Our God is Awesome!!
The team’s flights to both Miami and Curaçao were seamless and on time! Many naps were taken on the floor of Terminal D in Miami during our five hour layover. There were no issues with luggage or immigration and we didn’t have anything checked at customs!!! All of the electronic equipment we brought for the church and Lucas and Esther made it as did the VBS supplies we brought (including about 20 of the 200 Bibles. The rest of the Bibles did not arrive prior to our departure so Lucas will be coming to Arizona in the next few months to visit and pick up the Bibles :).
The weather was beautiful today, around 85 with a nice gentle breeze. After unpacking, settling in, and changing our clothes, Lucas, Zoe and Sem (two of Luca’s and Esther’s children) took us straight to our favorite batido stand for refreshing, fresh fruit batidos (smoothies). Smoothies in hand we took a brief tour of the neighborhood and walked through the “forest” behind the church property. Thirsts quenched, we had a bit of down time to relax before dinner. Some of our team and a few of the teens from here played a bit of volleyball before dinner which was a great way to begin introductions.
At 6:30 we gathered with the teens from Iglesia Bida Nobo (the church we are staying at) and ate fried chicken, coleslaw, and French fries with mayonnaise or peanut sauce (two Dutch favorites). After dinner we went into the sanctuary and participated in Youth Xplore (Friday night teen ministry). The evening began with prayer and a couple of icebreakers followed by worship. As a group we watched the last in a study from the book of Mark by Francis Chan. We covered chapters 14 and 15 and discussed in six different break out groups. The video for the chapters covered several of the holy sites in Jerusalem including the Upper Room, the Via Dolorosa and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Chan’s passion and his walk through the sites was really powerful and touched a lot of people. We had some very fruitful discussions in our small groups. Following the discussion, we watched an intense video, “The Bridge” about a master bridge operator and his son, It was very emotional and made all of us think about how deeply our Heavenly Father loves us and the price paid for our salvation! The room was silent and we spent time in individual prayer following this video. A couple of the teens from here shared during Teen Talk time about what the Lord is doing in their lives and then we prayed and the students fellowshipped for about a half an hour.
We met at 10:15 for our devotions led by Maggie and Ethan covering John 3:7. They did a great job leading off and the material tied in nicely with the Suburbia series we just finished in chapel. Highs and lows for the day were shared and we went over the schedule for tomorrow which is packed starting with service here at the church from 9:00-1:00. The students are showering and getting ready to get a good night’s sleep!
Thank you so much for all of your prayers,
Lisa
The team’s flights to both Miami and Curaçao were seamless and on time! Many naps were taken on the floor of Terminal D in Miami during our five hour layover. There were no issues with luggage or immigration and we didn’t have anything checked at customs!!! All of the electronic equipment we brought for the church and Lucas and Esther made it as did the VBS supplies we brought (including about 20 of the 200 Bibles. The rest of the Bibles did not arrive prior to our departure so Lucas will be coming to Arizona in the next few months to visit and pick up the Bibles :).
The weather was beautiful today, around 85 with a nice gentle breeze. After unpacking, settling in, and changing our clothes, Lucas, Zoe and Sem (two of Luca’s and Esther’s children) took us straight to our favorite batido stand for refreshing, fresh fruit batidos (smoothies). Smoothies in hand we took a brief tour of the neighborhood and walked through the “forest” behind the church property. Thirsts quenched, we had a bit of down time to relax before dinner. Some of our team and a few of the teens from here played a bit of volleyball before dinner which was a great way to begin introductions.
At 6:30 we gathered with the teens from Iglesia Bida Nobo (the church we are staying at) and ate fried chicken, coleslaw, and French fries with mayonnaise or peanut sauce (two Dutch favorites). After dinner we went into the sanctuary and participated in Youth Xplore (Friday night teen ministry). The evening began with prayer and a couple of icebreakers followed by worship. As a group we watched the last in a study from the book of Mark by Francis Chan. We covered chapters 14 and 15 and discussed in six different break out groups. The video for the chapters covered several of the holy sites in Jerusalem including the Upper Room, the Via Dolorosa and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Chan’s passion and his walk through the sites was really powerful and touched a lot of people. We had some very fruitful discussions in our small groups. Following the discussion, we watched an intense video, “The Bridge” about a master bridge operator and his son, It was very emotional and made all of us think about how deeply our Heavenly Father loves us and the price paid for our salvation! The room was silent and we spent time in individual prayer following this video. A couple of the teens from here shared during Teen Talk time about what the Lord is doing in their lives and then we prayed and the students fellowshipped for about a half an hour.
We met at 10:15 for our devotions led by Maggie and Ethan covering John 3:7. They did a great job leading off and the material tied in nicely with the Suburbia series we just finished in chapel. Highs and lows for the day were shared and we went over the schedule for tomorrow which is packed starting with service here at the church from 9:00-1:00. The students are showering and getting ready to get a good night’s sleep!
Thank you so much for all of your prayers,
Lisa
Thank you Dr. Miller for the update. So excited for these kiddos to be the hands and feet!