We're Home!

Well our team made it safely home around 8pm last night. We're thankful for the ministry opportunities we had this week, and we're grateful for your prayers and support.

We're already looking forward to next year's trip, and we hope that many of you will join us.

A Great Week of VBS

Well, we're all glad that we had a great week of VBS, but we're quite tired! By the end of the week, we all are feeling a bit like this poor kangaroo (we had to reinflate him each evening before VBS). Although we're tired, we have several things to praise God for. I've already shared with you about William's salvation, and of course just one soul saved makes it all worth it. We are also very proud of the kids and leaders for raising over $100 to support a missionary in Rome, Italy. Her name is Heidi, and she is serving there as a journeyman. She has also served with WCBC as a summer missionary. As an incentive to give an offering, the kids were told that there would be a contest between the boys and girls. If the girls gave more money, Pastor Norm would get a pie in the face. If the boys gave more money, Mrs. Debbie would get a pie in the face. And if the total offering was more than $100, Norm and Debbie would both get a pie in the face.

Throughout the week, we had about 20-30 children each night. They were all well-behaved, which is another praise. Since we did not have to focus on behavior issues, we could spend more time with the kids loving them and showing them God's love.

Mrs. Debbie shared with us that there are a couple families who are very close to being reached by WCBC. Please pray for Brent's family, especially his mother, as WCBC continues to reach out to them. Also, pray for Hannah and Seth's mom and their family. They have been invited to church, and we pray that they would feel welcome and accepted at WCBC so that the Cannadas can reach out to them and minister to them.

We've been blessed to be a part of God's work this week, and we're thankful that he has used us. Thank you for your prayers for us and for WCBC this week.

Projects Galore!

On Wednesday, our team went in several different directions, and we stayed very busy all day!

Barbara, Debbie and Monica went to Glenwood Elementary where Mrs. Debbie teaches 5th grade. It is a year-round school, and the students begin their new school year next week. So, we helped unpack new textbooks, delivered books to classrooms and helped Mrs. Debbie clean and organize her new room to prepare it for her students.

George, Daniel and Randy continued checking tasks off their Honey Do list. On Tuesday, they painted the awnings at the house of one of the WCBC church members. When they finished with the awnings, they still had some paint left. The next door neighbor happened to be in his backyard, and they noticed that his garage could use a fresh coat of paint. They offered to use the rest of the paint on his garage, and he quickly agreed.

Other tasks that were successfully checked off the Honey Do list included: repairing the window in one of the vans, finishing the chair lift at the church, working on a stove for a church member, put new pipes in the kitchen sink.

Our week of ministry is drawing to a close. It has been a busy week, and we've been able to minister to and with the Cannadas in several ways.

Salvation at VBS!

I'm very excited to share with you that a young man named William accepted Christ as his Savior at VBS on Tuesday evening. During Bible Story time, Pastor Norm shared with the 4th and 5th graders that if they had questions or wanted to invited Jesus into their heart, they could talk to one of their leaders. William immediately responded, "I want to do that." So George took William to another room to discuss William's decision. What a blessing to know William is now our brother in Christ. Praise God with us for his decision to follow Christ!

Raisin Bread and the Transit Mall

On Tuesday morning, we helped make some mini-loaves of raisin bread to take to a local senior adult housing complex. Our goal was to make 100 loaves to deliver with flyers about a new worship service that Pastor Norman will be leading there on Thursday afternoons. However, our raisin bread turned out more like crusty caramel, and we're still not sure what went wrong with that batch! We eventually got the recipe correct and ended up with 70 loaves to deliver. I'll have to get back to you about how the service went.

Tuesday afternoon, we went to the Transit Mall, which is the main bus station in Charleston. Like our servant evangelism ministry at the Welfare Office, we tried to again show God's love to the people there in a practical way. This time, the most practical way was to give away free cold drinks on a hot afternoon. After giving someone a drink, we had several opportunities to have conversations and tell people about WCBC and its ministries. We gave away about 250 drinks before returning to the church to begin VBS for the evening.

