Home Sweet Home!

Well, as all of you parents at least know, we made it home safe and sound.  I don't know about all the students, but I slept fantastic last night!!  My first time in a bed after 8 days either on an air mattress or the floor was heavenly!  We had breakfast at the hotel and got on the road around 9 a.m. (eastern time).  The kids slept quite a bit... it really was an exhausting week, and we didn't stop until just past Indianapolis for lunch.  After that 1 single stop we drove the rest of the way back with no stops, arriving at the church, I believe around 2:30.  I was a little worried that we may have to stop again after Ryan E., Shane, Ben, Stephen, and maybe a couple others arrived at the van after lunch w/ 44 oz. slurpee type drinks from the gas station.  I told them we were NOT stopping, and they were able to make it.  We were greeted by many happy parents when we drove into the parking lot and after a time of thanksgiving prayer students got their stuff and took off... thus ends our saga...

However, I just want to take a minute to tell you all how proud I am of our students!  I was amazed at the flexibility, willingness to learn, work ethic, and over all positive attitudes of each one of these young adults!  Even though they were exhausted, they continued to press on and give their all each and every day.   I honestly cannot put into words how much I care about these students and the excitement I felt as I observed them on this trip.  It is evident to me that many people were praying for us all, and for that I am truly grateful.  Please don't stop praying for these students.  Pray that the challenges and convictions they felt will not fade away, but will become rooted in the core of their lives.  Pray that they will not allow satan to pull them down by the mundane monotony of everyday life.  My prayer is not that we gave them a good "mountain top experience," but that they truly experienced an encounter w/ the Holy Spirit.  Lives are changed only by a confrontation with God, and I pray they had/have just that.  Thank you for allowing me an opportunity to know your children better;  I am truly blessed!

~Megan White

Heading west...

Today was another great day! We got everything loaded into the vans, the church cleaned and were on the road by 8am. Not a lot to report today... we drove through NY, NJ, PA, WV and now we are stopped in Ohio. The trip had a couple interesting detours but was for the most part uneventful - which is always good thing when it comes to driving. We just had a "rowdy" dinner at Red Robin and I am now sitting outside the window from all the students playing in the pool at the hotel. They are an awesome bunch who God is already doing much through. Thanks again for all your prayers - God has listened and blessed us much! We hope to be on the road by around 9am tomorrow which will put us at E-Free at about 2pm. We will give all the parents a call when we hit Champagne and are about 1 hour out.

See you all tomorrow! Pastor Bill

Last Day with the Kids...

Hey! This is Elise. Today was the last day with the kids and the other leaders. I can't believe how close we got to all the kids. They were so loving and fun. They have taught me so much and feel so inspired by them. I can tell that the stories we told them about Jesus were stuck in their heads. I saw God working in their lives. Kevin, a little bit of a troublemaker, was sitting next to me in the opening ceremony when he saw the bible verse we were going to be learning later in the day. The verse was written down on a huge piece of cardboard and it only said the first couple words of the verse and then a dot....dot...dot. Immediately he asked me for a bible, so I handed him one. He told me I have to read the rest of the verse right now cause I need to see what Jesus says. That wowed me because when I was a kid, I would have not even cared, I thought the bible was boring. Kevin inspired me to read the bible more, so God was even working in my life on this trip. We all had our favorite kids but we all cared about all of the them so much, it was sooo sad to have to go. I'm so tired from staying up late but I would give up the rest of my summer just to stay here. The student leaders who go to the church we did VBS at become like our best friends. They were all our age and just like us. I admire them because they have given up their whole summer everyday to be here helping these kids. During our breaks we would play volleyball and four square with them. I felt like I've known them forever. At the end of the day all the little kids gave us hugs and told us not to go. Tyler, one of my favorites, told me, " At midnight tonight go destroy your car and break so you can come back next week. Don't leave us ". Now I'm looking forward to going home and adding all my new friends on facebook. I didn't want to go so bad I even cried a little bit. Thanks, Elise:)

Awesome Elise!! I think you all can look forward to hearing similar stories from each of your students when we return home. It has been a long week but God worked in and through us all. The next two days will be full of driving, so please keep us in your prayers - for safety, good attitudes, etc. Well believe it or not we are having dinner so I have to run. Tonight we have the final rally where students from all groups will share "God Sightings." It should be great!

