4-twenty west college street

GLOBAL CAFE RESUMES TONIGHT!

2012-01-15T14:22:00.001-05:00

Come Skate with Us!

2011-12-10T15:15:00.000-05:00

Enjoy a break from your studies and try out Lexington's new outdoor skating rink! We're meeting at the WGM Student Center Sunday at 6PM to carpool up. Hope you can join us!

Sunday night, December 4: the Vacas

2011-12-03T23:16:00.001-05:00

We want you to join us!

2011-11-30T21:51:00.002-05:00

Never skiied before? No problem! Ski lessons included in the price!

Tonight @ Global Cafe: the Coppedges!

2011-11-20T11:22:00.002-05:00

Focus on Ukraine, Tonight @ Global Cafe`!

2011-11-06T15:07:00.002-05:00

Tonight @ Global Cafe`!

2011-10-30T12:47:00.002-04:00

Meet This Year's Cabinet!

2011-09-01T10:42:00.000-04:00

We are so blessed to have these awesome students promoting missions and WGM on campus this academic year! Thanks, guys, for your service!!!

Last day in Japan

2011-05-26T17:22:00.001-04:00

by Trent Herzog

Thursday

We had lunch with pastor Paul Ueki at a Chinese restaurant where I ate lots of exotic food, which included shark fin soup, sliced jellyfish, and peiking duck (duck skin tacos). I’m trying to eat a lot so I can make up for the weight I lost at Asbury and gain weight, because I want to get bigger, so I think I surprised Mr. Waggoner and Crum by eating more than them, despite being smaller than them. The pastor paid for the meal, which was very generous.

Then the pastor gave us a tour of the city where he was born, which included walking along Tokyo Bay. We saw three buildings that were called king, queen and jack, because they were the first three big buildings in Yokohama. Mr. Waggoner took some pictures of Crum and me against backdrops like a ferris wheel.

We went back to the Zirkles house, and Mr. Waggoner, Crum and Holly did some shopping at Don Quixote, while Mr. Zirkle and I checked out the martial arts dojo above the store, because Mr. Zirkle remembered that I wanted to see some martial arts in Japan. The dojo was small, but I saw some children practicing jiu jutsu, which is one of my favorite Japanese martial arts. During dinner at the Zirkles’ house, the Zirkles gave Mr. Waggoner, Crum and I all pens for a present. That night, we signed the Zirkles’ guest book and tried some soybean flavored Kit Kats and “dry” Pepsi that Holly had bought at the store.

I have been over whelmed by the Zirkles’ generosity during this trip. There have been so many good people on this trip like the Zirkles, Holly, pastor Paul Ueki and the Bible study at Rikkyo college. There might be only 1% Christianity in Japan right now, but with good, genuine people such as these, I definitely think there is hope for Japan. ^_^

We are posting this as we run out the door to the airport, so we won't have time for captions, but still thought you may enjoy some pictures from the day.

Add caption

Back to school

2011-05-25T10:33:00.000-04:00

by Nathan Waggoner

Today was a pretty laid back day in some ways. We traveled to the Christian Academy of Japan (CAJ) where Becky Zirkle works in the library. We wanted to get a little footage of Becky in her ministry there at CAJ. Since the end of the year is nearly over, Becky is busy cataloguing the textbooks and we helped her move some of them around the school. We also filmed some students in the courtyard for some more youth footage.

Nathan Crum uses the steady cam to shoot a little behind the scenes today. We have been filming a fair amount of behind the scenes footage and hopefully will be able to edit a video of our time here as well.

After driving back to our home base, we ate an amazing dinner! It was a typical Japanese dinner consisting of rice and shredded cabbage with breaded and deep fried chicken or pork as the main dish with Miso soup and fruit as sides. After dinner Nathan Crum tried making some sushi using some leftover rice and a seaweed wrap. It was impressive! I think I know what we will be doing for Global Café snacks when we share this fall.

Tomorrow we will be traveling by train south of the city to Yokohama. It will be sort of a tourist day as we see a new part of Japan. We don’t have any particular footage we are trying to get, but you can be sure we will be taking our cameras anyway.

It is hard to believe that tomorrow will be out last day here in Japan. We have been blessed to see lots of amazing things and meet some really great people. Pray with us that we will be able to share a little of what we have learned through the videos we will be producing. The Zirkles who have hosted us will be coming back to the states this summer for their homeland ministry assignment and they will be using our videos as they share with churches and small groups throughout the USA. There is a young family named the Motts that will also be using the videos as will Brandon Kuba as they are also raising their support to get to Japan. If you are interested in having any of them share with your church or small group, e-mail me at Nathan@asburywgm.org and I can put you in touch with them.

Thanks for your continued prayers!

Last day of interviews

2011-05-24T10:12:00.001-04:00

by Nathan Crum

Today has also been a good day for interviews. We talked to three leaders in the Japanese church that also has plenty of experience in other cultures. There were still a few questions that were left unanswered before today but after we were able to hone our questions and talk to these pastors with a fresh perspective we got almost everything we needed.

After some of the interviews today Trent and I decided to take on Tokyo’s newest challenge…the MegaMac! McDonalds new quadruple patty burger which we have only seen here in Japan. We managed to consume it easily along with fries. They also gave us a free can shaped glass Coca-Cola cup for super sizing the meal.

From the first ad we saw on the train, we knew we had to try the Mega Mac

We were also able to go celebrate Nathan Waggoner’s birthday today by eating out at a nice restaurant in the Sunshine City mall and dessert at Coldstone creamery before ending the day logging and resting.

Shot on a timer from a neighboring table at tonight's dinner.

Nathan's balancing fork trick

They sing a ice cream mixing song here in Japan as they prepare your Cold Stone treat.

Nathan chose "Chocolate Devotion" for his birthday dessert. Instead of any coffee flavors, they had green tea flavors of ice cream. None of us were brave enough to try it.

Now Nathan Waggoner and I are sitting in our matching authentic Japanese outfits (with pants) and watching Leverage with Trent and Holly. Just a few days left here in Japan and a few places left to visit and film before we head home and finish up the project. So we will leave you with some fun humorous images for today.

Holly took this action shot.

For how clean everything in Tokyo is, we were surprised to see this sign in the elevator of an office building today.

Trent standing in to test the light for an interview that was about to happen.

The Zirkles had a special plate for Nathan to use today on his birthday.

The next viral YouTube video. Youth all over Japan will soon be doing this.

Rainy Monday

2011-05-23T09:56:00.000-04:00

by Trent Herzog

Monday

I transcribed most of three videos in the morning. Then we went to Rikkyo college and had another meeting with the Rikkyo Bible study group. We interviewed some more people in the Bible study group and filmed everybody sitting at the table where the group has their meetings. We also had a Japanese, sugary snack that we had in the park on Saturday. We talked to the people in the group just to get acquainted and read some verses in the Bible, but we only stayed for two hours and then went back home. We didn’t do much outside today. This afternoon I finished transcribing the three videos that were in English and found out from Mr. Zirkle that he transcribed the videos that were in Japanese himself, which saves me a lot of work. This evening we watched two more episodes of Leverage. This day was somewhat uneventful. We only did one thing outside today, which was visiting the Bible study group again. I can’t believe we only have three more days left before we return home. I wish we could spend two more weeks in Japan, because I love it here and the Zirkles are great. Japan is everything I thought it would be. ^_^

Worshiping in Tokyo

2011-05-22T09:47:00.000-04:00

by Nathan Waggoner

Even without a common language, worshiping with brothers and sisters in Christ is always uplifting. Today was no different. We attended the Immanuel Fukagaea Church this morning and joined them in worship. After the service we ate a delicious meal of Japanese Curry while sitting on the floor at low tables in typical Japanese fashion. The church provides an inexpensive meal each week after church and most of the church family stays to eat a fellowship. Once a month the church puts on an afternoon concert, so after lunch we enjoyed some classical and sacred music performed by the youth and college-age students at the church. According to the pastor’s wife, about 2/3 of the people who came to the concert were non-Christian. It is rare for a non-believer to feel comfortable coming into a church building, so these concerts are a way to introduce new people to the church. The music was beautiful, but after a good meal and while sitting in a warm room, the “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies” felt a lot like a lullaby. The only think that kept me awake was filming Nathan Crum struggling to stay awake himself.

After the concert, we had the chance to interview lots of people in the church. We did six individual interviews and then had a panel style interview with about a dozen youth. According to Kevin Zirkle we got a lot of good stuff, but we have to trust him since all of the interviews were in Japanese today.

We did several of our interviews up on a little balcony above the sanctuary. We have gotten pretty good at being creative in tight places.

Trent is showing where to attach the mic.

We try to use available light whenever possible, but sometimes we had to get out the video light to add depth to the subject.

Shooting a panel 'interview' was a little tricky, but hopefully we have something usable.

Tomorrow we will be working hard at translating some of the interviews we have shot. As they are translated into English, Trent will be transcribing them. Nathan Crum and I will be working on scripting and making sure we have all of the shots we need. We will be using this information to plan out Wednesday and Thursday’s schedules.

Pray that tomorrow is productive!

Promised pictures from Saturday

2011-05-21T19:25:00.001-04:00

Thanks to Holly for taking theses pictures of us yesterday while we focused (no pun intended) on video.

We found this overlook of the famous Tokyo scramble intersection and were able to get some good shots of the crossing.

There is no audio on the shot below because we were standing in a train terminal and the audio wouldn't have matched anyway. The visual speaks for itself. This intersection averages 45,000 people crossing an hour.

Trent uses the glide cam to shoot the intersection.

Reviewing some footage before heading out to get more at a popular Tokyo park.

