Friday in Odessa...

Sorry for the short post, but family time and fellowship took us late into the night.

Today was the shortest and least physically demanding for our students, who have been working 8am-4pm on painting the church and doing other projects. This morning we moved on to our second church painting of the week (that's right numero dos). The students painted the exterior of another church in town while Mark "The Animal" Manso and myself put the finishing touches on the first church.

We finished the projects by lunch time and after a photo shoot around town (you'll have to wait for our slide show tomorrow), we let the students out to spend time with the local youth.

The night finished up with youth outreach where Adam Kimball and Angela Pierce shared their testimonies. I was really encouraged to see two of our more shy personalities step up and deliver great testimonies of what the Lord has done for them. As the other towns mentioned, this evening was tough time of saying goodbye to new friends.

One thing we discussed at family time tonight was what a great plan God has for all of us. The timing of this week was a great example of this. Pastor Jon put on a junior high VBS last week that drew in new students from his community and laid a groundwork for us to come in and build on. The students in Odessa have had two weeks of great fellowship and activities every day. We return with hope that this week will be a launching point for both groups to continue to grow in their relationships with Christ.

This week has been such a blessing and we can't wait to share it with you all tomorrow!

- Jake

Friday in Potlatch...

Our last day in Potlatch has been a bit like running through an amusement park – fun, yet completely draining! We started this morning with our last day of Vacation Bible School and, though there weren’t as many kids there as there have been on the other days (many left for a long Fourth of July weekend), our students were full of enthusiasm for their work with the children. Even when a class wasn’t at the music station, praise songs and hymns rang from the kids’ voices throughout the grounds of the church. What a blessing to be able to praise our God with such beautiful music! The question of the day was: What does God want us to do? To which the students readily replied “To spread the news about Him to those around us,” and that they did through their music and their joy.

After VBS, the Moores, a family from the neighboring town, invited us to come to their farm for the afternoon. Jeannie Moore and six of her nine children have been the highlight of the trip for all of our students and the leaders as well. They are originally from Issaquah, but moved to Idaho just a couple years ago to live on thirty-three acres that they have used to create a more sustainable living environment for their family. They have lambs that they shear and eat, goats that they milk, chickens that lay eggs and provide meat, two large green houses for vegetables, dogs, cats, rabbits, pigs…and all of this with seven children under their roof (their two oldest are already out of the house)! Our students loved being able to pet the four-week-old puppies, feed the lambs, milk the goats, and see a lifestyle very different from what we’re used to in Renton. Most importantly, they enjoyed spending time in fellowship with a large family of dedicated believers that have touched all of our hearts. It was hard to leave their property and say goodbye, but even harder to say goodbye a second time at our barbeque at Potlatch Park.

After leaving the Moore’s house, we quickly gathered our barbeque fixings and headed down to the park for one final night of youth outreach. We played ultimate Frisbee as well as volleyball and ate a delicious meal prepared by Kevin Kerr, one of our leaders. We had more than thirty adults and students with us to play, sing songs, and listen to two of our students speak – Kristen Sparkman and Stacie Larsen. It was the end of this beautiful evening that brought tears to our students’ eyes. It was difficult to leave people we had become so quickly attached to, and to people whom God teaches us so many lessons through. Currently, the distraction of cleaning every inch of this church is helping distract the students from the empty hole they’re already feeling in their hearts from having to leave this beautiful place and these extraordinary people.

On the other hand, I know that we’re also very excited to be able to come home tomorrow and to be able to sleep in our own beds. It will be so nice to be greeted by our loving, happy families and to share more stories with you in person! Please be praying that our trip home is safe and quick. Six hours on the road after a week overflowing with activity and energy can be tough, and we’d all appreciate the extra angels surrounding our vehicles J. Thank you so much for your thoughts and prayers!

- Kirsten

Friday Night Recap in Pilot Rock...

Tonight was a bittersweet one. In fact, the whole day was.

We said goodbyes to many of the students and people of Pilot Rock, after a great day of outreach and fellowship with the teens. This morning, we played Paintball with the youth group from Pilot Rock Baptist Church and some teens from Lost & Found Teen Ministry. It was a fun day there, but continued to give our students and the teens more opportunities to fellowship with one another.

