Fall Retreat!

Fall Retreat!

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SYATP World Wide Prayer

See you at the pole SYATP has been taking place since the 90's. It started in a school down south and has spread as a world wide movement taking place annually during the 4th Wednesday in September. Today those who claim the name of Christ gathered around flag poles everywhere to pray. It was awesome to see God's people gathering to seek him despite the not so nice weather.

These are a couple pics from Ames. It doesn't do the crowd much justice. Their were probably 75 students there so we broke into much smaller groups to pray. We would take a piece of the Lord's Prayer and pray through it. We'd then join together to hear another portion of the prayer then we'd break into our groups again to pray through that portion. It was awesome!

Our Father who art in heaven,

hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come.

Thy will be done

on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread,

and forgive us our trespasses,

as we forgive those who trespass against us,

and lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom,

and the power, and the glory,

for ever and ever. -Amen

Worship Workshop

We had a crazy good time at worship workshop. So many talented musicians at Cornerstone. Isaac Schmidt our new worship leader did a great job putting on this event. Here are some pictures taken from the "stomp" portion of the event. Students were placed in teams and given random materials and asked to create an entertaining routine. Check out the video for a clearer example. Oh and the 4 words were chosen at random and each group had to incorporate them some home.

Top 10 Panama

Their are a few things that make Panama a very unique missions trip. It's a great place and God is really at work in the lives of people there. But anytime you step from one culture to another, especially with 18 teenagers, you are going to have some culturally different moments. Here's my personal Top 10 "Culture Shock" unique to Panama moments.

10. Every 5 steps one of our interpreters would pick something up from the jungle, exclaim how it's edible, and ask us if we too would like to try it.

9. Training Time: Jasey wowed us with her magic knife trick. Talent. It's not really a culture shock but it is a pretty sweet video.

8. Bathing in a River. You could actually sit down and being washing your hair while simultaneously have minnows (small fish) nibbling on your legs and back.

7. The fruit track actually just came straight to you instead of supplying a store. And much like an ice cream truck came complete with it's own song and loud speaker.

6. Volleyball in a monsoon. Amazing.

5. Language can be a barrier when entering a new culture. Nice Manhart broke down the walls of communication with the kids rather quickly. He learned the word "hurt" in spanish. He then proceeded to scream "hurt" in spanish while taking a wet bandana and whipping it wildly. He chased the boys for hours and days... and they LOVED IT!

4. What's that smell? By day 4 it was growing rather pungent in the male leaders room. I wanted to personally blame Travis. Only two days later did I realize the origin of the smell was coming from my duffle bag. Seems that something had literally died in my bag allowing the smell to ripen with our time there.

3. Tarantellas. Snakes. Caterpillars with ears that shoot venom. The wildlife was crazy and some of it very deadly.

2. Sweat. Here in our culture if you are sweating you are usually working hard. In which case when you finish the job you enter into a nice Air Conditioned vehicle or room and things return to normal. Not here. You just keep sweating. More then a couple people melted away over 5 lbs on our trip.

1. Machettes. Here if you have enough muscles to swing one... you should. Manual labor was the only labor. Even when we went to the city I never saw a lawn mower but a half a million guys with weed eaters who would use them as mowers. Crazy Cultures. Makes me wonder what people say when they come here!

Lessons Learned

So after 7 Months of Marriage I wouldn't say I'm an expert by any means. In fact I'd say I'm pretty far on the other side of the spectrum, but I'm learning. Allow me to share with you the top 5 things I've learned during this short time. Hopefully these things that got me in trouble with the Mrs. will now make you laugh.

5. You can be winning 11-0 in Racquet Ball and still be the world's biggest loser. Seems that my wife didn't appreciate my forehand "crush" as much as some of the guys might. Lesson Learned.

4. Gold Bond: Well if you didn't read this original post within the first 8 hours... you missed a good story which has since been deleted. My wife has convinced me some stories are better left un-told.

3. Guns should not be one's sole purpose of entertainment. Now this may be the hardest lesson I'm still in the process of learning. My wife is helping diversify my interest. We even went to "The Theater" to see a Broadway show last month. Another couple joined us. His response, not mine, at intermission was. "Is it now over?" Nope the fun continues. More to fun than just guns. Lesson Learned.

2. Donuts served fresh, are better for wives then "Donuts" in the truck. My wife is pretty healthy but will enjoy a nice bakery donut. What she doesn't enjoy is when I surprise her with the other type. When the tires are sliding across the ground and the centripetal force is jamming her against the door... Donuts vs. "Donuts." Lesson Learned.

