Weeks 8-9: Nov. 2-11
Monday: On Monday we started our day at Perkins at 6:30! Pastor Flinck from Berean Baptist Church took us out for breakfast. We then left on our 14 ½ hour drive. We drove from Brooklyn Park, MN to Fort Collins, CO. We arrived late Monday evening, and were adjusting to two time changes (Daylight Savings the night before, and now Mountain time). We had a great time, but when we arrived we were all ready to be outside. It was our first time of seeing snow. We had been worried, because we had heard the previous week two snow days had been called, but there was barely any snow on the ground. Tiffany threw the first snowball of the year. We put 938 miles on our van that day. We were on one road for over 500 of those miles! We praise the Lord for the safety He gave us on our long drive.
Tuesday: Tuesday morning we woke up and enjoyed the mountains of Colorado for the first time in daylight—they were awesome. We had our first chapel at Front Range Baptist Academy. The group was great, and we loved being there. We had some free time before our next school, so we were able to drive to a park, and enjoy the beautiful sunshine and 70 degree weather! And we had thought Colorado was going to be cold. We were at Maranatha Christian Center (whose team is also the Crusaders) in the afternoon. The group was great to minister to, and they loved us so much they asked us to do another skit after we were done. We happily obliged, and had a great time talking to the students about Maranatha.
Wednesday: We started off our morning at Community Christian Center. They were an awesome group of students! They were responsive, and were a great group to be around. We enjoyed ourselves so much. We then headed to Beth Eden Baptist School. We were able to arrive early, so we practiced a little, had chapel with a great group of students, and then ate lunch with them—it was egg roll day, and it was good. We left and headed over to Woodside Baptist Church where we would have our evening service. We ate with Pastor Scott, and loved hearing him joke about the superiority of Northland Soccer to Maranatha Soccer. We had a great service with wonderful people. When the service was finished, the teens were dismissed, and we headed out to play a violent game of “garbage basketball” with them—some of us abstained. When the game was over, we were able to do some giveaway’s and talk to them about Maranatha. We had a great time.
Thursday: Thursday morning we were at Faith Baptist School in Longmont, CO. The kids were putting on their school play that evening (we were sorry we were going to miss it), and were a great group. When we finished, we headed for possibly the most exciting drive of our trip—we were heading through the mountains. They were beautiful. We loved being surrounded by the incredible mountains, and were able to stop at a lookout point and take some pictures. We then headed to Liberty Baptist Church where we met up with Pastor Turner. We were able to eat a great dinner, and then have their mid-week service. The people were wonderful, and suggested some activities for us to do on Saturday. We then headed to Pear Park Baptist Church where they were letting us use their parsonage houses (they had two) for us to spend the next two nights.
Friday: Friday morning we were at Pear Park Baptist School for a morning chapel. The Galkin team had just been there, so all the teens knew Laura Kennedy (’09 Grad). The chapel was great, and we had lunch with the school after the chapel. We got to know different teens, and loved finding common bonds. Friday afternoon, Pastor Turner, volunteered to take us to Colorado’s National Monument—we were so excited. Pastor Turner drove into the monument, and allowed us to get out, enjoy the incredible creation, and take tons of profile pictures for facebook! We loved being there and reflecting on the greatness of God who has given us different ways to remember Him. We arrived back at Liberty Baptist Church in time for their “Harvest Party”, and they had invited us. People were dressed in costumes, so we all wore our matching “Harvest Rally” t-shirts. We had an awesome meal with the church people, and then were able to do some skits, and sing, before Pastor Turner brought the message. We had a great time listening to a man in the church play the accordion, and eating lots of candy. We loved being at the party.
