Stove pain and Bicycle pain

Pain. I've heard it described like this on tour, there are two kinds of pain, there's stove pain which, by touching a hot stove, you know that that's something you never want to do again, cause it hurt you, and most likely burned you pretty good. And there's bicycle pain, which is the kind of pain that you have to fight through to become stronger.

The latter of these two is something that I've had to endure pretty much from the start of tour in Seattle, more then a month ago now, but especially the last week and a half or so. Up until this past week I had pretty much ridden every mile that everyone else had ridden. That is until about 5 days ago. As some, if not all of you know, I've had hamstring pain in both legs, to the point where they both got really swollen. It got so bad that I ended having to shuttle in the van for 2 full days, and I tried riding the third day, but had to get in the van again after about 26 miles because it was getting to be to much for me to handle. As you can imagine, it was frustrating. Is frustrating, as the problems are still going on. I've been to various bike shops, a couple of REI stores (outdoor sporting goods store) to get different opinions as to what they think the problem is, and everyone is telling me a different thing. The REI stores I went too, one in Washington, and one in Chicago, both said that my bike was to small and suggested I get a different seat stem to elongate the top tube of the bike, but other hand, the 18th best bike shop in the country, said that bike was fine for my size, and that a different seat stem wouldn't fix problem, if anything it would make it worse, and the problem was the height of my seat. And then today I was able to go to a different bike shop in Indiana, and they said that my seat was a touch to high, so they lowered it, and they also suggested that I try to ride with platform pedals (the stock pedals when you buy a new bike) instead of the clipless pedals (pedals that clip to a special bike shoe to get more power per pedal stroke) that I have been using. I'm hoping that by doing those two things, the problem is fixed, cause to be perfectly honest, it's been overly frustrating to be told so many different things. Nobody really knows what the problem is, and I'm stuck trying all these different things trying to figure out what actually is the problem. So prayer for that would be greatly greatly appreciated.

The motto for Venture Expeditions, the organization that I'm riding with, is, "Benefit the world, Discover your soul". The "benefit the world" part is through raising funds, and awareness for different injustices going on around the world. Currently we're raising money and awareness for the Civil war/Ethnic cleansing going on in Burma currently. It's the longest running Civil War in history, it's going on 68 years, and nobody knows about it. The funds that we raise goes toward care centers set up in Thailand for the people lucky enough to make it out of Burma. At these care centers, they get food, an education, they learn English, and get discipleship. The "discover your soul" part comes through spending 6, 7, 8, 9 hours a day on a bike. All that time leads to some awesome prayer times...and a LOT of time to think about everything and nothing. At the same time. You find out who you really are. You find out what is deep down inside. When the ride gets tough, what's you're first instinct? When it starts pouring rain at mile 70 of a century ride, what is your reaction? In the process, you become more of who God created you to be. It's a learning experience. It's a humbling experience. It's a physical sacrifice for people that put their lives on the line everyday.

I do have a few prayer requests...for me, as well as my team as a whole. For me, that my hamstrings figure themselves out, and get better so I can ride without pain, and finish the tour strong. That, as tour comes to an end (we have about 2 and a half weeks left) that I know what God wants me to do after tour ends. For my team, that we don't take these last weeks for granted. That we press in even harder into tour, that we try to get more out of it now, then we did at the start.

Thanks!
Mark

"Guys we rode our bikes to Montana!!"

These past two weeks have been absolutely incredible!! I have learned so much about myself already. Like, I now know that i'm not a quiter when I'm in the middle of a really tough climb (Stevens Pass, or Thompson Pass). Or that it's okay if you're not AMAZING friends with everyone, cause that's just not possible.

When we first arrived in Seattle, everyone was a little awkward with one another,  but that is to be expected. But that awkward stage didn't last very long, as we all began to get very comfortable with one another very quickly. We all arrived on Thursday, and enjoyed dinner together, and ice cream, and shared some awkward stories to quickly break the ice. On Friday, we did more logistical training stuff, and went for our first training ride as a team...kind of. Three of us were out ahead of the rest of the team, due to the fact that they got caught at a red light, but we in front didn't realize it, so we kept going. The group behind, got lost relatively soon into the ride, and were behind the rest of the way, but it was fun nonetheless to be back in the saddle for a bit. On Saturday, it was our last training day, and first time prepping like it was an actual tour day...which meant "spandex before breakfast". We were all up and in spandex before 7 am. We then had our last training sessions and then headed off on our last training ride to Seattle. 33 miles, and one MASSIVE hill later, we were finally at our destination, and able to eat lunch, which we all enjoyed thoroughly.

