The Virgin Islands mission trip was absolutely amazing. Words cannot describe how life changing it was. It really has shown me that with God all things are possible. This is just to show and inform what we did day by day and what was going through my mind. If you have time please read, and pray about the people of the islands.
Monday:
A day of flying. We woke up and left to the airport at 4:30 am. Not much trouble at the airport, got in and left Phoenix at 7 am. When we landed in Atlanta we had time to spare. Our group decided to eat at TGI Fridays. Did some card games after and finally the time to leave for Virgin Islands came. The thing to do on the plane was the trivia on the screens we were given. It was a competition against all on the plane. It was fun and yet educational. haha. After being in the air for 4 hours we arrived in St. Thomas at 9 pm. It was dark so we couldn't see the Islands full beauty. But the lights were still an amazing sight to see. The first words spoken to me was "Welcome to the VI". It was very welcoming indeed. The people were nice and generous, and we all got our luggage right away. We were picked up by the pastor and were shocked to see they rode on the left side of the road. haha. It was pretty scary. But we arrived safely to St. Paul Baptist Church (our home for a week). We were all wiped out and went to sleep after we figured out our bed arrangements.
Tuesday:
A day of getting prepared. The morning came and we were all filled with excitement. God was going to use us to change this Island in so many ways, and we all had faith in our hearts that God would do so. We began the day by playing guitar and singing praises to our God. We even sang to the children at the daycare at our "house". Then the two pastors of the churches we were helping that week came to our "house" and spoke with us about what we were going to do. After speaking to the pastor's we realized that they were starving for revival. This Island has been filled with gang violence, and a lot of hurt families that have been broken up. Jesus would be the center of that revival, and our group was going to bring Him to them. So then it was time to get all the supplies to reach out to the community, and to fill our stomachs. Q and Sandy went to the grocery store and picked up all the food we needed to cook for that week. Once they came back, Stacey Nic and I went to K-mart to pick up basketballs and other equipment to use for the community. It was very fun to go and see the island when it was light out. It was amazing, and it rained that whole day.... Something I am not used to! So we got everything we needed and went back "home". The rest of the day we spent getting settled in and praying for the people that we would come in contact with.
Wednesday:
A day of serving! We were sent to a health facility. We were expecting it to be a nursing home of elders, but it was a home for people with disabilities. Their hearts were amazing. We were privileged to sing about 10 songs for them. Lord I Lift Your Name on High and Tyler's song were the hit. They asked for us to do those songs again for them. The second time we did Lord I Lift Your Name on High, they stood and did the hand motions with us. At the end the worker of the home sang a song of being thankful for us. And then our great friend Harrison sang a solo for us. He sang his heart out and it really touched my heart. I know it touched the others. None of us understood the words he spoke, but we were all inspired by it. His smile spoke more than words could say. We left feeling pretty good about what God did for us. Then our next challenge was the Bovoni housing where we had our sports evangelism for a period of 4 days every day starting around 3 pm. We were warned that it was the scary parts of the island and it was "ghetto". But like Stacey said, "They need Jesus' love too!". A little apprehensive at first, I got the courage to start shooting around with them. They were very nice and added me on a team to play a game. That day began a lot of good friendships. The ones that I thought were "scary", were very nice and welcomed me as a friend. They even gave me the ball more than anyone, so it was a very encouraging day for me. Some kids asked where I was from, and I explained how God changed my life and I wanted to tell people about it. They did not quite accept the words I spoke, but it was a good seed to plant. We got rained out after an hour and a half of basketball. ( and an hour and a half of the others playing with the kids and just loving on them). When we got "home" we had a good meal that Sandy prepared for us, and got re-energized. It was now time for Nic to preach at Bovoni, and I was to preach at Trinity Church. God spoke through me and it was a great feeling. The church attendance was 20, but 4 of them claimed to accept Jesus in their heart that night in Trinity Baptist. It was awesome!!! God did it all!!! AMEN!
Then it was time just to hang out with people from St. Paul Baptist. We played games and enjoyed the fellowship. After, we had our nightly share time with our group to let the others in our group know what God did for us that day. For me it was just how God can use all of our talents for the Gospel. I was amazed to see how I had a voice ever since they saw me play ball. Walking up to them at first, they looked at me as if I was an alien. But after using the talent God has given me, I immediately gained respect. It just shows how you can truly follow 1 Corinthians 10:31. "Whether you eat drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." Then we each all prayed out loud and just gave our hearts to God and prayed for all the people. Such as the 4 decisions to become disciples for Jesus! Then sleep!
