Thursday, February 19, 2009

Georgia Mission Wednesday & Thursday
















Wednesday ...

This morning we ate breakfast and were on the road by 8:45 am heading to Crossroads - an alternative school for “troubled” teens. We did our dances and I gave a talk about my friend James who was killed in a car accident at the age of 15. During the talk I challenge teens to make wise choices in life. After the talk the team did their “Everything” drama. More than one student had moist eyes. Unfortunately the kids had to go straight to class when we finished, but our girls did have a chance to pray with three or four girls who were crying in the back row. After ministering at the school we went to serve at the Toccoa Soup Kitchen. The kids scrubbed walls, did dishes, sorted food, organized closets, broke down boxes, etc. While the people were eating their lunches we performed our dances and dramas. When we finished working at the soup kitchen we drove about a half-hour to Victory Home, a Christian drug and alcohol recovery center. The guys in the program were really touched by our ministry, and again, lots of these big, burly guys were crying when they saw our dramas. When we finished the team got into groups and prayed for just about all of the guys. When we returned to camp the team was tired and after dinner Pastor Lenny made arrangements for us to take everyone bowling at Toccoa Lanes. That was a great move! It really revived the spirit of the team as for two hours we laughed and played together.

Thursday ...

Today was our biggest day of ministry, ministering in five locations, doing our program 6 times! We started this morning at 6:30 am when we drove to the public middle school to work with local youth pastors who run a program before school called First Priority. We had about 25 minutes and several hundred students were present as we ministered. In addition to our dramas Laura shared her testimony and I encouraged the students to remain faithful to Jesus and to let their lights shine for Him in school. When we finished we shot back to camp for less than an hour to eat breakfast and have devotions. This morning a couple of the kids were not feeling well, so we took time to pray for each person. (I have been making them all take a multi-vitamin in the morning, so I am sure that has helped keep the sick count down as well.) As soon as we were done we headed off to The Boys and Girls Club where we ministered to over 100 of the cutest kids you’ve ever seen between 3-5 years old who participate in a school called Head Start. Every year this os one of our favorites! When we are done with our program we invite the kids down to show us their dance moves and they are just adorable! We finished up there and went straight to the High School. We were supposed to have a school assembly in the gym, but they moved us instead into a large classroom. The room could not contain everyone, so they had half of the kids come in at 11:15 and the other half at 11:45 am, and we had to do our program twice. I felt led again to share about my friend James, and both times you could have heard a pin drop by the time I finished. I know God really spoke to some kids. We were able to have lunch at the high school, and a lot of the kids came up to thank us and tell us they had been touched. When we were done at the high school we drove about 30 minutes to Heart Ministries - a recovery home for women. About 25 women were present, and they just fell apart crying as three of our girls shared their testimonies and as we did our dances and dramas. It was another special God moment, and we were so glad to be able to encourage them in their recovery process. When we finished we went around and prayed for every woman. They said that they have seen lots of people come through during their time there, but that our ministry was the most powerful thing they had ever seen there. Praise be to God! Lots of tissues were used. In fact, they ran out and a lady was handing out paper towels. After some snacks and a time of fellowship with the ladies - many of them sharing about their lives and challenging our kids - we jumped back in the vehicles and drove back to Toccoa where we visited the elderly and seriously disabled in a nursing home. We did two of our dances, and I simply told the folks that God cared about Him, that He loved them, and that He remembered them; that’s why we had come - to deliver a message of God’s love to them. Then our kids went around and spoke with each and every person and prayed with them. It was very special! Before heading back to camp we swung by Toccoa Falls and took some pictures. We are now eating dinner and tonight we will sit around the camp fire and share all that we have learned and experienced this week. Tomorrow morning we will journey back to Atlanta to catch our flight home. It’s been a really busy and a really great week! See ya tomorrow!

PK

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