On the Road – Days 6 & 7
Jul 15, 2009 Mission Northwest 2009
Posted by
Edde
Wednesday July 15, 2009:
Well here we are in Sisters Oregon getting ready to move on to Albany today. The last couple of days have been wonderfully eventful and we have been blessed by Calvary Chapel Sisters and Pastor Mike Golden in more ways than we can count.
After a fairly uneventful drive from Klamath Falls, we arrived late afternoon in Sisters and were greeted by Pastor Mike and a my friend Cynthia and shown over to camp so that we could get set up and settled in for the evening…
Later that night, Pastor Mike took Gary and I on a tour of Sisters and showed us potential ministry locations and locations where we would be doing some work projects around the community. Our plan for Tuesday was to do work projects for the City of Sisters for about four hours, afterward canvas the neighborhoods passing out flyers for Calvary Chapel’s VBS next week, then, if we had time in the early evening, we would go out and do evangelistic outreach, and then church afterward.
The day started out just as planned, with exception for arriving 15 minutes late (the kids were a little tired). We split the group into two separate work crews. Gary took all the girls to go paint fire hydrants on one side of town and I stayed with all of the guys to work on a landscaping project in a park on the other side of town. The kids worked their tails off…
According to Pastor Mike, the city worker in charge of the project was totally amazed at how hard these kids worked. They were a true example of the servant nature of Jesus Christ. Both Mike and Cynthia assured us that the work we did has paved the way for all kinds of future ministry in the eyes of this community.
“A man’s heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps…”
We finished up the work right after our lunch break and went back to camp for a bathroom break before hitting the streets to pass out flyers and information for the upcoming VBS. Earlier that morning, one of our female adult leaders had woken up very sick with flu like symptoms. I asked Kelly to stay back with her and have her to sleep as much as she could. We would then assess how she was feeling later and make a decision about continuing on with her or sending her home.
When we arrived back at camp for our bathroom break, our sick leader was showing no signs of getting better. We then decided to send her home immediately to keep her from getting any worse and not infect the rest of the group. So Kelly packed herself, her son and our sick leader up and left us as soon as she could. I know that God has a purpose in all of this, although I have to admit that I am somewhat sad as we have lost our lead cook and our trip photographer.
Regarding the cook, I am stoked that one of our younger adult leaders has stepped up and done a great job handling all of our food needs. I love watching God fill needs. As far as the photographer, you all are just going to have to be content with video clips for the rest of the trip…
Back to the outreach…
For whatever reason, after our break at camp, everyone including Gary and myself was having an extremely hard time trying to regroup for the next part of the outreach. It was like everyone was in a fog and couldn’t comprehend instruction and chaos was starting to ensue. This was partially because everyone was tired from working so hard earlier that day, partially because of the demoralizing factor of having to send people home, but I believe mostly it was a spiritual attack to keep us from being as effective during the outreach. Pastor Mike, Gary and I decided then to scrap the evening outreach and just go out and simply pass out flyers door to door in the neighborhoods for the VBS…
A simple act of obedience…
Once we were able to overcome the fog, we prayed, regrouped and loaded into the vans and headed out. We canvased three separate neighborhoods with flyers. For the most part, people were not home, however, our kids, were ready. It was during this time that we would run into people on the street and the kids would jump at the chance to share the gospel. As a result, four people came to Christ!!! Please pray for these seeds planted, that they were received on fertile soil and that the enemy would not steal the seeds away…
We got information from all but one teenage boy. However, God grace covered.. As we finished up dinner, we saw that boy and his friend cruising through the camp ground. The two boys in our group who shared and prayed with them ran over and invited them to church that evening and they agreed to come…
Calvary Chapel of Sisters was gracious enough to buy us pizza for dinner and they came down to the camp ground to fellowship and eat with us. Thanks CC Sisters, you guys have been a blessing and joy to work with…
After dinner we piled into the vans with the two young men for evening service and were blessed by a refreshing time of worship, teaching and prayer. Pastor Mike exhorted and encouraged the kids out of 2 Timothy 4:1-7…
We are now packing up for Albany. Please pray for a safe drive, health of the group, unity and boldness as the kids have six more days of travel and ministry… Thank you all for your continued prayer for this outreach. God is doing amazing things both in the communities that we visit and the lives of our kids…
© 2009, Edde. All rights reserved.
Tags: Mission Northwest, Youth Missions
