with it. Those facts aren't just numbers anymore, they have faces now too. And I am pretty sure those faces have changed my life.

 

 

 

Friday, June 12, 2009

HOW ARE YOUR EXPECTATIONS FOR THIS TRIP ALREADY BEGINNING TO CHANGE?

9:35PM

Kellie Besch

Hey guys! We had so much fun today, even though it was a looong day. We got up really early and ate breakfast at the Waffle House ("Hey, is this heaven?" "No, it's Waffle House!") and then everyone slept on the way to Charleston, Missouri, where Shining Light Baptist Church is located. We spent all day cleaning, digging, cleaning up the yard, mopping, moving lumber and metal sheets, planting flowers, and so many other things. There were a few kids running around helping us, and they were absolutely adorable - they had such a servant's attitude and were so joyful! There was even an adult or two from the neighboring houses that ventured over to help us.

Then at about 5:00, we got ready for our ministry tonight. A whole bunch of kids of all ages, mostly African-American, came to see what we had in store for them. We sang songs with puppets and guitars, performed our mimes, and played games with them. Some of the kids were more outgoing and some were a bit shy, but when they warmed up to us we got to see how full of joy and love they are. They really seemed impacted by the Everything (by Lifehouse) mime, which was really cool to see. The pastor, Dean Wallace, was so hospitable and great with the kids - I could see that he was a big factor in the deep faith that some of these kids have. He told us tonight as he said goodbye that we are exactly what God wants us to be, and that was very encouraging to hear. We strive to be like that everyday, and even though we know we're not perfect, it's exciting to hear that God is using us so effectively. I think we all have more energy now to go into the rest of the week with oomph, and this day was definitely a great way to start off the trip!

Hope you guys are having fun back in Minnesota, where there are no fire ants :-)

3:50pm

From Reggie -

Right now we are at Canaan Baptist Church in Charleston Missouri. Our team has already begun to bond in a very positive way! Last night the students spent time assessing what God was already showing them through this trip. When we came back together, one of the students had Phil 2:14 written very largely on a sheet of paper. When I asked him why he had it written out he mentioned that during his time in prayer and assessing what God was showing him, this is what came to mind. Phil 2:14 says "do all things without grumbling or disputing" - that is exactly what we have been about over the last 2 days - doing everything without grumbling or disputing. Whatever has been asked, the students have done with passion and intentionality!

This morning we ate breakfast in southern St Louis at the best breakfast place in the world, otherwise known as the Waffle House. At one point one of the students stood up and loudly asked "is this heaven" the entire student body replied - "no, it's the Waffle House" - as we were leaving, I had 3 separate people approach me to tell me how respectful, well behaved, and warm our students were. Another time today, another stranger approached me to tell me the same thing.

Parents, I want you to know that your teens are representing their God their Church and their family (YOU) well. When others are approaching me, strangers off the street, just to tell me how different and respectful the students are, it tells me that they are doing something right. Honestly, I don't think the reason the people are approaching is simply because of the respect we are showing. I believe the students are focused on the things of Christ and because of that, they are exuding Jesus everywhere they go. When others are seeing them, they see something different because of the students’ passion for the things of Christ.

Day 2 - 8 more to go - wow, what a ride!!!!

3pm

This is Julia here on day two of our trip. We woke up at 5am, practically dead.
At 6am we left and went to the waffle house. That was good. Oh and for anyone who's wondering, we've been eating out every meal. I love it. Then we came to this church that we're staying at and started working. We took various jobs such as scraping off paint on windows, cleaning all the rooms, some of the really in-shape people have been doing the really intense work in the kitchen, and right before we left for lunch, I had to clean buckets, and I think mine had poop in it. For lunch, we went to a place called 'boomland.' It was pretty much all fried food. We need more places like them in Rochester. As soon as we got back, we went right back to work. So here we are, everyone working really hard to serve people and God. Even if this is only day two, God has done so many wonderful things for us from safety to just the unity of this whole group(no cliques, no drama, just a ton of love) and all the wonderful people (Reggie, Karlee, Bob, Marilyn, the two wonderful drivers,and the Mexican waiter from last night, along with many more people). Although some people (including me) are complaining about the heat, lack of sleep, and the dust, we are enjoying every second of this trip, and we're so grateful for having the chance to come on this trip.

P.S. Mama, about the pillow I forgot, I bought a new one. We stopped at a strip mall yesterday and I went to Dollar General and bought two pillows for 6 dollars. They're quite uncomfortable. I have grown so much appreciation for my own pillows. Thank you pillows. Peace.

