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!"

Prayer

We are just four days away from departure, I can’t believe it. Denver is coming, and coming fast. I’m excited, and I know that everyone else going is too. Now, more than ever I am inclined to ask for your prayer support in this trip. Prayer makes such a difference, God moves when we pray! I can’t wait to see how, but I know that we will need as much prayer as we can get for this trip.
Every aspect needs to be given up to God and taken out of our hands. I believe the most important thing we can do on this trip is to hand it completely over to God, I know that I am not capable of anything on my own, and I need God for everything. This trip is God’s not Mark’s, and not Brian’s, or anybody else’s. It is God’s. Completely for him, and completely made possible by him.
Prayer will change this trip. Prayer will empower us in this trip. Prayer is the backbone of what we will be doing, without it we will be working in vain, I truly believe that.

Matthew 9:38 – “therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

2 Corinthians 1:11 – “You may also help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many.”

Matthew 21:22 – “And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.”

Colossians 1:9 - “An so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understand, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.”

That is my desire, that prayers would not cease for us during this trip. Prayers that we could all be filled with the knowledge of God’s will, and that we would walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him in every area of our trip. Alone it is impossible that these things happen, it is only possible with the help of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Here are some prayer requests we have right now:

1.) Unity

We will be working with about 30 other students and staff in Denver from three difference churches. Unity can be a hard thing, especially by our own power. Please pray for unity in the team going from MAC, and that we would have unity in Denver with the others and be able to fellowship with them as brothers and sisters in Christ.

2.) Ministry

Please pray for the ministry we will be having in Denver. For all the people we are going to interact with, including each other. We have no idea who God plans to touch through us in Denver, but pray for those who he has ordained to be affected by us. Pray for the broken, lonely, hardened people we will meet, pray for the children we will work with during out Vacation Bible School. Pray for everyone we will come in contact with in Denver.

3.) Individual Growth

Pray for those going on the trip, that we will each encounter God in a way we have never done before. Pray that we will all individually grow in Denver, and become closer to God in a life changing way. It’s not too much to pray for life changing events and spiritually changing encounters. This trip could be the turning point in peoples walks with God.

4.) Physical Strength

Our days will be long and hard, pray that we will maintain our strength and patience with each other. Pray that we will sleep well and our bodies would be strong enough to serve God all week long.

5.) Staff

Pray for Brian, Robbie, and Cathy as they lead us in this trip. Pray that they will lead by example, and be strong and faithful to God. Pray also that they would be patient, and be able to be strong Christian leaders and that God would strengthen them and use them exactly as he wants too.

Prayer Walkin'

Last Sunday we (the Denver team) had a meeting during the second service as we usually do. However this week was a little bit different. Brian had us practice something we’ll be doing in Denver…a prayer walk.
I don’t know about you, but it was a first time for me.
A prayer walk is essentially, just what it sounds like. Praying, while walking. It is cool because first of all, it’s a different approach to prayer. It is cool to walk around and see things, and have things be brought to mind because of our surroundings to pray about. It will be even more exciting doing it in Denver, where familiarity won’t be a factor.
Another reason I liked the prayer walk is because it produces team unity. Prayer is always a team builder, but walking together and just be completely open and prayerful has a powerful effect. It is good to build a close bond with each other, before going out on this trip.
In case you were wondering it was about two thousand degrees out while we did this. I think next time I’m not going to wear jeans.
A few more side notes, I found out that we will be serving with two other teams in Denver. These teams are other youth groups that are partnering with AIM just like we are. Both groups are from other alliance churches which is really cool, one is from Chicago and I’m not sure where the other one is. I’m really excited to work with other people and build relationships with them, however a second and third group does produce other issues, such as overall unity and the smooth running of the trip. Prayer for us would be greatly appreciated in this area. First off, that we as a team would be one, and then that all of us in Denver would work really well as one, and represent the body of Christ in a way pleasing to Him. The trip is full now, which means that 40 people will be on this mission’s trip. Can’t wait.
Final thought for today: There’s a dress code for students and staff going…I guess I’ll be leaving my Speedo™ at home.

Would you like some pine with those needles...?

So tonight, Emily, Stephanie and I went out to Fenchtown to help a couple from our church rake up pine needles and pinecones from their yard as a fundraiser for Denver. It was cloudy and looking like it might rain, but we had already canceled and rescheduled the job so we decided to go for it.
The drive out there was pretty exciting, we definitely got lost several times over and by the time we found their house (in the middle of nowhere) I think we had seen every single part of Frenchtown that there is to see.
The part of their yard that we were supposed to rake was only a ½ an acre, so we were done in about thirty minutes. Just kidding. It took us a good couple of hours to rake up all the pine needles and cones; I’ve never seen so many in a pile before! It was crazy. I think my muscles are already bigger than they were before. And I’m pretty confident in my raking skills right about now too.
So about an hour and half into the job, Joe (the guy we were working for) says, “Keys are in the truck if you want to back it up here to load the needles.”
I assumed he was talking to his wife but I looked up and saw him looking at me.
“Uh…me?”
“Yeah go ahead.”
This truck was a brand new Dodge Ram. I couldn’t believe he wanted me to drive it.
“You can drive an automatic right?”
“Yes…?”
Before I knew it was driving this brand new truck over, under, around and through trees backwards to load up pine needles! As we were getting ready to back it down into their backyard to drop the needles I passed the job of driver off to his wife, despite her saying, “You can practice I don’t mind.” Yeah, practice my driving in the woods with their brand new truck. Very trusting people. I mean I’m confident in my driving skills but there is a limit.
Eight pick up loads later we were finished with the job, but the fun was just beginning. We went inside and had dinner with them, and they showed us around and talked about the 8 different foreign exchange students they’ve had come through their house, along with three kids.
Then Joe showed us his hobby, a room full of history. Autographs from every athlete, every celebrity, every president and music artist you can think of! Not only that, but personal letters and pictures from tons of them! I can’t even begin to describe what that room held, except to say that any collector of anything would appreciate the greatness of what that room possessed.
As we left, I was struck with the thought of how nice these people were. I loved them, and they went to our church even though I had never seen them before. It opened my eyes to the size of our church, and all the people it holds. There are amazing people out there everywhere, and so much closer than we ever expect. Brothers and sisters in Christ are all around us, and I think of the possibilities of unity and fellowship we often miss out on because we just don’t know. I think it’s an awesome thing to meet people who I share such a connection with.
Tonight was a lot of fun, and I hope just the beginning of great things to happen for our team this year.