1. Food Groups. My food pyramid was made up of Meats, Potatoes, and ice-cream. My wife has help me make the correlation between the spare tire in my mid section and such eating habits. Ends up I don't mind stemmed broccoli........ covered in cheese! Food Pyramid. Lesson Learned

Rosebud Recap

Rosebud was Awesome! Our team did a great job of reaching out to the youth and the community. I’d love to post a few pictures and a couple stories from the Rez.

First the team. We really wanted to be a team who loved each other and were unified. The idea was that if we could see the love of Christ amongst each other it’d be easy for outsiders to see as well. For 8 days together through storms, heat, bugs, sleep deprivation, and injuries I’d say they did great. Flexibility is a key word for teams on the reservation where cell phone numbers for locals change more often than the seasons (nearly all are on pre-paid). With the “lemons” that life dealt them through the week they made a lot of “lemonade.” God gave us the most amazing rain shower, which our students enjoyed to the fullest by playing tackle football. Two different Rosebud locals were quoted saying “This is the most fun I have ever had in my whole life.” So parents with sick children this week… they did it for Jesus!

The culture. If you haven’t gone you should. You can’t begin to create an accurate picture of such a unique place. Monday night Casey, a Ballard leader, was trying to describe the place and culture to Travis Pierce. Travis at one point burst out “Ok Stop. I’m just getting confused now.” Part of our time was spent installing some new hoops at the local courts. The hoops were then used to host a 3 on 3 tournaments. Roger Wheeler was a huge help. We had 16 teams show up to compete for prizes. This looks to be a great activity to build upon seeing as it drew the community out and rallied them around a central cause. Upwards anyone?!?

The Ministry. Too many sweet stories to share so you’ll have to ask those who went. It seemed like everyone was getting into great spiritual conversations. I was so encouraged by the leaders on the trip who really set an example. The guys really got the guys to open up and the same for the girls. It was amazing in how short of time the depth at which many of these relationships were able to get to.

Look forward to future efforts. Right now we’re praying and asking for host families to house some of the teens our teens connected to. The idea would be to give some of the students there a chance to get a great education in a great environment here. Away from the gangs and violence which are often found on the rez. Anyone looking for another life?!

Car Wash! Recap

So we've all had those overwhelming experiences. Maybe it's a kid tugging on your coat while

you're on the phone in the check out line. For m

e this past weekend it was our car wash. Let it be said on the front end it all turned out great! Cars

got washed and our e22 missions teams certainly got supported by an awesome church body. The amount brought in was nearly $1,750. That was an average of over $30/hr for the students to apply towards their overseas trips.

Saturday

10pm. Making a last minute run to the church to get things in order.

Sunday D-day

7:00am. Arise and run to Walmart to get last minute supplies

7:34 Meet Cameron Lewis (THANK YOU) and unload his huge pressure washer.

7:50 Begin to allign hoses and hook up the pressure washers.

8:00 Sit and wonder when the fun will start

8:04 Fun starts

8:10 Cars begin going through our barricade's to park

8:20 MORE CAR's 40 mins before church. Be made aware of these people before you invite them to a dinner party!

8:34 Assemble the students and tell them the plan that's already been spun into motion

by default! ahhhh.

8:54 "Stan we've got to start washing these cars or they'll never get done!"

9:03 "Haven't we already washed this one?!?" haha as the HUGE black truck with dried soap re-enters the pressure wash bay.

9:08 Remix the soap so it's not SOOOO strong.

9:10 Everyone at the point officially has a station

9:50 Mike McVicker calls a meeting to order with teens explaining what should be happening... that hasn't been.

10:10 Early people begin to exit the church doors. No pressure.... only a line of unwashed cars.

10:30 Last people exiting last car's being washed.... Perfect timing!

10:31 Water Break

10:32 Water Break over for some who need to meet cars already trying to enter for 2nd service

10:40 Water Break OVER

10:41 Start on 2nd Service Cars

10:43 Realize that we haven't been using the heat option on the power washers. that explains.......

10:58 Realize we've only got about 6 cars left

11:04 The last car

11:06 Ok this is the last car

11:08 Last CAR!

11:10 Students, STOP BRINGING YOUR OWN CARS THROUGH.

11:25 Thanked God for the adults who helped make things possible.

12:00 Thanked God for the chaos and tension.