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Often times as mission teams hit midweek, some sort of implosion or conflict occurs, different is Grace Community Church. Wednesday was by far our most spiritual day yet, but even so Satan was still at work and tried many times to keep a wall between us and our goal, being building Christ's Kingdom. The day started with another round of wood splitting and the start of our personal blessing to the Diggins family. A few guys on the team got together and decided that we wanted to bless Bill with a nice woodshed to use for the winter to secure his heating source. As I write this the guys are finishing that up and continuing with the wood.
After wood splitting yesterday VBS began, I personaly hit my wall and found no motivation to knock it down and push forward. Thoughts of my relationship struggles back home and college learing nearer, I could not pull myself to whole heartedly minister to the kids of the Kluckwan Tribe. However I pulled the sharade and did my work in exhaustion but with no passion behind it. VBS as a whole went well but I like to think that a team is only as strong as its weakest teammate and yesterday I wore that crown.
Once we returned back "home" to the church we had some down time, many went on a coffee run but I stayed behind in the feeling of absolute failure that I let Satan pull me down. This is when Missy came to me and instantly knew, I was off my game, we talked and she reminded me of how I'm hear for a reason and those issues back home are in God's hand and not mine to bear. Following our talk I felt recharged and ready for our E.P.I.C. night at the local park. During this Tara Blackwell delivered a flawless testimony that we all saw hit many kids strongly, and God was with her as she spoke with confidence and honesty. Nothing could have followed that better than Summer Stephenson sharing the Gospel, with ease and love in her eyes, she opened the door to all the teens to question us and dive deeper into this thing we call Christianity. I personaly got to speak with a young man by the name of Drew, a senior basketball player. As we talked I layed my heart on the line and told him how simple it was, with eternal life do you want to be in constant joy or do you want to suffer and regret the time you had on earth. With this Drew opened up and began to talk about his struggles with his step-dad, this hit me so hard as he shared his pain of not being appreciated or loved by the man who is supposed to encourage him. As many of you know I struggle with my dad as well, and at that point I saw in Drew's eyes, a want, a longing to change. I prayed for his change as we prayed together and Drew chose to follow Christ and not his own desires. If nothing else comes to fruition this week, we have still suceeded, this is the only reason we are here, to share God's love and let the Holy Spirit work through us. I thank God for Drew and I thank God for putting everyone in the right places yesterday to overcome Satan's wall and reach this point. AND WE STILL HAVE 2 DAYS LEFT HERE!!!!
The night didnt stop there, as a team we worshiped as honestly as I've ever seen it done before, God was there, He was celebrating with us. However God wasn't the only one there last night, Satan continued to pound against our team, as I began to gasp for breathe I struggle for my inhaler, Satan wanted to uproot my joy and my energy, and I began to go into an Asthma attack. As I woke Ben, He Dave and Kenny came to my aid and took me to the local medical facility. After about 45 minutes I began feeling ease with breathing again. God answered our prayers and we once again thwarted Satan.
Today offers another oppetunity to do work in God's name and I cannot sit here and take more time, as there is much for this rhinocerous to do in Haines. On behalf of the team I thank you for the prayer support and we will continue to Glorify God this week.
Kulia I Ka Nu'u
-Rhino
Hello Parents and Church Family!
We finally have a chance to blog again which is a blessing because our days have been jam-packed with VBS, service projects, and teen outreach!
Everything is going great! The last time we blogged we had just arrived in Haines and had not started our VBS, service projects, or outreach nights yet. Now we have had two of each so far and they have been going extremely well. PRAISE GOD!
For our service projects we have had two great oppurtunities. We have been chopping, transporting, and stacking wood for the Pastor of the church we are staying at. We have been able to help him deliver it to the people in his church as they prepare for a cold winter. We also are going to be building a shed for Pastor Bill so that he can store the rest of the wood and keep it dry and protected. We also had a group of students who went up to the Klukwan Indian village and helped prepare the soil for a grassy area they are putting in at their new hospitality center. Both projects are a blessing and it has been amazing to see our team work hard and be passionate about serving others.
Our students have been doing an amazing job with VBS. As many of you know, we are doing our VBS for the children of the Klukwan Indian village about 20 miles from Haines. On Monday we had 8 children and yesterday we had 9. Some of us were discouraged at first, excited for the kids we did have but hoping for a better turn out. But a few hours later the Pastor of the Klukwan church told us that there are only 89 people total that live in Klukwan! So our 8-9 children is 10% of the population! After hearing that we realized what an amazing blessing it was to have that many children. Our group has been able to love on those kids, teach them, play games with them, and share with them the good news of Jesus Christ! PRAISE GOD!
Our outreach nights have also been a blessing. With Haines being a small community of about 2200 people, we figured that we would have about 5-10 teens show up for our outreach nights. But again we were amazed by God and His provision as we had 28 teenagers on Monday night and 27 on Tuesday night! We were blown away by this and praising God for bringing us these teens that we can reach out to and share with. PRAISE GOD!
Our students have been sharing their testimonies during the VBS and Outreach nights. They have been doing an amazing job at telling their stories and how their relationship with Jesus Christ has changed their life. To see how far our students grown since we first started planning this trip is truly amazing. They have been bold, confident, and passionate about sharing the good news of Jesus with everyone we have been meeting. PRAISE GOD!
Continue to pray for our team. It is Wednesday now and the late nights and early mornings are starting to wear on the group. Pray that we would have the strength and energy to press on with our mission and the oppurtunities before us. Pray that our students would continue to be bold as they reach out to other teenagers and look for oppurtunities to share.
