Go Mission Trip 2008 – Palm Valley Student Ministries

Well this week has been pretty amazing. I had the privilege to go back to the same place i went to last year. It was so awesome to see all the kids that i came to love last year. What was really cool they all remembered me and knew my name. This year i am teaching the high schoolers at Silver Peak. There is a kid named Colton and he is so amazing. We get along really well and we have all the same things in common. We have a ton of fun when we play games because we are the most competitive people there which means we always win. There is also a kid named Levi and this kid is a crazy awesome kid. He is a little bit of a trouble maker but i love this kid he is such a cool kid. I knew him since last year and we had a great time together last year and he actually excepted Christ last year which was really amazing. The very first day of this year we were already like best friends he would always sit with me and try to hang out with me every chance he could. That means a lot because it shows that we truly are doing something amazing in these kids lives. For some reason he really attached to me and that is so cool. theres a kid named Brett. He is so cool and knows so much about God that it is amazing. He is so cool to hang out with because he is just a really chill guy. Really all the high schoolers are amazing. theres a younger kid named George and he is so smart and funny. He may beat me up sometimes but he is still so amazing. he is only 5 but he can tell you anything and everything about the lesson that was thought on that day. I will never forget these kids. I really hope that i get to see these kids again cause i really want to. This trip has been the most amazing trip ever.

Today things went good. I had an eye opening experience when I got to hang out with some kids from my group. They live so diffrently from the way we do.Over a third of all have never been to church so some of the storys we tell them , they have never heard. So when you tell them the storys they are just so amazed. Most of them just go explore old buildings that are abandoned . I just feel so blessed to have what I do.

Michael 

Hello,

Well first off i would like to thank all the people that sponsored me. You don’t understand how much that money means ti me, just for me to go out and teach these kids about Jesus and without your money i wouldn’t be here at all. But if you know me i am not the person that likes to ride in cars for a long time and especially with 9 people. But it was so hard to sleep up on the way there because every one was all excited and everything but i was hopping that they could be excited when we get there. But 10 hours in a van is ridiculous i want to walk at 1 point because if you know me i don’t like to sit very long. When we got here this place is nothing but a ghost town. At least 60 % of the buildings here are empty and no one lives in them. I thought maybe really no one really lives here but i guess i was wrong even though the population was about 150-250 because kids really started to come out because in a small time word gets around pretty quick. I am not going to lie, i was really nervous the 1st night because i really didn’t know the lesson at all like nothing about it, but good thing that Steven was teaching it because i was really not ready all, i was totally out of it though i pretty much just wanted to sit in the van the whole time because i honestly didn’t think that this whole trip was worth it because i was totally unprepared and i was thinking ” if god wants me to go on this trip why would he let me go unprepared like this”? So i wasn’t really in to it, I wasn’t sing songs at all, and I wasn’t really talking to the kids. But day two went really well though i had my bible study papers all ready, the kids were totally into my small group time, and all these kids were just jumping on me and everything so i kinda enjoyed it??? But i really had a mind change in day 3 just because all of these annoying yet so awesome kids like totally changed my mind about this trip. Like for example this kid named Colton like he let me ride is like 65 cc Yamaha motorcycle and i was so tight (mom and dad if you are reading this get me one of those bikes =] ) Ya and the night time pretty much sucks because its so hard not to sleep on a bed and 1 of the nights i got pranked but i don’t really care anymore its part of the trip besides i got jon turner back by Duck tapping his shoes like a whole roll of duck tape and another 1 so ya… But i have really have been thinking about someone back at home someone really special though and sometimes i really forget about that i am on go. But if you are a jr higher thats going into 9th grade and you are reading this i really do recommend that you go on this next year because from my point of view it is defenatly a life changer, and it is hard to think that in just 5 days but its really true. I actually am really afraid of tomorrow because i have really connected with a lot of kids and honestly i think i might cry honestly. As much as i love these kids it will be so hard to leave them knowing that our job is not fully done.  I will always know mater what will always be praying for the kids n Silver Peak, they have changed my life.

Please come to service this weekend on both days so you can hear more about the go trip.

MIKE!!!!!

Hey guyssss it’s Susie again….that gives you a pretty good idea at what time of day it is   I have so much to report today; I sincerely think today’s VBS was the best one yet.