Monday - Welfare Office and VBS

On Monday morning, we loaded up the bus with coffee, juice and donuts and headed to the local Welfare Office. This ongoing ministry of WCBC seeks to show the love of Christ to people in a practical way. The most practical way to do this at the Welfare Office is to give free coffee, juice and donuts to the people who sit in the waiting room, often for hours. When asked why we were giving coffee and donuts away for free, we had the opportunity to share that Christ's love is free and there is nothing we can do to earn it or pay for it. One man walked over to our table and pulled out his wallet. We shared with him that we would not accept money (even a donation to the church) because we were there to share Christ's love which is free. He agreed and accepted a cup of coffee.



In the evening, we had our second night of VBS. The kids again enjoyed "riding on the Boomerang Express." We greeted lots of familiar faces and welcomed several newcomers. Our total for the night was 28 kids. Just three nights to go, and we pray that God will continue to prevail over Satan and provide opportunities for us to show His love to the children.

Sunday Activities

On Sunday morning, our team worshipped with the people of WCBC. We enjoyed praising God with them during the service, and discussing God's presence and His glory during Sunday School. It was good to be in the Lord's house.

Sunday evening was our first night of VBS (Boomerang Express - Where It All Comes Back to Jesus). Although it was raining, we had 25 children attend VBS. We expect to have more kids come tonight since it will be nicer weather and many of the kids live in the neighborhood and walk to the church. We spent the evening learning about Peter, singing fun songs, making didgeridoos in crafts, eating yummy snacks and just showing God's love to the children in our groups. The kids were very well behaved and were already talking about friends that they could bring to VBS on Monday night.

Please continue to pray for the children attending VBS. Also pray for the health of our team members. We appreciate your prayers and will update more later!

Soccer Tournament - Hispanic Outreach

We had a very busy day yesterday. Our Hispanic outreach at the park went well. After a slight problem with the grill and a trip to Lowe's, our men repaired the grill and Norman began cooking. We grilled hamburgers and hot dogs and served about 90 people at the soccer tournament. In addition to giving the soccer players and their families free food, we gave them free Spanish Bibles and had conversations with some of the families, especially the kids.

After the outreach, we had about a 30 minute break before we started decorating for VBS. We enjoyed time of fellowship with the members of WCBC as we prepared the building for the kids to arrive Sunday afternoon.

George, Randy and Daniel spent their afternoon checking various tasks off the Cannadas' "Honey Do" list. They repaired the back door in the sanctuary, added a leg to the ping pong table, fixed the air hockey table, patched a kangaroo tail for VBS, and began working on the chair lift to see why it wasn't working. They were quite busy attempting to finish the entire list in one afternoon. They came close!

After dinner, we spent some time celebrating Independence Day with Norman and Debbie. Last year, we started what seems to have become a tradition of enjoying ice cream and watching fireworks. So we went to Maggie Moo's (which is like Coldstone Creamery) and thoroughly enjoyed our treat and talking with each other. We saw a few fireworks, but most of the show was cancelled because of rain.

We're ready for VBS to begin and ask that you pray with us for the children and leaders each day this week. Snack supper for VBS begins at 4:30 and VBS will be from 5-8pm.

Fourth of July Outreach

Happy Fourth of July! We will be spending our holiday with the Hispanic community of Charleston. There are two days each year that all the Mexican restaurants are closed - Christmas and the Fourth of July. So, West Charleston Baptist Church uses these opportunities to reach out to the Hispanic families. Today we will be helping serve lunch to families at a soccer tournament hosted by WCBC. We're getting ready to load the bus and head to Coonskin Park to grill hamburgers and hot dogs for the event. Those of us who speak Spanish (even a little!) will be having conversations with the people at the tournament and helping the church build relationships with families in the Hispanic community.

Praise God with us that we arrived safely. Continue to pray for health of our team members, and pray for our ministry to the Hispanic community today.

More to come - and pictures too!

Charleston, WV Mission Trip

In a matter of hours, our WV Mission Team will be leaving for Charleston. We're excited about what God has in store for us as we minister alongside the Cannadas and West Charleston Baptist Church. We'll be departing from the church about 1:00pm tomorrow, and we should arrive in time to eat dinner and prepare for our first ministry project.

Please keep our team in your prayers. Pray for travel safety and health of team members.