West Lakes had the awesome oppertunity of running some of the programming at Lifest, a large Christian music festival in Wisconsin this past week. In ...

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Greetings to all who read these blogs, I'm excited to be writing to you from the start of our VBS tour. What an amazing time we've had in the first weeks. Its been great to see so many small youth coming and learning about our Lord Jesus. For one thing it has been super fun! There is something about the energy of 6-12 year olds give music and games. I'm glad that simple truths about our God have been making their way into the heart of the children across the United States.

I however didn't want this blog to be a generic 'VBS is great' rant and rather talk about the outlook of team ending for West Lakes in two months or so. It almost seems surreal that time has passed to make this dwindled prospect a reality in the coming months. Something which I am highly grateful for and at the same time sad about. As you would expect team has its ups and downs and can be particularly tiring and strenuous experience to be a part of and West Lakes has certainly seen its fair share of early mornings and late evenings. As you would expect also many of the team are relishing the idea of sleeping in for weeks on end. But in contrast God's ministry never stops and it has been interesting to see how God has started to be showing his direction not just for us in ending team but continuing ministry in the next journey of our lives.

I think from the 'VBS side' it has been interesting to be considering what God is calling me to in the next year and how team has consequently shaped us for further opportunities to serve in different ways in the coming year. For example, Dana has accepted a call to do team again, however that's not for Russ, Jean or Holly who are off to attend college to share their faith with people they meet. LJ is now considering full time ministry. And I find myself considering a whole number of options. So while God has brought us all together...

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VBS season is quickly upon all the Youth Encounter teams. This means that we had the blessing to return to Lutherdell Bible Camp in Remer, MN for VBS training. It was so wonderful to see all of our old friends again and to meet some new ones. I enjoyed hearing all the funny stories from their travels on the road, but I was also very inspired to hear of their trials and how God was continuing to work through them.

After training, a few of us decided to remain at Lutherdell for our Memorial Day break. In exchange for a bit of labor, they would feed and house us. The seven of us quickly named ourselves Captive Free Lutherdell and set out on forming this “new team.” From West Lakes there was myself and my teammate, Jean. From Watermark, the team that traveled to Eastern Europe, we had Jan and Ben. From Cross Country we had Erica and Benjy. And from Crossfire, the team that traveled to Eastern Africa, we had Kevin. We are a very interesting group of people that conveniently have all the proper instrumentation to form an actual Captive Free team!! I think all of us enjoyed spending a few days to get to know each other better, work together, and play games together. We even decided on all of our team jobs.

It was especially relaxing for me to return to Lutherdell because it is the one place where we have spent the most time at this year. It is a place where we already know where the bathrooms and water glasses are. It is a place with warm and friendly people who just love giving hugs. It is a place where we have had the most freedom to walk around and enjoy God’s beautiful creations...

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In case you didn’t know, Youth Encounter teams DO NOT sleep overnight in the van. Yes, it’s the closest thing that we know that can be considered our “home” for the year, but it doesn’t mean we live in it. Instead, gracious people and families open their homes to us so that we have a place to stay. Host families often tell us to, “make ourselves at home,” which would be all well and good if we were actually at our own home, but when staying with other people we, or I (at least), can’t feel completely comfortable and relaxed. Thus, it’s a rare occasion that I actually feel “at home” in a host home. Our last booking before our Memorial Day break was in Mountain Lake, Minnesota. It was so out in the sticks that I didn’t even have cell phone reception within an hour drive. We got there and an older man drove up in his car, saying that he was there to pick up two girls. The pastor came out and sent Jean and Dana with him. Another family came to pick up the boys and Laura Joy went home with a different family. My host family didn’t show up…they were running a little late so I went over to the pastor’s house and played with his 1 year old daughter. Several cups of fake tea, building demolitions, and rounds of peek-a-boo later my host family showed up. The family consisted of a mom and dad with four children. The eldest was a girl, followed by a boy and two girls! That is exactly how my family is! I found out later that the age gaps between the children were the same amount of years as in my family too! But the cooler part is that they were 13 years old and younger…my favorite age group to hang out with! As I got to know the family, I kept finding so many similarities in personalities between my family and theirs- they were literally my family away from home...

