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Hey ya’ll, this is Dan and Dani coming at you from Kinder, LA!
Wow, today was one of the most exciting days of the trip to date! It all started waaaay too early… of course. Soccer camp went amazingly thanks to our wonderful soccer expert Katie. I think the kids are having an awesome time goofing around and enjoying the Louisiana weather. We all think they are building a breed of super humans down here. Two hours and about a million bottles of water later the kids left with their parents and we were left to clean up the aftermath. By then it was about 11 o’clock and we had already lost about ten percent of our body mass due to the stifling heat. Soccer camp was followed by a super nap session in which our house turned into a ghost town.
After our naps we all ate lunch and then met up with some of our new friends named Scott and Kristy who took us to a place in the river that was excellent for swimming. God had given us the opportunity to talk with Scott and Kristy yesterday while at McDonalds doing our devotionals. Kevin had struck up a conversation with Scott and told him about the soccer clinic we are doing that his kids later joined. The swimming hole we went to was absolutely amazing! The water was cool and deep and there were ropes to swing out and jump in to the water. One of the swings was set up so that you could climb up a tree using basically a death trap ladder. It’s difficult to describe the nervousness we all felt about this venture of swinging over the water at break-neck speeds and simply letting yourself plummet into the chilly water below. But in the end we all conquered our fears and made the plunge. While we were there we had the opportunity to talk with some local kids and invite them to come hang out with us later this week, we’ll see what God does with that!
After we got home from the river we set about getting ready for Wednesday night church. The girls turned their bathroom into a beauty parlor and did… well, girly stuff. I don’t know what they were doing exactly but they blew a circuit breaker. The guys all went over the McDonalds and got a mid-afternoon pick-me-up and talked to some teens we had met at the park the day before. It was neat to see how God uses what we think are coincidences to further our witness.
Kevin, Jeni, and Tom lead worship at church and it was excellent! We are truly blessed to have such talented team members. After worship several of us shared our testimonies with the congregation. We truly have some inspirational stories in our crew that I hope made an impact on someone’s life. Brian, if you’re reading this, this was the “stepping outside our comfort zone” that you prepared us for.
Now let’s move on to dinner. Words do no justice for the meal that we all just devoured, it was unbelievable. It started with a genuine Louisiana crawfish boil that would have made the devil himself sweat. It was different and we all agree that it was by far the best meal yet. The next course was the most magnificent burger I or anyone on our crew has EVER had; and that’s saying something! For you people back home, we got the recipe and you will share in our delight.
And that puts us back here, sitting in Pastor Mike’s office talking to you. God is at work in so many ways both in Kinder and in all of our hearts. I can’t wait to see what tomorrow will bring. Greater things have yet to come and greater things are still to be done in this city!
For all of us here in the sweet Louisiana sun, this is Dan and Dani, goodnight.
Hey all y'all. Tom and Katie here with today's update.
Tom here: We had a fairly interesting escapade after dinner tonight. Pastor Mike's daughter Sarah wanted to make a run over to the local Sonic to grab some chocolate bundt cakes, so Katie, Taylor and I hopped into Sarah's car along with another local girl named Tori. The first thing we learned was exactly why the handle above the window in most cars is called a Sweet Jesus handle. That's just about what we were saying as Sarah showed us her awesome small-town driving skills. On the way back, though, was when the real adventure started. As we tore around a corner, ignoring one of those red octagonal thingummies, Sarah very nearly demolished a tiny kitten crossing the road (no joke here, folks.) She slammed on the brakes, hopped outta the car (woops... that's the accent gettin' t' me) and grabbed the kitten. She hopped in, practically tossed it to Tori in the back seat, and we roared off, not knowing our destination. Initially I assumed that she wanted to keep the kitten. Come to find out, though, that she didn't even like cats. She drove up to the town pound (basically four corrugated steel walls) and poked the little cat through a hole in the fence on the cat pen. We decided to name the cat Willie, but that was before we found out that it was a girl cat. Oh well...
Anywho, that was our entertaining anecdote for the day. I am thoroughly enjoying our time down here. Though the heat is intensely disagreeable, I feel much more at peace here than I have in many other times in my life. I am certain that we are here for a purpose, and right now I am beginning to understand a little about what it is.
Our two brothers here, Caleb and Dylan, are immensely encouraging to us. For me, seeing their newfound thirst for the Word and for the things of God is a new experience, because I reside in my Christian sub-culture at CSCS and at Pulpit Rock. The training I have received in those two places and from my parents has been more valuable than gold here. Several times, Caleb and Dylan have asked me questions that I think I'd have found very taxing without the knowledge and understanding that God has provided me with.