Sunday was our first real day of tour. After two church services Sunday morning at the church that had be hosting us that weekend, we took off from the parking lot, and headed to our first destination. It was a short 35 mile ride, but it was gorgeous weather...something we have not had a lot of since. Monday was a nasty day. It was cloudy and rainy for most of the day, and included our first major climb of tour, Stevens Pass...40 miles into our 83 mile ride. We also had our first, and hopefully last, wreck of tour. A girl hit a pothole and supermaned her handlebars, hitting her face on the pavement, chipping a tooth, and knocking one loose.

Since Monday, we have not had decent weather at all. It's been wet, and cold, and miserable for 98% percent of the days. This past Saturday was hands down the worst day of all. It poured the entire day, and it was only in the 40s, so we were all miserable. We also had another major climb, Thompson Pass, Idaho. The few of us that were still riding our bikes, as some had opted to shuttle the rest of the way due to the miserable weather, were about 2/3's of the way up the mountain when we saw the support van coming down...turns out that at the top of the mountain, it was bitterly cold, and super foggy, totally not safe to ride in. So we all got shuttled the rest of the way to our destination.

Sunday was a much needed off day... We went to church, and then had time to explore the town we were in, and clean our bikes...which desperately needed it after 4 or 5 days of riding in the rain. The weather held out long enough for us to enjoy the day a little bit, but the rain eventually did come, and we were back to the wet, rainy weather we've come so used too.

Today, Friday, was the first day of riding in the sun, and warmth in over a week, and it felt amazing. It felt awesome to be hot, instead of cold and miserable.

Thank You guys so much for all your prayers! Me and my team definitely appreciate it, as we've had some awful days, but knowing that there are people out there praying for us daily, has made a HUGE difference.

With the wind,

Mark

sacrifice

Sacrifice. It’s such a simple word, yet it has so many complicated definitions depending on who you ask. Sacrifice might be waking up at 4 in the morning to take someone to the airport. Sacrifice might be going without food for a day or two to pray and fast for those less fortunate then yourself. Or sacrifice might be spending 8 hours a day on a bike saddle to raise money for refugees in Thailand.

Webster defines sacrifice as, “Destruction or surrender of anything for the sake of something else; devotion of some desirable object in behalf of a higher object, or to a claim deemed more pressing; hence, also, the thing so devoted or given up; as, the sacrifice of interest to pleasure, or of pleasure to interest.”

Very often, it takes a physical sacrifice to truly find yourself. From my experience on different missions trips, the minute you stop doing something for you, and start doing it for God, is the minute that you truly find yourself. Whether that be completing a task you weren’t able to complete before, or finding something you truly doing.

For me, it was biking. When I first heard the story of Venture going on 4 years ago now, I thought to myself, “hey, that would be fun…it’s right up your alley…but you don’t ride a bike” and I just kinda left it that for a year. The following year, I had opened to the idea of doing it, and even excited about doing it. But still, a little hesitant cause I still wasn’t a person to ride his bike. But I had three separate people, unbeknownst to each other, ask me if was going to do tour. I got the hint. God wanted me to do tour. I just couldn’t do it the following year, due to a commitment at YWAM Metro New York. I had a year left. But that’s how we get to this point. Within a week of my commitment ending, I was making it a point to ride my bike a little each day. Eventually it got to the point where I looked FORWARD to going for bike rides. I knew the physical sacrifice and the physical toll that the summer long bike ride across the United States was going to take on my body. I had firsthand experience with the cause that we’re riding for. Now, I’m upset when I can’t go for a bike ride. I can honestly say, I never thought there would come a day where something like that would happen, but it has.

So with that…I ask you this one question. What is sacrifice to you?

Summer plans!

