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| Our final update as Central One Team 2007!
We had a lot of fun this week while we were in the Bahamas with Central Two, Kristin Caddy and Chris Shay! It was great to be able to work with them and serve the Lord together. We held a VBS with the Bahamian children. The weather was very hot and all the kids loved playing with the water balloons in recreation. The kids also loved going to the beach! We had many kids accept Christ once again; which is always a blessing to be able to witness! We praise God for being able to go to a remote island and see the peacefulness that it has. We learned a lot about love in the Bahamas and how easy it is to show if we try harder.
When we got home from the Bahamas, we went straight to Minnesota to Northwoods Camp. We were helping out with the Service Extension Camp. The kids there were very open to what the Lord and the staff had to say. Many of the kids we ministered to were from tough homes and it's really hard for them. We got to share devotions with the camp every night at "Call to the Cross", and joined them in their peer groups. It was very eye opening for us to see kids in such need of prayer and love.
Wednesday we left at 7 am from Minnesota and got back to THQ around 4:00pm. It was a long day of travel and we are going to rest this evening and get ready to serve at CBLI with the rest of our fellow SMTers and other brothers and sisters in Christ.
We thank the Lord for this opportunity this summer to experience His work being done through us. We could not have asked for a better way to serve Him. We learned about the power of prayer, and how to love. Thank you for supporting us in many ways, but most of all in prayer. May God bless you!
Hope to see you all sometime soon!
Love,
Alex, Carolyn, Ashlee, Crouton (Amy E.), Amy K., and Breann
Central One Team 2007  | | |
| Hello for the last time from Spain!
We begin our trip home tomorrow morning and will travel over 24 hours but arrive on the same day. We finished our VBS and youth bible camp today. We were asked to throw a fiesta for the kids so after the final bible lessons on the armor of God we divided the group into 4 armies, gave them war markings on their faces, and proceeded to have the greatest Spanish water fight in Spain´s history. Had we been here a couple hundred years ago, the Spanish Armada way have won the Spanish American war, but alas we were not.
The past couple of evenings we have gone into the streets and beach fronts to get into conversations with locals and tourists about the Gospel and The Salvation Army. It was challenging to get out of our comforts zones and approach people with the Gospel but we did not have a spirit of timidity.
We have enjoyed our time in Spain and could not stop laughing last night over dinner as we recalled how the Lord has blessed us beyond belief. We cannot wait to tell you all about the Lord´s work here in Spain and in our lives. Please do not hesitate to ask specific questions about Spain or ones that require long answers. To our friends and family, teammates at home and abroad, and home corps, we have been praying for you and are excited to hear all God has done this summer where ever you have been.
We will hopefully see you at 6:35pm Central Standard Time, at O´Hare Airport. A Dios y adios,
Nate and Team Spain | | |
| Wow, time has flown by here in Argentina. We are now in our last day here. These past two weeks have been packed. Elyse celebrated her 21st birthday last week, including a great party with the Home League ladies. That same night we hopped on a bus for a quick trip to Puerto Iguazu, a great example of God’s beautiful creation. While there we even got to see a toucan (after searching it for the entire two days)! Upon our return we had the normal corps activities, including Youth Group, Sunday School, and the Holiness Service.
This past week was a bit different. We had the privilege of leading the first Vacation Bible School at the outpost in Antequera, which included crafts, Bible, and recreation classes. There was a solid group of children who attended each day and we were able to enjoy great fellowship with the children as well as with the leaders. VBS was wrapped up with a program for all of the family members of the kids, in which the children presented the songs and memory verses from every day of the week. After their performance, they received their “diplomas” and gifts. All in all, the first VBS was a great success .
The weekend was our typical schedule, but with some sad undertones because we were having our “lasts.” We had our last youth group, Sunday School, farewell Holiness Service, even our last “asado”. This summer has been an amazing blessing to us, and we cannot wait to share all of the stories with you.   
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| We left Spain a week ago and arrived in the Canary Islands. Our first stop was in Santa Cruz, Tenerife Island and we are now in Las Palmas, Gran Canaria Island. Our last week posed new challenges for our team as we were working with officers who could not speak English and had never lived in North America. It seems strange, but everywhere we have been we have been working with groups of officers in which at least one could speak English and was familiar with North American culture. The team prayed and quickly learned new patience and understanding for crosscultural ministry beyond what we had been learning. We also faced new challenges in our VBS ministry. The Salvation is not well liked on this Island as a newspaper report a few years back had claimed the SA was a cult that used children. The officers have been slowly rebuilding trust in the community and were excited to learn how to begin children´s ministries. For a few days we would go the nearby parks and just begin playing games hoping to draw a crowd. At first we had little success but the Lord answered our prayers! The second time going to the parks we prayed for the Holy Spirit to guide us in approaching children in our ministry and when we opened our eyes there were two boys we had met at the corps a few days earlier. We began playing with them and other children joined in just in time for those two boys to leave. Gabriel then took the opportunity given by a weird bug on his shirt to talk about creation with two boys. One boy surprisingly had many questions concerning the Gospel and the afterlife because his friend died recently. In the end the boy said he had accepted Jesus in his heart! We continued to see God work in great ways in this ministry over the next few days.
