Showing posts with label witnessing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label witnessing. Show all posts

Friday, March 22, 2013

Worship Thoughts


Notice the intricate decorative thatched roof!
Thursday Night--March 21, 2013

For our first evening worship, Chaplain Rob challenged us all to reflect on what we needed and wanted from this mission trip for ourselves.  “It’s all about you,” he said—which might sound a little strange when you usually think about mission trips being about others.  But the truth is that it’s all about the change that comes over anyone who does something good for others…and for God.  “So think about what you want God to do with you and for you on this trip,” he said.  “It’s going to be something great.”

Then he asked for team members to share their experiences and impressions of the day:
Alex was appreciative of how the church family welcomed them at the evangelistic meeting.

Rebeca loved the feeling of working with the children at VBS.

Narce learned how to say good morning.

Ms. Aastrup realized again how small the world is when she, along with Cook Christi and Chaplain 
Rob, met people from AZ at the local grocery store.

JT reflected on how happy the kids seem to be with so little. 

Pastor Ralph thought the TAA kids are "super." He thought they would be zonked out after the long trip to get here, but they did very well that first day on the construction job. “Tomorrow we’ll build on what we learned today,” he encouraged. 

Narce loved her day with the medical team.  And at VBS, she enjoyed how the kids loved the camera.  They kept saying “Copy me!”  And "they went crazy with tooth brushes."

Cook Christi confers with her Friday helpers
about the meals for the day.
Everyone loved the food that Cook Christi made.  “It was so good,” they all affirmed.  And they were thankful that we were blessed with safe bus rides.  Chaplain Rob said that the taxi driver who is on-call all day for whatever we need really enjoys working with us.

Everyone is being so flexible, going with the flow without complaint.  It’s been an excellent experience so far.  God is blessing.



Friday morning--March 22, 2013

Pastor Jay's worship thought on Friday morning focused on the blessing of service.  One of our drivers said to him that “it's more blessed to give than receive.”  He thought that was the perfect way to describe this mission trip—giving and receiving.

He then told us that it's 9,612 miles from Scottsdale to Livingstone.  We’ve come almost 10,000 to serve others!  Think, then, how much farther Jesus came to serve us.  “Service is our theme today,” he said.  “We traveled a long way to come here.  We are doing it to emulate our Savior who traveled infinitely farther to serve us.”
Native photos are from the medical team's work on Thursday c/o Dr. Gary Muncy.








Monday, March 18, 2013

Leaving on a Jet Plane

So long Arizona!
So, leg one is completed.  The TAA group left Thunderbird at about 3:30 for the Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport.  Take off was 6 a.m.  We checked in and boarded without incident (although it was a bit slow).  The flight offered several in the group the opportunity to share with others about the trip.  I'll let them share their experiences later.  Suffice it to say that when you share with others, the mission becomes clearly.  And somehow more important.

Denver
We had a long (3 hours) layover in Denver and finally landed in Dulles a little ahead of schedule after a somewhat bumpy last 30 minutes.  It is cool and rainy here (30s)--a bit of a shock to most in the group.  After pizza for supper and a brief group meeting, all are in their rooms, and must are tucked away in bed.  It's been a long day. . . and tomorrow will be an early morning (6:30 shuttle to the airport for some).

Dulles International Airport
We will take some group pictures tomorrow, but will not reach our final destination until sometime on Wednesday.  By the time we get to Livingston, and taking into account the fact that we will cross 6 time zones, it will be a 32 hour trip from the time we board tomorrow morning to the time we arrive at our final destination.  Please pray for our sanity!  And our witness.  As Jaden reminded the group at the end of our reflection time, "take advantage of the time you have.  Don't waste your opportunities to share with others."  That is why we are going to Zambia.  But we don't have to wait until we get there to witness.  We have, in fact, already begun.




Debriefing at the end of the day.