all good things come to an end…

We’re at the end.   This is our last full day in Philadelphia.  It’s definitely bittersweet.  So with love, Team Philly presents you with “A Summer in Review”.  Check it out here.

http://browse.deviantart.com/photography/?q=sunset&order=9&offset=48#/djoaog

and now an interview with…

So I have two rockin’ interviews for you today!  Check out this one interviewing two of our awesome girls from Queen’s Herald Church.

And while you’re at it check out this interview about St. Paul’s UCC experience in Kensington!

Sadly our groups head out tomorrow so be praying for their safe return home!

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and the week continues…

Hey friends!

We are already to Wednesday!  How crazy is that?!  Anyways, our groups have been awesome and we’re really excited about what the Lord is doing in and through them.

Queen’s Herald has continued tutoring at Clara Barton Elementary School and while sadly I couldn’t take pictures or videos, hopefully I’ll be getting some interviews of the kids up soon so you can hear a little from them about what they’re doing and how it’s impacting them.

St. Paul’s was in Kensington today.  One group passed out water and did some evangelizing while the other two groups headed back over to The Rock Ministries to do some cleaning and sprucing up. [And for those who don’t yet know about The Rock ministries, click here to learn more about it!]  Check out some of the pictures Doug took while they were there.

Yup, Doug is taking a picture of his bicep.

Tomorrow is Thursday which means it’s time for an ATL!  We can’t wait to see how the Lord shows up!

high hopes

Last night, we had the great pleasure of the night off and heading to a Phillies game.  It was only my second professional baseball game and needless to say Doug was terribly excited.  Our St. Paul’s group actually was going because their contemporary worship team sang the National Anthem and were gracious enough to give us a few tickets.  We went with Bill Thomson and also met up with Elizabeth, Frank and Selah.

It was a great game.  We eat Crabfries and had a pint of water ice each.  And saw the Liberty Bell ring FOUR times.  That’s my kind of game.  Oh, and the Phillies won.  Sweet.

PS- If you’re interested, here’s video of Doug talking about Shane Victorino.  Enjoy.

through the eyes of a child.

This week, my cameras have been a hit at daycamp.  I think it’s just something that all kids go through but everyone of them wants to take pictures.  It’s the gratification of seeing what they did and probably the fun of pushing a button.  Nevertheless, Tyquil was the photographer of the day.  I wanted to share a couple of his snapshots with you.

THROUGH THE LENS OF AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHER, TYQUIL

Nazir and a friend of Doug's that stopped by for a visit!

A little bit of chaos.

Portrait of Alim.

"I need to take a picture of Jesus."

orientation video on the loose!

So I’ve been keeping the orientation video that we show all the groups that have come to Philly under wraps for the summer but because we have our last group, I am now free to release it to the public.  Enjoy it here!

http://browse.deviantart.com/photography/?qh=&section=&q=rules#/d1lweaa

snapshot o’ daycamp.

Here’s a video to round out a great Monday.  Check, check, check it out.

http://browse.deviantart.com/photography/?q=kids%20park&order=9&offset=24&offset=72#/d11zll8

meet our teams!

Good Monday morning!

Wyoming Ave is hosting two great groups this week so take some time and meet them!

Groups from St. Paul UCC

God's Bananas

Team Christ

These two groups from Lancaster, PA are canvassing for VBS over by Beacon Presbyterian.  Be praying that the Lord brings kids that needs some love and needs to hear his Word.

Falcons

This group, also from St. Paul UCC, are prayer walking around the Feltonville community.  Be praying that they come in contact with people who need encouragement and the Lord’s love.

Groups from Queen’s Herald Church

QHC

Flying Cars

Both of these groups hailing from New York are doing their morning ministry site at Clara Barton Elementary School, tutoring the students there that are in summer school.

We’re really excited to see what the Lord does this week!  Thanks for you continued prayers for these groups and Team Philly as we finish out our last week here in the City of Brotherly Love.

whirlwind two weeks!

Hey friends!

Sara here!  I’m back and ready for the last week in Philly. 😦  Sorry that there hasn’t been much activity on our blogs but thanks to Melissa for trying to keep up despite the craziness they’ve had here.  I think she’s going to have one more post later from this past week.

Just a little update for this week, we are sadly losing Maddy on Monday.  She has gotten a bad case of poison ivy, and the heat in Philly is only making it worse.  Please be praying intensely for her, that she will have a quick recovery and feel better soon.  We’re really sad to be losing her.

So this week in Philly, Doug and Marcus are taking over things here at Wyoming Ave and Melissa will be in Roxsbourough leading a group.  As for me, it has yet to be determined where I’ll be residing for the week.

Stay tuned for more weekly updates!

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MANual Labor

To summarize the expectations from Monday, the themes were to be changed, grow in compassion, take these lessons home, and break out of the comfort zone. To a group that was anticipating construction and manual labor it was a bit intimidating to jump right into street evangelism and homeless ministry.  Expecting things from God sounds presumptuous to most and down right scary for others, but this week we experienced a little bit of God showing off His ability to do more than we could ever ask or imagine!

Here are some testimonies of the things that happened this week:

“This week has been beyond my expectations.  This week I was thinking that we would just do some projects and meet 1 or 2 people.  I probably met 50 or 60 people and helped them come closer to Jesus.  It has been awesome.”  Gordy

“In the Amzies group, during the First pres church mission trip, we took on the evangelism task at the Library.  It was filled with homeless people and poverty.  We went and gave out sandwiches and water and Merritt Rae Phillips and I went to go talk to a woman named Cissy.  She testified for us and her story was amazing in a way that showed us how bad her life is and where she is now.  Cissy never met her dad and lost her mom at 13 years old.  She was adopted and beaten by her new parents.  They would throw bricks at her and she was molested.  She ended up with AIDS and started getting into prostitution.  She said, “I was standing on the side of the road all dressed up and God spoke to me and I was saved right there.”  She has been sober from drugs, alcohol, and prostitution for 11 months.  Cissy met her 4 children; the youngest was 20, with a new attitude set in mind.  She gave in to God and turned her life around.  Cissy really inspired us and made me think about the way she was able to turn everything around with God.  We prayed for her and hope that we will be able to see her again to give her our shoes and clothes.  Cissy was an amazing person who I will remember forever.”  Jeni Erickson

“On Thursday, we did some ministry work called Ask the Lord (ATL).  ATL is when each person goes off and asks the Lord to help them find a person to help; then writes whatever God lays on their heart.  Then we split into groups and tried to put all the seemingly meaningless details into a coherent meaning.  Our group had an idea about a Hispanic man outside Walmart, wearing yellow.  We spent about an hour looking for this man, but we weren’t strictly limited to helping that one man.  We prayed for several others and bought water for the Hispanic workers outside the strip mall.  We didn’t find our Hispanic man, but we did help many others in our quest to find him.  You have to realize that none of us can read God’s mind, so maybe we were meant to help those workers and God just didn’t want to make it easy for us.”  Robert Moser

The students thought they were on a trip to help someone out, but found themselves on a journey toward God’s heart for themselves.  They didn’t get anything they asked for, but received everything they hoped for.  He tested their faith, challenged their strengths, and worked through their weaknesses.  They came expecting to build houses, but built relationships instead.  They came expecting to see brokenness, but found themselves broken so God could build them up.  They came expecting and they left satisfied.