Day 7: Closed doors and open hearts

We didn’t have any particular plans this morning, and were planning on doing an ATL (Ask The Lord) which is where you pray, and just do whatever you feel like the Lord is telling you. John is big on these, and it was definitely a sweet new experience.

 

Before the ATL we headed to Confluence Ministries located in the fifth most at risk neighborhood in Denver. We got a tour, and heard about their ministry from a guy named Jude and a young woman named Sha’Shawn who worked with some of the youth. James and I agreed she was very beautiful.

 

We went on a prayer walk around the neighborhood after Confluence and did our ATL at the same time. By the end we all felt compelled to head to a local school, where a lunch for youth went on, so that we could connect with the kids and build some bridges.

 

The following still doesn’t make sense to me. The school said that for security reasons we couldn’t do our plan. This was strange because we had all felt as though God was leading us to do that. So we came up with another plan, and God closed that door too. Our next several ideas were followed by closed doors and no go’s.

 

(FYI right now as I’m writing this Robbie just emptied James’s air mattress and hence James attacked Robbie with a barrage of missiles in the form of a rubber ball)

 

We needed a break after a fruitless morning and so we decided to head downtown and eat at Chik-a-fila. Robbie, James and I (I’m not even sure how it happened yet) sat down and started talking to this guy who called himself ‘Jimmy the coach’. As we begin talking to Jimmy, who was possibly the nicest guy ever, we started to talk about basketball and sports and schools and general topics. After a few minutes we discovered he was a fellow believer and we opened up to him and vise versa. Turns out he’s a missionary of sorts, who goes around campus’s and places and shares the gospel. He was so encouraging to us after a horrible morning. I believe that we also encouraged him. He was talking about America and how lost we are, and he kept saying we were the future and how cool that was. I think it was good for him to see young people out doing something good. All in all he was one of my favorite people we met on this trip.

 

We all felt dejected and God sent us to Chik-a-Fila to meet Jimmy. I’m sure of it.  

 

We finally decided to head to Sloan Lake where there’s a park and hopefully be able to get into some sports ministry. Within minutes after we unloaded in the park a thunderstorm rolls in. We head to the van to wait it out, and while we are sitting there a warning comes over the radio about how severe it’s going to be etc. Once again a closed door.

 

We realized that the storm wasn’t going to blow over quickly so we decided to go to an old folks home and visit with the elderly.

 

Robbie, Cathy, James and I sat down and talked with Karin, Richard, June and another Richard. We talked for a long time, and they loved having us. Richard and June got excited and wanted to show us the 18^th floor where there was a balcony around the whole building. It was so awesome to see all of Denver, from downtown to the surrounding mountains from this balcony.

 

We discovered that June was already a believer but that Richard (these were the two that we talked with the most) was not. They were very good friends, but Richard never let June pray for him, even though he had a triple by pass heart surgery coming up soon.

 

When it was time to go we all said bye and stood up, but God wouldn’t let me leave. I looked at Richard and asked him if we could pray for him, he smiled and said yes. We prayed with June and Richard about their relationship with God, and the heart surgery and just for them. It was a sweet moment.

 

We went back to the church and on the way stopped at seven eleven and had very very large slurpees, at least James, Robbie and I did. Yum Yum.

 

We ate dinner and set off for our last night of VBS. It was the last time for me to see Marcos, and Jose (by the way I spelled Devonte’s name wrong). For me those kids at Joshua station were set on my heart more than anything, I really feel for them. It was crazy sad to leave, I love those kids.

 

Even though today was insane, and unorganized it was all God’s day and I am happy about what we did today, and can’t wait to see the fruit of our labor in heaven someday.

 

We have a long ride home tomorrow so pray for safety and sanity in the van, and peace with each other.

 

Pray for the people we came in contact with this week, the homeless, the kids and everyone here.

 

Pray that seeds were planted and that people would come to Christ because of this week.

 

I have to go to bed now, so I can survive tomorrow. 

Day 6: Best laid plans...

Today was a difficult day. We started out by heading to a trailer park to do door to door prayer for people. This method of ministry had never been used before by John so we were sort of like test dummies for it. We got kicked out. Okay not quite but we definitely got told in a very not nice way that there was no soliciting (to which Brian said we weren’t selling anything) and no religion.

