Summer LINK Clemson: Week 9

I cannot believe that another week has come and gone with Summer LINK Clemson. It seems not too long ago that we were having our orientation and getting to know one another! Now we’re getting close to the last week of serving with Crosspoint staff this summer.

This week has been, like many others have written before me, an incredible week of fellowship, teaching, and learning. We had the honor of gathering at the Welborn’s (yes, parents of BTChubs..) home this Monday night for Equip Night. You want to know what a true Southern home-cooked meal looks like? Well let me just tell you how Kathy Welborn blessed the stomachs of all the Clemson Summer LINKers: picture some home-made fried chicken, macaroni and cheese, squash casserole, rice, fruit, salad, two home-made red-velvet cakes, macadamia nut cookies, white chocolate macadamia nut cookies, turtle cookies, and your choice of either vanilla ice cream or cookie dough ice cream. Can you say YUMMY!! We were truly blessed and full of happiness and satisfaction. It was also an immense blessing for us to hear the testimonies of Mark and Kathy Welborn and how obedient they have been to the Lord’s calling on their lives. Twice in their walks with the Lord, they have been faithful to the Lord and have given up everything to help start a church. Mark reminded us that we can respect God and fear Him, but we must understand what it truly means to love Him. Our quiet times, our fellowship and discipleship with other believers, and our prayers should change as our love for Him grows. We’re thankful for their obedience and faithfulness to help start Crosspoint Church and for continuing to faithfully serve the body of Christ! We continued our study of Robert Coleman’s Master Plan of Evangelism by discussing Jesus’ method of delegation unto His disciples to spread the truth of the good news. We pray that we would be teachable disciples of Christ and learn how to delegate to fellow believers in order to teach them more about Jesus and watch them grow in His ministry of evangelism and discipleship!

We celebrated another special day this week on Thursday night by honoring Miss Katrina Ross’ 20^th birthday! We all got to indulge in some delicious chocolate cupcakes (thanks to Miss Emilyn Banfield) and sing happy birthday to one special lady with a beautiful servant’s heart before CP group. To end the summer socials on a high note, Summer LINK Clemson traveled to Atlanta this past Friday to spend the day at Six Flags. This was a day all of us were looking forward to and expecting to be the highlight of our summer! Although it was a hot summer day, we all had a blast riding rollercoasters (multiple times), walking around the gift shops, and exploring the water park to cool off a bit. Nothing like the thrill of a rollercoaster to drive out the fear in us and draw us closer together as a group!

We’re so thankful to be under the teaching of Crosspoint this summer and to be pushed and challenged by the Lord in evangelism this summer. Ken taught on living in light of Christ’s return last Sunday and it has been reigning in our hearts all week. It completely changes and impacts your day when you put the second coming of Christ and His promise of restoration on the forefront of your mind. We are thankful and grateful to be in prayer for those that we have gotten to have gospel-centered conversations with and we pray for more! God is Sovereign and we are humbled to be used by Him to further His Kingdom.

We pray for our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ serving in Boston, Honduras, and India and our hearts are with them! We know God is doing wonderful things in and through them.

Laura Gann

Boston Update (week 4)

This past week we were able to do homeless ministry for the first time on our trip.  On Wednesday afternoon we had a training session on homeless ministry. We learned a lot about homeless statistics in Boston and how to engage, love, and serve the homeless. That night we went to Boston Commons and handed out socks and sandwiches to the homeless people that were there. These things served as icebreakers as we were then able to talk to these people individually about their lives and pray for them about the things that they face. I was blown away by how the Lord can use such small things to make such a big difference. The majority of the people were so thankful to have someone to talk to who was really concerned with what was going on with their lives. For some of these people it was the only conversation they had all day. The Lord really showed me how we could display the gospel to these people just by loving them and praying for them. We ended the time with singing and prayer. This was one of the most memorable moments of this trip for me personally, as we saturated downtown Boston with the praise and worship of our Savior.

On Saturday we had another encounter with the homeless as we helped Hope Fellowship Church with Hope Café. We helped prepare breakfast and serve breakfast to the homeless as they came in. We were able to have good conversations with them while they ate.  A man from the church shared the changing power of the gospel.  Some of us were able to take the leftovers and hand them out at the T station. This was a really cool ministry that they have at the church and I am so thankfulthat we were able to have a small part of it.