Pastor Bill

VBS and the BIG CITY

It is really late so tonights post may be a little short. Reid Henry (our youngest missionary) asked if he could start us out tonight...



We went to Manhattan today and went on a ferry to see the Statue of Liberty. Then the ferry back to where we started broke down so we waited for around 25 min.Finally we got back and took the subway to Times Square where we shopped for 40 min. and I got my 2 sisters a suvineere that I hope they like because I payed more than $15 each. I also got a cartoon drawing of me with my new eagle hat. He made me a baseball player and he made my eye lashes longer than I thought they were and I look like a girl. Now I am at the church at midnight typing (11:00 in Illinois). I am very very sleepy and I am going to bring a pillow so I can take a nap while the kids are having study time.

Reid

Ok, Leah Schultz here now. Today at 2nd E-Free we had our last "normal" day. We got up, got ready, looked like zombies (because we were so tired), had a group meeting/devotional time, and then kids showed up. Lessons in the morning were followed by lunch and recess at the school. Then we did VBS. The skit today was the American Idol, so Jenny and I got to sing really, really, REALLY badly. All in all, it went fairly well. The kids did laugh a lot. At the end of the Say Yes! session, we watched a slideshow of all our pictures. Man, I am going to miss those kids!!!! Even the discipline problems. They're sweet, and important to God. Weirdly, I'm rather protective of them. After that we hung out for awhile before hitting the actual, factual New York City (and Manhattan.) We got dinner at McDonald's and a deli next door, which had really good pizza. Then, as Reid has already told you, we got on the Stanton Island Ferry and did Titanic poses on the rail while looking at the Statue of Liberty (which was a lot smaller then expected.) Then, on Stanton Island, we took a bathroom break and got on another ferry to go back where we came from. This ferry was broken, so we had to get off and wait ten or so minutes before getting on another. We got to stand on the very front of this ship, so the poses and the wind were both better, and we had even more fun. After we got off the ferry, we headed to Times Square, land of a thousand blinking, flashing, multi-colored super awesome random advertisments. It was so pretty! And cool and awesome and just WOW. We wandered around in small groups for a bit, then rode the subway back home. It really wasn't long enough, but it was all the time we had. We are all super tired, and just crashed when we got back to church. And yeah, that was today.

Poverty Day

Today is Poverty Day... we will be doing various activities today to help the kids to experience those with much less. One of the elements we will be adding as a team is taking away all electronic devices for those students that brought them. Just wanted to give you a heads up that the students will be unable to receive or send any texts to you parents. We will return their "stuff" to them at a time yet to be determined, but the very earliest would be tomorrow morning. They all are doing great and seem refreshed to serve another day. Praise ~ the weather seems much nicer this morning which means 1st Free should be able to do Sports Camp in the afternoon and the team at 2nd Free will be able to take the VBS kids to the park today as planned!

Pastor Bill

It is now 11 oclock and we are trying to get the kids to bed. It was another great day! I will let Stephen Husk share some of the details from his vantage point...


I'm going to be completely honest and say that I usually dont enjoy being around big groups of kids, but all this week I have found that I care for every single kid who comes through my classroom. After hearing an inspirational message on faith the night before I felt spiritually renewed. When I woke up the next day I asked God to work through me as I led the lesson for the kids. I felt nervous, unprepared, and unexperienced. But what God did through me and Ben was amazing and truly more than what I could hope for. I felt at ease with the kids and was really able to connect with them in the lesson. My heart was filled with joy when we got all the kids to shout with great big smiles on their faces "JESUS IS OUR LEADER" over and over again. I laughed as I led kids around the room in follow the leader. I was amazed when the classes most renown troublemaker asked me incredibly deep questions, and I was able to responded with wisdom that could have only come from God. But the greatest victory of the day was when the whole 6th grade class wanted our gospel bracelets. God used me to explain to these 20+ children the gospel, and then they told me how they couldn't wait to tell their friends. When I asked them later if they remembered they did! After playing with the kids all afternoon in sports camp we began poverty night. For poverty night we were put in groups of 4 and each given a quarter. We then had to complete a list of tasks with that group including things like; eat dinner, find out where we can get food stamps, collect 15 recyclable cans, etc.. Me and Nathan Ghantous sat on a street corner barefoot as I played drums on a cardboard box. (Believe me, we looked poor). We collected 3 dollars. But while we were collecting that money several things really hit me. Every mom that walked by turned their childrens faces away from us. One man stepped in our box of money laughed at us and walked off (he did not know we weren't really poor). For the rest of the night we did not get dinner. Instead we gave the money we earned to someone in need. Finally I was given a last minute notice that I had to play drums for the worship. God used me and the band in a powerful way. Every student in the room was dancing before the end of the song. Now I am getting ready for bed... after typing this for the second time because it did not save the first, ha ha. My advice, dont have courage in what you can do, but what God can do through you.

