Hey everyone! We are stopped in Charlotte on our "direct flight" home ... apparently we're staying on the same plane so although we have a short layover, it was still considered direct.
We're all good with our flight time and we'll be arriving right after 7:30pm.
thank you Parents! Much Love! See you in a couple hours!
~L
Living The Great Commision
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Thursday, June 24, 2010
A Glimpse at Day 4
After an attack of African killer bees and a broken nose, our own Jamie Kendrew is still alive. We deemed today "Operation Kill Jamie" after the 24 hours he's had. He's still surviving.
It was a somber and bittersweet day for us here. I'm not sure if I even have the words to describe our final day at the work sites.
All Saints team had a blessed final day visiting, finishing movies, and saying goodbyes. Students spent lunch with residents, helping feed them, and having some sweet times of worship. No words can describe the beauty of what today held and the team is simply in awe of God.
The church group pitched in to clean the church property and lay the rest of the cement (B. Cousino was the girl laying cement ... it was awesome!). We ran VBS and spent a solid 2 hours playing with the kids, singing worship songs, and explaining the love of God to the children we were encountering. It was bittersweet being asked "We'll see you next year, right?"
Lives were changed this week. A lot of them were in our team. But we know that the everlasting, beautiful, good news of Jesus Christ was shared and made known ... compassion was poured out and love was poured in.
The Mission Discovery motto is "To Serve is to Love" ... and all we can say is Hallelujah and Amen.
~L
It was a somber and bittersweet day for us here. I'm not sure if I even have the words to describe our final day at the work sites.
All Saints team had a blessed final day visiting, finishing movies, and saying goodbyes. Students spent lunch with residents, helping feed them, and having some sweet times of worship. No words can describe the beauty of what today held and the team is simply in awe of God.
The church group pitched in to clean the church property and lay the rest of the cement (B. Cousino was the girl laying cement ... it was awesome!). We ran VBS and spent a solid 2 hours playing with the kids, singing worship songs, and explaining the love of God to the children we were encountering. It was bittersweet being asked "We'll see you next year, right?"
Lives were changed this week. A lot of them were in our team. But we know that the everlasting, beautiful, good news of Jesus Christ was shared and made known ... compassion was poured out and love was poured in.
The Mission Discovery motto is "To Serve is to Love" ... and all we can say is Hallelujah and Amen.
~L
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Glimpse of Day 3
Oh my, we can't believe Day 3 is over and we only have 1 more day on the work site. I've head a lot of "I don't want to go home yet" and "Can we please stay?" The students' hearts are becoming wrapped up in the lives of those they're spending time with.
The church site was busy as usual and God was speaking loud and clear. We spent the morning running VBS while some of the guys started laying cement. We took an early lunch thinking we could get about 2.5 hours of solid work in the afternoon, but God had other plans. We finished lunch, the guys started to look at their materials and realized they were running out of everything. The girls started to paint the outside of the church when they were told "Stop! This is the wrong color!" It was then determined they had no paint that was the right color. So everything was put on halt and we went to Plan B ... and plan B is always "Spend time with kids!" In those moments, our students got to sing praise and worship with the kids and it became a very sacred moment ... a thin place ... and a little piece of Heaven.
All Saints team had a very adventurous and blessed day. They were all part of filming a movie that was written by an ASC resident 10-year old named Daniel (the one they paid for summer camp). They had an absolute blast filming and filming will continue tomorrow. Students also spent a lot of time today with Arthur singing hymns. Arthur is in the picture of all the girls below. He is in a wheelchair, loves to talk about sports, music, and how much he loves Jesus. And he has an amazing voice that he uses with all his might ... another slice of Heaven. Some students also got to spend a little but of time with Miss Moxie. They had a dance party, read Scripture together, and Miss Moxie gave the girls some good dating advice. Also, the team sat with Feliicia and discovered she's a Cleveland Browns fan ... and after some heavy trash talking, they sat down and prayed for Haiti because she saw on the news a hurricane could potentially hit. As they left they shouted "Go Steelers!!!" :)
Our evening was fantastic because we did "MAIL CALL!!!" They loved reading their letters and walked away with a heck of a lot of encouragement! And our evening program was led by Pastor Bazille (one of the worksites' Pastors) and some of their church family. They sang a couple songs (absolutely beautiful!) and then Pastor Baz shared the gospel with our kids. It was a good night with a late bedtime (pray for tomorrow ... haha!)
