Category: 2022, 78 Missions

We made it across Lake MI and are making our final leg home. We said goodbye to Chloe at the docks!

Some of us got up early to catch first light and are squeezing every last drop out of being together during waking hours. More later. . .  

Today was another great day! We talked about servant leadership and then immediately got to see those virtues displayed in our young men and women in our serving project. One team removed water tanks (yes 3) from the basement, along with a dryer that died over 3 years ago! More teams did yard work, trimmed bushes, cleared brush, and piled wood!  Many hands made light work, which was rewarded with a quick trip to a local pool (similar to an outdoor MVP). For our evening closing session, there were many emotions and a deep desire to take the next step, whatever that may be God calling us to do. Is he calling to rebuild ruins? Raise up foundations? Repair broken walls? Restore streets and homes? Our students are quick learners and have been eager to live out what was taught – and although most are super sad to be heading…

Today is Wednesday. Middle of the week. This team is doing amazing things. Satan wants nothing more than to break into friendships, distract us from our mission, and to lay waste to the fire God is flaming in these teens hearts. We’ve prayed against Satan’s tactics and ask that our supporters do the same! Today we discussed role models. You guessed it. A role model is someone who models a role in our life that we look up to. What kind of virtues do they display? Can you relate to them and be like them? Josh, our teacher of the day, had us look up scriptures which pointed out things we can relate to with Jesus. Pretty serious discussion. He ends with Luke 2:52 and we point out that Jesus grew – he once was a baby and grew into a man, just like we are growing up. Relatable –…

We are 1/2 way through our week! The kids are sleeping pretty well! Please pray against general fatigue and that we would all have the energy needed to play with kids this afternoon and to participate in a physical labor project tomorrow! The students have a variety of things to tell you about witnessing on the streets in Madison. We encountered college kids, those struggling with securing housing, people waiting for the busses, those with mental illness. YWAM has a great presence downtown as they do this every Tuesday. It was great to see the students give their time to the less fortunate, listen to their stories and then be able to share their faith and pray with people. At the end, we shared stories and debriefed in front of the capitol bldg. Each group experienced this: The Holy Spirit will give you words to say. It’s important to know…

it’s 3:15 WI time and we are preparing meals to hand out in downtown Madison. Assembly line style~ hot dogs, chips, apples, water and more! Please pray that the students will be obedient to the call they have received to spread the good news of Jesus with others!  

First of all, thank you for sharing your students with us this week; we are grateful for the opportunity to see them be challenged in their faith journey and are excited to see friendships blossom sans the presence of technology! We had class time in the morning, our theme this week is discerning truth. Then we went through an exercise of writing out our journey with God and where we are at today. This prepped our team to then go and share our stories with other people on the streets of Madison! To aid in the process, we started with a scavenger hunt – but to earn team points for the crazy photos we took (see many below) we were challenged to have conversations about our faith with strangers! From cheese heads to chocolate ice cream, the kids had so much fun and we were so impressed by their willingness…

I will post again at the end of the night but wanted to let you all know that we’ve arrived! Once we arrived in Milwaukee, we ate lunch and headed to Discovery World. A huge surprise to us was that while we were there, we were able to take in a Blue Angels show! Before Bed Additions: We are having a great time! We played a name game to get to know the awesome and very hospitable YWAM staff and for them to know our names.  Fun was had by all.  We are moving into free time; lights out for our group is 11 pm (12 am) Grand Rapids time! Breakfast will come early (7:30 am) so pray everyone will get a good nights rest to meet with he Lord and his people in downtown Madison tomorrow! Notes for the kids to tell their parents when we return: Lauren is…