Today was a mixed kind of day for me. My workshop didn't go as planned. I wouldn't let the kids listen to hip hop with any cuss words in it, and they got mad and walked out. While at first I was like wow, that stinks; it actually gave me an opportunity to work with these three guys that just wanted to dance. They listened to what I said about the music, and they even wanted me to help them with their talent show routine. It was really encouraging to be able to just leave some type of impact on them, however small.
Bible Club was a pretty good turnout as well, we did our skit and our Everything skit, and I really pray that it made a lasting impact on these kids. With Bible Club it's a very different atmosphere from how it was in Glennallen. Glennallen was very flexible with a little bit of structure, where as Bible Club is very structured with little flexibility. Having to switch from such extremes was kind of difficult for me to be able to feel out how people were reacting to the Gospel, and also, how much of an impact we were making. It really made me realize that I just have to keep doing the things that I'm doing, to be the light, and that God would do the rest.
Tomorrow I'm leaving Alaska, and I think one thing I really learned on this trip was to have faith. I think many times I learn lessons of grace and love, but faith has been something that I've really been tested, and something I'm hoping to keep strong. God has a plan for our lives, and while I might not know it, and I might have many plans for myself, nothing is random. I think for me going into my last year of college and really thinking about my future and what I'm going to do with it, is something that I need to not freak out about. Although that's kind of hard, I know that God will place me and use me wherever he sees fit, and he will protect me and guide me through all parts of life. I'm really blessed and grateful to have gone on this trip, and I really thank everyone who was praying for me and the team, as well as following my blog.
Please pray for our safety tomorrow as we fly back to Philadelphia. God Bless!
Showing posts with label anchorage. Show all posts
Showing posts with label anchorage. Show all posts
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Anchorage Day 2
Today was the second day at the Boys and Girls Club, after getting a very sore night of sleep, I surprisingly felt very well rested regardless. During the first hour or so, it is very hard for me to get into the groove of things, mostly because I'm like the floater helper. I have no workshop of my own, so I feel like I have no place, however I just walk around and try to help out as best as I can. When it comes time to dance though, I feel right at home. Although it is a relatively basic routine, it is still fun to be able to dance and teach them and see the kids get so excited to learn something new and then show it off. Seriously, if I get an opportunity to train better and then later on teach, I would do it, it's such a great feeling; and then on top of that getting the opportunity to talk about God to them and the type of music that they listen to. It's really great to be able to use something I love and share that alongside the Gospel. :D
Today's program went well. We had a way bigger turnout than yesterday, so it was really encouraging, and the craft we did allowed us to share the Salvation message with the kids one on one...or two on one. The two girls I had were like polar opposites. One girl was really listening, but the other girl was all over the place. She kept interrupting me and telling me different stories, but it was okay, because it gave me opportunity to share how God applies to those different things. They ended up praying the prayer accepting Jesus into their lives, but based off of how things went, I'm not quite sure how the one girl was really thinking about it. So I'll just keep praying for them. At such a young age, many of these kids see a lot of bad stuff happening around them, and have no answers as to why, or what to do about them. Please pray for the kids in Mountain View Boys and Girls Club.
Prayer Requests:
- That God will lead us through the last day, and we will remain focused.
- That He will work in the hearts of those that accepted Christ today, and help them find good mentors that will nurture their spirit and help them grow.
- For Perry's safe flight home tonight.
- For our health and energy.
That's it for now!
Today's program went well. We had a way bigger turnout than yesterday, so it was really encouraging, and the craft we did allowed us to share the Salvation message with the kids one on one...or two on one. The two girls I had were like polar opposites. One girl was really listening, but the other girl was all over the place. She kept interrupting me and telling me different stories, but it was okay, because it gave me opportunity to share how God applies to those different things. They ended up praying the prayer accepting Jesus into their lives, but based off of how things went, I'm not quite sure how the one girl was really thinking about it. So I'll just keep praying for them. At such a young age, many of these kids see a lot of bad stuff happening around them, and have no answers as to why, or what to do about them. Please pray for the kids in Mountain View Boys and Girls Club.
Prayer Requests:
- That God will lead us through the last day, and we will remain focused.
- That He will work in the hearts of those that accepted Christ today, and help them find good mentors that will nurture their spirit and help them grow.
- For Perry's safe flight home tonight.
- For our health and energy.
That's it for now!
