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Sorry that I havent put something up yet, but I havent had much time. So far things have been going pretty well We've gotten about 14 people, to our outreach. We had a pretty bad storm the other day. I was kinda nervous at first, but after that it was kinda fun. At first I didnt know why the storm came, but the next day we found out why. It ended up creating a lot of service projects, and we didn't know if we would have any, so that was nice. The storm was just God's way of providing work for us to do. Haven't shared my testimony yet, so please pray for that. Also pray for the people we know and those who are going to come later. Thanks for all your prayers, whether or not I know you personally. I know that God is going to work through us for the remainder of our time here in Council.
Hey everyone
Sorry its taken me so long to actually post something the wifi isn't the greatest at the church and we've been so busy that i haven't had time to write anything. Anyways things are going great here. we're up to twleve students now which is awsome. I also got to share my testimony yesterday as well which was really cool too. i hope that i was able to reach out to some o the students with it. we got here saturday afternoon and got settled in to the church. the guys get to sleep in the basement which isn't my favorite mostly because that happens to be the room where we all eat our meals. but no big deal really. sunday we went to church service which was interesting cause it was very different from back home. monday we did our first servce project which was mostly cleaning up the church. after that we just hung out for a while cause we got done really fast later we went down to the school field for outreach and had a barbecue too. last night there was a bit of a windstorm which was both good and bad because it was kind of freaky at the church but it also gave us a lot of service projects to do. there was a lot of clean up going on this morning. we also went swimming at a nearby lake today too and now we are at the library doing devotionals and blogging. well thats it for now hopefully i'll be able to post again soon.
talk to y'all next week
Tom
P.S. I love you mom!!!!!!!!!
Hello! 
I'm stting here in the coffee shop with Sarah, Ryan and Dean, as they work on their devotionals. The rest of the team is out at "Ben Ross" (a local swimming reservoir) taking a much needed and well-deserved break. A lot of clean-up was done after last night's storm. The attitudes of our kids is amazing! I'm so blessed by their compassion for one another, and their willingness to do whatever is needed to get the jobs done. Each one has a unique love for God, and displays, in one way or another, His work in them. It's awesome to see!
Last night I watched as, one by one, local students were greeted and brought into what was happening at Outreach. It was really neat to see a couple of our girls, each on her own, connecting personally with a local girl. The guys who joined us were welcomed and began participating with our guys in the games we were playing. In the end, last night, everyone was playing kickball. It was a blast!
I don't want to bore you with another account of the storm, but it was interesting to see how the Lord protected us, and provided in what was, to us, and unforeseen circumstance. We had no way of knowing, as we watched the storm approaching, what we had in store. We rounded everybody up in time, and got settled in the basement of the (150 yrs!) old church just as the winds were beginning to whip through town. Many of the surrounding buildings received damage, but not our faithful structure! God provided the right people to comfort a very upset young man (one of our own). And, thinking back, He brought a cloud cover in on the hottest day of our trip, to cool down the remainder of our stay! He is good! 
Thank you for your prayers! There is another storm projected for tonight, and we're hoping that we will still be able to do Outreach before it hits!
See you soon!
So, as you guys have probably noticed from the last 2 posts, one by the girls, one by the guys, last night was qutie the adventure. I'll talk a little bit about that, but for now, I'm gonna start where I left off with my last post. After I finished at the coffee shop, I went back to the church, and helped out a little bit with what was left of the service projects. Then, after having some lunch, we went and hopped in the van to drive down to a section of Wieser River, to go swimming. Some people went off and walked around the river and explored, some people tried catching some of the fish with their bare hands, and in the bottom of the river, under some rocks, Kevin found a huge saw that was probably about 50yrs old. After a bit, about half of us got tired walking on the rocks, and slipping, and stuff, so we walked down the river a bit to where the bottom was sandy, and played ninja destruction (which is an awesome game, by the way). So, after we went swimming, we went and had some free time, then got ready for outreach. We had a tasty barbecue, although it was swelteringly hot. But about six minutes before testimonies started, a few cloudes covered the sun, and really cooled things up. Speaking of testimonies, I dont know when I'll be able to upload testimonies, as I started to put one up, but my internet connection was so slow to the point where uploading one would take about 3hrs. So I figured I would wait. Anyways, Tom and Matt gave their testimonies, and did a great job. After that, we played some more games, then headed to a smaller park near the church and did some worship. After that, Maddi gave her testimony, and then we headed back to the church about 15minutes later, because it looked like it might rain. So we headed back, and decided to do showers. The girl's shower wasnt working, so instead of 3 shower booths, they only had one. So, we decided (by which I mean Derek told us to) to give all 3 guy showers to the girls, and the guys would take 3 minute showers in the one shower stall.
