Hoboken Mission Trip - Day 4, Sunday, November 3, 2013

Hi Y'all!

Praise our loving Lord Jesus Christ!

Today we helped set up and take down Cordero School for the worship time at Hamilton Grace in Jersey City -- a new congregation started by Hoboken Grace.  The worship time was God-focused, very similar to our Edge Service.  Jean Carlos preached on John 6:44, emphasizing that God is always pursuing us.

They block off the rear portion of the auditorium with curtains and have a welcome/meet and greet area there complete with a good spread of breakfast foods: fruits, juice, bagels, donuts, etc.  They also have coffee set up in the hall.  There are several rooms across the hall for graded children's programs and an area for parents with little children, equipped with a large screen video feed of the service.

They do the Lord's supper differently than we do.  They place juice and pita bread on four high-top tables adjacent to the two aisles.  Early in the service, they tell the folks that Jesuswants to have a relationship with them and that, if they feel led, they should simply get up anytime during the service and commune with Him.  Many did throughout the service.

Something else impressed me.  The worship leader (Justin, our host) led a prayer time.  He prayed a simple prayer and then instructed us to talk silently with God -- again emphasizing the reality of having a relationship with our Father.  Then he shut up for about four minutes and actually gave us time to talk with God.

As I am writing this, Ryan, Roger, Ashton and John are at the office where we worked Friday organizing the storage space with our host, Nancy, who is a professional organizer.  I stayed at the apartment to write this because my sore arm has rendered me useless for any kind of physical activity.  Except for taking pictures (see below) and carrying a few small items, I wasn't much help this morning.  Prayers much appreciated.

God was at work this morning -- at least in me.  Even before the worship time began, He was overwhelming me with His prenense, goodness and love.  I wept.  I also saw people praying together spontaneously.  It is obvious to me that these folks really do love and care for each other and want our Father to work through them in each others' lives.  Glory to His Name!

Keep praying that God will use us for His glory.  I am struck by the humble, servant attitude of Ashton, John, Roger and Ryan.

I love you.  God bless you.

Fred

Hoboken Mission Trip -- Day 5, November 4, 2013

Hi Y'all!

Praise God from Whom all blessings flow!

Well, Day 5 is almost I the bag.  Ryan, John, Roger and Ashton are finishing up at the office as I am writing this.  We had a very busy day today.  We spent first two hours organizing the storage space at one of the offices.  Because they hold their services at three locations, none of which are at the office locations, and because they hold many community events at parks, they have a ton of stuff to store and having it organized is especially important.

At 11:00 a.m. we went to the homeless shelter where we cleaned the floor, sorted clothes, raked leaves, trimmed shrubs, served lunch and interacted with the people.  Ashton and John did especially well at connecting with the people.  I felt as if I couldn't connect much, though I tried.

After the homeless shelter and a brief lunch, we were back organizing at the office.  Nancy, our hostess and organizer in chief, said she was very pleased at all we got done.

Some might question why we came, since no direct evangelism was attempted.  In fact, I have had those thoughts at times.  But God brought Acts 6 to mind.  We are here as servants to the church so the leaders can give their full time to the Word and to the ministries our Lord has called them to.  I am greatful that He chose to use me.  Thank you all for supporting us with your prayers.

Our Lord willing, we will leave about 9:30 in the morning on a plane bound for DFW and should be back in Granbury by 3:00 p.m.

I love you.  God bless you.


Fred

Hoboken Mission Team - Days 2 and 3 (continued)

Oops!  There was some sort of error in the previous post and Blogspot couldn't recover from it.

After a good night's sleep, we returned to the school to give the carpet a second treatment, finishing before noon.  Ryan, Roger, John and Ashton are now touring New York City.  Fred is vegging at the apartment and nursing a sore arm (prayers appreciated).

Tomorrow we will help with setting up and taking down the chairs and equipment for the Harrison Grace (Jersey City) worship time and will worship there.  Monday, we will begin the day passing out granola bars at the Path (subway under the Hudson River) station and will then spend the remainder of the day working at the homeless shelter where, hopefully, we will get to interact with the people.

Keep praying for us, especially that we get to share Jesus with some folks.

I love you.  God bless you.


Fred

Ryan vacuuming floor.

