We are here and doing fantastic

Sorry that it is Monday night before the first update. We are just having too much fun to rip myself away for too long. And internet access is limited.
The trip down went fine. All flight were delayed at least a little by either bad weather or missing gyros! But we got everybody here eventually.
Today was a great first day of work. One Group even got all 10 rows of block done today which is as far as they would have been able to do. That certainly does not happen often.
Tonight for our 2nd group time David Starbuck shared "Surely we can change how we Serve". It was very challenging and also really cool to see "Bucky" with a new role.
Tomorrow morning we are pouring a huge roof but this group is ready because of the roof they poured last year.
Look forward to another update early tomorrow. And please be praying for the roof pour and that the students would realize that "surely they can change".

Good Night,
Casey

It's Over...

The first week is over. The groups left today after really NO sleep! We had great games of basketball (where the leaders served up some humble pie to the students) and dodgeball. And celebrated the Lord's Supper together to close out our time together. This final update is from Meredith Cook after our last day of work on Thursday. I know you'll enjoy this. She was 'getting' many of the things we were hoping students were getting.

I can’t believe that today was our last day of work here in Mexico. We poured a roof this morning as one large group for the family of Margarita and Santos. It was really hard work to get the buckets of cement up that high, and the scaffolding was potentially dangerous (Dave even fell! But don’t worry, he’s okay.), but we all pulled together as a team to finish the roof very efficiently! All of our work from the past four days has definitely been tiring, as most of us are noticing right now (everyone is incredibly tired…it’s midnight here and we just got back from Group Time), but it’s definitely a “good” kind of tired, you know? I don’t think I’m only speaking for myself when I say that I feel so incredibly full of God’s love right now as the service we have done for these Mexicans gives a greater feeling than anything else in the world. I am sitting here on a constantly deflating air mattress in a room with no air circulation, I still have dried cement all over my body despite my shower this afternoon, my back has about eight knots in it from shoveling sand and rocks all day, and it’s a struggle to keep my eyes open. Yet I feel such pure joy and happiness. To me, that is one of the main lessons I will take away from this trip: we don’t need the things that we THINK make us happy to actually achieve joy. All we need is the bliss we receive from glorifying God through service to others and simply living our lives for Him. The people I have met this week have none of the things I used to rely on to be happy: no iPods, no DVR, no expensive designer clothes, no text messaging…the list goes on and on. Just ask yourself what makes you happy in your free time. Chances are, the list will undoubtedly include things that these people don’t have. Nevertheless, the people I have met experience more of God’s joy in its purest form because they have faith, they follow Christ, and they trust in His plan for their lives. I don’t think I have ever been in a place where people are more friendly and always smiling! It will be strange to go back to Raleigh in a few days and drive down the road and not have every single person I see on the side of the road wave and yell “Hola!” At the beginning of the week, I thought that we were the ones who were coming to help those less fortunate. However, my mindset has switched to the opposite. WE are the ones less fortunate if we do not have the same faith and love for God as these people. We can’t experience pure joy if we’re constantly being distracted by things we desperately seek after to try to please us. Yes, the Mexicans here might have a house the size of an American bedroom and make $3 a day. But I consider them lucky because of the joy they have in their hearts. No material possessions are blocking their road to Christ. I feel that I have attained this amazing joy this week after serving and experiencing life through their eyes, and I pray that I can continue to harbor this joy in my heart and keep it close in my mind that I do not need the things I once thought I did in order to be happy. All it takes is the will to follow Christ forever, wherever He may lead you.
Meredith Cook


Be praying for the following week!
Casey

Work is Done

Hello Friends and Family. The work is done for this week. It finished with pouring a roof this morning and some other tasks in the afternoon. Everybody seems to be in good spirits and health. Pray for the hearts of the kids. They seem to be thinking through a lot of things and challenging their previous ideas about things. It's exactly what we wanted, but I think it's painful sometimes for them.
Here is a reflection after Wednesday night from two of our students.

