Pineapple Juice????

Hey Crossroads!

Today started for me at about 6:00 AM, waaaaayyyyy to early for summertime! We had waffles for breakfast and what I thought we were drinking was orange juice, but surprise surprise, it was pineapple juice!

I’m in a group called Shingle Bells, and by the way our group is amazing! We have some pretty hard workers and we have been getting things done pretty fast. This morning our group was on our way to our resident’s house and one of our girls realized she was wearing flip flops (which is against the dress code), so we had to turn all the way around to get her tennis shoes. It was a bonding moment in the car.

Yesterday our group thought we could do a little more than we could actually handle. We were supposed to leave our site at 3:30-4pm and we didn’t end up leaving until 5:30. It was quite an experience for all of us, and one of our boys ended up in the hospital with heat exhaustion. He is ok now, and will be coming back to work with us tomorrow! Today our group actually had a plan, we got through what we wanted to, and we got to come to the church a little early today, it was nice!

The worship services have been amazing! I believe they have touched everyone on this mission trip. There have been many eye opening experiences for everyone in our church, including me. God has touched my heart in numerous ways and it has been an awesome feeling. I think our group on this trip has become a lot closer through everything that has happened this week. We trust each other in a way to tell each other things we wouldn’t normally tell just anyone.

It’s only Tuesday and God has been amazing!! I pray everyone stays safe and we get the job God called us out here to do DONE!

-Brittany Gibson

Trey Saves The Day!

So today for me was very exciting, and yet kinda scary. My crew, the Hard Hats, are building a garage for a lady who has had multiple cars stolen out of her driveway. Most people agree that it is the hardest and most difficult project that any group has been assigned this week. It was very frustrating in the beginning, I have decided it was Satan trying to stop us from building it, but after a prayer this morning rebuking Satan's efforts to stop us, our work seemed to take off! We were able to nail down all of the baseboards onto the existing non-level foundation and was able to put up two of the three walls we are making. I have been blessed to have 3 students from Crossroads on my crew, Trey Green, Michael Richards, and Melody Johnson, and I will attest to them working very very hard!
But here's where the scary comes in....I was on an extension ladder leaning up against a wall that we had braced to the ground through spikes and a two by four, nailing in the top plates on the second wall. All of a sudden I feel a shifting forward, and that kinda freaked me out! I realized that the stake and beam that were supporting the wall I was leaning on had come out of the ground and therefore my weight sent the whole frame downward.
After making sure my pants were dry, I realized that Trey had caught the ladder from falling and I quickly descended back to solid ground. So props to Trey for saving me!

-RJ

Our First Day of Work

Well howdy Crossroads!

So the day started off very early and cold. 5:30am and 51degrees to be exact. After lying in bed shivering to death, we finally got up and about and down to breakfast. It was eggs, bacon, and sausage, but I didn’t have too much because it wasn’t my momma’s cooking!

After breakfast we all got ready with our awesome hats, my friend Annabeth and I made, and World Changer bandanas and aprons. We made sure to wear clothing that we wouldn’t mind getting messy. We headed outside for the “Great Sendoff”, where we did the Hokey Pokey, said a few prayers and then went on to our work destinations.

The crew I am on is called the “Nail Heads” and we started working on our project house belonging to a sweet lady named Mrs. Williams. We started with scraping off the old paint on the outside of her home. It was physically tiring, but I must say we entertained ourselves by playing games to pass the time. My friend Jordan and I had a contest to see who could scrape off the longest paint piece…I don’t wanna brag but I did win with a whopping 35”!

After working the morning hours, our host church dropped by to bring us lunch. While eating my peaches and Pringles with a bottle of water, we all gathered around to have an afternoon devotional, after which we resumed working.

Finishing around 4:00, we headed back to the church. I ran to the showers to try and clean off the caked on dirt and paint of my skin and hair. The shower definitely felt good…real good! Then we had about 2 hours to relax. My friends and I passed the time coloring in some coloring books. Then at 6:00, it was time for dinner. My favorite…Spaghetti! It was delicious.