 

To make a long story short, we ended up shoveling dirt and moving cinderblocks all morning long. The job wasn’t big enough for everyone, so not even everyone worked. This wouldn’t have been that bad, except that for the guys this was the third straight day of manual labor when what we all really wanted to do was relational ministry. To be honest it was very testing, and I probably failed. All morning I had a bad attitude as did others in our group.

 

Finally we finished moving cinderblocks and headed back to base for lunch, base being the church. We all felt like this wasn’t where we were supposed to be working, and that these things weren’t what we were supposed to be doing.

 

During lunch Robbie brought these concerns up to John and we all talked about how we felt about what we were doing and what we’d rather do. We all decided to pray about our day and just listen to God and do whatever he instructed us.

 

After a moment of prayer, we all felt like God wanted us to go to Civic Center Park in downtown Denver. So we all loaded up and headed down there armed with a variety of footballs, frisbee’s etc. hoping to connect with some people.

 

Let me explain a little bit about Civic Center Park. Robbie called it Satan’s footstool if that helps at all. The entire park is beautiful, and there are a variety of people in it, including business men walking by in suits, and drunk homeless sleeping under trees. I saw more drug deals today than I ever thought I would. We saw some people on weed and it was refreshing because it was such a mild drug compared to everything else around us. This was the worst of the worst, heart of the city.

 

It was very different and scary for all of us but a really good experience. Throughout the course of the afternoon we all met and talked with different people. The girls spoke to a woman with spine cancer who was raising her grandkids for awhile who was really cool and they had good conversation with her. They also talked to a trans-sexual who had been abused as a child.

 

A story from my day:

 

John and I took the football and began tossing it to and fro in front of a very intimidating group of drug dealing young adults. Our goal in this ministry was to begin a game of catch with someone and continually grow our catch shape, and because of this build relationships and be able to open doors and talk to people.

 

None of the drug dealers came and played although they seemed to consider it, I invited a homeless man to play with us named Charles. At first I thought it might be a bad idea, but he was very excited to play with us and was a really nice guy. After we played catch for a little bit I asked him some questions about where he was from, and a little about his life. Eventually these questions led to me asking him about church and if he went or where.

 

His entire face changed. Charles said to me, “Come over here, these things don’t just happen, I want to show you something.”

I had no idea what he was going to show me, but we walked over to his stuff and he opened his backpack and brought out a bible.

 

The way he started talking it was as if he was trying to convert me. He knew the bible so well, better than a lot of people I’ve seen before. However he was very badly mislead and nothing I could say would convince him otherwise. We talked for about an hour (he did most the talking) and nothing I could say or show him in the bible would change his mind about things. He was convinced the only way to get to heaven, was to follow all of God’s commandments, essentially be perfect, and he didn’t think that it was impossible to do that even though he admitted that he was a sinner.

 

When we finished talking it was clear to me that nothing within my power would change him, only God. We left the park after playing a game of football with Charles and a guy names Reese (wacked out of his mind with drugs) and some of our group.

 

As we left the park a lot of people were saying how good it was and giving it a thumbs up and were really excited. Although I felt those feelings, the greatest emotion running through my body was sadness. I felt so sad that Charles was stubborn and wasn’t changing his beliefs. I felt so sad that everyone at the park was drugged, or selling drugs or both. I felt so sad that we had left the park in almost the same state as we had arrived there, and that most of the people we talked to wouldn’t even remember us tomorrow because of what they were on. It was a great expreince to be able to share Christ’s love with others, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything and you never know how God will use you and what you did, but it’s hard to see things like that.

 

One thing’s for sure, I’ll be praying for Charles.

 

We went to VBS tonight again, and I’m going to miss Marcos and (I realized I’ve been spelling Hosea wrong) Jose and the other kids we met there. They’ve been on my heart a lot lately. We also got to play basketball with some of the kids we met yesterday like Daniel and a kid named Jon and a guy named Ben.

 

We finished the day with worship and debrief at Red Rocks.

 

Please pray that we will finish our trip strong tomorrow.

 

Please pray also that we would be able to touch lives tomorrow and serve Christ.

