 |
|||
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|
Today I woke up and rolled off the floor. It was super hard and I was super super tired. This has been an awesome week. I loved getting to know all of the kids who have gone on this trip and the great times we've had together working and getting to know more about God. This morning we prayed with Pastor Marty for the community and for his body to get better. I am so thankful for all the people who made this trip possible, for Pastor Marty and his family for everything they have done for us, as well as all the people who were on the trip. Ocean Park and Pastor Marty's family will be in my prayers. Tonight we hung out in the chapel and watched an amazing inspirational movie about rugby.
Kia Kaha
-Clare
Prayer. Before this trip I had never really understood the power of prayer. I always thought of it as something you just did because it said so in the Bible and it wasn't really that important. I knew it was important to spend time and talk to God but I didn't really think that God would ever answer my prayers. This week we have spent a lot of time talking about the power of prayer. I began seriously thinking about all the recent problems I could have solved if I had only of prayed about them over and over again. I was thinking about prayer today and 7 people came to my mind that I want to come to know God. These people are big parts of my life and I am going to try my best to be consistent with my prayers for them. My goal is to really establish a consistent and powerful prayer life that I did not have before this trip.
-Sarah :)
Had a good day today with mission trip team. We went and did our service project at dennis's house and what i did was use the weed wacker a little bit and then used the hedge trimmer. Then we went to anchor baptist mission and then we met ronnie and we hung out with him at the park with the skate park for our youth group. Then we did our prayer walk and talked about things we need help with and what things we want to change. Later we came back to the ocean park church then ronnie talked about how ronnie talked to 3 different girls 3 years about the gospel and they all rejected him but a couple months later then had all became christians. Also, dylan and mitch had talked to a girl and asked to pray for her and she allowed them to pray for her so they did right there on the spot.
- Artyom
Today started like most, early. However, we still ended up sleeping in because none of our alarms went off. Excuse me, all but Tomo’s alarm went off, yes there may be a conspiracy taking place here. Any ways we all ate and then met with Pastor Marty to go and do our first service project. We traveled a few miles down the road and turned down a gravel driveway, where we met Bob. Bob was an older man who had hurt his back and needed some help with a few projects. The majority of us were put to work splitting wood, but a few were also making some repairs on the dock. After we had finished our work we headed into Long Beach for about an hour. There wasn’t many kids to reach out to, mainly due to the fact that it’s a Monday. However the time there was not wasted, Nate, Artoym, Kimmy, Sarah, and I sat down at a picnic table and had a great time of prayer and fellowship. We then loaded back into the van and went back to Bob’s house for dinner and games. We learned how to make Camp Pies and played a bit of Volleyball. A few of us decided to launch a Canoe, and we were able to paddle right up next to a family of Ducks and a Blue Herron. Sadly that fun had to come to a close, so we said our goodbyes and loaded up to come back to the church. Now you will find us playing basketball and talking, and of course Blogging about our awesome day serving the Lords Kingdom. I cant wait for tomorrow… Which I just realized is only 30 minutes away from now. Well hopefully we all get some sleep tonight, and thank you always for keeping us in your prayers!
Goodnight,
Mitch
By: Dylan Marashi
Sooo.. today was pretty intense. We started with meeting everyone from the church and Pastor Marty jammin' on the guitar like a boss. And later that day I was able to hear multiple people's stories about how they came to know Jesus. I heard stories from people with great grandchildren, people with new babies, and people that have never even thought about having kids yet. And each story was the same; Christ first reached them when they were just kids, like us. This not only inspired me to keep doing what I'm doing, but also encouraged me to set new goals, leap for higher bounds; a concept that I had put on my "back burner of life."
From that, we transitioned into our first day of canvasing. And wow. It's hard. Trying to talk about God and His Love is really hard to do, especially with someone I just met. Luckily, I was grouped with Makenna and Claire when we were walking around Long Beach. Although, our first encounter did not work out so well.. We ended up "stalking" two high school kids for close to 20 minutes because we just couldn't sum up the courage to talk to them. So we decided to search for our peeps at the Arcade. AND WE ENDED UP TALKING TO A GUY FROM GERMANY THERE! His name is Nick, well at least I think so. Anyway, he was awesome. So that was our first time talking to a stranger like that.
