Update

Lots has happened since my last post. Our schedule has been non-stop! I'll try and hit the high points.

Wednesday

VBS continued with great gusto. The children from both Rosemont Baptist Church and Northbrook Villas learned about faith and the love of Jesus through bible study, music, crafts and recreation. The theme for this year's VBS is The Big Apple. Our students and adults engaged the children by showing love and exhibiting a real passion for the Lord. The connection between them is so evident.

The second group finished painting the Sharing Ministries Food Pantry to the delight of the entire community. A front page article in the local newspaper fueled excitement among the locals. Many people find it hard to believe that we've come in goodwill and expect nothing in return for our service. They are pleasantly reassured that good people DO exist and that is so much more blessing in giving that in receiving.

We presented a concert at Rosemont Baptist Church for the families that are participating in VBS. Many new families of were in attendance for the concert. Dr. Kim was very encouraged by their presence. It was a wonderful evening of worship.

Thursday

The last day of VBS. We enrolled more children at both sites this year than ever before. The missions offering received was more than ever before. To say that VBS was a success, is a complete understatement.

We spent Thursday afternoon cleaning the church and returning everything to its original state. We also packed out suitcases in preparation for loading later that night.

In the midst of all of the positive and encaging things happening we encountered something that threatened to derail it all. However, the Lord's power and might were displayed and things were restored quickly and without interruption.

The one thing we've been looking forward to the whole trip has been "Main in Motion". A community-wide street festival every Thursday night through June, July & August. Meeting with officials in February were very positive and we had been given open access to anything we wanted to do. The officials described the event to us but nothing could have prepared us for what we experienced. We were told that upwards of 3,000 to 4,000 would be in attendance. They were right!

We invited each child that had attended VBS to be our guest at Main in Motion. We prepared 2,000 hot dogs, 2,000 bags of chips, 2,000 bottles of water and served it all served on 2,000 bright yellow frisbees. The children, under Ms. Laura's direction sang the VBS songs and praised the Lord amongst the huge crowd in attendance. Our students worked by preparing the food, serving the food, working the inflatables, assisting with the VBS children and various other tasks. It was and incredible experience and we praise the Lord for giving us the vision and resources to accomplish what has become the largest single event we've ever produced on a mission trip to date. I found it humorous while chatting with a local when she said "I'm sorry that more people didn't turn out tonight." I responded with bewilderment as to where we put another single person in the midst in the wall-towall crowd!

Friday

Another very early departure! We loaded the bus at 4:45 and headed toward Amarillo, TX. Upon our arrival we would go to the Amarillo Sox baseball game where we sang the National Anthem and cheered on the hometown boys. Unfortunately our support was not enough to put the Sox in the winners bracket.

Saturday

We are currently en route to Spring! We are praying for continued safe travel and for us to be able to maintain our schedule.