I want you to imagine something for me. I want you to imagine that you’re a mother or father in a remote village of Northern Thailand, barely making enough money to feed your family, when a business man from Bangkok arrives in your village, and tells you that he thinks that your son or daughter would be a perfect fit for his company. But the only thing is, is that he or she would have to move to Bangkok with him. Now, at first you’re very hesitant because this is your son and/or daughter we’re talking about right? But then he tells you about all the money that they’ll make working for him. And once you hear that, well, it’s a no brainer. You let them go with him. The only thing he didn't tell you is that yeah, he might run a business, but that “business” is a bar in the red light district. And your son’s or daughter’s job is to “entertain” the clientele, do whatever they want, to make money for this “businessman”. Sadly, by the time your son or daughter figure what’s going on, it’s too late to get out, and even if they did, you would probably disown them for tarnishing the family name. So they do the only thing they can, they stay. Now put yourself in the shoes of your child. After a few months or maybe a year of staying in this one particular for maybe few months or a year, a different “businessman” comes in and works out a deal with your current employer, and you’re on your way to Amsterdam. Now you've just been trafficked.

Human Trafficking really does begin that easily. And in some cases, the parents send their own children to Bangkok on their own. Human Trafficking is today’s “modern day slavery” with 29.8 million people in slavery today. That’s more than the number slaves when President Lincoln abolished it.

But there IS something we can do about it, and there are people doing things to change this. There are multiple organizations doing their part. To name a couple: International Justice Mission, who actually have people who go into these bars, and such to get the girls, and guys out, and Love146, who also help the girls and guys get out, as well have houses setup for recovery. I myself will be doing something this summer to do just a piece of my part to end this injustice. I will be doing a cross country bike trip to raise awareness for Human Trafficking with an organization called Venture Expeditions. They do different “tours” as they call them, to raise money, and raise awareness for different injustices in the world.

We’ll be starting in Seattle, WA on June 6^th, and ending our ride in NYC on August 1^st. Stopping at various churches and schools and such to talk to them about what we’re doing. If you did not receive a support letter from me, and would like to know a little more, or are interested in perhaps supporting me, please send me a message or email, and I’d be happy to talk to you!

With the wind,

Mark

Email: mvacc.ywam@gmail.com

Cell: 516-582-9065

last one!! :/

Hi there!

It’s hard to believe that this is it. This the last blog update with me on staff at YWAM Metro New York. Two years ago, I wrote to most of you asking you to prayerfully consider support monthly. Words cannot begin to describe how thankful I am that you not only heard God speak, but you acted on what you heard in faith.

Over the last couple of months we’ve had a variety of different teams come in and do short term missions with us. Just a short recap as to what our summer has looked like up to this point, our summer started off with a camp we ran at a Korean church in Westbury for a week.  Overall that week went really really well. I know that we definitely impacted the students that were there.  The day after that camp ended, we had a 50 person team come in from Houston Texas. And they too, were with us for a week.  Again, the week went really really well, had a lot of fun getting to know them. We did a little bit of everything with them while they were here. A few of them went to Lighthouse, a few of them went to Hicksville to do Muslim ministry, and a majority of them stayed here at the base to do some base work for a day. And the rest of the time they were here, they were in the city either doing prayer stations, or working with an organization called Operation Exodus. A couple days after they left, we had a 28 person team come in from Oklahoma. They were with us for the longest; they were here for about a week and a half. They were able to do a few different things since they were for so long. They did prayer stations two or three times, they did a day or two of Muslim ministry, and they too worked with Operation Exodus, and they also worked with World Vision for a day at their warehouse in the Bronx.

After a few days to ourselves to get any office work we needed to get done, done, we had a four person team come in from New Jersey. They were originally supposed to be a little bit bigger than that, but because most of them were the first generation born here from Korea, they still had family in Korea, that they went to go visit. Anywho, the team arrived on Sunday evening. They had dinner, and then an intro to who we are, both as a base and as an organization. On Monday we had the opportunity to work with Lighthouse Mission again. And because of the size of our group, and the amount of volunteers that usually showed up to that particular location, we were able to walk up and down the line and just talk with people, see how they were doing, and pray with them if they wanted prayer for anything. On Tuesday they did prayer stations in Brooklyn. I wasn’t able to go, but from what I heard when they got back, it went really well, and they were able to talk to a lot people, and pray with a lot of people. And then that night they went to the Brooklyn Tabernacle’s prayer meeting, which I’ve been to once before, and it’s an experience in and of itself. Wednesday they had the chance to go work with World Vision in the city at the warehouse, and pretty just do whatever they needed them to do.  On Thursday we went to Brooklyn to help an organization we had never worked with before, Metro World Ministries. From the little that we learned from them, they have “interns” come in twice a year so, and work with them.  Their main ministry is side walk Sunday School, they set up a bus or a truck on the side of the road, and invite the kids in the neighborhood to join them. On Friday they were able to do prayer stations one more time, this time in Harlem. Again, they were able to talk to a lot of people, and pray with a lot of people. At this particular spot, I see this one lady all the time. She’s in a wheelchair cause she doesn’t have either of her legs, and she’s always there, always encouraging us, she’s awesome. Anyway, this particular day, I really felt like I was supposed to pray for her legs to grow back. And so when I went up to her to ask if I could, she was talking to the four people from the team, and she was telling them how she came to lose her legs, I had never heard this story before, so to me this was kind of confirmation. When she was finished telling the story, I explained what I wanted to do, and she was very open to it. Nothing happened on the street that day, but I believe that not only will God give her her legs back, but this will be an opportunity for her to share with her friends in the area about what God did for her, and He wants to do for them as well! After we finished with prayer stations, we drove to Times Square so they could walk around, and explore, and then we met up to eat dinner. After dinner we went to Times Square Church’s Friday evening Young Adult’s service, and it was awesome! It was so cool to see all these young people pretty much fill the bottom level of the sanctuary we were in, praising God. The team then left on Saturday to return home in New Jersey.