After just "testing the water" today, hopefully we'll be able to take what we've learned and apply it to tomorrow's work.
Peace out! 
Well, here we are in Ocean Park. So far we have witnessed Andrew catching on fire, Kimmy mistaking a crow for a scarecrow, Dylan being mind blown at a game of Aunt Silly Tilly and What's Under The Umbrella, an intense game of soccer on the beach, a never-ending game of BS (church style), Andrew attacking Mitch with his kite, and SO much more! I can honestly say that we are having a BLAST down here on the beach. The weather could be better but hey, I can't complain.
After the church service today, the church community set up a potluck for all of us and that was a great oppurtunity to connect with the people at the Ocean Park church. I can already see God using us here even though we are only completing Day Number One. After the church potluck, the team drove down to Long Beach to recruit some people to join us for youth group on the beach. Our first time out talking with the community was a little difficult, I will admit, but we got one person to come to our youth group! Granted, that one person was someone we already knew from school but it's a start! Overall, we had a pretty successful day.
I am so very excited to see what God has in store for us through these next five days(:
First day of canvassing, we were meeting and inviting kids from Long Beach to our youth group we held. It was definitely very challenging and very out of ALL of our comfort zones.
*DYLAN SAYS HI*
Continue..
Each group got to invite a couple people each. Only one person showed up, someone that we ran into that we already knew from Monroe High School. We chilled on the beach when a little boy named Collin came up. He must have been no more then 4, and quickly became attached to Nate. Overall, the first day was not a huge success. We're all praying for God to give us the courage to approach strangers, for God to soften and open up the hearts of the teens we will be reaching out to, and for God to make our ministry successful. Our whole team has came up with some great ideas during our brainstorming sessions, and I'm excited to see the results of the ideas. Tons of prayers for our courage, for the kids of Long Beach and Ocean Park, and for our ministry would be great!
By Andrew Horsley
I just want to say that this is my first blog post ever, so hang in there.
we left today for the mission trip in Ocean Park. Even on the way down there were many things that i thought were interesting. Like a yellow ferrari. that was pretty cool, not many of those by the 405 onramp. On the way down there was tons of music and talking, and that was way cool. We got here and met Pastor Marty, who is an awesome guy. After that, the students and the leaders went to the beach. Mitch started a fire that later set my coat on fire. Now there is a nickel sized hole in my coat. On the way back, Nate and Artyom got lost in the woods, which was funny. After that we just chilled.
So all in all, first day = good.
Our team met with other mission trip teams this last weekend for a retreat. It was an incredible time for our team, and we're looking forward to what God is going to do in and through us...TOGETHER.
Here is a snapshot of what happened.
1. Josh, how was the Mission 51 retreat? What did you guys do?
Rebekah is a 10th Grader on our trip.
1. So you have been meeting together as a group to get ready, what's that been like?
The meetings have been a great oppurtunity to share whatever thoughts you may have on the scripture we're reading and the study we are going through. It helps to have a group like this that I know I can rely on and trust with my personal thoughts. I look forward to the meetings every week and almost always have something to share with the group that I learned that past week. It really has been an awesome oppurtunity to interact with different people who share similar passions and who all have the same heart to serve our one and only God.
2. What are you learning in your group times with the team?
I've been learning a lot while reading through Acts and talking with the group. Mainly, I've learned that it shouldn't matter how I may look to other people, I must still spread God's word and show Christ's love. Luke had experienced many oppurtunities to teach the gospel and I'm learning that I can have those same oppurtunities if I recognize the chance. So far, this has been an incredible journey for me and my heart to realize how many chances I get to be a light for God. It has been a real eye-opener for me and I enjoy every minute of it.
3. What are you looking forward to?
For the trip, I am looking forward to stepping out of my comfort zone and being totally courageous in what I say and do. My goal is to lead so many people to Christ through my braveness to stand up and take a chance. I am also looking forward to growing closer in my relationship with God and with the people I am going with. I am SO excited for that! These next few months before the trip are going to seem like a life time, but I know we still need the training to be able to share God in an unfamiliar community. I'm really looking forward to that.