And now, onto the storm. TJ and Kevin both gave their perspectives, I'll give mine. I was showering second, and I knew TJ was (impatiently) waiting for me to be done. In fact, he tried getting ready quicker so he could cut me in line. So, I was about halfway through my shower, when TJ yells through the door "Dean, hurry up, its like a tornado out here!". I thought he was just joking, and trying to get me out sooner so he could shower. But then the whole shower trailer shook, and I figured maybe he wasnt kidding. So I quickly got dressed and hopped out, and started heading to the church. I got there, and Derek was telling people to get back from the windows and the doors, and I told him TJ was still out there, so he went and got TJ, who really wanted a shower, and we all went into the basement for some prayer. Then, we talked, played some cards, and gave each other encouragement. One of our students was a little frightened by the situation, especially when the power went out for a few seconds, and flickered again later. But Ryan, being the awesome guy he is, went over and read him some scripture to help calm him a little bit. The storm passed, we kinda laughed at how scared we were, when it didnt actually do anything, and Larissa, being the optimist she is, said that perhaps the storm would give us more service projects. Which it did. So, I'm finishing my post, to go help finish cleaning up some debris. See ya guys later!
Our day began with community service. Six of our team worked to make the inside of the church nice and shnazzy while the rest stacked rocks that will be used in the creation of a new building for the congregation. After we had finished that, we headed down to Council's elementary school to eat lunch and hang out with some of the local youth who we invited to our evening outreach. In answer to our prayers, we finally got to meet some teenage girls at the lunch! These girls include Megan, Kaitlyn, Brittany, and Ashley, please keep them in your prayers. Monday turned out to be one of the hottest days of the week, reaching 95 degrees, so after lunch we were led to a popular swimming area by Daniel, a teen who has been coming to our outreach events and hanging out with us since Sunday. At the river we met Frank and Tim, two teens who we got to invite to outreach. The river was ice cold but it felt AMAZING. When we returned to the church, we had some free time before outreach. In that free time we got to walk around town where we met more teens! During service work Sarah and Erin ran after a truck with teenage girls in it and got them to turn around and listen to what they had to say. Although they never showed up at outreach. Please pray for Hilary, Amber, Tyson and Eric. At six our barbeque and outreach event began. Ten to twelve teens joined us for outreach! We played volleyball, kickball and threw around a Frisbee. The hamburgers were delicious and most of the teens seemed to have fun hanging out with us. At the end of the evening Tom and Matt shared their testimonies. After that many of the teens left, but five came back to the church with us for worship and to hear Maddi’s testimony. These four were Levi, Kannon, Daniel, TJ and Lily and they have been spending the most time with us so far. We hung out for a little longer after Maddi’s testimony, but a storm was approaching and after a while Derek decided it was time for everyone to go home. A few of us were assigned to take showers. Something happened to the pipeline to the shower trailer, so our showers weren’t working for a little while, but someone came and fixed four of the showers so Derek told us to take shifts. Three of us girls; Erin, Sarah and Meighan and one guy; Taylor, took the first shift. Us three girls were just finishing our showers when the storm started rocking the trailer and the wind started blowing and whistling around us. The door to our side of the trailer was swinging open and dust was sweeping past. Sarah was the first out and she looked outside and shouted that there was a tornado, so we all started screaming and throwing clothes on. When we were ready we booked it out of the shower trailer (leaving the door open) and ran screaming into the church.