When we got back to town, we did one last service project at the church, and it was great to see our students and the teens of Pilot Rock and Lost & Found working together on the project.

Tonight, we had a BBQ for everyone at the park, and had about 45 people there to grub on burgers, hot dogs, homemade potato salad and more. Heather led worship one final time and the two missionaries to PRBC, who'd helped with VBS this week, shared their testimonies, and with both being college students, both really touched the hearts of all the students, since they're so close in age.

We ended the night with an intense game of "soft tackle" football (and for the record, Heather went "beastmode" on one touchdown, breaking tackles and chucking defenders en route to the end zone for the tying touchdown. She can play the piano, the guitar and now, football...

After some tearful goodbyes at the park, we returned back to the parsonage for one final Family Time. The leaders challenged the students to raise their game when they get home, taking the same zeal and passion for ministry they had in Pilot Rock, and taking it back to Renton/Kent and beyond. The students talked about how much the week meant to them, how so many of them realized they had to be flexible and let God take control (which of course, he did), and shared the different ways their prayers were answered this week. I also had each student and leader pray for one different teen or child, by name, they had the opportunity to minister to this week, and make them their "prayer person" when they get home, to continue to stay in a consistent prayer life and to continue to lift that person in prayer, whether it was a student, a child or a volunteer at the church.

We received some cool gits from the townfolks, a gift bag with Pilot Rock pens, Pilot Rock bracelets, Pilot Rock t-shirts, and candy.

The trip touched many lives, most noticeable, everyone on the Pilot Rock team.

Sadly, we say goodbye on Saturday morning, but happily, we leave with numerous examples of God's faithfulness.

Thursday Night Recap from Pilot Rock...

As we're beginning to wind things down in Pilot Rock, things continue to be great in every aspect.

Watching the students from Pilot Rock mingle with the students from First EPC has been awesome. Seeing our students taking almost a mentoring role to the younger youth group here, and hearing them share what God is doing in their life in just regular conversations (not limiting them to just when giving testimonies), seeing them share scripture with others when hanging out at the park, seeing and hearing them sing songs while in the park, well, it's been overwhelming to say the least.

We have continued to see God's greatness in so many ways. Breakthroughs with teens in the community, children in VBS, that were rough around the edges on Monday and by Thursday, were fully immersed in everything we did, we've seen God softening hearts and opening doors.

The teen we'd been specifically praying for since Monday spent all of Thursday with us, going to the Water Park, dinner and hanging out at Youth Outreach, and while he's got a rough backstory, he got connected with Pastor Harley here in Pilot Rock and plans to be a part of the youth group.

Vacation Bible School ended on Thursday and the last day was arguably the most fun day, watching the kids flock to our students, kids that grew tremendously during the week, and families embracing and thanking our students for being here.

Our Family Time on Thursday was one of the most heartfelt of the week. Pastor Harley came in and shared his testimony and we were just blown away by his passion for Christ, his passion for people in this town and his selfless service, especially with the obstacles he's faced in his life.

On Friday, we'll be spending a lot of time with the Youth in Pilot Rock, doing an activity in the morning, then heading out to do 3-4 more service projects in the afternoon before doing a BBQ for the teens in the community for our final Youth Outreach.

Thursday in Potlatch...

Thursday has been another joyful day in Potlatch. It hit us today that we’ve turned the corner and are on the downward slope of this trip. One blessing of the small-town mission trips is that the bond the students create with one another is much stronger and more intimate than when all of the students are together in one city. Rather than migrating toward their friends, the students are more willing to branch out and spend quality time with people that aren’t usually in their social circles. Today was proof that our group has bonded, and loves and supports each other as brothers and sisters in Christ during VBS, our service project, and throughout our evening.

Vacation Bible School has continued to run smoothly with upwards of 70 children in attendance. Our big question of the day was: How can Jesus help me when I mess up? Each class looked at the story of the prodigal son and how his father forgave him and was overjoyed when the son returned home. The children learn so much from the lessons, but what’s so great about an experience like this is that our students learn just as much or more from the opportunity to work with the children and adults (volunteer helpers) in a community like this. The members of the church and the parents of the children attending VBS have been oozing with compliments over the outstanding job our students are doing. I, too, can’t stop raving about the effort and ability every person on our team displays!

