So I looked up at my calendar today and the realization suddenly hit me... I only have one month left in my internship here with Teen Missions. In fact, it's actually less than one month. I've booked my flight back to Indiana for March 23rd even though I'm done officially Friday the 19th. I'm going to be attending a friend's wedding on Saturday the 20th and the following Tuesday had the cheapest prices.
So starting not this past week but the week before that, I got to play "Mr. Mom" as some at Teen Missions lovingly put it. I was staying with some kids of a staff family who had to do a rush flight out to Oregon because Brian's (the father) dad passed away unexpectedly from a heart attack. It was a fun opportunity to hang out with them, cook, and take them places they needed/wanted to go. They have since returned but Wes, the eldest boy, flew out to Oregon to stay with his grandma for about a month so she won't be alone.
So the plan is currently that I'm going to be going back to Indiana to do a few things. One of which is to hopefully pick up some more support to allow me to have more than a month to month living style. I also still intend to try to get an Indiana's motorcycle license while I still have my Indiana license. I've been able to stay an Indiana resident because I've been a student intern. When I come back to Florida, I'll have to get a Florida driver's license. As I've explained before, Florida requires a ridiculously expensive class to get a motorcycle license, something that was just put in place last year. I did more research and talked with people here who own motorcycles and it is true that you are not required to insurance as long as you wear a helmet. This seemed sort of hard to believe for some, including myself, because in most states you have to have insurance. I'm gonna be trying my brother in law's bike but his is a 800cc as opposed to my friend Sean's 250cc so it could be a big difference. Pray that I can either handle it okay or that I would find someone else to allow me to use a bike to practice with that was a lower cc. I also want to help my parents get the house in order because they intend to try to place it on the market in the coming months. I want to be back by May so I can help with Bootcamp and lead a team; I'm just not sure if it will all happen in time. I want to thank those of you who have been praying for me, and occasionally seeing if there are updates on this blog. I know I don't blog enough but hopefully the updates here and there are informing.
God Bless!
Danny
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Holidays, Haiti and other things
Well again, it's been a while but sometimes the long breaks in between give me more things to write about (:
So the holidays went well for me, I was blessed to be able to drive up with a staff family here from TMI who goes up to Minnesota every other Christmas to visit family. Sometimes they go up through Illinois and other times they go right through Indianapolis but it pretty much takes the same amount of time. I was able to ride in the van along with them up to Indianapolis and even helped drive so they could rest. We made a few stops, the first being at Blair's parents house in Gainesville, FL and spent the night there. Headed on to Atlanta, GA from there to a former team member of the Hames' and spent the night there as well. We made it up to Indianapolis sometime Sunday afternoon where we parted ways, they on up the road to Rockford, IL and I to my cousin's house. I spent the next few days with him, as we only really have seen each other at holidays our whole lives. I went
"home home" on Christmas Eve and man the weather was nasty with sleet. It was good to see my family again as it had been 9 months since I had! My sister and brother in law from Boston were snowed out in the Northeast so they ended up driving all the way to Indiana and so the whole family was home for Christmas. Did a couple other family gatherings and spent a few days with my brother in law and sister, including New Years which we spent most the night doing multiplayer games on their friends Nintendo Wii. I'm sure there's some video footage floating around YouTube where I look ridiculous dancing. (: They also blessed me with a plane ticket home so that I could stay longer, otherwise I would have had to leave early back with the Hames who were driving back. The ironic thing is, when I flew back I chose to go through Baltimore because I hadn't been to that airport before. Well, this was also the first time I flew with Southwest. Have you ever seen those commercials for them how the workers are all like "We love you bags! Bye bags!" Well it's not true haha...they lost mine and a bunch of other people's bags; my guess while they were in Baltimore because some people connecting from Buffalo had theirs lost as well. Ah well, I'll probably give them another shot. I joked with Paul Kostner (a fellow staffer) that at least I didn't pay Southwest to lose my bags! haha
After returning back to Florida (A VERY cold Florida I might add, and I do mean below freezing cold on a consistent basis) I was going to be moving into my new housing, at least for the next two months as I finish out my internship. Many of you may have known from before that my previous house was only temporary as the one I am in now was having some major rebuilding done to it. Well the "temporary" was a whole 9 months but oh well haha. I went without heat my first two nights there but a lot of houses had heating issues because they hadn't been used in so long! I'm still in the process of moving all my stuff over... I was blessed to get a washer and dryer from some staff who are moving to Australia for a very very good price and now I'm just praying for a microwave hahaha. Anyhow, the Lord is taking care of my needs and I'm making it. In fact, my back has been bothering me lately so I have arranged for a chiropractor appointment tomorrow which I'm hoping will clear things up. Just praying they don't find anything seriously wrong with me that I would have to keep coming back. It is for a good price though because I'm with Teen Missions. Praising God for this.