Our final team of the summer then arrived last Monday evening. There were about 13 of them from Pennsylvania, the youngest being 14 or 15 and the oldest student being about 18. Monday evening involved dinner, and orientation, nothing to exciting. Tuesday we did prayer stations in Brooklyn with the team, and then brought them to the Promenade overlooking Manhattan Island. On our way back, we stopped and ate dinner at a local restaurant. We then went to Brooklyn Tabernacle for the Tuesday night prayer meeting. And just like I remembered it, it was awesome! On Wednesday they traveled to the Bronx to work with World Vision in the warehouse. Nothing to exciting happened. A lot of them were skilled puppeteers, so on Thursday and Friday; they worked with Operation Exodus, and did puppet shows for the kids. And the kids absolutely loved it! The team left on Saturday morning to return home.

The rest of this week, and all of next week, are just normal work days. Except on Monday, we have a “fundatory day”. It’s mandatory fun, so to accomplish this, we as a staff, are going to the beach! I enjoy these “fundatory days” cause well for one, we don’t necessarily have to do any work, and two, we just get to hang out with each other and have a good time! Friday of next week is my last day! I can’t believe that it’s just about here already! It’s going to be bittersweet for sure. But more than that, it’s going to be weird adjusting to “non-communal living”

Again, I just want to take this time to thank each and every one of you, I really couldn’t have done anything had it not been for you. But more importantly, God wouldn’t have been able to do what He did, not only in me, but through me as well.

With the wind,

Mark

Almost done...but not quite

Hey Everyone!

It’s hard to believe that this my second to last update about what God’s been doing not only in me and through me while I’ve been here, but here at the base as well. With all the prophetic words that they’ve had over the previous year’s finally coming to pass. One new development on the staff front, is that since the last update, we had a couple from YWAM Costa Rica, join our staff team here.  They have a desire to start a base upstate, near Saratoga Springs, but before they can do that, they need training on how to run a base. They’ll be here at the base for about 2 years, I think, before moving back upstate to start the process of pioneering a new YWAM base.

This summer is completely and totally different from last summer.  Last summer we had one short term team all summer.  This summer we have five total teams, and ran a youth camp at a Korean Church in Westbury.  Four this summer, and then we had one team come in April. The Korean camp was three weeks ago, and it was awesome! We only had about 50 kids show up this year, in the past years that we’ve done, it’s been between 60-90 kids. But this year we did things a little differently than in the past. In the past, we’ve just had one speaker speak for the entire week, and one topic, usually on how to be a better Christian, and very often the kids would have a “spiritual high” for a week or two after the camp, and then go back to what they were doing before the camp started.  This year, we decided to have a different speaker speak for each session on different injustices in the world.  We had a speaker from Love 146 which is an anti-trafficking organization that helps get women out of sex trafficking. They came in and talked about what they do.  We had guy from a local church come in and speak on abuse. And what that can look like. We had another person come in and speak on street kids, and the way they live all over the world. Then one of staff girls here spoke on poverty, and how most of the injustices in the world go back to the fact that 80% of the world doesn’t live like us. They live on about $2 a day. And then the last teaching of the week is almost always given by the base director here, Nick Savoca, but he had hurt his back a couple days prior to having to speak, so he couldn’t, so we had another staff guy come in and give the Evangelism teaching. We got so much good feedback from the students, and it was awesome to see just how they were affected by everything.

