Alaska Day 2

Alaska: Day 2-July 4th

      For the Fourth of July, the First Baptist team was asked by Whittier Christ Community Church and the Whittier Chamber of Commerce to help serve during their annual cookout celebration for the town.  Some team members cut up watermelon, tomatoes, lettuce and onions for the cookout, some set up and manned the bounce house and face painting table and others set up, cooked and served at the cookout.  What a wonderful chance to experience the 4^th of July in a small town (Whittier only has a little over 1200 people).  After clean up and a little site seeing, the team went for a hike to see Byron Glacier.  It was a busy and long day but a great day. 

      Wednesday will be True North donut ministry, passing invites for the block party that evening and the block party.  More on that tomorrow!

Jimmy, Virginia & the Alaska Team

Alaska 3-4

Alaska Day 3-4
Happy Wednesday and Thursday from Anchorage!  On both days the team helped prepare packages of donuts to deliver to the local businesses here in Anchorage.  Who could not use a little pick me up of Krispy Kreme (they got one here about a year ago) to get you through the day!  The donut ministry along with the park parties, are two of the biggest events that draw people to True North. We heard a story of a young lady that now attends True North because her roommate brought home donuts that had been delivered that morning.  Another member told us that she first learned of True North by attending a park party.  After we passed out donuts, the teams hung door knockers inviting members in the Woodside neighborhood (Wednesday) and the Turpin neighborhood (Thursday) to that evenings block party.  Some great Gospel conversations were had both nights.  Please be praying for the team as we leave for the airport Friday night around 10 PM to begin our journey home and that we will be back in Norfolk Saturday afternoon at 1:51 PM.
Virginia & Alaska Team

 

Alaska Day 1

Alaska: Day 1
        After an exciting two days of travel (delayed flight out of Norfolk to Houston caused the team to miss their flight from Houston to Denver causing us to stay overnight Saturday in Houston then a 1 hour delay out of Chicago caused a delayed arrival in Anchorage on Sunday evening) the team has made it to Anchorage.  We missed not spending time with True North Anchorage on Sunday morning, but what a fun experience worshiping with our First Norfolk family while in the Houston Airport!
        Day 1 working with True North started with a prayer walk in two different neighborhoods here in Anchorage.  The First Norfolk Team was in the Mountain View area of town which is the most culturally diverse neighborhood in the world.  This can be seen in the different cultural centers in the area: American Samoan, Polynesian, Hispanic, Korean, etc.  Each person walked away with a different feeling or emotional experience. 
        After a wonderful lunch, the teams split up again and went to 4 different laundromats to bless people that were there doing to weekly wash.  We paid for laundry, gave detergent and drier sheets, gave out sweet treats and had wonderful conversations with the people there. 
        Our day ended with another wonderful homemade meal.
        What a wonderful day!  Tomorrow we are off to Whittier to help with a July 4^th cookout put on by the Chamber of Commerce.  More tomorrow!
Virginia & Alaska Team

Philippines Day 3

           What a day for day #3!  Today was "Everyone needs a Savior" with the story of Nicodemus.  The children continue to be such a joy to be around, even with the language barrier, and we continue to hover around 140 children.  Their smiling faces and infectious laughter have been such a blessing to all of us.  In crafts they made Jesus and Nicodemus puppets and Karen and Bob acted out the story of Nicodemus from John 3 with the puppets while Dara told the story by dressing up as Nicodemus and doing a monologue.  She also shared the story of salvation through a John 3:16 soccer ball and each child received a salvation bracelet before they left the Bible story room.  In recreation Randy M and Curt played some games with the children that taught them that they need to listen to the voice of Jesus through all the other noise around them and in music we danced to Bubblin' Up, which the children absolutely loved!  The words to the song tell them that when they have Jesus inside it bubbles up and you have to tell others about Him because you can't keep it in, it's Bubblin' Up!!
           After we finished with VBS and lunch we toured a clinic that the church helps to sponsor, Rafa Clinic, in Antipolo, Philippines.  They helped the people who live and work around the cement factory in Antipolo.  It was a beautiful facility dedicated to fulfilling the Great Commission by ministering to the sick, hurting, and poor, through this medical clinic and it was an honor to see it and hear about Alina's work there and her passion for Jesus.  We finished the evening with a great American staple: PB&J, chips, and watermelon.  We were blessed to be a witness to another Filipino thunderstorm, and boy did it rain!!  God's way of making everything green!  We're looking forward to Day #4 and what God had in store for us.
Blessings,
Dara, Randy K, Randy M, Curt, Karen, Bob, and Dorie

 

 

 

Philippines Day 2

Greetings from Day 2 of VBS Philippines!!

Today dawned bright and hot with temperatures getting into the upper 90's.  We enjoyed another great day of VBS at New Hope to Asia were we had 30+ more children attend than yesterday making our total 146 for today.  Our theme if you remember is Submerged so the we did some swimming with the fishes in music today, and the Bible story and craft centered on a water theme as well with the children learning the story of the woman at the well and the fact that Jesus offers us living water.  The children made little wells in crafts that they absolutely fell in love with and didn't want to put down.  It was such a treasure to see them with their craft.  They once again had lunch before they departed for the day and we left not to much later, returning to the hotel site to prepare for tomorrow's craft and get some rest.  We went to dinner at a food court in a mall where dinner was a local fare but dessert was much closer to home; a DQ Blizzard!  It was a nice cool treat for such a hot day.  Looking forward to what God has in store for us tomorrow and can't wait to tell you all about it. 

Blessings,

Team Philippines
Randy K, Randy M, Bob, Dara, Curt, Karen, and Dorie

 

Philippines Day 1

Philippines Day 1
Good day from Manilla, Philippines!
         Our team departed Friday morning with a quick jaunt to Atlanta before the long haul up and over the country by Alaska and then back down to Tokyo, all 14 hours of it.  What a flight!  We had about an hour and a half in Narita before boarding another plane for the final leg of our journey to Manila.  That one lasted another 5 hours.  I really didn’t want to look at another seat but we then had to get into a van for the 40 minute ride to our hotel.  The bed was a site for sore eyes after 24 hours of traveling, let me tell you!  We awoke to beautiful skies to celebrate Easter with New Hope to Asia, the church that is to be our place for VBS this week.  The congregation welcomed us with open arms and we celebrated our Risen Savior with singing and dancing.  There was an amazing sermon on the hope we have in Jesus, then after lunch we got some much needed rest in the afternoon before going back that evening and worshiping Easter again with the youth.  Before that we made final preparations to begin VBS the following day.  Monday morning we began our day with devotion and breakfast, which consists of rice, a fried egg, some type of sausage, and bread.  We then arrived at New Hope, where we were greeted by over 120 smiling faces, ready to start VBS.  We’re doing Submerged, which is what the church did last year, so a big SHOUT OUT to those of you who let us borrow shirts!!  We dove under the surface to find out what God sees in us and how we can look deeper into God’s Word.  We did four rotations: Crafts, Bible Story, Music, and Recreation.  The crafts and Bible story centered on Zacchaeus and the music taught the kids that no matter what, no matter where, Jesus knows you and Jesus loves you.  The children then had some lunch before heading home for the day.  We came back to the hotel to get some rest before dinner and are looking forward to day #2 of VBS. 

Blessings to all,

The Philippines Team