A couple things:
- Shirley and Matt: Bethany and Sarah were so glad to hear about grandpa!!! We read it to them as soon as we got it! I meant to write that yesterday.
- John G. - got your letter for your son and he was grateful ... thank you!
- Stacie & Steph: the boys opened up your letters today and put their bracelets on automatically. :)
- Jan: Peter won the Conch Challenge with a wicked game of Musical Chairs ... it was epic.
- currently Brad has his guitar outside and pretty much all the campers are outside singing How He Loves Us ... ANOTHER slice of Heaven :)
We love you all. We miss you. We're tired. One more day of energy needed. Our God is good.
~L
The church site was busy as usual and God was speaking loud and clear. We spent the morning running VBS while some of the guys started laying cement. We took an early lunch thinking we could get about 2.5 hours of solid work in the afternoon, but God had other plans. We finished lunch, the guys started to look at their materials and realized they were running out of everything. The girls started to paint the outside of the church when they were told "Stop! This is the wrong color!" It was then determined they had no paint that was the right color. So everything was put on halt and we went to Plan B ... and plan B is always "Spend time with kids!" In those moments, our students got to sing praise and worship with the kids and it became a very sacred moment ... a thin place ... and a little piece of Heaven.
All Saints team had a very adventurous and blessed day. They were all part of filming a movie that was written by an ASC resident 10-year old named Daniel (the one they paid for summer camp). They had an absolute blast filming and filming will continue tomorrow. Students also spent a lot of time today with Arthur singing hymns. Arthur is in the picture of all the girls below. He is in a wheelchair, loves to talk about sports, music, and how much he loves Jesus. And he has an amazing voice that he uses with all his might ... another slice of Heaven. Some students also got to spend a little but of time with Miss Moxie. They had a dance party, read Scripture together, and Miss Moxie gave the girls some good dating advice. Also, the team sat with Feliicia and discovered she's a Cleveland Browns fan ... and after some heavy trash talking, they sat down and prayed for Haiti because she saw on the news a hurricane could potentially hit. As they left they shouted "Go Steelers!!!" :)
Our evening was fantastic because we did "MAIL CALL!!!" They loved reading their letters and walked away with a heck of a lot of encouragement! And our evening program was led by Pastor Bazille (one of the worksites' Pastors) and some of their church family. They sang a couple songs (absolutely beautiful!) and then Pastor Baz shared the gospel with our kids. It was a good night with a late bedtime (pray for tomorrow ... haha!)
A couple things:
- Shirley and Matt: Bethany and Sarah were so glad to hear about grandpa!!! We read it to them as soon as we got it! I meant to write that yesterday.
- John G. - got your letter for your son and he was grateful ... thank you!
- Stacie & Steph: the boys opened up your letters today and put their bracelets on automatically. :)
- Jan: Peter won the Conch Challenge with a wicked game of Musical Chairs ... it was epic.
- currently Brad has his guitar outside and pretty much all the campers are outside singing How He Loves Us ... ANOTHER slice of Heaven :)
We love you all. We miss you. We're tired. One more day of energy needed. Our God is good.
~L
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Glimpse of Day 2
Good evening! We are sitting in the midst of a beautiful Bahama breeze with a few drops of rain falling. It feels oh so good!
Today was another amazing day. Jamie and I switched worksites for the day so it's new perspectives time for the blog :)
At All Saints, our day started with finishing painting the Missions House (where mission teams/people stay on the property). The All Saints folks said it would take all week .... we finished in 2 days. Our team was a powerhouse!!! We also weeded one lady's yard so she can get to her clothesline without walking in "firewood" (aka the devil-child of poison ivy and other bad stuff ... don't worry, we're all clean from it :) After lunch, we spent the afternoon visiting residents and delivering snacks. We spent time with Miss Moxie who had each group of visitors read her Scripture. She would say it along with you when you were the one holding the Bible ... she spends her time memorizing the truths of God and it was BEAUTIFUL. She is looking much worse than last year and she asked me to read Ecclesiastes 3 ... "A time to live, a time to die" ... God was my only strength in that moment sitting there with her reading.