As we enter this next week a lot of our energy and thoughts are going to be on Community Fun Night as we try to plan and prepare. Please be in prayer for this event as we try to effectively engage the community and reach people with the gospel.

Posted by: Caitlyn Carlile

Summer LINK Honduras Week 4 Wrap-up

     It's been a great week here in Honduras. We thoroughly enjoyed our visitors, the Strawderman family, VBS at the dump was a success, and we've had great success in our continuing ministries at the dump and bilingual school.

     Yesterday as the Pirkles dropped the Strawderman family at the airport, we continued our schedule with the bilingual school and soccer games at the fields in the community of Lucinda. We started the day at the school by helping the sixth grades students memorize the Honduran National Anthem. Afterwards, we read one-on-one with third grade students. These times of working in small groups with students are my favorite because they allow us to build deeper relationships with the kids and enter into gospel-centered conversations.

     After an afternoon of soccer, we joined the Pirkle kids for dinner at Letty's, a local restaurant near the hospital grounds. It was a great time of fellowship with them and another great chance for us to enjoy local cuisine. We capped off the night with a movie night in our living room.
     Today we traveled to La Ceiba to do some shopping and grab lunch at the mall. We also planned an outreach for our time at the mall and printed off some Spanish versions of The Story. We divided our team into three groups and gave out internet cards with the link to The Story online. Each group had great encounters with both believers and non-believers. We even met a guy whose wife lives in South Carolina! Today was a great opportunity for us to be intentional with the gospel. J.C. was able to have a great conversation with a young believer and encourage him in his faith. Logan and Becca talked to two older women who were devout Catholics. I was able to talk to two young girls who were headed for college. When I shared the gospel with them, they said that it was familiar to them because of the bible classes they had in school. So I was able to encourage them, and leave them with a link to The Story. I'm really thankful we had this opportunity today.
     Tonight, our guys are helping out with the last movie night in Rio Estaban and tomorrow we will be returning to one of the local churches we've attended. We are planning on spending the afternoon tie-dying t-shirts and going to the waterfall with Johnny, one of the kids from school.

Please pray for our time with Johnny tomorrow. We hope to spend the afternoon encouraging Johnny, teaching him about discipleship, and spurring him on to steadfastness in sharing the gospel with his friends and classmates.

     Post by Kimberly Sherman
     Pictures by Elizabeth Pirkle and Dan Strawderman

Generation LINK and the NACPF

Check out Generation LINK Director Jeremy Chasteen's recent post on the NACPF blog! http://www.nacpf.org/follow-us/nacpf-blog/

SummerLINK Honduras - Strawderman Week!

Our time in Honduras continues to be blessed by the Lord. This last week we have had the privilege of having the Strawderman family coming alongside our team and the Pirkles to serve the Lord in Honduras. They arrived last Thursday evening, and took Friday to rest and get a tour of the ministries around here, such as the hospital and the children's center.

While they were learning the ropes, we continued our ministry at the bilingual school in Rio Esteban. Friday was a crazy day at the school. They have been doing some cultural awareness things with Indians, and Friday was designated for a presentation and a contest for the "best dressed indian." Three girls from the school were dressed as cute little indians and had to go through a series of things to be judged on. A few of our team members were asked to be the judges. The excitement from the contest distracted the students from school work tremendously. It was hard to find gospel opportunities with such short attention spans; however we did enjoy getting to spend the day further building our relationships with the children and serving in whatever way the teachers needed us. That afternoon everyone went to the recreation field in Lucinda to spend time playing soccer and investing in the people in the community. It was a great day for the Strawderman's to reunite with the Pirkles and for our team to meet them and simply spend time in sweet fellowship. We ended our day with another delicious homecooked meal provided by the Pirkle family! We have been so blessed by their family's servants heart!




Saturday we continued our ministry at the Dump in La Ceiba. Our most recent visits there have looked a little bit different than they have previously. With the extra hands from the Strawderman family, we wanted to attempt to do a VBS with the children at the Dump. Nothing like this had ever been tried there before. None of us knew what to expect going into this at all. Most of the children living there have never had any kind of organized activity, and definitely have not really been exposed to the great truths of the gospel. We really wanted to be intentional about sharing Christ's love with them and providing fun things for them to do that they may not have the opportunity to experience before.  Everyone did a great job splitting up tasks and just being faithful to serve wherever someone was needed. The first day definitely was difficult, but overall it went very well. We were able to evaluate what we did well, and what things we needed to change for the next two visits, on Tuesday and Thursday.