So first of all, Rickey was kind to me (again) and that was pretty much amazing.  She’s not as clingy as she was on Tuesday but she’s still very polite and kind to everyone.  I’ve made it a goal to try to connect with one of the high school girls named Chrissy and unfortunately, I didn’t do so well at that…BUT God had something else in mind (as usual).  I made an unexpected connection with little eight-year-old Ashley and connecting with her and talking with her definitely opened my eyes to a lot of things.  According to Mackenzie, Ashley absolutely adores me and it was certainly a thought that I wasn’t used to.  It all started at snack time…

She was the first one done with her craft and ready to eat so I walked her over to the room with all the snacks set up in it.  We got our Capri Suns and little bags of cookies and sat outside in the front on the patio steps.  She mentioned something about liking the two necklaces I had on (they both look the same with a marble on a string but one of them is purple and the other is light blue).  She said purple was her favorite color so I asked her if she wanted to wear it and she said yes.  After she put it on, I told her she could just keep it since I already have one.  So snack time came and went and about twenty minutes later, she comes up to me and holds out a different necklace.  “Here,” she says.  “Wear this!”  It was more of a command so I just took it and put it on and then looked at it closely.  She said her mom gave it to her.  It was soooo cute and it made me so happy that this little girl was trusting me with her necklace from her mom to wear until the next day.  It most definitely brightened up my day.

And then after VBS, she and her brother needed to go home so I offered to walk home with them to make sure they got there safely (they live kind of far from the church).  Plus, Ashely was begging me to come see her dogs.  Mackenzie tagged along so I would have someone to walk back with.  We took turns riding their bikes and then we finally got to their house…WOW.  I was slightly shocked and slightly saddened.  But she was just so excited that we were there that the feeling didn’t last long.  So I met her dogs:  Bear, Rocky, Mama, and Buddy (Rocky was my favorite).  But aside from the dogs, the house was certainly something you don’t see every day in Phoenix…it was pretty run down, with a couple trailers in the front yard, and a two story abandoned shack right next to the house itself; with a ton of random things here and there.  I don’t usually witness these kinds of homes so it was definitely interesting to see two little kids living in these conditions…I honestly didn’t want to imagine the mess inside…but I definitely learned a few things from walking that little girl and her brother home.

For one, I realized how good I have it.  I mean, I always have, but THIS realization was so much more eye opening than a documentary on TV would have showed me.  These were KIDS living in conditions that weren’t even really fit for their pets.  I’m lucky to even have a roof over my head at night with a nice, welcoming appearance to our home (those HOA people need to lay off because they have no idea how bad our yard could be!).

The second thing I realized was to be content with everything and anything I have or recieve.  These kids were so excited to show us their home and their dogs and their yard…materialistic items meant nothing to them.  Granted, they didn’t have much there to begin with, but they didn’t care.  I don’t even think they realized how much more some other kids in different areas of the world have.  My siblings and I have it GOOD compared to these kids and sometimes, we don’t even realize it.  We take advantage of it and don’t stop and reflect on how much worse off we could be…they were so happy and excited to show us everything they had and to them, it was like they had everything that all money could buy.

And finally, the third thing I learned that kind of goes hand-in-hand with the previous thought was to always always always never be ashamed to share or show others of what I have.  I guess that’s the same thing as not taking advantage of what we have but it still speaks more to me than the two thoughts together.  I used to be slightly hesitant about inviting people over to my house because I was afraid they’d judge me based on how much furniture we had or how many game systems I had or how big our TV was but walking them home today completely changed my views because I saw people who had a lot less than I did, yet they were still more than happy to show me everything they had.  And they did it with not a hint of sadness or shame.  That was amazing to me.

Yes, the VBS went amazingly phenomenally well and yes, I got to talk to each of the kids at least twice throughout the day but the biggest highlight of my day was walking those siblings home and learning something from their humbleness and simple happiness.  I don’t think I could ever describe how much that meant to me.  While coming to Mina, Nevada with the intention in mind to teach others, I ended up being taught myself but a little eight-year-old girl and her nine-year-old brother.

I love being here

Susie DeFriend

 Yo! So far its been pretty friggin tight. I have really connected with all of these kids. Yeah thats right i said all. All of them want to just hang out with me constantly and they all respect me alot. The high school girls and little boys are always stealing my hat and getting me wet so my patience is really being tested but I love it though. Im going to hate when we leave because I have become friends with these kids and i dont want to leave honestly.

 Also the nights here in the guys room are so crazy. On wednesday night about 10:30 P.M. Jason Green yelled “the duck flies at midnight” and then BAM! about 6 or so guys and me busted out some glow sticks and had the craziest rave in the history of man kind. Ive grown closer to each of these guys and I really am enjoying my time here.