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Quite recently our team was lucky enough to get to do a program at a church in Prairie Du Chien, Wisconsin. Before the programs we put on, we typically walk around and chat with the people coming into the worship space. I saw and heard a specially abled young man in the back of the sanctuary yelling and then being taken outside by his caretaker. They came back in after he had calmed down and sat in the back pew. I felt drawn to this group of people (it was the young man (Robbie), his caretaker, and the caretaker’s wife) so I walked over. As soon as I got within twenty feet of the young man he motioned for me to come sit by him. I walked over and sat beside him and started to converse with him…well, more like ask him a bunch of questions that his caretaker answered. I wasn’t sure if he even knew what I was asking him. I couldn’t get a response out of him even with super easy questions with different ways of answering (point at your favorite color- with a sheet of colors in front of him). I was sure he couldn’t comprehend anything that was going on. I spoke with his caretaker and the wife for a little bit about their lives and then it was time to start the program. I made my way to the front and we began playing the first song. Immediately I looked up and Robbie was standing up...

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Howdy y’all! In our travels we get to experience other people’s family lives and get to see different ways that parents raise their children. Quite recently I was blessed with the opportunity to live with a family of four- Mom, Dad, a 5 year old girl (Claire), and a 2 year old boy (Teddy). They were absolutely adorable! Each night that we were there, Jean and I got to read a bedtime story to Claire. The first night it was just us putting her to bed after a story about a boy who didn’t share very well and in the end got eaten by a snake…(I know…just a little morbid for a children’s book…). The second night Claire’s father joined us to hear his favorite book (and I also suspect he wanted to see our reaction to the book). We read a story called, “Walter, The Farting Dog.” It was hilarious! Jean and I could barely read it without laughing! At the end of the book, her father came over and sat on her bed. He asked us to join us for bedtime prayers. We expected that we would have to pray the night out but were pleasantly surprised to hear a little 5 year old girl’s voice thanking God for everything she had received that day including us and her family. She then continued to ask God’s protection and that he would, “calm her heart and quiet her mind.” It was such an awesome experience to see a family still praying before bedtime…(I know this is redundant but it’s awesome) as a FAMILY!!!!

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We just arrived in Monticello, Illinois (pronounced “Monti-sello”) and I must say-I am having quite the experience despite the town’s seemingly boring look. I had one of the most enlightening and fascinating talks with my host family here…it kind of reminded me how much I love learning in general. First you must know that I have a history with asking the most random questions when I don’t know what else to say. I guess you could say that God blessed me with the ability to think creatively on the spot (or cursed me with it…whichever it is). One time when my brain was being “creatively random” during a conversation with a group of youth from the suburbs I asked what their favorite tractor was. Much to my surprise they answered rather seriously with an indecisive, “John Deere.” I’ve tried to forget that incident of my awkward randomness since then. However at this host home, my host dad told us that he worked for the county agriculture department and I couldn’t help myself…I asked him the infamous question with the actual curiosity of what other brands of tractors there were. We ended up getting into a huge conversation about the different kinds of tractors there are and what they do in the whole farming process. I got a huge wake-up call during that conversation, too, about how closed-minded I am and how much I assume. I thought that we grew all of that corn just to eat! Turns out the huge fields we drive by in the middle of nowhere don’t contain any edible corn-that corn gets processed into other things we use like fuel and citric acid! And I can’t believe how technologically advanced farming is nowadays! I thought farmers were guys that had to drive tractors all day in the heat of the sun! Did you know that they have GPS’s in the tractors that align themselves with where they are plowing or harvesting on the field? That means that the farmers bring books and stuff to do in the tractors while the tractor drives itself!!! AND they have air-conditioning, radio, and some even have installed dish network TV’s in their tractors! They don’t just farm in the day, too. They farm at night because the tractors have bright headlights that allow them to work in the dark! It completely blew my mind how complex the farming/owning land system is! I will never look at our farmers and agriculture workers the same way again! They are sooo important to our everyday lives and they are way more technologically advanced than I could have ever imagined! I was just amazed at the fact that I bonded with my host family over tractors and farming (which I wouldn’t typically call interesting) and completely loved it! Not to mention, they were the only folks who could seriously answer my dumb question about tractor brands and do it complete justice!

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Hi everybody and greetings from the entire Captive Free West Lakes team. We have currently completed our 7th month on the road and have three more months to go. The year has been such an experience for me and it is hard to fully describe in a few mere words. I first want to say how much the support of all of you has encouraged me throughout this journey. I cannot thank you enough for your prayers, well wishes, and financial donations. This year would not have been possible without the support I received and I am excited to tell you how much this year has meant to me.