Saturday: Saturday was a fun day for us! Jason’s birthday was on Sunday, but we knew we had a free day on Saturday, so we decided to celebrate it then. The girls took the van Friday night, snuck off to Wal-mart to buy party supplies. Thankfully, we were still at the Pear Park Baptist Church parsonage with the girls in one home, and the boys in the other, so the guys didn’t notice. Saturday morning (20 minutes before Jason told us we were leaving) we drove the van around the corner of the church (so Jason couldn’t see it), and decorated the inside. We hung up a “Happy Birthday” banner across the front, blew up 15 balloons and taped them to various parts inside the van. Matt took window markers and wrote “B-day Boy” on the passenger window (where we were going to make Jason sit), and on the back Matt wrote “Honk—it’s my b-day.” When the decoration was completed, and Jason was outside, we drove the van around honking the horn and blowing the noise makers. We then drove to Hanging Lake which was where we were going to hike that day. We were warned the hike was difficult, to plan for 3 hours, and to bring lots of water. We prepared ourselves, and started up. The hike was hard in some places, but we loved it. We reached the top in under an hour—it was incredibly beautiful. The boys climbed to a higher peak—just so they could give their mothers something more to fear. We took tons of pictures, and enjoyed God’s beautiful creation. We started down. We completed the entire hike in 2 hours and 15 minutes. We then drove to Chipotle (Jason’s b-day choice) ate, and then snuck in the birthday cake. He requested we not sing to him, so we whispered “Happy Birthday” together, and he blew out his candles. We left and drove to Calvary Baptist Church in Golden, Co. We met up with Pastor Sutherland who took us out to “On the Border” which was great Mexican food! This time, the restaurant staff sang for Jason’s birthday!
Sunday: Sunday morning we had our last service in Colorado. We were at Calvary Baptist Church in Golden, Co. We were able to minister in Sunday School where we sang and talked about MBBC. Then in the morning service we sang a few more songs. The church also sang “Happy Birthday” to Jason, and allowed him to pick from the “birthday basket”. We then joined the church for their potluck. We loved the great food, and getting to know different church members. In the afternoon service, we did skits, singing, and Jason preached—it was a good time. We left for Homestead Baptist Church in Cheyenne, WY. We arrived early and the guys were able to play foosball with some of the teens, and then help the men in the church choir get ready for their cantata. The service was a blessing. Afterwards, we ate a great meal, and enjoyed meeting new people, and making connections (Mr. Cronin’s brother’s family goes there, and Elizabeth Loggans is originally from there). We then met up with our great host families.
Monday: We left Wyoming around 8 Monday morning. We spent our day driving to Abilene, Kansas. We enjoyed our “team day.” We had a group devotional that was thoughtfully prepared by Caleb, and we were able to spend time in prayer together. We read some books, talked on the phone, talked to each other, and enjoyed our time with each other. We drove for about 8 hours and arrived in KA just in time to meet the administrator, and get to our host homes.
Tuesday: Tuesday morning we started off our day at Abilene Christian School. The administrator is Mr. Herbert (Chip’s dad). They were having Bible quizzing that day, so another school came and joined them for chapel, and we got to minister to both schools. After a great chapel, we headed over to Shawnee Mission Christian School where we had an afternoon chapel. The students were responsive, and we had a great time talking to them. We then drove to Christian Schools of Springfield and went to dinner with the administrator at Golden Corral—it was really good.
Wednesday: We started our morning at Cracker Barrel. The school administrator took us to breakfast. Jason beat Caleb at checkers, and Joanna got the jump-over-the-pins-thing down to one. We had an awesome breakfast, and then contemplated having to buy Christmas presents soon! Our chapel at Christian Schools of Springfield went well. We even had a MBBC alumni come and see us. We had fun with the students. We then drove to Berean Christian Academy. We had chapel with K-12th grade—it was a big group. We loved meeting Professor Wareham, the administrator, who gave us some Indian and Cambodian money to remind us to pray for missionaries. We loved our time there. We then drove to Fairport Baptist Church. We got to meet great people, and had a wonderful service. The people were so encouraging and appreciative of our ministry, that the evening was a huge blessing for us. We then ate an incredible meal after the service, and split up for our evening.
Week 7: Oct. 26-Nov. 1
Monday: We left campus early Monday morning. All of us had greatly appreciated our time of rest and relaxation. We got back into the swing of things quickly. We headed for Reedsburg Christian School where we had a chapel. We then drove to Faith Baptist School in Wisconsin where we had an afternoon chapel. When we were done, we had a 4 hour drive over to Minnesota. We enjoyed talking and being with each other again—we had missed one another.