When dinner was over we all went up to the worship center to have the evening service. This one really made an impact on me and the rest of the students at Crossroads. It was a unique and explored the Lord’s Prayer, breaking it up and explaining it in depth. It was different because you couldn’t see the speakers, but you could hear them. This helped me focus on our Father better, and not who was standing up there. God really showed me tonight that he was in control and that I should just sit back and let him take the reigns of my life. After realizing what He was telling me, I was just broken. Tears just began to fall from my eyes. I had been worrying so much lately about situations in my life; boys, family, and things that I just don’t need to be worried about. He basically told me to “Chill out! I got this!”

After service, we had our family group meeting. We prayed and took up an offering for different missions around the country. One supports Urban ministries, one supports providing student missionaries to college campuses in Canada, and one that supports a conference called Kaleo Conference, a conference where students who feel the call to vocational ministry are trained and explore where they are called to.

All in all it was a really spiritually fulfilling day that was full of great times.

-Kalynn Meese

Sunday (Sorry it's late!)

Instead of me writing about all the things that are happening here, I thought it would be great if you could read about what's happening here from the viewpoints of others on the trip. This is from Sunday, and I'm sorry it wasn't up then, but we were having issues with the internet!

RJ

Hello Crossroads!!!

Sunday, July 20^th was a phenomenal day! Many, many exciting things happened today from 7:30 in the morning until 11 at night.

We woke up super early in the morning to eat an awesome breakfast at 7:30. Despite freezing cold rooms, we slept pretty well. After that, we left and took a group photo in our sweet t-shirts World Changers was oh so kind to give us.

At 9:30 our crew work groups split up among the churches in Jackson to attend Sunday School and “Big Church” as we like to call it. We got to interact with many students who attend these churches, meet some new people, and hear God’s Word. “Big Church” was an awesome experience, as the group I was with stayed at First Baptist Jackson, the church that everyone is staying at this week. The sanctuary was beautiful, filled with God’s love, something I will never forget. After the service, our work crews visited their sites, and met the people in which they would be working for throughout the week. It was a good introduction to what was to come in the week ahead.

After lunch we went to some scheduled training that explained why we’re here as World Changers, and some steps one should take if the opportunity to witness to someone was ever presented to us. Then we had our “Crew Position” training, in which selected students were taught how to fulfill the roles of an evangelist recorder, devotion leader, break master, and medic. I am an evangelist recorder, and my job is to write down any times that we witnessed or spoke the Gospel to anyone. Each and every job is very important.

After our delicious dinner, we attended the night worship service in which we poured out our hearts to God and gave Him our entire being. We had learned that to experience God’s power and to be able to share God’s light with others, we had to lay all of our burdens, troubles, and struggles at the foot of the cross. It was awesome to see the response we got from our own youth group as many confessed some failures in their lives, giving them to God and asking for forgiveness. All of us were transparent in the problems we were facing in our lives.

Free time was a time to relax, chill, and even do some quiet times. Then we finally hit the hay at 11. God is doing extraordinary things in students’ lives right now, and we hope that He will continue to work through us and give us the strength we need to share His Word.

-Jordan Bruce Fuller

Safe and Sound

So it's Saturday night, and after a long 8 hour drive we finally made it to Jackson! We unloaded all of our stuff, and found out we didn't have all of it. Two lucky girls' bags were left at CRBC, but God has provided a way for their bags to get here tomorrow afternoon. We are all excited and are getting prepared for a great week of service. Tomorrow we will divide into our work crews for the week and go to church with our crews at various sponsor churches within the vicinity of FBC Jackson. These support churches are not only hosting us for their Sunday service, but will be providing lunch for the crews everyday.
I want to take a second to tell you guys about a chance to get in touch with us throughout the week. World Changers has a system called encourage grams, where we can write letters of encouragement and place them in people's encourage boxes. Everyone taking part this week has a box, and every day we will check them for new letters (kinda like Christmas!) World Changers has set up an electronic encourage gram and every morning the office will print out encourage grams written by people from home and place them in the student's encourage boxes. You can access this feature by going to the World Changers website at www.world-changers.net and on the left hand side just click the "Send and E-Couragegram" and we will get it!
I want to thank you guys for being a praying church and keeping us in your prayers this week as we are doing God's work here in Jackson. It's so great to be a part of a church who believes in missions, and fully supports those who go.