         Hey! Today was yet another awesome day! Today I took a step back and noticed a change in my and the other people in my teams attitude. Our foundation that our relationship with Christ stands on has got so much more sturdy and I am proud my team and myself. We got some new students today. The funny thing is that the people of Mina were saying we would not gain anymore then we already had(we also lost one due to her having summer school =[ ).The Mina group has really grown in its relationship with the students and the students at VBS invited more people to come and learn the word of God and just have and amazing time. That to  me is a sign that we are succeeding in our mission to get these kids to accept Christ if they already haven’t.

     We had a challenge today and that was to select one student to just love on and learn alot about them. For me that was difficult to just pick one. I feel I need to show attention to everyone. But I did select one to talk to more and that was this little girl named Ashley. She is going into 3rd grade this year, but looks like she is 5 haha. She is very energetic, joyful, loud, hysterical,  and likes to be involved with just about everything we do. Even if she has never heard the song that we have done she has that courage to just get up there and assist us lead worship and just praise God. I learned some basic things about her to things about her homelife and I really enjoyed that time speaking to her and was very suprised she had the patience to listen to what  I said and asked. There was one thing I felt that was kind of incredible and that was that Ashley didn’t own a bible. I was pondering on that thought of why she didn’t and how she had so much knowledge for such a young about stories in the bible. But another thing Darius tought me was do I want to “Impress the students or leave an impression.” I think and hope I have done that. The next person I want to connect more with is this young lady named Rena. She is going to be a Jr. this year and is on her school Basketball team. We already have many things in common and I hope I can just get the feeling of love between us before we leave. My time here has just been awesome and I just cant wait for the next day each time! It always gets better and better!

We finished pulling the weeds and cleaning the rest of the church yard today! It really went by fast if we all contributed some work and worked together. We just took 30-45 minutes each day and we have really made alot of progress.

Today…

So today is Thursday and its the second to last day that we got to spend with these kids over in Mina. I haven’t blogged since Monday so i’m going to recap a little bit…

So on Tuesday we made that hour and half van ride over to Mina, but before we got to the church we stopped by Gary and Lois’ house to pick up some tools for pulling weeds. We were barely there for five minutes when Gary insists that he shows us his cars that he’s been working on. So we go into his garage and check them out and they were actually pretty cool. So Gary now wants us to hear what his car sounds like. And before he does this I say, “Okay even though I know its coming I’m still going to jump at this crazy loud noise coming up.” So he turns on the engine and sure enough I jump, then he goes and starts messing with the gears and the engine starts making revving and popping noises. And I just am screaming and freaking out so I go and run behind Johnny Faux (who is like TEN times bigger than me). Meanwhile Darius is flipping out over to the side and everyone was just laughing at us. It was sooooo funny.

So later that day when we pulled up to our church in Mina, I see Rickey (one of the girls at our VBS) walking down the steps. I hop out of the van to see whats up and she just says, “Where have you guys been? I came at 9:00, then at 9:30 and at 10:00. And you guys weren’t here!” So I apologized for being late (on account of us staying a little too long at Gary’s house). Anyways, that VBS was just totally awesome, even though we still only had five kids.

Now on to Wednesday… Now Wednesday was a truly an amazing day. God blessed the Mina team in so many ways I couldn’t even begin to tell you all about every one of them… So i’ll just fill you in on a few that really stuck out in my heart.

1) We are all pretty much just gathered around on the porch waiting for our VBS kids to show up, when I see Rickey rounding the corner with two new kids!!!!!!! It was so awesome The two new kids ended up being Rickey’s friend Alexis and Alexis’ younger brother Jeramia. Plus Dylan rides up on his quad, as usual, but with another boy with him (Ashley’s brother William!) It was just such an awesome feeling to see these kids come.

2) Jeramia stuck to me like glue! And I loved every minute of it. He is only three years old and very shy. He didn’t want to sing and he barely talked but he did sit on my lap for all of Susie’s lesson and just hold my hands. Later in the day when we got to our game portion of the VBS we played Ultimate Football. Whenever Jeramia got the ball he wouldn’t pass it to anyone except for me! And that was just an awesome feeling. However this game was a little too old for the kids that I’m in charge of so we went off to the side and played catch. And every time we passed the ball i’d ask him what my name was and he’d say, “Waynnaah” So cute.

3) When VBS was over and it was time to pull weeds almost all of the kids stay to help! Three year old Jeramia was especially enthusiastic because he went and found some weeds with pretty yellow flowers on them. No one can really understand what he says so when he ran up to me with these weeds in his hands I kinda tried to put them in my trash bag but he said, “No don’t put these in there, pretty ones for you!!!” (except he said it in his really hard to understand three year old language. I felt so loved at that moment, and even more so because the other little kids came running up to me with all the pretty flowered weeds that they could find wanting to give them to me. :):):):):):):)

4) One of the most amazing things that happened on this day had to do with Ashley. The day before I had actually braided her hair and used one of my hair ties and when she came today she had done her hair in a pony tail all pretty but the thing that caught my eye was my hair tie in her hair. It was such a special moment because I realized at that moment that I had given her something. Something so small and insignificant but it was something that she could use and would use and want and need. And I just felt like I impacted her life in some way, even though she may not even really know it.