Sunday we spent the morning studying through some passages in 2 Kings with some of the other missionaries on the compound. Afterwards we got to spend some time worshipping the Lord through song, lead by our very own, Kelsey and JC. It was a wonderful time praising the Lord. That afternoon we spent time resting and enjoying each other in fellowship at the beach until the rain came. Sunday evening we went the this place called Rosie's. Rosie is a local from Rio Esteban who runs a restaurant on the beach. We communicated what kind of meat we wanted, whether it was chicken, shrimp, or lobster, a few days ahead of time. Local fishermen catch whatever we requested and Rosie had it all cooked and ready to go once we arrived. The food was delicious! We had rice, fried plantains, and chips and salsa along with whichever meat we chose. We all enjoyed our meal and watching God's beautiful creation as the sun was setting over the water. It was impossible to look at that and not praise the Lord! After dinner we were surprised with a dance by some of the people in the Rio Esteban community. The Garifuna is a culture that is primarily only in Rio Esteban. According to Rosie the culture is going to die out if the older generation doesn't continue to teach the younger generation about it. Therefore, the dances we saw were native dances from the Garifuna people in the community. The beginning some younger girls in pink skirts did a little dance lead by a beat from some drummers and singing from Rosie. Soon after these men with headdresses came out and did more native dancing. It was kind of odd to see at first, but it was cool to get to see this part of their culture. They even were intentional about getting us to participate with them. They pulled some of our team out on the dance floor and tried to teach them some of the dance. It was a fun night full of laughter and good food!

Monday we jumped right back into going to the bilingual school. The Strawderman's were troopers and got up at the crack of dawn and accompanied us. We really enjoyed getting to have them at the school with us. Their family has a servant heart and it was such a joy to see them build relationships with the kids in only a few hours. By the end of the day they were holding their hands and dragging them across the field to play with them. Their willingness to serve the Lord faithfully has been a huge encouragement to us while they have been here. Sometimes the days at the school feel long and can be very frustrating. It was so refreshing to have so many joyful spirits around!

Tuesday and Thursday we continued doing VBS at the Dump.  We were able to make changes that improved the flow of things. Story time was now with the whole group at once so we could have the remaining people to encourage the children to pay attention. Tuesday was about Jesus' baptism and temptation. Thursday was about Jesus' death and resurrection.  Our vision for the teachings of VBS were to clearly explain Redemptive History to these children.  Overall, the story time went well, even though there were some unruly children who just couldn't sit still and pay attention.  The group who did the craft got the opportunity to expand on the teaching, which was really awesome!  Games were focussed on team building and being able to work together. The children seemed to really enjoy the different groups as a whole, so hopefully this week has paved the way to do similar types of ministry at the Dump.

We have loved having the Strawderman's here with us for a week! We are so thankful for their desire to serve the Lord faithfully through missions. It was such a joy to work alongside them and see how the Lord used them while they were here. Please be in prayer for their awesome family as they travel back to the States in the morning!

Photo credits: Elizabeth, Ceci, and Kim
Written by: Hannah and Ceci

Summer Link India-Week 3

Our concept of time has officially been skewed. Myrtle Beach felt like last year, but it seemed like we were just getting settled into Indore. That being said, I’m writing this in Jaipur as we’re already on our midsummer excursion.

Monday was the last day at the hotel; when we go back to Indore we’ll be staying at the M’s houses. It was quite a scene transporting all of our luggage with rikshaws. Carly wasn’t feeling well all day, so she stayed in with Heath and Rachel (don’t worry, she bounced back the next day beautifully). The rest of us went to Rajwada with the main goal of riding an elephant; Nathan, Alecia, and Mary Emily were able to do so when they spotted one on their way back.

The 3-tier red-eye train to Jaipur from 10:30 Monday night til 8:30 Tuesday morning went well for some, not so much for others. Rachel, Rebekah, and I sang hymns, Nathan got stepped on by an Indian; Kelsey had the best night of sleep so far in India, Heath had one of the worst nights of his life, spending a large portion of it in the bathroom (AKA hole in the bottom of the train).