Our 'normal' steady cam camera battery died, and our other camera is significantly heavier, so Nathan Crum used his water bottle as a counter weight for a few shots. He has the real makings of a missionary videographer with that creativity!

Ultimately we found that two empty water bottles made the rig a little more steady.

We aren't standing this close just be cause we like each other. Even with our doubts when the train doors opened, Holly said we would fit, and she was right.

The train emptied out about half of the people from the shot above, so we were able to get this short video.

Heading to church in a few minutes to get more interviews. We will get to eat lunch at a traditional Japanese low style table. When is the last time you took your shoes off when you went to church?

Full Saturday in Tokyo

2011-05-21T10:15:00.000-04:00

by Nathan Crum

What a busy tiring day we have had today, but we have been blessed with tons of good footage. (We will try to post some pictures/videos in the morning) We started our day interviewing the Zirkels this morning around 10am. After the interview we began our 7 hour trek/train ride that was one of our most fun days this week.

We travelled by train to Yoyogi park where we were able to see what people in Japan like to do on the weekend. Before we got there though we had to get some shots of “The Scramble.” The scramble is a nickname for a large 4-way intersection that has an average of 45,000 people crossing it every hour. The cross walks go from sidewalk to sidewalk and criss-cross into an “x” in the middle of the intersection. You can also just carve your own path and ignore the crosswalks altogether because they stop all four ways of traffic at once instead of a few at a time. On our way to the park we came across a group of Taiko players. Taiko I learned is a Japanese style of drumming where they will choreograph movements between the drums and sort of dance at the same time while playing and switching drums between each other.

At the park we saw more activities than we could count on two hands. There were people set up doing jump rope to hip-hop music, freestyle basketball & soccer players, skateboarding, BMX bikes, volleyball, Frisbee, sword practice, dancing, picnics, concerts, juggling, and more. You name it we saw it. We stayed there for quite some time trying to film as many youth activities and families in the park as we could. We ran the T2i camera dead and went through 1 ½ batteries on the 5D which we had never done before. I think we managed to gather lots of great shots today. We finally began the journey back home and stopped at a few interesting shops along the way and found some great deals. We also managed to fit our team on our first rush hour train experience just without needing the train attendants to push people to make them fit as the doors were shutting. It was still pretty crowded though. Altogether it was the fullest and most exhausting day but it was one of the best days we have had so far.

Friday in Tokyo

2011-05-20T09:51:00.002-04:00

by Trent Herzog

I transcribed three interviews that we had in English this morning. Then we visited the Bible study group at the college again and interviewed five students in the group. Mr. Zirkle interviewed the five students in Japanese, Mr. Waggoner filmed the interviews, and I held a reflector during a couple of the interviews until my arms got tired. After that, we had lunch that Mr. Zirkle had brought with him, outside. Then we shopped at a pen store, a computer store and a bookstore where I looked at manga including the Gantz series and doujinshi. Crum and I bought a couple drinks and rice cakes at a 7/11. It was the first rice cake I’ve ever had. It was cheap, only 130 yen, around $1.50, but it was good. My drink tasted weird, though. Sodas and soft drinks in America taste a lot different from drinks in Japan, and they usually have a stronger taste. A couple of tremors have occurred today, one in the morning and another while I was working on this journal this evening. The tremors are only one something on the seismograph, so they aren’t that bad, but it’s still startling when it happens.

Thanks to Holly for these pictures of our team from earlier in the week. We have been so busy shooting video that we haven't gotten many pictures of ourselves.

Friday in Tokyo

2011-05-20T09:51:00.001-04:00

Thanks to Holly for these pictures of our team from earlier in the week. We have been so busy shooting video that we haven't gotten many pictures of ourselves.

A Full Day

2011-05-19T09:49:00.000-04:00

Today was a really full day and we are tired, so we will post our update tomorrow. We are all doing well, and learning a lot about the church here in Japan.

Thanks for your continued prayers!

High above Tokyo

2011-05-18T09:21:00.002-04:00

This panoramic was stitched together from 10 still pictures. (click picture to see a larger size)

Today was a pretty amazing day for filming and getting to understand the lives of experienced Japanese Christians from a women’s English Bible study. We began our day by going to a popular tourist attraction in the top of the Tokyo Metropolitan government tower. The top of the tower contained a couple panoramic views overlooking Tokyo as well as a café and a gift shop. Even though we were told not to use tripods while we were there, another group of people came up with a professional tripod and video camera and began shooting.

Here is a screen grab from one of our videos. Even from 45 floors up, we could zoom in on workers taking a smoking break at the base of the middle dark building in the panoramic above.

The overlook was on the 45th floor of this Tokyo Metropolitan tower.

After we made sure we shot all we needed we grab some lunch at a local restaurant and filled up on large bowls of ramen. We later met up with Becky Zirkel and the women from her Bible study to interview them about what it is like to be a Christian in Japan. All the interviews went well and we even had the chance to talk to a 3^rd generation Christian which is very hard to find in Japan. Hope you enjoy our pictures from today and there will be more tomorrow.

Playing tourists (with lots of camera equipment)

2011-05-17T08:56:00.002-04:00

by Trent Herzog

We visited the college we had gone to the day before again where we saw a festival and did some filming. However, we weren’t able to film at the rally, because an official at the festival wouldn’t allow it. However, we did get some footage of some people and buildings that weren’t at the rally. We also went to a Buddhist temple where we saw two giant statues of scary looking demons that were supposed to guard Buddha from evil spirits. The statues were in small towers with screens that you could see through, and on the side of each tower there was a giant sandal made of straw that was supposed to belong to Buddha. If you manage to touch Buddha’s giant sandal, you’re also supposed to get good luck, so Crum filmed me jumping up and touching the sandal. A Japanese cameraman took some pictures of me, and I gave him the peace sign, which is the typical sign most Japanese people give you when you take a picture of them. I used the restroom but found out the restroom only had holes in the floor that you were supposed to do your business into instead of actual toilets. I bought myself a bottle of Lipton tea, because I had a headache and I thought I might be dehydrated. I also filmed some of the videos today. We logged lots of videos in the morning and at night.

Nathan and Trent logging this morning

The Asaksa Temple in the middle of Tokyo

There were several small gardens around the temple with statues.

Trent jumping to touch the huge straw sandals. Folklore says that you will be able to walk long distances if you can touch these sandals. With all the walking we are doing here in Japan, we may need the help.

We were caught in a downpour as we were leaving the temple. Thankfully the rain had stopped by the time we got out of the subway for our mile walk home.

You probably wouldn't hear Nathan if we hadn't set up the mic. We have some 'official' interviews tomorrow, so it was good to test our camera set-up.

How many people did YOU shoot today?

2011-05-16T08:20:00.000-04:00

by Nathan Waggoner

There are an estimated 35 million people in the Tokyo area, so shooting video can be a little tricky as we found today. Getting equipment from point A to point B is the first challenge, but thankfully we are shooting with digital SLR's so we can travel pretty light. The one necessary piece of equipment that is proving to be difficult to use is the tripod. Finding a place where we can set one up without being in the way of everyone is a challenge. Most people ignore the fact that we are shooting pictures and video, but they aren't happy if we are set up in the flow of traffic. There are thousands of people in the streets and on the sidewalks, so we have learned to time our shots to the stoplights which give us short segments of clear walkways to set and shoot.

This morning we worked a little more on the planning aspect of our video work. We think we have four video topics nailed down and we are developing a shot list to help us make sure we get the visuals we need to tell the stories. We have been particularly drawn to the needs of the youth in Japan, so we are planning to focus a lot of our attention on getting footage of youth. Today we were privileged to spend some time in Bible study with four students from Rokyo University which is within walking distance of our home base at the WGM center. We met in a small room on the 5th floor of the student activities building on campus. It was nice to get to meet a few college students and hear brief testimonies from them. One of the young men in the study is a new freshmen this semester at the university who accepted Christ while being hosted by a Christian family in a study abroad program in rural PA. How cool is that! He recently returned to Tokyo after two years in the USA, and was glad to find a Christian fellowship he could join at the University. I am so glad that our missionaries Holly and Kevin are here to help continue to disciple him and the other Christians in the group. You can hear Trent's thoughts about the Bible study in the video clip below. We will be spending some more time at the University tomorrow to get some stock footage of random students in their beautiful courtyard.

After the Bible study, we traveled to the headquarters of Immanuel Gospel Church where we met several church leaders and set up times to interview them over the next two weeks. While Kevin and Holly were representing WGM in some meetings, the three of us walked around the surrounding blocks getting more footage and enjoying the sights and sounds of Tokyo.

We are traveling by train and foot mostly here in Japan. Both offer exercise since there is often no place to sit on the trains.

Trent and Kevin on our walk back to the WGM house after a full day.

We walked several miles today, so I think we should sleep well tonight. We have have a full day of shooting tomorrow that includes the University, a Buddhist temple, and one of the busy shopping districts. Thanks for your prayers! We feel them even though we are 13 hours ahead of most of you!

:-)

Our first Sunday in Japan

2011-05-15T09:56:00.000-04:00

by Nathan Crum

Today our team had the privilege to attend the Nakameguro church in Tokyo. It was a beautiful church that is built into 4 story building with the sanctuary being on the third floor. The first floor has glass walls going around it on two sides so that the occasional worship meeting held there might be visible to passer bys who have no idea what Christians do in a church. The worship in the church was beautiful to listen to but with all the words being in Japanese characters it’s kind of hard to sing along. We were also witness to an event that hasn’t happened before in the 30 years the Zirkels have lived here and attended the church. At the end of the service the pastor was interrupted by a couple radical German ladies that were trying to preach impending judgment and death on the Japanese as a people at which point they were quickly, yet kindly, escorted out the door and informed that it’s illegal to purposefully interrupt a religious service in Japan.

