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

Malawi 2016

Our Malawi team with their interpreters.

Malawi 2016

Malawi: Day 1-3

We arrived on Friday, August 12th, on time and with all our bags! It is always special when your supplies arrive with you and you don't have to shop to do ministry!

                Saturday, August 13th, found our team doing oral story-telling with local pastors and church leaders. This was both educational AND fun for the participants. Another team went out to lead evangelism training for a local, urban church. Of course, in Malawi, every gathering can result in a two hour worship time before going out into the community!
                Sundays are always special as many times we have the opportunity to worship with Bindula Baptist Church, a First Baptist Norfolk church plant. We had the largest attendance of any time we have been a part of their services, over 300 in attendance! It was an amazing time of corporate worship and hearts were mended and spirits lifted!
                Monday, August 15th, was our first day of medical clinics as well as VBS. We had a medical person from a nearby hospital join our four medical personnel in attending to the health needs of the village of Komoyo as well as nearby villages. We ran out of medicine by early afternoon and asked many to return the next day to pick up medicine that would be purchased later that day. We had over 25 adults make decisions to follow Christ! Praise God for His favor and blessings.
                In addition to the wonderful decisions at the health clinic, there were over 150 children for VBS! What a beautiful site to see so many children attentive to scriptures and reciting them back to our team. Fun was had by everyone, especially our team!

South Dakota Trip Summary

South Dakota: July 23-July 29, 2016 

Our mission trip to South Dakota was in support of Connection Church in Sturgis. We supported in helping them setup for worship, passing out flyers to different parts of the city informing them of the block party that evening and helped set the block party each night and manning the food tables and bounce houses, giving time for members of Connection Church Sturgis to greet and meet neighbors, friends, families and others that came to the block party and inviting them to Church.

Israel: Day 1-3

Jerusalem, August 4, 2016
                We arrived in Jerusalem on Tuesday, August 2, after five days of travel without our luggage.  We have learned to be flexible on mission trips so we have been washing our clothes in the sink at night and purchased a few items to hold us over while we waited for the airline to locate and deliver our lost luggage.  We received on suitcase Tuesday evening and the other one last night. 
                Yesterday we were receiving training on how to run the Jerusalem Prayer Center (JPC) from our gracious hosts, Larry and Gail.  We will fill in for them while they return to the states to visit family and report on their mission to their home church.
                People of all faiths come from all over the world to this center to pray.  It has an amazing prayer room where people can stand, sit, kneel, or lay prostrate on the ground in prayer.  This building has an amazing tradition and history.  If you want, you can check it out here:  www.jerusalemprayercenter.com.
                Yesterday morning eight young adults, four male, four female, between the ages of 23 and 28 joined us.  They are part of a mission named "World Racers".  They sign up to go on mission to eleven countries in eleven months.  They raise their own support and live on a budget of $8.00 a day, divided as such, 4 for shelter, 3 for food, 1 for transportation.  They live, eat, and travel just like the people they are serving.  They had already been to Burma, India, Nepal, China, and several other countries.  They were headed to Turkey which was their plan, when they were redirected by the Holy Spirit to Israel (if this sounds familiar read Acts 16:6-10).  They will be helping clear a lot on the grounds so it can be converted into a family prayer garden.  We got to pray with them, hear their stories, and do a Bible study with them yesterday.  They told of visiting a park in Burma and sharing the gospel there through two interpreters.  The response was so great that a church was started right then and right there.  Other people are moving in to serve this new body of believers.  
                A pastor from Singapore joined up for Bible study.  He volunteers two months a year as a guide at the Garden Tomb (a fifteen minute walk from the JPC).  On his one hour lunch period he walks to the center for 30 minutes of prayer in the prayer room.  He calls that his "power center" where he is reenergized and listens for God to speak to his heart.  On Monday he gave a tour to 50 college students from Cambodia.  None of them were Christian.  While they waited for the tour to start he shared the gospel with this group and 30 of them came to faith in Jesus Christ.  God is moving throughout the world and we hear stories and see evidence of it constantly.  
                Before coming to Jerusalem Cheryl and I were able to tour some of the holy sites in the northern part of the country.  We met a young couple from New York who were on their honeymoon.  He is originally from Bangladesh, was a Muslim, and had recently converted to Christianity after reading the Bible.  They had visited his family in Bangladesh before coming to Israel but could not tell them of his conversion because of negative consequences for both him and his family, including death.  He is so excited about his faith and was baptized in the Jordan River by a Korean pastor who just said, "if anyone wants to be baptized, I am a pastor".  We had a great conversation with this young couple and they are going to try to come visit us when they are in Jerusalem.  
                Today we will continue our training and orientation.  Then, I plan to help the young men from World Racers remove rocks and dirt from the lot with wheelbarrows.  We will also meet with people as they come and, pray with them as directed by the Holy Spirit. 

Slalom,

Kevin and Cheryl