Twinkies!

It's our last full day here in Nashville! We have no VBS today, so I'll try to recap yesterday since we didn't blog.

Yesterday was our last day of VBS. We had our largest group of kids since the beginning of the week, with almost 20 kids and a great number of mothers as well. Our lesson for the day was about showing what we believe through our actions. At the end, it was hard to say goodbye, but we left the kids with our TN tee shirts to remember us by. They were all really excited. We put (most) of the Twinkies to good use as a treat for the children. We feel like God has used us to show love to these kids, and we will continue to pray for them and the women there.

Right after VBS, Mrs. Cindy had to pack up and leave to catch her plane home. However, we cannot go two days without some kind of travel mishap. She called to inform us that her plane had a flat tire! She stayed the night with some friends of Pastor George and Mrs. Michelle. Her flight left this morning, so pray for her and her family as they travel to go up north.

If you notice above, I mentioned that we put MOST of the Twinkies to good use. We did have one lone Twinkie left. The girls decided to do a little experiment. Our toilet this week flushed for two days straight without stopping. It did end up getting fixed; however, we wanted to test the suction power of the flush. We used our last Twinkie to do so by flushing it down the toilet. (All of us got videos.) Let's just say that the Twinkie did not survive the rapids.

All is well here. We are awaiting our last group session. Later, we are going to Hard Rock for lunch and then possibly to the beach if the cloudy weather/rain clears up. I think we are going to the mall too. Tomorrow is Mammoth Cave, and then we head home. (We'll probably be getting home later than expected, but that's just a guess.) Most of us are ready to come home. We all miss you and can't wait to see you at church on Sunday!

ABC's

Well, I'm sure we can skip the usual "breakfast at 7" update as every other day, so we'll go right to small group break out sessions. Today's verse is Romans 12:1-2. We also discussed having accountability partners. In the large group break out session, Monty shared his story of drug abuse and recovery. It was very interesting, and it showed how the rescue missions in Nashville are really helping people and bringing them to Christ. He's an aspiring musician with great talent on the piano, even though he's only played for about a year. He shared one of his own songs with us. Lunch today was the usual except for the disgusting dessert of Twinkies. Rather than eating them, we stuffed them all in a lunch bag and are keeping them in Emily and Megan's room for further use which is undecided at the moment.

VBS was definitely the highlight of the day so far. We were told that we could only stay for an hour and a half today as opposed to our usual 3 hours. Also, the women were doing crafts in our normal VBS room, so we were forced to hold the VBS in the chapel. Nearly all of the children returned, and they had a ton of energy! We also had a few mothers sitting in on our gathering. We started off with 3 great songs to get the kids going. Adam and Bryan told the story of Jesus' crucifixion in a skit. After a few more songs, Erica presented the ABC's of salvation and lead the group in a prayer to accept Christ. Three children prayed the prayer OUT LOUD and a few others told us that they too had accepted Jesus. We are praying that their decisions were sincere. Following the message, the children made their own ABC bracelets to remind them of how we are to Admit, Believe, and Confess. We ended with a fishing game and a memory verse. It was really a spectacular day. The children are becoming more attached to everyone, so it will be sad to leave them for the last time tomorrow. Our group has decided that we will leave our tie dye shirts to keep because the kids have told us many times how much they like them. (A few of the kids have shown up each day in the same clothes, so this will be especially helpful for them.) During our free time after VBS, some of the group members headed to an Army Surplus store. The rest of the gang got some much needed chill time around campus.

We have just finished dinner and are enjoying a bit of free time before tonight's session. Last night, an offering was taken at session for 3 different charity groups - Chain of Love, Danny and Friends, and Cameroon Youth Pastor Training. All together, over $3000 was collected! The night continued on a good note with some excellent worship, both with Sonicflood and a "stripped" version that included only a keyboard. Everyone was moved. Pastor George and Mrs. Michelle joined us and brought a laundry basket full of great snacks. Everyone sat on the lawn and ate until it was time to head in for the night.

The week is going great. Even though things have been really crazy and somewhat unstable at the VBS, we've learned to be flexible and trust God. We're looking forward to see what He does in the final days of our trip.

Thank you for all your prayers and comments! They are definitely helping us!

P.S. We added a few pictures to yesterday's blog, so check them out!

And Then There Were Sirens...

