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Well... we're off again. This time with a smaller team:
Tammy Perron
Josiah Perron
Austin Swetz
Callie Gionet
Sarah Lien
B Trinh
Please keep them in your prayers. They will be updating this blog as much as they are able.
They will be in the small town of Philipsburg, Montana and partnering with a Village Missions Church. Pastor Del Abbey has opened up their doors for us to stay... this has been a challenging time as several churches has backed out of some of their commitments. Please pray for divine opportunities for our kids.
Also, on another cool note... our students are teaming up with Pastor Jess' new church students for this same mission. How cool is that?
Blessings,
Jess
This is Andrew and Sara reporting tonight,
Friday has been a blast, we started the day off with another great day of VBS. The food was great (no joke, we're talking gourmet quality trail mix), we had an awesome game time, and we learned a harsh lesson today - giving 10 year olds Mountain Dew, especially after drinking coffee, is one recipe to avoid in the future. It was really hard to say goodbye to all the cute pre-schoolers we got to know this week. Especially when we took Kane, Damian, Reggie, Payton and Dillion home afterwards and made them return to there hard home life. After VBS, we all took advantage of some down time and then all separated and had some independent time doing activities we thought would help the community. Many of us cruised the streets and prowled the town in search of new recruits. Julia, Savannah, and Sara went to the park together so they could pray individually by themselves in quiet surroundings. It was a nice place to pray for all the things going on in this week. When we all finally left there it was five o clock, also known as dinner time! We had a barbeque and invited some of our fellow friends that we had made over this exciting week and all dined together. Andrew and I visited the local firework stand with Yim, Cody, and Josiah following dinner and they were all lit off that night, after we had our six o clock park fun. From nine to ten o clock we were able to swim and play in the water at the local pool next to the park, thanks to Pastor Ken, and it was definitely a blast. At ten o clock our bonfire in the Klaflin's yard began and we roasted hot dogs and such and had a splendid time. Many people came and ate, watched the fireworks, and listened to a few testimonies. It was so cool! It feels like we have been here WAY WAY WAY longer than only a week, and we are sad to leave. It was such a blessing to have been able to meet all of these wonderful teens, children, and adults. We never thought it was possible to make that many friends in such little time, but so thankful we all did. I hope the relationships and bonds we formed with the community really does effect the relationship that they hopefully form with God. We pray for some encouragement to this town, and that the people will be strengthened and be able to fight away the huge temptation in Superior. Well, we ask for specific prayers for the Lapinski's family and Trevor. We pray the Lapinski's reopen their hearts to God and that Trevor can be strengthened through God. Also, pray for River. On Wednesday, I (Andrew), spotted River riding a motorized scooter down the street. And, as I witnessed him ride off, into the horizon, I thought, beyond that sunset lies either heaven... or hell. So, I summoned my strength, and sprinted after him, like a predator closing in on a fresh kill, so to speak. After catching up to him, I invited him to join our crew at the park for the rest of the week, and have seen him hanging around briefly ever since that day. I pray that this connection may lead to other circumstances which allow God to work in his life.
God Bless,
Sara Lien and Andrew Lescher.
Please join us in praying for the Swetz. Renee's mom (Austin's grandmother) went to be with the Lord yesterday. She was a believer and we rejoice that one day we will see her again. But in the meantime we pray for peace during the difficult time of grief and mourning this dear woman.
This is Jess...
Today is our last full day of ministry here in Superior, Montana. I can't tell you enough how awesome these students are! You already know that, but I have seen first hand how God is using them.
We have been experiencing good ministry, but I believe God wants to use us even more. I shared with the team this morning Ephesians 6:10-12:
"Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms."
We have been seeing the spiritual strongholds that are here in Superior and they have to do with drugs, pregnancy, broken homes, incest, anger, pride, distractions, busyness and the like. As we meditated on this scripture we want to be praying for these strongholds to be broken. We've had many conversations with people who are resistant or high while we've been sharing. Pray that today when we share we will have His Mighty Power to demolish strongholds and pray against the spiritual forces of evil.
I had a chance yesterday while we were washing cars to talk to a man who didn't believe and didn't want to talk about his spiritual beliefs. And mentioned how he had a hard time believing there was only one way to heaven. During the conversation he asked about the mission team. I (sneakily) took the opportunity to share how the kids in the previous months were trained to share their faith and I said, "you know how God created us to be in relationship with Him and that God's standard of holiness is far above ours no matter how hard we try. But God sent Jesus at the right time to lead us into a forever relationship with the Creator through his death on the cross that makes us forgiven and acceptable. And when we put our trust in Jesus because of our realization of what he did on our behalf, then we will eternally live with him."
Also, while we were talking I found out he is a band member (singer and bass player) and has a gig tonight. But his voice is not good and it's never been this bad before. He didn't know how he was going to do this gig. So I asked if I could pray for him. He said yes! So, I prayed that when God answers this prayer he (Dick) would know it is the God that we are serving and coming in the name of that has healed you. Please be in prayer for this to happen!