Tuesday: We enjoyed our chapel at Chisago Lakes Baptist School very much, and Caleb enjoyed spending time with his aunt. We left and headed over to Prior Lake Christian School, ate lunch with the students, some of us played some volleyball, and then we had our afternoon chapel. We drove to Woodcrest Baptist Church that afternoon. We were able to provide the music for their sports banquet that evening. We enjoyed the great food and fun fellowship.
Wednesday: Wednesday morning we were at Woodcrest Academy for their chapel—they were a great group of students. Mr. Issacs (the administrator, Joelle and Cailin’s father) took us out to eat at Keye’s Café. Most of us got pancakes and were shocked when the pancakes came and they covered the whole plate! We thought when the menu said “pancakes as big as manhole covers” that they were kidding—they weren’t. We then drove to Faith Baptist School. We had a great afternoon chapel, and enjoyed getting to know and visit with the students. We headed to Victory Baptist Church where we had a wonderful evening service.
Thursday: We went to Owatanna Christian School Thursday morning. We enjoyed seeing Steve and Jill Dow (MBBC alumni and friends). The students were fun to spend time with. We headed back to Victory Baptist Church where we ate lunch with the teenagers, and then had an afternoon chapel. We headed to Plymouth, MN to spend the night.
Friday: Friday morning we went to Fourth Baptist School. We were at the school early, so we walked around Central Baptist Seminary. We enjoyed looking into the classrooms, and even seeing some people we know. The students were a good group, and we enjoyed spending time with them. We saw MBBC family: Levi Kolwinska, Beth Leaf, and Kara Gotzman. Friday afternoon we went to St. Francis Christian School. The students were great to get to know, and we had an awesome time. We saw MBBC grads Rene and Jill Peterson—it was nice to catch up with them. Friday night we went out to eat at “The Spaghetti Factory” the atmosphere was cool. We then headed over to Mall of America for a few hours of shopping, meeting up with friends and family, and seeing Hulk Hogan (he was signing books).
Saturday: Saturday morning we slept in! We then went to the Titanic Exhibit at the Science Museum in St. Paul. The exhibit was incredible. We all learned new facts about the wreck, and were reminded of its sobering consequences. We got to touch an iceberg that is kept at the same temperature that it would have been that night. We all received boarding passes and then at the end discovered if we lived or died (all of the girls lived, and all of the guys died). After we were done exploring the exhibit, we headed to the Science museum. We found out how many molecules we each had in our body (it’s different for everyone, but they’re all really long numbers). We then went to Mickey’s Diner—a Minnesota classic. The food was just as good as we had been told, and the atmosphere just as delightful. We then headed to Ambassador Baptist Church where we went to their youth activity. We split up in teams with the teens and were able to run around, in the dark, inside and out, trying to avoid being caught, all while looking for paper clocks—we had fun. We enjoyed spending time with the teens and getting to know them all better.
Sunday: Sunday morning we were at Ambassador Baptist Church for Sunday School and the Morning service. We enjoyed seeing alumni Alex and Heather Walburg. We headed over for lunch at the Deiss’s home, and had a wonderful relaxing afternoon. That evening we were at Berean Baptist Church. The people were kind and gracious, and we enjoyed being able to minister to them.
Week 6: Oct. 18-24
Sunday: Sunday morning we were at Mountain View Baptist Church in the morning. We were in the teen Sunday School class and enjoyed talking, and singing to them. Some of the harvest rally staff was there in the morning service, so we said our goodbyes to them. They had been an encouragement to us, and we loved spending time with them. We ministered in the morning service, and afterwards the pastor took us out to one of his favorite restaurants. It was called “Brownstone Café” and everyone should eat there—it was really good. Sunday night we were at Faith Baptist in Lebanon, PA. We enjoyed seeing MBBC grads: Art and Sharon Worley, Steven Mann, and Travis and Christine Ulrich, and Heather Waite. The people were encouraging, and we loved talking to them.
Monday: Monday morning was a relaxing day. We drove from Lebanon, PA to Shelocta, PA (Matt’s hometown) in the morning. We went for an awesome lunch at the George farm, and enjoyed meeting Matt’s mom, dad, sisters, and most importantly, niece. We also enjoyed seeing the farm animals, walking through the barns, and eating freshly picked chestnuts. We left in the afternoon and headed to Mentor Christian School to meet up with our hosts.
