Our last full day

Today started with a great last day of VBS. It is sad to think it is almost over but we know not only did we plant seeds but we had 2 ask to speak to the Pastor about accepting Christ. Praise the Lord! We may not know before we leave if they did but we leave it in Bro. Rolands hands at this point. We finished with 27 different kids coming to VBS. Only 10 of those go to church somewhere. So a lot of seeds were planted.

We then went to the park and had over 50 come back today. We gave away everything we could and played football, soccer and even had the jupiter jump for them to jump in. It was a great afternoon.

We are now cleaning up and getting ready to go to church for VBS Parents Night. We are hoping for many of our lost kids to bring their parents tonight. I will update this blog tonight after we get home.

Pray that God will use tonight to touch the hearts of parents.

Tom

Day 3 in Frederick

Today started off normal and VBS was a nice surprise. We had a 50% increase. We went from 14 to 21 kids. They were great kids and we started planting those ABC’s of salvation. We will be presenting a clear plan tomorrow.

The park ministry saw the same increase. We went from over 40 kids to over 60. We served about 85 hot dogs and tons of cotton candy, popcorn, cookies, pop, etc. They just kept coming. We had cars with parents waiting for us and had some good interactions with parents this time.

We were contacted today by the local newspaper. They asked if they could come take pictures tomorrow and interview us. I said yes but I asked Pastor Roland if he would be the one interviewed so we could have the event connected to Bethel Baptist. I pray the paper shows up. They say they want to run pictures and article in this next Sundays paper.

We are getting ready as I am writing this to go to Prayer Meeting at Bethel. Thank you for your prayers. They are definitely being felt.

And Aspen Park thank you for your financial support. We have spent more money than planned but I know you would support feeding the kids and giving away toys to those who don’t have anything.

Pray for one little girl Jana talked to tonight. She said her mother was killed by her father and then he killed himself. We checked it out with an adult and it’s true. It happened 2 weeks ago. If you see her face she is glazed over but is looking at it as one of those things. She is about 8 years old. She doesn’t even know she should feel hurt. We don’t know her name but these are some of the kids we are loving on this week.

Will post more when I can.

God gave us a great day

Wow where do I start. Well I guess at the beginning.

At 3:00 am we were awaken by a storm that took out the entire town’s electricity. That meant the church was out as well. The storm was the biggest electrical storm I had ever been in.

We went out to the church to assess the situation. We decided to try to have VBS on one generator and pass around the power cord based on who needed it at the time. The only problems were that the air was obviously off so it was getting hot fast. And all the bathrooms were on well water with electric pumps. So no toilets. We did have a port-a-john that was left from the block party so God took care of that need.

About 11:00 the electricity came back on so we quickly plugged everything back on and try to get back to normal. We cooked ourselves hamburgers at the church because most restaurants were trying to get back to normal after no electricity. During lunch we decided to try the park ministry again even though it was muddy and we didn’t know how many would come out after that storm.

Wow was that a great decision. Yesterday we had 2 kids come check us out but today it blew us away. I lost count at 45 area kids hanging out with us. We literally ran out of hamburgers, hot dogs, pop, and many other things. We played football, soccer, jupiter jump, water games and anything we could think of. We talked to kids and just hung out with them from 3:00 until about 6:15. They just kept coming and coming.

These were your average street kids that had their own hierarchical system. We saw numerous guys running the girls and as the girls would get drinks or food the guys would take it from them. We would then go around another way and give the girls more. Before long the girls were hanging out with us around the games.

It wasn’t long before the guys figured out we were ok and wouldn’t look down on them They too came over and even sat down and talked to us. I am going to list for you a few memorable quotes from some of the kids:

#1 “who are you guys, you are very, very, nice”

#2 “why would you do this for us, noone is nice to us”

#3 noone around here gives us anthing”

#4 “our parents don’t even give us stuff like this”

And the list goes on. It broke our hearts to see the eyes empty of love that just wanted to be accepted and loved. The hardest part was telling them we needed to shut it down. Almost every one of them said they would see us again tomorrow. We are now planning to serve 100 people. Because I am sure the word will spread.

Be in prayer for us. It is very draining and we are dealing with street kids. We had a few issues to deal with and at one point I had to jump in the jupiter jump to stop a fight between some big kids. All they know is to take what they want. They can’t understand we want to give it to them because we care.

Aspen Park pray that God will continue to use your mission team in a way that glorifies His name.

First Day of VBS and Park

First day of VBS had 14 great kids. It was fun. We then went out to eat Barbecue at a local place. Had a great short contact with the owner. In the afternoon we went to the park and gave away food and toys and played football with area kids. We also had many kids watch us to see if we were for real.

Overall it was a great day but just tiring. Now we get ready for day 2.

Arrived in Frederick – Again

The mission team arrived about 8:00 tonight in Frederick. All is well and we are ready for a great week of VBS and park ministry. We are resting up to hit it hard Monday morning. We don’t know how many kids to expect. But it will be great.

Super Saturday in Frederick

Today after a rough start of getting to Frederick we woke up to sunny beautiful weather. The Super Saturday event went wonderful. The people were great and we had the best group of missionary workers, The energy was high and the expectations were even higher. As the people started coming our main focus shifted to encouragement and loving on the people.

But suddenly about 2 & 1/2 hours into it the weather changed rapidly and we were caught in a massive thunderstorm with wind, lightning and tons of rain. After trying to hold down the tent we were all drenched and the tear down of wet equipment started. Just about everyone, even guests, helped tear down the tent and load sound equipment as well as move chairs and tables.

It was an all around great day that showed a team that would not give up no matter what was thrown at them.

Great job Aspen Park missionaries!!!

First Team Day 2

The first wave of the Frederick Mission Team is on site and going great. One man saved today with Block Party to come on Saturday.
Pray for them as they continue going door to door all day in the heat.

Awesome in His House

To say that God showed Himself on Easter is wrong. He revealed His love and compassion in a way that many saw from their own perspective. It was awesome to see how He can touch people on so many levels and in so many ways. From music to message to the love for each other. It was an awesome day in God’s House.

Then that was followed up with last Sundays services (April 19th). I will say I was surprised with the outpouring of love on my anniversary with the church. Some of it didn’t surprise me but the video shocked me. Thank you for the show of love. It has been a great 10 years and now we go for another 10.

As we prepare for this next week may we stay focused on His Will and rejoice in the power and strength of His might to get us through. God bless each one of you and let’s open up our hearts to see what God can and will do.

Merry Christmas

I would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas. I pray that each one of you will reflect on the gift of our Lord Jesus Christ. If we stay focused on Him He will direct our path.

As 2008 ends I pray we will all thank Him for what He has given us and look forward to serving Him in 2009.

Merry Christmas and I look forward to seeing you in Church.
Tom

Awesome Sunday

God continues to amaze and surprise me. Sunday we experienced awesome worship and the it concluded with 2 families joining with us. But let me encourage everyone to make sure and keep their eyes on the Lord. Otherwise the enemy will lead you astray.

Keep up the good work Aspen Park!

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