We had short term team in here two weeks ago.  A Youth group from Houston Texas, age range from 14-18 years old. They were soo much fun to have here, and to just be around.  They got here on Saturday night, barely.  They had a few issues with one of the vans. The van that has given us the least amount of problems in the past was the one that broke down, go figure. But they finally all made it here. Sunday the team went to Brooklyn Tab and then to the 9/11 memorial. And then Monday started their actual ministry time with us.  On Monday, we had the team split into three different teams, the team as a whole was just about 50 people, so it worked out well.  One group stayed here at the base, another group went to Bellport and helped Lighthouse Mission, which is a mobile food pantry to Long Island, mainly Suffolk County. And then the last team went to Hicksville with a couple of our Frontier Missions department staff to go talk to Muslims. Everyone did a fantastic job wherever they were put.  On Tuesday, the team got split into two different teams.  One team went to Operation Exodus which is an organization that offers after school programs, and summer programs in the inner city of Manhattan and Brooklyn. And the other team then got split into three smaller teams to do prayer stations in Harlem.  The pray station team that I was a part of, jumped right in, and started talking to people, and praying with people.  It was absolutely awesome to see teenagers jump right in like that. On Wednesday they all went to Operation Exodus and help out with the weekly field trip that they take. This particular week they went to the Bronx Zoo. This was my day to stay back at the base to do what I needed to do, which in this case, was mow the lawn and weed whack, but from what I heard from the staff that did go, it went really well, and they all had a lot of fun with the kids at the zoo. Thursday was the 4^th of July, so it was the team’s off day, and they went to the city to sight see and just have fun.  A lot of the staff went to the beach to just hang out and spend quality time together. A fun time was had by all. Friday was the team’s last day of ministry; everyone did prayer stations in the Bronx at the hub. It went really well, a lot of people had some awesome conversations with people, and were able to pray with them. After ministry, the team left to go to the Yankees game that night as one last “yerrah” so-to-speak. The team then left Saturday morning to return home. Over all, the team was phenomenal. They were so much fun to have around the base for the week they were here.

The next team came that Monday, the 8^th. A 28 person team from Oklahoma. Very different from the previous team. Completely different personalities, different temperament. Different in every imaginable way. On Tuesday and Wednesday the team worked with Operation Exodus in the city working with the kids. Thursday was an interesting day…I needed to drive my car to the Bronx to work with World Vision at their warehouse. As we were leaving the parking lot here at the base, I knew that something wasn’t right. So pulled into a gas station right away, and looked at it, and did what we could to it, with the time that we had. But it still wasn’t working right. It was idling really rough, it wouldn’t accelerate. Needless to say, I was scared driving it. We managed to get there okay, but coming home was a different story. My car was starting to get worse on the way home, and then I was told that I was needed to drive my car again on Friday. There was no way that I was comfortable driving my car in the condition that it was in. Fortunately we figured out a way that we could all get to the city, and I didn’t have to drive my car, and I was able to bring to a mechanic to get it fixed. On Thursday at World Vision, we helped them in their warehouse, sorting clothes, and boxing different items that had been donated to them. On Friday, we did prayer stations in Brooklyn. It was a really good time. We were able to talk to a lot of people, and pray with them. On Saturday, the team did their own ministry in the city. They went to Central Park to do a few dramas that they had prepared, and to talk to people. Sunday was kind of a “fun day” for the team in the city. They went to church at the Brooklyn Tabernacle and then walked around Brooklyn for a bit, saw the Brooklyn Bridge, went to the Promenade, and then they went to the late night service at Hillsong that night. Yesterday was our Frontier Missions department’s turn to lead a day of outreach. The director of the department gave them teaching on the Muslim and the Hindu faith. And how to go about talking to people of these different religions. Then in the afternoon we were able to go to Hicksville and visit a couple of Halal restaurants, and talk to the people there. After lunch, we split up into two different groups, and visited a few Halal grocery stores in the area. Today is the team’s day off, so they are off in the city sightseeing, do the touristy thing. The team doesn’t leave until tomorrow, but they were a lot of fun to have around. I was talking to one of the leaders last night after they were done with ministry and such, and we were talking about the fact that we don’t bother getting to know really know someone on such a deep and personal level anymore if we know that they’re just going to be leaving soon.  It sounds terrible, I know, but after having to do it so much over the last few years, I’d much rather not have a super deep friendship with someone, then have said deep friendship, only to have my heart ripped out when they leave. So as much it’s awful to see the teams leave, I know that in a few short days, they’ll be replaced with another team, and we get to go through the whole process again.