After all the excitement in the church that morning we ate lunch and then made our way over to the Meiji Shinto shrine. It was a section of Tokyo almost like a park with broad gravel paths and enveloped by towering trees and spiraling branches.

Outside of the gate to the shrine.

Here we were able to observe and understand a little of Japan’s religious past and influences on today’s culture and beliefs. Where in the USA many of our large events like weddings and child dedications are held in churches by religious and non-religious people; the Japanese would have similar events at Shinto or Buddhist shrines like the wedding we were fortunate enough to witness today. It was a wonderful day for experiencing Japan and getting footage for the videos being worked on. At the end of the day we sat with Holly and the Zirkels and had a great discussion about youth in the church and how there is a great need for people that can connect to those youth. Not only is there a need to draw them in but retaining a group that are committed to the church and growing spiritually. This task is will be increasingly hard with the ever widening disconnect between the very traditional adults and the ever uncertain and western influenced youth that are living here today.

Nathan Crum enjoys a new Fanta flavor - Melon

This picture is from day one at about 5AM as we waited for our flight from Lexington.

I love the upload speed here in Japan! 12 MB/sec! At that rate, we will try to post a daily video here from now on. The video below is of Nathan Crum in the train on the way to the Zirkles house in Tokyo. We were mainly testing camera settings, but I thought that you may enjoy seeing what we saw out the train window just outside of Tokyo when we first arrived in Japan.

Travel day

2011-05-14T18:31:00.000-04:00

by Trent Herzog

Second day of our team’s trip, Friday and Saturday

We traveled for fifteen hours but also lost a day because of the time zones. We took two planes, one to Houston Texas and the second one to Japan. We woke up at 3:30 in the morning, so this is the third day that I’ve gotten very little sleep. My whole schedule is kind of messed up right now with the odd hours.

After we took the two planes and arrived in Japan, we had Mr. Zirkel pick us up. We then took a couple trains and had Mr. Zirkel lead us to his home. We had dinner with Mr. Zirkel, his wife and Holly, who is a student that’s learning the Japanese language at a university and Tokyo and is staying with us in the Zirkel"s home. Since the Zirkel are a host family, they might have several groups with different objectives staying in their house at the same time.

Some interesting stuff happened today. On the first plane, I sat next to a girl who was a student at the University of Kentucky and was taking a trip to Ecuador. We talked for a little bit, but I was so tired that I fell asleep on the girl’s shoulder on accident, but Mr. Waggoner grabbed my head and pulled me off of her.

Some other screwy stuff happened with me. I was the only one to open a window when everybody was trying to sleep, because it wasn’t dark out, but it was supposed to be night. I also bought a couple weasel balls from a store at Houston’s airport, one for Calico, my cat, to play with and one for my family and I to keep intact in case Calico destroys hers.

When we arrived at Japan, I discovered a couple interesting things about their culture. First, they had several anime advertisements and references. I saw the symbol for One Piece on a guy’s backpack in Tokyo’s airport. There was an advertisement for Gantz in the train we rode on. Also, there were a couple posters for Yugioh 5Ds on the walls of buildings that I saw when we rode on the train.

We almost lost Crum when we got on the second train. The door closed before he could get on, and we left him behind. However, Mr. Zirkel , who is the guy we’re staying with, went back and got him. Crum fortunately had the presence of mind to stay where he was instead of trying to look for us, which would have made matters worse. Because of our incident with Crum, Mr. Zirkel developed a plan in case one of us gets left behind while trying to get on the train or subway again. Either the person left behind will stay where they are or they will go to the next train stop, because Mr. Zirkel knows where that is.

Mr. Zurcel’s idea with the trains and subways could be really useful in the future…

We had dinner with Mr. Zirkel, his wife and Holly, who is a new missionary staying with the Zirkel's. After dinner we got ready for bed. I think we should be able to sleep.

Safely in Japan!

2011-05-14T05:27:00.000-04:00

Just a quick note to let family and friends know that we are now safely in Japan at the WGM guesthouse. The flight was long, but the plane was new and had lots of nice features like outlets at each seat and movies on demand throughout the flight.

We are about to sit down for supper, but hopefully I will be able to post a few pictures and more details about our travel and accommodations.

Nathan Waggoner for the team

Haiti Slideshow

2011-03-28T10:22:00.000-04:00

Click here to view a slideshow of images from the Haiti trip!

Haiti house panoramic

2011-03-28T09:43:00.000-04:00

Thanks to Michael Haddock for taking and combining this panoramic of the house we worked on over spring break! We have uploaded fairly large versions of them, so feel free to click to expand them to see more detail. Hopefully soon we will have a slideshow up from the trip as well.

Thanks for all your prayers! Sharing with Global Cafe last night was great! Looking forward to next spring break!

Haiti Team Report this Sunday

2011-03-24T14:48:00.000-04:00

Come hear a live report from our team to Haiti! Sunday, 6PM at Global Cafe`!

Getting ready to head home.

2011-03-20T21:54:00.002-04:00

Note: In the midst of packing, we didn't upload any pictures tonight. Sorry! We will upload some tomorrow if we can find wi-fi in the airports.

Hey everyone, this is Chris Wylie writing again for the team.

Today was our last day in Haiti. After a long week of work and a day spent as tourists yesterday, it was nice to have a day of relaxation before leaving early tomorrow morning. Today we came together a few times to debrief for our entire trip and share what we have experienced personally with each other. I found this to be very helpful in the early stages of mentally and emotionally unpacking everything that I’ve seen and experienced in the past ten days. It was very interesting to hear what everyone else in the group has taken away from this trip as well. I feel as though the team has really come together over the course of the last week.

After a day spent napping, sharing thoughts, and fixing wireless networks, the team went across the street once again to spend time with the children of the New Hope Club. We spent the first fifteen minutes or so watching Carly speak to the kids, and it was amazing to me to see how well he keeps their attention and connects with them. Nathan, Maria and I then performed a short skit for the kids before distributing snacks and spending some time playing. Before leaving, we bought cards and kites that the kids had made. Sarah explained to us that they have taught the kids to make crafts that they can sell to tourists instead of resorting to begging, and we were all very happy to purchase from them.

Today has definitely been a great way to close out our trip. I greatly appreciate having time to rest and relax, share with one another in great detail, and play with the kids across the street one last time. Without a doubt, this week has been a life changing experience for us all and I’m sure we’re all excited to return.

God bless everyone at home

Getting ready to head home.

2011-03-20T21:52:00.000-04:00

Note: In the midst of packing, we didn't upload any pictures tonight. Sorry! We will upload some tomorrow if we can find wi-fi in the airports.

Hey everyone, this is Chris Wylie writing again for the team.

God bless everyone at home

One last look at Haiti

2011-03-19T23:22:00.000-04:00

Hello everyone, it’s Maria again. The internet is actually working quite well at the moment so I’m going to type fast. The original plan for this morning was to go through the National Museum in Port-au-Prince and then see more of the city throughout the day. As it is in Haiti, we faced some challenges, but nothing that we couldn’t handle.

The Presidential Palace virtually untouched since the Earthquake.

A painting of how the palace looked pre-quake.

First stop was the museum, except that it was closed today. We are assuming it’s because of the elections tomorrow-no big deal. In the same area as the museum are the presidential palace and an independence monument that just happens to be a 200 stair tower. Our second idea was to climb the tower to get some great pictures of the city (in case we didn’t have enough already). It turns out there is a key you must get to unlock the gate to climb the tower. After driving around and waiting for about 25 minutes Gens found out the person who usually has the key wasn’t in today. As Gens said “the election is against us”.

Luckily we are good at improvising and Gens was able to tell us some history of Haiti while showing us some statues of past presidents. It ended up being an interesting experience because the statues are in the middle of what used to be parks before the earthquake. The parks are now tent cities, where it is estimated that 1 million people, ¼ of the city’s population, still live. I’ve heard about the tent cities through the news but actually walking through the maze of tents touches your heart in a different way. I felt like we were walking though people’s front yards just to take a few pictures.

Over lunch we asked Gens to tell his story of the earthquake. Again, hearing about it on the news is a lot different than hearing it from someone you have become friends with. The thing is, if we wouldn’t have asked Gens to share, he probably wouldn’t have brought it up. The Haitians aren’t trying to take advantage of their situation. I’ve realized this week that Haitians are proud people and they just want us to learn more about who they are.

A wedding party passed us on the road today. The photographer was in the back with the groomsmen.

On top of their other responsibilities, these groomsmen were transporting the cake! Not sure I would want that job on these roads!

Nathan was stuck in the back of the Honda and decided to try to nap on the way home. It was a bumpy ride!

I realize this blog is bittersweet as our time in this amazing country is winding down. We are all trying to process the many experiences we’ve had as we say good-bye to new friends. One thing is certain though: this trip has been a blessing to everyone on the team and God is using it to teach us how to be better servants.

God Bless and Boiler Up!

Maria Cranor

Back on-line...sort of.

2011-03-18T22:56:00.001-04:00

Well, its Ben again, and I’m writing the blog again!

I’m actually writing for Thursday and Friday because we have been without Internet for 2 days now! We forget how much of a luxury it really is to have immediate access to the World Wide Web.

