Erik's Post!

Wow! This missions trip was amazing it really opened my eyes to how so many people have to live. This was my first missions trip i had ever been on and it surely will not be my last on either. This trip really showed me just how well we have it, and how much more we complain when we should be greatful and happy for what we have. One of the best parts of the trip would have to be the hip-hop concert. That was just so fun to see people from all around the world worshiping God in so many ways. Another one of the bests parts but also the most eye opening part of the trip would have to have been poverty day when we only had $1 to use for food all day. This showed me what it would be like to live like a kid in the Bronx. It was also really cool seeing God work through everyone throughout the week. It was really fun hanging out with some of the kids from the Bronx. I miss the Bronx, Harve, Robyn, Cara, and all of the boys. I am praying for everyone in my prayers.

- Erik Welker

Chad's Post Trip Blog...

It's always so difficult to know how to summarize a missions trip. There are so many stories to share. I will just try and cover some of the highlights for you. We spent the week working with a ministry called J.U.M.P. (Joint Urban Missionary Partners) led by Harve and Robyn Bowman. We stayed in a church in the Bronx called "The Pilgrim Church". This church has experienced some difficult times and Harve and Robyn are helping to lead the church through pastoring and fixing up the building. The church building looks to have been at one time one of the most beautiful buildings on the block, but over time the structure has decayed. The Bowmans have fixed up the basement and have around 20 boys from the neighborhood hang out in the church to play games and have Bible studies. These guys would live there if they could. It was really encouraging to see the impact the Bowmans were making on these boys.

There were two really significant moments for me at the church during the week. One was on Wednesday night when we worshiped with the boys from the Bronx in the old Sanctuary. Robyn told me that it had probably been over 5 years since worship has happened in the sanctuary. It felt like as we worshiped, life was being breathed into that place again. Our prayer is that it will again become a house of worship. Following the worship, several of our students and several of the boys from StreetLight (the ministry name they are a part of) share testimonies. Following this time, our guys and the guys from the Bronx shared and prayed over one another. Truly a special moment. The next night, we hosted a block party offering free burger and hot dogs to anyone in the community. We had many people come by and stay for a time while we worshipped right there on the sidewalk. Several people from the community commented to me how encouraging it was for them to see the church open again. It was a sign of hope for them!

The times that most of the group will say were very significant were the "ATL's" or Ask the Lord. These were times spent in listening prayer where a group of 5 or 6 students and leaders would spend time separately listening to what God was sharing with them. Then the group would get together and compare. It was amazing to see how much continuity there was! I sat in on 4 of the 5 of these and every one of them was different, yet each significant! Then the group would ask God what they were to do that afternoon. So many neat things happened during these times. One group saw two people as they were praying, then met those people on the street and were able to pray with them. Another group stayed in the church to pray over that place. Other groups walked around the Bronx to prayer walk and interact with people as God led. It was really significant!

For me, there was a time in one of the groups that I participated in that really blew me away. As I prayed I had seen a lady in a purple dress. Others in the group saw this as well. When we were walking, we saw a women in a purple dress, my heart started pounded. We tried to catch up to her but she went in the subway station. Thinking we had missed out, we went in anyways, wouldn't you know it, she and her friend could not find their subway card. I went up to her to see if we could buy her one, she said no, they had one, then I asked if we could pray for her. I told her about how we had seen her...she just started crying. We ended up praying for her and her friend. It was incredible. THEN! Later that night we were traveling to the Brooklyn Tabernacle on the subway. At one stop in Manhattan, a woman gets on, Billy Wirth gets up to give her his seat and wouldn't you know it, it's the lady in the purple dress!!! I have tried calculating odds to how many people rid the subway, how many cars, trains, tracks, etc. and what the odds would be that she would come sit right next to my wife and I can't calculate it! It was definitely a faith building time for this guy! :)

There were so many other incredible moments on the trip that you will just have to talk with me about! I am so proud of each of the students and leaders who went on this trip. I think I can safely say we were all stretched by God and this will be a week we will never forget! As you think of it, pray for the Bronx, pray for the Bowman's, and pray for Pilgrim church that it would be a source of hope to the community. God is working in the Bronx, and it was great to be a part of it!

So it's been a week since we left the Bronx to head home and I really miss it. I still can't get over the fact that I can no longer just walk down the street into a mini-market and buy whatever I want. I miss Harve and Robin, Cara, and the boys and I've been praying for them every day.

The thing that impacted me the most from my time in the Bronx was the ATL. The way God spoke to our group was, like the pastor at the Brooklyn Tabernacle said, so impossible that it could only be God pulling the strings. As a result of our ATL, my group prayed over 2 apartment buildings and a couple of individual people. Along with that, we convinced a few people to come to our cookout that we were having that night, where they were blessed with free food and worship!

All throughout the week I felt God pressing me to spend more time with him through devotions, reading the bible, praying, and doing my own private ATLs. I hope to continue this even now that I'm home.

Also, me and a couple guys got to 'bless' some Mets fans by reminding them who's number 1 ;)

I miss the Bronx but its great to be back in the comfort of my own home!