I think many of you would be surprised to hear that I started thinking about Captive Free for all the wrong reasons. It is odd for me to say this because it seems everywhere my team goes we tell our “call stories”. “Why in the world would you choose to give up a year of your life, volunteer to live in a van with 5 other people you have never met, and drive to weird places everyday?!?!” Even to me it still sounds crazy, but that’s what God needs, crazy people going out there and doing crazy things to get people to know his love, grace, and mercy. But, my story starts in a pretty normal way. Many of you or many of your children have had the blessing to going to Youth Encounter events, either Quakes or Zones. At these events...

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There are times that I remember how much of a city girl I am. I mean, I grew up in the suburban DC area: everything is fast paced, everything is crazy go go go. Coming to the Midwest area with Captive Free West Lakes I found that even though I was not going overseas, a little culture shock hit. All of a sudden people took things slower. All of a sudden, there was not as much pressure. All of a sudden there were deer heads hanging above me, watching me sleep J. It’s been different trying to learn to let go of my performance based mindset and enter into a more relationally based mindset. I find myself continually hard on myself when things do not work or I cannot fix something. Yet, I’m realizing more and more that it does not matter how good something sounds or how flawless the media shout program is, what matters is the connections that we build with people, not necessarily with the work that we do. This has specifically been brought up as event season ended. I love post event travels because a lot of them include churches who first saw us at an event. It surprises me when people are surprised that I remember them. Yet, remembering those people means so much to them. And doesn’t it to us all? Don’t we all want to be remembered? It means we were noticed. It means we were valued. Don’t underestimate the power of taking the time to really notice someone, it may just be the difference that they need.

And for those of you who stuck with reading this blog, here is a corresponding funny story of how this city girl came face to face with country life. We were at Lutheran Outdoor Ministry Camp a few weekends ago. I survived a weekend of camping in the great outdoors and we were packing up. I took the trash from the van and went to throw it in the dumpster. As soon as I lifted the lid of the garbage, I threw the garbage in, screamed and high tailed it into the trailer, jumped into it laughing, screaming and clinging to my teammate for my life for inside the dumpster was the BIGGEST raccoon I have ever seen in my ENTIRE life. When I opened the dumpster it got scared and jumped towards me….yeah, welcome to the country life, Laura Joy!

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Captive Free West Lakes has had the opportunity to go to some pretty awesome places including Chicago, Milwaukee, the Twin Cities, St. Louis, the Wisconsin Dells, and a ton of really small towns with extra huge hearts! One of our more recent bookings landed us in Campbell Hill, IL, a town with a population of 350 people. We were coming here from Flanagan, IL (the place where I got pulled over by the police while walking and got called old…see my other blog) and we started off on a highway. The GPS then took us onto another “highway” that was a good bit narrower and had no lines. It looked pretty sketchy, but apparently it was a legitimate Illinois highway! While in the van, Dana, who was navigating, and me were joking about how we were going to end up on a gravel highway next or something crazy silly like that. Lo and behold- about 10 more miles down the road we came to a “Road Closed in 4 miles” sign. Dana then had to press the detour button on the GPS which had us turn off onto a gravel “road” (it had an official green road sign and everything) named Jackrabbit road. We didn’t realize until we were actually on the road that it was in the blast zone of the mine right next to the road, which made it ten times sketchier and more ironic. Then Dana and I were joking about how it couldn’t get much worse than having to drive to a booking on gravel and dirt roads! With about a mile left on Jackrabbit road, the road changed from gravel to a grassy field with two ruts of dirt for the tires on incoming vehicles. There was a gravel cross road right where Jackrabbit road crossed over from gravel to grass and dirt, so by the request of the Vehicle Safety Manager on our team (Russ), we took the other road. What surprised us, however, was that where Jackrabbit road crossed over from gravel to dirt, there was another road sign that still made it clear that it was, indeed, a road!!! On the cross road as we were passing a house a small puppy ran toward our huge van and trailer, barking and not backing down. I didn’t want to run the tiny thing over so I stopped the van while its owner made her way to the dog to get him out of the way. So now we can add an embarrassing face off with a small puppy vs. our huge 15 passenger van with a trailer where the puppy won to our list of road trip issues just on our way to the small town of Campbell Hill, IL! Ahead we saw two children playing with a ball outside. At this point everyone was awake and rather amused at our situation. Laura Joy joked that with our luck, their ball would run into the road and we’d have to dodge children at play. Guess what happened???!!! Their ball bounced into the road and we had to stop once again so that the children could return to a safe playing location. Once we finally got back on paved roads, they were so tiny that our van and trailer took up 1.5 lanes. We got a little worried when a bus came the other way as well as a tractor dragging along oversized farming equipment and a truck-but everything went ok. We just pulled over hoping that the van and trailer would not get stuck in the ditch in the side of the road and let all of these things pass. (We didn’t get stuck ) Way too many miles of road, a horse and buggy, and the GPS telling us to turn right onto non-existent roads later we safely got to the church…with 5 minutes to spare!!! I’m pretty sure the only obstacles I didn’t encounter were deer and snow, which oddly enough were pretty much the only obstacles they trained us to handle at training. I guess this proves that west lakes 1) has a really good vehicle safety manager who can make great last minute decisions 2) our deductive reasoning (applying common sense to driving) skills are good, 3) Mark is really good at allotting the perfect amount of drive time to our schedule, and 4) God has a sense of humor!