Well, that’s it for this update. Another shall be coming shortly. Thank you all so much for supporting me both, financially and prayerfully! It really does mean so much to me!

With the wind,

Mark

Long Time No Update

Hello men, women, and children!

So it’s been about two months since my last update, and a lot of things have happened in that time.  We spent a few days in Boston, we went to Ohio for about a week and a half, and there were a few staff changes that took place as well.

BOSTON

Pretty much right after the bombings in Boston happened, most of us here at the base really felt like we were supposed to go there for multiple reasons.  One being to show support to the YWAM base there.  There are about 5 or 6 different YWAM bases in the Northeast within driving distance of each other, unfortunately we’ve all become so individualized that we don’t take time to do ministry with one another or build relationship with each other.  We here at the Metro New York base felt like it was a no brainer to go there. Another reason to go was to just join in with the ministries that the base had already in place, as well do prayer stations, which is one of our ministries here.  The first day we got there, Wednesday May 8, we went to Harvard square, to talk to people and pray with people.  A few of us had really good conversations with a few people, but for the most part, people weren’t interested in talking.  The following day, we had a spiritual tour of the city, well were supposed to, but due to the the fact that it was raining, we ended up going to the State building, and having a mini teaching there about the history of not only Boston and Massachusetts, but of our Country as a whole as well. It was rather interesting.  And then on Friday, we joined the YWAM Boston staff, YWAM Kona, YWAM Harrisburg, at Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH.  Most of the YWAM bases in the northeast strongly believe that the Ivy League schools are the starting grounds for revival here in America. And what they do, is go school to school, holding these, for lack of a better term, revivals on the campus’.  One of the guys on staff at YWAM Boston is a DJ, so he does his thing to get people to come, and then once people have gathered, they go into a few student testimonies, and then a worship set with recording band, United Pursuit. They usually get around 300-600 students at these things.  At Dartmouth, they had almost 400 students show up! Of that number, I’m not sure how many came to Christ. But knowing that 400 students heard the gospel that night is awesome! Over all, it was a fantastic trip. 