Lastly, as I'm sure you all know because it's all over the news, Haiti was struck by a 7.2 on the Richter scale earthquake and the city of Port Au Prince was pretty much leveled. This was only about an hour's drive from where I was this past summer (20 minutes if you had American roads and cars) but I just found out my friends are okay. I am so grieved by this but trusting the Lord that good will come from it and that it will be an opportunity for the Gospel to be spread. Please keep praying for the families in Haiti. It was already the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere and now hundreds of thousands are without a place to live or don't know where their family and friends are. Thank you so much for your prayers, God is good all the time, even when we don't understand!
Until next time,
Danny
Jer. 29:11
So the holidays went well for me, I was blessed to be able to drive up with a staff family here from TMI who goes up to Minnesota every other Christmas to visit family. Sometimes they go up through Illinois and other times they go right through Indianapolis but it pretty much takes the same amount of time. I was able to ride in the van along with them up to Indianapolis and even helped drive so they could rest. We made a few stops, the first being at Blair's parents house in Gainesville, FL and spent the night there. Headed on to Atlanta, GA from there to a former team member of the Hames' and spent the night there as well. We made it up to Indianapolis sometime Sunday afternoon where we parted ways, they on up the road to Rockford, IL and I to my cousin's house. I spent the next few days with him, as we only really have seen each other at holidays our whole lives. I went
"home home" on Christmas Eve and man the weather was nasty with sleet. It was good to see my family again as it had been 9 months since I had! My sister and brother in law from Boston were snowed out in the Northeast so they ended up driving all the way to Indiana and so the whole family was home for Christmas. Did a couple other family gatherings and spent a few days with my brother in law and sister, including New Years which we spent most the night doing multiplayer games on their friends Nintendo Wii. I'm sure there's some video footage floating around YouTube where I look ridiculous dancing. (: They also blessed me with a plane ticket home so that I could stay longer, otherwise I would have had to leave early back with the Hames who were driving back. The ironic thing is, when I flew back I chose to go through Baltimore because I hadn't been to that airport before. Well, this was also the first time I flew with Southwest. Have you ever seen those commercials for them how the workers are all like "We love you bags! Bye bags!" Well it's not true haha...they lost mine and a bunch of other people's bags; my guess while they were in Baltimore because some people connecting from Buffalo had theirs lost as well. Ah well, I'll probably give them another shot. I joked with Paul Kostner (a fellow staffer) that at least I didn't pay Southwest to lose my bags! haha
After returning back to Florida (A VERY cold Florida I might add, and I do mean below freezing cold on a consistent basis) I was going to be moving into my new housing, at least for the next two months as I finish out my internship. Many of you may have known from before that my previous house was only temporary as the one I am in now was having some major rebuilding done to it. Well the "temporary" was a whole 9 months but oh well haha. I went without heat my first two nights there but a lot of houses had heating issues because they hadn't been used in so long! I'm still in the process of moving all my stuff over... I was blessed to get a washer and dryer from some staff who are moving to Australia for a very very good price and now I'm just praying for a microwave hahaha. Anyhow, the Lord is taking care of my needs and I'm making it. In fact, my back has been bothering me lately so I have arranged for a chiropractor appointment tomorrow which I'm hoping will clear things up. Just praying they don't find anything seriously wrong with me that I would have to keep coming back. It is for a good price though because I'm with Teen Missions. Praising God for this.
Lastly, as I'm sure you all know because it's all over the news, Haiti was struck by a 7.2 on the Richter scale earthquake and the city of Port Au Prince was pretty much leveled. This was only about an hour's drive from where I was this past summer (20 minutes if you had American roads and cars) but I just found out my friends are okay. I am so grieved by this but trusting the Lord that good will come from it and that it will be an opportunity for the Gospel to be spread. Please keep praying for the families in Haiti. It was already the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere and now hundreds of thousands are without a place to live or don't know where their family and friends are. Thank you so much for your prayers, God is good all the time, even when we don't understand!
Until next time,
Danny
Jer. 29:11
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Forget to blog much?
Haha wow, it's once again been a seriously long time since I've blogged...just over a month now. Well a lot has certainly happened, it's hard to just determine where to begin!