Thursday was a very, very active day! In one day’s time we accomplished almost as much as we had all week. We were really working in rhythm with each other. We worked really quickly and actually ran out of supplies. We decided, and were determined to finish the roof!!! There was one section that proved to be very difficult. The front left corner of the house was within two feet of a steep cliff preventing the use of a ladder from the ground. So we built a ladder off of the peak of the house connecting to another wooden ladder coming out from within the house. I was volunteered to go out on top of the roof to screw the tin in. Looking over the edge and stretching to reach some of the screw points was crazy, but I loved it! We had to call ahead for more supplies because of our rapid work and when they arrived, were on the clock. We had quite the assembly line going and managed to get each section of tin up in around 5 minutes. We finished getting all the tin up on the roof and really enjoyed each other’s company! It was very exciting to know that we got the entire roof up before leaving Haiti!

Yesterday was an exhausting day, and I know I’m still recovering a bit from it all. The non-Asbury group left at 4:30 this morning so we were on our own today. Today we put some finishing touches on the roof and had to haul the remaining wood and cinderblocks down the steep hill. We took one of our wooden ladders and laid a 2x6 over and proceeded to slide the cinder blocks down the hill, which made fast, and much easier work of our task!!

Having finished our work, we got back to the guesthouse early today and enjoy some much-needed time in the pool. I enjoyed jumping in the air attempting to catch the football and just relaxing at the side of the pool. We were all worn out by dinner.

As if we weren’t tired enough, we were invited to plays soccer, or futbol as they call it, with a group of kids tonight. They beat us 9 to 4, without breaking a sweat, and obviously taking it easy on us.

This happened way to often.

But, they didn't think this method of goal keeping was fair. :-)

Ben thought we could have an advantage if we played a man up.

By now I am truly exhausted and I think that applies to the rest of the group! We are enjoying our remaining time together! This trip has been such an amazing experience!

Update from Haiti

2011-03-18T09:01:00.001-04:00

Hello Friends and Family!
I just got a cell phone call from Nathan explaining that everyone is fine, they just haven't had internet for the past 24 hours except for a brief 30-minute window in which time he uploaded several pictures to a Picasa album. After a little bit of exploring, I was able to find them to post here.

Be assured that they have a cell phone in case of emergencies. Today is there last day at the worksite. Tomorrow their Haitian translator is going to show them some other parts of Haiti they haven't had a chance to see yet. Thank you for your prayers!
Cydil

Over Half-Way through!

2011-03-16T23:11:00.002-04:00

It’s my turn to blog tonight. My name is Nathan Waggoner and I am the team leader.

We are a little past the half-way point of our missions trip to Haiti, and our team is closer than ever. We have shared a lot of experiences and have laughed a lot. We also seemed to hit our stride today at the worksite with everyone staying busy. We were so productive in fact that we had to quit a little early when we ran out of materials! The south side of the roof is basically finished, so tomorrow we begin adding the tin to the north side. Each piece seems to go up more smoothly, so hopefully we can make some real progress tomorrow. The pictures today were mainly taken by Maria, so she is not in any of them. I can testify that she worked though!

You may not be aware that this is the first of up to 40 houses that WGM is sending teams to build, so we have been involved with what will in many ways be the ‘model’ home! It is a scary thought that our methodology may be copied many times in the coming months and years. Thankfully Bill from WGM Headquarters has been here helping walk us through. Bill has been working on getting this Adopt-a-Home project off the ground for more than a year since right after the Haiti earthquake last January. The homes for the first four families have been sponsored and teams have been scheduled throughout this spring and summer. We know we aren’t building the Taj Mahal, but for a family living in a tent or temporary apartment, this is the starter home they have prayed for. If you or your church would be interested in sponsoring a house and sending a team, contact Bill at Bill.Bucher@wgm.org

Ben meant this to be a 'super hero' mask, but we think he looks more like a hostage!

Bill’s wife Sandy came along on this trip. Bill brags that he has finally followed through on his promise to take her on a Caribbean vacation. Krista has also been a part of our team after staying on after the OCU team. She is an IWU grad and friend of Bill and Sandy’s. It has been fun having her on our team! Tomorrow is our last day with Bill, Sandy, and Krista since they will be flying out on Friday. We will be sad to see them go.

Bill makes sure the 2x4 is straight before using it as a cross-support.

Krista help Chris remove some nails.

Sandy talks with Gents (our translator) while trying to help Bill keep track of the project and team finances!

As two guys that won't back down, Bill and Ben have had a mostly friendly rivalry during this trip, but a mutual respect has grown.

We hope to get an early start tomorrow. Haitian time doesn’t always allow our task oriented schedule, but we can always try. :-)

Tuesday Update

2011-03-15T22:55:00.001-04:00

Well, my name is Michael Haddock and I am updating the blog tonight.

Editors note: There are not many pictures of Michael in this post because he was the one behind the camera. I will try to remedy that tomorrow.

We started the day off with biscuits and egg gravy, which was pretty good. We stopped at the Radio station to pick up some things and arrange for lunch at the station before we went to the work site, and learned that the Director of the station wouldn’t be there at all this week, so there will not be anyone to possibly work with there who speaks English enough for me to help them with technical problems as we had hoped. While we were at the station before work and for lunch we were able to spend some time playing with the children who were at the school which is connected to the station. Jonathan, the local contractor we are working with, has kids at the school, so we got to meet them and had lots of fun playing with them.

Lunch at the station was an authentic Haitian meal which included rice, beans, a chicken leg, and other things that I didn’t really know what it was, but it was good. Also, Ben’s bag came in today, so everyone now has their clothing. J

Traffic was really bad again today, and it took us about an hour and a half to go about 6 miles to get back to the station for lunch from the site. We think it might have been something to do with construction since we saw that there was a crew putting up telephone poles and taking up half the road.

Back at the OMS Guest House we met some street vendors at the gate and I was able to get a fully brimmed hat that will help keep the sun off my neck since that was getting pretty crispy yesterday. Then we cooled off in the pool and had dinner.

Tomorrow is a full day at the worksite. We are making good progress on the roof.

Monday at the Worksite

2011-03-14T22:53:00.001-04:00

Hey everyone, this is Chris Wylie writing for the team.

Today was our second day on the work site. All in all it was a very productive day. We continued work on the roof of the house and put on the first few pieces of tin. Some of us got our first sunburns today, but I think we’re beginning to become more acclimated to the heat.

The first day we had two kids show up. Today there were four. As soon as the camera was out they wanted to pose.

As we came back to the guest house today, we got caught in a big traffic jam that made the ride home take a couple of hours. We were told that it was caused by a protest that happened earlier in the day because the road crews weren't paid on time. Even though it made for a very long ride in the back of the tap-tap for a few of us, it was a really good chance to take a closer look at the streets of Haiti. Interestingly I’ve found that I’m already a lot more comfortable being out of the compound and amongst the other Haitians in the streets of Port au Prince. Personally, I think just going around and experiencing the city has been a life changing experience all in itself.

Well, I would say that today has been a very good day, and I’m very excited to see how the rest of the week unfolds.

God bless everyone at home.

Sunday in Haiti

2011-03-13T23:08:00.001-04:00

Well tonight the blog is going to represent Haiti from a girl’s perspective. To clarify, there is only one girl on Asbury’s team, so I get to keep the guys in line. My name is Maria Cranor and I am very excited to be experiencing Haiti.

Today being Sunday, we were able to go to church, go out to eat, do some shopping (always my favorite) and overall act like tourists. We went to a church right by Radio Lumiere that also runs a school. The early service has close to 4000 attendees, but we went to the later service. I’ve never experienced a service in another language before, but it was very eye-opening. Even though I couldn’t understand most of what was said, it was obvious that the Holy Spirit was still at work. A team from Mississippi also visited and we were able to sing two songs together for the congregation.

Then someone from their team gave a testimony and our very own Ben McElroy was able to share and sing Amazing Grace. I could tell the church was happy we were there and was very welcoming.

After church we took a very long and bumpy van ride to a grocery store to stock up on the essentials: Cheez-its, peanuts, and cookies. Then we were able to go out to eat at a local restaurant where we enjoyed some spicy turkey and cheese crepes.

Our last stop of the afternoon was at a scenic overlook at the top of the mountain. Port-au-prince looks a lot different from above and I was surprised at the size of the city. One thing that I have been trying to do is see the beauty in this country.

The first day was a little challenging because the drive from the airport to the guesthouse was rather shocking. However, these past two days I have been blessed to be able to really see the beauty of Haiti. The drive to and from the overlook made for some great views and we were able to see the coastline from the top of the mountain.

Before dinner I had the chance to go across the road to a small courtyard to play with some local children. They are part of a ministry called the New Hope Club run by a man named Carly. He is a full time student in Haiti and donates his time and energy to teach the children about Jesus and life skills. When I think mission trips I think about playing with local children so it was great to have that opportunity. We played volleyball, jumped rope, and danced until we were dizzy. It was a very satisfying end to a fun and busy day.

As you can hopefully tell, I am really enjoying my time in Haiti. I’m excited to see how the week unfolds and how God is at work with me and the team. Thank you for your prayers.

Blessings,

Maria, on behalf of the team

First Day on the work site...

2011-03-12T22:27:00.003-05:00

Each day we are going to try and get a different member of the group to write on the blog. Today it is my turn. My name is Ben McElroy, and I’m a senior here at Asbury.

Today was our first day at the work site! We built and finished the trusses for the roof that is going up on the house we are working on! Our team is working really well together and is encouraged about the week ahead of us. The house sits high on a cliff overlooking the bay of Port-au-Prince. What a view! Absolutely beautiful!!

Getting to our worksite, getting anywhere really, is quite an experience! We take what the locals call a Tap-Tap. The Tap-Tap is the Haitian equivalent of a taxi. It consists of a small truck with no tailgate that has a raised wall with a truck cap over us. The drives are ridiculous; there are no official lanes and everyone weaves in and out of traffic! Whenever a truck pulls up behind me I point at my camera and at the individuals in the vehicle insinuating that I want to take their picture and the get very excited, smiling from cheek to cheek!