The Church group worked like crazy and got nothing but compliments on how HARD they worked! The # of kids at VBS doubled since yesterday .... there were about 60 kids there! While VBS was happening, some of the guys decided to start working on laying the cement slab since all the kids were contained inside. It was pure genius because they were able to get DOUBLE the cement laid than yesterday! The girls finished painting the inside of the church and is allowing for them to paint outside tomorrow.
A couple cool moments:
- Yesterday, a little boy asked Peter for water because he was thirsty and Peter had to say no. So then he asked for money and Peter said no (holding to what we've told them to do in those situations). Today, the same boy said he was thirsty so he was going to get a drink. He came back with 2 ... one for himself and one for Peter. Peter said it's the best can of soda he'll ever have in his life.
- There is a little boy named Daniel at All Saints. He writes screen plays and he wants to go to summer camp at Adventure Learning Centre (where we are staying). As of this afternoon, he had gotten sponsored for 1 week (there are 5 weeks of camp). Tonight we gave our team the challenge to help send Daniel to camp this summer. Within 5 minutes, students had handed us $335! We were able to hand the money directly to Tim and Felicia (in charge of All Saints) and they were overwhelmed!
- Yesterday, Don (our project coordinator) joined us for lunch at the church site. He said how grateful he was at how we dressed on the worksite and how respectful it is. There's not another team dressed as nice as ours! (And don't worry Brenda, that's not RY's shirt) :)
- Melissa's courage went up 100% today at All Saints. Yesterday she was quiet and stayed towards the back, not knowing what to say. Today, she was passing out snacks, laughing with residents, and having conversations. God has given her the strength to make every day at All Saints valuable and important.
- Even when our team hasn't been on clean up crew, they have helped at every meal and every set up/tear down. I am amazed at how much they are giving.
- Sean was awesome at letting some of the kids at All Saints beat him in basketball even though he just had to put his hand up to touch the hoop :)
- All the churches are starting to blend together. Currently we've got 10 people from 3 different churches around a table playing one of Josh's "hood-rat" card games and they are laughing, screaming, and enjoying each other!!!
Tomorrow is hump day .... halfway thru our week and mail call day. Your words of encouragement are about to nourish the souls of our team. Thank you! And if anyone could contact Jane Gwaltney, ask her to e-mail me John's letter to Connor at leroland05@yahoo.com because I left the print out on my desk :/
We love you all!!!!
~L
Today was another amazing day. Jamie and I switched worksites for the day so it's new perspectives time for the blog :)
At All Saints, our day started with finishing painting the Missions House (where mission teams/people stay on the property). The All Saints folks said it would take all week .... we finished in 2 days. Our team was a powerhouse!!! We also weeded one lady's yard so she can get to her clothesline without walking in "firewood" (aka the devil-child of poison ivy and other bad stuff ... don't worry, we're all clean from it :) After lunch, we spent the afternoon visiting residents and delivering snacks. We spent time with Miss Moxie who had each group of visitors read her Scripture. She would say it along with you when you were the one holding the Bible ... she spends her time memorizing the truths of God and it was BEAUTIFUL. She is looking much worse than last year and she asked me to read Ecclesiastes 3 ... "A time to live, a time to die" ... God was my only strength in that moment sitting there with her reading.
The Church group worked like crazy and got nothing but compliments on how HARD they worked! The # of kids at VBS doubled since yesterday .... there were about 60 kids there! While VBS was happening, some of the guys decided to start working on laying the cement slab since all the kids were contained inside. It was pure genius because they were able to get DOUBLE the cement laid than yesterday! The girls finished painting the inside of the church and is allowing for them to paint outside tomorrow.