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I just blogged all about our stay in Flanagan, IL at a nursing home but what I didn't tell you was what happened while I was out on my morning jog... I was on my way back to the nursing home-on the home stretch, if you will, when a police car passed me. Less than a minute later I heard the buzz of the police car and turned around only to see the flashing red and blue lights. The cop stepped out of his car and asked me where I was going. I replied saying, "Flanagan." He then asked where I was coming from and I said, "Flanagan." I told him I was out on my morning jog and he told me that, "people don't usually go out walking in these here parts at this time of day." Mind you- it was 9 AM... I explained to him that I was staying at the nursing home nearby in Flanagan and was simply going out for some fresh air and exercise. He asked where I was from so I responded with my home address (pennsylvania) and he got a quizzical look on his face-like I was a criminal or something! I was cool with all of that-ya know, a strange non-small-town-member randomly out and about because it's abnormal activity in their town. But what he said next...I don't even know how I responded with such a calm demeanor. He asked me if I WAS A RESIDENT AT THE NURSING HOME!!!!!! DO I LOOK LIKE I'M 82????? I THINK NOT!!! (or i like to think not...) So that gave me quite a laugh internally. It was so hard to keep a straight face through all of this, but the cop didn't seem to be joking. He had a stern and serious look on his face. I simply said, "no," desperately trying not to laugh and explained to him that I was a part of this traveling ministry and that we were in the nursing home because we were doing programming in the town. He hesitantly replied with an "ok" and wished me a good day and told me to take care and be careful. He got back in his car and drove away...meanwhile I'm pretty sure my legs turned to jello and I got all shakey. This brings me to the question of the hour....any ideas on things I can do to look less suspicious??? (My hair was braided, I was wearing a bright pink shirt, and jogging innocently with headphones in...maybe this is getaway attire in Flanagan, IL?)

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Part of our ministry includes going to nursing homes to sing, play, and talk with them. Rarely do we ever get the opportunity to stay overnight in a nursing home, however we have stayed at one nursing home twice thus far in our year. The Good Samaritan Home is located in small town Illinois, nestled in the midst of a ton of farmland. The population is about 1100 people, so it’s a pretty small town! Anyways, last time we were here it was wintertime and we got the van a little stuck in the snow, but with the help of some of the people at the home (employees, haha…NOT the residents!!!) we got the van un-stuck. This time, however it is springtime so we don’t really need to worry about that! One other notable thing that occurred during our last stay here was our encounters with our neighbor. We were staying in the apartment hallway in the nursing home and as soon as we got into the hallway, we were welcomed by a spunky lady who claims to be in her 80’s by the name of Deloris. She asked if we needed help loading in or anything and we had it all so we replied with a no. But that didn’t stop her! She waddled on into our apartment and began to show us around- where the light switches were, how to use the shower, and really the whole tour that a host home would typically give us. She then proceeded to invite us into her apartment to show us around and chat with us. Three of us girls went in and weren’t seen for another hour and a half. She told us about her kids and her grandkids, where she used to live, about her late husband, and about her life in general. We could tell that she just loved having the company and having someone to talk with. We had a wonderful time with her...

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Being in the background of Captive Free West Lakes as a sound tech, I often have the chance to observe the crowds. Sitting behind my soundboard, I find it fun to look around to see how the congregation is participating with my team. One Wednesday night program I was especially touched by what I saw. As I looked out over the crowd, one enthusiastic worshiper caught my eye. No, it wasn’t a youngster worshiping with all they had. No, it wasn’t a middle aged person. Instead, it was this elderly woman. As Dana sang “Love Found Me” and did the motions, the woman followed right along with her! Although the woman could not make the shape of a heart because her hands were so arthritic, she tried her best and ended up with a circle shape. She even threw up her hands and waved them back and forth for one part!!! I decided that when I am old I can only help to be as engaged and openly worshipful as that elderly grandmother was.