Please pray for God to be glorified for the rest of the trip.

Oh yeah and we just found out that the girls all take showers at the same time, in one shower, that is a very small one…awkward 

Day 5: We're (past) halfway there...livin' on a prayer

“My grace is sufficient for your, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses so that the power of Christ my rest upon me.” – 2 Corinthians 12:9

 

I woke up and felt weak, and so God gave me this verse that ran through my head all day and strengthened me to complete the day, I know that without God I would not have made it through today.

 

There wasn’t anything necessarily different about today, it was just a long one. Just over halfway through the trip and we are all tired, it’s hard to sleep outside your own bed. It’s always hard to push through the halfway point, but I think we all made and are refueled and refreshed, or at least should be by tomorrow morning.

 

The layout of the day was much like that of yesterday, with the same people going the same places. So Brian, Robbie, James and I went with the same Iowa kids today back to Issachar Community to finish what we had started yesterday.

 

I’ll put it this way, it was the longest, hardest day of painting I’ve ever experienced and James and I agree that we don’t want to see another paintbrush for a long time.
However the good news is that we finished the front of the building and it looks great. So we are all done with Issachar.

 

I painted a ton of trim today, so I was up on a ladder almost the entire day. I won’t go into detail about it because my Mother might not appreciate it….okay I’ll tell you. I was dangerously painting two stories above concrete, but I’ll leave it at that and the fact that I’m okay right now and able to blog makes it okay. The worst part was when I was stretching out and balancing but don’t worry, it never got too bad…

 

I think all of us experienced a little bit of disappointment at what we did today though. I know for Brian and I we both shared feelings of,  “We came all the way to Denver to paint a brick building, we could do this in Missoula.”

 

During the last two days when thoughts like this came up, I constantly reminded myself that we were doing exactly what God wanted us to do, and that helped me greatly and I had a great time painting today despite being wiped out by it.

 

We left at about three to go back to the church to shower, (the boy’s shower was fixed!) and rest a little bit before tonight’s schedule.

 

There was a type of choir something or other going on tonight at the church, so we (our Missoula group) decided to go out to eat at Casa Bonita, which without going into too much detail was the sweetest restaurant I’ve ever been too! It was incredible! The best food there were the fried sopaipillas covered in honey, of which I ate 9. I just couldn’t stop. Dude that’s a lot of sopaipillas and I’m feeling it for sure, but it was worth it without a doubt. I love those things!

 

After dinner we headed back to the Joshua Station to do day number two of our VBS and so we all got to hang out with our favorite kids, namely Hosea and Marcos. Those guys are nuts. I feel bad for them because they just need males in their life. They are two of several brothers with a single mom and they just don’t get enough male love in the form of older brothers and a father. Those kids are sweet though, tons of energy.

 

 Robbie, James, Josh (a sweet kid from Iowa) and I went outside near the end of VBS when it was in control to play some basketball. The moment we stepped on the court two guys showed up wanting to play, and soon after that another kid came out to play. They were all super nice, and really fun to play with. Josh wouldn’t miss though so my team lost, but it was so much fun to play with them. Valentino (we all called him Tino), Lucas, and Daniel were their names, pray for them, we’re planning to play again on Thursday and I hope we get a chance to talk to them about Christ.

 

Please pray for the groups here, we’re having some tension caused by exhaustion between our group and also the other groups are having some problems.

 

Please pray for, Daniel, Tino, Lucas, Hosea, Marcos and the others we hung out with today.

 

Please pray for our ministry tomorrow as it will be more hands on, and with people and as John put it “the edge heats up”. I’m excited and a little nervous.

 

Finally, pray that we would all be able to get the massive amounts of paint off of our bodies and that we’d get a good night’s sleep, we all need it.

Day 4: Into the field

Happy birthday Nessy! She just turned the magical age of 13, just kidding she’s now 17. A little more on that in a bit.

 

Today I woke up feeling better than yesterday, probably because Robbie didn’t have any late night run ins with me, AKA he didn’t step on me. This morning was the beginning of our work week. Robbie, Brian, James myself and the kids from Iowa all went down to Issachar Community.