Hola Amigos!
In case you didn’t know, that means hello friends! We know that because we have been here for a total of three hot Mexican days. It has been so awesome trying out our limited espanol on the ninos who are very energetic. They love to use our cameras to take crazy pictures. We are also exhausted because they love endless piggy back rides and helicopter spinning.
Along with playing with the ninos, we have been working very hard. And with our trip coming to a close, today was no exception. This morning, Allison and I were shanghaied into the ring-forming group, so that we can pour cement and form a roof. After lunch, most of the group poured cement for the foundation for two new houses. It felt great working alongside our American and Mexican brothers and sisters in Christ. Today was a very successful day because we decided to pour another foundation after our usual end time, in a record time of 40 minutes! We feel so proud of each other because we strengthened as a team.
Still, the day was not over. Peyton was and amazing hotdog bun filler with the rest of her prayer group who prepared a fantastic dinner. After the delicioso dinner, we had group time, where Jock Murray portrayed his speech skills and taught us all about how to make the most of our lives. He read excerpts from a book called Don’t Waste Your Life by John Piper. Following this, we broke into small groups and had deep, thought provoking and in some cases spirited discussions about our thoughts. Some groups met for over one hour.
All in all, it has been a very wonderful day.

In His name,
Peyton Murray and Allison Cook

We leave here tomorrow to explore Reynosa and the Market. Packing and cleaning is always the most painful process!

Magnification

This next reflection is from Troy Larimer after the first day of work. Don't worry I wasn't late for group time.

The first day of construction work awaited me with a beautiful sunrise. I slowly worked my way towards the kitchen to stock up on my favorite cereal…Honey Nut Cheerios. After noticing that Jacob Lyle’s right eyebrow was making no progress of returning, I went through my preparations in autopilot. My mind was consumed with the excitement of doing my first real construction mission (New Orleans does not really count because here we start from the ground up…LITERALLY.) What new faces would I encounter today? What kind of tedious task would I be assigned in our site? All would be answered after the 15-minute car ride supplied by Casey’s readily driving skills (resulting in many cases of “hang-time” in the truck bed,) we stopped at our destination. Nothing but a concrete slab and six rebars. By the time our crew was done with it, this slab would be a place of comfort, rest, and togetherness…this would be a home. By now the Mexico Mission trip can be described in three simple words; WE BUILT IT. With our two God given hands we moved the cinderblocks, mixed the mortar, and built a full story, minus the roof, in one day. That is a true accomplishment. The home my work group provided for was a 15 year old boy, Felipe. His mothers life was untimely claimed by cancer and he, his father, and his two sisters were devastated. For a few years of his life he was living in many different houses with his father was in the States. Finally we were giving him a place he could truly call “home.” The thing that really caught me off guard was that not matter what was going on, the Mexican workers, women, and ninos were always smiling. Wherever I looked I was greeted by a smile. It dawned on me our presence was something to smile about. God was gifting them through us and they were happy. Today during group, we all shared our experiences of working in the hot sun ALL DAY. Many complained of the blazing heat, some commented on Jacob’s missing eyebrow, but the universal message was, “Wow…what a great day to be serving God.” But I wonder, how are we serving God. What exactly do we do that is, “serving God?” Then it answered itself. Jock Murray took time to share his point of view of our service. He spoke of how 300 soldiers defeated the Mineanites, and how a small Shepherd defeated a monstrous man. He told us on how these things magnified the power of God, but not in the way you think. He is not magnifying it in the way a microscope does, making small things bigger than they really are, but in the way a telescope magnifies a star; It is so far off and mysterious, but becomes so close and clear that all of its power and majesty is seen. This hit me like the one of the cinderblocks I was lifting today. WE ARE MAGNIFYING GOD! We bring something so far off and rare in Mexico right to them with the work and interactions we have daily. That is how we are doing God’s work, and that is what put a smile on their faces. That’s all I can share about today, but I can tell you that I plan on drawing back Jacob’s eyebrow with a Sharpie.
-Troy Larimer-


Keep praying for us. We poured a floor this morning and finished our 2nd house. Leah Barefoot had a small accident today when she got hit with a bucket. Her forehead needed 4 stitches. Made for an interesting moment, but she's doing just fine.

Adios,
Casey

We're here and great...

