Hello lovelies :)
I didn’t get to break the news at youth group last night like I’d wanted to, but Jesus is probably smiling at that anyway and laughing how we always have things planned “the way we want them.” Either way, I think He’s been preparing us and making us ready for all this (am I wrong? He’s done a major work in my heart in the past few months at least, I know. I’m no longer terrified like I was :).

There’s just a few things I want to make very clear with you (in no particular order).

1. I have no intention of exiting your lives (unless you kick me out!). Things are just going to look different, but I think God is giving us a doorway to be a creative family here :)
2. I truly am committed to praying for and seeking the person the person that God is going to raise up in this youth group. Please pray for this person!! You’re the biggest group of intercessors here!
3. I need you! For real, I am eagerly desiring your prayers. God doesn’t intend to send me alone, and I know that you guys can wage war in the spiritual realms. Please partner with me by interceding on behalf of me and the people group to which He is calling me!!
4. I love you so much. You are so stinking special. I’m not even kidding when I say that this group is family. I love the way you’ve let me be like a friend, sister, mother, teacher, Bible thumper, leader, whatever. I love that God has trusted me for whatever reason to let me be those things in your lives, and I love that He is bigger than my mistakes any time I may have messed things up. :)
5. God is sovereign. He has a plan. This is not only going to be okay, but it is going to be good. “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28).

God is good. Praise the LORD!

quotes from peru

guess who just found this list in the back of our notebook?

"I was awake when I woke up!" --Anne

"yeah...YEAHHHH." --Anne

"Brittany almost got a load of Bjorn in her lap!" --Tricia

"Sherri, you look pretty without my glasses on!" --Anne

"It sounded better in my head." --Anne

"The next stop is at Concourse T as in Tango." --the train in Atlanta

"You might think that writing in your Bible will make it ugly. But YOU'LL be ugly if you don't read and obey the Bible!" --Lyndon translating for Pastor Martin (some things just don't translate well)

"Those don't make any sense. Those whole "knock knock joke" things." --Kacey

"I just peed all over my pants because of the turbulence." --David

as you can see, anne seemed to be the star this year of those which were written... i wish we'd kept better records, though.

vine, branches and fruit

john 15:
1"I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. 3You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
5"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

I think the point is that we need to remain in Jesus, and we will bear much fruit. The pruning might be painful, but His desire is that we would be fruitful. He has chosen us and appointed us to bear fruit. We do that when we abide in Jesus and He abides in us.

mas fotos! ;)

http://picasaweb.google.com/iamayouthandthisismygroup/Peru2

FOTOS!

here are many:

http://picasaweb.google.com/iamayouthandthisismygroup/Peru

Feliz Viernes

Hola!
It´s your fav gals, Dana and Sherri. Unfortunatally, we are typing today because our little Dana isn´t feeling too well and has BAD tummy issues. Sherri is staying back at the hotel with her and stepping in as her Mom. We prayed for her before the rest of the team went to the worksite this morning and feel that God is answering our prayers because she seems to be doing somewhat better! Praise God!! Please continue to keep her in your prayers today. We hope she´s feeling better so we all can get back together as one group and head out to spread God´s word to the children this afternoon.

We are working with children at two different communities and they are very excited when they see our bus roll up. They seem very interested in the Bible stories, dances, and dramas that we are presenting. They are eager to answer questions about what we´ve showed them and eager for our play time afterwards whether it´s futbol (soccer), face painting, coloring, or getting balloon animals.

Yesterday we went to a different worksite where we destroyed half of a house that was built temporarily after the earthquake. It was made out of bamboo, thatch, and adobe. We found lots of spiders and a few scorpions during the teardown process. Once we got it taken down we started digging a trench (we were very good at that as we are experienced trench diggers now!) Our hearts were touched as the family offered us the best food they had, a Peruvian dessert and fresh oranges and grapes. Then, when they found out that we weren´t coming back again, they got out their bananas to give us, it looked as though they gave us everything they had. That really touched our hearts.

We have been blessed with an amazing trip so far!
See you in 3 sleeps! : )

Sup Y'all

Hello from the cool boys (David, Holden, Chase, Evan, the old man, and Christian), we are doing fine. We feel God working through us on our worksite and through our evangelism. We have accomplished a lot already and you can see God working through the whole group. It's been a grand ole time here in Peru, thanks for keeping us in your prayers.

We've met tons of new people, and done our best with our Spanish to communicate with them. It's been great so far, especially on the outreach part. God has blessed us greatly, and we hope to see Him use us even more in the days we have left here.

All of the local children are fantastic at the wonderful Peruvian game of Fuutball.

Dios de bendiga!

Peru July 29th and 30th

Hola!
Everything is going well and we've seen God working through us everyday. He's given us boldness, words to speak in a language we don't speak, and strength to do the work he gives us.