Their effort and ability doesn’t stop at VBS, either. We were able to complete our service project today, weeding the entire yard, front and back, of the church parsonage house and finishing laying the railroad ties throughout the yard as well. A small group of our students even attacked a gnarly nest of blackberry bushes, where they destroyed and dug up three large root balls and completely cleared the branches from the yard and surrounding fence. Imaginations running wild, someone on our team decided that the root clusters closely resembled Ent hearts (a Lord of the Rings reference). Any chance to use a little inventiveness and playfulness while working makes the work load lighter.

After completing our service projects, we took the night off from youth outreach and headed into Moscow to grab dinner at a Chicago-style pizza joint. With six pizzas to choose from, our team had plenty to stuff their stomachs with! However, eating wasn’t the only activity taking place at the dinner table. Returning to the idea of the unity created on small-town mission trips, it was such a joy to watch our students interact in true friendship and fellowship throughout the evening. After pizza, we came back to Princeton Nazarene to roast marshmallows over the fire pit here at the church. We discussed movies, books, stars, inside jokes, and a plethora of other topics. Even as I write (at 11:30 at night) our students are still together laughing and having fun, and we’ve even discussed how we’re going to get together later this summer in anticipation of missing each other when we return home this weekend.

It’s hard to imagine that the end of our trip is coming so quickly, but the experience of glorifying God in so many ways throughout our trip has been irreplaceable. God’s plan is so great and perfect, and placing these thirteen people together in Potlatch, Idaho is proof of the intricacy of His story and our roles within it.

- Kirsten

Thursday in Odessa...

We're either getting creative or too lazy to type over here :) We put together a video tonight instead of a blog...

A few notes from the day:

- We finished painting the CHURCH!!! Then picked up another church to paint tomorrow.

- The city threw us a BBQ and we had over 40 kids out for a pool party at the city pool.

- David McKee, Jonathan Sigrist and a local student all shared their testimonies.

Jake

Wednesday Night Recap from Pilot Rock...

Sorry for the delay on the Pilot Rock blog. Major technical difficulties out this way.

But alas.

Wednesday was a GREAT day for the group. Just an outstanding day all-around, from the ministry at VBS, to the service projects, to a great time at Youth Outreach, with more kids who've been on the verge of coming to Youth Outreach, finally coming.

VBS was awesome on Wednesday. One of the missionaries to Pilot Rock working with the church, a college student from Tennessee, gave a gospel message to the children and several children prayed to ask Jesus into their hearts. Two of the kids our students have been really praying for, asked Jesus into their heart. The message was excellent and to see the children who asked to pray with the leaders was an encouragement.

Youth Outreach was awesome-r. There had been one kid in particular, named Travis, who'd been at the park the first two days who our students invited to come, but he would decline. On Wednesday, thanks to Elaina and Hannah, he joined in. Our students had been praying for him since Monday night- we had seen that he wanted to be a part of the group, but for whatever reason, wouldn't come. Finally some breakthrough.

Hannah and Elaina each gave testimonies, and spoke really to the heart of a couple of the teens in the community. Seeing our students praying and talking with them afterwards was an awesome sight to see.

We also played a major game of Tennis Baseball, with nearly 35 people, which was pretty fun, getting several of the teens from the community on board with the game.

Seeing our students and the students of Pilot Rock unite has been amazing. On Thursday, we'll be spending most of the afternoon doing Youth Outreach with the teens at a local pool/waterpark.

For a Wednesday, the students have an amazing amount of energy. No one is running ragged. They're ready for the next couple of days.

And it has been such an encouragement to see God continue to work through our students as they minister in VBS and in Youth Outreach.

Wednesday in Odessa...

Something a little different for tonight’s blog, Joel Condreay requested the opportunity to write our blog this evening. Joel is thinking about going to school for journalism, I think he has a very bright future.

Good evening from Odessa!