Above all, please keep Adam, Tommy, Levi, James, TJ, Daniel, Lily, Kannon, Frank, Tim, Tyson, Eric, Megan, Kaitlyn, Brittany, Ashley, Will, Conner, Hilary, Amber and the town of Council itself in your prayers. Thank you.
From Kevin-
Monday night at Council, Idaho there was a storm right after we came home from outreach. It was also right after Maddi finished her testimony at the park. So I thought I would sit outside and watch the storm and all of its glory; so about 5 or 6 of us went out to sit on the Mormon Church’s lawn while the storm was approaching fast. Lights filled the sky but no thunder yet. I went in to grab my towel in hopes of sneaking my spot in the shower after Tejay and before Derek. But after I came back out the wind was blowing all the sand and dirt around and everyone was starting t freak out. Derek went into his super protective mode and was screaming for all of us to “get inside right now!” So we all ran for our life! We got everyone and did a head count and found out that Tejay was still at the shower…….
From TJ:
The storm was pretty crazy. When everyone was inside the church I was waiting for my turn to take a shower. The wind was blowing so fast that the sand was cutting my legs and arms. I had to wrap my towel around my head to block the sand from getting into my eyes. The trees were horizontal and the power lines were swinging violently back and forth and I was nervous that they might break. I stayed outside though because I was persistent to take a shower. Besides it was really cool. I noticed Sarah, Erin, and Meighan left the door open to their shower trailer and the door was slamming against the trailer. I was afraid it might dent it so I jumped to the top step and closed the door. The door was still opening so I had to use a wire to lock the door shut. Then Dean ran into the church to get out of the storm and I went into the trailer to take a shower. I started to get in when Derek came and yelled at me to get into the church. I told him that I was fine and that it was no big deal but again he said come inside. I started to slowly get my things together when he said “come on buddy we have to get going!” and I got all my things together and ran inside. When I was in there, we went into the basement to pray and listen to music. The storm was over in about a half hour and I got to take my shower. It was an unforgettable experience.
So, yesterday went pretty great, but I didnt have time to do a blog update. We met a few kids from the town, about 5, and we met Elliot and Levi from Cambridge (they stopped by to say 'hello' to some of the people that went to Cambridge last year). Outreach was good, we played some frisbee, a demented form of volleyball (I think Derek called it smashface), and then T.J. shared his testimony. When we got back to the church, Sarah did some great worship, with Maddi and Larrissa as backup dancers doing motions. Today we woke up and had some tasty breakfast (bagels, cereal, oatmeal, and bananas). Then we did our devotions, and got ready to work. For service projects, we split into two groups. One group cleaned up the church we were staying and the other group went and moved some rocks for a facade being made for the church (they are planning on renovating it and doing some cosmetic repairs). And then there was the third group, which wasnt really a group, and was actually just me that walked a block or two to a coffee shop looking for wifi to do this blog post. It took a little while to find (surprising considering the town size), and I bought a muffin so I didnt feel bad about only coming to use their wifi. Mostly I was just waiting for Derek to show up, so he could look at some of our pictures and do a post of his own. But he had me type one, and now, my friends, we are all caught up to the current moment. And one last thing, we were going to upload some pictures, but it wasnt working for some reason, so pictures might not be up for a day or two, but I will get them up.
It's 6:31 AM on Friday morning as I sit here in Mac's office. I am Going over some last minute stuff and mostly checking and rechecking all the schedules and plans I have made. It is difficult at times to do so much planning and busy work and remember to include God in my plans. I am challanged to follow His word and truely "be still and know He is God" as it asks us to do in the 46th Psalm. Putting our own plans aside and seeking His will and His will only can be a difficult task for me. I am challanging myself this week and I will challange all that are reading this blog to do just that. Be still, relax, slow down and listen to the quiet still voice of God. He is not going to shout at us so we need to "turn down the volume" in our own lives to hear His voice, His plan and His will.
Please pray for all our students, leaders and the people we are going to meet on our mission adventure over the next 9 days. God bless and and thanks in advance for your prayers!
Derek