OHIO

We left for Ohio on Thursday May 23, and were there for about a week and a half, maybe a little less.  The reason we went was to help an extended staff person with something that she had founded a few years back known as Project C. O. O. L. (Community Outreach Of Love). And what it is, is Extreme Makeover Home edition, on steroids.  Instead of taking a single house for a week, they take an entire neighborhood for a day, and completely transform it. This year, there were 140 homes worked on, and about 1,800 volunteers. We arrived on Thursday evening, ate dinner, and then pretty much went to bed. We were all spent from the trip.  On Friday, the guys went with Jim Aman, he’s been a volunteer with the project from the start, and a Home Coordinator.  This year, he was in charge of the warehouse where all the supplies went.  But on Friday the guys helped him with a personal need.  He owns a piece of property that has a house and a pond on it. And he’s opened the house/pond up to the church he’s been a part of for different activities. On Sunday, the 26^th, they were having a fishing derby for the people of the church to bring non-Christian friends to that wouldn’t necessarily go to church. So on Friday, the guys went with him to the pond and cleaned it up a bit.  Two guys weed wacked around the perimeter of the pond, I got to ride a tractor, and mow the lawn on the property, and one other guy was able to help Jim’s wife, Denise, clean some furniture and get the patio area ready as well.  The girls went with Cindy, the founder of Project C. O. O. L., to the headquarters for the organization, and made signs. Signs showing where the warehouse was cause it was tucked away down a side street, signs showing how to get to different parking areas, and signs for the kids program that was going to happen at a park on the following Saturday’s afternoon. On Saturday, we went for a prayer drive around the neighborhood that we would be working in the following weekend.  It was such an awesome time of prayer and meeting people.  We saw a few Home Coordinators out prepping the homes that they would be working on, and had a chance to meet and talk with them a bit.  We were just about done, when we turned down one last street to pray and get the story of some of the houses there, when we came upon this couple working on their house.  We stopped to talk to them assuming that they were part of Project C. O. O. L. and they were getting ready for the main project. We came to find out that they were just doing a bit of cleanup on their own, and even though they had initially signed the waiver, they had changed their mind about having their house worked on.  There was a bunch of personal problems that they had to work on, and because of that, they didn’t want any help. But through talking to them, we were able to build relationship with them, and they ended up changing their minds again, and wanted work done on their house.  Unfortunately by this time, it was too late to get a home coordinator on the project, so we went back on Monday, Memorial Day, to work, but I’ll get to that shortly.  Sunday was more or less a day off for us.  The guys went church with a staff person who lives in the area.  We were able to go to a Mennonite church. That was an experience.  The women still wore bonnets, but other than that, it seemed like a normal church. After church, we went back to said staff person’s house, where we enjoyed a traditional Amish breakfast of stewed crackers with soft boiled/hard boiled eggs, baked oatmeal with homemade yogurt. And it was delicious. Unfortunately we had to cut our visit short, due to the fishing derby that was going on.  Once we got to the derby, we showed up a bit late, we joined in on the fun.  I caught three small fish, all bluegills. The most fish caught was 11. And the biggest fish caught was a 17” Large Mouth Bass, coming in at 2.5 lbs! Once the derby was over, and cleaned up, we went back to hang out with the girls, they were staying at a different location then guys. On Monday, Memorial Day, we were able to go back to the family that we had met on Saturday and work on their house a bit.  When we talked to them on Saturday, they had said that they wanted a fence for their dog, a concrete slab for their grill, a screen door on the front of the house to make a mud room type thing, and to have the garage painted.  We were able to do it all.  The fence took a little work though. In order to dig the proper holes, we needed to go through asphalt in two places, and asphalt AND concrete in another. But we were able to get the fence up.  Two other guys were able to get the screen door framed, and put in, and the garage got painted as well.  Now, the couple had to boys, a 10 year old and a 8 year old, and they were running around playing, and talking doing their thing, and they were helping out a bit as well.  No one really gave any thought to this, we just figured they were being kids. Until the woman came over to us and said that her oldest son never does this…he never talks in front of people because he’s autistic.  When we heard this we just kinda looked at each other in shock.  It was rather awesome to see! Monday and Tuesday the guys and girls worked together to get the last minute things that need to get done, done.  We staked out a couple fields that were going to be parking lots on Saturday and cleaned up the warehouse, getting ready for deliveries on Wednesday. Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, we were split up into two different teams.  One team worked in the warehouse, with Jim, and the other team worked with another guy power washing homes getting ready for Saturday.  I was on the warehouse team, with two other guys from YWAM, and then Jim.  Wednesday was the day that we got all the deliveries from a local hardware store. Once all the deliveries were there, we then had to take inventory to make sure everything that we were supposed to have, was there. And at the same time, start sorting the materials by address. So that come Thursday when people came to start to pick up the supplies, it was easy to find. Thursday, and Friday were pick up days.  They were the days that the home coordinators could come to the warehouse to pick up the supplies that they had ordered. Saturday, June 1, was the actual C. O. O. L. day. Us YWAMers helped wherever we were needed.  Most of us started the day out by parking cars at the fields, two of us at one field, and two of us at the other field. Once we were done parking cars, we were split up to do different things. The two girls were split up to help two different videographers. Me and one other guy were recruited to help with deliveries that different homes needed. And the last guy just walked around the neighborhood helping out wherever he could.  Over all, it was a very tiring, but very productive week and a half. We left the next day to come home, had Monday off to rest and such, Tuesday was a work day, and then Wednesday started 3 days of DTS staff training. 

STAFF

Since my last update, a few things have changed the way the staff is going to look come September.  As you may, or may not, know, my commitment is coming to an end here.  My last day is August 16^th. But we also have another couple who have been here about 2 and a half years or so, leaving our base, to move to a base in Idaho.  They believe that’s where God is calling them next.  In the time that they’ve been here, they have founded our Frontier Missions department, reaching out to the unreached people groups of the world.  In leaving, that left the position of director of the FM department vacant, so through a lot of prayer and maybe a little bit of common sense, their son will take position of FM department director.

Well…that’s what I’ve been up to the last couple of months or so.  If you have any questions, feel free to email, call, text, or facebook me. Thank You all for continuing to support me both financially, as well as prayerfully. I definitely appreciate it!!

With the wind,

Mark