The students awoke Wednesday morning to the smell of bacon and scrambled eggs.

Wednesday’s labor was separated into three separate projects. The first of the three was continuing to work on the church we had scraped on Tuesday. The goal for the group was to prime the entire church today. The goal was achieved with flying colors and Mark “The Animal” Manso continued to demonstrate his deservingness of the newfound title by staying over an hour after words doing final touches on the church. The second project was working with Odessa’s mayor at town hall. A group of four students led by Charlie and Kim Radabaugh, spent the morning and a few hours in the afternoon digging holes, creating mounds, moving boulders, plowing trenches, and shoveling rocks in the garden in front of city hall. The previously bland façade of the main building was transformed into a beautiful and artistic garden. The final project was another job landscaping the garden of a home in the community. Even an experienced gardener like Kim called it one of the worst weeding jobs she had ever seen. Despite the adversity, the handful of young landscapers showed dedication and did an excellent job. An especially encouraging side note was that many members of Odessa’s youth have arrived at work sites early in the mornings and worked all the way through the afternoon tirelessly alongside the youth of First EPC.

The weather has also been encouraging for the volunteers. A cool breeze has continuously turned warm and muggy days into comfortable afternoons in the Eastern Washington sun. The day was finished by youth outreach. Wednesday brought more kids to youth outreach than any other night. 40 kids, including the FEPC youth gathered for a time of games, worship, and tear prying testimonies delivered by Colby Foss and Janice Nehren. Both did an excellent job and gave heartfelt testimonies and displayed great boldness. The night was finished by a game created by the Heritage Church in Odessa titled, “four ten volley.” Four square, tennis, and volleyball were mixed to create an exciting and original game. After family time and watching videos of our week taken by Pastor Jon’s father, the students went outside to discover why the mission trip is entitled “Big Sky.” The night sky adorned by bright stars was a beautiful way to end a fantastic day.

Tomorrow has painting in store for us and a pool party at the Odessa pool that will hopefully draw even a greater crowd of Odessa’s teenagers. On another exciting note, the Odessa newspaper coming out tomorrow will feature our work in the community and hopefully the word of God’s love will be spread more through this article.

So long for now from Odessa, we hope to deliver more good news of God’s work in the lovely community of Odessa.

- Joel

Wednesday in Potlatch...

Breakfast was a bit quieter this morning than on our first day, but even as our bodies grow weary our spirits are being rejuvenated! This evening at family time the students all had great insights about community, service, and simple yet complex power of the cross of Christ in our lives. Among everyone was the feeling that this is where (and when) we are supposed to be. It is neat to see the fellowship our team is investing in for the majority of our 7:30am to 11:30pm days. There is a lot of fun being had, and that is just icing on the cake for the bonds of brotherly love that are being formed between our group. It is a joy to see the students minister – not only to the VBS kids and youth at youth outreach – but to each other through their talks, lessons, and sharing of personal growth.

We had 71 students at VBS today, so we’ve been averaging about 70 students with a large core of those students coming consistently each day. Today’s big question was: Why do I need Jesus? The lessons utilized the story of Jesus washing the disciples feet. It was a neat way to connect how we need Jesus’ sacrifice to wash us clean from sin.

- Ben

Potluck Update for Saturday...

Hi Student Ministries Families,

On Saturday, July 2 we will hold a potluck supper at 4pm to welcome our returning junior high and high school missionaries and their leaders. Bring the family for this big event.

Rough time frame:

• 3-4pm---set-up and welcome the students as they arrive
• 4pm---potluck for SM families ---MPR
• Sharing during the supper---MPR

Being provided:

• Dessert
• Coffee and water

Bringing a hot dish? We can use the warming oven and crock pots are welcome.

Please prepare food with many hungry people in mind. Please do label your dishes and please do bring and label serving utensils.

• A-M- A main dish that will feed 8-10 people and a salad (fruit salad, green salad, pasta salad, bean salad).
• N-Z- A main dish that will feed 8-10 people and side dish (appetizers, crackers and dip, bread, rice, etc).

Please let me know if you have questions.

Thank you and see you there.