We learned a lot about the power of prayer from our officers here. After planning an outline for a meeting, the captain shared with us the vision for the church and how they seek the power of the Holy Spirit in everything they do because often men have good ideas and intentions, but without the Holy Spirit´s guidance it is futile. We were at first slightly offended but realized we did not really pray about our plans. We went back to the corps where we lived and spent a while praying individually for guidance concerning the meeting. When we came back together we shared what we had prayed and what we thought the Holy Spirit might be sharing. Ryan had received a vision concerning his apathy and unwillingness to help specific people in his past because of feelings of inadequacy. In the vision he felt chained to a wall but he heard Jesus saying, ´´Look, you are free, the chains are gone´´. When he looked the chains were not actually around his wrists but he was holding onto them. While praying, Nate felt like he needed to listen to what Ryan had to say because Ryan tripped, as is his character, and Nate thought, it´s not through the important, rich and eloquent things of the world that God often speaks. As a result, Ryan preached on Sunday and we learned an important lesson about the power of prayer.
After a week of VBS, bible study, and fellowship with the officers and congregants, we left Tenerife for Las Palmas, where we now are. Today we lead a VBS for young children and used the CBLI Teen Track Material to begin a 4 day long youth bible study. We are looking forward to new lessons and challenges before we come home. Continue to pray for our focus and endurance as we begin new relationships in a new place. The congregation here is unique and made up of believers from all over the world with only two actually from this Island.
We will try and write one more time before we take off.
Blessings and Prayers to our friends and family, and the Central Territory, Nate and Team Spain. | | |
| Hello again, We have come back once again to DHQ in Vryheid from
another half week of ministry out in the Khambi
circuit. This was another great stop on our travels
although it was very short. On Monday night, we
arrived at the corps which is in a rural mountainous
area. Rising up from behind the officers quarters,
there was a tall mountain. As it was still daylight
with plenty of time before dinner, the guys just had
to go up there. Alberto, Grant, Bongani and myself
started climbing and saw some incredible views of
mountains and fields. When we came back down, Grant
wanted to walk to the only store in the area to get
some batteries so the four of us went through the town
(it would be more accurate to think of it like a
series of camp sites with one dirt road and lots of
sandy trails through woods). When we got to the store,
we greeted all the people inside in Zulu and told them
we were from the Salvation Army. After Grant got what
he needed, the gogo (grandma) behind the counter asked
us to pray for her diabetes and sing so we did. There
were some men who asked us to buy them alcohol and we
had to tell them that we wouldn't support that and we
could pray for them. It is really cool to me that
Christians don't just have errands to do. Anything as
mundane as buying batteries is a ministry and has a
purpose.
Tuesday was a packed day. We got up and after
breakfast, we went around to many of the houses in the
area and shared bible verses, choruses and prayers
with all the people. Some were soldiers and some were
not, but it was a really great time and they were all
very welcoming. We did that straight until lunch and
then prepared for a Kidz Club meeting. This was a
massive Kidz Club with 108 kids all under 13. We
played 'what time is it Mr. Fox?' and then sang with
them. Then we had them act out the story of Shadrach,
Meshach and Abednego in the fiery furnace. With so
many kids, we were worried about having enough
supplies to have them all make paper plate
tamborines, but like fish and bread, the plates
lasted and every kid got one. Then we went straight
into a prayer meeting for adults. After that we ran a
youth meeting for a very excited youth group. We
played the ever popular 'zip-zip-boing' game and Katy
led the dramatic presentation of king Jehosaphat's
victory over Moad and Ammon from 2 Chronicles 20.
It was a very busy day, but everything went really
well and we all enjoyed it.
On wednesday, we walked to the outpost at Velaphi.
This wasn't just a short walk, but at least a 45
minute hike through woods and mountains. There were
some spectacular scenes along the way. After walking
down the mountain, we came to a wide open valley of
tall yellow grass where we walked some more until we
arrived at a cluster of huts where women in red home
league uniforms welcomed us in their homes. We shared
scripture and sang together. Then the Captain Ziqubu
led us to the site where the soldiers are building
their own corps building. They are making their own
bricks and doing the construction themselves. We stood
inside the structure and prayed for its completion.
Then we all had tea and biscuits at the corps
treasurer's house. On the way back, the guys saw
another mountain that we had to get to the top of. We
asked Captain if that would be alright for us to split
up so the girls went the way we came and the guys did
some pretty steep mountain climbing. Eventually, we
found our way back down the other side of the mountain
back to the corps. It was exhausting but very worth
all the work. We were able to relax for a while and
enjoy the Captains and their two year old's company.
This was a really great stop and we wish it could have
been longer. Tomorrow we head to our last location of
the summer (winter), Ezakheni. We were able to meet
the officers there at Y-connexion and are looking
forward to seeing them again. Thanks for all your
prayers, USA Central South Africa Mission Team | | |
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