Greetings to all of you! Happy Spring!
As the smell of orange tree blossoms fill the air, it can mean only one thing, Boot Camp is just around the corner. It’s hard to believe it is so near! Big Top Day (the day we put up the large rally tent) is May 1. It is such an exciting time here in Florida as we prepare for all the kids that will come to serve on mission teams. Just think…hundreds of teens being commissioned and sent out around the world – spanning the globe in over 20 countries!!!! Our time here in Florida is very busy – we have several things that we are doing this year in celebration of 40 years of Teen Missions. We are working on some neat things for the Obstacle Course. We have a ball run that will be one of a kind and we are building a Noah’s Ark Obstacle Course. I have been busy building the Ark in the middle of a Florida swamp. I asked our director if I could have 120 years to build it like Noah had, but obviously he said it had to be done by Boot Camp. I guess I can meet that deadline because my “ark” is quite a bit smaller. It is amazing the opportunities that I get to do so many different things. It seems as if I am always looking back and thinking “that is why I learned that years ago!” All the skills I have acquired throughout the years come in handy around Teen Missions – from motorcycle training, working on chainsaws, and operating equipment, to working with the computer. God always knew what he was doing even when I was not aware.
We are just completing our fourth adult missions team that went out this year. I have had the opportunity of helping to pack and train these teams. It is a blessing to serve those who have taken time out of their busy schedules to GO and serve those in need. I have really enjoyed getting to know each of the adult team members and seeing the accomplishments done for God’s kingdom. The reports from the field are awesome and I wish I could go with each team as I take them to the airport, but I realize that my work is here in Florida for now, until God calls me elsewhere.
I also get a chance to pack and send things to the overseas bases that they cannot purchase in country. There are always interesting requests for things that are needed or desired overseas that are not available to purchase in those countries. This year, the adult teams helped take one printer with five toner cartridges, one miter saw, two motorcycle chains, a modem, text books, baby clothes, buckets of crayons, soccer balls, medicine, glasses, contact lenses, an Easter basket full of goodies, solar panels, Snickers candy bars, school supplies for staff kids, tents and not to be forgotten, precooked bacon – a real treat to those serving overseas!! It is always interesting what you can fit into a duffel bag.
Vikki has been busy learning all her new duties in the Personnel Department and keeping up with the kids and their many activities. She also teaches the two year olds at our church here, First Baptist Merritt Island, and helps with the preschool choir.
So much has happened since our last newsletter. The big news is Zoe prayed and asked Jesus to come into her heart!! This happened one night as we talked before bedtime. She was so excited that she could barely contain herself. She started signing her name as Zoe the Christian. She is growing up so fast. She is busy cheerleading in Upward Basketball.
Madison is really growing up. She loves to read and she reads everything she can find. When we first moved here, one thing that upset her was that when she went through the school, nobody knew who she was. It is not like that anymore–she is such a social kid. Madison is playing Upward Basketball and I coach her team. Our colors are blue and orange and we all look like University of Florida fans, which is quite painful for an Ohio Buckeye!
Canaan is growing up in many ways also. He is so much taller than me and , well, he is starting to sound like a man now. He will be 18 years old in July! He is looking forward to his senior year ind is facing so many important decisions. Please pray that he will earnestly seek God’s Will for his life.
Taylor always keeps herself busy with all her social obligations and she is loving every minute of her college years. She has almost completed her sophomore year at Asbury University.
They all have plans this summer: Canaan is going back to Russia; Taylor’s going to China as a leader on the team; and Madison and Zoe are going back to Samoa with us. Canaan said he didn’t feel like he did his best in Russia and said he wants to go back and do it right. Taylor is always willing to serve where needed, so she is going to China.
We are heading back to Samoa to help those who were displaced with the tsunami this past September. We plan to work in the villages that we visited when we were there. One thing that motivated us to go back to Samoa to help was a story that was told by the YWAM staff there. It is a story told by a young man who was also a victim of the Tsunami in Samoa:
When the earthquake happened, his grandmother immediately got up and started singing a popular hymn in Samoan. This hymn has five verses. The first verse goes like this: “When the sea of this life becomes rough, and we fail because we get discouraged and lack faith, but think of all the blessings God has blessed us with, we would only be amazed…” The family saw the wave while this old woman still sang all five verses of the hymn, and the family started to worry. The grandma’s sister and her husband ran for their lives at the site of the great wave before the grandmother finished praying. The grandchildren kept bugging grandma saying, “Nana, the wave, the wave” but grandma did not care. She finished all five verses of the hymn, and after that she prayed. By then the wave was getting closer and closer, but she kept praying, committing everyone of her family to the Lord naming them one-by-one. When she finished praying with the AMEN, this young man got up grabbed her and the children by the arms, rushed them into the car, closed all the windows and when he was about to open the door to drive away, the wave hit him and washed him up to the hills. As he was hanging there by a tree on the hill, he was wondering what had become of grandma and the children. He thought he lost them, when all of a sudden he saw the car floating and riding the wave and grandma and the children were sticking their heads into the top of the car where there was space for them to breathe some air. The car floated onto a tree where the front was leaning and the tail rested on dry ground. The young man ran over, quickly opened the car and water spilled out while grandma and the children were all safe without any injury. The sad thing though was that the grandma’s sister, who ran before the prayer was finished, was killed by the wave and her husband was fighting for his life in the hospital. The young man said in his testimony that never in his life did he really believe in the power of prayer and faith, but now, he knows that God hears prayer and he will never be the same again. (from the staff of YWAM Samoa)
Please remember us in prayer as we travel this summer. Please pray for our health and safety, but most importantly, pray for each team member that will serve on missions trips with Teen Missions. Please pray that each of them will commit their lives fully to the Lord and submit to His Will for their lives. That is the goal of our summer. We are always reminded that we are “building teens” not buildings.
Thank you so much for your support and encouragement. You are an integral part of our team. Together, we will carry the Gospel to the uttermost parts of the Earth.
