Listen to Jay’s talk “Oceana, WV Recap” from Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Oceana, WV Recap

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Listen to Jay’s talk “Duct Tape” from Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Duct Tape

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We packed up last night and headed out early this morning. So long West Virginia, hello ALIVE 10! Check out the photos here.

This is our last day in West Virginia. We started off the morning by heading about an hour north to Beckley. We went on a tour of an Exhibition Coal Mine and a museum of early life in West Virginia. We had pizza delivered and then headed back to New Life Church for our last night of Egypt.

It was bitter sweet for sure. It was awesome to get thru all 5 days of the program, but at the same time we had so much fun and have grown attached to the people here that it became tough to say good bye. It was a great evening and an awesome finish to an amazing week! The way God moved thru our students was incredible!

Check out the photos here.

Today started off with a devotion about forgiveness to get us focused on the subject for this evenings lesson for Egypt. After that we headed out to clean up trash next to the road and all the way down to a river. Our group ended up collecting 21 trash bags full during our 3 hours of clean up.

We then ate lunch on the bus and headed back to the Cow Shed for showers and a little bit of much needed down time. Then it was off to New Life Church for day 4 of Egypt.

Tonight was special because it was salvation night. The gospel was presented clearly to the kids during the family time. Our attendance was slightly down, only having 57, but the Spirit of God was definitely in the room! Over the course of the evening 12 kids gave their life to Christ!

We have one more day of Egypt tomorrow and we know God is going to continue to use us! Thanks for your continued thoughts and prayers as we wrap up our week.

To see some photos from today click here.

We started off this morning with a devotional and challenge from Pastor Ed and Kathy about making a wise investment with our lives. Hopefully it really made them think about the endless possibilities for their life in service to The Lord.

Then we rolled out about 30 minutes away to help with some environmental testing of the rivers and streams. It was a great opportunity for us to learn about the pollution that effects the water in this area, not to mention God’s creation.

Then it was back to New Life Church for Egypt! We had 69 kids, so its growing. Every night things seem to get better and run smoother! A lot of our shop keepers were witnessed to by the kids tonight! We had 3 shopkeepers in Egypt get saved. Since our students have to play the part of an Egyptian during the program, it was awesome to see the kids walk right up to them and tell them about “the one true God”!

To view some photos from today, go here.

Another amazing day! We spent the morning preparing for Egypt that night. Resetting everything; cleaning up; going over the lessons and dramas and marketplace. After lunch we headed out to 2 local public swimming pools and parks with fliers in hand. We had a few people dressed up in the Egypt costumes to hopefully attract some kids and invite them to Egypt. Apparently it worked because we had a bigger crowd tonight then we had last night. Our numbers were actually corrected today from yesterday. Yesterday we had 45 kids in Egypt, but tonight we actually did have 60! So its growing every night!

One little girl was lead to the Lord this evening! I know that God isn’t finished though. We will hopefully have even more kids and more decisions tomorrow night. We’ve given an incentive for tomorrow. If the kids bring a friend they will get an extra coin for the marketplace. We’re praying that the kids will respond to that and that we will have near 150 kids by the end of the week!

Pastor Ed and Kathy also made it here today for a visit! We put them to work in full costume, make-up and everything! We’re looking forward to Ed sharing with the students during the devotion in the morning.

To view some photos from today, go here.

Set up! We had about 6 and a half hours to set up EGYPT at the church today. As usual, our students rock! They knocked it out with 2 hours to spare for last minute prep and set dressing. Our first night of the EGYPT VBS went great! We had 60 kids show up and they all seemed to have a great time! A lot of them said they were bringing friends tomorrow, and hopefully they will.

Tomorrow we plan to go out to a few local places to do some Egypt marketing. We’ll be handing out fliers and talking to kids in the community to invite them to Egypt.

God is certainly moving through all of this and we can see His hand at work already.

Thank you for your continued prayers! More tomorrow. Til then, check out some pics from our first 2 days here.

We made it down to Oceana safe and sound! Having a little welcome party tonight at the youth pastor’s house. We’ll be up early to set up the VBS at the church. More of an update tomorrow, hopefully!

Schedule, What to Bring/What Not to Bring List & Room List are available on the “Missions” page now! Be sure to tell your family to watch our website, Facebook and Twitter during the trip to check out how its going!

DON’T FORGET TO BRING YOUR LUGGAGE TO THE CHURCH TOMORROW (Friday, June 18) AT 4PM TO LOAD THE TRAILER!!!