A little more information

A little more information on the trip. We have three main goals as we go to Denver this summer.

1.) Connect with God

Mark 1:35-38
Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. Simon and his companions went to look for him, and when they found him, they exclaimed: "Everyone is looking for you!"
Jesus replied, "Let us go somewhere else—to the nearby villages—so I can preach there also. That is why I have come."

2.) Connect with our team

Romans 12:4-6
Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith.

3.) Connect with others

Matthew 28:18-20
Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

With these goals in mind our ultimate objective is to glorify God in everything we do.
We leave on Friday, June 19th directly after the end of Summer Adventure Week at our church. So quickly afterwards in fact, that we don’t even get to help clean up. I think we’re all pretty disappointed about that. But we’ll suffer for Christ and skip the clean up.
We have the fortunate opportunity to drive to Denver in two days instead of one. God is good. However we will still have to log some heavy hours in the church van.
Once in Denver we will be staying at Confluence Ministries. This is their mission’s statement:

“Our mission is to bring together the diverse streams of the Body of Christ, with their talents and resources, to serve our local and global communities with the love of Jesus. Through strategic City Impact, practical Community Development, and compassionate World Outreach, we endeavor to see God glorified and lives changed. The role of Confluence Ministries is to be a catalyst to facilitate and support these efforts through networking, collaboration, hands-on training and experience.”

We will work in Denver for five full days before beginning our trip back. During these five days our schedule will be very full. We will have morning and afternoon ministries, (not sure what these will be yet) and then host a neighborhood Vacation Bible School (VBS) during the night. We will also have much prayer and worship, and continuous ways to set our focus on God.
Some of the ministry ideas could include, free car washes, serving coffee and doughnuts at bus stops in the morning, (sounds great to me), children’s ministries in the nearby park, VBS, homeless assistance, outreach through music events, clothing and food distribution, prayer walking and sports outreach, (hopefully basketball or something I’m halfway decent at). We will also be serving at The Joshua Station which is a place set up to help families make the transformation from homelessness to a healthy, stable living environment.
One of the things I’m looking forward to the most on this trip is listening to God. AIM has set up times for us that are free, such as an afternoon, where we will pray and listen to God and do whatever he directs us to do that afternoon. More on this later.
All in all I’m very excited for the chance to see what God will do through us in Denver. I firmly believe he has special opportunities already prepared for us on this trip, and I can’t wait to see what they are.
I know that it will be outside of everyone’s comfort zone, and am bracing myself and trusting God for strength in that.
Isaiah 40:31
“But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”

'Fun' Raising

I just finished raising the rest of my money for the Denver trip this summer. It feels great to be done. Although I shouldn’t say I raised it, because God did all of it. I’m not going to lie, it was a struggle for me. I’ve never had any problems raising money, (of course I’ve never had to raise this much before) so when the money didn’t come as easily as I had expected it was hard.
Last summer for our missions trip to Havre Montana, I quickly and easily raised almost double the money needed. I definitely expected to able to do that again. That was my problem, I expected to be able to raise the money, I didn’t trust God to raise it for me. I thought that with my great ability to write an awesome support letter would bring in all the money I needed and then more. I was already preparing to share the excess amount of money I’d have with everyone else going on the trip, one problem, God didn’t like my pride.
I didn’t realize that pride is what I was feeling. When the money raising didn’t start as strong as expected I just thought it would pick up and be fine. I told myself I was trusting God by not worrying about the money, but in reality I was still trusting myself, and my skill and my desire.
I became so prideful in this, that I didn’t even want to take the jobs provided for the team to earn money. I still assumed that I would get all the money I needed, because of me. Well it didn’t happen. I started to realized that I needed to get money from somewhere. I accepted a job to go and do some work for somebody, and I remember coming home from youth group that night and just being angry. I didn’t know it at that moment, but I was mad at God for not providing me the money when I thought I had been trusting him.
That night was a long night. As I was telling my parents about my frustrations my dad finally told me that I was mad at God, and rather than talk to them about it I should deal with God. That night I wrestled with God. I bet you can guess who won. I poured out my feelings, and finally admitted to God that I was mad at him. I confessed and decided to actually put my trust in God and not in myself any longer.
Guess what? A week and half later I had all the money I needed for the trip and even more! God is good. He is faithful…of course you have to trust him first. Something I should have done from the beginning.
I’m glad now that this happened to me. I’ve learned (or at least started to learn) about the importance of trusting God, and the ugliness that pride can take. I’m definitely happy to be able to focus on the trip now and not worry about the money. I also am glad to know that I’m doing something that Satan obviously doesn’t want done. I know that this trip to Denver is the right thing, and something God wants me to do…and now I can’t wait. I’m putting this trip on God’s hands now, after all, whose hands are better suited to guide us than Gods?