Well at Teen Missions the latest push has been the big annual mailing that we do every year where we send out our new brochures with all the new teams for the following summer as well as other TMI news. I'm sure some of you will even be receiving it shortly as it was completed Friday. In total, we sent out around 87,000 pieces in 1149 trays. This was a massive workload to print, "stuff" and seal! Sean Deegan and I did all the printing and sorting and then this past week all the offices essentially shut down so that the information can all be coalated and put into the printed envelopes and then delivered to the post office. It took us three loads to deliver and honestly Sean and I can attest to the fact that there was never a dull moment! If you wanna take a peak at the team list now you can check out the TMI website at www.teenmissions.org spread the word! :)
Okay so since the last time I've shared on here, I went on Thanksgiving break which was amazing because I arranged to go to my sister and brother in law's apartment in
Boston. It was a wonderful time despite being a bit chilly compared to what I'm used to in (still humid in December) Florida. We had our Thanksgiving meal with some friends of their's from church and then spent the next few days doing tours and sightseeing. I have pics up from the trip on Facebook if you haven't seen them yet.
It's hard to believe the Christmas season is already upon us....it feels like just last month that I got down here in March starting my internship and now I'm 9 months in! Time has gone by ridiculously quickly! God has really blessed me with being able to get a ride up for Christmas break and back so that I do not even have to purchase flights! I will also be able to help drive to keep the non-stop trip going and help compensate for gas. God is so good! :)
What God has been working on me lately (and still is really) is being thankful for the gifts that we have. I am actually going to be doing a chapel on this Tuesday morning at Teen Missions. Sometimes I often feel like the appendix here because everyone seems to have a role in what they do and they are definitely good at it. People at TMI tend to just have skills in things or at least the experience to make it work whereas I feel inadequate in mostly the summer things like construction and work projects. It's really not my niche or comfort zone and yet God has called me to be here. There are, however, many gifts that I believe I do have which sometimes seem more under the radar but I have had friends who have told me how much they've greatly appreciated them and that I should not think them less than other peoples' gifts. It's not like I was not aware about the Bible speaking on the body of Christ being like a real body. It's something that I think I took for granted and wasn't accurately applying to myself. I guess I felt like the baby toe wanting to be a thumb or an eye. It's something that God is still working on me with and I'm trusting Him for the plan He has in me being here. God used men and women in the Bible to do great things which they never thought they could handle or do. I read about Moses a lot because I feel that sort of connection but it's actually an encouragement because of the reminder of God's promises. I know that I do accomplish things here (by the strength of God, I claim nothing myself) especially in the year-round work that happens to keep this place running and God encourages me with little reminders of why I'm doing what I'm doing. It really is a blessing to me to be able to be in ministry here and to work with all the wonderful people that I do.
So anyhow, this leads to me sharing how I often felt that I would be completing my internship and then move on to something else, obviously involving missions work of some type or ministry but I do not feel that God is calling me away at all. In fact, I feel that I'm right where I'm supposed to be and just because my third year of the BMW program is ending, doesn't mean my commitment with God is over here at TMI. Please continue to pray with me about this decision as it is a giant leap of faith for me. There are a few things that need to happen for me to continue on with staff here at TMI though, one of which would be my transportation situation. I'm praying about getting my motorcycle's license when I go home in March (because I currently still have an Indiana license and it's also way cheaper than getting one in Florida) and then buying a bike because you don't need insurance and it saves soooo much on fuel compared to a car. I also want to do a bit more support raising and and sharing about Teen Missions in churches in the area. Please be in prayer with me on this decision and that I would continue to listen to God in where He is leading and guiding. Until next time, Merry Christmas (no political correctness here! heh) and Happy New Year!
Well at Teen Missions the latest push has been the big annual mailing that we do every year where we send out our new brochures with all the new teams for the following summer as well as other TMI news. I'm sure some of you will even be receiving it shortly as it was completed Friday. In total, we sent out around 87,000 pieces in 1149 trays. This was a massive workload to print, "stuff" and seal! Sean Deegan and I did all the printing and sorting and then this past week all the offices essentially shut down so that the information can all be coalated and put into the printed envelopes and then delivered to the post office. It took us three loads to deliver and honestly Sean and I can attest to the fact that there was never a dull moment! If you wanna take a peak at the team list now you can check out the TMI website at www.teenmissions.org spread the word! :)
Okay so since the last time I've shared on here, I went on Thanksgiving break which was amazing because I arranged to go to my sister and brother in law's apartment in
Boston. It was a wonderful time despite being a bit chilly compared to what I'm used to in (still humid in December) Florida. We had our Thanksgiving meal with some friends of their's from church and then spent the next few days doing tours and sightseeing. I have pics up from the trip on Facebook if you haven't seen them yet.