A couple cool moments:
- Yesterday, a little boy asked Peter for water because he was thirsty and Peter had to say no. So then he asked for money and Peter said no (holding to what we've told them to do in those situations). Today, the same boy said he was thirsty so he was going to get a drink. He came back with 2 ... one for himself and one for Peter. Peter said it's the best can of soda he'll ever have in his life.
- There is a little boy named Daniel at All Saints. He writes screen plays and he wants to go to summer camp at Adventure Learning Centre (where we are staying). As of this afternoon, he had gotten sponsored for 1 week (there are 5 weeks of camp). Tonight we gave our team the challenge to help send Daniel to camp this summer. Within 5 minutes, students had handed us $335! We were able to hand the money directly to Tim and Felicia (in charge of All Saints) and they were overwhelmed!
- Yesterday, Don (our project coordinator) joined us for lunch at the church site. He said how grateful he was at how we dressed on the worksite and how respectful it is. There's not another team dressed as nice as ours! (And don't worry Brenda, that's not RY's shirt) :)
- Melissa's courage went up 100% today at All Saints. Yesterday she was quiet and stayed towards the back, not knowing what to say. Today, she was passing out snacks, laughing with residents, and having conversations. God has given her the strength to make every day at All Saints valuable and important.
- Even when our team hasn't been on clean up crew, they have helped at every meal and every set up/tear down. I am amazed at how much they are giving.
- Sean was awesome at letting some of the kids at All Saints beat him in basketball even though he just had to put his hand up to touch the hoop :)
- All the churches are starting to blend together. Currently we've got 10 people from 3 different churches around a table playing one of Josh's "hood-rat" card games and they are laughing, screaming, and enjoying each other!!!
Tomorrow is hump day .... halfway thru our week and mail call day. Your words of encouragement are about to nourish the souls of our team. Thank you! And if anyone could contact Jane Gwaltney, ask her to e-mail me John's letter to Connor at leroland05@yahoo.com because I left the print out on my desk :/
We love you all!!!!
~L
Monday, June 21, 2010
Glimpse into Day 1
Good evening everyone! We've just finished all our evening activities so we wanted to let you know what today held.
It was an absolutely amazing, God-filled day for each and every single one of us. And I'm ready and willing to brag on every single member of our team right now. :)
The boys were on clean-up crew all day and did everything with excellence .... even cleaning bathrooms! They continually went above and beyond and were a blessing to us all. RY won the Conch Challenge (a nightly game) for the guys cabin which means they get to carry around the golden conch until tomorrow night. Brad led us in another amazing set of worship, closing with How He Loves Us, which had about half the camp on their knees.
This morning started off with a healthy breakfast of eggs and warm bagels. We got loaded up on the buses and headed to our sites. The team at New Haitian Mission Baptist Church pulled up to a welcome team of children that were excited for piggy back rides and to ask "Do you remember me?" We played for about 30 minutes and then got ready for VBS. With about 25 children, we taught a bible story (Gen. 1-2) and made necklaces and bracelets. We played games in the backyard and painted faces with some cool face crayons J. Stone brought (best idea EVER!). We took a short lunch break and then got to work on the church building. The guys started to lay some cement slab while the girls occupied the children, had sweet conversations with them, and painted indoors.
The team that headed to All Saints Colony was walking into the unknown as there were over 70 volunteers from mission teams. It was amazing to watch our students pour into the relational aspect of missions. They sat and read Scripture for hours and sang worship songs with residents. It was truly a God-moment. The guys got almost an entire house painted in one day that they were told would take a week. The girls spent time with residents, listening to their stories, reading them books, and helping them get whatever they needed for daily life in the colony.
Thank you so much for all your prayers. We feel completely showered with love, encouragement and the pure grace of God thru your prayers. Please pray as hearts are broken that God would continue to move and be our Strength. Pray for rested bones and muscles tonight and energy for another day. And please pray for the beautiful moments when our hearts begin to align with His in such a way that we see the world thru His eyes and live out 1 Peter 4:10-11.
