Summer Day Fun

Yesterday the temperature creped over 100 degrees, and so when the Lord provides warm temperatures, water, and balloons……

We had a great time with our Lakota friends cooling off with water balloons, water soaked sponges, and squirt guns.   The smiles on everyone’s faces would have been great to share but no one was brave enough to bring out a camera for fear it would get soaked.  We finished camp a little early and came back to the church in Sharps Corner to enjoy a movie and some popcorn in the air-conditioned sanctuary.  

After supper most of our team went over to the basketball court again.  Each night we go we seem to have more show up.  The guys all keep enjoying a good game of basketball and everyone else is playing with the children or playing volleyball. We had thought the volleyball poles and net from last year had been stolen, only to return last night to find a family setting them up! They had been keeping them to make sure they weren’t stolen or mistreated. God continues to challenge our assumptions and expectations!

Today one of the girls we have been enjoying time with at the park came to the camp and we were able to share the gospel with her as a result.  This is yet another example of our goal to not only share our lives, but the gospel as well (I Thes 2:8).

Please continue to pray for good weather, the safety of our group and the campers, and that we will be given opportunities to share the Gospel.  God has been so good to us and we thank you for your prayers!

Greetings from the Bad Lands

Our entire team of 34 have arrived safely and have had two full days of ministry! Please read on and we will recap some of the highlights of our trip so far.

We had an advance team come up on Friday and set up, get supplies, and start meeting those that are already here at Pine Ridge and the Chanku Waste Ranch.

On Saturday, our second and largest wave came up, including the entire team from Hope and many of the team from Grace. The trip was going well until we got into northern Nebraska where one of the vehicles had a transmission failure. God did provide for us in that we were not on the side of the road for more than ½ hour before 2 local ranchers stopped and one had a truck big enough to take enough of our team an hour further down the road. It was a great example of God providing for us even in difficult times.

On Sunday the last team was able to arrive with no issues and we were at full strength ready for Monday and what the Lord had in store for us to being the week.

On Monday we woke, ate the first of our great meals and were off to the ranch. We had many that were not sure what to expect as this was their very first experience in South Dakota; for others it was not the first trip but a new format to deal with. We shared time with the children from about 9-4. During that time we have Bible lessons, games, missionary stories, crafts, snacks, and lunch. At the end of the day we had many great opportunities to discuss lessons learned, but also had a great deal of excitement as we were able to discuss the new relationships we had started. We had lots of time to sit, play, talk, listen, and learn from our new Lakota friends. The day ended with a trip into Sharps Corner to try and get a pick up basketball game and a chance to meet with and see again some of the children we had met at camp!

Tuesday started with our team taking on even more responsibility in running the opening assembly at camp. We started a little slow, as we had not entirely planned for the new start but took it in stride and had a much better day in the end according to everyone involved. This year we have also been able to share some time with a woman from Tennessee who has come up with three of her horses to give trail rides at the ranch. This has obviously been a big hit and two of our own have been “drafted” into service to help.

Please pray for the hearts of children we are ministering to and for the continued safety of our team. God has been very good and so far we have not had a single injury. Today it is supposed to get very warm, and we are planning on many water activities, so prayers for safety against the heat are welcomed. Please also pray for the Lakota people. We have met many great and wonderful people while we have been here and continue to strive to meet the challenge we have from 1 Thes 2:8, to love these people so much by sharing the gospel and our lives.
   

Lakota 2011 just days away!

Our early team takes off this Friday to pickup supplies and setup camp for the rest of team leaving for South Dakota on Saturday and Sunday! Our team includes 34 members, 7 from Hope Bible Church in O'Fallon, and 27 from Grace. A few support team shirts are still available; contact the church office to order one and show your support for our team!

Back home safely in Columbia!

On the ground in Atlanta. Off to Kansas City soon, and then back home in Columbia tonight.

Wrapping Up

It looks like adding pics and giving a more thorough overview of the trip will have to wait until I can get alone from my laptop back home, but still thankful for the chance to send out updates here and there. Our trip to Ixtapa with several of the high school and college students from the church and mission was an interesting experience, to say the least: driving around central Zihuatanejo at night trying to find a safe beach (the first one we got to had a sign about "cocodrilos"; turns out it was a fenced in nature reserve but we weren't takin any chances), meeting three salvavidas Mexicanas up close and personal (I got to experience a riptide - other than sunburns, I was the only one that encountered anything potentially serious), and learning the cultural nuances of doing a youth trip in Mexico vs. the US. All in all, we enjoyed the break after a very full week, as well as the chance to get to know some of the people we've been working with better.
Today we'll be traveling to Guadalajara, and then getting up early in the morning for our flight home tomorrow. We should be back in Kansas City around 4pm and then in Columbia tomorrow night. Thanks for praying for us; it's been a good trip, and we look forward to sharing more when we get home. Pray for safety as we travel over the next two days, and for the ongoing ministry with El Divino Salvador and Mision del Valle.

Finishing Bible School in Mision del Valle

We finished our last day of Bible school yesterday and wrapped up the week with a special service for families that tied into the regular weekly Bible study at Mision del Valle. Around 10 families were represented this week in attendance at Bible school, with several others attending last night's evangelistic concert. One Christian family came by when they heard the music and were excited to find out that a Bible study was meeting in the neighborhood. Many contacts were made with families in the area, and the church has discovered needs that they can now strive to meet as they continue outreach in Mision del Valle. This update is shorter, because I am only able to update from my phone, but the following are a few prayer requests:
1. Follow-up from the week, as the church seeks to keep up with families that attended.
2. On-going ministry that will take place through the weekly Bible study and youth and children's programs that will begin soon.
3. Noe and Sol as they continue to lead the ministry in Mision del Valle, and Eduardo, David, and other leaders from El Divino Salvador.
4. Wisdom and resources to determine whether to take an offer to rent a larger building for the mission that was offered by a realtor this week (a larger home with two more rooms for approx. $200/month).
5. Continued growth for the mission in Mision del Valle, hoping to launch it as a church next summer or early fall.