We got settled in on Tuesday to our hotel; went swimming and ate an expensive hotel lunch. Jenna arrived safely right as we were having our bible study on 2 Peter. All but Heath and Rebekah (also didn’t feel well, but just Tuesday afternoon) went to some markets. The pushy shopowners were frustrating, but some were able to buy art or textiles. Dinner was at a rooftop brick-oven Italian restaurant.

Heath still feeling bad and staying in on Wednesday. Busy, exhausting day. We went to City Palace; the guys were pretty awed by the weapons and the girls were able to have people draw some weird designs on their hands with bad-smelling brown liquid that leaves an orange residue for 10 days (henna tattoos). We took pictures in front of the water palace. Everyone was able to ride elephants, parading around a village with children running in our wake yelling hello. The group went to the restaurant Anokhi for lunch and the girls got some stuff at the adjoining store. Just as Heath started feeling better Wednesday night, Kelsey started feeling really sick with similar symptoms. She picked a better place to get sick, though; luxurious hotel sure beats an Indian train.

Please pr@y for continued intentional, missional living through the rest of the trip and after. Pr@y for health as well. 

Posted by Travis. 

Summer LINK Clemson: Week 8

Well, another week has come and gone here in Clemson. It seems surreal that we only have a handful of days left as members of CLINK. But, I digress…this week we had the opportunity to have our Equipping Night at the Freeman’s home on Lake Keowee. They were kind enough to open up their home for the entire afternoon for us to spend time out on the water. We swam, skied, kayaked, wakeboarded, and watched Carson do all kinds of crazy jumps into the water. Needless to say, we all enjoyed each other’s company, as usual. Hearing the Freeman’s testimony of faithfulness to go where the Lord calls them was extremely encouraging and an excellent reminder that the Lord has prosperous plans for all of us as we leave college and beyond.

This week was another week filled with birthdays as we celebrated Krystal’s with a party after CP group and BT Chub’s birthday the following day with trick candles and rocket balloons! We had an epic camping trip planned, akin to the characters in the Sandlot sleeping in the tree house, but unfortunately some nasty weather rolled in on Friday and we had to go to plan B, which was hanging out at the G LINK guys house and cooking all of the food we had already bought. Side note, we have been watching Lord of the Rings as a group and Brocktimus Prime was able to find some LOTR Pez dispensers! How wonderful! At the guys house we played cards (a common theme for our group), slack lined, tossed the football around, played corn hole, and of course looked up funny YouTube videos. It wasn’t camping but we were thankful for the time the Lord provided to bring us even closer together.

As others have mentioned before in their posts, it has been amazing to see the community and fellowship that has developed this summer. To see His hand work in all of our lives and bring us all together is truly amazing. We may be loud, crazy, and a whole lot of fun but we all are living for the Lord and seeking to glorify Him through our words, thoughts, and actions. Even hearing how other CLINKers have engaged in Gospel-centered conversations throughout this week and this summer has worked to spur the rest of us on towards fulfilling the Great Commission.

Praying for our brothers and sisters around the world as they too fulfill the Great Commission.

Emilyn

Summer LINK Boston: Week 3 update!

Like last week, we served at the community center and the Boys and Girls club. It’s been awesome to continue relationships made with the staff and kids and to have the opportunity to be constant in ministry to the city.

We also helped with a community event called Circle the Square. Our job was to help local artists unload cars and setup, be available for anything needed during the event, and make connections with the other volunteers helping out. 

Our group has been encouraged to see new people come to Redemption Hill this past Sunday that we have had conversations with during the week. The Lord is so faithful in bringing others closer to Him, and we’re thankful to be a part of it! We hope this will allow more people in the city of Medford to draw near to God by having a solid connection with a local church that has the purpose of proclaiming the one true gospel and seeing others come to Christ.

 Next week, we have Serve Medford, a week in which groups from 6 other churches will be coming to Medford to partner with Redemption Hill in serving the community.  The week will end with Community Fun Night, a night with free food, games, inflatables, face painting, and live entertainment.  Our team has been helping plan this night and we are really looking forward to it!

We definitely ask for your prayers as we plan for Community Fun Night. We want to be effective and prayerful as a team this next week while we gather all of the details and prepare for gospel centered conversations with the people in Medford.