Tuesday: Tuesday morning we were in Mentor Christian Academy in the morning. We had a great chapel with the students. After the chapel, we all headed over to sing for the 2nd grade class. The girls had stayed with the teacher of the 2nd grade, and they wanted to sing for the class. We sang for just the 2nd grade. When we left the room, however, some of the other grades had come out in the hallway to hear, so we sang another song in the hallway for the elementary students. It was a different kind of concert hall, but we enjoyed it. We then drove to Harvest Baptist Christian School and had a great time with the students there. We then headed to Heritage Christian School.
Wednesday: Wednesday morning we were at Heritage Christian School, and we enjoyed our morning chapel time with the students. We then headed to Wayside Christian School where we had an afternoon chapel. Then, we began the long (8 hours without stops) trek home. We got back around 9:30. We were all excited to be back on campus for the next few days.
Week 5: Oct. 11-17
Sunday: Sunday morning we were able to minister at Colchester Baptist Bible Church. We loved meeting the people, and enjoyed telling them what God was doing in our lives. After a wonderful lunch, we headed to Concord, New Hampshire. We were at Trinity Baptist Church Sunday evening. The Pettit team had been there the entire week before, and Sunday night was their last service. We sang a few songs, and they sang a few songs. We enjoyed seeing them all again, and we loved spending time with the kind people of Trinity.
Monday: We were at Trinity School in the morning. We enjoyed talking to the students about MBBC. We then headed to Trinity in Williston, VT. The drive up to the church was beautiful. The fall colors were everywhere, and the hills were covered in gorgeous trees. We took pictures, enjoyed them, and didn’t feel sorry that we weren’t in Wisconsin. We had a wonderful time at Trinity Baptist Academy in VT, and enjoyed seeing some old friends. We then went to Dublin Christian Academy. We ate dinner with the “dorm students” and then spent the evening at the school Administrator’s home. We watched Monday Night Football, and caught up on our internet. It was great!
Tuesday: Tuesday morning we were at Dublin Christian Academy in the morning, and then were able to eat lunch with some of the students. We headed off to South Merrimack Christian School where we had a great afternoon chapel. We had some free time, so we headed to Lexington Green where the infamous “shot heard around the world” took place. We talked to the guide, walked around, read plaques, took a team picture, and enjoyed our time thoroughly. We headed to Open Bible Academy to eat dinner and meet up with our host families.
Wednesday: We were at Open Bible Academy in the morning with a great group of kids. We then left and drove to Faith Baptist for their afternoon chapel. They were another wonderful group of students, and we had a lot of fun. We then drove to Warwick, RI where we would be for the evening service. The service was a blessing to us, and the people were kind and encouraging.
Thursday: We started our morning off at First Baptist Academy in Warwick, RI, and ministered in their morning chapel. We then left for PA! We spent Thursday driving. When we arrived at Mountain View Baptist Church we met up with the Assistant Pastor. We had a great meal there, spent time with his adorable children, and loved being able to relax after our long day.
Friday: Friday morning we were ready to head for another day of set up for the harvest rally (by this time, we were all pros). We had been warned Thursday night the next day was going to be cold. We dressed as warmly as we could, and headed outside. It was in the 30’s, raining, and windy all day. We were outside from 9 until 4:00. We described the weekend as “cold and wet” because that’s exactly what it was. We helped set up chairs, hook up sound, mark the field for football, decorate the stage, move tents around, set up games and anything else we could. By the time we got home, we were drenched and freezing. We took hot showers, and changed into dry clothes. We then headed to the church where the dinner for the rally workers was held. We ate, and had a time of prayer. We prayed for decisions to be made despite the weather, and for teenagers to have a good time. We then headed home to rest up for our big day.
