Hello, there!
Well, I suppose we are a couple of days late getting this blog started, but so much has been happening that we haven’t had much time! But I can fill you in on the basics. My hope is that each day someone different will be telling you their version of the day’s events.
On Friday, about 5:45 pm rolled around and we rolled out of Orange City! It was a little later than planned, but everything worked out (we had a few ____). With only one pit stop at Missouri Valley, we made it to Omaha’s Hope E-Free with ease! That night we walked around their church, played some music, ate some Papa John’s, and woke up rather early the next day. Getting to stay up late lets a person experience a different, mayber crazier, side of people. It’s great!
Saturday held a couple of plane rides for the team. We were blessed with two safe and on-time flights. Our two airplane newbies (Josh & Amanda) were a little disappointed in the smooth landing skills of our first pilot—they were expecting a more… shaky touch down. During our lay-over in Detroit some of us had fun just walking the terminal. We saw a half-man, half-creature…he was wearing a bunny hat and a longish white tail. Interesting, eh? Well, we decided to play games on the moving sidewalk, which eventually lead to doing the hokey pokey. (: We (or rather I) enjoy putting on a show for people.
We arrived in Greenville to greener grass, budding trees, and beautiful smelling air! Calvin, a staff member from MHM, took us to Abner (a very welcoming church) where we met Pastor Rick. The church has a garage sale happening in their gym, so we are having fun playing with toys and purchasing some things. Our next stop was Beacons. Understandably we were a bit excited, but once we sat down with our trays heaping with food “a-plenty” and giant cheeseburgers, we realized we could probably use a few Beacons to soak up some of the grease. But it was delicious all the same. Maybe sometime we can tell you about the place and what it has done for the Mission.
Eventually we moved on to touring the Mission—a beautiful building with seemingly friendly residents. From hearing a couple tidbits of the mens’ stories, I am expecting to hear some testimonies of how God has and is working! In some research on this beautiful southern state, I read that the state motto for SC is dum spiro spero, which means “while I breathe, I hope.” I feel like that should be a life motto, you know?
Today, Sunday, is another big day for us. We get to meet the small congregation that is housing us for the trip, as well as perform our chapel service for them. Rebecca was kind enough to introduce us to the Everything skit by Lifehouse. Alyssa will also be giving her testimony today. Did I mention that we have the privilege to celebrate Rebecca’s twentieth today? You go, girl… You survived the teenage years. (:
Like I said, this post is a few days late, so you are getting the basics. I hope that my teammates’ posts are more personal and in-depth than what I have provided.
I have no doubts that God will work wonders in and through our team. It is my hope and prayer that we truly become a motley, maybe a bit disfunctional, loving family—and that our bonding is not limited to this trip, but extends throughout our time at NWC and beyond. Praise the Lord for guidance and love and joy!
Dum Spiro Spero,
Charissa Thornton
Monday, March 7, 2011
To finish where Chachi (Charissa) left off, we did part of the service at Abner Baptist on Sunday Morning, then ate lunch and hung out at Miracle Hill for a bit, then did the chapel service Sunday night for the men and women at the rescue mission. It was cool how God helped us bring it all together to proclaim a message of hope and Jesus’ power to rescue. We did the “Everything” skit twice, which turned out well and proved to be quite powerful as a representation of what Christ can do to draw us to Himself and free us of the sins that drag us down. Alyssa gave her testimony in the morning, as she shared how God got her through some tough times in the last few years of her life, and how God’s strength is made perfect in our weakness. It was awesome to hear what God has done and taught her! Nikki shared her testimony that night for the people at Miracle Hill. She talked about how God has worked in her life through a tough childhood, and how she went from resenting God to where she is today. It touched a lot of people powerfully, kleenex were necessary, and lots of people were immensely blessed as they related to her story. Praise God! Also, I had the privilege of doing a few songs at the services, with the help of Abby singing. After we got back at night, we had some discussion and Amanda shared her testimony with us, which was also really cool to hear! It’s great getting to know each other deeper, as we try to grow closer to God and each other.