We arrived fine into Mexico on Sunday afternoon after a about 24 hours in McAllen, TX hanging out.
The work is progressing and the kids seem to be adjusting well.
One of the coolest things, especially for any old-schoolers out there, is that we are building a house for a kid named Felipe that many of our past students and leaders have fallen in love with. He's 15 now and he'll be living there with his father and two older sisters. His mom passed away a few years ago and he's been living part of the time in Roma, TX.

Here is a reflection on Sunday night from 2 students. I promise we'll have some pictures tomorrow. I'm just late for group time right now!

Arriving at the airport at 4:15 in the morning to get on a plane full of screaming babies, the big guy who takes up more than half the row, and the talker who wants to tell you their life story just to get to Dallas, Texas. And that was only the first flight. But that doesn’t even compare to what the Mexicans have to deal with on a daily basis. Coming into Mexico, we went from asphalt roads and big cities to dirt roads and small towns. The border is so close that when you stand on the roof of the church complex you can see signs and houses we passed while in Texas. So close yet so far away.
As Americans, we tend to take things for granted. When we’re hungry we can walk to the cabinet anytime and choose from a plethora of food on top of three meals a day. In Mexico, you are lucky to even get those three meals.
But that is not what we’re here to talk about. We are here to talk about how God is already starting to work in us. On this trip we hope to encounter a closer relationship to God and to become true Christians. Tonight we talked about the parable of the good Samaritan. We learned that we should love our neighbors as ourselves. Also, we discussed how we need to acquire more than just a ticket to heaven; not just to accept God as our savior, but to strive to become more like him.
A good thing to keep in mind is the golden rule: treat others the way you want to be treated!

Love,
Allie Pithers and Chelsea Buckingham! ☺

Cheers,
Casey

Jamaica...the trip that will never end...

Ok so I'm sure many of you realize that we have yet to arrive home...but we are getting closer with each passing minute. We started our journey at 4 am Saturday morning when we left Cloisters...without sleeping any Friday night. We arrive at the airport in Montgo Bay at 5:30 only to find that after everyone is through security our flight has been delayed by an hour, and then and hour and a half. Finally we board our plane and flew to Miami for which should have been a short layover.
We made out and in of customs and then began the search for lunch in the Miami airport. After some amazing American food we met back at our terminal ready for take off only to learn our flight has been delayed for 30 minutes. That was fine, we are flexible. Then an hour, a little frustrating but we figured we would still be ok. Then we made a a new best friend with the agent at our terminal desk who gave us constant updates. At first the weather was bad and take off time was pushed back to 4:30. Our friend informed us that the weather was going to continue to worsen and they began looking for a new plane and pilot to help us get back home. We soon realized that this chance was very slim. Doug walked back from the departure board with tear in his eye, the board informed us our flight had been cancelled. The back up flight they had found us for that night was having extreme mechanical problems and we come to find out that our new Pilot is sick. We sent Sass to save the day at the ticket counter, only to find that the next flight to RDU was on Monday or Tuesday. We began to explore our other options only to find that the Amtrac (sorry about the spelling)is booked till Monday. Then we begin to explore the idea of flying into other cities, or maybe just walking home from Miami. We recieve a text from Sass "My phone is dying but I have it figured out." This was the best news we had heard in a long time. We were told that we would recieve a 10 dollar dinner voucher to eat in the airport and then would fly into Dulles on an 8:30 flight. We were planning on renting vans and driving back to Raleigh in the morning. Well to put the icing on the cake we couldn't rent vans from anywhere in DC. And in case we wanted any more surprises our flight was then delayed several times until we finally took off at 10:30. We all finally made it to our hotel by 3 a.m. and are now getting on vans to raleigh. Yeah! The crazy travel day! See you soon.

Thursday and Friday in Jamaica

Last night, after a hard days work [DREAM TEAM: Spencer, Katie, Bobby!], we held our second of the three community events. This time it was held right down the mountain at St. Ann’s Bay Methodist. It was an incredible turnout as the lines for children’s games and crafts were always really long. Just like last night, the games and prizes were followed by a performance by the man, the myth, and the legend: Mr. Ben Glenn. His performance was absolutely mind blowing. Not only did he, again, impress the crowd with a ten-minute chalk masterpiece; Ben followed it with a projected video, something that can only be seen in person. Trust me, it was amazing. The reaction from the crowd was incredible. I think I enjoyed watching the reactions as much as the performance itself. After driving some of the ladies home, we all retired back to the Cloisters.

