Memphis Day 5

Final hours in Memphis was filled with lots of tears, lots of new friends,  and lots of great stories. Our students gave it their all today as we finished our projects and connected with the Memphis kids in each of their gyms. It always amazes us how quickly our students bond with their new friends. So many hugs and encouraging words were shared amongst the friends from two worlds.  

Parents, we wish you could be a fly on the wall. These kids are getting it. It was unbelievable to watch how they impacted Memphis this week. From praying for the people of the city, to having one-on-one conversations about their faith (and little ones choosing to follow Jesus) to winning the hearts of our bus drivers. These students are disciple makers. 

Tonight, we heard from Randy Odom. He challenged these students to Go! He encouraged them to be like an orchard and produce MUCH FRUIT!! We don't want to be a big tree with little fruit. We should disciple so they disciple...so they disciple! We can all say in one accord...PRAISE GOD FOR THIS WEEK! We are confident that much fruit was produced this week. Seeds were planted, and we feel tired yet blessed beyond words. Love you all. Thank you for your prayers. We felt every bit of it. Please pray for our safe travels home. Can't wait for more sweet conversations on the bus. Ps-thank you for your patience as we've tried to blog as much as possible. :) See you 

Guatemala Day 5

We had our final ministry day today, finishing off everything with a bang.  Our day had two major parts to it.  We first finished up our time at the school, finalizing our Joseph skit. Molly shared her testimony to the whole group of kiddos and did an outstanding job.  One of the neat mini stories was that we brought 182 Steve Speitels bracelets...and had exactly 182 students amongst the three days in the school. Pretty awesome...neat how The Lord provides just enough in the perfect amount of time.  The afternoon was great.  Pastor Walter has only been in Los pinos for a month.  This was the first trip he has partnered with and really his first offensive move into relationships within the community. The first two days we went door to door sharing the gospel and inviting people to tonight's block party.  To be honest, they did not know how many would come.  With somewhat anxious hearts, we pulled up to the missions house he lives at and within 10 minutes, over 200 people were there ready for a party.  And it was a great party! Tons of fun, piñatas, and meeting people in the community. Several said they felt loved, and desired to get more deeply connected in what they were doing.  Pastor Walter and his wife Dama were SOOOO encouraged.  So cool

Tomorrow we are going to Antigua for our debrief day.  It will be a fun day of rest, shopping, and being together. I think it will be really special

Prayer requests
1. A great last day. Good, needed closure
2. Final day of health.  Kids have been feeling somewhat sick in the morning then feeling better throughout the day. Pray they keep feeling good
3. Final worship and prayer time during the debrief. We will be seeking ways to transfer what god has done here to our lives back in Arkansas.  Pray specifically for that time.

We love you all.  See you soon
Guat team

Memphis Day 3 and 4

Tuesday/Wednesday ...Incredible days for the Memphis crew!  The past couple of days have been amazing-working hard to get things done, yet having to stay flexible when plans don't go "our way." I believe that happens to all of us...everyday. 

Here is a quick run-down of the past two days:

The mornings have been filled with Truth and time in the Word. We are amazed how quickly these students have opened up to share their fears, struggles, joys, etc. Small group time have been powerful-giving them an opportunity to pray together as a group before our day begins. We realize we need His Stength, His Truth, His Grace to make it through each day.

     During the afternoons, the teams split into their gyms to work on projects that need to get done. Some of us have worked on a community garden, some have been painting, some of us have spent time pulling weeds and doing yard work. Also, we have been extremely blessed with a team from the Fellowship  Buildings and Grounds  They have been A BLESSING! We seriously have gifted people at our church who use their giftings and passions for Jesus. We love following their leadership during the morning work hours. The students have worked hard. We hear more laughs coming out of their mouths when they're picking up trash and sanding walls for hours. :) Our afternoons have been sweet. A few of the kids have shared their testimonies in front of the other Memphis students and by what we've heard, some have decided to follow Jesus!!! He is so good! 

Annnnd yes, how can we forget the Grizzlies/Thunder's game tonight:) We ALL had the best time!! Some of the Memphis kids (plus the bus driver)  joined us as we cheered!  Oh, and of course...some of our boys made it on the skycam:) 

I'm going to end this blogpost with a good word from Jamie Trussell. 

Luke 10:25 reminds us that we are like the Jewish man on the side of the road, beaten and bruised...half dead. Our Father, our Redeemer, our Savior is the Good Samaritan who rescues us. He picks us up, He carries us, He brings us to a place of rest. He pays for our debt and someday, He will return!!! Our prayer is that we live like we are saved-live like we were bought with a price! Can you imagine the feeling of the Jewish man when he awoke and found out that someone had rescued him and cared for him....even paid for His debts?!? He would give his life to serve this man. Let's live that way. Praising Jesus for this time in Memphis with this radical team. Praying for life change tomorrow. Love you all-thank you for partnering with us. 