Today was our first main day at the Miracle Hill Rescue Mission. We woke up way too early, and headed over a little after 6 a.m. this morning. We ate breakfast, helped mop and clean up a little bit, then sat in on the men’s chapel service at 8. A little later, the girls participated in the women’s bible study, while the three of us guys were introduced to a project they have for us: a big storage shed that needs a lot of work. After lunch, we met with a case worker at Miracle Hill who told us a lot of cool things about their ministry and what they do. During the afternoon, we worked on moving stuff and organizing the shed, then we went back to our “home” at the church to rest and prepare for the chapel service (Calvin informed us that the chapel speaker cancelled, so we accepted the offer). So we had some down time, then went to dinner at the mission, and did the chapel service tonight. Our leader, Chachi, gave her testimony tonight. Hers also was very emotional and powerful. She talked about the guilt and shame God has freed her from, and her honesty and genuineness moved me and many others to be sure. It made me think deeper about our sinfulness, about the sin and shame that I so often hide, the importance of being real like that, and the amazingness of the power of the cross of Jesus Christ—whose death and resurrection has set us free from all our sin! We sang “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross” and “It is Well” to go with that incredible message of God’s forgiveness through Jesus. Back at Abner Baptist tonight, we had some great discussion time. Andrew shared his life story (in a little over an hour), which was great to hear. His story is really interesting, and it was cool how honest he was with us. The more we open up to each other, the closer we’re getting. We kept talking about God, reflecting on what happened today, and discussing deep topics about faith.
This trip has already been such a blessing to us and others. Praise God! To Him be the glory, and my prayer is that He would continue to work in us and through us, as we try to grow closer to Him and each other. Also I pray that He would reveal Himself to us more and guide us in truth, as we seek Him on this service trip.
God Bless,
Josh Hollinger
Tuesday , March 08, 2011
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Allow me welcome you to the 5th day of our trip to South Carolina!
Today we decided to sleep a little extra so that we would be more awake throughout the day and better able to make an impact for Christ. The guys in the kitchen at Miracle Hill were very generous in giving us a box full of breakfast food, so we ate at the church’s gym this morning and drove over to the mission shortly afterwards. The boys were put to work right away and the girls joined the women for Bible study. A lady from one of the churches in the area came and talked through Psalm 116 with us.
The rest of the day was filled with scrubbing, pressure washing, scraping, more scrubbing, and shelf-building. We worked diligently and enjoyed the presence of our friends while doing so. Some people had a chance to have conersations with some of the residents there.
The whole group learned about the dynamics of conversation and how to tell when you just need to end a conversation politely. God is teaching us a lot about knowing how to show compassion, but not invite a person to unload all of their burdens on you. That is for God to take from them, not us.
At dinner, the girls had a chance to sit with the women and talk for a bit, hearing more about them and also explaining a bit more exactly what we were doing at the mission. It is eye-opening to get to talk to the residents because you connect to people who are different from people you’ve always known, but are so much the same. We all have struggles, we all have joys…
After dinner, the girls also joined the women for chapel, in which a lady from another church came and told her testimony about God’s faithfulness in her life and through tough times. It was fantastic to listen to. She bought notebooks for all the women to write about what God is doing in their lives so they can look back during times of pain and struggles to see exactly how God has worked so they don’t forget how good and faithful He truly is.
As for the rest of tonight, we are going to try really, REALLY hard to get to bed earlier. For whatever reason, God strikes up good conversation right before bed-time and we stay up way too late. Tomorrow we are going to get to the mission early, and I mean EARLY. We’re talking 4AM. Don is going to make pancakes and the whole team is going to serve breakfast for the residents. It will be a blast!
En el amor del Cristo (Spanish for “in the love of Christ”)
Amanda Schuld
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