In Christ,
Stephen Husk

Cross-Cultural Day

They say second day is the hardest, I disagree. I'm part of the Second Evangelical Free Church here in New York and today was so much easier. The children are used to people coming and going because this is their fourth week of VBS so they came around fast. It was a lot easier to learn how to deal with them after being around their leaders that they have all the time. I'm with the second grade group and they're getting used to having new people quickly. After the schooling was the VBS which is always amazing. Todays skit was based off the show, "The Amazing Race." After racing my heart out and surfing with sharks I (the main character) lost. Doing both the skits and the bible application is a blessing saying that they go hand and hand. Today I taught about the journey The Maggi took in order to find the greatest treasure there has ever been, JESUS! After VBS came the fun part, we cleaned up then headed out for our cross-cultural meal! Being of Lebanese family I was very fond of the Arabic tray, I loved how most people didn't like the monoosh and gave it to me, it's a very acquired taste. There was also Hispanic and Chinese dishes. We got together with all the other churches and I was able to get to know some of the other people who went on the trip from different parts of the country better. When the meal was over we went in for some worship, and then we had a guest speaker. The speaker was Brother Donte, the directer of urban missions with EFCA. He spoke about Peter waiting for Jesus to call him and then stepping out of the boat on his command. After that he taught us a song based on Isaiah 40, it was really good and everybody got into it. We were all singing the song as we left and the on the van ride back to our home church. Then we all got ready and now we're headed off to bed. That's all I got for now, keep up with us in word and prayer.

In Christ,

Nathan Ghantous

We woke up this morning to a rainy, gloomy looking morning. It was kind of exciting and refreshing but at the same time it was a disappointment because the rain meant sports camp and VBS would be kept inside today. On Sunday and Monday our group, the First EFC, walked the mile to and from the church, but we gladly rode in the vans to and from today. The day started out the same as yesterday with music, a little talk, and the skit, but today I was a part of the skit. I'm someone who is a total train wreck whenever I have to speak to large groups. We got through the skit with a few little problems, but for the most part it went well. After the skit we broke up into groups by age (the Metropolitans, Gothams, New Amsterdams, and Big Apples). I was with the Gothams today, and we went to games, crafts, Bible story, and snacks/memory verse before regrouping and dismissing the kids. After lunch we had some free time. A few of us walked to a donut shop that was REALLY good! I bought two donuts, and they didn't make the 4 blocks back to the church. We organized some games for the sports camp in a couple rooms in the church, and after that we had some more free time. I was definitely one who didn't care for the monoosh at dinner, but Nathan didn't get mine. After dinner we had a "rally" and sang some really great songs. By the time we got back to the church a few of us were a little... loopy. Let's just say, Megan ended up crying from laughter, and I ended up jamming my thumb imitating a children's toy. We're now all "winding down" (not really) and going to bed soon. Tomorrow will be another eventful, long day!

Jacob Snodgrass

First Day of VBS!

Student Entry by Austin Hart:

Today most people woke up to an interesting yet intolerable ringtone from Ryan's cell. It was a very early, fast and fortunately smooth morning, I took a refreshing shower then gathered my stuff together to prepare for the day. Not knowing what to expect, but figured I would get the hang of it eventually. After everyone went to their places and we started to get ready for the VBS. I absolutely love the kids! they were so much fun and can't wait to spend the rest of the week with them, my friends, my church, and the helpers I met. Such as: Emily, Rachael, Luke, Nick, Ashley, and Leah. I helped tutoring the kids in the morning with Megan for the 3 & 4 graders, (mostly in math) and megan later commented on my patience with most of them (Haha, I was surprised by that). We went to the nearest school for lunch... which brought back memories of how much i actually missed the elementary school food, then afterwards was the reccess for the kids... which was fun. we then headed back to the church to start VBS. We started with some music, then leading to our skit for the day (which went great by the way!). after that the kids split up to go to the stations like bible app., crafts, snacks, and games... which is what I helped with, along with Matt, Ryan, and Shane. Again I loved spending time with the kids, especially the group I tutored in the morning (such awesome kids). To wrap up the day we went to the 1st free church to help with a block party (which lasted several hours, but was very much fun). a key point of the block party were the two bands playing. one being Forgotten Freedom. Whooo!!
At the end of the day everyone just chilled... did devotions, etc.. It was one very exciting day and can't wait for the next one! :D


Austin covered the day well!! Everyone is tired and we are getting ready to call it a night. (If you didn't already guess these posts post 3 hours earlier than we are actually starting them.) The students at both locations worked very hard today and we are getting the swing of our new routine for the week. Thanks for the prayers and keep them coming. The forecast is rain for the rest of the week but as Austin mentioned the block party tonight was the only important night for no rain and it was perfect weather! I have included a few pictures with the old posts as well. Hope you all are doing well back home in IL! Pastor Bill

Fist Full Day in Brooklyn...

Hey everyone! Hope you all had a wonderful Sunday worshiping together! Here in Brooklyn we attended services based on where we will be serving this week. Part of the group went to service at the 1st E-Free Church and part to the 2nd E-Free church. Before church we had a special treat - we got breakfast at a Chinese bakery across the street from the church. I personally attended the service at 2nd Free. The worship was wonderful and we enjoyed a great multi-cultural service! After church we headed over to 1st Free and joined the rest of our team for lunch. We ordered Chinese food from a local restaurant, Chopstix, and it was great... not a real shock since we are staying in Chinatown ;-) We spent the afternoon working on our skits and preparing for VBS. We came back to 2nd Free at 6 for dinner with all the BUMP groups (our teams and teams from two other churches). Some of our students (Matt, Ryan, Ben & Stephen) led all the teams in a time of worship, and all the students are now going through BUMP orientation w/ our BUMP director Renee. Later tonight we will have a leaders meeting as well. It was a busy day of preparation and meeting new people. We are feeling a little overwhelmed and anxious for VBS to begin tomorrow, but mostly excited to see what God is going to do! We are VERY busy and not getting a whole lot of sleep, so keep praying for energy and stamina. I'm going to stop promising to post pictures, because I honestly don't know when or if we will post them - sorry :) Thanks for the prayers and keep it up! ~ Megan White


Student entree:
Sunday morning was different then what i'm used to. While megan went to second free for sunday morning service, i went to first free. The service started a little like i was used to, worshiping the lord though song, but it was different too, cause rather then adults singing and playing instruments, it was the teens. and i loved it. it was really great being able to see the teens singing, im used to the kids only being able to sing when it is youth group. It was cool. Then unlike our own service where we have all of the worship at the beginning, or some at the end, it was all the time, in the beginning and middle and end. it was really great. everything here is fun and different, like bed, which is what we are all getting ready to do now, is sleep, the fact that we have to set up all our "beds" every night, we must pick them up in the morning, pile everything in the closet, a very smalll one at that and then at the next night we have to unpack everything again. But where we are staying is the BEST because it has amazing air!! Well better go to bed~ Bekah Wilcox

We Made It!

Ok so today was our second day of driving to the big NY and it took us about 8 hours to get here. (usually its a 6.5 hour drive). but while i was watching out the window (this is matt by the way) i was noticing a lot of things. first when we went through tons of tunnles in Penn. the funniest one was super bright, and i thought to myself: "a bright tunnel" thats an oxymoron isn't it? haha :) Me, Ben, Stephen and Ryan were all in the back of the van and crammed together. We did a lot of sleeping on each other. one time we ended up like dominoes all the way down the seat lol. ohh and i saw the ocean for the first time today!!! it was awesome! i was so happy :D also the statue of liberty was super cool!!!! i've never been here before so it was a new experience for me. We pulled into China Town and were going crazy cause we found out this was where the churches were! there are so many different cultural things here!!! well i've written a lot so i'll let Bill take it from here....