-Joey

Looking Back

Sorry about the previous post.. i was trying to do a post on my ipod and it wasn't working...
We have been back now for three days and i miss it already. It has actually been hard to fall asleep these past couple nights because its so quiet! haha i'm not used to not hearing the busy streets and our annoying clicking fan!! But just cause we are back here doesn't mean we have to stop praying for the people in the bronx! I continue to pray for Harv and Robyn and the boys and Cara... and everyone else...
I miss everyone and everything!
But all the same I'm glad to be home:)
The bronx was obviously an experience all of us will never forget!
~Madi

Looking back

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After Thoughts

Hey everyone!
This is Aubrey. We got home Saturday night at midnight from the Bronx. We had a lot of traffic in Manhattan on the way home, but after that it was pretty smooth sailing. I just wanted to give you all some of my post-trip thoughts now that we are home.

I've gotten the question "what was your favorite part of the trip?" several times already. I honestly have to say that that is a very difficult question! I always enjoy the VBS/kids clubs types of things that we do, which I had the opportunity to help with on Thursday. It just gives me such pleasure to bring a little bit of fun, joy, and hope to kids through the Bible stories and other activities we do. This year we were smart and used named tags! :) Believe me, names like Kenichi, Annaya, Aralisa, and Enyer are tough to remember on your own! :) I also really enjoy doing work project types of things too, so believe it or not, the times that we cleaned the church and picked up trash on the sidewalks were some of my favorites as well. I could probably keep listing things that I would be able to classify as "favorites", but those are two of them!

This trip was very eye-opening to me and very powerful. I was discouraged at several points on the trip because I wasn't seeing immediate results all the time and I felt like I wasn't making a difference. God gave me this verse multiple times though, "being confident in this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Jesus Christ." Philippians 1:6 His results aren't always immediate, but that doesn't mean He isn't working!
Thank you so much to all who prayed for our team!!
Aubrey

More awesome experiences!

These past few days have been really amazing. I can’t remember what I last posted about but some pretty incredible things have happened since then I’m sure. The thing that stuck out to me most to post was yesterday. Me and my team (Billy, Aubrey, Jeff, Emily, and Colin) were going on a prayer walk in the afternoon. I was getting really frustrated because I was caught up in what I thought it should look like rather than not worrying about it and let God make it look like the way he wants, so one thing led to another and soon our whole group was having a water fight in the park with a bunch of local kids. It was so much fun just to hang out with them and love on them (and stay cool as well!) God really used that to show me not to worry about the agenda because its not mine to worry about. Later today we are doing VBS and I really hope we see those kids again. Also we got to go to promesa (a hospital here) and we got to sing and colin played guitar. I love to sing so that was a powerful time for me, as we saw people (one woman in particular) Just start to cry as we sang. Love you all!!

Madi Shover

Another post from a guy!

So today is our last day of service with JUMP here the Bronx. Tomorrow we will be doing our own ministry and going to Manhattan and hanging out and then on Sat. we’re headed to Citi Field for a Mets game. Yesterday I talked (or tried to talk to) a guy named Teodoro that spoke only Spanish. He shared his story with me about how he came from Mexico to Phoenix and then to here to find work in order to support his family that still lives in Mexico. Then last night I talked to one of the local kids named Anthony. It’s Rosene’s birthday today and I’m typing this as we sing happy b-day to her. On Tues. we had to buy all our food for the day with $1. Then that night we went to a Pizza shop and me and my boy Jeff B ate 4 pieces of pizza, fried chicken, biscuits, and soda. We have a big cookout/block party thing tonight and we are all wearing our cute matching t-shirts. Woke up at 6 in the morning today to a freezing cold shower J Alrighty almost time for b-fast so see ya’ll later…

Caleb J

Story Time with Mitch: Bronx Style

Hello family and friends back in PA!

So my experience in the Bronx has been AMAZING so far and I am a little sad that our ministry time here is almost over. God has been teaching me so much through the actions and words of others that I feel like I am learning more about Him than I am teaching to others! When I am teaching a lesson at youth group at McBIC, I like to do a little segment called “Story Time with Mitch,” so sit back, relax, and enjoy this edition of “Story Time with Mitch: Bronx Style.”

I’ll start from the beginning. The first day we got into the Bronx we settled into the Pilgrim United Church of Christ where we would be setting up camp for the next week (and apparently the rats did too!). We met Harve and Robyn, who work in the church and would be hosting us during our stay and leading us in our ministry adventures. After a quick orientation about what to expect over the next few days and the culture in general, the group headed for a treat; a hip-hop concert. We had no clue what to expect going into the concert, but we were pleasantly surprised to hear Christian rap (Eminem isn’t the only white guy who can rap!). It was so powerful to see how much the congregation was on fire for God and to see the cultural difference of worship. The music and lyrics were very easy to get into and the group had fun dancing and singing to some Christian pop and rap (not to mention being able to do the DB and not get looked at funny!).