Saturday: We left our house at 6:45 on Saturday morning. It was still cold, still raining, and still windy. We helped with carrying things to their respective tents, filling up the golf cart and driving it back and forth, setting up our display table, and getting ready to sing. Our voice warm-up that day consisted of us all jumping up and down to try to warm up—we had a great time. There ended up being around 1100 teens there, and they had been expecting 900. Morris Gleiser preached and it was a blessing. Even though, they shortened the day, moved things around, and most of the games were played inside, the teenagers still had a wonderful time, and many decisions were made for Christ. We left the grounds around 4, after saying goodbye to our friends the Northland team (who we had now been at three different rally’s with) and headed home for more hot showers, more dry clothes, and hot meatloaf (it was so good).
Week 4: Oct. 4-10
Sunday: Sunday morning we had the awesome opportunity to be in Kingsway Baptist Church. We sang in the Sunday School, and in the morning service. We enjoyed visiting with the sweet people. We also enjoyed visiting with the BJU students who ministered in that church. We went out for a quick Mexican lunch, and then enjoyed the afternoon service. We left and drove to Bible Baptist Church for the evening service. The people were great and we enjoyed our time with them. After the service, we ate pizza and enjoyed gym time with the teens.
Monday: Monday morning we were at Oakwood Christian Academy (where Hailey McGrail is teaching music and Mike Sturgill (Dr. Sturgill’s son) is the administrator) and had both an elementary and high school chapel. That afternoon we drove to Easley Christian School (where Jon and Chelsie Messenger are), and enjoyed our chapel there. The teens enjoyed teaching Jason a new game. Monday afternoon we had the unique opportunity to visit BJU. We all had friends/family we were able to visit for a few hours. That night we went to Mike Sturgill’s home and watched the Vikings beat the Packers—it was sad (for a few of us).
Tuesday: We left early Tuesday morning and drove to Athens Christian School in GA. We enjoyed our chapel with the teens, and our tour of the beautiful buildings. We then drove to Philadelphia Christian School where they were having Fire Safety Day! We joined the students for lunch, and then had chapel. We left after chapel and drove 7 hours to Jacksonville, NC.
Wednesday: Wednesday morning an unusual thing happened—we slept in! We loved every minute. We spent the late morning and afternoon visiting Barnes and Nobles, and enjoying Starbucks. We headed to Fellowship Baptist, had an amazing potluck and enjoyed visiting with the wonderful people. The service that night was a special blessing, and we were excited to hear how God had used us to encourage the people.
Thursday: We left early Thursday morning and drove 4 hours to Gospel Light Baptist Church. We ate lunch with the teens, and then had chapel. When we were done, we enjoyed being able to visit classes (some went to Physics, and some went to Writing). We left and drove over to Union Grove Christian School where we met up with Mr. and Mrs. Steinhaus (Rachel and Allison’s parents). We had a wonderful meal and then spent the evening taking our wii fitness ages. (Jason is 28 and Caleb is 74—everyone else is in between). It was a great relaxing evening.
Friday: Friday morning we were in Union Grove Christian school for both their elementary chapel and high school chapel. We left after eating with the high school students. We went to a gas station, pulled everything out of the van, vacuumed and wiped everything down. The clean van was so nice. We started on our trip to Connecticut. We went to Ryan’s for dinner and all enjoyed eating tons of food. We spent the night in Fredericksburg, VA.
Saturday: We woke up and drove to New England (for the first time for some of our team). We loved hearing about the snow in WI, while we drove through beautiful, colorful, warm, breezy, New York. We drove to Colchester Baptist Bible Church where Mark Love is the Pastor. We enjoyed seeing the Love’s again, and spending time with them.
Week 3: Sept. 28-Oct. 3
Sunday: We were at Faith Baptist Church in the morning. We were able to spend Sunday School with the teens, and then minister in the Sunday morning service. The teens were having a fundraiser dinner, and we were able to join them and eat awesome food. We spent the afternoon driving to Good News Baptist Church where we were ministering Sunday night. We enjoyed visiting with the people, and being encouraged by their godly testimonies.
Monday: We woke up early Monday and headed to Bethel Christian School (Natalie Kohnert, and Mark McInytre, your school says hello). The teens had just returned from a week of camp, so we did our best to wake them up—they were great. We then headed to First Landing State Park, and spent the afternoon at the bay. Tiffany and Brynley elected to read and enjoy the sun while everyone else went swimming. We all headed to our favorite place (Barnes and Nobles-you should remember why), and spent some time. We then drove to Sweethaven Christian School where we would be the next day. The pastor took us out for our first taste of “Firehouse Subs”—they were awesome.