Today we slept in: at least the ladies did. The guys however were hard at work on a prank for the ages. To make a long story short, about fifty mattresses from the guy’s rooms were stuffed into the girl’s hallway, blocking all the exits to the bedrooms and most importantly, the entrance to the bathroom. More pictures and video of this later. After another filling meal from the Cloisters ladies, we were off to Dunn River Falls for what turned out to be an amazing time.

Dunn River Falls is one of only a handful of Jamaica’s national parks. It is a long series of rocky waterfalls that spans about the distance of half a mile. Hiking from bottom to top was a trek meant only for the fittest, but Team Grace managed to hold their own with few injuries. Dunn River Falls is without a doubt one of the most beautiful places I have ever been in my life.

Ocho Rios is the second biggest tourism hotspot on the north coast of Jamaica after Montego Bay. In the afternoon, we explored the town center, ate Jamaican food (Burger King for most of us…), and conquered the market. The markets were especially crowded since a Carnival Cruise line moored up this morning.

As I type right now on the porch of The Cloisters, I am watching Gary Greene and Scuba erect a brand new wooden cross at the top of our mountain. Hannah Ross is drinking ice water on “the rail”, Amy Bryce, Colleen Cook, and Caroline Kirby are taking pictures, and Doug Sibley is half asleep with his feet propped up out here on the porch. We are also in the process of setting up for our last dinner here at the Cloisters; a special dinner that is served outside here on the porch overlooking the town of St. Ann’s and the Caribbean Sea.

Please pray for all of us tonight and tomorrow as we travel once again. Tonight is almost definitely going to be an all-nighter for the majority of us as we enjoy eachothers company for hours on end. We leave tomorrow morning at 4am (!!!!) for a 7:00 flight which is followed by a five-hour (!!!!!!!) layover in Miami. We are, of course, excited to see all our family and friends once again tomorrow afternoon.

-Bobby Schultz

Let the Fiesta Begin...

Tomorrow morning the first flight leaves for Mexico at 6am, that's right, gotta be at the airport at 4:15am. Terrible! Who makes these plans anyways? Oh, I do, whoops!
Please begin praying for all the adventures over the next 2 weeks of the Rising Juniors and then Seniors.

For parents of those kids, I believe I failed to leave my cell phone number on your final details letter in case you have an emergency. That number is 919-302-6345. Your kids can call you when they get there to tell you that they got there okay, but they are going to stop using their cell phones at that point, so don't call them!! :) We'll take good care of them, don't worry!

Cheers,
Casey

Brooklyn 2008- Friday

It was another exciting day in Brooklyn, New York! We woke up bright and early yesterday, knowing we had a long day ahead of us. Like every other day, our groups went to different places such as the soup kitchen, Coney Island, and just down the street to Grace Baptist Church. After spending hours at each place getting a lot of work done, we quickly rushed back to the church and got ready to spend the night in "The Big Apple." With only minutes to get ready, all of us were pumped to "shop till we drop" and get some food in our tummies! The church had surprised us by planning a dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe. We all had a great time listening to the oldies music and enjoying our meals! It was really neat to see all the famous singers guitars and outfits displayed around the restaurant. After that it was off to explore the city, making the M&M and the Hershey store number one on our lists. It was awesome just walking around town at night and seeing all the beautiful lights light up the city. At about ten, it was time to end the fun for the night. We still had an hour subway ride coming and everyone was exhausted! Even though the trip is coming to an end, we can both see a difference in the growth of everyones faith since the beginning of the trip. God has been working through each of us in many different ways. We are thankful for all the people we met and worked with here in Brooklyn. We are excited to come home and see our families, but we will truly miss the crazy city and everything we have experienced. -Caroline Kohls and Shannon Kelly