The first two mornings at the worksite we dug a deep trench for the footings of the new house and developed a relationship with the family and neighboring children. In the afternoons and evenings we've been going to two different communities and are ministering God's word to the children through acting out Bible stories, dances, dramas, and art. It's great to see them interacting and their smiling faces! They are so precious! God has definitely helped us with our Spanish so we can communicate with the Peruvians!

God sent us 3 neighbors to the worksite this morning to help us dig, they were awesome workers and helped us so much. We've also seen God heal minor injuries within our group.

We are off to a new worksite tomorrow to dig trench number 2 and then back to the same communities to continue to spread God's word with the children.

God Bless!

Peru-24th through the 28th

We're here!!!! :) The three days at the YWAM base were incredible. We feel like it really prepared our hearts for what we will be doing in Peru and what God is going to do through us. We watched a video that was really powerful, about how small we are and how big God is, but how He loves us so much in the midst of it, and He holds us all together, even from our LAMININ(google image-it's awsome!).God is totally showing up. He has been saying various things to various people, some of which are:

-talking to us about ourselves.
-talking to us about passion--that we want it and that we need it.
-bringing out our individual passions (for a couple of us).
-if we go to Him we're safe.
-there is power in the name of Jesus.
-we need to focus on listening to what God is saying to us instead of just having a one way conversation.
-"I love you."
-talking to us about caring more about others.
-about opportunities to serve others.
-"How everyone should do a YWAM DTS & SOE to learn tools to spread the word of God everywhere."
-about stepping out of my comfort zone more.
-to focus my energy into something useful.

He is holding us in His hands-providing us with good health, spirits, and travel. He is keeping us unified with a positive attitude.

Today is Peru's "Feliz Cumpleanos" or celebration of their national independence day. We attended a celebration with members of the church we are going to be working with. They had football(soccer), volleyball(with a hose as the net), swimming, food eating contest, and many opportunities to get to know the locals. Dana (2nd place ) and David (going to barf) represented Los Estados Unidos (US) well at the food eating contest! Anchovies-YUM!! We have video.

We even had some of the kid's ask us about our Gospel braclets and we got to explain the good news of Jesus Christ. We all took a stab at Espanol! Jeanne you would be proud. Everyone was very welcoming and kind. We even met the youth group from the church we will be working with. The leader is 25 and looks very young (just like Missy-who most think is only 13-15). We got to stop at a corner store and sample some of the local junk food. Yumm! We will be heading out for dinner in just a bit. We are looking forward to what God has in store for us tomorrow.

After around 25 hours of traveling yesterday(seriously-no exaggeration!!!!) we are amazingly awake (that's God right there) and in good health and spirits!!!! We love you all and thank you for your continued prayers.

...are you ready?

the jello chronicles

kacey (silent and steadfast), anne (occasional cup-misser), dana (anne's cheerleader), and david (no description necessary--he's DAVID!). although they were doing well in the competition, team orange eventually resorted to abandoning the straws altogether, which i think happened because david decided he wanted a beard to go with his mustache.
holden, who you'll notice has very little jello in his cup, was having a wonderful time "exploring" all the "noodles" in his jello. despite this potential distraction, brittany remained a steady player for team orange.
it was a close game between kate and kacey. both stayed strong until the end, but kacey beat out kate by just a bit. both of their bowls looked like beautiful green fields with uniform holes all over them. you will notice amber's knees to the left of kate. a captivated audience member.

and the winning cup.... the one on the left! good work, kacey! you'll notice the nice layer of foamy saliva on the top of her cup...evidence of a well-earned win!

noodles? jello?

i guess it worked the first time ;)

my name is this blog...

i am sad and neglected!
NOT like a child of God! ;)

Hello, my name is Holden. I am finaly blogging on this here blog. I don't know realy what ot talk about, so I will just tell about the mission trip we're going on soon, and what I think about it.
We are going to go to peru to build a house and to inform people about the power of God. we are raising a lot of mone that will really help all of the people in peru that were strongly affected by a massive huricane that hit peru last year.
I think that this trip will be a really great succes and that the people that we meet there will be strongly moved by Gods spirit and that the will learn more about his power and his grace. I for one absolutly can't wait to get on that plane and get to peru this summer.

valentine's day

you guys look so nice!!!! i wish that we had kacey and evan in both of these pictures, though!

and karina and chase are missing, also!! ;)

as promised...

so john 4:23-24:

"Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."