A short video from inside the Tap-tap.

Below are some pics shot to and from the work site

While we were working two curious little boys showed up to check us out. They were so much fun!! I made a water drop sound that just captivated their attention! Communication was minimal but I was connecting well with them. They hung around the second half of our workday, observing our every move. We took the lids off of our work buckets and used them as Frisbees while we waited for our ride to arrive. It was a much-cherished memory!

After a very hot day at work we were able to come back to the compound and swim for awhile, cooling off. I had to borrow a swimsuit because my bag is the only one not to show up. The whole baggage claim has been a fiasco! Three of the bags did come in today, but the forth didn’t. It may or may not come in tomorrow! I’m praying that it does, but if it doesn’t, I’m surprisingly ok with that. It’s probably a result of the extreme poverty that we have seen driving around getting to our destinations!

Asbury and OCU teams

The group is getting along wonderfully; we have really warmed up to each other and are working well together! We are all an encouragement to each other! I ask that you continue praying for this trip and for my luggage.

We're here!

2011-03-11T21:08:00.002-05:00

We are safely in Haiti and are settling in to the guest house. Unfortunately, four of our five bags didn't join us on the journey! We saw them deplane at the Ft. Lauderdale airport, and we had a three hour layover in Florida departing from the same gate we arrived. We are really not sure how American Airlines could lose our bags under these conditions, but they were somehow successful at it.

There are more thoughts that can be expressed at what we have already seen. Everything is somewhat overwhelming, and we simply drove through town to get to the comfortable guest house. What we were able to capture through dirty windows was limited and doesn't capture the experience well, but hopefully it can give you a taste. Not included are pictures of the thousands of tents in 'tent city' after 'tent city' which hammered home some of the scope of the devastation. We have been praying for the situation in Japan as well.

Tomorrow we will be seeing the work site, and we will try to finish the trusses on the house, so that we can start installing the roof on Monday. We are hopeful our luggage shows up tomorrow as promised, but we have a peace about it either way.

Tomorrow night I will be handing off the responsibility for writing the blog to one of the team members, so you can hear straight from them.

Thanks for your prayers! We are heading to bed!

Nathan for the team

On our way to Haiti!

2011-03-11T05:14:00.000-05:00

We are all doing better than expected for getting up at 3:30 this morning (although we had to take this picture twice since 5AM is apparently too early for Michael to smile normally). Our bags are checked and we are sitting at the gate enjoying some breakfast snacks. We will be flying to Haiti by way of Chicago and Ft Lauderdale.

Our next post should be tonight from Haiti! Pray for good flights and that we would be rested and ready to hit the ground running in Haiti!

Nathan for the team

This Sunday: The Ferg Family (Uganda)

2011-01-27T09:31:00.001-05:00

Join us Sunday night to meet the Fergs! As always, we'll enjoy a variety of international coffees and teas PLUS this week we'll have African CHAI!

Tonight (1/23/11) at Global Cafe`...

2011-01-23T13:33:00.000-05:00

Tonight at Global Cafe` we have the treat of hearing from former Asbury professor, Roy Lauter. "Prof", as he is affectionately called, has traveled around the world and in doing so, developed a huge heart for missions and people of different cultures. He currently serves as the Chairman of the Board for WGM and we’re grateful for his service. We know you will be challenged by his message and enthralled with his stories.

Want to win a doorprize? It's easy this week! Just comment something you love about Global Cafe` on our Facebook page and Jeri will let you choose something from the box when you arrive!

Just have to see the last play off game? We'll have it on following the service for those who stay. ;-)

Sundays, 6PM @ the WGM Student Center
420 W. College St, Wilmore
on the campus of Asbury University

More Slots Available for Ski Retreat!

2011-01-09T19:27:00.001-05:00

Click here to register! Submit your deposit by Friday, January 14!

This Sunday: The Hallahans & Uganda!

2010-11-10T11:37:00.002-05:00

Join us for Global Cafe`, Sunday at 6PM!

Goat Roast Featured Cover Story in Collegian

2010-10-27T14:26:00.001-04:00

Click here to read the Collegian's Cover story about the Goat Roast!

Saturday, October 16... Don't Miss the Goat Roast!

2010-10-13T22:05:00.000-04:00

The Zimmermans (Bolivia) visit Global Cafe`!

2010-09-28T08:13:00.002-04:00

new assistant in the kitchen!

First Global Cafe` of Fall 2010!

2010-08-30T16:08:00.001-04:00

Camp

2010-07-11T12:32:00.010-04:00

We had our last day of camp yesterday. It was a great week, full of lots of games, songs, skits, and fun. The campers all seemed to have a great time and enjoy camp. Here are some pictures from our week.

We sang lots of fun songs to go with our Western theme

A skit about forgiveness

Silly Games

More games

And even more games!

Each team member led a workshop, in which we taught the campers some new English vocabulary. This workshop was themed "Project Runway: World Cup." Campers got to make soccer uniforms out of papers, pipe cleaners, and other arts and crafts supplies.

Another workshop on cupcake decorating

We're still here!

2010-07-09T15:14:00.003-04:00

Yes! We are still here! And we are having an amazing time! As you have most likely figured out from our lack of posting on this blog...camp has kept us very busy! Our days have been full of silly songs, skits and fun games with our campers. As the camp photographer, I have enjoyed experiencing everyone's workshops. Each team member, whether from Asbury or elsewhere, put a lot of thought and creativity into their lessons and each one is uniquely different from the rest. The campers seem to be particularly fond of the workshops involving food, but they have enjoyed the other projects as well.

Tomorrow is the last day of camp.....and we are all feeling the weight of exhaustion physically, emotionally and spiritually. But God has been so faithful to us and has provided for our every need (including making it home in time to watch the World Cup matches). This is a difficult mission field and we have relied heavily upon His guidance. We look forward to sharing our experiences with you when we return home!

Face Prayers

2010-07-02T13:56:00.002-04:00

So up to our arrival in Hungary, we have been praying and preparing by specifically thinking about the missionaries, translators, and English Campers. We received pictures of the Searl family as well as Tibi, Jolayne, and Emma, but sometimes pictures aren't enough to see the true face of Jesus. Experiencing people face to face makes pictures inadequate. Our time yesterday with most of the team, American and Hungarian, was spent in Budapest. What a blessing to get to bond with our brothers and sisters in Christ, even sharing the common experience of touring Budapest and surviving the heat together. Today, we meet nearly every member of our team, increasingly Hungarian. I just need to mention that our team is incomplete without our wonderful translators. We got to learn names, share stories, meals, and even a card game and World Cup game. May the Lord continue to bind us together with love! The only people that we have yet to meet is our campers. However, I can say that our prayers have not been in vain, rather they have been met with the heart of Jesus. I and those of our Asbury team have been given the blessing of putting beautiful faces and wonderful personalities to our prayers before this trip. We now see Jesus' face within the workers whom he has chosen to be here, and it has made evident the presence of the Lord in this place. The only real task that remains now, to carry out this mission, is to obey the voice of Jesus.

Day 2: Tourism

2010-07-01T15:31:00.005-04:00

Today we took on the role of the typical American tourist. Fully equipped with cameras, backpacks, maps, paper bag lunches, etc., we ventured out early this morning into the city of Budapest where we took in the sights, sounds, and smells of this beautiful western European town. We took advantage of the public transportation system (one of my favorite things in Europe), as well as the availability of caffeine (which is a necessity in our battle against jet lag). Many pictures were taken, much laughter ensued, and the excitement about the coming week swelled in each of us. Tomorrow we look forward to orientation with the whole group...Asbury work team, VIAs, translators, missionaries, and friends...and an evening consumed by World Cup madness!

Your prayers are powerful and effective and God has been faithful in answering. Your support is so encouraging to us all and we are eager to share with you what God has in store for us and for the people of Hungary in the coming days.

Hungary : Day One

2010-06-30T14:37:00.002-04:00

Hello Everyone!!

We left last night for Budapest, Hungary and had two smooth flights from Detroit to Amsterdam to Hungary, everyone on the trip is safe and sound but quite tired. Needless to say we are all incredibly excited about what God has in store for us on this trip, what with the sightseeing we'll be doing to the ministering we'll be doing through the English Camp next week. I can hardly believe that this week is almost over already and thinking about it, we're not here all that long. The people we're staying with are so hospitable and kind--we couldn't have asked for better people to be staying with. Well since not much has happened yet, I'll leave this for someone else to add on to.

2010-06-29T21:25:00.001-04:00

Made it to Detroit, our flight is delaued until 11. We'll then have a 35 minute window to make our flight to Budapest. It will be a close call.

2010-06-12T21:51:00.001-04:00

Aftef a great day in the Grand Canyon yesterday and then drove to Albuquerque, NM. We have driven all day and are about to set up camp right outside Ft. Smith, AK.

2010-06-10T17:59:00.001-04:00

A great week of camp. We were blessed by the children and the opportunity to learn with them. Now we're heading home.

2010-06-07T21:01:00.001-04:00

Today has been a full day of games, music, art, reading, bible stories, cooking and story time at the library. We are all starting to grow close to the kids and they are precious. Tonight we take them to the pool.

2010-06-07T09:54:00.001-04:00

About to wake up the campers amd start the first full day of camp. Pray that they'd see Jesus!

2010-06-07T00:38:00.001-04:00

Kids have arrived and we're super excited to spend the next 4 days with them. They've already been a blessing!