 

Issachar is a ministry that is located in downtown Denver. Their goal is to create young leaders from the neighborhood they’re located in. They do this by having young people out of high school come in and stay at their building for a two year program. The program is designed to launch them into college and a future in leadership. For the two years that the students live in the building, they get a complete scholarship, room, board and spending money. In turn they attend weekly meetings, mandatory study times, must volunteer 10 hours a week in the neighborhood and do things in the summer such as volunteer at summer camps etc. After two years they move out into their own place, and if they keep their grades up the students maintain their scholarship for four years.

 

Jeff was the point man we talked to today, he is sort of in charge of the place and really shared his heart about the ministry with us, and let me tell you, he sold me. I think it’s an incredible place, and they do an awesome job with it.

 

We did some work inside the building but soon we were outside preparing to paint the place. The Brotherhood left Issachar to head to home depot to buy our supplies and on the way got a great look at Invesco Field and it is sweet, even though I hate the Broncos.

 

We purchased paint, paint brushes and all the necessary equipment to begin painting. This afternoon we began our task that will take us several days. We started painting on the roof, and needless to say the sun was very very hot.

 

Robbie, James, Brian and I worked hard to finish the section of the roof that needed to be done and when we were finished it looked a ton better than before. It’s always nice to see your finished work look good.

 

We scraped away old paint, and prepared the rest of the building for a frantic day tomorrow. Along the way we also bonded really well with some of the kids in the Iowa group.

 

Because I did not go with the girls, Nessy is kind enough to write on this blog a little about their experiences today.

 

Today I went to ACTS II – a soup kitchen here in Denver – me and the other girls on our Missoula team as well as two greatly appreciated young ladies from the Ohio team and their two leaders. Today was a great day of getting to know them working together  and really drawing a lot closer – but more about that later. At the soup kitchen we divided into two groups – one to stay at the soup kitchen and one to go to a car wash – a fundraiser for the soup kitchen. I went with the first car washing group so I guess I’ll begin there. We went down with a couple of the staff from the soup kitchen to tackle this soapy task, Bobby and Jonny both amazingly enthusiastic and cheerful guys they really kept us hyped up during our 2 hour shift of standing in the humid heat – worrying about whether we were being sunburned, making us laugh as we waved signs and High school Musical pom-poms on the street corner (we were all pretty hyped when they got those things out!). Business was a little slow – but we did get a few cars and we had some really good conversations with some of the people and made some money that will, Lord willing, help the kitchen out. 

            After two hours of this (and a little tanner)we switched groups – mine going to the soup kitchen. It was amazing. It was so eye-opening to see how these people live, what they live on, and hear a little of their stories. While we talked to them we were packing groceries, sorting food, cleaning storm rooms unloading trucks of food (what a blessing! God provides in abundance!).  But before I go any further I suppose I should mention this is a faith-based soup kitchen\ food bank. the evidence is everywhere – the beautiful chapel upstairs where they hold three services (one in Spanish – it’s awesome how they serve many people in many places and backgrounds) to the staff who were so joyful in their work. We had the privilege of working, in particular with two amazing ladies I must mention really fast; Mary and Laynette – these ladies put heart and soul into- it seams they never tire of serving with energy and passion that is challenge to me, for sure, and I know some of the other girls to. What a blessing! The further evidence of this faith-based work is the abundance of provision from God. Almost every day these people get truckloads of food, it was beautiful to see! Well I should probably cut this short (ha-ha, I guess it’s to late for that) as Mark was just saying wanting to include all the details and not being able to is the hardest part, but hopefully this gives you guys a short glimpse into what a blessing these people where to us and how awesome it was serving today. Thanks for all your prayers – they’re defiantly felt!  

 

God Bless,

 Nessy

 

Tonight we went down to Joshua Station which is an in between point for families going from homelessness to a normal life. It is a converted Motel 6 and we did a VBS there for the kids who lived there. It was the highlight of the trip for me so far; I had such a great time hanging with, Marcos, Divante, Nani, Philip, Hosea and others (and I most likely didn’t spell those correctly).

 

Tonight we debriefed, Robbie said he’d rather keep his briefs on. Tomorrow is looking to be a very busy day, and we’re all excited for what God has in store for us. I’m learned to accept whatever God’s plan is and work my hardest wherever and whatever we go and do.