Thursday:
A day of serving and sharing the Gospel! We started out our day by being dropped off at the local mall with tracts to give out. The front said in Big bold letters "God Loves You". We broke up in pairs and began to give them to everyone we saw. We even got the idea to place them in the restrooms and on the bench's outside of stores. I really saw a lot of courage from all of the members of our group. We put our pride and selfishness aside and just gave everyone the gospel. With the bold letters in the front, it was obvious what the tracts were all about. So we got a lot of trouble from some, stating we were wrong and got a lot of dirty looks. Q and I even ran into a Satanist, which was interesting. But instead of condemning and fighting with her, we just calmly stated we would pray for her. We reached the point where everyone said "I already got one". So we realized it was time to stop, plus we ran out of tracts. So we had lunch at McDonalds. Then we tried to get a little rest and went to the Bovoni housing for another day of Sports evangelism. This day was more successful than the day before, more showed up to hear what we had to say. The kids largely increased and 11 accepted Christ. As for the bigger kids, it was another step closer. I had a lot of fun with them and began to realize more and more that they were just like us, just in a different culture. I spoke to a few and was rejected but I remained hopeful that God had a plan for each of them. That night we had fellowship with the teenagers of St. Paul again. They were a blast and we all enjoyed their company. Share time was a great time just to share our vision with each other. We spoke about how God had changed those kids lives today and how it changed the lives of us as well. We ended again in just great prayer, proclaiming that God would change this community. That he would use us in any way possible, and that we wouldn't shy away from any opportunity to tell others about God.
Friday:
A day of serving and sharing... again!! Being warned the night before, we were expecting visitors from the boys and girls ranch to come to our "house" and just fellowship with one another. When they got out of the van my first thought was "They are huge!" They were mostly guys and they were very tall. So we figured the best way to get them to open up to us was to play a little basketball. It was our guys vs. some of their guys... We had a good comeback but lost 32 to 28. It was very fun and it really got them to talk to us. Then Stacey decided for us to play a fun interactive game that got everybody rolling in laughter. Afterwards, Stacey asked me to share my testimony. My thoughts were "My testimony can't relate to theirs. They have had lives full of violence and hurt while I have lived in a home that's been blessed and I have a dad that's a pastor." But I was just real with them. I told them how I have so many imperfections, but God takes care of me. And he gives me new life. I asked them then to pray if they felt they needed this Good News of Jesus. 11 of them prayed outloud with me and it was very encouraging. The numbers don't matter, I give them to show you who did do it. After I spoke many of the guys showed their emotions. They were hurt and had hurt lives. I was pulled aside and was asked to talk to Maliko Bruce (a now great friend). I looked at him and he was full of hurt, this was the same guy who earlier dominated the game. It looked like he had it all together, and was a leader of the group. But he proceeded to tell me how his mother past away just last month of cancer. And he just needed hope. So i showed him how Jesus would satisfy everything he needs and would give him peace that passes understanding. This guy truly had faith that Jesus would pull through with him. It was good for him because he never had the chance to share his feelings to anyone. It was good for me because I was truly humbled and made me realize how blessed we are and how great our God is. Then they had to leave, but we will remain friends because we have each others phone numbers. Then it was time for the Bovoni housing evangelism. Stacey decided for us to show up at 3 (a hour early) and walk around the housing and just pray for them. Prayer walking was a great experience for all of us. I felt the Devil's presence there, his oppression was present but I knew God is more powerful. I was assured that God could and would change the community. I am honored that He used us as his tools to do so. After walking and praying, it was time to play ball with them. Being convicted the night before to share with them the Gospel no matter what. The Holy Spirit told me to speak to them one on one throughout that day. I did so and simply asked them questions about Jesus. After rejection, two of them accepted Jesus Christ in their hearts! Their names are Ashley and Kobe (both are guys) please pray for them daily. They are in a very rough community but are determined to serve the Lord. I was also told that 4 more kids accepted Jesus as their Savior! Amen! After that we were invited to go to the Bovoni Baptist Church for a Father's day celebration. It was unique to say the least. We sang a lot of fun and interactive songs. We also had the Bible Drill, to see who looked up verses the fastest. I won and people were cracking up to see me jump up every time. Then we were blessed to see their rich culture. They performed a lot of skits and their native dances of the land. It was a long celebration, but very rich in culture. And we had their food that was cultural as well... Most of us could not eat all of what was on the plate, but we were thankful. We got home late and still found time to hang out with the people from St. Paul. Then we had our share time. It was very encouraging and I just felt God among us during the prayer time. Our hearts were truly tuned into Him.