Please pray for the men of the team (Me, Dan, Jake, Chris, and Kevin) that we might be a good example of Godly men to our young brothers. Thursday night we will be doing our family meeting (our Acts-church style evening debrief) in a gender-segregated manner, so pray that that will be a time of great discipling for them as well as for us. Pray for solidarity within our team as we grow a little tired of living in close quarters. God has been doing great things in Kinder for long before we got here, and will continue to do them after we are gone. I thank Him that we are able to take part.
Alright, Katie's taking over now!
Today was our first day of the soccer camp that we're hosting here in Kinder, and boy was it different than any camp I have ever gone to before. Normally kids come to a soccer camp to learn more and practice. They usually come dressed up with shin guards and cleats...but not in Kinder. They came in flip flops, crocs, and some were in tennis shoes, and only two of the 12 kids have ever touched a soccer ball before. So it was fun teaching them everything we know about soccer; while taking lots of breaks and playing duck-duck-goose.
This afternoon we went McDonald's to get some ice cream, cool down, and do our Bible Study. While we were there telling everyone we saw about the soccer camp and teen night in the park, i met a guy with Downs' Syndrome named Todd (for those of you who don't know, i have a brother, Scotty, with Downs' Syndrome, so i have a special place in my heart for people with Downs'). Todd's a super friendly guy, who likes smiling. While we were there Todd was cleaning the floor and his manager got upset that he was taking a break, and she was just down right being mean to him. So Todd ended up being really shaken up by the whole thing, and quit the job. Pray for Todd, and that if he doesn't know Christ yet that he would come to know Christ and gain an understanding of His sacrifice. Also, pray for the manager and that she might understand the love that Christ has for her and be able to reflect that love to others. (I did report the manager to the corporation, and they said that they would put someone on the problem right away, so pray that this will be resolved as well).
Then tonight we went to the park to play with teens, and we had some stop by and talk. Only one kid ended up playing with us, but we had two that went to Sonic with us afterwards. They were Andrew and Lex. There stories were pretty interesting. Andrew grew up and was baptized in the Catholic church, but somehow found himself at the Baptist Church in Kinder for a few months. While he was there he realized that the Catholic Church is wrong in not believin' in Jesus, and that He really did come die for our sins. We didn't get to go much deeper because we had to take them home, but i just want to ask you all to pray for him. He's havin a hard time in his life where he's given up his life in New Orleans to come home and be with his mom who has breast cancer for the second time. Pray that he has understanding and peace about God's peace. Lex still hasn't found a desire to be apart of church. She went to church when she was younger, but just didn't find God. So, pray for her to find a yearning, or desire to find God this week.
Aight, as Porky Pig used to say, "B-b-b-b-b That's All, Folks!"
We'll see all y'all when we git back.
-Tom and Katie
hey everyone! this is Chris Brown blogging on behalf of the group. For those of you who don't know me, I am one of the adult leaders that joined the group for this trip. Today has been a great day. We were fortunate enough to sleep in till 815 or so. Surprisingly, the men were up before the ladies!! We enjoyed hot showers, bowls of cereal, and glasses of orange juice. Oh, I should say that Taylor was actually the first one up at about six to shoot some hoops, shower and have her quiet time. She is probably the most disciplined of the group :) After breakfast Pastor Mike came over to take us over to the shed were we would embark on our service project.
We walked into the shed (which for us Coloradans is really a barn) to set up some tables. Pastor Mike proceed to bring out large panes of clear plastic with outlines for window panes...our mission... paint in between the lines to create beautiful stain glass windows. As soon as we opened the cans of paint the shed was filled with the smell of something close to the smell of moth balls!! needless to say we all lost some brain cells during this process. After a couple hours our masterpieces were complete. Next step, rip out the existing window panes and install the newly painted ones...but not before we had a lunch break with delicious ham, turkey, bologna, and cheese sandwiches.
Y'all (we're southern now) need to picture a brick church that was built in the fifties with the original windows. Now picture 9 high school students and leaders, attempting to remove glass with butter knives and paint scrappers in 100 degree heat with ridiculous humidity! You're sweating just thinking about it i'm sure, and if you aren't...you should be! Don't worry moms and dads, we leaders were making sure that everyone was staying hydrated:) After a few hours of scrapping, caulking, caulk fights, and tape jobs, we successfully replaced almost 30 window panes!!!! Pretty impressive for some city slickers from Colorado. Throughout this whole process we had the help from two high schoolers from Kinder, Caleb and Dylan. Both young men are fairly new in their walks and it has been really good to see our students take them under their wings.
