Friday, July 1, 2011

TCF Mission Trip, Day 4 and beyond

On the last day, the team did an amazing amount of work around I-House! In the evening, Tall Hannah helped me give another of our (quickly becoming famous) tours of the town.

G-Ma P, how many car seats needed cleaning?!
Hint: this row is only the beginning of a four hour scrubbing!

Peggy and Gail, joyfully serving the Lord

My mama, joyfully chopping down a weed!

Sam, joyfully washing the windows of Little Burma

Richard, joyfully putting up a fence around the community garden

Bethany and crew, joyfully organizing children's DVDs and CDs in the kids' room

The girls... VERY joyfully chowing down on DeBrands sundaes at the chocolate factory


More of Sam's epicness, covered in chocolate
The team at the Fort

Mom and Richard learning wisdom from the famous Hamilton women

Sam and Jessi, stealing a hug from statues

Mom and Hannah cooling off at Headwater's water park

Thank you, Mr. Anthony Wayne, for sharing your city with us!

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

"Epicness, covered in chocolate," aka, TCF Mission Trip, Day 3

Today was our African Day - Somalian, Kenyan, Sudanese, Rwandan, and Congolese flavored our mission experience in colorful, exciting ways. The title of this blog is a quote from Sam, summing up the day perfectly. If you don't understand it, ask Sam... or just be very sorry you missed out on the fun. :) Enjoy the pictures!!

the infamous soccer game... Richard, you are brave.

snack time!

The kids adopted Peggy as their Grandma - "G-Ma P"

Sam taught three of the guys how to swim!

Miracles are happening every day

Girl talk! Why are we here? Because God loves you, and so do we!

"How are you, Mama Odette?" "Good, by the grace of God!"

African worship

brothers and sisters in Christ

"With God we will gain the victory!"
Psalm 108:13a

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

TCF Mission Trip, Day 2


What's this? you ask... You know you want to. And well you should. This, my faithful and curious readers, is rice - a 20-pound bag of Asian jasmine rice. And why do we have it? you ask... Well, today we visited the home of our dear Pastor Meng Pu, where his seven daughters sang for us and then dragged out and flopped down this huge bag on the mat in the living room - it made an impressive "thump." They said it was their gift to "the missionaries." Wow. We got to share a big Chinese buffet meal with them and pray for them, and I was so thankful that my TCF missionaries got to meet my Zo missionaries. It's so cool to know that Pastor Meng Pu is a missionary to America, and when he is not encouraging and building up the Zo church in Fort Wayne, he is travelling to other parts of the country to "give the gospel" and preach the goodness of God. His family is such a blessing, and the only thing they ever ask of me is prayer for them and their church and their ministry. It is an honor to get to pray blessings over them in their own home.

We can't wait to bring home our huge bag of rice and present it to our church as a gift from our Zo friends!

Photo blog: TCF Mission Trip, Day 1!

This week a group from my home church is here to learn and serve.

Monday we brought to I-House a vanload of Burmese kids to play, swim, snack and have a Bible story. We ended the day with a Mexican fiesta with dancing, pictures, artifacts, and some fantastic food. The weather was gorgeous, the kids were great, the team had a blast!













Sunday, June 26, 2011

The Great Multi-Tasker

Sometimes I get so wrapped up in what God is up to in my little corner of the earth - aka, International House - that I forget that he is at work all over the place, reaching all sorts of people in all sorts of ways. He is the Great Multi-Tasker... and he is very busy! Thursday afternoon, my friend Maelynn invited Jessi and I to her corner of the earth to see what God is doing there. Her corner of the earth is about three blocks away from I-House, at the church where a ministry called One Heart meets weekly to serve and love on adults with special needs. This week was their fifth annual Vacation Bible School, and the theme was all about Jesus' childhood.

It was so much fun!!

We colored, sang, learned a verse in sign language, played games, had a Bible lesson, prayed, went to the prize store, and had pizza. The participants loved it, and it was cool to share that time with them and see them smile. There was a set of identical twins in our class who did everything exactly alike; there were a couple people who immediately decided I was their special friend; the guys we ate dinner with had a burping contest; one new friend decided to spend her prize money at the store on gifts for her friend who is in the hospital, and the lady I sat next to loved to sing and dance to all the music.

I was also impressed at the love demonstrated by the volunteers of all ages. Every volunteer was smiling and energetic, and it seemed like they all genuinely enjoyed being there. They interacted with the participants so naturally, no matter what their level of communicating ability was, laughing with them and asking questions, and listening to their stories. It was beautiful, and such a blessing to see the value and dignity they upheld in their relationships.

God is doing great things through the ministry of One Heart and in the lives of people with special needs here in Fort Wayne!