If this is a description of how true worshipers will worship, because this is who God is seeking out, and Jesus is actually using a "must" here, the question is:

What does it mean to worship Him in spirit and in truth?

the time has come

HELLO! i am going to follow anne and kacey's lead and say my name: "i'm missy." ;) i'm a poster on this blog... a YOUNG adult, a lover of Jesus, and i get to hang out with youth a lot! :)

so i've been wanting to write a post for a long time now, but i just haven't known how to write what's been on my heart...but there is one thing that is just kind of burned in me and keeps coming up over and over and over again...

and it's this:

i am HIS. i am his possession. i belong to Jesus. i am not my own, but He OWNS me.

to some that might be a disturbing thought, but i think it's awesome!! why does he own me? because he BOUGHT me! he paid for me with precious blood!

and i guess i am just rejoicing in that. God has claimed me as His very own!! the One who has made the heavens and the earth...well, He says of me, "that one is MINE." and why? because He's madly in love with me!!

does this affect me? absolutely. it affects everything that comes out of my mouth, everything i do with my body, what i let come in through my eyes and my ears, where i take my heart to find love and fulfillment...it affects everything that i say yes to, and everything that i say no to.

i have been set free from the power of sin, that i might belong to Another (romans 7:4). and i DO belong to another. and i am madly in love with this One.

so where does that leave us--those who belong to Jesus (romans 8:9-10)? well, i think we need to stop making excuses for our sinful desires and our battle against our flesh, and call it for what it is. i want to listen for and respond to the voice of GOD--of the One who owns me. God has a plan and a purpose for my life, and i've about had it with letting this world rip me off.

Church, i think it's time we own up to the fact that we're owned! are you with me!?

looks like...

gramps is lookin' a bit old!!! ;)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DAVID!!!

NEW stuff

Hey guys, i'm back! i'm sure you were all worried since i haven't posted in a while haha just kidding. so here it goes.
i have been feeling a little far away from god lately. while i was in kansas city over the summer a girl told me that she got a vision from god that i needed to pull the weeds out of my life. when i got home, lets just say i planted more weeds than i had before. i am really struggling to stand out and be myself, i don't want to be held down but for some reason i am.
at girls group last week i brought the music and i chose a song by superchick called stand in the rain. when i listened to it it pulled together everythingthat had been going on, you need to stand through your pain and stay with god in order for you to be happy, i am still struggling with this so sorry, no big finish, but sometimes it isn't supposed to happen that way.
if you could please pray that i could be more like myself
-anne

so kids...

i suggest you get those passports!
;)

(wear a dark-colored shirt to walgreens and bring $7.99+tax)

umm yeah

I have never posted a blog entry before so here it goes. I'm Kacey and I'm a poster person for this awesome blog about God. There was a couple of weeks ago when I felt extremely distant from God. I wasn't really sure why but it just seemed like I lost all contact with him but I realized that he never left I just was so busy that I didn't pay attention and didn't take the time to listen to him and I think that is what happened.
But this week, God has spoken to me quite a few times. I have been worried about school and family but He seemed to let me know that everything was going to be okay and nothing was going to happen. Sense then my grades in school have improved. He is always there to tell me that stuff is going to be okay when I'm pretty much freaking out. I have also learned that you need to put forth all your trust towards Him and let Him guide you though life. I know he talks to everyone personal and you just need to take the time to listen and set aside a time were all focus is on Him. I also believe that if you pray to God, He will answer all your prayers.
To all you bloggers out there, Love and God Bless
-KaceyRitchey

Walking on Water

I saw that there hasn't been a post in a while, and I haven't posted yet, so, I guess it's my turn. This will be easy, because God has been speaking to me quite a bit the past few days.

God has been speaking to me about faith a lot lately. Faith is something I've always thought I didn't have. When I would read the verses about asking for things in faith, I would believe them, but I still didn't have full faith when I asked God for something. I thought it was just a gift I didn't have, and I always wondered why.
But God revealed my error to me. Instead of just believing that God would give me what I prayed for, I asked myself whether I believed or not. That left a door open to doubt, and I didn't have the faith I needed. But God didn't just show me my error, but he showed me the way to fix it as well!
He showed me that I needed to just believe. Not questiong if I believe, not lacking faith, but just believing. I can't seem to explain it very well, but the point is, God explained to me about faith, which I had long wondered about, and lacked.
God brought me to this passage, and He showed me something in it that I had never seen before:

Matthew 14
25 And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea.
26 And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear.
27 But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid.
28 And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water.
29 And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus.
30 But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me.
31 And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?

While I had noticed the reason for Peter's failure, I hadn't applied it to my life. I realized that we don't just need faith to start the journey, but we need it every step of the way. Without it, we will begin to sink whenever a trial comes.
I am walking on water, through God's power, but without faith, I will sink. Faith is the victory that overcomes the world. We need to have it to walk this Christian walk. I probably didn't say all of this exactly right, but it doesn't really matter. All that matters is the point, and I will walk by faith. God bless!

Chase