A Jamaican Wednesday - Part II

Today we started off the day with our normal prayer groups and quiet time that are always very informative and challenging and just a great way to start off our day. After an amazing breakfast prepared by a couple of the most amazing Jamaican women one would ever meet my life is better because the interaction with them every meal. Then we divided into our two work groups , one of which went to the local church which we have been working all week transporting sand and stone up to the top of the roof only to create our concrete on top of the roof by hand. This work is very grueling and requires breaks constantly but with the dedication and work ethic showed this week we have accomplished great amounts of work especially mixing by hand. The chemistry at this site is awesome and it is extremely cool to stand on top of the roof and overlook the clear ocean. The next work site was the Street family house. We are in the process of producing a foundation for a significant addition to their house. This is extremely tough job considering bedrock and wet clay lie close to surface of the ground and we need to dig approximately 18 inches. With a solid rotation and relentless work by not only the guys but especially the girls we accomplished a remarkable amount of work in the direct heat. Not only did we dominate this foundation but a pair of girls Hannah Ross and Carrie Moss tiled an entire bathroom in just a day and a halfs work. Of my entire 5 mission trips I have never and I repeat never experienced the chemistry and work ethic put into a single project. This work day was a hot one but we absolutely killed it out there.

After showering and having a quick dinner (also prepared by the wonderful Jamaican women), we headed over to Hoolebury Methodist Church to have our first children’s carnival/Ben Glenn experience. We started off in small groups, each at different game or craft stations. Tons of Jamaican children made foam crosses, won prizes for winning games, and walked around in animal masks. After about an hour of fun, the children joined the adults on the lawn of the church, and Ben Glenn began his chalk drawing. For anyone who doesn’t know, Ben Glenn is an amazing chalk artist who uses his talents to convey God’s beautiful creation and teach his audiences about the love of Christ. Tonight, Ben drew a beautiful scene inspired by a postcard from Sedona, Arizona. In his talk after he drew, he made a point of how troubles and trials can interrupt our seemingly-perfect lives by drawing a huge black line across the top right corner of a drawing he had just spent so much time drawing. However, he showed how God makes good out of our troubles by changing the black line into a rock bridge with a runner running across it. As someone who’s seen Ben Glenn draw in the past, I enjoyed the opportunity to see how other people responded and reacted to his drawing as seeing it for the first time. I also enjoyed watching how natural it was for the Americans and Jamaicans to sit together during the performance. There was no sense of separation, and this sparked many conversations about Ben’s drawing and the thoughts it provoked. Overall, it was an amazing experience, and we are all looking forward to enjoying it two more times. We hope that you are all doing well in Raleigh. We’ve heard that great things are happening in Brooklyn, and we ask that you continue to pray for both of our trips. Thanks for all of your prayers and support

Dan Fordice & Colleen Cook

Brooklyn 2008- Thursday

It was always a dream of mine as a high schooler to write one of the coveted blogs on a mission trip. And to be honest, it was so I could look cool and have a list of shout outs at the end of the update. I had it all planned. In Mexico, I thought I could start with “hola” or in Jamaica I could start with a witty “hey mon.” Unfortunately, I never got the chance as a student to impart my wisdom on the World Wide Web. Well, readers, my time has come. It might have taken me 7 years as a student and 4 years as a leader to earn the privilege, but it is glorious.
Wednesday was a fun-filled day for all. Students woke up expected to head straight to their work sites. However, we surprised them by heading into Manhattan for the morning. Upon arrival, we took a round trip ride on the Staten Island Ferry to enjoy a unique view of the Statue of Liberty and the vast New York skyline. On the ride, we were entertained with the mind blowing beat box skills of Mike Alvarado, which were quickly joined by rapping ferry riders. How fun! We then took a trip to Ground Zero. Everyone here has a story to tell about where they were, who they knew, and the impact it has had on their life to this day. Seeing the huge pit where the towers used to stand brought me to tears. All I could think to do was pray. For the victim’s families, for the people of New York, but mainly that someway, somehow, the God can be glorified and lifted high in the midst of war and hatred. After returning to Brooklyn, we split up and either ministered to children at a local park or at the Cadet Program hosted by the local church. Seeing three year olds stand at attention and salute the flag is quite the sight to be seen!

“Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity” 1 Timothy 4:12

To say that big things are happening in Brooklyn is an understatement. The Lord is moving in new and exciting ways everyday both in the lives of our students and members of the Brooklyn community. The Lord calls us to take up our cross and follow him, which is exactly what these students are doing. I feel like a proud mother of fifty. Their willingness to constantly say “yes” to the Lord at such a young age is such an inspiration to me. These high school sophomores are praying with strangers, asking adults three times their age challenging questions about life and faith, and giving their left over food to the homeless. While their peers are at home soaking up the rays this summer, they are literally begging to go to the local park and play with young, inner city children. I am in awe. Watch out, Raleigh. Big things are going to happen because of these students. Prepare to be amazed.