During out down time before dinner Tom went through our daily Bible Study with both of them. He was very effective in leading them in some of the confusing parts of the study. Taylor, Katie, and Danielle got to know one of the local girls, her name is Tory. She helped all afternoon in our work and the girls have been able to get to know her really well.
I forgot to mention earlier that while most of us were installing windows, Tom and Dan were drafted into helping pastor Mike install insulation in the attic of the church. Just be thankful that you didn't have to climb into an attic that temped out at 140 degrees. Holsteens and Sawyers...don't you worry...pastor Mike was the one who braved the heat while Tom and Dan fed the sprayer all the insulation:) I must say that I have never seen Dan so drenched in sweat before!
Dinner... different members of the church are cooking for us all week. Well tonight, we were blessed with caesar salad, garlic bread and a little cajun spaghetti!!! Oh yes, it had chicken, garlic, salt, pepper, and little cajun kick!! I think we all had seconds, it was amazing!!! We still had plenty of room for ice cream cones after. We will not be starving while we are down here.
After dinner Kevin and myself joined the churches addiction group that meets on monday nights. Kevin was able to share his story to people of Kinder that struggle with everything from dugs to alcohol. The group really appreciated hearing what the redemptive power of Christ can accomplish in a person's life. While we were engaged with the group, Jeni went with the students as they canvased the town handing out flyers for the soccer camps we will be starting tomorrow.
Well that is the day for you, hope it has been informative. A few things for you all to keep in your prayers tomorrow. First, the heat is very draining. It can be very demotivating at times. Please pray that the Lord would be our strength no matter the temperature. Second, we will be interacting with some young ones tomorrow during the soccer camp, pray that we would accept them and love them as Jesus did. Third, we will be going out in to town tomorrow in search of youth, pray that we will find them and be bold enough to engage them. Lastly, pray for the Church of Kinder. They have recently had some power outage problems, as a result they have lost several TV's, Computers, are more importantly Air Conditioners. They have replaced the AC units; however the cost for the remaining items will be expensive. Pray that the Lord would come through to cover all the expenses!
Thank you all for your love and prayers! We are thankful for the role you have to play in this trip as well! Signing off till tomorrow...Chris Brown
Well, we just finished our first day here in Kinder LA! Oh yeah! Sawyer just got eaten up by fire ants and took Jake with him. We'll miss them dearly... Anyway, we had a great first day. It's been a little cool so we've been wearing jackets and mittens. (That's Kevin's sardonic humor talking)
Anywho, we've been enjoying getting to know Pastor Mike and Steve along with their families. Last night we hung out with a couple of teens from Kinder. One of them is Mike's son Caleb. He invited his friend Dylan to come over and jam with us. Dylan just gave his life to Christ on Monday. We get the impression that Caleb is a pretty new believer as well. We've invited them and several others to join us in the road grip study.
Today we went to swim in a nasty river. Nasty is putting it gently. Tom is telling me I'm a wimp. Chris walked all the way up river to the dam with the locals and the rest of us met them there with the car. He said they saw three snakes and an alligator. We're pretty sure he's lying.
We finished off the day with red beans and rice...Oh yeah! Sawyer says it was amazing and a half, and Tom thinks it beat his grandma's jambalaya.
Seriously though, we are pretty stoked about our start here. We feel like God has already brought students to us to minister to. They are so excited to have us here, and told us that we are a blessing from God. We don't feel like we've done much of anything yet, but we know that God has a lot in store.
Tomorrow we will be working around the church and helping them with various projects they are trying to finish. The students are really doing great. I've been so impressed with the way they are treating each other, and their attitude about the heat. I'm hyped about the team that God assembled for this trip. Thanks for you prayers and support! We'll keep you posted...
FYI...You'll be hearing from at least one student a day on here. I want them to talk personally about what God is doing here, and how it's effecting them...
Kevin
HEY YOU GUYS!!
Well, February is almost done, which means we have heaps to do for the trip. The main thing that I want to encourage everyone to be doing is PRAY! We need to soak this thing in prayer, every detail, every person going, every person supporting. PRAY PRAY PRAY!
As far as the steps that we need to be taking, here is what I have got for you...
If you have not gotten your application and deposit to me yet, I NEED THAT ASAP!!! It is due this Sunday.
The Next step will be a one-on-one meeting where I will be giving you some goals and tasks. The purpose of this is to facilitate your spiritual growth and get you ready for the trip! Be thinking about who you want to be praying for you, who you want to write letters to, who you will invite to join the blog, etc.
Anyway, I hope everyone is having a great day! Blessings and Cheers, Sam!