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.