2010-06-06T17:30:00.001-04:00

Enjoyed Sunday school and church at the First Indian Baptist Church in Pheonix this morning and then lunch with the Boldens (one of the missionary famalies). We have around 2 hours to rest and then the kids arrive. Thank you all for your prayers.

2010-06-05T21:42:00.001-04:00

About to eat rocky mountain oysters and rattle snake!

2010-06-05T15:22:00.001-04:00

We're still alive. Been in training for camp. Good times.

2010-06-04T15:47:00.001-04:00

Arrived at the Southwest Indian Ministry Center after 1879.8 miles. God truly went before us.

2010-06-04T11:46:00.001-04:00

Back on the road. We went 786 miles yesturday. Just realized we left 2 pillows at the motel. We will get them and be back on the road soon.

2010-06-04T00:21:00.001-04:00

Made it to Holbrook, AZ. Only 3 1/2 hours to go tomorrow!

2010-06-03T14:12:00.001-04:00

At a Whataburger in Amarillo, TX for lunch. All is going smoothly.

2010-06-03T08:55:00.001-04:00

Made it 852 miles yesterday. We're back on the road again, destination Gallup, NM.

2010-06-02T23:05:00.001-04:00

Arrived for the night. Just east of Oklahoma City at a KOA. Made it 100+ more miles then planned. It was a successful day.

2010-06-02T12:44:00.001-04:00

Safely made it to the show me state. Having lunch just outside st. Louis

On the road

2010-06-02T06:23:00.002-04:00

It's 6:24 a.m. and we're getting ready to take off. Everything fit in the car so we're good to go!!! Today we hope to drive about 12 hours and make it to a campsite in Oklahoma. We appreciate your prayers for traveling mercies.

Last Global Cafe` of the semester!

2010-04-25T15:20:00.002-04:00

Join us for our last Global Cafe` of the semester! Featuring Gabor and Meg ('00) Dul from Hungary! You'll enjoy it!

183 Pictures in 3 Minutes

2010-03-28T22:32:00.009-04:00

Thanks for your prayers for the team. Tonight at Global Cafe, we shared what God did and is doing in Honduras. This slideshow was part of our presentation.

Enjoy the best of a week's worth of photos. They are set to the music written to celebrate Honduras making it to the 2010 World Cup. You can also view them one at a time after the slideshow.

You can see a larger version at http://www.asburywgm.org/slideshows/Honduras_2010b/

Last post from Honduras

2010-03-24T13:31:00.002-04:00

Due to internet issues this was written in Honduras, but was posted after we returned.

Hey guys,
Sorry it has been so long since our last update, but the last few days we have been really tired, really excited and really busy. So here is our last update from Honduras itself.

Friday, we started painting the front of the conference center. It was really nice because we were able to interact with the boys as they passed by throughout the day. During our afternoon break, Heidi and I (Adrienne) had the opportunity to ride on the front of Omar’s four-wheeler. It was the first time I had ever ridden on one!! Then, one better, Heidi and I each got to drive the four-wheeler with Thad sitting on the front giving us directions, lol! It was great!
That night we had a very nice farewell dinner with a nice table setting and the staff served us. After that, our team headed over Jerry and Sherri Murphy’s house to hear their testimonies of how they came to know Christ and came to the mission field. Since I’m not sure they would like to have their story shared over the internet, basically neither of them came from Christian homes. Their story was very different from most missionaries and very inspiring. Omar showed up a little while later after we had finished and hung out for a while.

This Friday night was different from most Fridays because throughout the week the missionaries had been planning a pancake breakfast for the boys at 11pm that night. So the Bible Institute put on a worship night for the boys in order to keep them awake. After we finished at the Murphy’s, Heidi, Omar, Mark and I went to the service. We hung out and sang songs until Heidi and I had to leave at 10:20ish for our staff meeting at 10:30.
As we got up to leave, Omar came running over and asked Heidi if she was ready. Earlier at the Murphy’s, Heidi had told Omar that she had her testimony written in Spanish and wanted to share if there was time. So Omar left us and ran over to those in charge and came running back and told us that it would be better if both of us would share. Problem – the adults weren’t there so I had no translator. But we followed God’s leading and said yes. Heidi shared hers first in Spanish and then I stepped up to the podium. I shared some of mine in Spanish and anytime I switched to English, Heidi would do her best to translate. At points, the boys began to shout out and help us find the right verbs, conjugations, and grammar, lol. Overall, my testimony was very interactive, lol. But it was told and Jesus was able to use it to give them hope.

After we gave our testimonies, we rushed over to the conference center to get ready for the breakfast. Christian, the director of the school, opened and then Heidi and I did a skit about making and eating pancakes since the boys had never really eaten them before. A little while later, Mark and a girl from the Bible Institute on campus, Daniela, lip-synced to the new Honduran World Cup soccer song. I have never heard boys shout and cheer so much in my life! During the meal, Nathan went table to table doing magic tricks with a message which the boys really enjoyed. That night ended with saying our goodbyes and finishing with some really good conversations with some of the boys.

Saturday morning, we said our goodbyes and pulled out around 8am with heavy hearts, said to say goodbye. Around lunch time, we arrived at the Valle de Angeles, a big shopping area in Tegucigalpa, to spend the afternoon shopping with some of the missionaries. Then we went to the guest house in Teguc where Heidi’s host family from the summer came to visit. Mark and Heidi went with them to dinner and Jerry, Sherri, Nathan, Colleen and Terry Hawk, and I went to dinner at a typical restaurant called El Gordo. It had fantastic food! Last night ended with us dumping the rest of our pictures together and flipping through them. After some last minute packing, we went to bed.

This morning we had breakfast around 8am, and now we are waiting in the airport for our flight to Houston to get ready to leave. We have no wireless here so we are going to post this when we land in Houston. This is our last post written in Honduras. L We are getting on the plane with hearts of sorrow from leaving our new found family members behind but with an excitement and hope for the future, not only for the school but for the boys and even for our lives in missions in the future. Please keep us in your prayers as we travel through flights, customs, and immigration, and finally a drive back to school. And keep the school and missionaries here in your prayers as they work out some of the new visions that God has given them. Thank you for all of your prayers and support. We have a final round of pictures coming soon.

Dios les bendiga, (God bless you all)

Adrienne, on behalf of the team

A quick note about a full day

2010-03-19T09:34:00.002-04:00

We just wanted to get a quick note out to let you know that we are packing as much as we can into these last days at the farm, so it may be Saturday evening before we get more pictures up.

Yesterday's work project saw us doing more digging and concrete work as we made cement drain pads for the downspouts. We spent the afternoon in Catacamas seeing what a typical Honduran town is like. We ate at a local restaurant with great smoothie-type drinks.

Today we will be painting because it is dry enough. Before and after pictures will hopefully accompany our next post.

Thanks for your continued prayers as we say our goodbyes this evening. We have made many friends and there will probably be some tears.

Nathan for the team

Proof we really have been working!

2010-03-17T23:38:00.004-04:00

Today we nearly completed our main work project here at El Sembrador. While it will only take a few seconds to scroll through the pictures, we can all testify that it was three labor intensive days!

The courtyard that turns into a pond during rainy season. It becomes very slick when wet and even had some mold problems.

Our first task was to remove the 2 inch thick brick tiles without breaking any others around them. Mark ran the angle grinder for hours!

The dust made it hard to breathe and made a real mess, but the bandanna's were fun for pictures!

Then came removing the tiles. After this picture, we found that a mini sledge hammer and a chisel were the best way to go.

When I took this picture about half way through day one, I thought we had done the hard part. Little did we know that there was about 1.5 inches of mortar to cut through and about 4 inches of cement under that to cut and pound and chisel through and that was before using a pick to dig through rocks and clay. The majority of that process was on Tuesday, and it was so dusty that we didn't bring our cameras out much.

Heidi and Adrianne spent much of Monday and Tuesday making the replacement tiles. They had to fill the forms with concrete and tint the top 1/8 inch to match the current tiles as much as possible. The forms and dye were made by Thad Gouge, the missionary who is our project manager.

We did have some help from some Honduran friends. Mark was always able to make them smile.

Jumping ahead to this morning, we made sure the slope was perfect which required more digging, but it was fun to finally get the pipe in the ground.

While the color on the bricks does look a little different now, the color was matched to an original piece of brick, so with a little weathering, they should match great!

We still have a few tiles to put mortar around, but we are otherwise finished! It even rained tonight so we were able to get a real life test. The drain passed with flying colors!

Tomorrow we will be painting part of the front of the building. Thanks for continuing to follow us in your prayers!

Nathan for the team

Hammers and Chisels and Saws..Oh My!