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So Monday was a comical and blog worthy experience. We were in Brown Deer, Wi with an alumna named Katie Taughinbaugh. She was really great an dwas very willing to do stuff with us! ☺ Anyway the first part of the day was really good. The team minus Holly (who was resting at Katie’s House) went on a tour of the Sprecher’s Factory in Milwaukee. This was amazing especially for Russ because he absolutely loves Sprecher’s Cream Soda. Along with the tour we got unlimited soda tastings which we all whole heartily took advantage of! Then Katie and Holly met up with us at an awesome Mongolian Grill Restaurant named Bds. Anyway Katie and I had planned on going to see the Hunger Games that night since I hadn’t seen it yet. So we decided to go to a 10pm showing at a theater near the pastors house at which we were playing an excellent game called Ticket to Ride. So we left with enough time to get there and so that Dana and Mark could see another movie around the same time. So we were driving and somehow we made a wrong turn. It eventually got to late to get to that movie so we look up the times at another movie theater near by and it says there is a showing of the Hunger Games at 10:30. So we drop Mark and Dana off back at the pastor’s house and we make our way to the theater. We get there and run up the stairs because it’s a little past 10:30 and we get up there to find out that there was no showing at 10:30 AND that you had to be 21 or older with a valid ID to get in the theater after 7pm… So Katie and I feel a little defeated but we go to McDonalds to get ice cream and make our way back home and I promptly take a shower and go to bed. The good things out of that night are that we can laugh at it now and Katie and I got some quality hang out time.

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So in case you don’t know, I am starting college in August, 12 days after team is over to be exact. Recently I’ve gotten really excited to start college, so excited in fact that I feel like I’m not being present in what God has put me in right now. Team and college converged when we got to go to University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. We went to a place called Peace Campus Center, which is a church right off of the campus. We got to do vespers, which is basically a bunch of worship music and just a time to worship our Lord and Savior. It was an amazing experience because everyone that was there really wanted to be there and I could really sense the presence of the Holy Spirit in that place of worship. That time really made me fall in love even more with the whole college atmosphere. On top of that we got to stay with some of the students who some of them gave up space in their already cramped dorm rooms. The hospitality of all of our hosts there was wonderful and it was really great to hang out with people close to our own age. Basically in conclusion, I really cant wait to get involved in a Christian community in college.

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As I enjoyed my Easter celebration this year, I stopped to think about the implications of Jesus' sacrifice for us. While not wanting to detract from the obvious Joy we experience on Sunday morning as we remember that Jesus rose from the dead and death has no sting. I was astounded how even I missed what might be the most crucial part of the Easter story. Yes, there is no denying that victory over death is exciting, that Jesus is alive today and he is coming again. However I also want to remember the 'real' cross.

So often I think we forget to understand what the Death of Jesus means to us! We should remember it just as much as his life, if not even more. Most of my reflection comes after watching The Passion of The Christ. Yes, I've seen it before, does that make it any less amazing, moving, or...

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During Easter I typically try and watch the movie "The Passion of the Christ". This Easter I did not get the chance. Thankfully we decided as a team (well most of us) to watch it at our friend Michael Lyda's house in Chicago. I warned my team that I might cry a little. The movie always seems to get to me. Well, each year it seems as though it hits me a little harder.

This year has been difficult. Having my friend Mary die and losing some of my friends at the start of the year really did not put me in the best of emotional conditions. As we were watching the Passion of the Christ this time, things really hit me differently. There's one scene (if you haven't seen the movie and don't want it to be spoiled, skip this bit!) where Jesus falls carrying his cross and Mary rushes to comfort him. Jesus barely manages to get up the strength, but he touches her chin to hold it and says "woman, I make all things new." Yeah...at that point, I forgot the whole "being strong" thing and just started bawling. I have realized over this year just how much I really need for God to make all things new in my life.

I find it amazing to be reminded that we live as Christians with the promise that God can and will make all things new. We do not have to lose heart when tragedy or brokenness strikes because we know that God will redeem our brokenness.

I don't know what you are going through right now, but know that God promises to make all things new, and He NEVER breaks His promises!