Tuesday: We were in Sweethaven Christian School Tuesday morning for their chapel. The kids were so interesting to talk to, and fun to be with. After the school, we drove down to Tabernacle Christian School in Virginia Beach and enjoyed our chapel there. We had the opportunity to talk to many kids about Maranatha. We then headed to Shenandoah Baptist Church where we met up with our host families—who were keeping us for the next 4 nights!
Wednesday: Wednesday was a different day for us, and we loved every minute. We woke up and instead of going to a school, went to a field. We spent the day helping set up the North Carolina Youth Blast. We were able to see some of the same people who we met in Indiana for our other Harvest Rally. This time, however, we got to help set up the tent. It was a new experience for all of us, and we loved it. We headed back to rest for a few hours before we met up at Zaxby’s. It was a new experience for some of us, and it was fun. We then went to Shenandoah Baptist Church and had the service with their teens. After a brutal game of some form of basketball (in which the team, and the teens managed to emerge unhurt from), the teens all sat down, and we were able to sing, talk about what God was doing in our lives, and hear from God’s word.
Thursday: We spent Thursday morning at Wilson Christian Academy. The students were excited about us being there, and we loved spending time with them. We were the first group to be in their beautiful brand-new building—it had only been open for a week. We then drove to Wilmington Christian Academy where there was another great group of kids.
Friday: Friday morning we headed back out to the area where the youth rally was going to be held. We helped with final set-up. Friday afternoon we attended the volleyball games between Wilmington Christian and Wilson Christian (the two schools we had been at the day before). We cheered for both teams. Friday night we went back out to the youth rally and had our first experience with “Smithfield’s BBQ”. We loved it, and we’ve been talking about it since.
The guys played a game of touch football in the evening, and we headed back for our last night at our host homes. We genuinely appreciate Julia and Dale Land for keeping the boys, and Dwight and Cheryl Vanderbough for keeping the girls. They kept us for 4 nights, and we are incredibly appreciative for each one of them.
Saturday: Saturday was the North Carolina Youth Blast. We arrived at the area around 7:30 and ate breakfast and prayed with the workers. The rest of the day was a mixture of manning the Maranatha table, running game booths, providing special music for the 3 services, and enjoying ourselves. Matt, Jason, Caleb, and Joanna all were able to participate in skits. We loved spending time with the teens, and riding some of the stomach-turning rides. We left around 4, and drove to Kingsway Baptist Church in Lake Wylie, SC.
Week 2: Sept. 21-28
Thursday: Okay, we did go the “World’s Largest Truckstop”, but we were there for about 5 minutes, and it really wasn’t that interesting (got you back here though, didn’t it?). We arrived at Eagle Heights Baptist Church Thursday night. We were able to meet the seniors from EHBS who were setting up a giant garage sale in the gym. The entire gym was full of stuff the seniors were trying to sell for their senior trip. They spent most of Thursday night and all of Friday collecting, organizing and pricing—it was impressive. We had the chance that night to have some “team time.” We had a game night which consisted of the slowest game of Phase 10. We didn’t even finish the game and we played for around 2 hours! It was also some of the team members' worst personal score in Phase 10. But, in the interest of team unity, we won’t mention names.
Friday: We practiced as a team in the morning (we’re getting better, Dr Budahl). We were at Eagle Heights School in the afternoon. We enjoyed getting to know the students—we even had lunch in some of the classrooms. We had chapel, and then the guys ran the high school boys PE class, and our two Madrigal girls were able to help out in Senior High and Junior High handbell choir. Friday afternoon was a momentous occasion—we washed our van for the first time. Whether it was scrubbing the van, emptying everything out, or vacuuming the floor we all were able to help—and we loved every minute of it. Friday night we enjoyed pizza with the seniors (on break from their final-garage-sale-setting-up). When we were all done eating, we had a chance to spend time with just them. We talked about MBBC, ways we had been able to get involved in college, and sang a few songs. We then scoured the garage sale for things we wanted to buy—we found plenty.