2010-03-17T09:09:00.002-04:00

Yesterday, was another great day and our second work day. We are happy to say that the trench is now ready for us to begin installing the pipes and drains! It took a lot of sawing, hammering, pounding, chiseling, digging, cleaning, and muscle power to finally get the remaining grout and several inches of cement out of the trench, but thankfully we are ready to begin the next step today. We are very thankful for all the hard work of the Hondurans that are helping us with the project. Adrienne and I finished two more batches of homemade bricks, so we should have enough by now. We are pleasantly surprised at how much we have finished so far and our goal is to be completely done by dinner tonight. Please pray that this goal can become a reality.
Last night they had a special worship service in the Chapel here on campus. Normally the service is every Wednesday night but it was a day early because of a special group that is here until this afternoon. The service was really good. Several of the students at the Bible School here put on a shadow screen drama. They did an absolutely amazing job and the message of the drama was very powerful. It was the story of what many of the boys here have lived - being raised by a single mom with nothing to eat, but once they come to El Sembrador, it gives them the opportunity to have a better life, based on a Christian foundation. Please pray that God continues to work in their lives. The end of the service they gathered around the group that is here and prayed for them.
After the service, Adrienne and I had the opportunity to help one of the boys with his homework and talk with a few others. Thankfully, Spanish is improving for both of us - in understanding what they are saying and being able to speak it ourselves. They are patient with us and I think, are thankful that we are trying.
As long as the internet stays up, hopefully we can get some more pictures posted today. Well, it's time to work so may each of you have a great day and stay tuned for more.
God Bless,
Heidi, on behalf of the team :-)

Sabbath and Work Day #1

2010-03-15T14:57:00.006-04:00

Yesterday (Sunday) we had the opportunity to attend church in Catacamas, the nearby city. We arrived a few minutes early and it was fun to watch everyone filter in and fill up the good sized sanctuary. The praise team up front led worship for about an hour. Thankfully they had projectors on both sides of the stage area so we were able to somewhat sing along. Their worship is very free and relaxed but full of thanksgiving to our Lord. It was really cool to praise God continuously for that long.
After the time of singing, we saw three babies get dedicated to God. They were so adorable! After the dedications, the pastor gave the sermon, which lasted about 45 minutes. He preached from several different passages but mainly from Romans 12:1-2 and transformation through Christ.
We returned to the El Sembrador campus and after lunch our team took a restful 1 1/2 nap ~ this was much enjoyed after traveling, touring, and getting used to a new language the past couple of days.
At 2:00 we gathered at the softball field and played a fun game. (Just for the record the score was 22 to 13 and Nathan and Heidi's team beat Mark and Adrienne's team). It was a great time of fellowship and fun playing softball. Having such a small team has been kind of nice because we have gotten to interact with the boys a lot.
After dinner we went over to the Gouge's house, a missionary family that is here for a year. What a blessing to hear their story and how God has led them here! Please be praying for them as they continue to listen for where God is leading after their year is up. Also, they are going to have another baby so please pray that everyone stays healthy! We also began plans for a special event for the boys on Friday night right before we leave early Saturday morning for the Tegucigalpa guest house.

Today (Monday), was our first work day. Our task this week is to install a drain in the patio at the Conference Center. When it rains, all the water pools in the middle of the patio and can't drain out and off the back. This is a problem because it stays there and molds in the hot sun. We are cutting out the middle row of stone bricks to install a pipe that will carry the water out the back. It's a little slow going but thankfully we were able to accomplish much more than we had originally thought today.
Adrienne and I also had a new opportunity today ~ we learned how to make the new bricks that we will lay over the pipe later this week! It's a little bit of a process but it's fun to learn.
After lunch we took a small break and toured the school building. Christian, the El Sembrador director, led us through and shared his passion for the boys' education and vision for the school. Please be in prayer for the school as a whole and that they can continue to improve their educational programs and have enough funding to do so. His heart for the boys and that they can be their very best is evident! His enthusiasm is encouraging and inspiring.
After we finished some more work on the patio and new bricks, my dad and I got to see some of the boys finish slaughtering one of the cows on the farm ("pobre vaca" ~ poor cow, a quote from one of the boys).
After a long day of work, our muscles are tired but in a very good way. Dinner is about ready so I best be going but thank you for your continued prayers! I think we have all really enjoyed our time so far and are excited for the remainder of the week. More pictures will be coming in the morning so stay tuned!

God Bless,
Heidi :-)

Hot, Sweaty, Dirty... Doing great!

2010-03-15T13:51:00.006-04:00

Our internet has been out for over a day, but it hasn't slowed us down here. Below are some pictures from Saturday's tour of the farm. Read the previous post from Mark to help the pictures make more sense. We will have more pictures and report from our first real work day tonight or tomorrow morning. - thanks for your continued prayers!

Saturday, Farm Tour (Blast from the past from the old guy!)

2010-03-13T19:59:00.003-05:00

After a Friday that hit 100, the cool breeze of the evening was welcome, but the ceiling fan helped the most. But fans don't work when the electricity is shut down to allow the water to rise in the pond for tomorrow's work thru the hydro-electric plant.

This morning, we met with the work coordinator, to plan for a landscaping project that should allow water to be tiled away from a courtyard that gets flooded.

The farm tour showed the working trade school shops of wood carving, wood furniture manufacture and repair and lathe work. The highlight of the tour, for me, was the welding and metal fabrication shop. The order of the day was building, painting and assembly of bleachers. We think they'll be used for a special ceremony when the IO committee, and family of the founder come on Monday. Lincoln welders serve the school side very well!!

"Pig Farm": Landrace, Yorkshire and some leftover Hampshire and Duroc made for a great product in just 5.5 months. We can learn again about nipple waters, drip spray and help keep the whole herd cool. Heidi remembers it being like Uncle Lyles farm, in Nebraska, USA.
The instructor for the Mechanics shop is state-side, so the teaching lab, while waiting for parts has several started projects. By the way, we may need to secure some gently used mowers and 4-wheelers to help with the chores.

The Swimmin' Hole: 33 of us headed to the river, chest-high for a water version of keep-away.
The trip out showed most of us helping ourselves to gawava, a tasty ping-pong ball-sized fruit. It's best when ripe, but seldom gets that far!!

On the return, I got a blast from my past, seeing the nations first automatic milking machine and parlor in action. It reminded me of my own time in the parlor. With work assignments for boys (and one girl) included seeing each baby calf in its own hut and all stages of heifer development. The mature herd was steady and 156, much like the premium Holstein herd of Boys Town, Nebraska, where work ethic, community pride and the connection to life cycles through animal husbandry were nearly identical.

Personally, finding PEPSI, cold in glass bottle took me back a few years, too. But I'm bounced back to the future when I realize the infrastructure in place since 1999, post-Hurricane Mitch allows wireless internet and this blog site with us.

Finally, as I post, whether young or old, I am amazed at the Power of God as presented through the spontaneous testimony of a young man named Cessa. Now 18, he shared that his family, including the mean stepfather has not ever visited him at the farm in 8 years. But to him his one true family is his reason for planning for college and then a lifetime career in the navy. I was proud to be included in his welcome to Adrianne, Heidi and I as brothers and sisters in his Christian family! Oh, yeah, it will be fun to hear Cessa's stories after he makes a special presentation of a wood-carved relief map of the school farm to the new President of Honduras tomorrow after church! Join us in prayer for our extended Christian family!!

Mark for the team

A few pictures from Friday

2010-03-13T08:29:00.003-05:00

3 AM - These smiles seem a little forced, but the excitement was real.

5:30 AM - More Awake, ticketed and ready to go.

12:30 PM - Arriving in Honduras! (Yes, we are 'glistening,' it was over 90 degrees when we landed)

The heat was a perfect excuse for ice cream!

We had a change to observe the countryside from the truck. (F150 if anyone is interested) Sorry I didn't take more of the beautiful scenery!

Our next round of pictures will be from the farm. We will be taking a quick tour this morning before getting to work!

Safely at El Sembrador

2010-03-12T19:59:00.002-05:00

Hey guys,
So we left this morning at 3am to Cinncinatti and hopped a flight to Houston around 6:40. :) After a breif wait in Houston, we left for Tegucigalpa at 9:15 (central) and arrived here around 12:25. :) The flights went well. We were able to be near the windows for the spectacular views across the country. Our landing in Tegucigalpa was a little rough but went very well considering the extremely short landing strip :) We hit the ground and immediately we felt the brakes get slammed, lol. :) It was a good time.
We then proceeded to stand in line at immigration and fly through customs; finally, leaving the airport about 1:30 with our missionary host Jerry Murphy and all of our luggage. :)
As we left Teguc, we just stared out the windows trying to take in all of the sites and trying as much as possible to get a glimpse of understanding of the people that we would meet here (well, at least this was what I was doing, lol). We stopped at a gas station and soon discovered that they were actually out of gas. So we bought our drinks and snacks (Yuquita and Plantain chips, yum!) and left to find another station before finishing our 3 hourish drive to El Sembrador.
We stopped again around 3:30 at an old rest stop and met with some missionary volunteers that were just heading back from El Sembrador, had some ice cream and then we finished the length of our journey.
Traveling down winding, concrete, gravel, half-paved, no lined roads, we reached El Sembrador in Catacamas in time for dinner! :) They put us up in some very nice hotel style rooms in the confrence center and are even letting us sleep in until breakfast at 7:30! :) Woot!
Well, right now we are in the process of cleaning the kitchen and then it's off to debrief and settle in for the week/night. :)
Pictures will hopefully be coming in the next post! :) Thanks for all of your prayers!

-Adrienne - on behalf of the team :)

On our way!

2010-03-12T02:52:00.002-05:00

It is nearly 3AM and we are loading the car for the Cincinnati airport. By lunch, we will be in Honduras! Pray for good connections on our flights and that all of our luggage makes it. We are excited about what God wants to do in and through us this week. Thank you for partnering with us through your prayers!!

Nathan for the team

Global Cafe 2/21/2010: The Motts

2010-02-22T13:55:00.001-05:00

Ski Retreat 2010

2010-02-18T15:02:00.001-05:00

Click here to view a slideshow!

This month's issue of The Call

2010-01-16T14:45:00.002-05:00

This month's issue of The Call contains a quiz to determine your level of mission's activity. Take the quiz here and submit your score to Jeri at the front door prior to Sunday night's Global Cafe`. The first two win free Global Cafe` t-shirts!

Christmas Caroling 2009

2009-12-14T16:21:00.002-05:00

In lieu of Global Cafe` last night, we opted to carol to some "friends of WGM" here in the Wilmore community... enjoy the pics!

Informational Meeting About Honduras Trip

2009-11-11T16:34:00.001-05:00

Come to the WGM Student Center Thursday, November 12 at 7PM for more information about our Spring Break Mission Trip.