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This past weekend we had an event in Chicago. During our stay I met this young gentleman at one of the family times that I attended. While we were talking, it seemed as though he was not having such a good time. He explained that he was bored and that he did not really like the sessions. I asked him which ones he went to and I happened to know that they were pretty interesting for most youth and our event speaker had been really engaging and amazing! At first, I was discouraged because I felt like he was not being reached but as we kept on talking; I realized there was a lot going on in his life that was serving as a distraction. Throughout the weekend, I saw him. He seemed to just sit away from most people and appeared to not be engaged. However, things changed by the end of the event. At the end of the event he ran over to me and asked for my signature (which is a big deal because I’m the sound tech!) and then he gave me the biggest hug ever. It was so unexpected. It was kind of like God was reminded me that even if he may not admit it, we were making a difference in his life by being there for him. I keep praying for this young man, that something that was said during the weekend will reach him. Even if we don’t see results, God is in the business of changing lives and we know that we can trust Him to make a difference!

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On Captive Free West Lakes we like to celebrate each other- it’s a really healthy practice that we started from the beginning of our year together on team. On each team member’s birthday we like to spend the day doing whatever that person wants to do and affirming him or her. That team member also determines in what way the team uses that month’s team outing money and it has been a lovely team bonding experience every birthday celebration! We ran into a problem in December, though. Both Jean and I have birthdays in December and hers was first so she got December as her birthday month. I had a birthday over our Christmas break but the team still wanted to celebrate together after Christmas! We had planned originally to celebrate in January, but due to our event season schedule, we really needed our days off in January to recuperate. Then we wanted to celebrate in February but due to our busy schedule that wasn’t possible. Finally, in March...

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A lot of times when I blog it’s about some profound experience I had. That is all well and good, but there are other not so profound moments that I have that I never write about. My team gets to witness these occurrences quite often but my friends, family, and sponsors never get to. That doesn’t seem quite fair to me. So out of the spirit of allowing the true me to come through in these blogs, this blog will be about some of those embarrassing/funny moments I’ve had on team.

As clearly denoted in my first blogs, the Lord provided me with chapstick when I had none. That chapstick came in handy so many times! I kept it in my pocket wherever I went! Unfortunately it was in my pocket when...

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going. On the back of the latest Wisconsin Dells Quake Zone we have a lot to talk about! This third dells event or 'Dells 3' as it is known, was really surprising for me. After doing 4 events already, you start to feel like you have things under control but this past weekend served to dispel most senses of that, to ensure that God was again my soul focus for the ministry. As events usually go, we are typically into the event ballroom at 12pm with enough time to set up lights, sound, have lunch, sound check and get into our rooms all before 8pm. With all the things this entails we usually have plenty of time to do this comfortably. I say 'usually' because for this weekend our first challenge came when we were only allowed to enter the ballroom at about 3pm. With everything going as fast as it did, I don't think I remember much else of the weekend. What I do remember is close to 900 people filling out our space, praising God and meeting a large number of awesome youth and having an awesome time in worship the Saturday night. What I realized as these things flashed by me is that I have no control of how God works...

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So Last year, Megan ZuHone was so kind as to write a blog about me so I thought I’d return the favor now that I’m on Team. ☺ So yesterday we were at a booking In Cottage Grove, MN. We were driving down the highway on our way into the cities and what do you know? Megan drives up next to us and honks her horn!! All of us got so excited and it was a lot of fun!! Then later that night we went to a worship at The Upper Room in Minneapolis and she came too so I actually got to see her!! Yay!! Its funny thinking back to a time when I was thinking about applying and I was just a host sister to a lot of teamers but now I am one of them!! Its so crazy to think how amazing God is and how far he’s brought me on this journey called life. Basically, what I’m trying to say is Megan is awesome and so is God!!

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As Captive Free WEST LAKES, we typically stay in Wisconsin and Illinois with an occasional trip to Indiana, Missouri, and sometimes Michigan, Arkansas, and Minnesota. We somehow ended up in the state of Ohio earlier this week, which was quite a switch for us! As soon as we pulled up into the church, our contact, Bryan, pulled up excitedly honking his horn at us and jumped out of his car to greet us! What a warm welcome to Ohio (ironically, it was flurrying)! We met and got the most hilarious church tour we have ever received and then sat down to plan for the next day’s Kids Against Hunger food packaging event. Everything seemed really well planned out when we left for our host home that night.

