Grace UMC Trip Blog

Well, this is it. This will be the final blog for this trip. Please feel free to continue to send your comments until 9pm tonight. I will make sure that they are passed on to the team.

After spending a long day handing out water and doing surveys at Coney Island the team presented their cook out. What an amazing night. At any one time we had any where from 250 to 300 people hanging out with us. I'm guessing that we could have had 500 in and out through out the night.

In conjunction with this teams obedience to their Lord, the best part of the night was when we found out that two young men began their relationship with the Lord at the cook out.

They were invited to the cookout two days ago by several from your team while we were handing out water and invitations at a nearby park. Best .11 cents we ever spent. They decided to join us and were approached by one of the members of the church, Melvin. After a time of discussion they prayed.

What a wonderful note to end this blog on-AMEN!

Hi Everyone,
Sorry that I don't have a picture for todays ministry. I got caught up in the action and forgot the camera.

Your team has been amazing and you have been amazing. We have all been so touched by the time you are taking to read the blog and send comments to your friends and family. I have been reading close to 10 a day it seems.

Day 5 was spent planning for our cook out. Teams spent time planning games, shopping for materials and fixing the dunk booth. We expect over 100 people to visit with us on Friday night.

Please pray that the team will have the energy they need to serve. Please pray that the Lord will bring those to the cook out that need to be there. Please pray that the church family from Grace will be there in numbers to connect with our visitors.

To get the word out about the cook out the team spent the rest of their day distributing flyers and free bottles of water. They handed out over 650 bottles in just a few hours.

As a result of being in the neighborhood during this handout the team was able to play soccer with some kids they met, connect with people regardless of language and try to help a new friend going through a tough time.

I found a picture I could put in.

Preparations continue for Summer Camp. Grace Baptist conducts a camp each summer for 100 children in the community. It is a major undertaking each year.

It is such a blessing to have teams like yours come in to help with the prep. In addition to the items below, the team was able to repaint the front door to the church a wonderful red color, finish painting the basement and leaving a large gift to help with the replacement of the back exterior door.

There is so much work to do inorder to get the church ready for the 100 kids that will be coming to camp this summer.

The team was able to dump a ton of trash, reorganize the shed, mow the yard, clean the basement of the church, clean the computer room and fix various computer problems.

They were also able to start a large project helping out a staff person from the church. Several from the team have been able to go to Paulies house to help with a major reorganization project. He had surgery recently and has not been able to do the job on his own.

The team had a fantastic time tonight running the Jr. High ministry at Grace. Approx. 20 kids came out for games, snacks and a time of sharing.

Several of your team came home last night wishing they could take the kids home with them. They really connected well. We wish we could see them more.

Today the team spent a large portion of the day on the boardwalk at Coney Island. We were working with Pastor Slavia. Pastor Slavia is the pastor of the Russian congregation at Grace Baptist Church. Pastors eyes always light up when he sees a team come in that is willing to help him conduct surveys in Coney Island of the Russian community. It helps him learn better how to serve them and share Jesus with them.

Along with the surveys we were handing out free bottles of water to any one interested. This little gift relly helped pave the way to having people participate in our survey.

The entire team really seemed to enjoy this time but Nate came most excited. His first words to me were, "This is the highest high I have ever been on."

We are underway. Today was a fantastic day.

We began by heading to Ground Zero for our first "Whatever" quiet time. It was interesting to see how the Lord used our location to effect our time with Him. Some had their thoughts and prayers go to all those impacted by Sept. 11. Some were able to incorporate their surroundings into the study for the day.

Following our time with Him the team spent an hour walking around the area. Even though re-construction is moving along the impact of that day continues.

Our afternoon was spent at Covenant House, a shelter for runaways age 18-21. We were able to receive a tour of the ministry and help sort donations of clothes and books.

During this time Jason had a facinating experience as he witnessed a teenage girl being dropped off with her 6 week old baby to stay at the shelter. Please pray with us for this little family that God will capture their hearts and have victory in their lifes.

After dinner in Times Square the team headed back to Covenant House for a time with some of the guest at Covenant House. Your team shared amazingly open testimonies. Your Pastors shared challenges from portions of God's Word "randomly" selected by the guest. It was such a powerful time.

Hey Everyone,
Thank you again for checking in on your team. One of you was so excited to get in touch with your team that you sent us a blog comment on last years blog. We will make sure to pass it on.

The team arrived safely and jumped right in to their schedule. We were able to join the Russian congregation at our host church, Grace Baptist Church of Brooklyn. Pastor Slavia was so excited to see us walk in.

As a specical touch during the service Kaitlyn and Teena were invited up to lead everyone in Amazaing Grace and Kristina shared alittle about the team.

Please pray for us this week as we help serve at a teen runaway center, lead a chapel at the same center, help prepare the church building for the summer camp program, help the Russian Pastor with his survey ministry at Coney Island, help with several work projects, run the Jr. High Ministry and put together a community cookout.