In Him (Finally, I always knew I would end it this way!),

Lauree

A Jamaican Wednesday

Please excuse me while I take a second to wipe the sweat off my face...

There, much better. Wow. It is hot! Yet somehow, it doesn’t seem to bother any of the students on the trip. As I sit writing this, every one of the kids on the trip is out under a baking son, serving a people that none of them have ever met, and most of them will ever see again.

That is just incredible to me. Yesterday a group of now-high-school-grads went over to the home of a local Reverend, helping to do work on the septic tank being installed in his house. Today, the group went to two work sites. The first went back over to St Ann’s Church, where they continued to pour the roof of the church. There is still lots of work to be done there, but they are working extremely diligently to get the job completed. Oh, and did I mention that they are doing all of the concrete mixing completely by hand?

The other group is over at the home of the Streets, a Jamaican family that Grace has built a relationship with over the years. Currently, the family of eight lives in a small three roomed building, but as we speak (not actually, but you get the point), they are laying the foundation for a completely new building there, which is a long complicated process they have charged head-on.

Meanwhile, all of us are very excited that we will soon be joined by Ben Glenn, whose art will allow all of us an excellent opportunity to continue building relationships with the locals in the community. We still have lots to do between now and tonight, but we know that it will all get done.

And also, in the midst of all our work, we are still finding ways to have incredible amounts of fun. I mean, we are in Jamaica, and that is just AWESOME. And feel incredibly privileged to be able to join this incredible group of young adults who can have fun under any circumstances, while still getting a ton of work done for the community here. The presence of God is definitely here with us.

So we thank all of you for your prayers, and ask that you would continue to pray for us as we continue sharing our faiths with the people here, and learning from both them, as well as each other along the way.


Raff

Now Back to You Guys in Jamaica...

Well, after a great day of work on Monday we headed back to Cloisters for a great meal and our Group Time. We shared about the day, how we had seen God at work, and Raff (Stephen Rafferty) led us in some great worship. Megan Petcavich shared from a book she has been reading challenging us to live out our faith in our actions, all of the time. Sass helped us look at some scripture in James which echoed Megan's challenge. It was a great night. After a good night's sleep, we're off to work again. Reverend Benguche's house and the Street house are progressing along. We'll start pouring the roof of the church fellowship hall this afternoon. God is god, and working in Jamaica!

Brooklyn 2008- Tuesday

Let me just say...Grace students are ALL-STARS!! We are now in our second day of ministry work. The students have already immersed themselves in this community. Right now while I type, we have two of our small teams walking down the streets of Brooklyn boldly sharing there faith with complete strangers. There has yet to be one student hesitant to step up and serve this community and each other. I asked one of our students, Zack Newbauer to write a blog, so here it is:

"Today is our third day and already the trip is going by too fast. Our first day we enjoyed getting settled in after the treacherous train ride, and monday it was off! Groups traveled to the soup kitchen, a couple helped right at the church, and others went down the street handing out smoke detectors to those in need. Today, my group is heading to Coney Island to reach out to the Russian population there. Everyone is working very hard and and we are learning so much about each other and ourselves. God is already doing GREAT things!" - Zack

Keep praying for our week! Here are some pictures so far!

Monday In Jamaica

Work is off and rolling! We've got three sites going: the roof on the fellowship hall at Saint Ann's Bay, an addition onto the Street House, and moving earth at Reverend Benguche's house. We'll send a more in depth update later, but for now, here are a few images...

Sunday in Jamaica

Well, we all made here safe to Jamaica, and so far, what an experience it has been! Upon leaving the airport in MOntego Bay Sass took us to the first of many surprises to come. We all had a scrumptious lunch at the Margaritaville while relaxing with each other in the Caribbean Sea. After having a great time there we traveled to where we will be staying for the week in St Ann’s Bay: The Cloisters Methodist Center. Already we have been establishing new relationships with the Jamaicans, especially those who help make the Cloisters function. Not only have we been enjoying the company there, but we have also created new connections with the people we have met at the three different church services we attended this morning. The amiability and simple ease to smile further encourages our mission here. We are excited about the opportunities yet to present themselves! Along with the work ahead of us, we hope to fully witness to the people we meet. Thanks for all of the prayers!