Day 1 in Anchorage
What a long day! I figured I'd legit update to help me fall asleep, so here goes.
Our days here are going to be set up as workshops from 2-4 at the Mountain View Boys and Girls Club. My workshop was hip hop, and while the piece (which I used from National Dance Day's Nappytabs routine) was very basic, I realized that even so, it was still difficult to teach because many of the kids didn't feel confident in being able to get the choreography. But it was amazing to be able to use dance, something I'm passionate about, as a means of personally getting to know the kids better. And of course now I'm sore -_-. But aside from that we had our first Bible Camp, and while a very small number of kids showed up, it was both a "good" and a "bad" thing. Of course it's disheartening to not have many people sign up the first day, but it worked because we were all so exhausted, if we had more kids, we probably wouldn't have been functioning. The good thing was that the kids seemed to enjoy the skits and our songs and stuff, and pay attention to part of our message.
Since working with kids and teens, I've been noticing a lot of characteristics that these kids have that I used to have when I was their age. It was strange for me to try to remember the things I got mad about, the nothingness I filled my life with. Very eye-opening.
Prayer Requests:
- That God will give us a new passion to do his work in Anchorage, and that we can keep up our strength for the next two days
- Praise that we're mostly over our colds now (Team members)
- Pray for Perry's safety as he flies back to Jersey
- That tomorrow God will open doors for us to be able to reach those he wants us to reach and that he will open their hearts and ears so they can absorb the Gospel
That's it for now! Good Night!
Our days here are going to be set up as workshops from 2-4 at the Mountain View Boys and Girls Club. My workshop was hip hop, and while the piece (which I used from National Dance Day's Nappytabs routine) was very basic, I realized that even so, it was still difficult to teach because many of the kids didn't feel confident in being able to get the choreography. But it was amazing to be able to use dance, something I'm passionate about, as a means of personally getting to know the kids better. And of course now I'm sore -_-. But aside from that we had our first Bible Camp, and while a very small number of kids showed up, it was both a "good" and a "bad" thing. Of course it's disheartening to not have many people sign up the first day, but it worked because we were all so exhausted, if we had more kids, we probably wouldn't have been functioning. The good thing was that the kids seemed to enjoy the skits and our songs and stuff, and pay attention to part of our message.
Since working with kids and teens, I've been noticing a lot of characteristics that these kids have that I used to have when I was their age. It was strange for me to try to remember the things I got mad about, the nothingness I filled my life with. Very eye-opening.
Prayer Requests:
- That God will give us a new passion to do his work in Anchorage, and that we can keep up our strength for the next two days
- Praise that we're mostly over our colds now (Team members)
- Pray for Perry's safety as he flies back to Jersey
- That tomorrow God will open doors for us to be able to reach those he wants us to reach and that he will open their hearts and ears so they can absorb the Gospel
That's it for now! Good Night!
Monday, July 5, 2010
Last Day in Glennallen, Back in Anchorage
Happy Independence Day! It's our last day at the Native Bible Conference, and wow what a day today. We went to service at Glennallen Community Chapel, and the service in itself was a God marker. From the songs, to the sermon, to even the Breakdown of the Gospel in Romans on the back of the bulletin, was like God giving us exactly the message he wanted us to give the teens; and then Mrs. Hui came up with the idea of having a teen service after our typical program.
At the service, about 20 people showed up, maybe plus or minus the team, but it was still a good crowd, we did worship and our rendition of the Everything - Lifehouse skit and Bob Wendt from ABC spoke a little bit. For me, it was so powerful to see how God was working, especially in this guy Mikey's life. For those of us that met him, he's the friendly, funny, all smiles kinda guy. He was so focused during the whole service, it was like you could see the gears turning in his head. And what a "coincidence" that he just so happened to come home for the weekend because it was the holiday and he got to come to the service. He was telling us after, that he felt like it was a wake up call in his life because even though he accepted Christ there were still somethings that weren't in line in his life. I'll be praying for him, please do too.
Tomorrow we leave for Anchorage! Please pray for our Bible Club there from Tues-Thurs!
I will fear no evil, for my God is with me
and if my God is with me, whom then shall I fear?