The other thing that has happened is that many kids are gone with their families camping. So there were not many kids at the park last night. So, with that whole spiritual realm thing we are asking God to help us turn over the rocks so that we can find those who are still here. And even though it's Friday that this might be the most significant day we've had yet! The drug/atheist kids don't want to be around some of the kids that have been hanging with us, so we need God to really intervene and let us connect and have some open conversations and prayer time with these kids who are hard to get to. Pray for discernment for our kids and pray against fear of the unknown. Pray for their faith (not saving faith) would realize God's activity to part the "Red Sea" in the places that need to be broken into.
Josiah Perron......again
Today was good. We started the day off with another great day of VBS. Our group is so great with the kids. Then after our daily nap from 12-1 we hit the town untill around four, and we washed cars for the local residents for free. Its about ninety five degress here so the water felt good. Then it was time to have our time at the park. We have around four or five kids who are not christians that are staying with us all day, one is sleeping in the other room right now. So thats just awesome.
Keep praying, we have one more day left and we need to do some more work. We need to hae the mentality that well miss 100% of the shots we dont take and really step out of our comfort zone and talk to kids.
P.S
Jess can make a mean sandwich using peperoni, ham, bacon, tortillas and Cream Cheese!
God Bless,
Josiah Perron
Sorry... this didn't get posted last night... so this post is for yesterday and we will have another one tonight.
This is Shane and B...
Greetings from Superior, Montana. Today has been filled with exciting adventures, creative conversations, and community service. This morning, VBS had a record breaking turnout that was composed of eager kids wanting to learn more about Jesus. The kids are adapting to VBS so much that they are beginning to feel more comfortable sharing their hearts. They are seeking new opportunities to share what they have learned this week as well as the knowledge that God proposes in their hearts. We are enjoying watching the children learn and grow in God's word.
Today for community service we cleaned and painted two picnic shelters. The girls and boys competed against eachother painting one shelter each. Although the competition was fierce, we're all winners when working for Christ
. At the park we had our most successful night yet. We had a scavenger hunt that managed to attract kids of all ages. Afterward, we engaged in some really great spiritual conversations. We were able to share our faith and testimonies while enjoying fellowship, food, and fun. Then, all of us (especially Shane) shared our personal beliefs and invited others to become Christians. Throughout the week Shane found some scripture that directly relates to what we have been doing in Montana so far.
2 Corinthians 6: 6-9
"We have proved ourselves by our purity, our understanding, our patience, our kindness, our sincere love, and the power of the holy spirit. We have faithfully preached the truth. God's power has been working in us. We have righteousness as our weapon, both to attack and defend ourselves. We serve God whether people honor us or despise us, whether they slander us or praise us. We are honest but they call us imposters. We are well known, but we are treated as unknown".
We are overjoyed and blessed that God has been working to open up the hearts of everybody in this town. To our surprise, many have been open to hearing our beliefs without a hardened heart. We are positive that your prayers and home based devotionals have been impacting this community and our ministry.
Keep in mind to pray for these people who have kept their hearts open to Christ:
Zach
Brandon
Bryton
Yim
Jeremy
Trevor
Ray
Nathan
Jason
Brian
Aaron
Mike
Logan
Ru
Clinton
Robert
Dustin
Kade
Tyson
Wyatt
Jerome
Andrew
Brandon U
Dillion
Pslam 108:5
"Be exalted, O God, above the highest heavens. May your glory shine over all the earth".
This is Josiah Steven Perron here, Today was awesome, we nearly doubled our number of kids in VBS today. Granted there was a little havoc, we enjoyed all the new kids......well most of em. Then around two we we went to a park to paint some gazebo's and ended up painting our faces and other body parts, but we got the job done. The park was awesome today, not quite as many people as yesterday, but we had some great conversations one on one with some kids. Then we went back to the church and had a youthgroup type of a night, we had around six kids not from our team singing songs with us!
Keep praying for us, pray that we will not get sick of each other, or get on each others nerves. Also pray that our team will have the courage to be bold to step out of our comfort zone and show leadership. Lastly we need to pray for the Swetz family. Because Renee's mom is very sick, and if it is her time that there family will not have to say goodbye, but see ya later.
God Bless,
Josiah Perron
B and Liz here,
We had a great time at the park today getting to know more teens and people from the town.
We personally had an experience that we felt God used to keep us in check. There was a family of two adults and four children sitting at a picnic table that looked very intimidating to us. The parents were smoking and it sounded like they were having an argument. We wanted to invite the kids to VBS, but we knew we were going to get shut down. However we, (Liz, B, and Andrew) went to talk to them and invite them to VBS anyways.