The next morning, after an awesome night with our AMAZING host family, we drove to church to get everything set up. Before we could do anything, Bryan, with a smile on his face, told us to get in the elevator-so we did! As soon as the doors closed...

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Hello!!! dearest friends and family. I am so excited to finally have the time to talk to all of you and tell you about the amazing experiences I have been having this past month and a half on my team. First and foremost, I hope you all had a blessed Christmas, New Year’s and Valentine’s Day. I felt so blessed to be able to see most of you while I was home in December and I can’t wait to be home again for Easter. I miss being able to see your familiar faces every week and to just spend time in fellowship with all of you. I am constantly amazed by the support and love that has been shown to me through this decision to join Captive Free. It helps me get through the tough times when this life on team isn’t so easy...

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Hello everyone! I just thought I’d share a few more words about some really nifty experiences on team I’ve had thus far! The first thing you need to know is that I’m kind of a germaphobe and my team can attest to that with certainty! The second thing you need to know (and probably already know) is that children are germ farms. Therefore, the schools that are filled with these “germ harvesting sites” are like asking a teenage girl attending her senior prom in her nice gown and groomed hair and nails to jump into a mud pit and roll around a few times. It just one of the germiest places I can think of! At a school/church in Chicago (yep-the same one that I made the second-grader cry in), these germ-infested angels were just what I needed! I shall further explain...

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Recently Captive Free West Lakes took a little gallivant to Chicago! We went to a church and Christian school there to do a chapel at each of the two campuses the school had as well as to do a program there for the entire community! Usually for chapels the team is asked only to lead a short time of fun interactive worship with a message, but with this booking, they asked us to visit the classrooms of each of the grades. This was an ingenious idea because it gave us a chance to be in and around the youth of the school instead of just the super excited and cheesy worship leaders we sometimes feel that we come across as. Thus we did our chapel at both campuses of the school and started out by visiting the more inner city classrooms and then went back to the main campus to visit a few more classrooms there before lunch time.

At lunch time I had flashbacks to elementary school when I forgot my lunch and had to go to the “buyer’s” lunch line. I stood in line with my try and got the most delicious French toast, sausage, potatoes, and applesauce. Then came the choice: to sit with the teachers or to sit with the children… To my own surprise (especially with all of the sneezing and coughing I saw going on in the classrooms), I chose to sit with the children! Immediately as I sat down at one of the tables I was inundated with random questions and stories...

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One of the things I remember the most about my host Mom and friend Mary Rhoades is her ability to love people in a way that so few exemplify. I have never felt more free to be myself around Mary. I knew that regardless of if I was having a good or a bad day, she loved me the same. There was something about her love that made me want to be a better person instead of feeling like I HAD to be a better person. She loved me for who I was and there was no condition on that love. Dealing with her death has been a struggle as I feel that many of the loves that I experience are conditional. Conditions bring bondage, but true love brings freedom. Throughout this season, I am continually encouraged to find ways which I can exemplify Mary’s love to others. Even though I may miss it myself, I keep being challenged to find ways to make my love more free to others. There’s a difference between loving people and loving people well. I want to encourage you to love whomever you love well today, love them freely and in a way that frees them.

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Since training in September, I have thought a lot about Spiritual warfare. I knew it was going to be an intense year from the start of training judging by some of the events that we witnessed at training. It seems as though Youth Encounter has been under attack a lot this year. From sicknesses to losses on teams to accidents, so much has happened that has caused some major adjustments for many teams. My team was discussing and praying about how we need to apply Ephesians 6 and be on guard against the attack of satan on our team. While we were praying a vision of sorts entered my mind. I’ve never been a visual type or seen visions before but it was like a thought entered my head and then images just flooded in. I was reminded of the passage in Exodus where Moses is begging Pharoah to let his people go. Pharoah is protesting and has undergone all sorts of nasty plagues. The night of the Passover, Moses tells his people to paint the blood of the lamb over the doorposts and the angel of death will Passover their houses. Sure enough, the angel of death leaves the chosen people’s houses untouched. I realized in that moment that we are called to be covered by the blood of the lamb. When we are covered, the angel of death cannot touch our homes and destroy what is inside of them. So, be encouraged, my fellow teammates, YE team members, alumni, staff, sponsors, all who maybe reading this post that although satan may try and bring us down, we are covered by the blood of the lamb and he cannot take what is God’s.