Judy Allen

Tuesday Night Recap in Potlach...

Tuesday was another great day of VBS, work projects, and youth outreach. We had about 65 - 70 kids come to VBS this morning. Our big question for today was: Why can we trust Jesus? Our FEPC student leaders did a fantastic job with helping the kids think through the question using the story of Jesus healing son of the officer from Capernaum (John 4). The essence of the message was that we can trust Jesus because he is faithful! He is who he says he is, he does what he says he will do, and he is the only one who will always provide for us and never disappoint us.

Our service project(s) of pulling (lots and lots) of weeds and laying railroad ties is going well. We are going to try and finish the projects by Thursday so that we can accept the invitation of one of the church families to come and visit their 33 acre farm on Friday afternoon. The youth in this same family has been really involved with helping us with VBS as well as joining us during youth outreach in the evenings. Tonight we enjoyed a fun game down at the park, scripture reading and a talk by two students, and then a delightful game of ultimate frisbee while being washed with warm Idaho rains. We had a surreal backdrop of lightning flashes from black rainclouds in the distance on one side of us and a beautiful sunset gleaming from the horizon on the other side.

In terms of glorifying God, the students are definitely glorifying him through their teaching and service. They also continue to delve into their personal relationship with God - particularly during our midday quiet times. Both of these combine to build a sense of unity - both in purpose and in Christian fellowship. It is a joy to spend time with a group of people dedicated to one purpose, and who all consider the cross of Christ as the wisdom of God. God is being faithful to us in Potlatch, and his love endures forever!

Tuesday in Odessa...

The service project could not have gone much better today. The students had all of the paint scraping done well before lunch. Mark “The Animal” Manso worked through the lunch hour power washing the entire building. Thanks to warm weather the siding dried quickly, and we were able to caulk everything by the time we broke for dinner. We will start on the first coat of primer tomorrow morning!

In addition, a group of students broke off after lunch to do weeding for an elderly couple in the community. The students transformed the yard and the couple was moved by the work that had been done. Almost as much of a blessing as the work, was the time spent talking with our students. Several of them did a great job of explaining why we are here and what God has done for us. Janice Nehren showed amazing commitment to finishing the project, even as almost every other student had gotten up and left.

We talked about our favorite parts of the week tonight during family time. Nearly every student mentioned the relationships with the local youth. We have picked up a handful of students that spend the entire day with us, from work projects to youth outreach at night. We had 25 youth at outreach tonight to worship and hear testimonies from Ty Helgeson and Anne Rendle. They both did an amazing job! Anne wrapped it up with a “5 Truths About God” gospel presentation, she nailed it! The authority and boldness with which she proclaimed the gospel is one of my prouder moments in youth ministry.

Lastly, one of our goals at the start of the week was to use our attitudes and work ethic to display Christ’s love to the people around us. The students have embraced this and the Lord has used us in ways we could never imagine. The Odessa newspaper (which has yet to go green and get on the inter-web) came out and did a story on us repainting the church. The mayor met all of us today and we will be working directly with him tomorrow on a side landscaping project. Not to mention to dozens of individuals who have stopped by the church to ask what is going on… suffice it to say we are a bigger deal in Odessa than we ought to be.

Thank you for your continued prayer, more to come tomorrow....

-Jake

Tuesday Night Recap in Pilot Rock...

Aloha from Pilot Rock. Tropical weather was the theme of Tuesday, with heat (in the mid 80's) with thunderstorms.

But it was a very good day for the team in Pilot Rock.

Day two of Vacation Bible School was success for all involved, with the addition of ten more students. Elaina, Kirby, Cody and Heather all taught the Bible story lessons for their respective grades and each knocked it out of the park. The kids here are loving the songs that are a part of VBS (the theme is Big Apple Adventure- think New York) and one of the catchiest songs is called "Big Apple Adventure". It's been fun to watch the kids see our students getting into the songs and mimicking them.

We've got one family that has really touched the hearts of the students. Their mother is dealing with a terminal illness, and the kids are wonderful little guys, and have really flocked to our students. Getting the back stories on them, and so many of the students here, has been gut-wrenching at times, but it's been such an encouragement to see the way our students respond to EACH child there.