While talking to them, we discovered that they are very involved in their church and have a great passion for God. What a reality check! We learned soooo much from speaking to them we can't even begin to describe the guilt we feel for being so judgemental towards them. Russel (the dad) shared with us how he wants his kids to go to VBS at different churches because he feels it is so important that we all act as one body of Christ because that is what we are. He also was spoke to us about Bible stories and shared things that we had never thought of before. He was so encouraging and a blessing to meet.
We are looking forward to seeing Russel's children at VBS tommorrow and have learned a lot from this experience. Thank you for all of your support and prayers : )
Hi this is Ken coming to you from the great town of Superior, Montana. Good news - everyone is either healthy or well on the way back to full recovery. Speaking of good news, today we had a great time with 16 exited preschoolers thru 6th graders. The Snohomish Youth ran the entire VBS with some help from the women of the Superior Assembly of God Church who provided snacks, encouragement, meals in the evening, and prayer support. We have wonderful support from the church. The good news of the gospel was shared not only with kids in the church but a good number of kids coming from non-Christian homes. God is blessing the work being done by sending us a wonderful group of kids. We are meeting more and more people in the community and are already starting to feel like we are at home. The community if extremely welcoming The Snohomish youth are doing a tremendous job not only from a point of running everything from crafts, games, small group time, registration, worship, and story time, but are also learning to cover the work they are doing in prayer and diving into God's word. I feel privilaged just to be a part of this fine team. Continue to pray for our physical protection as well as our spiritual protection. Although the harvest is plentiful, prayer still needs to be there to support these youthful workers. Thanks for all your prayers to this point. We feel them. Update by Ken Will
This is Callie, and it is my turn to tell you the amazing works God has been working on our mission trip thus far. At our teen outreach last night, starting around six o'clock, we sarted out playing football at one of the local parks with a few teens from around the town. Since we haven't been here very long and not many people outside of the church we are graciously being hosted by know that we are actually here, we only had about five or six teens with us a the park last night. All the kids who were there seemed to be very nice and open to talk about anything we asked them about.
One girl who I have already had the chance to talk to quite a bit has really helped with getting more kids to join us and has been very open. We met her yesterday morning at church, her name is Katie, and i can tell she will be an added member to our team. When we showed up to the park last night and there were no other kids besides ones from the mission team, Katie was willing to walk all around town with Brielle and I looking for other kids. Since this is a very small town, only about 800, we didn't have any luck finding more kids. Although we did have the opportunity to talk about God. Brielle and i asked her to share her testimony with us and she had no hesitations. I truly feel like God wants us to be here and has blessed this place with open hearts.
When we got back to the park after our walk we started in on some football and later some kickball. After the park activities were dying down, we met a new kid his name was Ru, and he is about seven years old. He wanted to play tire tag, so we joined him and we were peacefully playing for a while, then Brielle was running from the person who was it. She was on top of one of the tall tires and as she jumped to a lower tire her foot slipped and she landed on the lower tire straight on her chest. She quickly exited the game and tried to walk off the pain. As she sat on the sidelines she had a chance to talk to some of the kids who were still hanging around the park.
When we started heading back to the church Brielle was in quite a bit of pain and could walk fine but could only take short breaths. As soon as we got back to the church and down to our room she layed on the ground and started crying. I am obviously not a medical professional or anything close, so i went to get Lela to help asses the situation. Neither of us knew what to do. We then decided to get Jess and Ken, nobody thought anything major was broken. Just for precautionary reasons they thought it would be best to take her to the local hospital 0.8 miles away, because she had a sharp chest pain and when she moved her neck it worsened the pain in her chest.
As we pulled up to the hospital Ken ran into the hospital and grabbed a wheelchair so she didn't have to walk anymore. We got her out of the car and into the tiny hospital and there were only two other patients so Brielle was bumped to the top of the priority list because she had pain close to her heart. As we waited, the doctor came in and did a few quick tests such as; "how many fingers am i holding up?" and "does it hurt here? how bout here?" Nothing seemed wrong but he thought it would be best to do a few more tests, he ran an EKG and a Ct scan just to make sure there really was nothing wrong.
As we waited for the EKG to be done ken told Lela and I a few stories of some pretty crazy weddings he has done and we went back into the waiting room to check on her. Then came the most difficult part of the night for me. The IV, the doctor and nurses were having a hard time findin a vain to use and were seriously considering using one in her foot. But luckily they found one on the back of her hane. Then, it was off to the CT scan. Everything else went smoothly and there was nothing to worry about in the scan. The doctor sent her home with some extra strength tylenol and she is doing fine. She is out and about able to sit up and stand up on her own now.
We are very thankful for all of your prayers in this situation and wish you all still be praying for us as we go into another night of teen outreach! God Bless.
"And when the Holy Spirit comes on you, you will be able to be my witnesses in Jerusalem, all over Judea and Samaria, even to the ends of the world." –Jesus
We must go...
Live to feed the hungry
Stand beside the broken
Stepping forward
Keep us from just singing
Move us into action
We Must GO!