Day 5- A Day to rest

Today we took most of the day off and spent some time in the mountains. The ladies went into Estes Park for some shopping...the boys went off to fish. It was a much needed break from the work and emotions of this week. We did finish up the work on 55 goodie bags for the local elementary teachers in the neighborhood. The ladies have cooked this week like Thanksgiving....I am not sure if I have cooked this much in a long time.

We ended our night with a time for prayer for the Parrishes, Living Rock and the Berry family. It was a sweet time for prayer with lots of tears. I heard as I left 900 people came to visitation....wow! So much love for this family.

Tomorrow our team will join in via live stream for Briggs and then head to the airport and go home.  Thanks for supporting us. We are looking forward to getting home....hugging our families and friends. Our hearts this week have longed for home (both Granbury and heaven) this week. But I do think God put us here for a purpose...not just to help Living Rock but to mourn together. To make sure that Parrish family that has cried and prayed for Briggs were not alone in their grief....to bring a little of their home of Granbury to Fort Collins as a lady in their church said on Saturday "we can pray. We can cry. But we didn't know him. Brandi needed you this week in a way we couldn't be there for her."

Day 4- Baptisms

I will let today mainly speak in pictures....today we helped Living Rock church celebrate their first baptism service. They baptized 8 new believers today. It was a day of great joy and rejoicing. As many of you already saw on Facebook one lady had been praying for Briggs with the ladies Bible study here. Last night she was hesitant and likely not going to be baptized. This morning Brandi got a text that said "my uncle and Briggs have taught me that tomorrow is not promised. Today I will be baptized" Amen! Briggs is making difference in lives even here in Colorado. Enjoy the pictures and rejoice with us today. (we might have finished off the day bobbing for apples in the baptistry!)

Tomorrow is a free day for us. We are headed to the mountains. Pray for Vincent as we were able to get him on a flight home early so he could be there with the Berrys.

Day 3- Heartbroken

It has been a hard day for our team. The Berry family has been heavy on our hearts and minds all day. Many of us have very close connections with them and being so very far from home, our families, our community and our church has been difficult. As many of you know I have personally walked very close with this family and specifically Deanna over the last several months.

So before I recap today I would give some other thoughts first. Most of you are so aware of the amazing young man Briggs was. He was full of life and loved people. What I have learned so deeply over the last few months is he has learned so much of this from his sweet parents. Many times over the last few months Deanna would call to check up on others that were sick or hurting to see how she could pray more specifically. No matter how sick Briggs was she was ALWAYS thinking of others. I have been amazed by her selflessness over these many months. And Deanna loves people and many of you. Allowing you into their personal battle...up close and personal...so that you could be loved and love her boy! So tonight as we grieve for Briggs we deeply grieve for this family and their great loss of another son. Briggs lived life to the fullest, was the best Children's church volunteer around and shined the light of Jesus far and wide over these last few months. While we are so very sad here...we know that the Briggs has finished his fight, he has won the race....he is WHOLE and HEALED and today he heard "well done my good and faithful servant." May we all fight in this life the way that he did....and may we all love our children as deeply as Deanna and Everett do! Briggs is a reminder to all of us not to take one breath for granted...that each day is precious and tomorrow is not promised. He had a deep faith and trusted Jesus...he would want that same faith for each of you. Today we do not grieve as those that have no hope...our hope in Jesus teaches us this is just "see you later." Until then sweet Briggs....

So on to today...we spent most of the day working at the local Founder's day...making popcorn, making sno cones, doing a photo booth and running a bounce house. Then the ladies spent the rest of the day cooking for the 100 guests coming to Living Rock's baptism service tomorrow. The men spent the day picking up and setting up chairs for the outdoor event tomorrow.  We are physically and emotionally exhausted. Pray tomorrow for the baptism as several that are being baptized are not getting support from their family. Also, that this would be a day of salvation for others. I forgot to include a picture of the trailer Lakeside so graciously donated to Living Rock. Vincent Logozzo and James Spencer spent a lot of time fixing it up and getting the new logo ready for them. They drove the trailer up for us.

Day 2 and I can't feel my toes!

Well, we are wrapping up day two here in Fort Collins, Colorado and it has been a busy one. We split up into two teams today...the men were busying working on fixing the plumbing issue in the basement where the Parrishes have church and installing some much needed storage for their garage to hold church items. I was not with them today...but I know they were up and busy starting very early today!