We're nearing the end of day 3 here in Nashville. Things are still going well. We began once again with 7 o'clock breakfast and small group sessions. We got to meet even more people from the other churches and find out about their experiences from the day before. In the large group session that followed, we had the opportunity to hear about different ways that various youth groups have been making a difference in their community and abroad. (It was much better than yesterday's session.) We headed off to VBS with our sack lunches (and much better directions.) We thought everything was going smoothly, but there's always an adventure...

On our way to VBS, Jason (driving the church van) was following Mrs. Cindy in her car. However, he got stuck right behind her... in the middle of an intersection. When the light turned red, people started getting angry. Lucky for them, a cop was on our case. The sirens came on and we were pulled over. After a rush to buckle all our seatbelts, the very nice cop handed Jason a ticket. We didn't let it stop us, though, and we still made it to VBS on time.

For VBS, we were moved to a much smaller and more crowded room in the basement. This didn't work for long, though, because the kids just kept coming! We were able to move back to the other room upstairs. All in all, we ended up with about 15 children and a few mothers. Everyone had a great time making hula skirts, singing songs, and playing with the beach ball. When all was said and done, we packed up and headed to the pool at Vanderbilt.

Right now, we're awaiting our shift to eat dinner and then the conference later on. Sonicflood is really cool, and the night conference has been great both nights so far. Please especially pray for us tomorrow as we share the ABC's of salvation at the VBS. Thanks for all your encouraging comments! (By the way, it was a little cooler today - a major plus!)

(P.S. Yes, we saw Andrew and Steven from Erica's other church at the shelter. We're working on maybe getting together tonight, but it doesn't look promising.)

Howdy Y'all!

Hello from Nashville, Tennessee! We arrived safely at Vanderbilt University around 4:30 yesterday afternoon after a long, hot trip. After unpacking, eating, and a series of meetings for the leaders, we headed over to an off-site church for some group worship lead by Sonicflood. The praise and worship was awesome. Matt, the speaker, challenged us to back up our faith with deeds that God has prepared for us to do. (Based on Ephesians 2:10 and the story of Abraham's sacrifice.) We came back to our dorms, took some much needed showers, and hit the hay.

This morning started bright and early at 7 for breakfast. Afterwards, we went to our small group breakout sessions. This allowed us to meet some youth from other church groups. The large group session that followed was given by a professor from Taylor University on how to make godly decisions. We ate some lovely sack lunches and got ready to leave for our VBS site.

This is where the adventure began. The site was not expecting us to bring a VBS with us, so we were very excited to have the opportunity to share with their children. Unfortunately, we were given some "faulty" directions to our site. We ended up driving for over 2 hours to a location that turned out to be 5 minutes away... literally. Even after arriving extremely late and very sweaty, we set up our VBS in the Rescue Mission Shelter. We had the privilege of meeting 7 wonderful children. We are hoping for more kids to show tomorrow. (We heard there were more waiting for us, but they left because we didn't show on time.)

Now, we are awaiting our trip to the church for tonight's worship and speaker. We really appreciate all the prayers. Please keep praying for our VBS opportunities. Everyone is healthy and happy (but always very hot because temperatures exceed 100 degrees!) We'll keep you posted as the week progresses.

One more Day...

Can you believe it? Only 27 hours until you get up and shower for the trip. You are going to shower before the 9 hour car ride...aren't you?

Jr HI

Hey you guys, just wanted to Thank You for helping out with the fliers for VBS. I know things have been a little weird with this whole SR HI trip. No worries, things will be back on track soon. I am looking forward to our VBS. We are going to have a great week. Tell your buddies. Shopping, Barrymores, Games and Crafts. Of course Food and really great Lessons to live by.

See you in a couple of weeks. Have fun with Mr. Steve -he thinks you guys are really great. (Me too.)

Don't Forget...

Your Toothbrush
Your Deodorant
VBS Tie Dye T
Swim Suit
Hoodie and Hiking Boots for Caves
Money

Drop off your stuff at Hope by 7pm on Saturday...

See you at 4:45am Sunday for a nice long are we there yet car ride...

Youth Gathering 08 Nashville TN

2 Days until take-off


Don't forget :
Spending $
Bedding
Snacks
Bible
Journal
Hiking shoes

I'll think of other things, I'm sure and you can post your thoughts as well. All 4 days of VBS are officially packed