We'll be updating daily about what's going on here in Jackson, let you read some student testimonies, and hopefully we'll be able to show you some pictures of the work that is taking place.

Stay Tuned!

Ryan Jackson

Costa Rica Mission VBS 2008

This has been an incredibly blessed week for all of us. It has truly been a privilege to serve our Lord and see him work through all of us. Our Awesome God used only 6 Texans and 1 Pastor to minister through Vacation Bible Study to 108 children and 30 adults.



A special Thank you and Praise God for Our Youth Helper Emmy!

We love you and miss you already!

Costa Rica Mission Last Day of VBS, Friday, July 11, 2008

It is hard to believe that it is already our last day of Vacation Bible School. Kris, Inge, Jessica, Mary, and Esther at Hotel del Mar.
God is truly Awesome! 96 Children and 25 Adults at Assembly
Family attends Assembly. Children receive a gift bag as they say goodbye.
The children shower Jessica with their name tags, so she will not forget them.
Team and Children pray over Pastor Carlos before leaving.

Many Parts, One Body

Well, I don't know what exactly to say so my experience will just have to do. I was at Solo Cristo Salva with some other men and our job was to lay some electrical lines, bust up concrete, and put in a drop-in ceiling. At first I thought what we were doing wouldn't be valued as much as what the other people were doing in the sites.


Then, different people kept showing up and helping us work all day (church members) and I started realizing they really needed this. Thursday night, everyone went to the site for worship along with the regular members. When the members saw the finished product they were extremely grateful and we sang songs with people hanging off scaffolding and stuff.






It was a great experience and I would not have changed a thing about my time here if I could have.


-Michael Richards

Communication

This week has really been too short. I've seen so much that God has done.




Even though this has been my first year going to Mexico, I've made so many relationships with the kids and feel like I've known them for a long time. It was really amazing though, because none of the kids speak like any English and I speak very little Spanish but we were able to communicate really well. Sarah Hageman was a real inspiration to me on this trip not only because of her love for God but every day before we got off the bus and people were leaving she made everyone get back on so we could pray for the kids.




This week, in a word, was epic. I cannot wait to come back and see what God has in store for us all.


Chesney Monroe

Costa Rica Mission Team - Bob & Mary Buske

We are so excited to return to Palmares, Costa Rica to serve the Lord through VBS. Bob has been involved with the mission since VBS started in 2004. I joined him in 2006 and this year 2008.



Bob's duties include Van Driver, Photography, and Recreation. My duties are Registration, Crafts, and Snacks.

In this picture, we are in the VBS kitchen matching registration to pictures. On the last day of VBS every child receives a picture to take home.

After our nightly devotion and preparation for the next day, Bob works on pictures and printing. I am posting pictures on the Blog.

Mary

Photog Blog

I am used to being the designated "photographer," and holding that position solely does not bother me. Still, it is always fun to meet someone with the same job designation, or at the very least, the same passion. South of the border this year, I met a man named Eduardo that was from out of town but aiding the church Solo Cristo Salva.


Before I go on, let me say that I believe very strongly that having a videographer/photographer for a church is important. The ancient Israelites would erect a monument whenever God would do something outstanding in their midst. This was so the event would be remembered, not just for the rest of their lives, but for their children's lives, and so on. Videography and photography takes on the same role in today's world-- a visual monument, a reminder, to what God has done. Back to the story.






Eduardo is a local photographer here in Mexico, of course. Reminding his people of what God has done in years past. But he is short on equipment. He owns a camera and a flash, but a flash by itself will often create harsh, unlikeable shadows. In the picture, it often will distract from the actual scene by drawing attention to the ridiculous hard shadows. Eduardo had made a kind of flash diffuser using tupperware, which I think is just about the coolest thing ever, but its practicality was limited. A good way to soften up light in a photo is with a flash umbrella. These are available in Mexico, but at exorbitant prices-- more than a hundred American dollars, where in the USA, you could get one for 20 or less. So I gave him mine. There are different parts to the body of Christ, and we all have to work together. But those of us that perform the same function have to work together especially well. Living in the United States, I'm at an advantage when it comes to photographic equipment, so it should be natural for me to help out a brother. I am glad he will now be able to do his job more effectively and remind the church of what God has done even this week, for we are all far too easily swayed and our memories fade much too fast.