The ladies and the kids spent the morning organizing the children's church items and prepping for the meals we will be cooking for the weekend activities with the church. Then this afternoon we spent the day at the Fort Collins Rescue Mission. This is a place where Living Rock serves the homeless. Half of our group painted the kitchen and the other half of us cleaned out the SUB ZERO freezer and reorganized it so they could find all of the donated food items. Jake Piland and I spent about 3 hours inside that freezer and I am just now getting feeling back in my toes. I am really wishing we took the time to dig my winter coat out of storage before coming here. At Mission Arlington working in the freezer in the summer is a reward for a hard working teenager....in Fort Collins it seems like torture when it is 40 outside. Then after working at the mission we went and bought all of the food items for a neighborhood cook out tomorrow, Sunday Baptism Lunch and for elementary teacher goodie bags for Tuesday.

This evening we had a great dinner in Old Town Fort Collins as a team. While our bodies are here our hearts and minds are at home with the Berry family. We took time as a team to pray for them tonight. Our hearts are aching that we are so far from home and from supporting this family during this uncertain moment. Please join us in praying for them tonight...and begging God for mercy and healing!

Tomorrow we will help with the community Founder's Day Celebration. We will start early in the morning setting up the block party trailer and helping vendors get their booths up and ready. This will be the majority of the day but we will cap it off with a neighborhood cookout at the Parrish house. Please keep praying for our team....and the Berry family.

Colorado Day One- We made it!

Well the entire team is here safe and sound. It was a different trip for me in that we did not have to run through a single airport. It was oddly uneventful travel for us. It is a little colder here...highs in the 40s, drizzle rain with a slight chance for snow. (yes....you read that right....SNOW!)

After we arrived we headed to the Parrish's house were we surprised Brandi with a date night out with her husband to celebrate her 40th birthday today! All the while we were "babysitting" the kids. They are old enough they really take care of themselves.

This evening we spent some time hearing about the church and praying for Living Rock. We have a full week ahead of us. Please be praying tomorrow at 1:00pm (Central Time) for Kelly and Brandi as they meet with Walker Lawnmower on a possible facility for their church.

Tomorrow is a full of many things...painting at a homeless shelter where Living Rock serves, getting items needed for the Baptism celebration on Sunday, fixing the bathroom in the basement that isn't functioning and getting all the food items we need for the multiple events we are hosting this week!

Celebrating Brandi's 40th birthday!

The girls got Zach! What a great big brother!

Final Seattle blog

Yesterday we finished with our last sports day camp. Lots of performances with the kids and instead of goodbyes some kids and their families are coming tonight to our community block party! Our youth went prayer walking and we went to the teen club center and served food. The adult team built a tool shed for the teen center as well as needed maintenance and landscaping. Essential church is being recognized throughout the community for the things that we have accomplished through Love Bellevue and with God mighty things have happened. One kid actually asked "Are you guys really Christians?" What an opportunity to speak of the name of Jesus and truth into his life. Today we will be getting prepared for the evening activities. As I have listened and heard us celebrate Christ, the reality is people in our own country haven't heard of the his first. What a privilege it has been to come thinking you are going to serve yet we are being served. Thank you for your realm of prayers.

Our team wrapped up Friday with a block party...with lots of people in attendance. There is a wrap up video on Facebook that has been shared by Carey Dyer and Shelley DeBusk where you can see lots of pictures from the week!

Time to head home!

1 Peter 3:15
"but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect"

Seattle Wednesday Review

A rainy day in Seattle didn't stop us. With a change of plans this morning we were able to access the conference room to make evangelism snack bags to pass out and we have been successful in another sports camp day. The parents have told us that although they're happy about coming to play sports they are really happy to see their coaches(our youth)! God has been moving and many moments of encounters where the Gospel was spoke about. 'When you’re sitting across from someone and looking them in the face and they realize how far you’ve come to sit with them, they listen so intently because they may have never heard of Jesus before. You become so appreciative of your own life and opportunities.' Keep us in yo

ur prayers!

Seattle Day 2

Today has consisted of door to door contact, prayer walking and inviting locals to our block party this Friday. The diversity here is amazing. Seattle alone has 82 languages in the school districts. 82! So you can imagine the challenge of conversing with the locals. All of the youth have done such a good job catering to the young kids through the sports camp but also gaining a relationship with them. The community knows we are here and its such a blessing to recognize how God has been here this whole time. We are excited to be here and I can speak on behalf of us all that prayer is needed for opportunities to speak the name of Jesus.

We are headed off to the community free movie night to meet people and play with the children.

Seattle

After flat tires, rope swings...changed gates and the Mark Weeks detours we finally arrived and have had the weekend to prepare for today! We are about to break out in different groups for the camps and have a big crowd registered. Pray that there will be opportunities as this is a different culture here. Only 4% are evangelical Christians.. and 10% are a part of some religion! So many of us were taken back as we are used to the bible belt south. It is a delicate balance of hosting a sports camp where it's restricted as to what conversations are allowed versus being here to spread the gospel so..there is prayer for opportunities. The spirt is knocking here:)

The Last Day: Denia

Friday was our last day of Vacation Bible School with the kids. They showered us with hugs and thanks, which helped perk us all up (waking up today was rough!).

