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 4th 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 8th. 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