Ryan vacuuming floor again.

Ashton loading his paint roller.

Roger building baptistry dolly.

John and Ryan cleaning carpet.

Ashton refilling carpet cleaner.

John painting.

Hoboken Mission Team - Days 2 and 3 - Friday and Saturday, November 1-2, 2013

Hi Y'all!

Blessings in Jesus' Name!

We spend most of the day working at one of Hoboken Grace's (HG) offices painting a room and laying carpet.  The room is used for the worship team rehearsal and for storage.  It was formerly a garage.  John and Ashton did most of the painting.  Ryan and Fred sorted tools and other materials and Roger built a large wood dolly for moving the portable baptistries.  Fred spent a little time at the other office toward the end of the day shredding old financial records until the shredder broke.  See pics below.

After dinner, we helped set up for the monthly Friday night worship time in an old school gym.  The HG team is very well organized and the set-up went smoothly.  Then we attended the worship time.  It was very well attended, with most of the seats filled and some folks, mostly HG staff, standing.  It praise time is a lot like our Edge service, with the exception that Pastor Chris encourages the folks to get up and visit the various "centers" set up on the periphery of the worship space as they felt led anytime during the service, including the message time.  There were four of these "centers": one for scripture reading, one for prayer, one for reading the stories of others or writing and posting your own and one for personal reflection on how you see yourself and how God sees you.  The prayer and scripture reading centers were not well used, but the other two were.

After the service, our team stayed to wash the removable carpet.  That took us till midnight!

Hoboken Mission Team - Day 1 - October 31, 2013

Hi Y'all!

Greetings from Hoboken, NJ.  We arrived safely with all our luggage Wednesday evening and were met by Jean Carlos and Nick, two of the Hoboken Grace team.  After a quick dinner, we headed to Justin and Nancy's for a little chit chat and bed.  Our team consists of Leader Ryan Smithee, Ashton Goodson, Roger Merrill, Fred Orcutt and John Phelps.

Wednesday morning, Jean met us and we walked to breakfast.  Then Fred went to one of the Hoboken Grace (HG) offices and sorted the 2013 financial records while the rest of the team went to the other office to provide training and encouragement to the entire HG staff.  The staff consists of Lead Pastor Chris High, Growth and Impact Pastor Jean Carlos Arce, Worship Arts Director Ryan Dominguez, Dinner Groups and Finance Pastor Nick Lenzi, Connection and Children's Pastor Rachel Norris and Intern Wayne Burton.  Ryan and John led the training and encouragement, discussing spiritual gifts and their application and discussing means of managing stress to avoid burn-out.  See pics below.

After lunch, the team went to In Jesus' Name Charities (www.injesusnamecharities.org) to sort clothes and baby food and to perform administrative work that had back-logged.  The Director is April Harris, a very humble lady.  A Hoboken native, she started this ministry a number of years ago.  She said she patterned it after John the Baptist's instruction to the crowd in Luke 3:11, "He who has two coats should share with the one who has none. . ."  See pics below.

Tomorrow, we are scheduled to work at one of the HG offices painting, hanging signs and laying carpet and will attend the HG monthly Friday night worship time.

Keep praying for us, HG and the salvation and discipling of people in the Hoboken area.

I love you.  God bless you.

Fred

Wayne, Rachel and Chris solving object lesson puzzle.

Ashton sorting clothes.

April talking with Ashton.

John sorting supplies and Roger sorting clothes.

John sorting baby supplies.

April instructing Ryan and John.

Rachel, Jean, Ashton, Nick, Roger and Ryan D. listening to Ryan S.

Hoboken Mission Team Leaves Tomorrow

The Ho-boken Mission Team leave a 11:00 a.m. tomorrow.  Please keep us in your prayers.  Thank you.
Ryan Smithee, Team Leader
Ashton Goods on
Roger Merrill
Fred Orcutt
John Phelps

LDP, Women's luncheon and a special surprise!

Sorry for the delay in posting an update last night....to be honest I was emotionally spent yesterday evening and the thought of having to write on the blog was just too much for me yesterday.