-Philip Jones

How To Do VBS?

Blogger missionary. Not words I would have used to describe myself. Not until I served four days in Flores, helping with VBS, that is. Several weeks ago I co-led a VBS class at CRBC. We used every inch of CRBC and the Colin Powell gym to create an exciting week of learning God's word on Outrigger Island. After that week I felt pretty confident about being able to assist with VBS in Mexico. Then I entered the world of San Luis Potosi.


Imagine my anxiety when I first boarded the rickety bus bound for Flores armed with nothing but a soccer ball, a trunk full of crafts, and a flip chart of songs in Spanish. As we entered the Flores neighborhood I was shocked by the dirt roads, tiny dilapitated houses and trash heaps. My anxiety grew as we pulled up in front of our VBS site... a concrete, one-story building about 30 feet x 80 feet with broken windows and about six light bulbs hanging from the ceiling. "How in the world can we do VBS here?" was my first thought. Fast forward four days to my last morning with the kids we had been ministering to all week.




Tears welled in my eyes as I told them I was leaving and would not be back tomorrow. God showed up in a big way in Flores this week. He took the time and energy our team was willing to give, our trunk full of crafts, our songs and some soccer balls and showed these kids they are worthy to be loved not just by us, but more importantly, by Him. I witnessed genuine joy in the eyes of the children as we played with them, sat on the dirty concrete floor to help them with crafts, and as they heard the Word of God from our translator, Gaby. In that first day I realized you don't need fancy decorations, a big building, a playground, or videos to have a successful VBS. All you need are kids, a few people with a heart for showing God's love, any place to gather and God's hand upon you.


Some bubble gum, a soccer ball, and some bubbles don't hurt either! As I left the site today my thought was "how can we not do VBS here? I can't wait 'til next year!


Jerri Mortenson, first-time SLP Missionary

Faith Baptist Church of Harrah, Oklahoma goes to Costa Rica

We are blessed to have Faith Baptist Church of Harrah, Oklahoma partner with International Baptist Church of San Jose, Costa Rica and Crossroads Baptist Church to serve at the Costa Rica Youth Camp. Please be in prayer for Gaylon, Wes, Pastor Dan, son Michael, wife Gayle, and Youth Pastor Colby.

Costa Rica Mission Vacation Bible School - Thursday, July 10, 2008

Costa Rica Mission VBS at Iglesia de Buenos AiresChildren arriving to VBS


Another Record Attendance at Assembly
Jessica with children blowing bubbles.
Alex with his Pre-TeensEsther with her Ladies Study

Costa Rica Mission VBS - First Ladies Ministry - Six new Sisters in Christ!

What an awesome day we had today. Our ladies bible study consisted of 16 ladies today. I am still so excited about how the holy spirit moved in such an awesome way. We had 6 ladies accept the Lord. PRAISE THE LORD!!!!!!! All honor and Glory to our heavenly Father. Please continue to keep the beautiful people here from Costa Rica in your prayers.

Pura Vida

Esther

Costa Rica Mission - Youth Camp

Here we are at the youth and pre-teen camp in Costa Rica.Upon arrival to Campamento Bautista Ochomogo, we are waiting for our cabins, for the exciting time we were about to have, and expecting what God would have in store for us. This is the Spanish Speaking group quite time.
Family Group time with Carla
Youth awaiting lunch after hefty recreation.

Youth lead worship.
Pastor Jaime speaking to Spanish speaking youths.
Danae and friends R&R

Riley and Alex just hanging.
Calah and Barabra bonding in Costa Rica.

Family group morning quite time.
Smile...shhh.

Roger Ford "The Media Man"
Cristen & Dale Reed "Recreation Gurus" with Philip DePrang "Camp Chief"
Andrea DePrang responding to God's call to Costa Rica Missions.
Evening Worship
Our own Natalie Garza joining the Youth Band.