Yeah, I'm hip!

Day 3

Another full day of ministry here today.

VBS went well again, nothing really new to add!!! The teens are doing a great job of filling in the holes that are here. Our puppet team needs a little help, but other than that everything is doing fine.

Work projects went well today. We had three teams go out to different locations. A group of five went to another elderly ladies home and washed windows and mirrors. They also did weed wacking and some gardening.

I took one other person and went back and finished the deck that we started yesterday.

The rest of our group went over to the Thomas' and the parsonage and did a lot of work including: painting, transplanting trees, and washing the house.

Things are going great here!!! Thanks for reading and praying for us. Another busy day tomorrow!!!

Day 2

Today was the first day of VBS. There was a great turnout of around 40 kids. Our teens helped out in a bunch of different ways. Some did the puppets, others helped out with registration, others were running the obstacle course, others were helping out with crafts. The teens were great and jumped right in and didn't question anything, just wanted to help out.

Today was also our first workday. We split up and a group of guys went with me and pressure washed decks and mowed grass.

The other group went and washed windows and did garden upkeep for two elderly families.

We were treated to an evening at the lake as a relative of the Thomas' invited us out to their cabin!!! The teens loved the lake and we had a cookout and ate VERY well!

Nicette gave the lesson tonight and did a fabulous job. She encouraged the teens to not leave any sin unconfessed and to get things right with God. It had a great impact on two teens in particular.

Tomorrow is another busy day with another round of VBS in the morning and then more work projects in the afternoon.

We have received MANY compliments regarding the teens and the job that they are doing. We are really filling a void this week and meeting the needs of the people here in New Richmond. The teens were really amazed that the people were SO blessed by them doing something relatively easy. Several comments tonight were, "I can't believe they were so grateful for that! I felt like I should have done more". Then they realized that God can use even the small things that we do for His glory. They don't have to build a house or something to that scale, the simple act of washing someone's windows who can't is sufficient.

Once again we have an awesome group of teens. There is absolutely NO issues or problems with behavior. Everyone is getting along extremely well and it is an absolute joy to work with these teens!

Until tomorrow,,,

First Day Recap

Hello once again,

We had a great first "day" here in New Richmond. As I said earlier, we rolled in around 3:30 this afternoon.

We then went over to the Kelly's house for supper. Tim and Bridgette were helpers in our youth group here at First Baptist when I was on staff. We had a great time and it was quite a spread they set before us.

Matt Chojnacki and I took on Adam (Youth Pastor) and Jerod (Tim & Bridgette's son) in a wicked game of basketball. In the mid 80's with almost 100% humidity along with my out-of-shapeness, I don't think that I've EVER sweat as much as I did! We ended up losing by two, and I immediately drank a 1/2 gallon of lemonade and sat in front of the AC register.

They converted their garage into a game room with the Wii, so a bunch of the teens were playing bowling and golf. We had a great time hanging out and were very appreciative of the Kelly's hospitality.

When we came back to the church I led the teens in a study of James 2:14-26 and we looked at the topic of our faith and works. We studied the three examples that James gave us in meeting the physical needs of people (15-16), Sacrificial works (21-22), and Showing kindness and helping others (25). We talked about how we can use all three of these during our time here in New Richmond. We also talked about, more importantly, how we can use these examples in our everyday life.

Tomorrow we start our work. Our schedule for the morning/afternoon goes like this:

9:00-12:00 VBS

lunch

1:00-4:30 Work projects

We don't know what exactly we are doing yet for VBS, so we will have to be flexible and go wherever they need us to. We are going to be pressure washing two decks tomorrow to prep them for staining later in the week. We are also going over to several elderly houses to wash windows. I challenged the teens tonight to spend time after they got done washing to interact with the people. Please be praying that we meet more than just the physical need for getting the windows done, and that we would be there to listen and minister to them as well.

It's been a great day and it's a privilege to work with these quality teens!

Look forward to an awesome day tomorrow!!!

We Made It!!!

Hi everyone, we arrived in New Richmond around 3:30 this afternoon. We are in the middle of a Bible Study and I'll get some pics and describe the first day when we are done.

Thanks for checking in and continue to pray for an amazing week!!!