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Testimonies from Phoenix
Here are a few testimonies from families we worked with in Phoenix.
Elizabeth and Justin….
Thank you for coming out to Arizona and doing a sports camp for our kids. You did more than just help, you encouraged them by spending time with our kids and helping them to develop even more skills in baseball. My sons loved learning the drills and having a game on the last day. You also encouraged Justin to be a part of his boys lives when we move to Nebraska more. To possibly even get involved with the youth group up there. I realized what an impact we have in the lives of our kids and their friends. Thank you.
Patti Dubicki…
Thank you Trey for spending time with my son helping him with Baseball. Charles talked about it for days and loved having some one give him that much attention with baseball. He wanted to learn how to play and has not felt very confident. You helped him feel more confident with his hitting.
Kindra and Josh….
Thank you so much for coming out. Kaylee and Trevan enjoyed playing baseball with your group. The people were so nice and very encouraging. Also, we would have had nothing to do during that week. We also enjoyed watching them play and get more of a desire to play sports. Thank you for your time and giving up your spring break to come out to help us.
Mindy and Daniel….
Thank you all for coming out during your spring break to be an encouragement to the kids in our neighborhood. So many kids talked about how they now want a baseball team out here and have gotten involved in the soccer we currently have going on. The kids get together at the park and play, relationships were formed and strengthened. Relationships were started between moms who did not know each other and now are hanging out and encouraging one another. All of you made these kids feel so special and helped many of them to have a fun spring break they otherwise would not have had. We have been told this was a great sports camp for out kids - better than any we have had before. Ray even asked if Trey would come out and do a baseball camp for our group out here next year. Also, thank you for your servant heart the night of the movie. We so appreciated all of you bringing people water and popcorn. You all did a great job. Thank you for passing out flyers for both the movie night and the start of our two services. Due to your flyers going out, we ran 220 on Easter morning and run around 70-80 during the first service each week. People are coming to know the Lord and you were a part of that. Thank you.
Misc moms…
Some of the moms stopped me at church and mentioned that they loved the games the girls played with the younger kids. Usually the younger kids get left out due to not wanting to play sports. You helped them to have a good time, feel loved and put a lot of smiles on kids faces. Nobody was left out and we appreciate all the planning and time that went into this trip.
Skadoosh or Phoenix Mission Trip, pt. 1
Driving 1200 miles to Buckeye, in NW Phoenix, with 21 people in 22 seats worth of vans was a daunting task to say the least…especially when the trip began with 450 miles of rain. We finally escaped the rain about 50 miles short of our first stop in Van Horn, TX. (It will never cease to amaze me that you can drive for 10 hours from Temple and still not get out of Texas.) We spent the night in a nice Ramada Limited (shout out!) and continued our adventure on Saturday. Even with the gaining of 2 hours, we still drove all day. It is unbelievable how mountains can drain the gas tank of a 15 passenger van pulling a trailer. I lost count of how many times we stopped for gas, but we made it and capped the day with some On The Border Tex-Mex (always a good ending to a day).
Sunday we awoke to beautiful weather and the excitement of worshiping with our new friends at The Church at Sun Valley. I absolutely loved walking to church that morning with our group (even if we did freak out a few of the neighbors). Our time of church in the “gymna-cafe-torium” was a special experience. Many of our students felt more like they were at a school award assembly than church. It was definitely healthy for all to experience church in a “different than the norm” way. We sang hymns differently and choruses we had never heard. We were challenged with the truth that there is a big difference between religion and relationship. In the end religion is about me (however much you couch your language in God) and relationship is about Jesus. It was a challenging message for our team. We had lunch at the Scott’s house and then the team went throughout the neighborhood passing out reminder flyers about the movie night and sports/crafts camp.
Christie and I received a special treat that afternoon. After church, Jennifer Bledsoe Hernandez and her husband Rich (recent Arizona transplants) joined us for lunch and the afternoon activities. For you old timers, you will remember Jennifer as an active and energizing member of CCBC. It was great to catch up and spend face time with old friends. God is good!a
Later Sunday afternoon some of the guys went over to the park to play basketball with guys from the church and community. It was great…no one was injured (as I get older that is the definition of a good time playing any sport). It truly was a beautiful day to be outside.
We had dinner (Sam’s makes a great pizza!) and then went to help set up for the movie night. What a great time! Our students helped serve popcorn from the movie theater styled popcorn machine and bottles of water. Mindy and Daniel Scott (my sister and brother-in-law and one of the pastor’s at the church) met many new faces from the community and the rest of us enjoyed Kung Fu Panda (skadoosh!) on a giant screen under the stars. Something so simple, yet what a great way to build bridges in the community and meet people where they are.
After a long day and still adjusting to the two hour time difference, we had a time of sharing and looking at what the Bible says about being a servant and then went to bed…the girls down the street at BJ’s and Woody’s and the boys in the upstairs air mattress dorm created at the Scott’s house.
A great first day of serving…
England Day 2- Just 10 and you gotta be kiddin me…
Day 2 has been a great but long day. All the groups were in schools today. Our group spoke in two classes to about 40 students. We talked about America, Texas, and about believing in God and making moral choices. Most students do not believe there is a God and think of church as boring and unnecessary. There were a few who had good questions and seemed to be genuinely seeking. Pray for a young girl named Lauren. She seemed to be sincere in here questions about faith and God. Janie and Taylor’s group went with their school for their special Wednesday activities…like horseback riding, shooting pellet guns (Olympic style), sailing, tennis, etc. When we heard that, we thought they were kidding…but no…Janie is definitely saddle sore.
My group then helped set up for the Just 10 event tonight. It was just good ol’ fashioned grunt work. We had a great time working with some very servant hearted men and women. After a wonderful dinner at our host home, we returned to the tent for Just 10. Just 10 is ten weeks of going through the 10 Commandments one at at time in reverse order. Tonight in week three, we looked at stealing. Gram Seed told his amazing testimony and then, Evangelist J John, who reminded us of Mr. Beane because of his mannerism and looks, did a great job communicating the Gospel. There were probably about 3 or 4 thousand people there. Many made decisions including one deaf young lady who one of our new friends had been signing for earlier in the evening.
For those that came last year, I saw Steve Jackson (the painting guy) and Sharon. They pass along a “Cheerio”. We hope to connect up with some of the others from Middlesborough soon.
We will be in a school all day tomorrow. Please continue to pray for our teams as they connect with students and open doors for future groups to follow.
England Day 1- Here minus some luggage and the big blue
We made it safely here and hopefully Kasia and Taylor’s luggage will too. Yep…it got left in Newark when we left. It should be here Wednesday afternoon. They are doing fine and are well taken care of. Thank you for your prayers.
The day was tiring but good. Nobody was able to get great sleep on the plane so all were tired. We had a great bus driver…Joe. He was fun and took very good care of us. He even made a side trip to allow our group to see some beautiful scenery.
My group, with Kasia and Kimberly, had fun prayer walking around the GINORMOUS blue tent (seats 6000) and then walking around a beautiful park with cool bird and butterfly exhibits. I and another guy on our team were able to talk with some junior high boys about coming to the Just 10 even on Wednesday night. This will be the giant youth evangelism event. It goes through each of the Ten Commandments one at a time for ten weeks.
As you pray tonight and Wednesday, pray for the groups that will be in the schools and for the Just 10 event. Also pray for us to be rested so that nothing hinders us from serving however we are needed.
And with that in mind…it is midnight and I am going to sleep.
Goodnight.
England Pictures Are Up!
Hey, there are new pictures of the England Mission trip!
Nextlink Christmas Pictures
Pictures from the Nextlink Christmas Party are now online!
