Excellence in the little things

July 28, 2011 in Mendenhall 2011 with Comments Off

Disclaimer: I am about to do some major bragging on the 7 students that have come on this trip.

These guy and gals have blown me away this week. They have worked incredibly hard on some very difficult tasks. Not only are they working hard but they have the greatest attitudes while they are doing it.

As I said yesterday, Day 2 and 3 were full of cleaning. Today (Thursday) was more of the same. They are opening a preschool in a week and a half and the building has not been used for several years. Additionally some kids broke in last week and shot a fire extinguisher off in one of the rooms and made a huge mess. We scrubbed the entire place down including some bathrooms that were definitely in need of some help. Another major project was the school kitchen. Parents, your sons and daughters know how to work. They attacked this kitchen at full force. They scrubbed, scraped, brushed, and polished this place spotless. The teachers and other administration have been blown away. The former school principal said that in 15 years she has never seen that kitchen look this good. I cannot say enough good about the ways that these students are serving with excellence this community.

With all of the work we are looking a little worse for wear. It turns out that the unfriendly plants from Monday were a little poison oak. A few in the group are a little itchy but it is beginning to slowly clear up. We are in good hands as there is a nurse from one of the other groups that has helped us a ton. Everybody is doing great. We wrapped up our projects a little early today and enjoyed a little rest this afternoon. We went over to a beautiful river the next town over and enjoyed a little swimming. Then we came back for an epic nap. It was much needed rest for our tired crew.

Tomorrow is our final work day before we travel back. We have completed the cleaning so we’ll be repairing a fence and maybe doing some painting on a house. Tomorrow evening there is a special event for the community where we’ll be viewing a movie dealing with the theme of racial reconciliation. Pray that this will be an powerful evening for the community. We are excited to share more of the stories in person. These students have been so faithful and excellent in even little things and they are doing it all for the glory and honor of Jesus.

The Halfway Point

July 28, 2011 in Mendenhall 2011 with 1 Comment

Let me start by saying that sorry that we have not been able to post yet this week. We’ve had some technical difficulties with the blog.

These students are working hard this week and that is a good thing because there is a lot of work to be done. Mendenhall Ministries started in the late 60′s and has served the community in tremendous ways over the years. They are an arm of Mendenhall Bible Church and seek to meet the many tangible needs of the community and share the love of Jesus.

Our role here is to come alongside ministry here to work in the many ongoing ministries. For the last two days we have been working to help prepare the ministries’ schools to open. We began yesterday with some serious yard work. The unruly vines and weeds were no match for this team. They sweat and worked and made an incredible transformation to the school grounds. It was not without it’s adventures. We were attacked by some hornets and encountered some unfriendly plants, but we have persevered.

The last two days we have been able to clean the schools. Cleaning carpets, mopping, cleaning toilets, and even scrubbing down a very well used school kitchen were some of our activities. These students are serving in an incredible way. They are doing some thankless and hard jobs and doing it without any complaining at all. I am so proud of the way they are working. The team is in great spirits and growing in so many ways.

Another cool part of the week has been the interaction from the other groups and the people from the community. There is another large youth group here from Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship. It has been great to be able to interact with them and hear their stories. God is doing some incredible things in this community and it has been an honor to be a part of it this week.

Thanks for your support and prayers.

Mendenhall 2011

July 24, 2011 in Mendenhall 2011, Uncategorized with Comments Off

We are here!

This week a small team of high school students will be serving in the community of Mendenhall, MS. We are looking forward to posting a few updates throughout the week. We just got into town about an hour ago and are getting settled in. The drive went super smooth. Everybody is feeling good and anxious to start the work projects tomorrow morning.

Summer Days and Chill n Grill

July 1, 2011 in Estonia 2011 with 1 Comment

Summer Days is the name of our two day kids program that we began this morning.  There were about 50 kids that showed up this morning.  Our time was full of games, teaching, music, snacks and crafts.  It was a great start and we are excited to be able to love on these kids some more tomorrow.

This evening, we had a Chill n Grill party for the English Camp students that was back here at the church.  We had a great turnout and a wonderful time together.  We began at the river with some volleyball, then a walk back to the church for some food and fun.  Chris spoke tonight and shared his own story of how Jesus has worked in his life.  Our goal with this night is to connect the students were at camp to the church here in Valga.  We want them to know that the things they learned about Jesus are not just a camp thing but something that is ongoing and there is a place they can go to continue to grow and learn.

Tomorrow we wrap up Summer Days and then make the drive back to Tallinn.  We have an extra early flight on Sunday morning so this will probably be the last post until we are back in the states.  Thanks again for praying and following along in the progress of the trip.