::: side note: we are reading the comments every time we update the blog and the students are loving the comments!!!! Thank You!!!!! :::
PICTURES BELOW FROM DAY 1
~L
It was an absolutely amazing, God-filled day for each and every single one of us. And I'm ready and willing to brag on every single member of our team right now. :)
The boys were on clean-up crew all day and did everything with excellence .... even cleaning bathrooms! They continually went above and beyond and were a blessing to us all. RY won the Conch Challenge (a nightly game) for the guys cabin which means they get to carry around the golden conch until tomorrow night. Brad led us in another amazing set of worship, closing with How He Loves Us, which had about half the camp on their knees.
This morning started off with a healthy breakfast of eggs and warm bagels. We got loaded up on the buses and headed to our sites. The team at New Haitian Mission Baptist Church pulled up to a welcome team of children that were excited for piggy back rides and to ask "Do you remember me?" We played for about 30 minutes and then got ready for VBS. With about 25 children, we taught a bible story (Gen. 1-2) and made necklaces and bracelets. We played games in the backyard and painted faces with some cool face crayons J. Stone brought (best idea EVER!). We took a short lunch break and then got to work on the church building. The guys started to lay some cement slab while the girls occupied the children, had sweet conversations with them, and painted indoors.
The team that headed to All Saints Colony was walking into the unknown as there were over 70 volunteers from mission teams. It was amazing to watch our students pour into the relational aspect of missions. They sat and read Scripture for hours and sang worship songs with residents. It was truly a God-moment. The guys got almost an entire house painted in one day that they were told would take a week. The girls spent time with residents, listening to their stories, reading them books, and helping them get whatever they needed for daily life in the colony.
Thank you so much for all your prayers. We feel completely showered with love, encouragement and the pure grace of God thru your prayers. Please pray as hearts are broken that God would continue to move and be our Strength. Pray for rested bones and muscles tonight and energy for another day. And please pray for the beautiful moments when our hearts begin to align with His in such a way that we see the world thru His eyes and live out 1 Peter 4:10-11.
::: side note: we are reading the comments every time we update the blog and the students are loving the comments!!!! Thank You!!!!! :::
PICTURES BELOW FROM DAY 1
~L
Sunday, June 20, 2010
We Made It!!!
Hey everyone! We made it safe! All our flights were shorter than expected and got in early. And we all made it thru immigration and customs with no issues. And the biggest question of all ... any lost luggage NO!!! Woohoo!!!
We have 2 other churches here with us from Ohio and Tennessee. They're all great and bring a lot to the table.
It's toasty warm, but a beautiful Bahamian breeze that just can't be beat.
Tonight will consist of our very own Brad Corrie leading worship, with a large group devotional time. Tomorrow will be our first day on our worksites and we are ready to go!
Please pray for our initial interactions with the Haitians tomorrow. Although some of us feel like we're back at home, we still need to start at square 1 with introductions, letting people know what we're doing, and start all the awesome things we get to do to share the beautiful news of Jesus Christ! Also pray for a healthy night of sleep for us all.
We love you and we thank you for your prayers!
Feel free to leave us comments!
~l
We have 2 other churches here with us from Ohio and Tennessee. They're all great and bring a lot to the table.
It's toasty warm, but a beautiful Bahamian breeze that just can't be beat.
Tonight will consist of our very own Brad Corrie leading worship, with a large group devotional time. Tomorrow will be our first day on our worksites and we are ready to go!
Please pray for our initial interactions with the Haitians tomorrow. Although some of us feel like we're back at home, we still need to start at square 1 with introductions, letting people know what we're doing, and start all the awesome things we get to do to share the beautiful news of Jesus Christ! Also pray for a healthy night of sleep for us all.
We love you and we thank you for your prayers!
Feel free to leave us comments!
~l
Monday, June 14, 2010
18 for Haiti
Christ Church Golf Outing 2010
18 for Haiti
Monday, August 23, 2010
Treesdale Golf & Country Club
$165 per golfer
$650 per foursome
$50 dinner only
All proceeds benefit Student Missions
Click here to see the brochure which includes schedule and
sponsorship information.
Contact Leanne Roland 412-741-4900, ext. 158.
Foursome must be paid for all at once. Payment must be made at the time of registration.
Payment is due at registration.
For registration info Follow Link below
http://www.ccgf.org/golf
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