It's hard to believe the Christmas season is already upon us....it feels like just last month that I got down here in March starting my internship and now I'm 9 months in! Time has gone by ridiculously quickly! God has really blessed me with being able to get a ride up for Christmas break and back so that I do not even have to purchase flights! I will also be able to help drive to keep the non-stop trip going and help compensate for gas. God is so good! :)
What God has been working on me lately (and still is really) is being thankful for the gifts that we have. I am actually going to be doing a chapel on this Tuesday morning at Teen Missions. Sometimes I often feel like the appendix here because everyone seems to have a role in what they do and they are definitely good at it. People at TMI tend to just have skills in things or at least the experience to make it work whereas I feel inadequate in mostly the summer things like construction and work projects. It's really not my niche or comfort zone and yet God has called me to be here. There are, however, many gifts that I believe I do have which sometimes seem more under the radar but I have had friends who have told me how much they've greatly appreciated them and that I should not think them less than other peoples' gifts. It's not like I was not aware about the Bible speaking on the body of Christ being like a real body. It's something that I think I took for granted and wasn't accurately applying to myself. I guess I felt like the baby toe wanting to be a thumb or an eye. It's something that God is still working on me with and I'm trusting Him for the plan He has in me being here. God used men and women in the Bible to do great things which they never thought they could handle or do. I read about Moses a lot because I feel that sort of connection but it's actually an encouragement because of the reminder of God's promises. I know that I do accomplish things here (by the strength of God, I claim nothing myself) especially in the year-round work that happens to keep this place running and God encourages me with little reminders of why I'm doing what I'm doing. It really is a blessing to me to be able to be in ministry here and to work with all the wonderful people that I do.
So anyhow, this leads to me sharing how I often felt that I would be completing my internship and then move on to something else, obviously involving missions work of some type or ministry but I do not feel that God is calling me away at all. In fact, I feel that I'm right where I'm supposed to be and just because my third year of the BMW program is ending, doesn't mean my commitment with God is over here at TMI. Please continue to pray with me about this decision as it is a giant leap of faith for me. There are a few things that need to happen for me to continue on with staff here at TMI though, one of which would be my transportation situation. I'm praying about getting my motorcycle's license when I go home in March (because I currently still have an Indiana license and it's also way cheaper than getting one in Florida) and then buying a bike because you don't need insurance and it saves soooo much on fuel compared to a car. I also want to do a bit more support raising and and sharing about Teen Missions in churches in the area. Please be in prayer with me on this decision and that I would continue to listen to God in where He is leading and guiding. Until next time, Merry Christmas (no political correctness here! heh) and Happy New Year!
Monday, November 9, 2009
Shed Pt. 2
Howdy; man it's been a while huh? I'm officially proud to announce that the shed project is finished...well.... it's a functioning shed :) What I mean by that is, we're still getting shelves inside as well as doing the insulation. I know what you're thinking though..."insulation....in Florida?" however, it's more or less to keep the heat out and keep it cool inside...trust me... it works. :)
So after we had all the walls up with it being housewrapped, we started putting up the Hardi board siding. This definitely got interesting when it came time to do the higher parts on ladders with just two guys. In fact, almost everything was done on ladders from this point on aside from pre-building the trusses. We got the two end trusses up and then fixed the cat-beam into place. Then it was a matter of putting up each truss, one of us on either side. After the trusses were up we had to haul up the sheets of plywood for the roof, cover it in housewrap as well and then roll out the "low slope" roofing. This is essentially like tiling but it actually rolls out and is a bit easier to do. Then we painted on some "siliconizer" (sp? don't have time to check) for more protection from weather (This is the place to be in a storm, folks lol...at least if you live on Heavenly St) All that was left for the actual construction process was painting and putting on a door which we built from 2x4's and put some hardi board over that too. Shelves are still being put up in the inside as well as the insulation being finished, however it's a fully functioning shed with stuff in it already including Sean's workout machine. The shed was painted this past Saturday with the help of BMW students who were on the street for their free weekend in between terms. So in all the shed is 16' x 12' and probably about 13' high so it's no wonder it has gained the nickname "the barn" :) It was a lot of fun to build and it took us three weekends with a couple hours of work on it every evening after working at Teen Missions. We just beat daylight savings time ending as well which helped us have more daylight.
I wanted to give you a supplies list so here's the initial one. More things were bought like insulation and the low slope.