David Munoz

Brooklyn 2008- Sunday

I want to start by saying thank you to all the parents for getting all of the 9th graders to the train station on time. It really made the departure easy! We arrived at Penn Station in New York last night right on schedule (I was really surprised). The kids were amazing on the train trip, parents you would have been proud of them! They were very respectful!

We were greeted in New York by a nice loud thunderstorm, followed by some intense rain. As we all slopped our way into the church, wet and pretty tired, I was once again impressed by the attitudes of the students.

This morning, we attend Grace Baptist Church. Four of our students (Austin Parsons, Brittany Ladermann, Shannon Kelly, and Caitlin Biddell) shared their testimonies with the congregation this morning. These four students did not know they were doing this until LAST NIGHT...yikes! Yet, each of them rose to the challenge and delivered four FANTASTIC testimonies. I truly feel like all of us were changed by their words this morning.

Our group has already been learning just how diverse New York City really is. Our ultimate goal this week is to move past the barriers that we face because of cultural differences, and provide hope through Christ to this community. Please continue to pray for the group throughout the week as we dive into what God has planned for us. I will post several times to keep everyone updated. I am sure each post will simply be a reminder of what great kids we have at Grace, as well as how amazing God is to all of us.

Happy Father's Day,
Jeff Cash

Things are ready here and the group arrives tomorrow. Lots of work to do at St. Ann's Bay Methodist Church and at the Street's house. We have some great events planned for late in the week and I know that God is going to move in a big way. Pray for us!

Sass

We're Away! (at least I am)

It's official. Our summer mission trips have begun, at least for me. I touched down in Montego Bay, Jamaica this afternoon and headed east towards Saint Ann's Bay to finish our final preparations for the week to come. I went straight to the Street's house and spent some time with Grandma, David, and Leroy finalizing our plans for the work to be done on their house this week. They are so excited for the group to come and get started. I then made it to Cloisters and goofed off with Barbara, Des, and Granny P. Tomorrow I'll meet with Rev. Benguche to finalize our other work and Saturday my friends will arrive. I can't wait to see all of you. If you see them, give my family a big ole hug for me. It's going to be a great week in Jamaica. Brooklyn .... ??? Anyone???

Sass

Surely We Can Change

Our theme for the summer is "Surely We Can Change". It's inspired by a song written and performed by the David Crowder Band from their new Remedy album. Our hope is that through the summer we are proded by God to change our own lives while also being His agents for change in this world. Please pray that those things would happen in all of us: students, leaders, and the people we minister to.



Words to the Song:
And the problem is this We were bought with a kiss
But the cheek still turned Even when it wasn’t hit

And I don’t know What to do with a love like that
And I don’t know How to be a love like that

When all the love in the world Is right here among us
And hatred too And so we must choose What our hands will do

Where there is pain Let there be grace
Where there is suffering Bring serenity
For those afraid Help them be brave
Where there is misery Bring expectancy
And surely we can change Surely we can change
Something

And the problem it seems Is with you and me
Not the Love who came To repair everything

Where there is pain Let us bring grace
Where there is suffering Bring serenity
For those afraid Let us be brave
Where there is misery Let us bring them relief
And surely we can change Surely we can change
Oh surely we can change Something

Oh, the world’s about to change
The whole world’s about to change

This is Everyone's Call

Some people say, "I'm not called to do missions." Well, J-Money disagrees because he's read the gospels. Check this out! Trust me, it's worth every second!

We're all together on this one!

We may be sent out on four different trips this summer, but we go with one heart and one goal. That is to glorify Jesus and to share Him with people that we don't know. That's why we have one unified place for you to go and hear about all the summer trips. Now, you can hear about what God is doing on all the trips in one place.
We hope you enjoy and that you spend much time here celebrating with us, but also that inspires you to join us in prayer.

Cheers,
Grace Youth Ministry Staff