The children love pool time, which happens every day after the final rotation of VBS. Several of us swam with them, and Tanner and Mitchell often had three or four kids hanging onto them at a time. It was sweet.

After swimming, the parents of all the participants joined us in the gym for a celebration of all the children had learned. The kids sang the VBS songs with lots of enthusiasm, and the parents seemed excited that they were singing so loudly in English. (Yee-haw!)

Following a short slideshow presentation of the week's activities, we all went outside to the church courtyard for Western-themed games and an American-style picnic, complete with hot dogs, chips, watermelon, and ice cream. Many of the kids had dressed up in western wear, and they loved the stick-on mustaches we gave out as prizes.

The students had a ball with all the activities: Jackie Taff and Mitchell George took pictures of the kids in a jail-style photo booth, Kim Howard and Kristin Rogers face-painted, Christy Young manned a bean-counting jar, Tanner Taff and Jeff Young helped the kids with a beanbag toss, and I gave out autograph sheets so kids could collect signatures.

It was the first "Family Night" the school/church had done, and according to the school's principal (who is also Pastor Jorge's daughter), it was a big success.

Friday evening after dinner, Pastor Jorge had us over to his house for dessert. He presented us all with Bibles and other souvenirs, and thanked us for our ministry. It was a perfect way to end our time in Spain.

Our travel day (Saturday) was mostly uneventful, thought two pieces of luggage will have to be re-united with their owners in a couple of days. Some of us planned to get a big glass of tea with lots of ICE once we landed.  And we were looking forward to sleeping in our own beds. Ahh....

We are all back home now, and we're grateful for safe travel, new friendships, and those who made it possible for us to spend time in Denai. We'll miss our new friends and our Christian brothers and sisters at Iglesia Bautista and Alfa Omega School, but we are praying that the seeds of the gospel we planted this past week will take root and bear much fruit.

Day Four: Denia

Yesterday, Pastor Jorge took us sightseeing and the views were magnificent. We ended the tour by visiting the cemetery where many of his friends, family and church members were buried. He showed us bullet holes on one of the walls which had been put there by Franco's soldiers when he was dictator of Spain. Jorge's great-grandparents would listen for gunshots and go find the victims and care for the families (or help those who had been wounded but were still alive). That's how their church got started. WOW.

Jorge also showed us the wall that had separated the Catholic deceased from the Protestant deceased (and suicide victims). Up until forty years ago, Baptists were still persecuted. However, a mayor in recent years--who had gone to school with Jorge--gave the pastor and his church members a huge gift: they tore down the wall. Now, Jorge and his Catholic family members who have passed away no longer have a separating wall between them. It brought to my mind Ephesians 2:14, "For He is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility."

We have been so warmly received here by our brothers and sisters in Christ, as well as the volunteers and teachers here at the school/church/camp. There truly is no barrier between us besides language (which we can work around with broken Spanish/English, gestures and smiles). Many of the children are hungry for affection, which we freely give.

One English girl (whose parents are French and English) has stolen our hearts. She asked Tanner if we were leaving Friday and when he said yes, she responded, "Please stay." When we asked her whether she went to church, she said, "Yes! Twice a year, at Christmas and Easter." It's a common answer. We've learned that Spain is a very secular place, like much of the rest of Europe. Our presence and continued support of this sister church is much needed and much appreciated.
We are missing our friends and family (and pets), but God has truly given us an experience we will never forget.

Day Three: Denia

The team had a great morning with our Spanish students. A nice rain didn't dampen the enthusiasm of the kids, and cooled us off, as well. Several children had learned John 3:16, the verse from yesterday, and were excited to recite it for us. We pray they learn the Truth and reality of the Person behind the words! 

After lunch and swim time, we went downtown to shop and partake of the local ice cream. Yum!

Tonight we were blessed and honored to be part of an historic event. Ninety-three years ago today, the church we are serving with held their first baptism. Many of those first converts went to the beach late at night to avoid arrest. This evening, on the boardwalk near the beach, local officials dedicated a statue in honor of that baptism---one of the only non-government statues in Spain. We witnessed that brief ceremony, as well as a baptism of twenty-five individuals in the Mediterranean Sea. One of those was a team member, young Tyler Rogers. What a great experience! The sun was setting as the church's worship team sang praise songs. It was truly unforgettable.

All of us have also enjoyed getting to know the young people who are volunteering here ato camp for the summer. They are stellar, godly from all over Europe, New Zealand, and the USA. Several are from Texas--Yee-haw!!!