Hopefully we can blog again soon! Thank you for all of your prayer and support!
Pastor Ben
Hello Church Family and Friends,
I apologize for not posting sooner. Up to this point I have not had internet access. However, I have been posting via text message to twitter to facebook. So be sure to be getting updates that way as well.
Let me catch you up on all that has been happening with our team. The flights went really well. We made our connection with pleanty of time. Seattle airport was fantastic, yet very hot. We all had a good sweat by the time we boarded. We landed in Juneau after an incredible flight over mountains, valleys, lakes, rivers – pretty much the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen.
We then loaded our vans and made our way to our first stop, Auke Bay Bible Church. We were partnered with two other YouthMark teams for our final training and launch.
The next day we boarded the ferry and made the 4.5 hour trip up to Haines. Onboard was also Michelle Diggins, the pastor’s wife of the church we are ministering to. We didn’t even scare her off! As with the plane flight, the ferry ride was one of the most beautiful experiences I have had. As we were docking a rainbow broke through the mist with amazing snow capped mountains behind. God really blessed us with smooth and amazing days of travel.
The biggest hickup so far was leaving one of our supplies bag in Juneau. However, God continued to provide for our needs as another church had done the same VBS as we will be doing in Klukwan. They let us borrow what we needed to do our first day of VBS. The pastor of the Juneau church found our bag and it is on this morning’s ferry. So by tomorrow we will have everything we needed.
Last night we had youth group with some of the students from Port Chilkoot Bible church. It was a great experience and we have made some lasting friendships already!
Continue to pray for our team that they would glorify God with their actions and words, that they would be a great witness in Haines and Klukwan, that as we start VBS and Youth Outreach nights God would be working in the hearts of those we are taking the message too, and that the Holy Spirit would work through each of our students.
I’m not sure when our next post will be, however, keep checking back and I will post as soon as I am able. God bless you all back at home.
Dave
We leave bright and early tomorrow morning. Be in prayer for safe travel. We will post again at the first opportunity from Haines!
Have you ever heard the phrase, it never rains it pours? Us Oregonians know exactly what that means in the literal and figurative sense. However, it is the figurative sense that I want to talk about right now.
Many of our adults are leaving families behind. Some of those families are beginning to get stressed all because of the little phrase we just mentioned. Sunday, we have the both sides of the family coming over to celebrate Callie's dedication and the 4th. Our dishwasher breaks! Not only do we have tons of dishes to wash by hand, but we have to buy and have installed a new dishwasher after a holiday weekend and before I leave.
At the Pearce household, their air conditioner just went out last night. So on the hottest day of summer this year, no AC and it won't be fixed until tomorrow. And yes, Kenny is leaving on Friday! To make matters worse, the allergies Kenny was experiencing - not allergies but rather a cold.
So, be praying for Amy/Callie, Jodie/Parker and the Andersons, Gollys, Potloffs who all have families without dads/husbands back home! Not to mention all the other families who's students will be gone to Alaska! Also pray for the Lanyons who are leaving Luke at home while they do the missions trip and then stay for a week of vacation!
We appreciate your prayers and would love you to check in on our families while we are gone!
We are down to less than three days folks! Keep your eyes and hearts pointing up! God has some great things in store for us!
Hello Family, Friends, and Grace CC,
We a little more than a week away from winging, and sailing our way up to Haines Alaska! We are excited and ready to take the Gospel to the people of Alaska! We also can't wait to meet our partners in ministry at Port Chilkoot Bible Church.
Our Vacation Bible School has changed locations. We will now be doing the High Seas Expedition in the Tlinget Native American Tribe at Klukwan which is 20 miles north of Haines.
Pray for us as we make last minute preparations. Pray for safe travel. Pray for our attitudes and actions as we take the message of the Gospel to others. Pray that God uses us in amazing ways!
We love all of you and are excited to tell you of what God does during our trip. Check this blog often to get updates from our ministry site!
Here is the address of the church in Alaska in case you would like to mail something to our team! Give plenty of time for the USPS to deliver though!
PO Box 1637
Haines, AK 99827
Hello friends, family and all those following our progress!
We are down to 2 1/2 weeks until we leave for Alaska! Keep us in your prayers. We have a few kids still with some funds to raise, final details to iron out and a lot of nerves and jitters to deal with. Pray that God prepares our hearts in these final days as well as paves the way for great ministry in Haines!
Our Alaska Mission Team decided to pool their resources and support someone who is in need. We selected a young single mother in our church who is juggling going to school, raising a young daughter, worrying about child support issues and relying on insufficient financial aid.
Each student and adult donated $10.00 of their own money, even while trying to raise $1,200 for the missions trip. Because of that, we were able to give this struggling family a $150.00 gift card to Safeway and $150.00 gift card to Walmart. She was blown away by the gift. The next week she gave me a card that I would like to share with you.
The Card's message is: "With Many Thanks - We can see God's love at work in the warmth of helping hands. In the comfort that a gentle word imparts, in the thoughtfulness that offers cheer, in love that understands...we can see God's love at work in caring hearts. God bless you for being so kind - it meant even more than you know."
She wrote in the card this message: "I just wanted to tell you thank you so much for the gift cards that you gave me last week. My daughter's b-day is on June 20th and I've been stressed about being able to give her a party or presents. I have been struggling because I took 6 classes this term and financial aid didn't cover it all. This was really appreciated and perfect timing. I am very thankful! You guys are awesome!"
$10.00 maybe didn't seem like a lot to give. However, when the body of Christ works together, God is able to touch lives in an amazing way!