Saturday: Our first day off! We left Eagle Heights (after quickly running into the garage sale to say goodbye, and secure our purchases) because we had a day in downtown Kansas City planned. We went first to the World War I museum and spent our morning there. The museum was incredible. There were lots of artifacts from all the different countries involved in the war. The timeline of events in the war that went month-by-month was fascinating. And the 9,000 red poppies, each poppy representing 1,000 soldiers who had died, was sobering. We were reminded of God’s awesome sovereignty--even when we don’t understand it. We ate lunch in the Crowne Plaza at a place where the food came to us on trains—we were irrepressibly excited (we have a video of our food coming to us, and plenty of pictures).
Jason got to meet up with his sister, Christina, and his brother-in-law, Eric Stanley. They were able to join us for our afternoon. Right after lunch, we headed off to watch a play adaptation of “Alice in Wonderland.” We all enjoyed it in our own unique way. We spent a few precious hours at Barnes and Noble (books, free Wi-Fi, and coffee—it’s the perfect place), and then enjoyed an incredible dinner together.
Sunday: Sunday morning we had the opportunity to minister at Tri-City Baptist Church. We were with the teens in Sunday School, and then sang in the morning service. Sunday afternoon we had a chance to eat more food than any human being should—Mongolian Barbeque is the best! Sunday night we were at Liberty Hills Baptist Church (where Eric Stanley is youth pastor), and we enjoyed getting to know the wonderful people.
Monday: Monday morning we started on one of our longest trips of the semester. We were going from Kansas City, MO, to Baltimore, MD, in two days! On Monday we drove 11 hours and stayed overnight at a hotel in Columbus, OH. We filled our time doing various things: sleeping, eating, talking, reading, and learning how to play Phase 10 dice (much faster than Phase 10, and can be played in the car).
Tuesday: Tuesday was almost a repeat of Monday—we woke up and drove. We arrived at People’s Baptist Church around 5. We were able to split up and cheer their teens in their volleyball and soccer games. We then headed to California Tortilla, a first for all of us, and enjoyed it a lot.
Wednesday: We had the opportunity to be at the Maryland College Fair on Wednesday. We were there with nine other Christian Colleges. We were able to provide the music for the opening meeting. We then got to eat pizza and meet some of the students. After lunch, all the colleges went to separate rooms, and the students visited the different colleges they were interested in. We had an enjoyable time meeting lots of students, talking to them about Maranatha, giving out t-shirts, and our cool new pens. Wednesday evening we were in Grace Bible Baptist Church. The people were friendly and gracious, and we loved being able to minister to them. It was a blessing to be there.
Thursday: We had the opportunity to be in Leesburg, VA—the kids were great! We then headed onto Keystone Baptist Church where Shorty Shank (an MBBC grad) is the assistant pastor. We enjoyed spending time with the students. We then rushed off to Reagan airport to drop Joanna off. She had to catch a flight home for her brother’s wedding. We then headed to Alexandria, VA.
Friday: We started our day with an enjoyable chapel in Alexandria, Virginia. We had a special treat when Pastor Smith bought us all Starbucks for breakfast! Friday evening was a beautiful night. We took advantage of the weather and spent the evening in Washington D.C. touring the monuments. We even think we witnessed President Obama land at the White House in Marine One. It was a breathtaking and exciting night.
Saturday: Saturday morning we enjoyed a delicious brunch at a local diner in the Washington area. We then spent some time at the Smithsonian, but we ran into heavy traffic with the National Book Festival across the street from the museum. Nonetheless, it was incredible to be in D.C. the same day as many of America’s most celebrated authors.
Lessons we’ve learned:
1. Phase 10 dice is better and faster than Phase 10.
2. Caleb and Jason can’t count.
3. Maryland is beautiful.
Praises:
1. Both Matt and Caleb are much better, and the entire group is much healthier.
2. We got through our long trip safely.
3. We were able to relax together for a whole day—it was a blessing.
Prayer Requests:
1. Continued health for the team.
2. For God to be preparing the hearts of those we’ll be ministering to.
Things we’re excited about:
1. Our weekend in D.C.
2. Being in the beautiful states of Virginia and North Carolina
3. More hours of traveling together…..
Week 1: Sept. 13-20
Friday: We left MBBC without Tiffany—that may have been our first mistake. She was in a wedding at home that weekend, so we planned to be without her until Sunday afternoon. She was going to fly in and meet us in time for our first official concert Sunday night. The other five of us drove to Milton, Indiana, for the original “Harvest Rally.”