 

We also celebrated Nessy’s birthday tonight with cake (and I had a huge piece, definitely going to regret that) and ice cream.

 

Side notes:

 

Bad news for the boys…their shower malfunctioned and is temporarily out of order.

 

Worse news for the girls…the boy’s shower malfunctioned and is temporarily out of order.

 

Robbie spent all day looking at pictures of Micah on his computer. I think he misses his son.

 

Oh yeah, and Robbie worked very hard today. He’s the man despite the slightly poor rep he gets on this blog. We couldn’t do it without him.

 

Please pray for everyone from the other groups as well as ours, that we’d bond and mesh and also connect with God and learn from him this week.

 

Pray for all the leadership on the trip that they’d have wisdom and strength.

 

Pray for VBS tomorrow night that more kids would come and learn about God.

 

Also pray for Taylor, (13 year old boy the girls met) Divante, Marcos, Philip, Nani, Hosea, and the others we met and connected with today.

 

Oh yeah, and I think I got majorly sunburned today, we’ll see tomorrow. Mrs. Shell was right, I need to wear some sunscreen.

Day 3: Preparing the heart

Happy Fathers Day! Woke up and felt like I had been run over by a train, turns out that Robbie just stepped on me when he went to the bathroom last night. We decided to attend church here this morning at Holy Cross Lutheran. It was an experience that I’m very glad I had, but would not like to have again soon. I will say this though, as much as it was different and I didn’t really like it that much, I really respected how they showed reverence for God.

 

After church the Brotherhood took naps instead of being social like the girls, they are so much better at that than us.  After naps James and I left with John (the AIM trip director remember) to go to Red Rocks Amphitheatre, which is a state park of sorts, to reserve the shelter for a picnic lunch.

 

We really got a chance to talk with, and get to know John, which was awesome. He is a cool guy, very intense but cool. He’s passionate about what he does and is good at spreading his passion to others.  When we got there, the three of us split up and walked around the perimeter and prayed over it.

 

I really felt compelled to pray for a hedge of spiritual protection over the place, and so as I walked around the outside of where we’d be I asked God for that, and I could feel him sending angels down to surround us as we ate and prayed. It was an amazing feeling; I’ve never had anything like it. I believe that God planted a wall of protection around us today at Red Rocks.

 

We had a good time fellowshipping and learning about what we’d be doing this week, and then we had quiet times. The Lord led me to Psalm 24, which talks about God being the founder and creator of the earth, and the almighty being. It really spoke to me about how I need God for everything and how we all need him to do anything. God is the founder of the earth, how dumb to think I can do anything for him without his help, he created me.

 

After Red Rocks we all went down to Utah Park and helped set up for a fundraiser for adoption, put on by Confluence Ministries (at least most of us did, Robbie scared ducks). Stephanie and Nessie took lots of pictures too, which was fun. We’ll try and post them on here.

 

The work got done very quickly so we all headed to Wal-Mart to collect some items, for me it was shoe glue, Mrs. Shell bought us Cheez It’s and chips, James bought an air mattress, Robbie a nine volt battery and Brian a Frisbee…oh yeah and Amy bought a Coke. Very important shopping trip.

 

When we finished shopping we decided to go to Scum of the Earth Church just off of downtown Denver. We all had preconceived notions about what we might find, but it blew all of our ideas out of the water. The building itself was beautiful, it had been formerly owned by an artist, so it had all sorts of sweet decorations and awesome paintings, very colorful.

 

Before the service started the Brotherhood met Teno, a guy from California who was absolutely hilarious. Then later Brian and I met a man named Pippen who had recently gotten out of prison and had recommitted his life to Christ. It was cool because very question we asked him, he answered with, “God man, he did everything. He does everything. Without him I can do nothing.” He quoted scriptures and was so passionate about his desire to live for God.

 

The service was spectacular. After worship they took a break and served pizza and then the associate pastor Sam Cook preached on single’s sexuality and knocked it out of the park. It was a powerful sermon.

 

My favorite part about the Scum of the Earth Church was how real it was, everyone there was real. There were no pretenders, or posers just passionate people. Every kind of person imaginable was there, it was so mixed but it didn’t matter, we were all just seeking after the same thing, God.