90 2x4's 8 feet long
6 2x4's 16 feet long
6 2x4's 12 feet long
11 2x6's 16 feet long
3 2x6's 12 feet long
16 sheets of plywood 4x8
17 4x8 8 in hardi paneling
22 hardi trim (to cover the connection points of the hardi boards)
1 roll of EasyGard housewrap
3 90 Lbs masonry blocks
4 footing blocks
16 solid blocks
Now you can see why it would take the two of us so long to unload the trailer from his front yard and lay it out in the backyard haha.
If you have Facebook you can see the pictures here at this link...if you don't have Facebook and want to see them, let me know and I'll figure out how to get them on here. Here's the link:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/album.php?aid=121759&id=516543264
Until next time,
-Danny
Gal 2:20
So after we had all the walls up with it being housewrapped, we started putting up the Hardi board siding. This definitely got interesting when it came time to do the higher parts on ladders with just two guys. In fact, almost everything was done on ladders from this point on aside from pre-building the trusses. We got the two end trusses up and then fixed the cat-beam into place. Then it was a matter of putting up each truss, one of us on either side. After the trusses were up we had to haul up the sheets of plywood for the roof, cover it in housewrap as well and then roll out the "low slope" roofing. This is essentially like tiling but it actually rolls out and is a bit easier to do. Then we painted on some "siliconizer" (sp? don't have time to check) for more protection from weather (This is the place to be in a storm, folks lol...at least if you live on Heavenly St) All that was left for the actual construction process was painting and putting on a door which we built from 2x4's and put some hardi board over that too. Shelves are still being put up in the inside as well as the insulation being finished, however it's a fully functioning shed with stuff in it already including Sean's workout machine. The shed was painted this past Saturday with the help of BMW students who were on the street for their free weekend in between terms. So in all the shed is 16' x 12' and probably about 13' high so it's no wonder it has gained the nickname "the barn" :) It was a lot of fun to build and it took us three weekends with a couple hours of work on it every evening after working at Teen Missions. We just beat daylight savings time ending as well which helped us have more daylight.
I wanted to give you a supplies list so here's the initial one. More things were bought like insulation and the low slope.
90 2x4's 8 feet long
6 2x4's 16 feet long
6 2x4's 12 feet long
11 2x6's 16 feet long
3 2x6's 12 feet long
16 sheets of plywood 4x8
17 4x8 8 in hardi paneling
22 hardi trim (to cover the connection points of the hardi boards)
1 roll of EasyGard housewrap
3 90 Lbs masonry blocks
4 footing blocks
16 solid blocks
Now you can see why it would take the two of us so long to unload the trailer from his front yard and lay it out in the backyard haha.
If you have Facebook you can see the pictures here at this link...if you don't have Facebook and want to see them, let me know and I'll figure out how to get them on here. Here's the link:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/album.php?aid=121759&id=516543264
Until next time,
-Danny
Gal 2:20
Monday, October 19, 2009
The Shed Project
So my friend Sean has been wanting to get a shed for a while now for his backyard because he has kids now and you just can't store stuff in a trailer...it's not feasible with a family's worth of stuff lol. He's been doing the research on the supplies and stuff he'd need and he was able to pick them up this past Wednesday. We had to take the Teen Missions trailer with the Diesel F350 to Home Depot just to get all the stuff. I'll hopefully have a supplies list to post on here later, it was quite intense. It honestly filled a 16 ft trailer and it took the two of us about an hour and a half just to unload it from the driveway and stack it out back.
We were able to start working on it this past Saturday and got the whole floor down. Because we weren't pouring any concrete, he wasn't required to get a permit for it despite it being a whopping 16 x 12 building. We layed concrete blocks down as a base and then built the floor joists and frame. We put house wrap over the top of that to keep any moisture and bugs out, and then put on the plywood flooring. We were set for the day after putting a coating of floor sealant over top of that just to re-enforce no moisture coming through. (yeah dad, it was from Sherwin-Williams heh)
Yesterday, we spent some time cutting and framing together all the walls, making mounts for two windows on either side, and getting them ready to put up today. We got a couple other guys from staff to come over this evening after work and we tacked in all four walls and put the top-plates on, securing the whole thing together. It's really starting to look great and I'm excited to get to the siding and then the trusses for the roof etc. I've been taking pictures along the whole process and will have those up on Facebook. If I ever figure out how to do pics on here too I can for those of you without FB. Anyhow, that's what I've been up to lately. I"m looking forward to seeing several of you when I come home for Christmas for a couple weeks!