Saturday:
One again a day of serving and sharing the Gospel. We were taken to the downtown mall, and the people from Bovoni Baptist escorted us around the place. We saw the water and it was soooo clear. All of us wanted to jump in, but we knew we had a mission. We were able to shop a little, but it was mostly to share more tracts to people of all cultures. It was a great opportunity because it was where the cruises docked. So you saw people of all kinds, and we talked to them about Jesus! They took us to the oldest Jewish Synagogue in the Western Hemisphere, and it was interesting and fascinating to see it. Their ground was made of sand, and their was a lot of rich history. But my heart hurt, knowing that they needed to accept Jesus!!! Not just God from the Old testament, but the New testament. After that, we once again ate at a McDonald's. We were very tired at that point, but had to go to the Bovoni housing for one last day. We had a very great time, you could see God a lot more than you could in the beginning. The guys were a lot of fun to play with for the last time. But sadly no one accepted the words of Jesus that day. But it was still a great day for the kids. The girls led 4 more to Christ and Jordan led her first little girl to Christ. Her name was Sashia, and it was such a blessing to see how much of a change Jesus had on Sashia's life. She really was a new creature and you could tell. It was a huge blessing for me to see a girl I led to Christ, lead someone else to Christ. It was AWESOME!!! When we left we all were sad and wished we had more time in that community. Please keep in prayer for them.. The pastor from Trinity cooked dinner for us and brought it to Bovoni Baptist to eat. So we walked from the housing project to the Church. It was tiring, but worth the work. The food was very good and was a huge blessing. We then came home to see even more teenagers from St. Paul to hang out with. It was a lot of fun as always. We played with them til 11 something. So our share time ended way past midnight but it was worth it. I enjoyed hearing the hearts of the others and was blessed to realize how much God did through us. But I thirsted for more, and we all did. We gave our hearts to God in prayer and they prayed that Sunday's service would go amazing and that God would speak through me. I could not wait to share the Good News.
Sunday:
A day of serving and sharing the Good News.The group that went to Bovoni (Me, Jordan, Tyler and Stacey) had to leave at 8:15. The other group that went to Trinity (Nic, Q, Moe, Carly and Sandy) left at 9:15. Not having much sleep, I was tired and only ate a pop tart for breakfast. I lifted my heart to God to give me the strength to deliver the good news. We first had sunday school, and it was definitely different than the way we do it. But it was still effective and educational. Then we began the service at 10 am. They sang a lot of hymns and songs that I have heard before. We then were able to sing "Wonderful Cross" and "Praise God" (Tylers song). They loved it, but then there was more music after that. There was multiple special music, and it was just about time for me to get up and preach and a man stood up and asked to share his testimony. The preacher was surprised but said he'd let him say a few words. So he began to tell a lot of his life story. But then I was able to preach. I got on the pulpit at 11:55. Yes, that is a lot of music before a sermon, something I am not used to. But the Lord gave me strength and spoke through me. I even said things that I did not plan to say at all. But it was all from the Holy Spirit. 17 claimed to accept Jesus during the invitation and 4 declared to rededicate their lives to serve Him in every way possible. It was an awesome moment that I will never forget and a man came up and just wanted me to pray for him. It was unforgettable. After the service we were given lunch there. It was a lot of good food where I went for thirds! It definitely gave my stomach satisfaction. After that I was able to get a much needed nap. But then we were invited to go to a graduation ceremony at St. Pauls. It was a lot of fun and neat to see how they did things. We spent all kinds of time with them during the week, but it was our first chance to see how they conducted things in a service. Afterwards we had a big party (like every night) they were a blast. Then we had share time and a lot of good heart to heart conversations. It was a very productive night for our group. One of my most favorite nights of the week. Stacey really spoke to me and what God was saying through him changed my life. With that, my heart was re-energized and now it was time for some sleep.
Monday:
Time to enjoy the beach! But still show God's love!!!! We first went to Coral World and saw a lot of neat fish and sharks.. oh! And some really cool Sea lions! We all had a blast, but then it was time for Magens bay. A top 10 beach in the whole world. We were there from noon to 5. I was in the water non-stop. The water was very warm and very clear. We all enjoyed snorkeling and saw sooooooo many fish. I have never enjoyed the beach as much as then. We then went to downtown again because we realized we did not have gifts to bring home to our families!! Most stores were closed, but I managed to get a cheesy shirt for my father. haha. Then another party, the biggest of them all. We played a lot of music and a lot of ball. It was a great last day for the mission trip and said goodbye to all of our great friends we made. We had to get some sleep for the 4:30 wake up and quick clean before leaving to the airport. The airport was smooth again, no problems. I got a gift for my mom at the store there, and then time to leave. I was verrry sad to leave. We had so much more to do, but I pray that the groups that come after us will pick up where we left off. We had a fun flight to Atlanta. All the movies were free to watch, so we used that up! Then we ate at On The Border in the ATL airport. It was the "Last Supper". And it was very good. Then came our flight to go home. We had a good flight with no problems. We all noticed how there was no more humidity when we reached Phoenix. That was a blessing. We all got our luggage quickly. But I sure wished I was still in Virgin Islands.
Please keep them in your prayers! Thank you so much for all the people who supported us in prayer and financial aid. Your givings were definitely not wasted! God used us and the mission is still alive! People here need the Lord too!!!
sly is called AXIOM. We had a leadership meeting yesterday, and I found it very productive. We learned how not to lead a small group (Quite humorous) and then we learned how! Small groups have never captured my interest personally, but I have realized that it makes some Christians grow tremendously... So now I am all for it!