We started our morning off yesterday with having lunch with the LDP, Leadership Development Program, students. Each of these students were Compassion sponsored children that applied to the LDP program. The LDP program allows for them to go to college. In order to be chosen they must have exceptional grades, leaders in their church and have the potential to be future leaders in their country. There are 203 LDP students in Ecuador. They take about 40 each year with over 200 applying each year. Compassion would love to expand this program but it cost a sponsor $300 a month...but this provides their tution, books and housing. One day I hope we will be in a place financially to do this as a family.

The morning ended very emotionally as the LDP students were asked to speak to us as if we were their Compassion sponsors....what would you say to someone that sponsored you as a Compassion child....here is some of the statements

• You believed in me when I did not believe in myself
• You made me never doubt God loved me.
• You gave me hope when I had none.
• You made me believe that I could have a different life.
• Thank you for your letters...they changed my life.
• I will make you proud. I will change my country. I will help break the cycle of proverty.
• Thank you so, so, so much....You made me believe my dreams were possible.

Now you see why yesterday was emotional. Then we were asked to speak to them as if they were our sponsor child...such life giving words spoken over these 2 men and one women. Lots of tears shed....but the most powerful for me personally was Cailtin Whitefield who said "You have challenged me. You have shown me I can do more. I will join you in changing the world. I can't be silent anymore. I will stand with you in breaking this cycle of poverty. I will take your stories to my friends and to my family. Together we can change the world." Powerful!!!

After this breakfast we headed to do a ladies luncheon event for the CSP moms. There were three different minsitries going on at once yeasterday morning. One group was cooking, one carrying for the kids and one with the moms doing Bible study. I had the great privelage of being with the moms. Donna, from Paramount Baptist, shared her testimony of being left by her husband and struggeles with his many affairs. THere were many tears by the ladies as this a common story among them. Then Cathy Childers shared her testimony in Spainish....so don't ask me what she said. :) Finally, I closed with the story of Hannah and how as women we need to worship the Lord no matter what, give him our dreams for our children and to go to the Lord in prayer with our hurts. Then we had a special time of prayer with our ladies...to give you an idea of the magnitude of their pain and struggles...my group had 4 women and here were their request

• I don't feel close to the Lord. I can't feel him.
• My husband left me and my 2 children last week. I don't know what I am going to do.
• My son who is 16 is violent. His dad left many years ago. I need wisedom to show him what a real man is.
• I need a roof. Every time it rains we get wet and so do all of our things. (It rained last night and all I could think of those babies in the rain all night). This is the mom that is in pictures with Beth Shearon from Monday and one of the children is seen with Cathy Childers.

As we were doing this ladies Angie and Deanna were leading the kitchen crew making a special lunch for the ladies! They were MANY hiccups in this process. But an hour after we had planned...we sat the ladies down to a great lunch of pulled pork, rice, tortillas and pecan pies!!!! They were so overwhelmed many looked at their food without eating it because it was so special. Many packed it up because they wanted to be able to share such a special meal with their family. Nothing is wasted here....there are always clean plates because they don't know when they will eat next. We also gave each lady a gift bags with many goodies but some included: a bible, a scarf, earrings, toothbrushes, toothpaste, lip gloss, reading glasses, and our favorite scriptures on cards with our pictures. The scripture cards were the favorite and the Compassion staff even wants them. Despite this being hard to pull off the Compassion staff were so excited and overwhelmed by what had been done for the ladies. Many of them will not get this type of treatment or a meal without wrestling babies until another group comes.

After the lunch we said our goodbyes....which were very sweet. Then for the surprise....they took us back to the site were Christa Mason and Jane Mouhot worked last year. They got time to reconnect with their babies and mom. It was a short visit but Jane's favorite!!!

Today our ladies will meet their sponsor children and have a day with them. They will get a personal translator and will go to the amusement park...and then take the kids to McDonalds. Because just like our children they love it but it is way too expensive for them to ever go there.

Then this evening we will start our journey home with a late night flight. We should get to Lakeside around 11 or 12. We will not have internet between now and then. So this is so long from Ecuador....time to check out of the hotel, eat breakfast and head out for the day. Thank you for your prayers....please excuse any typos as I am on a time crunch!

Shelley

P.S. Happy Anniversary to my husband! Thanks for letting me be in Ecuador on this day....and for caring for the baby so I could do this!