We were able to start working on it this past Saturday and got the whole floor down. Because we weren't pouring any concrete, he wasn't required to get a permit for it despite it being a whopping 16 x 12 building. We layed concrete blocks down as a base and then built the floor joists and frame. We put house wrap over the top of that to keep any moisture and bugs out, and then put on the plywood flooring. We were set for the day after putting a coating of floor sealant over top of that just to re-enforce no moisture coming through. (yeah dad, it was from Sherwin-Williams heh)
Yesterday, we spent some time cutting and framing together all the walls, making mounts for two windows on either side, and getting them ready to put up today. We got a couple other guys from staff to come over this evening after work and we tacked in all four walls and put the top-plates on, securing the whole thing together. It's really starting to look great and I'm excited to get to the siding and then the trusses for the roof etc. I've been taking pictures along the whole process and will have those up on Facebook. If I ever figure out how to do pics on here too I can for those of you without FB. Anyhow, that's what I've been up to lately. I"m looking forward to seeing several of you when I come home for Christmas for a couple weeks!
Two Weeks Ago
So yeah I know, I'm not good at this whole "remember to update your blog" thing but I suppose there's more to write about when you space things out :) Two weekends ago (that being, not the one we just went through in case you're reading this at 3 am and are getting confused. And if that's the case, let me know cuz I doubt anyone has ever read this blog in the middle of the night hah...) I helped my staff family (the family who 'adopted' me while at BMW) move out of their trailer on Heavenly street out to their house in Port St. John. I'm really excited for them that they were able to move and it was fun helping them. They've moved on from staff, now that things became difficult with some family stuff and I'm really going to miss them but am happy that they are doing what they believe God is leading them to do. I also had the first time experience of going to an IKEA superstore because there is one in Orlando and my friends Sean and Sharon were going to get some laminate for their daughter's bedroom floor. I tell you what, that place may "look" like a Best Buy on the outside but it's definitely not on the inside :P I will probably always think twice if I ever got married about making my wife spend hours on end in a Best Buy because I will remember what it was like for so many hours in IKEA haha.
Monday, October 5, 2009
Some Teen Missions Overseas updates
Hey gang,
I know it's been awhile since I've blogged but it's pretty much been day to day work as we're getting back into
the swing of things after the Staff Field conference. That went really well, by the way, and hopefully many of the
ideas that were come up with will be able to be done.
Anyhow, I wanted to share with you some of the updates that have been coming in from our overseas bases and rescue
units. For those of you that don't know, Teen Missions is in association with Aids Orphans and Street Children. It was
started by the folks at Teen Missions who have a burden for the families and children in Africa who are suffering
because of the AIDS pandemic. We have found since the beginning of the decade that a "rescue unit" is much more
feasible than an orphanage because while an orphanage can only house so many children, a rescue unit is liking
taking an orphanage to the people. This first one is a report from our base in Zambia:
"Greetings,
Yesterday I sat in the office listening to Mike Monze and Mathews Shikishi and just shook my head. The plight of the people when there is no doctor is just tragic. Mathews said that last week a lady came by the Mukema unit for medical help. She had walked about 7 miles to come to the unit, crossing two rivers. She couldn't really say what was wrong just that she was having pains. Mathews wasn't really sure what to do as she didn't really share anything that he could recognize as wrong. He referred her to the clinic at St Mary's and she left. Her younger sister was with her and also a young boy. They hadn't walked but a short distance from the unit when they had to stop because of the pains. They went behind an ant hill and found a place for her to lie down. While there she delivered a baby. Out in the open, with only grass and leaves for a bed, there was no doctor not even a mid-wife. Mathews helped her and they got her to St Mary's clinic. The mother and baby come by the unit the next day and thanked Mathers for his help and the new mom left to continue the long walk home. Just another day where there is no doctor.
Mike then shared that recently people brought a lady to Luswishi on a bicycle ambulance. She had just delivered a baby and the baby was fine but she hadn't delivered the placenta. The lady was in pain and extremely weak, unable to talk. While they were trying to assess the situation the lady stiffened up. They saw her eyes roll back into her head and she became limp. Queen rushed up to her and began praying, rebuking death and commanding life back into her body. They immediately prepared her and began the long journey to the clinic. Queen continued to pray. Maybe about half way there the lady opened her eyes and seemed to revive and short time later she began to talk and shared that she had died but now was feeling fine. I don't know how true, in fact, that was except that is what the lady shared. They did get her to the clinic but the clinic wasn't able to help her either and they took her to Kitwe where they were able to remove the placenta. The mother and baby have since returned to the unit and they are indeed fine. Life and death can hang in the balance where there is no doctor.