-Be the Change You Wish to See in the World-

Matt



Thanks Matt!! I hope to let you all hear a little from the students perspective each day too :) We will let them share much more on the 29th at the "Debrief party," be sure to mark your calendars to see how God challenged and worked through all the students!

We woke up today in the basement of an over 200 year old church in down town Pittsburgh and now we are sleeping in the basement of a church in Brooklyn, NY... crazy!! I was reminded over and over again today that we serve an awesome God... what a privilege it is to represent Him!! I am beyond tired now, so I am going to pass this off to Megan to give a little more details about the day. ~ Pastor Bill

So, the day started w/ breakfast in Pittsburgh... and then we headed out around 9:30 for NY! As Matt said, it was a long drive! A lot of sleeping by all or almost all, the drivers stayed awake :) We arrived in Brooklyn around 5:30 and brought our stuff in and saw where were staying... Did some unloading at the other church we'll be helping at too. Nothing super thrilling, just glad to be done w/ long drives for a while. Tonight we went to Coney Island for dinner... We ate Nathan's World Famous Hotdogs, pretty fun! Coney Island was crazy crowded, like a carnival on steroids is the only way I can describe it! A change from Bloomington, for sure :) After eating some of the kids rode the ferris wheel and some of us walked on the boardwalk, briefly. Then we headed back to the church for the night. We have only 1 shower for all 29 of us, so about 1/3 or maybe a little more showered tonight... the rest will finally get their turn in the morning!! That's a fun story in itself... we are staying in the basement of the church and to get to the 1 shower, you have to walk up about 3 dark flights of stairs (b/c we can't find the light) and then once you're in the balcony, you have to walk all the way around to the far side where there is a little door... w/ one random shower in it! Hmmm.... wonder who had the idea for that location? Luckily, I brought along Autumn's princess flashlight, so we were all able to navigate safely :) lol! Well, it's after midnight and I need to sleep... oh yeah, almost forgot, Marcy ~ we got Leah, she's safely w/ us, although I'm guessing she called to tell you that. Love to all, keep the prayers coming... we really do plan to post pics soon, but it's always so late when we write! ~ Megan

Langs Lead the Way!

We started out the day with Dick and Kay Lang in the driver's seats and headed out on our journey! We made great time and didn't even need a potty break until after 9:30 a.m. We continued on and stopped around Columbus, OH for lunch. After lunch the kids broke up in there different teams and practiced skits in the van for a while! Overall, the drive was uneventful in a good way! We hit Pittsburgh at about 5:30 p.m. and the traffic was HEAVY! We sat in stop and go traffic for about an hour, but God was good. Right when we arrived at the church, it began to pour down rain... this may sound like a bad thing, but it was a total blessing! See, we had plans to go to a Pittsburgh Pirates game (Cheryl Charlton got us great seats for $8), and b/c of the rain, it was delayed! That was helpful for us. The worst of the rain passed quickly and we were able to get out of the vans and into the church. However, parking was another story! It was PACKED in the city, and we had no idea where we were going to park. However, immediately after we unloaded the vans, our host told us that they open some spots on the other side of the building at 7 p.m. and we should try to go and get those. Again, with Dick and Kay in the driver's seats, they were able to snag two spots right in front of the church! (Belle, our hostess, told us she always tries to get one of those spots and never has, yet today there was enough room for 2 fifteen passenger vans and a trailor) THANKS LORD!! By now the storm had passed and we headed to the game, which was just starting! When we got to the game we found out it was free towel night... another blessing! Our seats were wet and we had towels to dry them with. It was also dollar hotdog night at the game! The Lord blessed us over and over! We enjoyed the game and walked back to the church to settle in for the night! The kids are now tucked in and ready to get some good rest before we take off tomorrow for New York! We are praising God for all these Blessings.... can't wait to see what else He has in store. Keep those prayers coming! Love to all :-) ~Update by Megan White

Pictures coming soon :)

Our team is packed and ready to go!

Tonight at our final meeting we packed the vans and are ready to hit the road bright and early tomorrow morning. We will meet at E-Free at 6 am and depart for Pittsburgh, which is our first destination in our two day drive to NY. Thank you for your prayers as we travel to and minister in Brooklyn.  We are excited to see how God wants to use us!