Colorado Springs Day 4

I am so proud of our students. Their faith is constantly an encouragement and a challenge to the leaders. When Derek told the YMCA that he was bringing a group of high school students to serve for the week, they asked if they would destroy the place. He vouched for them saying they were different. Derek said we proved him right. They have served like crazy. But I think one of the neatest thing has been the prayer walking. We have spent an hour every morning praying over neighborhoods, schools and nursing homes. This was a big challenge for most of our students. Praying out loud was intimidating for many of them. In our "get things done" culture, it's hard for people to see taking time to pray as meaningful work. However, our students stepped out boldly. It was exciting to watch several students who said they had never prayed out loud in a big group take a deep breath, make the decision and talk to God. Several students ran into people in the neighborhoods and asked how they could pray for them. They had meaningful time connecting with and ministering to the people of Colorado Springs.

Our students have also been wonderful to each other. Usually, when you get a big group of teenagers (or any age for that matter) to live and work together for a week, petty conflicts blow up. They have really been an encouraging group. I would take these students anywhere. It's exciting to be a part of the start of something the Lord is doing. We can't wait to see the life change stories that will come out of Converge in the years to come.

grace and peace,
The Co Springs Team

Colorado Springs Day 2 and 3

Hey parents, I’m sorry this a day late, but we’ve been having a blast. We all got settled into our host homes well Sunday night. Monday morning we met to hear Derek Horn give the vision for Converge Church, the church plant that we are here partnering with. It was incredible to hear him say that he left a healthy church that he loved because there are lost people in the world who don’t know Jesus. It challenged us all to ask if we are willing to let go of our healthy, happy situation for people to come to know Jesus. We prayer walked neighborhoods, schools and nursing homes. The aim behind this is to ask the Lord to go before Converge and prepare hearts to meet and know Jesus.  It stretched out students pray outloud and even pray with strangers that they met along the way.

We’ve served at the YMCA, helping to build relational trust in a local meeting point for people. Our students worked their tails off serving, and we got to see some great leadership come out as students made a plan to accomplish the task. This helps makes a good first impression for Converge in the community as people see that they are serious about serving their community. We’ve put on a game night for middle school and junior high students. Derek Horn about the grace of God, while Tripp Jackson, Kassie Roland and Taylor Holmstrom led worship. One family that was just walking through the Y heard us and asked to visit Derek’s missional community on Sunday night.

All students are doing well. A few have struggled with the altitude, but we’re keeping lots of water in them.  God is growing our hearts for seeing lost people reached here and in NWA. More to come…

Grace and peace,

The Colorado Springs Team

Guatemala Day 4

Day 4
Friends and family
We got to go to a new school today and had an absolute blast.  Lots of dancing, crafts, games, singing, testimonies, and skits.  It was the first time that we got to do our skit on the life of Joseph.  The students did a fantastic job.  They were funny and sincere at the same time. I think that it really impacted the Guat students.  We also got several opportunities to share our testimonies.  It felt as though after several times of sharing, our students took a big deep breath and did it from their hearts instead of their notes.  It was neat to see and hear their lives translated, and to see its impact on so many Guatemalans.  I am trying to attach a video to the blog as well that shows us dancing at the school to a silly song.

tomorrow we are going back to the school for our final ministry day there.  We will finish the skit, give gifts, and walk through the Easter story.  Tomorrow night we are having a block party for the neighborhood that pastor Walter is ministering too.  Should be a blast.

Payer requests:
1. Sunburn.  A few students did not reapply in the afternoon and ended up a little fried.  Nothing that will limit them or that some aloe wont help, but there is some wincing needless to say.
2. Upset tummies: a few students were not feeling all out sick, but a little icky today. Probably a combo of tired, new food, etc.  they felt better as the day went on
3. Final day.  Thursday will be a good day of fun and rest, so tmrw is our final full serving today.  It's like rounding the bend on the 400...seeing the finish line and kicking it into another gear.

The students are doing awesome. I can't wait for you to see pics and hear stories.  We love you all!

MN and the team

Guatemala Day 3

Hey friends and family!

What a great day today.  It was not easy, but full of incredible opportunity to trust The Lord.  We led a greats organ with a local partner school. The students were awesome, all sharing their faith twice in different small groups.  We then got to make the bracelets Steve speitels taught us. The Guatemalan students just loved it.  By all accounts, there was even a few Guatemalans that gave their life to The Lord as a result of the students testimonies.  Praise The Lord!  We have also been reading master plan of evangelism together at night and studying John 7 together.  We would encourage you to read along with us and see some themes like glory-gift-one-word-sent emerge.  It's been neat to see god use is text to help shape us.  Tomorrow will look similar to today, going to a new school in the morning and then door to door in the afternoon.  Thanks for your prayers as we seek to be faithful.  