Our service project today took us to the Pilot Rock Community Garden and the home of an elderly shut-in. Her sidewalk was pretty much invisible, but we trimmed the bushes around it, and mowed her lawn and wal-lah, it looks like a new place again. She beamed as she looked from her front porch and saw the work being down (in the heat, and ultimately in the rain). The lawn at the Community Garden was in need of some SERIOUS mowing, and a few of us knocked that out.

In the evening, we had 17 kids at Youth Outreach and Cody and Kristen L gave their testimonies, doing a great job each. We also played the Trash Can Game and Movie Charades, with were both pretty fun to watch. Heather did another great job of leading worship.

Tomorrow will be another busy day of ministry, in VBS, service projects and Youth Outreach.

Please continue to pray for strength and energy for each of the students and leaders as we hit the halfway point tomorrow.

bh

Monday Night Recap in Potlach...

When asked if the guys had any input about today for the blog post, the response was, "It was fun!" Those are good words to hear after the first day on a mission trip, and they sum up the attitude of our hard working team. The student leaders were bounding (and rebounding) with energy from morning to night, and I have personally heard comments from several members of the church here how much they appreciate their positive attitudes that they bring into their work with the VBS kids.

Princeton Church of the Nazarene, where we are staying, did quite a bit of pre-registration before we came and their work yielded a strong turnout. We had 76 students between Pre-K and 6th grade attending VBS today (the elementary school has just under 200 students total - so that's not a bad ratio!). Everything ran smoothly - from a fun opening skit that had the kids cracking up and throughout all the various activities such as crafts, a lesson, recreation, etc. Each day of VBS has a big question that all the grade levels teach, and today's big question was: Who is Jesus?

Our service project involves lots of weeding at the church as well as a yard barrier project that involves measuring, cutting, digging ruts for, and placing railroad ties. During our family time one of the themes that a few people shared on was how these labor intensive activities are very physical, but they also have a deeply spiritual side as well. God displayed his deep love for us by giving up his only son as a sacrifice to atone for us. We have this great opportunity this week to reflect his love in the act of giving up a few comfortable hours in service for other members of the body of Christ.

At youth outreach we had about 8 youth join us for ultimate frisbee, scripture reading, music, and a talk by one of the student leaders. I find myself wanting to name the students who are doing outstanding jobs, but the truth is that there is not a single student on this team who is not pulling their weight and going beyond what is expected. I was also very impressed with the wisdom the students showed in the reflections and scripture each student brought to family time tonight. We talked yesterday about the purpose of this trip being to glorify God, and glorifying him through teaching and service, fellowship with one another, and going deeper in our personal relationships with God. Each of the student leaders has set a goal for themselves in each of those three areas and are mindfully reading scripture, praying, and engaging with others with those areas in mind.

Please pray for continued energy for everyone and that the student leaders continue to push themselves to make this time spiritually meaningful.

Monday Night Recap in Odessa...

Hello again from Odessa,

Praise the Lord for his constant provision!

We entered today with question marks about our service project. The city council had halted our plans of repainting the historic church in town (now a museum), due to the fact that anyone under the age of 18 couldn't use scaffolding under their insurance plan. However, this morning we found a small loophole and realized that we are able to scrape and paint anything up to 10 feet. The students tore into the project this morning. We removed fallen trees and brush from the yard around the building, as well as removed all of the old dead grass to make way for new sod. We have the majority of the church scraped and should finish that task by lunch tomorrow. I have attached some photos that hopefully Brandon will be able to post, take special note of the "hard work" Abby Allen and I put in.

After some hose showers this afternoon we held a BBQ for youth outreach. We had nearly twenty local youth show up for hamburgers and hot dogs as well as a time of worship. We have had the blessing of immediately incorporating some of the church's youth into our activities. During worship tonight, one of the local students joined us on bass (worship picture included). After worship Joel Condreay shared his testimony and did a amazing job of explaining what Christ has done in is life.

We ended the evening with a game of Soccer-Hockey or SocHockey as it is known around these parts. The picture attached will give a better explanation that words could, but let’s just say a soccer ball, two pool noodles and many kicking feet are involved...