Zambia"
This next one is from Belize, our base that we have had for several years. We've run a couple of bootcamps there and have hoped to be able to set up a BMW school there from that but it has not taken off in the culture as well as we've hoped. It's also been a problem in trying to find a family to be full time coordinators down there as it is a difficult place to be and as it says in Matthew, the work is plenty but the people are few. This past summer, however, a family joined staff with the intentions of going to Belize and God has really been opening doors for them. They led a team there this summer and are currently serving in Belize. Just recently they've sent this report:
"We currently have 7 students enrolled to start BMW on 9/22/09. We have interviewed another 6 students that we are praying about and may possibly have a couple more interviews to go. We are blown away by God's goodness at choosing to open the doors the way He has. In the beginning we thought if we at least ended up with 3 or 4 from Copper Bank, it would be a great start, now we are looking at having as many as 15 students and some from as far away as San Ignacio, 9 miles from the Guatemala border in Cayo. We need God's wisdom though as in some cases, it is obvious the parents and/or pastors are more excited than the young person. They want their young people off the streets and away from their bad friends. We keep trying to push for those that really feel called to serve the Lord, but we know even if they come with different motives, God can really work on their heart. We had two 14 year olds apply. The first one we rejected on the spot as he was obviously not prepared for it and it was his mom's idea. The other one we are still praying about.
David Powell
9/18/09"
It really is a miracle that there is this sudden interest in the Bible program and it is such a blessing to hear as I spent two weeks during BMW down there at the property repairing the chain link fence and uprooting giant stumps from the ground after Hurricane Dean hit.
This last report is from another base I've been to back in 2006. It is from one of the students in Siberia which now runs a Bible school. I was on the first team to this location and helped establish the first Bootcamp that was run there. So much progress has been made on the grounds as well as increases in the bootcamp attendance and now the BMW starting:
Last Friday, on Sept.25, when I was at the plumbing store, buying
a WATER METER, I came across a very good accquaintence of mine, a
jew, that is now about 80 years old. Each time we would meet I try to
tell him that he needs Jesus... He would be very polite listening; he
would tell me that he is reading the Bible for Children because he
cannot understand the Word of God that is addressed to adults.
But this time at the end of our talk he agreed to pray a prayer
of repentence according the FOUR SPIRITUAL LAWS booklet.
God is wonderful!!! He is so patient with us for He does not want
anyone to perish but have an everlasting life!!! 1 Tim 2:1-6."
Vera Moskalyova: "Last year, at Siberian Boot Camp, I came to
know about a Bible School that was to be opened at Krasnaya Niva at
the end of August. I wanted to be the part of it from the very
beginning. But I have got one of my knees injured and had to go
through a surgery and a very complicated treatment.
All this time I was thinking about BMW and praying for the
possibility to study there. I have a great desire to serve God, to
grow spiritually and to be firmly enrooted in Christ the Lord.
This year my dream has come true. I am studying at BMW for one
month by now. I like it here very much! I have already come to know
many things that I have never known before. God reveals His truth
through His Word, through our teachers. I feel very satisfied with my
studies although there are many things that are sometimes very
difficult for my understanding! Let's for example take Russian
Grammar!!!
I give thanks to God and to everybody who made it possible for me
to study here. God bless You all!."
October 1, 2009. E.Trofimova,
L.Litvinova.
I know it's been awhile since I've blogged but it's pretty much been day to day work as we're getting back into
the swing of things after the Staff Field conference. That went really well, by the way, and hopefully many of the
ideas that were come up with will be able to be done.
Anyhow, I wanted to share with you some of the updates that have been coming in from our overseas bases and rescue
units. For those of you that don't know, Teen Missions is in association with Aids Orphans and Street Children. It was
started by the folks at Teen Missions who have a burden for the families and children in Africa who are suffering
because of the AIDS pandemic. We have found since the beginning of the decade that a "rescue unit" is much more
feasible than an orphanage because while an orphanage can only house so many children, a rescue unit is liking
taking an orphanage to the people. This first one is a report from our base in Zambia:
"Greetings,
Yesterday I sat in the office listening to Mike Monze and Mathews Shikishi and just shook my head. The plight of the people when there is no doctor is just tragic. Mathews said that last week a lady came by the Mukema unit for medical help. She had walked about 7 miles to come to the unit, crossing two rivers. She couldn't really say what was wrong just that she was having pains. Mathews wasn't really sure what to do as she didn't really share anything that he could recognize as wrong. He referred her to the clinic at St Mary's and she left. Her younger sister was with her and also a young boy. They hadn't walked but a short distance from the unit when they had to stop because of the pains. They went behind an ant hill and found a place for her to lie down. While there she delivered a baby. Out in the open, with only grass and leaves for a bed, there was no doctor not even a mid-wife. Mathews helped her and they got her to St Mary's clinic. The mother and baby come by the unit the next day and thanked Mathers for his help and the new mom left to continue the long walk home. Just another day where there is no doctor.