We ended the week with a day trip to Maine!  It was a great day to get away and spend some time hanging out as a team. 

Posted by: Mary Beth Staggs

SummerLink Honduras: VBS at the Dump

Yesterday was our first day of VBS at the dump in La Ceiba.  We will be doing the VBS on Tuesday and Thursday, too while the Strawdermans are here.  The VBS lasted about an hour and a half or two hours.  We split into four different groups, each group with a different activity.  We had a story telling group, a game group, a craft group, and a snack/coloring group.  Each group started out with about 6 kids, and the kids would rotate groups every 20 or so minutes.

This was my group: story telling.  Becca read the story of Adam and Eve from the spanish storybook bible, and JC, Noah Strawderman, and I acted the story out.  Our first time through, the kids were very inattentive and tossed rocks into a nearby puddle the whole time.  With our next three groups, we made sure to have big movements and make silly faces to keep the kids' attention.  In each group there would be a couple people who didn't want to pay attention and would distract the group, but for the most part, I think they got the story.  These kids just aren't used to any form of organization, and they are definitely not used to being told what to do.

After reading the story, we taught them either one or two songs, according to how much time we had left.  The first song was "I've got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart".  Of course it was in spanish, too.  We also taught them "Alelu- Alelu- Alelu- Aleluia".  They clapped along but didn't seem too into it while we were singing.  But apparently they really liked the songs, because when we rotated, they would be singing the songs to themselves in their next group.  We're definitely going to be singing those songs Tuesday and Thursday!

These pictures are from the games group.  All of the games were water games, which of course the kids love in the heat.  They played the game where you line up and pass a wet sponge over one person, under the next, ect.  They also played a game where they raced to see which team could fill up their bucket first by racing with small water cups (second picture).  According to some of the leaders in this group, the games could have gone better.  Like I said before, the kids are very misbehaved, and do not handle direction well.  I think the games were also very foreign to them.  They would really enjoy just playing a game of soccer or throwing the frisbee.  We will definitely be making some adjustments for Tuesday to make things less stressful for the game leaders.

This was our craft for the day.  The children would trace their hand on a piece of paper, and then glue pre-torn pieces of construction paper onto the paper, as fruits on a tree.  The leaders said the kids really enjoyed the craft, and got into their artwork.  Hopefully, this will help them remember what they learned.  If nothing else, it gets them to come, where they'll also hear the bible teaching.

The last group was snacks and coloring.  The Strawderman family made rice crispy treats to bring the kids for snacks.  To keep them busy for the twenty minutes, they also got to color.  For some reason, coloring is very exciting to them! They are always asking if they're going to be able to "pintar".

Overall, the VBS was very successful.  It was definitely difficult because the kids are so undisciplined that they are hard to control, but we expected that.  Nothing like a VBS has every been done there before.  Some of the kids don't even go to school.  While we were having the VBS, a truck came through with a load of trash in the back.  Several kids ran and jumped into the back of the truck to dig through the trash for things they could use.  This is their everyday life, scrounging off of other people's trash.  It was really sad to see.

On the bright side, we got some really good ideas for how we're going to do things differently for the rest of the week.  We're thinking we'll do big group story time, and then have them rotate through the rest of the groups.  That will allow all the other leaders to sit with the kids and keep them from being too disruptive during the story, because that's really the most important part.  During the three days, we're going through the fall of man, the cross, and then how to live.  I'm really excited just to be able to show these things to the kids, probably for the first time in their lives.  And it won't stop when we leave.  There is a missionary here that goes to the dump to play with the kids several times a week.  Pray for the Lord to work in these kids' lives.

Tonight, our group, the Strawdermans, the Pirkles, and a few other missionaries are going to a restaurant!  We gave them our order a few days ago, and they went out and caught the food fresh and will have it ready when we get there.  It's our group social for the week, and we're all looking forward to it!  Continue to pray for our team, and that God would provide opportunities for us to share His love, and the good news of His gospel.

Photo Credits: Elizabeth Pirkle
Written by: Kelsey Gallman

Summer LINK Clemson: Week 7

We went contra dancing again last night at River Falls. Ryan, Kystral, Jon and Savannah all came so we had the whole group together this time. It was a wonder how all of us made it the whole time. Half of us had a lock-in at the church with the youth and my b bro (birthday brother), Brock, managed to not sleep a lick Friday night. Also, this week was Emilyn’s birthday so we celebrated Wednesday night, followed up with some late night knockout in LJC.

