More from yesterday ...

Just to add from the blog yesterday ... Margaret and Josh both shared testimony and a devotional to the 'street people' before we served the food.  They did an incredible job and were extremely brave as it was a pretty daunting task.  They were received well and it opened up the way for some great discussions around the tables.

Here are a few photos.

Action packed day!

Just a quick update on our day today ..... Thursday 6th August .... I think we will remember for a long time to come.  After team devotions over breakfast we set out to a local church - First Indian Baptist Church - to help feed the street people as they do every Thursday.  We immediately got involved with chopping up vegetables and prepping for lunch.  We met up with Keith who is the cook at Care 66, it was great to see him again and he said that he still has our team shirt from our last visit and would have worn it today if he'd realised that we were going to be at the church.

After cooking on stoves outside in the searing heat we all sat and enjoyed some ice cold water and watched a humming bird come to a feeder hanging on a tree.  It was fascinating.

Then at 11.30am we went outside where tables and chairs were set up in the church car park - some in shade and some outside in the blistering heat and we began serving the folk as they came along.  Some of us served food, some mingled around the tables chatting with the 'street people' and sometimes praying with them.  We gave one of the 'Once an Addict' books away and some tracts.

After the lunch was cleared up we went into the church at the pastor's invitation.  A very troubled young man came in whilst we were there - without going into too much detail we were able to support the pastor through quite a difficult time.  We ended up prayer walking the building and worshipping together in the sanctuary and praying and standing with our new friends Robert and Elizabeth - praying friends please remember this young pastor and his wife - we came away knowing that mission is as much about standing with our fellow believers around the world and bringing strength and encouragement as it is evangelising and spreading the word.

We had a very late lunch ourselves in the fast food restaurant of choice - Wendy's - and then came back to Joshua Generation for drama practice. 

At 6.30pm we were back out again, this time downtown to meet the Mayor and watch the procession.  We were in VIP seats right outside the El Morro theatre.  It was awesome and our favourite dancers were the Aztecs - certainly a night to remember.

Right now we are having hot drinks and biscuits and hoping for a fairly early night - Helen and Hollie have put the washing on and we are looking forward to another action packed day tomorrow.

Photos of today to follow in the morning.  Thanks for your comments, prayers and support - we are missing our families and friends but excited to be on this amazing adventure!

Day 2 - finally arrive in Gallup!

 

I promise we will get up to speed with the blogs eventually but our schedule has already been really full.

On our first night we stayed overnight in the Romney Motel in Seligman on Route 66.  It is run by Sri Lankans and they were fascinated to hear of our mission there last year.

We were back on the road by 6.30am most of us not having had much sleep at all but all more rested than if we'd kept trying to drive I last night.

We stopped for a quick team photo at the iconic Delgadillo's Snow Cap.  It was shut but you could still wander around the collection of old cars and petrol pumps.  It was already warm ...  I forgot to say that the temperature when we arrived in Las Vegas topped 40 degrees C/110F.

Today as we drove along the Interstate 40 and climbed gradually to the almost 7000ft above sea level in the high dessert where Gallup is the temperature remained high around 93 degrees F not sure what that equates to in centigrade.

Around 2 hours into the journey (133 miles) we stopped at the corner in Winslow, Arizona, for our breakfast and to stretch our legs.  We were recommended a fantastic place and we all had a variety of meals that became 'brunch' as we didn't have another meal until the evening.  It was fun ordering off a menu of typical southwestern USA food including eggs with polenta and green chilli sauce! New did our daily devotional a around the table.

On the road again it was quite a drive and at one point we encountered an incident where more than 12 police cars with flashing lights and incident tape we're dealing with something on the other side of he interstate but needless to say impacted our side too slowing us down a bit.  We lost an hour as we crossed from Arizona to New Mexico arriving in Gallup at about 2.00pm.

Then it was a crazy hour and a half unpacking finding the stuff we left behind last time and setting up the team rooms.  We made a quick change into our blue team tops for our visit to meet the mayor Jackie McKinney.

Downtown in the blistering heat we all went into the municipal building to meet him in the boardroom.  It was a really great time of reconnecting and chatting through the challenges that Gallup faces and the things we will be able to do.  He has organised us to witness the intertribal ceremonial parade from bleachers by the El Morro theatre with him tomorrow as honoured guests of the city!  Wow!

We popped into the café to say hello to the new owners to see if we can do some stuff in there some time.  Not sure if this will work out at this stage but we will go back and see.

Back to Joshua Generation church we were treated to Navajo Tacos and then planned the evening service ... We led worship, did the new version of the 'changed' drama, Helen shared testimony, Julie and Colette sang and Dave preached.  Richard, Sylv, Margaret and Bobbie took the kids work.

We were all pretty shattered by the end of the service around 8.45pm but have been made to feel so welcome.  It was so god to reconnect with so many of these people we have known now for many years ... Dennis, Peewee, Jessica, Johnny Blue Eyes and his family, Cindy, Martin, Brian, Monique, Richard, Nate and his family, Promise etc etc

We have been made to feel so welcome.

Needless to say we did a quick raid on Walmart confining it strictly to essentials ... Breakfast things
and a hairdryer!

Tomorrow is a packed programme including feeding the homeless.  Tonight Dennis sent back a 'holy kiss' to Olivia who couldn't make the mission ... So if you're reading this Livvie here it is!😘

 

 

So 24 hours in ...

I am thrilled to say that the journey so far has been without any major hitches.  The flight was great and the expected turbulence wasn't anything as bad as our previous mission.  We got outing the road leaving Las Vegas with temperatures of 110 degrees F.  We realised 4 hours into the 7 hour drive that it would be best to stop over for the night, grab a good nights sleep and aim to get into Gallup mid morning tomorrow.  So here we are in a typical Route 66 motel doing just that.  I'll say 'night night' and add some more tomorrow.

'One man down'! ... well one team member down and she's a girl!

Very sad day to announce that Olivia can't come on our adventure.  Please pray for her as she is recovering from a foot injury and still in considerable pain and on crutches.  She doesn't feel that she can cope with the physical demands of the mission and so has had to pull out.  We are very sad that that she won't be part of the team. 

Please also pray for us that we can regroup with our drama skits and other plans that we had - Olivia is really gifted at spoken word and we were really looking forward to her performing and ministering in the schools, churches, prison etc and so that leaves a 'gap' in our repertoire but we must trust that God has this all in hand.

We leave the UK on Tuesday morning and so we are now doing last minute packing and then we will be on our way!

In training!

It's been a long time since we wrote a blog post but we are well into our training and preparation for our mission to Gallup, New Mexico this summer.  Flights and cars are booked and we have bought lots of tea bags, Hobnobs, face paints and balloons.  We are now counting the days and the 4th August is fast approaching!

Please pray for the team - several have been unwell and need healing.  Please pray that we are effective in spreading the good  news of God's amazing grace and love.

Quiz Night Fundraiser

Tonight we are holding a quiz night to raise funds for the mission ... we are expecting 100 people to come along to take part and have a good fun night.

Plans are beginning to take shape for our mission but we still need to raise some more funds before we can secure our flights.  Please consider donating towards this - you can donate through https://mydonate.bt.com/charities/thundersleycongregationalchurch and go to the Beacon Mission 2015 events page to make an online donation.

Thank you for visiting our blog - more news and photographs soon!