It was amazing to see how much God had impacted the group already, and this was only day one! So the next day we led two church services, one at a place called Casa Promesa, which is a hospital, and another one here at the church. I was pumped to share my testimony at Promesa and it was cool to see how jacked the people were to hear it. God was truly present when we were praying with the people there as well and it is so awesome to see teens stepping out of their comfort zones and be able to go pray with a random stranger. God has definitely instilled boldness in our team, and the boldness would continue to help in the next coming days.

God taught me something in every ministry I was a part of, but the one that hit my heart the most was having the opportunity to live in poverty for a day like some people here have to do every day of their lives. The group woke up for breakfast one morning and Chad and Robyn greeted us and explained that for the day we would live on one dollar for food. We were all given a dollar and we could purchase any food from a local store we wanted with the dollar, but that is all we got for the day. I was pretty excited to do this and was ready to go out when Robyn said, “And just so you guys realize, that one dollar you have is a dollar more than what some people have for food in a day.” This really hit me and so I prayed to God before we left for our first activity and I made a promise to Him that I would be like one of those people and not eat for the day. This fasting was tough with playing basketball in the park on an empty stomach and having to sit and watch the group eat pizza in front of me when at the end of the day Chad treated the group to pizza at around nine o’clock at night. So I was faithful and didn’t eat till the next morning, so I ended up fasting for 39 hours. I will never forget the lesson God taught me. That day of not eating made me realize that I need to be grateful not only for the food in front of me every day, but also for all the possessions I have. God was so good to me during the fast as well, protecting me from total fatigue and migraines that I usually get. I will never forget that experience and I continue to pray now that I would not take this lesson lightly.

As the days are winding down and we approach the day we head for home, I keep praying that God would reveal himself to me in new ways and that I would be a faithful servant to Him now and when I get home as well. I cannot thank God enough for allowing me the opportunity to spend time here in the Bronx and minister to fellow brothers and sisters.

I love you all and may God bless you!

Mitch Wirth

Love you and miss you mom! (Dad says hi too!)

A post from Maddie Lutz!

Hey this is Maddie Lutz! Oh my goodness, God has done some incredible things this trip. We have this thing called an ATL. That stands for Ask the Lord. We first meet together within our group and talk and pray for God to open our hearts and our ears to hear what he wants us to hear. Then we broke up individually and prayed and made a list of every thought that came into our minds. We then met back together and combined our lists. It was amazing to see that 3 or 4 people in our groups had the same thoughts or visions. We knew it was from God. One thing that God showed practically all of us was the color purple. We didn’t know what it meant at the time but boy did we find out later. After some more prayer to confirm what we heard the first time we left the church/house and walked to the place God told us about. One of those places was a train station with a tunnel. As we were walking we saw a woman in a purple dress. This was one of the visions God gave our group. We felt called to follow her into the subway station. We did as God was leading and it turns out that she and her friend were both having serious financial problems. We prayed for them and paid for their subway fare and then left. Later on while we were on the subway Chad who was in our group for the day saw the lady in the purple dress! It was amazing to think about how impossible it was for us to see her. Considering that even if she had gotten on in a different door we wouldn’t have seen her! It was definitely God all the way! It was amazing. Before I go to eat dinner I want to say hello to my parents and my sister. I love and miss you all so much and I can’t wait to tell you these amazing stories in person! J

A post from a guy!

Finally we got one of the gentlemen to type a post :) This is from Andrew King...his thoughts may or may not express the views and opinions of this youth pastor...specifically the last paragraph on animals :)

Andrew King

What is up Pennsylvania? I am trying to get my gangster, or gangsta, on for the rest of our trip in the Bronx. After our group went to the Christian Hip Hop concert Saturday night I have been trying, without much fruit, to become more hip, no small task for a 16 year old who only knew one hip hop move before coming to the Bronx (thanks Dr. Barnes).

Last night was really amazing. We went to the Brooklyn Tabernacle, as Aubrey said before, and experienced an amazing worship and prayer service. The passion with which they prayed was unbelievable. I kept getting goose-bumps throughout the whole experience and I don’t think I will ever forget it.

I just came from helping at the Bronx Senior Center. Our group, composed of Ian B., Mandi B., Sarah B., Mitch W., and myself enjoyed talking to a sweet older lady named Matilda. She was an amazing crocheter (sp?) and spent the next 2 hours trying to teach 5 teenagers how to accomplish this great skill. She spoke Spanish and I tried to tell her that my mother, grandmother and great grandmother all knew how to crochet, so how hard could it be? One hour and forty-five minutes later, Mitch, Ian and myself had a four foot long strand of yarn all completed. When we asked her if she could make Mitch and myself a headband with it, she said yes (or si) and then proceeded to undo all (and I do really mean all) of our hard work. However, the final product was well worth it. As I write, I am sporting a green, crochet headband and looking very gangster tooJ.

While we are unharmed, I cannot say the same about our furry, four- legged friends in the basement. So far Kenton has killed two rats, one with a broom stick handle and the other with a dustpan. While I was walking in the basement, a rat charged me, but I picked up a dodgeball and hit it before it could run away. I didn’t kill it, in case PETA is wondering, I might have broken a leg though J.

Peace out. I think I’m going to have to work on my gangster slang a little more.

Andrew King