 

Tomorrow we start in earnest so please be praying for strength and perseverance, especially for the VBS we will start tomorrow night. Also pray for Scum of the Earth Church and their ministry. Once again pray for unity, and growth among our group and the two others here in Denver.  Keep praying for safety and spiritual encounters and growth.

 

Oh yeah, Brian and Robbie keep telling everyone I’m a rapper…I’ll never live that down, thanks guys.

Day 2: Welcome to Denver

For your information, a small group was formed yesterday and today on this trip, the origins of which I cannot discuss here however just know that when I refer to "The Brotherhood" I refer to Robbie, James, Myself, Brian and sometimes Kathy Shell. Don't ask, just accept.  

We left Casper this morning and began our drive to Denver. Today however The Brotherhood got to sit in the front seats and thus were able to spread some legs and stretch a little bit. The drive was easy, it was only about five hours drive time from Casper. We stopped at Sierra Trading Post for a little break after eating lunch at Cheyenne, (massive amounts of Arby's were consumed). We were promised by Robbie that we would encounter amazing deals at this trading post, however all we saw were 400 $ pair of shoes. James did however buy some sunglasses, they look quite stunning to be honest. 

After the trading post, we headed north towards Canada. Just kidding, but we did continue our drive to Denver. As the twisted roadways and towering buildings came into sight I realized that I've never been to a city as big as Denver, at least not for any lasting time. 

We are staying at Holy Cross Lutheran Church while we are here which is located in a suburb outside of Denver. It's a sweet church, kind of old school with stain glass windows in the sanctuary but it is awesome. We unpacked and chilled for a little bit before eating a dinner consisting of Subway...eat fresh. 

John is the man who works with AIM who is in charge of this trip, after din din he debriefed us a little bit about what we will be doing here and what it may be like. He is full of energy and very passionate, needed characteristics when you work in the inner city. 

I began to realize just how unprepared I am for this trip. I just realized that I don't know how to talk to a prostitute, or deal with the homeless, or share Christ's love with someone waiting at a bus stop. I know realize just how much we all need God on this trip, he is everything and we, especially me, cannot do anything without him. John talked about us being in a battle, and it's true. I'm nervous about starting but very excited even though I know I will be outside my comfort zone on many occasions. It's late and nearly time for lights out, so there is lots I have to leave out, but a few important notes:

We are meshing pretty well with the other youth groups well, but continue to pray for unity.

We had a worship time, and for me personally it was very refreshing to put my focus back on God.  

The Brotherhood created a sweet techno song on Robbie's Apple computer, let me tell you, it is a hot beat.

Please pray for health because several of us are struggling a little bit with fatigue, and sickness. Pray for wisdom and divine help in situations that we don't know what to do. Pray for spiritual strength to win the battles we will face. 

Oh yeah and that we would all get a shower tomorrow. 

Day 1

Well we left. Yesterday morning we finally got on the road to begin our trip to Denver. A lot of us were pretty tired out from Summer Adventure Week at our church, but I think everyone is very excited to be finally going.

Robbie, James and I got stuck in the back of the Van but it was alright. Jame's mother was kind enough to buy us a six pound bag of gummy bears, of which about two pounds are in my stomach right now.

In the van we all told our life stories, (breifly of course) and James's can be summed up pretty easily, and I quote, "My parents say I'm friendly, I don't like to talk very much." Hilarious.

We drove to Casper Wyomming and arrived at about nine thirty. We're staying at a community center owned by a church, I can't remember what it's called. We played some basketball last night in the gym to unwind from the Van trip then the guys went out to get some gas for the Van and we realized that after 11:00 virtually all of Casper shuts down, which was a problem.

Robbie, James and I got up early to run this morning, and I think all of Casper is uphill, seriously. We eventually ran onto a cart path on a golf course which was fun, but by the time we made it back to camp we were all pretty tired.

Time to go eak breakfast, going to cover all of yesterdays junk food with donuts and cereal to try and cleanse my system. Another day of driving, only about five hours though, and we'll be in Denver. Please pray for sanity in the van, and safety on the road.

P.S. Robbie wants to know if there are any side effects to eating an entire bag of trail mix. Quote "I just love this stuff!"