We have been trying to focus a lot more on evangelism and living a life that naturally leans towards sharing the love we have found in Christ. Thursday we all went out around campus to the Hendrix Center, the Union, and the library. We would just go up and strike up conversations with people and attempt to share the gospel. We really tried to just to get to know people and hopefully make a contact to follow up with them rather than just preaching the gospel at them and leaving. It has been awesome in multiple ways even when we do get completely rejected sometimes. It has enabled us to grow in boldness in Christ, to learn how to just go up and strike up a gospel conversation with someone. It has also helped us to put words to the gospel, to be able to define and give words to your heart. Lastly, it has grown us together, especially the person you go paired with.

So we have been going through the Lord of the Rings trilogy together because there were a couple of C-linkers with a very deprived life up to this point, they had not seen any of the movies. We are hopefully going to finish up this week with the third movie and really achieve the full life some of us were missing out on. Overall, we have been able to hang out and grow very close to everyone in our Summer Link group. The community we have built has been so great and we have ended up hanging out multiple nights through the week even when have nothing planned or mandatory to attend. Red brought up in CP groups this week about being an Acts 2 church/body of believers: To do life together and keep each other accountable and to show the world the camaraderie of Jesus. They found everything in common just because of the bond of their Lord and Savior and that is something we have learned to do.

All our prayers go out to the rest of the Summer Link teams around the world.

Carson Fields

Summer LINK Clemson

Summer LINK Boston: Update Week 2 #blink

We have just finished our second week in Boston!  We've slowly been able to start having good conversations with the workers at the Boys and Girls club.  We trust that in the next few weeks God will be working in the hearts of some of them. 

Our time working at the community center looks to be fruitfull.  We've managed to share the Gospel with the kids a couple times now, and at least a few of them seem to be soaking it up well. 

Our involvement with the homeless ministry Redemption Hill is hoping to partner with has so far only involved helping them to organize some of their supplies, but our help was appreciated, and we're excited to continue working with them in the coming weeks.

Redemption Hill's Soccer Nights took place this past week, and we had over 200 kids participate!  Every night kids ages 4-12 from all over the community came out and learned basic soccer skills along with 5 values to promote teamwork and good character.  Most of us served as soccer coaches and a few of us helped with hospitality and registration.  It was a joy to be able to serve the community, and although I personally wasn't able to talk much with the parents, I heard from other Redemption Hill volunteers that God was doing much with a number of parents there.

Caroline's team of 6 year olds

Jon (one of the pastors at RHC) speaking to all the kids

Grabbing a quick snack

We've had a few visitors this week, first- a mission group for Open Door, a church from North Carolina that Redemption Hill is partnering with.  Among other things, they helped to serve during soccer nights, and went on an outreach effort with us on Thursday.  We have also had the pleasure of being visited by Jeremy Chasteen and family, who have been a great encouragement in giving us a little piece of home.  Joel's fiancé also dropped by for a couple of days.  As much as we wish our visitors could remain with us, we're nevertheless eager to resume serving Redemption Hill and the community.

Our main prayer requests are continued team unity, protection from discouragement, financial provision for Redemption Hill in their effort to purchase the building they(/we) are using, further success in various evangelism work, and whatever else will ultimately bring God glory.

Thanks for your prayers! Enjoy a few more pictures from our time here:

Enjoying time at a park in the city 

On the duck boat tour

Posted by: Brian Golz

Summer-link Honduras update: week two cont.

Buenas tardes from Balfate, Honduras! We are two weeks into our trip and all of us have really enjoyed our time here.  God has given us many opportunities to build relationships with the people here (locals and other missionaries) and to share the gospel.  The Pirkle family has been very generous to us; we are blessed to be on mission with them here in Honduras. 

At the bilingual school we have been able to share the word of God and teach about the character of God by means of teaching English.  As Ceci mentioned in the previous post, I had the opportunity of talking with a kid named Joni at the school.  After talking with him for a few minutes I found out that he was a follower of Christ.  He talked to me about how he tells other people about the love of God, but many of them do not want to have anything to do with God.  I read to him the passage in John 15 where Jesus tells the disciples that the world will hate them because of him, and I was able to encourage him through that.   