We drove 6 ½ hours, arriving just in time for home-cooked brisket, corn, and awesome cookies. We were able to attend the service for the workers where we were reminded of the importance of our ministry the next day. We had a time of prayer with workers, and then helped clean up and finish setting up for the next day.
Saturday: This was Brynley, Caleb, and Joanna’s first Harvest Rally. Matt and Jason were old pros. We arrived around 7:30 and set up our table. Matt and Caleb went to help park the 1,100 teenagers who came to Harvest Rally. The teens started to arrive around 8 a.m. The MBBC table was busy throughout the day (we were giving out an iPod shuffle), but also many kids came up to talk to us about MBBC. We were able to talk to lots of teenagers about Maranatha education, sports, accreditation, online opportunities, preaching, and dorm life.
The day was centered around three preaching sessions with evangelist Jerry Sivnksty. We were able to sit in on the services and they were a blessing. Pray that the teenagers who made decisions will be faithful in carrying out those decisions for God. We left around 4 p.m. and drove to Evansville.
Sunday: Sunday morning we had the awesome opportunity to be at University Heights Baptist Church in Evansville. We were instantly welcomed by the church members, and made to feel comfortable. We were able to attend Sunday School. In the Sunday morning service, the guys sang and Jason preached. Our concert was that night when our entire group would be together finally. Sunday afternoon brought an incredible church potluck, and a wonderful time of visiting with the church family. A lady in the church offered to pick up Tiffany from the airport, so Brynley went along, and everyone else went to take naps.
Around 2:30 the fateful call came. Due to unavoidable traffic and baggage checks, Tiffany had missed her flight. The rest of the team met at the church at 4 p.m. to rework our concert—without our one and only soprano. We were able to pray together and entrust the service to God. We were reminded this concert wasn’t about us, but about bringing glory to God. The concert went well and we were reminded of God’s awesome ability to work beyond ourselves.
Monday: We left the gracious people of University Heights behind, and drove to Danville, Illinois, for our first school on the road. Thankfully, Tiffany had been picked up by friends, Jake and Laura Bennett (both MBBC graduates) and was able to stay with them Sunday night. We met up with her at the school and were able to finally be all together.
After the school, we drove to Calvary Baptist in Normal, Illinois. The church was in the midst of their Missions Conference, so we had the opportunity to eat dinner with the missionaries. The guys were able to catch up with the Fiocchis, missionaries to Albania. The night service consisted of each missionary having their own room, and the church members moving from room to room to visit and hear each missionary’s presentation. We were all blessed by the presentations.
Tuesday: We started Tuesday by singing in the Calvary chapel. We then headed to Pekin, Illinois, for their chapel. Both groups were wonderful to sing and minister to, and were an encouragement to us. We then drove to LaSalle Peru Christian school where we would sing the next day.
Wednesday: Wednesday was a full day. We started with LaSalle Christian school where we did two chapels—one with the elementary and one with the high school. We then left for Calvary Baptist in Chillicothe, Illinois. We were in their school that afternoon and their church that night—we had four concerts that day! We, however, had a chance that afternoon to relax at Pastor Cochran’s home and use his wireless.
Thursday: We had a great time with the students from East Moline, and then we headed on to Eagle Heights, Kansas City, Missouri. And what do we have to say about today? Three words—“World’s Largest Truckstop” More about Thursday next week.
Lessons we’ve learned this week:
1. The whole team learned not to leave Tiffany.
2. Jason learned not to leave Tiffany’s tour clothes, pillow, and books in Wisconsin.
3. Twenty-nine boxes of brand-new catalogs smell bad.
What we’re looking forward to:
1. Kansas City, Missouri
2. Our trip to Maryland
3. Starting VA
Prayer Requests:
1. Health for the team members—especially Caleb and Matt
2. Safety for the long traveling days this next week
3. Continue to develop relationships with teenagers