Come Find Me in Heaven!

Our last night at the kid's club was awesome. There was a very somber feeling in the air. Our students knew they were about to get into some important stuff with the kids. Because they allowed God to use them, over 20 children came to know Christ on our last night!!! It was such a fun and celebratory night!!

playing red light, green light!

sharing the Gospel

making "Jesus bracelets"

saying goodbye to our friends - the ones we met in 2003.

The saddest part about mission trip is saying goodbye to the little friends we meet and build relationships with, but it is so neat to be able to tell some of them that we will see them again in Heaven and that they need to come find us when they get there!

Tie-dye Fun!!!

On Wednesday we told the kids the story of Noah's Ark, painted rainbows, and then tie-dyed shirts to remind them of God's promise to never flood the Earth again! The shirts were a hit, and we will be passing them back to the kids tonight (they have been hanging out to dry)! Because Casey & I were at the tie dye station all night, there are not many pictures of day 3, but here are few shots from the end of the night when we got together and sang songs with the kids (always a fun time:)!

Tonight is our last night to minister to these sweet kiddos and I am sure tears will be shed when we say goodbye to them! Please pray hard for our students tonight as they share the story of Jesus and His crucifixion, burial, and resurrection. We will follow up by making bracelets with 5 colored beads representing the plan of salvation - black representing the sins that we carry, red representing Jesus' blood sacrifice for our sake, white representing our sins being washed white as snow, green for our growth as Christians, and finally yellow, which represents the gold streets of Heaven where we will meet Jesus and see each other again!

Even More Kiddos Than Before!

On Tuesday morning some of our kids went to a women's shelter to help clean up their donation pantry and clear brush while another group went to a church to begin painting. They did an awesome job and worked without complaining. They have really been serving others and each other all week and it is a very neat thing to watch.

Our 2nd day of kid's clubs was awesome!! We had over 70 kinder-6th grade kids show up as well as the same 15-20 teenagers! Our students did a great job telling them the story of Daniel and the lion's den, playing with them, and showing them Christ's love! Check out some of our pictures from Day 2!

Please continue to pray for our students and the little children that they are reaching out to.

Zephyr & Kid's Clubs!

Monday morning we headed out to Zephyr Baptist Encampment to cut down trees, wash windows and cabanas, rake up leaves, and pull weeds! The students had great attitudes and worked hard for several hours before heading back for lunch!

A couple of boys kept us very entertained with their pretty singing while they worked. ;)

Ready to wash some windows!!

Around 5:30 we headed towards Diaz Park to start our Backyard Bible Clubs! We were so excited to meet some kiddos! When we arrived there were a lot of teenage boys there playing basketball and skateboarding. It was a great opportunity for the students to minister to some people their own age. I don't think they expected this, and they did a GREAT job making new friends and building relationships! Not counting the older kids, there were about 25 kinder-6th grade children on Monday night. There were probably 20 teenagers that stayed and hung out with us as well. Several moms also stayed and we were able to get to know them as well. It was a great first night!!

Teaching the story of Jonah in the whale using a water bottle, blue food coloring, baby oil, and a whale cracker :)

And like I said before, our kids did a great job getting to know the guys their age - which is often the most intimidating!

They students did such a great job at making connections, and in the group last night many of them talked about the impact that these little kids and teenagers are already making on their lives. We hope to be able to form relationships this week that will enable us to share our faith with them before we leave and hopefully see some make decisions that will change where they spend eternity. Be praying for this!

We Made It!!!

We left early Sunday morning with 3 packed vans and a u-haul full of luggage and fun stuff for the kiddos we were to meet in Robstown, Texas! We picked one up on the way and another the next day for a group of 41 high school students and 7 adults!

We were blessed with safe travels and arrived at River Hills Baptist Church in the late afternoon and began unpacking our stuff before heading to Diaz Park to pass out flyers. Once at the park, we got a game plan and then split up into our 3 groups to pass out flyers and meet people in the community. We gave out 400 flyers and met lots of kiddos interested in coming to hang out with us at the park this week!

Casey and Lauren were blessed on the first day when they found Isabel and Gabriel - friends they had made on a mission trip to Robstown back in 2003 when they were just 5 and 6 years old. We saw them again in 2005 when they were 7 and 8, and now they are in middle school and are 12 and 13 years old! They didn't live in the same house anymore, but we tracked them down a couple of miles away. They remembered us well and Isabel even called us by the nicknames she had given us, "Hot Sauce" and "Spicy Mustard!" Haha! God is sweet, and He blessed us with an awesome reunion!

After walking around the neighborhood trying to let the kids know we were there, we headed to Cici's for a pizza buffet! After dinner we spent some time sharing how we already felt God moving in this city and in our lives. The students got in their groups and prayed for the kiddos they would have this week. They took communion together and thanking Jesus for his sacrifice.

The students are having a blast getting to know new friends and playing in our free time! We've had a lot of fun playing a game called MAXIMUM ATTENTION with the whole group! Good times!

Keep us in your prayers as well as the kids we hope to meet here in Robstown. God is already allowing us to have great conversations with the people we've met. 

Check back often for updates - we hope to be able to post some pictures at least once each day and fill you in on our MISSION TRIP 2010!!!