Tomorrow we will be finishing up the scraping on the church and begin the process of pressure washing. We have a real bond with a core group of students here in Odessa and many have already joined us for meals and bible study. Some will also be tagging along for our service projects tomorrow. Please continue to pray for our relationships with the students here. That we would be iron sharpening iron and for the boldness to share the gospel with those students who do not know the Lord.

- Jake

Monday Night Recap in Pilot Rock...

We had a good first day in Pilot Rock, with a lot of energy and enthusiasm.

There were 54 kids at Vacation Bible School (including 22 in the 1st/2nd Grade Class), but the kids did an outstanding job in their Bible Stories (Kyle, Jeremy, James and Kristen L all spoke for their respective grades). The songs taught by the VBS leaders were well received and the weather was perfect.

At Youth Outreach, we had 16 kids (they said 12 would be a great night...), and heard testimonies from Kyle and Jeremy who both knocked it out of the park, and Heather led worship.

We ended the night with a town-wide game of "War", basically another version of Fugitive meets Capture the Flag.

We were really encouraged by the response of the children and the students at Youth Outreach. We did two versions of Youth Outreach today, one just a hang out with some football and ultimate frisbee right after lunch, then an "official" one following dinner, which closely resembled Teasdale Park.

Tomorrow, we'll be doing VBS, Youth Outreach and a beautification project at Pilot Rock's Community Center.

The weather is expected to be 85-90 with thunderstorms.

Please pray for more students at Youth Outreach, and continued strength for the students!

Thanks
bh

Potlach Update (from Sunday night)...

We had a good day of travel through the barren beauty of Eastern Washington and ending in the rolling green hills of southern Idaho.  We were greeted with a warm welcome by pastor Bob Lambert and his wife, Lisa, at Princeton Church of the Nazarene.  After getting a tour of the church and unloading all of our belongings, about 15 members of the church who will be volunteering with our student leaders during VBS this week joined us in a kick-off barbecue.  Most of the volunteers are elderly but full of spunk and excitement at the prospect of working with our FEPC youth!

All of the students have shown a lot of independence in preparing lesson plans, setting up classrooms, working out skits, and much more!  We're all feeling a bit tired from the drive and push to get set up this evening, but we're excited and ready to go for tomorrow!

-Ben

Pilot Rock Update (from Sunday night)...

We had a quicker drive than expected (all within the legal means of driving), and upon our arrival into Pilot Rock, the members of the church had a pizza dinner for us and we dove right in to learning the VBS songs, decorating the church, doing a "dry run" of the rotation for VBS, and hung out with the teens and some of the children at Pilot Rock.

We had a good time at Family Time of prayer and preparation and on Monday, we dive right in at 8 a.m. with VBS. In the afternoon, we'll have Youth Outreach at the park, with Jeremy and Kyle giving testimonies and several games to play.

The teens from Pilot Rock have already embraced us with open arms and that will hopefully trigger a good response at Youth Outreach.

We shut things down pretty early Sunday night so everyone could get a good nights sleep before we get up and at it for VBS on Sunday.

Odessa Update (from Sunday night...)

Hello All...

We reached Odessa at about 3pm this afternoon after stopping in Ellensburg for lunch. We were greeted by Pastor Jon Hayashi and a group of his students, who were kind enough to treat us to some pizza. We joined them for a time of worship after dinner, Anne Rendle and Abby Allen played with some of their musicians. After worship we headed out for a time of Frisbee and fellowship at the school, we had about a dozen local students join in with our group and it made for a great time.

Pastor Jon has been a great encouragement and has helped us get to know some of the youth in the community as well as some that attend his church. The students are excited for some of the relationships that they have already started to build. We are still working on exactly what we will be doing service project wise tomorrow, but we are ready for whatever God has in store for us.

The church facilities are more than accommodating and the students have settled in nicely. We wrapped up family time a little earlier before spending some time playing cards before bed... it's about 12:26am Odessa Standard Time so I should stop typing and get to bed...

More to come tomorrow, thanks in advance for all of your prayers!

- Jake