Great Week of Camp

June 30, 2011 in Estonia 2011 with 2 Comments

English Camp ended today.  I enjoy camp every year but this year was one of the best.  For me it was the focus on Jesus during our meetings that I really enjoyed.  Every year we share the Gospel but this year was different because every meeting was a different story about Jesus and the people that He encountered.  We tried to take the view of the disciples and what is must have been like to see Jesus do and say the things He did.  With such a strong focus on the person of Jesus, it centered all of the conversation squarely on who He was and what that means for us.

Many of the students shared that they had never heard these stories about Jesus.  Several said that they definitely wanted to continue to learn and see who this Jesus is.  There were even a few that said that they wanted to begin to follow Jesus with their life.  This all was definitely answered prayer.  Even those who seemed hardened to the truth of Jesus all left knowing who Jesus is and that they need to make a choice about what they are going to do with him in their own life.  They know that it is a decision they need to make and to not make a decision is to decide.

The team is doing great.  They have all done a fantastic job.  Tonight we took some much need time to relax and experienced the Estonian sauna and some grilling out.  There is not a better way to recover from a week of English Camp.  As I type this, the team is all already in bed, which is great because this is a 2-3 hours earlier bedtime than the last couple of nights.  I am going to go join them in sleep.  Tomorrow morning we are back at it as we are doing day one of two in our children’s program.

Good night!

Group Picture

June 29, 2011 in Estonia 2011 with Comments Off

Today I’ll post a picture of the group.  It is the last day of camp so nobody wants to go to bed tonight.  They do not want camp to end!  I guess that is the goal.

The Reason We Are Here

June 28, 2011 in Estonia 2011 with 2 Comments

Today was another great day.  Camp is running as smoothly as we could have hoped for.

I have just one quick story for you today:

Yesterday during our English Environments, we had one that was full of conversations called Meet and Greet.  It was in that English Environment that one of the Estonian students was talking to one of the Estonian leaders.  She asked “Why has nobody every told me about this Jesus before?  I have never heard anything about him.  I want to hear more about this man.”

That is exactly why we are here.

Camp Day 1

June 27, 2011 in Estonia 2011 with 3 Comments

Here is a typical day of camp:

8:30   Leader’s Meeting
9:00   Breakfast
9:40   Meeting
11:15  English Environment
12:30 Lunch
1:30   English Environment
2:30   Free Time (Crafts, Games, Activities)
6:00  Dinner
7:00  Meeting
9:00  Cafe

Today was the first full day of camp.  It is off to a great start!  This morning during our meeting we began our teaching on Jesus and the disciples.  The students seemed more excited and engaged than any of the previous years.  The reason for that I believe is because this is our fourth year doing this.  They came this year expecting to look at the Bible and to talk about God.  There are still many who are uncomfortable talking about God but many have already begun to open up a little bit.

Our team of high school students are doing a great job.  Parents, you can be proud of your sons and daughters.  They are showing the love of Christ in a tremendous way.

Is there any part of the trip or the camp that you would like to hear more about?  If there is, leave a comment and we’ll do our best to try to update you.  You can leave a comment by clicking the post title .

The Students Are Here

June 26, 2011 in Estonia 2011 with 3 Comments

Camp has finally arrived.  But before we tell you about that, let us tell you a little about church this morning.  Getting to worship with our Estonian church family in Valga is always a highlight of the trip.  It is such a clear reminder that our God is so much bigger than we can imagine and that He transcends language and culture because He is the creator of it all.  Pastor Margus preached from 2 Samuel and we were able to worship in Estonian along with the church.

After church, we rushed to pack and load the bus for the school where camp is held.  We had two hours to transform a school into an inviting and fun environment for our week of camp.  We’ll post some pictures later because we had some help from the one of the Estonian leaders, Jaanika, on the banners and decoration and they turned out great.  Camp tonight began with a session jammed packed with games and get to know you English exercises.  The students are more excited and engaging than I have ever seen them before.  They have only been here for the evening but already as the students were heading to bed it was obvious that true friendships were already forming and old relationships have picked up where they left off.

Tomorrow morning we’ll begin our series that we are calling Collision.  We are going to be following the disciples through the things they witnessed as they followed Jesus.  We are going to see the way that people were truly changed where they met Jesus.

By the way, our guitar finally made it to Valga before we left, in case you were still wondering.

Keep praying!

Ready for Camp

June 25, 2011 in Estonia 2011 with Comments Off

Hello from Valga!  Here’s a brief recap of our day:

This morning we began the day with a little fun in Tallinn climbing a church tower and eating crepes.  By now, everybody is pretty well adjusted to time difference (7 hours) and anxious for camp to start.  We made the beautiful four hour drive down to Valga and are all settled in here at the church.  Tonight, we had a time of training and broke into our small groups to pray for the week ahead.

Tomorrow morning we will get to go to church and hear Pastor Margus bring the Word.  In the afternoon, we’ll head to the school where we’ll be joined by 40 Estonian high school students for English Camp.  This is what we have been preparing for over the last several months.  Thank you for continuing to pray.  We are expecting big things this week!

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