Wednesday at the school, a group of us were in the 6^th grade classroom and the principal lead the students in singing “This is the Day that the Lord Has Made” in four different languages.  Right after that she used a story quilt to lead the class in a song that essentially outlined the events of redemptive history.  We were very encouraged to know that we were not the only ones trying teach the students about the goodness of God. 

Yesterday we went to a nearby community soccer field and had around a hundred people show up.  Some of us played soccer with the locals, while a couple people from our team were able to share the gospel with some bystanders.  We are really hoping to build relationships with the people and be proactive with the opportunities God gives us to share the gospel.

  This morning we helped the Pirkle family and other missionaries put on a 5K race to raise money for the Hospital.  The idea of a 5k race was clearly foreign to the locals, but God provided and we had a great turn out! Afterwards we headed out for the dump in La Ceiba, but after twenty minutes of driving we got a flat tire and were held up for over an hour.  Because of this, we didn’t have time to continue to the dump, but God is still sovereign.  God has certainly been working in each of our lives and has upheld the spiritual unity of our group.  Please pray that God would continue to give us opportunities to share the gospel, and to encourage the other missionaries here.  Pray that God would give us the strength we need to carry out His plan for us here, and to spur each other on in faith.

This post was written by JC Spearman

Settling In India- Week 2

If you come to India, wear white pants.  You will not be culturally relevant or stay cool in the day. They will tarnish. They will make you stand out. This will come as a welcome and laughable disappointment as it serves to remind you that through grace alone your rags have been washed clean, compelling you to be unashamed of His power.

Over the weekend, we decompressed with time alone to study, give thanks, set objectives for this summer, and sing together (Rebekah leads because when she opens her mouth, I feel compelled to shut mine.. so, so good). We did make it out to the park for a camel ride (these walk down the street though, no bid deal), bumper cars, and Frisbee. Kelsey celebrated her birthday on Sunday and what a perfect day for it to fall on! We sang happy birthday to her and some new friends when we met in the evening. It was as tender as a butterfly with sore feet on a gentle breeze gingerly seeking a soft place to land (true statement).

In following days we have transitioned out of orientation into a new routine of study/teaching (Papa Heath!), outings, and event time each day. Monday was the first day following this routine. I experienced it sick in bed but with meds and prayer, was better the next day (Hallelujah!). The guys met one of our local brothers/translators and caught up over chai and the girls did outreach and prayed over the city from the heights of the mall roof. Evening was an adventure as everyone went to Inspiration school where Rachel presented on family life. We also presented on American culture, education, and leisure acticities. Travis and Alecia (who has now made it into this blog) demonstrated how to shag! Then we broke into smaller conversations with the students, which was somewhat overwhelming. So many questions!

Tuesday morning, Carly had a waffle for breakfast and thoroughly enjoyed it (best she ever had). A few of the girls met with some students from Inspiration and the others met a local sister, whom they were able to begin teaching and to greatly encourage. Also, Mary Emily was able to return 4 Rupees that she accidentally stole. The guys traveled to Rajwada to meet a man Heath knew 2 years ago and hopefully we will eat with his family soon. We walked slowly through the frenzied market streets p-walking and stopped in a music store our local brother frequents. We spoke at length with the young employees and neighboring shop owner sharing the good news. In the evening we all returned to Inspiration where the students presented to us on traditional Indian dances and things that could only happen in India. The best part of the day was back at home when our local brother played his newly repaired guitar and we sang together!

On Wednesday, the guys met another brother and his friend in the mall and after much debating discovered we each had brothers in the other. It is so uplifting to find someone with sound beliefs living here. The friend was from one of the cities we are visiting next week so hopefully we will see him again! The girls were in the mall coming down an escalator with such grace and style that they stole the attention from a cricket trophy photo shoot! They were flattered but humbly and politely declined, walking on un-phased. At night we attended a local gathering of the body, personally one of the most encouraging things on our trip yet! To hear them singing in their native language was phenomenal. Being with them and hopefully encouraging them is why we are here! We concluded the day with a family dinner at pizza hut and walked home from the mall in the cool evening air (which occasionally carries a whiff of stank). So far the week has gone well and the work is going well. We are so excited for what more is to come for us and the people of this city. We give thanks for you and your on-going support!