We will distribute applications, detail the ministry we'll be aiding, discuss trip details, and outline a timeline for team preparation.

Team Leaders: Nathan and Cydil Waggoner, WGM Student Center Directors

Can't attend? E-Mail us at WGM@asbury.edu for an application or call us at 858-8076.

www.asburywgm.org

Goat Roast 2009 Photos

2009-10-22T22:13:00.003-04:00

Entering the Box Maze

Global Cafe` 9/20/09: The Hallahans (Uganda)

2009-09-28T16:42:00.002-04:00

Freshmen Orientation Student Center Dinner Tour

2009-09-09T23:12:00.004-04:00

The Cabinet Visits WGM's HQ

2009-03-26T21:48:00.002-04:00

Heading Home

2009-03-22T06:52:00.002-04:00

Good morning from Mendoza! We are packing and will be loading up vehicles in the next hour to start our journey home. Our time in Mendoza has been amazing! God has worked in us and through us, and it has been great. Now we are excited to return home and share what we have experienced with you!

Pray for safety and health on our return trip. Thanks again for your prayers and support for us on this trip!

Friday Report

2009-03-21T09:36:00.006-04:00

I wanted to get some pictures up from yesterday for you to see. When planning this trip to Mendoza, we looked for a way to reach out and show Christ's love in a tangible way to the family of the kids in AMAD. We decided to provide a free family portrait session for the families. Because of the multiple disabilities of most of the kids, going to a photographer for a portrait session would be difficult if not impossible, but since we were able to bring a "portrait studio" to them we hoped several families would be able to take advantage of it.

We set up in the largest indoor space available (a section of a hallway) not knowing how many or how few would take us up on our offer. Soon they started to trickle in. When the workers started to see the pictures on the back of the camera, they started organizing "class photos" for each of the separate groups in AMAD. We were only sometimes successful in getting the 3-4 students at a time and their teacher looking at the camera at the same time, but we had fun trying! By the end of the day, we had Below are a very few of the final products!

We ended the day with a farewell dinner of incredible chicken and veggies! There was tears and laughter as we shared together with the staff at AMAD. They presented us with a special poster that had the hand prints of several of the children on it with a message of thanks. We will cherish the memories of AMAD forever!

Our Last Day At AMAD

2009-03-20T17:55:00.002-04:00

Today was our last day at AMAD, and a much better end than yesterday. We took professional pictures of the families with studio backdrops and lighting, added panels to the ceiling of the gym, painted doors out by the pool, and cleaned up the construction area.

As Nathan took pictures with Vince and Joel making crazy faces and motions to get the kids to smile, several parents approached us and thanked us for all the work that we had done this week. What an encouragement!

After lunch, most of us went home to rest as we have a late night tonight back at AMAD for a send-off banquet. Pictures from today will be up either very late tonight or some time in the morning. Until then, be praying that the attendees (around 80) will be receptive to our message as several of us will be giving our testimony.

Hasta luego!

Thursday Helpers

2009-03-19T23:24:00.001-04:00

Today was possibly the busiest day of our trip yet! We are exhausted, but God is faithful. He even sent a special group of kids to help us paint. I am just going to post some pictures tonight. You will have to think of your own captions!

Wednesday at AMAD

2009-03-18T23:25:00.005-04:00

Today was another productive day at AMAD. Our work project is going well and is keeping us sore! Several guys were complaining this eveing about their newly discovered "shovel muscle." We also were able to spend some more time with the kids. I thought today I would picture some of them for you!

This little boy broke into huge smiles when seeing himself on the back of my camera!

I love Tigger's message on this young man's T-shirt. "The One and Only!" How unique and special are each of these students.

This young man was learning how to swallow. He is clapping for his ability to keep the last bite of yogurt down.

This boy was very curious about the camera and loved every time the flash went off.

The lesson of the day for this young lady was to differentiate an apple from an orange, and plastic versions from their real ones.

The staff at AMAD are doing some amazing work in the current facility, but our project is helping to improve it. Below are some worksite pictures.

With the precision of doctors, Steve and Isaac mark the metal used to make the ceiling grid.

Isaac proved himself capable with the grinder and many pieces of grid were completed today.

Lucas did the smart thing to block out some of the noise of the grinder.

A second coat was painted on the walls and speckled on the painters.

Thanks for your prayers! Keep them up! God is answering them in ways we can't wait to share with you when we get home!

Tuesday in Mendoza

2009-03-17T22:16:00.004-04:00

Today at the work site, we were able to see the therapy pool we helped drop in the ground yesterday be filled with water. We also were able to help clear some of the excess dirt around their future multipurpose gym we will be working on the rest of the week.

Lucas and Tito moved a lot of dirt around the pool with Elisabeth Lloyd (not pictured) taking wheelbarrow load after wheelbarrow load to another pile of fill dirt.
Chachi along with several others got the first coat of paint on the inside of the gym. Because of the texture of the wall and the type of rollers used, it was impossible not to be covered in little white speckles at the end of the project. Chachi has spent a long time after work trying to figure out how to get all of the little splatters off of his skin. Last I saw him he was looking for steel wool.
Tomas, Rachel, and Joel pose for a quick picture between taking loads of sand to help fill in around the pool. Rachel missed the wheelbarrow with her shovelful of dirt one time, and Tomas and Joel razzed her for the rest of the afternoon about it!
Elisa, Vince, and Nathan spent most of the day interviewing various workers at AMAD for a video that we will be working on for the rest of the week. It was great to hear the stories of God's provision for the school and their dreams for AMAD's future.
We interviewed professionals in many theropy disciplines, and the had a chance to follow them on theropy sessions with the kids at AMAD. It was a blessing to see the commitment of these workers and their love for the kids. They are doing an amazing job under not always ideal conditions!
Tomorrow there will be more filming as well as more work to be done. Consistantly though in our evening debriefing times, the team points to their time with the students and the workers at AMAD as their highlights. The language barrier has been tough for most, but not even a little language is needed to interact with these precious kids.

Pray for us as we continue to seek to show Christ's love to everyone we come in contact with!

Fotos de Ayer

2009-03-17T11:35:00.008-04:00

Hello all,

This is actually Elisa doing the updating today, and I've great news - pictures from our first work day! So here we go.This is the giant hole where the pool would go. Digging with the paid workers are Tomas, Lucas, and Esteban. The man bending over in the white hat some of the guys called "Teddy". I don't really know the whole story here, but apparently he was supernaturally strong.These are some of the kids Elizabeth was able to observe during a break in the construction work at AMAD.Chachi and Elizabeth also really enjoyed their time observing the children.This was definitely a favorite memory of the day. Lucas was able to laugh as well, once he got the feeling back in his ears :)
Yep, you guessed it! The twins dressed very similarly for the 2nd day in a row without meaning to. Joel's accessorizing gave him a little differentiation, but got him more teasing from the group.

Finally, by the end of the day, we were able to lower the pool into the pit! It was not as easy as you might think - it took the gys 3 times to fit the pool into the hole. If you can see, that's me up on the ladder getting a bird's eye view.

Well, I'm signing off here - got to deliver lunch to the team after spending the morning filming an interview with Rosa, the director of AMAD. This video is coming together really nicely so far.

Quick report

2009-03-16T23:50:00.002-04:00

Hello friends and family,

Today was a great day! My camera alone, we took 399 pictures! The irony of that is we pushed so much into today, that I will have to wait until tomorrow to post any of them. :-(

We met the staff and students at AMAD today and were moved by the school and its mission to the disabled. It gave us a renewed vision ourselves for why we were here. The work project ran into some snags throughout the day, but that just meant we had more time to interact with the kids which was great!

It is approaching 1 AM here and we have another early morning, so there will be more details tomorrow. You can pray that our work project will move ahead while we still remember that the people are the real reason we are here. You can also pray for our video project as several important interviews will be happening throughout the day. We are one hour ahead of Eastern Standard Time, so you can place us in time as you pray as well. I hope that all made sense! I need to head to bed.

Sunday in Mendoza

2009-03-15T22:06:00.004-04:00

Today after a hearing from the Archers about their time in Argentina, we spent today discovering a little of the city of Mendoza. We had an amazing steak dinner at Don Mario.

Vince is holding part of one serving of steak. It was nearly as thick as it was wide, and it was delicious! The 16 of us ordered 12 servings and had enough steak left over for steak sandwiches this evening for supper!

The desserts were impressive too!

After lunch, we walked off some of our meal downtown with a visit to the main plaza. It was pretty quiet because we were there during siesta, but it was a good chance to get another team picture.

In the park we also ran into an interesting man who rode his bicycle around with his chicken and duck getting suckers like us to pay him for pictures of the anomaly. He claimed that he had been doing it for 5 years with this current pair, but that he was training some younger birds to take their place someday. I probably wouldn't have believed him if I didn't see this duo lean into each turn with the bicycle as they rode off.

We also spent some of the day making fun of Joel and Eric for dressing so much alike and not even noticing it until it was pointed out to them. We also found that they could both talk like ducks, had the same Meyers-Briggs score, and brought virtually the same swimming trunks to Argentina!

Scary isn't it!

Tomorrow we start our work project at the AMAD school. Pray for strength safety as we work. Pray that we might be able to show Christ's love to the students and professionals at AMAD.

Full contact youth group

2009-03-14T23:53:00.002-04:00

Below are some pictures from tonight's youth event. Think soccer in a bouncy castle with soap, water, and college students! All of the competitions were much more challenging when standing up alone was a chore. After the fun, we listened to a sermon and said our goodbyes. It was midnight when we left and they were just sitting down for supper! We will all sleep very well tonight!