Mike then shared that recently people brought a lady to Luswishi on a bicycle ambulance. She had just delivered a baby and the baby was fine but she hadn't delivered the placenta. The lady was in pain and extremely weak, unable to talk. While they were trying to assess the situation the lady stiffened up. They saw her eyes roll back into her head and she became limp. Queen rushed up to her and began praying, rebuking death and commanding life back into her body. They immediately prepared her and began the long journey to the clinic. Queen continued to pray. Maybe about half way there the lady opened her eyes and seemed to revive and short time later she began to talk and shared that she had died but now was feeling fine. I don't know how true, in fact, that was except that is what the lady shared. They did get her to the clinic but the clinic wasn't able to help her either and they took her to Kitwe where they were able to remove the placenta. The mother and baby have since returned to the unit and they are indeed fine. Life and death can hang in the balance where there is no doctor.
Zambia"
This next one is from Belize, our base that we have had for several years. We've run a couple of bootcamps there and have hoped to be able to set up a BMW school there from that but it has not taken off in the culture as well as we've hoped. It's also been a problem in trying to find a family to be full time coordinators down there as it is a difficult place to be and as it says in Matthew, the work is plenty but the people are few. This past summer, however, a family joined staff with the intentions of going to Belize and God has really been opening doors for them. They led a team there this summer and are currently serving in Belize. Just recently they've sent this report:
"We currently have 7 students enrolled to start BMW on 9/22/09. We have interviewed another 6 students that we are praying about and may possibly have a couple more interviews to go. We are blown away by God's goodness at choosing to open the doors the way He has. In the beginning we thought if we at least ended up with 3 or 4 from Copper Bank, it would be a great start, now we are looking at having as many as 15 students and some from as far away as San Ignacio, 9 miles from the Guatemala border in Cayo. We need God's wisdom though as in some cases, it is obvious the parents and/or pastors are more excited than the young person. They want their young people off the streets and away from their bad friends. We keep trying to push for those that really feel called to serve the Lord, but we know even if they come with different motives, God can really work on their heart. We had two 14 year olds apply. The first one we rejected on the spot as he was obviously not prepared for it and it was his mom's idea. The other one we are still praying about.
David Powell
9/18/09"
It really is a miracle that there is this sudden interest in the Bible program and it is such a blessing to hear as I spent two weeks during BMW down there at the property repairing the chain link fence and uprooting giant stumps from the ground after Hurricane Dean hit.
This last report is from another base I've been to back in 2006. It is from one of the students in Siberia which now runs a Bible school. I was on the first team to this location and helped establish the first Bootcamp that was run there. So much progress has been made on the grounds as well as increases in the bootcamp attendance and now the BMW starting:
Last Friday, on Sept.25, when I was at the plumbing store, buying
a WATER METER, I came across a very good accquaintence of mine, a
jew, that is now about 80 years old. Each time we would meet I try to
tell him that he needs Jesus... He would be very polite listening; he
would tell me that he is reading the Bible for Children because he
cannot understand the Word of God that is addressed to adults.
But this time at the end of our talk he agreed to pray a prayer
of repentence according the FOUR SPIRITUAL LAWS booklet.
God is wonderful!!! He is so patient with us for He does not want
anyone to perish but have an everlasting life!!! 1 Tim 2:1-6."
Vera Moskalyova: "Last year, at Siberian Boot Camp, I came to
know about a Bible School that was to be opened at Krasnaya Niva at
the end of August. I wanted to be the part of it from the very
beginning. But I have got one of my knees injured and had to go
through a surgery and a very complicated treatment.
All this time I was thinking about BMW and praying for the
possibility to study there. I have a great desire to serve God, to
grow spiritually and to be firmly enrooted in Christ the Lord.
This year my dream has come true. I am studying at BMW for one
month by now. I like it here very much! I have already come to know
many things that I have never known before. God reveals His truth
through His Word, through our teachers. I feel very satisfied with my
studies although there are many things that are sometimes very
difficult for my understanding! Let's for example take Russian
Grammar!!!
I give thanks to God and to everybody who made it possible for me
to study here. God bless You all!."
October 1, 2009. E.Trofimova,
L.Litvinova.
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