5) And one last thing, while we were pulling weeds another boy showed up (Ashley’s other brother Cody) and helped us pull weeds like a pro (and he did end up coming to our VBS the next day).

And now for today, I was kinda bummed because Alexis couldn’t come because she had to go back to summer school. But her little brother Jeramia still came with Rickey. He was very shy today and very isolated. Things went pretty well and when snack time rolled around Jeramia was talking away in his three year old language that no one can understand and he was talking about playing a game or something like that when he said, “It’s gonna be verses you (speaking to me) and her (speaking to Ryan Trieber hahahahahaha) and him (speaking to Marcus). It was the funniest thing ever!!!!!

Around 12:00 Jeramia’s Dad came to get him and Jeramia’s attitude just dropped. He looked totally sad, like he didn’t want to leave. It pretty much just broke my heart, but it also made me realize how important we are to these kids and how much they look up to us and look forward to being with us and just being our friends. And during our small group time we somehow came around to talking about where we were from and it didn’t quite click in Cody’s head that we were from Arizona. So we told him how tomorrow was our last day but he continued to ask, “So are you guys coming back on Monday?” and it was really hard to tell him NO that we wouldn’t be coming back, at least not tomorrow.

But all of this just drives me more to come back. I really want to come back because these kids now have a piece of my heart.

So thats my novel.

Maybe I’ll be able to get in some more blogging time tomorrow.

Lene

Ninja here

Just writing to tell about my day.  VBS went slow and alot of thing went over so I actually couldn’t do my game but that turned out to be a total God thing because I was able to connect with Rena (the girl I picked to love on all week) in a whole-nother way!  Chrissy was also there for me to connect with as well, although the most connection was between Rena and I.  We actually exchanged information so we can stay in contact even after this.  As the last day of VBS comes all to fast I feel sad to have to leave these awesome kids.  I will truely miss letting Rickey Duct tape me all up and letting Ashley beat me with the pool noodles!  Too all those back at home, I just want to let you know that God is working in amazing ways, in the kids hearts and in my own heart as well.  I have so much love for the kids we are with each and everyday and I don’t want to think about leaving them.  This whole experience is the best one I will ever have.  I have realized what a big heart the God has given me and I have made some great relationships.  One really great relationship I have made would be the one with Susie DeFriend!  Well we are going to go take a team picture so thank you all for your prayers and cant wait to see those kids tomorrow!

Mackenzie Lipps

AKA Ninja!

Hey all,

Ok so Stacey and I have a “Ninja thing” going.  Basically on the way here I got the nickname “Ninja” from Susie.  Then Mariam, Susie, and I started a “Ninja” clan.  WEll Stacey decided that she wanted in on the “Ninja clan” and we told her she has to prove herself.  She was trying hard all day for us to see something “Ninja” come from her.  She wasn’t able to prove herself but then at night when the girls we supposed to go to bed Stacey (being a leader) decided to come in and try to take my Ninja headband!  Well that didn’t happen, noooooo way. Although her and I wrestled all over the floor, fighting and biting, and dragging each all over the floor!  It was great =D  But then in the morning she came up behind me and stole my headband, ultimately giving her the “Ninja Right”. So ever since that night her and I are always in competition!  These are just some of the good times we have here in the Goldfield School.  The rest are not to be mentioned!!!!

Mackenzie Lipps otherwise known as “Ninja” around here.

Tomorrow is Friday already and I cannot believe it!  This week has been amazing and went by really fast.  Today, the student that I have really connected with and have been loving on (Cidney) did not make it to the VBS.  It was a little discouraging, but I praised God that I was able to share with her the gospel yesterday.  I have planted the seed in her heart and maybe one day it will be watered and will grow.  Today I also had a lot of fun leading my small group.  I was very excited to see a boy named George following along in the Bible with me and offering to pray at the end of small group time.  The kids have been having a lot of fun with us, and it will be sad to say good-bye tomorrow.  Each day after the VBS we have been taking them time to spend time with them.  We having been going to the pool, playing basketball, and hanging out.  I think it makes the kids feel really loved.  I will be sure to keep in touch with as many of these students as I can because I know that it will mean a lot to them.  Thanks again for all of your support because without it this trip would not be as blessed as it is.