1:20pm

From Myra Rowe

So far today I have served God in some new ways. I had to clean up trash outside and do other random jobs. My first view of this work was that it was not as important as other jobs everyone else was doing. But now looking at the results I know the work was important! I usually like to know what we are doing everyday but I am learning to be flexible.

 

Thursday, June 11, 2009

WHAT GOD HAS SHOWN ME IN MY PREPARATIONS FOR THIS TRIP

Here is the update for Thursday night beginning at 10:25pm

From Nicole Gabrielson-

Hey Mom and Dad I miss you and wish you could be right beside me. Tell Steven hi for me and also HAPPY ANNIVERSARY! Hope you had a great night. Today was fun. For dinner we went to a Mexican restaurant and watched dog competitions that were on the TV. The funniest dog was the last one that competed. They get three tries to jump as far as they can into the pool. So this dog named Cody, his first attempt he didn't go in the water but around to the other side of the pool and tried to get his toy without getting into the water. It was funny. His second time he ran full speed ahead then noticed he was heading for the water so he slowed down stopped then fell in because he had so much momentum. His final time he actually jumped and won the competition for first. It was so funny our whole section was laughing our heads off. Well I should probably get going. LOVE YA LOTS, NICOLE

This is Curt Bashore Maybe it’s a good thing we didn't go to Mexico. Allow me to explain. For dinner we ate at a Mexican restaurant. When the waiters were handing out our meals, they would go from table to table asking who had ordered that meal. A waiter came up to our table with a steak and potato meal. “Steak Americano?” he said. “Right here,” said Teddy. The waiter put the meal down. Teddy then looked at his meal. He said, “Is this a fajita?” So maybe God has Teddy's back in this situation. I love you all back home. Don't have too much fun without me. This is Teddy saying that it was a good first day and getting your pinky jammed by a football is not comfortable. And last is, I ordered a steak fajita and the steak honestly looked like one because I have never had one before. Good night mom and ask dad if I can get a back rub.

This is John. I love you.

 

Here's an update from Thursday morning, shortly after departure: 10:10am

From Gretchen and Emily-

No one read...Mom I got my underwear and socks. Writing faith stories, although something that happened in your life, takes spiritual thought and discipline. God has provided us with entertainment and Napoleon Dynamite on the bus! Before even getting on the bus, God showed us that we are here to serve His plans, not our own (when the trip was switched to New Orleans). We love you awesome supportive parents (favorite parents). Gretchen and Emily

P.S. I see you’re drinking one percent...is that cuz you think you’re fat? Cuz you’re not...you could be drinking whole if you wanted to! -Napoleon

 

From Elizabeth Munis -

Well we sure have had a lesson in faith this year. During our prayer meeting to see where god wanted us, I was amazed. I had never felt God's presence that strongly before. It was so cool how God made it so clear to us where He wanted us. We got some practice with being flexible. And then we got even more practice. Instead of heading straight south, we had to take a detour to the bus company to fix something on the bus. And now we are on our way. Thank you for your prayers before our trip and for continuing to support us in prayer as we begin our trip. Stephanie L At the start of this trip we were asked to write our faith statements. Having to write about where you are in your faith and how you got there isn’t as easy as it might seem. Most of us on this trip haven’t had the type of conversion say Paul had, so we have to reflect on the daily journey. So what has God done in our lives? Well, He's provided for us financially to go on this trip, He's given us willing godly leaders, and He's provided a place where we can have the opportunity to serve others while showing the love of Christ. And that’s all happened in the past few months, just imagine what He'll do in the net 10 days!

 

Teddy again. I am having a great time with John, Curt, Danny, and everyone else. We had to take a detour and go east to the bus company so that was just dandy. We have great bus drivers. Their names are Greg and Brad. Brad has some funky hair - emphasis on the funk. We are watching Napoleon Dynamite and I’m sure if he were here he would tell us to follow his heart. Oh, Mom, I forgot my toothbrush. JK

P.S. Can you bring me my chap stick because my lips hurt real bad?

 

10am

This is Teddy here. I have learned through preparing for the trip that you have to be organized and prepared for what's ahead. You have to save your money instead of relying on your parents to pay everything for you. And we are at the age where we should be responsible and trustworthy even though that's not what society says about our generation. This is Teddy saying so long friends and family. Please don't forget me. Peace out.