New prayer requests include:

1) creativity in programming as we are pushes to our limits in being flexible
2) we will do our gospel skit on the life of Joseph tomorrow.  Pray it is received well
3) great sleep and restful moments

Everybody is feeling so good. Nobody sick! Thanks for your prayers

Matt and the team

Memphis Day 2

    Full day with full hearts. Memphis crew rocked it today. Each year we continue to be more amazed at this group. We started off the day with a devo led by one of our leaders. These students are so teachable it is amazing to watch. We also challenged them to encourage one another with kind words and to not tear one another down w/sarcastic comments or slander. ALL DAY, we heard nothing but encouragement towards one another. :) We realize we need to be united and work as a family, because we are a family! We prayed that God would move in our hearts and that He would humble us as He would lead us today. :)

     The morning was spent cleaning the MAM gym and prepping another gym to be painted. We will usually spend the morning working on "projects" around the 3 gyms we target. Some projects will include painting a gym, planting  a community garden, re-building steps, cleaning, helping with yard work, etc. Then, each day from 2-5, we split up into 3 gyms and hang with the Memphis kids. This can include playing basketball, doing a devotional with them, painting nails, making up hilarious games that don't make sense just to see all the kids die laughing, etc.  Our students are thrown into a world that is so different...yet we are learning how we are all in need of a Savior. 

     Tonight, we had the blessing of eating some sweet Memphis BBQ together. The wait staff said, "Wow, your students are so polite and respectful." Parents...you've taught them well. :) We ended the night with a share time about their day. Almost every students shared something. One day into this trip, and we are already seeing God move in and through these team. We are honored and privileged to be here with them.  We have challenged them to be ready to share their testimony sometime during this trip. They may have the opportunity to share it with us, or maybe in front of a group setting. We want to challenge these kids to always be ready to share the love of Jesus. I

     Thank you for your prayers. At the moment, they are all in bed awaiting a beautiful day ahead. We look forward to the day He has for us tomorrow. It's been a full day...going to bed with full hearts. 

Love, the Memphis Crew

Guatemala Day 2

Hi families
I think we finally got the Internet to work!  With any luck, it will stay on for the rest of the week.  We had a great day today.  After church in the morning we ate lunch, then got to participate in a 5 on 5 soccer tournament on a cement field tucked up in the mountains. While we were fairly confident that we were going to get absolutely slaughtered, we had big hearts and hopes of still demonstrating the joy if The Lord as we played hard.  Well...we got slaughtered.  I think the final score was something like 18-5.  Considering that we went in giving ourselves an honorary 10 goals, we only lost by 5!  It was so fun though. We played hard and laughed alot. It was the perfect setting to talk to people and represent pastor Walter and Iglesias Biblica well. The highlight was when Christian and Bethany shared their testimony. They did so well. We were so proud.  Tomorrow, we head to our first school in the morning and going door to door to share our testimonys in the afternoon. Pray that the seeds of the gospel will be planted. Pray that The Lord sustains our strength, energy, and courage.  We love you all.  Thank you for sending us and supporting us in this big God adventure

Matt and the team

Colorado Springs Day 1: Arrived Safely

Great first day. Students did really well. Two stops for meals plus around 9 potty breaks (not exaggerating). A little over 14 hours of travel. Incredibly gracious hosts. Ready for bed. Praise Jesus! More to come...

grace and peace,
Co Springs Team

Memphis Day 1: Arrived Safely

Memphis crew has arrived! What an incredible first night we had here. We arrived safely, unpacked the bus, ate some amazing homemade Little Caesars Pizza and ended with a time of prayer and expectations for the week. We are so excited to watch the Lord move in and through our team this week.  We are praying for hearts/lives to be changed for the Kingdom and for His name to be known throughout Memphis USA. We love you, parents. We are amazed by this team already. Thank you for partnering with us.
Love, the Memphis Crew

Guatemala Day 1: Arrived Safely!

Hi families!
We landed and made it safe!  Our flight was great, uneventful with some very sleepy students. We are now eating lunch and are about to go visit some of the sights that we will be ministering at.  We will be turning in early tonight, as we have church in the morning and a soccer game in the afternoon, which somehow we got recruited to play a local team! Yikes. I've been telling everyone that we have lots of heart but little oxygen or skill.  Translation: we are going to get slaughtered.

Love you all! It looks I will be blog every night.  Keep praying!

Matt and the team