Oh, no you never let go
through the calm and through the storm
Oh, no you never let go
in every high and every low
Oh, no you never let go
Lord, you never let go of me
At the service, about 20 people showed up, maybe plus or minus the team, but it was still a good crowd, we did worship and our rendition of the Everything - Lifehouse skit and Bob Wendt from ABC spoke a little bit. For me, it was so powerful to see how God was working, especially in this guy Mikey's life. For those of us that met him, he's the friendly, funny, all smiles kinda guy. He was so focused during the whole service, it was like you could see the gears turning in his head. And what a "coincidence" that he just so happened to come home for the weekend because it was the holiday and he got to come to the service. He was telling us after, that he felt like it was a wake up call in his life because even though he accepted Christ there were still somethings that weren't in line in his life. I'll be praying for him, please do too.
Tomorrow we leave for Anchorage! Please pray for our Bible Club there from Tues-Thurs!
I will fear no evil, for my God is with me
and if my God is with me, whom then shall I fear?
Oh, no you never let go
through the calm and through the storm
Oh, no you never let go
in every high and every low
Oh, no you never let go
Lord, you never let go of me
Friday, June 25, 2010
God is an Awesome Creator
I think being from the city, it's so easy to get caught up in the business to recognize the vast beauty of God's creation. Being in Alaska, however is totally different, because there's less buildings, less busyness, less...a lot of things, and oh there's a lot of light throughout the day. Today we spent the day sight seeing and equipment shopping. Just driving and taking pictures and seeing these huge animals up close, was just amazing to me to be able to marvel in how beautiful Alaska is, even in rain! To see how small I was compared to these mountains and glaciers and just the beauty of how a glacier looks when the sun hits it through the clouds. Amazing.
We also visited the Mountain View Boys and Girls Club to see the facilities and meet some of the kids. I think meeting them really made me realize that it's for real now. We had our few days of break, now was the beginning of getting everything together, starting relationships, creating friendships. It was really cool.
Tomorrow we leave for Glennallen, where most of our trip will be.
Prayer Requests:
- Safety in Driving
- Praise that Perry made it to Alaska safely and for the wonderful creation from God
- that the hearts of the kids we met today will be open and they will come to our camp
- for the hearts of the teens in Glennallen, as we go to prepare for their program, that they are receptive to the discussions and messages we have prepared and just that they will accept us as we try to get them better
- Continued prayer that God will reveal his plans to us throughout the trip and that we will be open and stilll to see what He is trying to show us
Anchorage, AK
Hey Readers!
We got into Anchorage last night, and went straight to bed, so I didn't get to update. But just a quick update, we were blessed to have first class on our flight from Detroit to Anchorage. To me I was just so thankful, it was really all God. I've traveled a lot, but this is the first time I've been in first class and it was on our way to Alaska. I really felt like God was showing us how he gives and takes away (through our missed flight and then hotel + first class) and how he provides us with rest. As Vivian shared with us last night, "It's like we came to serve but we were served in a fantastic way." Seriously!
Today we're going to go around Anchorage and buy supplies and a little of sightseeing. I forgot how beautiful Alaska was, so it'll be really nice to get reacquainted with it and just see how awesome God's creation is. (ps, Alaska tap water is BOMB!)
Prayer Requests/Praises:
- That we will continue to be open to God markers and what He has in store for us
- For our health and safety
- For Perry's (our last memeber) safe trip to Anchorage
- "That God will reveal each persons spiritual gift so that we can not only use it but develop it even stronger" -- HH
- "Please pray that we keep our focus on God and what he is going to do during this YMT." -- VC
We got into Anchorage last night, and went straight to bed, so I didn't get to update. But just a quick update, we were blessed to have first class on our flight from Detroit to Anchorage. To me I was just so thankful, it was really all God. I've traveled a lot, but this is the first time I've been in first class and it was on our way to Alaska. I really felt like God was showing us how he gives and takes away (through our missed flight and then hotel + first class) and how he provides us with rest. As Vivian shared with us last night, "It's like we came to serve but we were served in a fantastic way." Seriously!
Today we're going to go around Anchorage and buy supplies and a little of sightseeing. I forgot how beautiful Alaska was, so it'll be really nice to get reacquainted with it and just see how awesome God's creation is. (ps, Alaska tap water is BOMB!)
Prayer Requests/Praises:
- That we will continue to be open to God markers and what He has in store for us
- For our health and safety
- For Perry's (our last memeber) safe trip to Anchorage
- "That God will reveal each persons spiritual gift so that we can not only use it but develop it even stronger" -- HH
- "Please pray that we keep our focus on God and what he is going to do during this YMT." -- VC
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