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Wow…it’s been quite some time since the last time I had a chance to write a blog! Captive Free West Lakes has been incredibly busy with event season in full swing and with our Kids Against Hunger Events! Speaking of the events, though, our second one this year was in St. Louis, Missouri. We had a great time with Agape and our guest speaker, Dan! The youth and youth leaders were totally immersed in the weekend and we felt the Holy Spirit among us at every mass gathering/celebration! God was totally working overtime at that event! God caught my attention through the weekend but He really “poked me on the shoulder” on the Saturday night of the event. I was exhausted but went to the hospitality room (a room set aside for event staff meeting space) to help stick pictures of the awesomely crazy costumes people wore for crazy dress night into a slideshow for the following morning. Before I left, Agape walked in with a strange young man who I had never seen before. I immediately thought to myself, “What is one of the youth doing in OUR hospitality room?”. I didn’t want to have to see anyone else (including my own teammates) that night. I just wanted to be left alone and not have to be around people at all---let alone people who I didn’t know! I watched as Agape took the time to talk to this young man. One hour later, when I was leaving hospitality room, they still were talking and seemed to be in quite the conversation...

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One of my favorite songs is Transatlanticism by Death Cab for Cutie. The lyrics to the chorus are really quite simple. The chorus just states the words “I need you so much closer.” I feel as though this song has summed up my life during the past month.

January started out as a really difficult season for me in my personal life. I found out that a dear friend of mine and a woman who I lived with for awhile (her name was Mary) passed away suddenly. This tragedy came as a total shock to me as her death was completely unexpected. Mary passed away on a Thursday and I had just spoken to her the Sunday before she died. When I talked to Mary she answered as she always does by saying “hello beautiful” and then she persisted to encourage me, telling me that she was proud of me and that she loved me. I had no idea when I talked to Mary that it would be the last time I heard her voice, but I am so thankful I had one more chance to tell Mary how much I love her and to hear the words I needed to hear from her.

To say that Mary’s death has not affected my ministry would be a complete lie. The day that I found out that she had passed away I felt as though my breath had been taken away from me and that I had been punched in the stomach. It’s been a long journey...

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With time travelling so fast here on team, there is often a tendency to forget things. As such we have coined a new term here at West Lakes called 'Post Event Syndrome' or PES for short. PES manifests itself after a the high of enjoying the energy and hype of 100-500 kids at an event singing praises to Jesus and learning more about him. PES is typically diagnosed after the stress of the weekend has subsided which leads to 'episodes' of extreme drowsiness merged with crazy outbursts of excitability, silliness and shortness of breath due to excessive laughter. Don't get me wrong I don't write this to complain, in fact more the opposite. For me event ministry has included some of my favourite memories over the course of team. The simple affect of PES, I think, is where the team grows most. On one hand we are tired to the point of frustration and we get to learn to be humble and love each other regardless. Or we are so happy and silly that we get to share some of the most fun times ever. I think I can say that for me, PES is probably one of the best parts of team and for this reason I will always look forward to the ministry of event weekends.

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My whole life my family and I only went to one church, Emanuel Lutheran Church in Lodi, California, so going to four different Lutheran churches every week and worshiping with a different congregation each Sunday has been an amazing experience for me. My home church uses liturgy from the “green hymnal” otherwise known as the Lutheran Book of Worship. On our first Sunday on the road, I was introduced to the “red hymnal” or the Evangelical Lutheran Worship hymnal. It was so weird at first to hear all same words in the liturgy but sung to a different tune. It took a few Sunday worships before I began to pick up on the music I had never heard before, and even now after going to dozens of services with the EWL hymnal I am still caught off guard by some of the liturgy. So far I have loved taking part in all kinds of traditions that are brand new for me and learning all kinds of new ways to worship.

It has been very interesting to take part in something that is a tradition for someone else and is new to me. Thanksgiving last month was very interesting. We stayed with the Lindbloms, the family of a member of West Coast. I missed getting to take part in my own family traditions back home, but the Lindbloms were so welcoming and taking part in their traditions with them was really great. It helped me to feel at home even though I was so far from home.

I have enjoyed my time on the road a lot this last few months but I am really looking forward to going home and seeing my family again. Its been amazing how welcoming everyone has been and I am always surprised by the generosity of everyone we meet. Its been great being on the road for the last few months and I am excited to see what God has in store for me in the next few.

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Recently Captive Free West Lakes took our first trip to a college campus! We went to Finlandia University in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, more specifically, Hancock, MI! As we got into town, all we saw were ginormous hills that made us wonder how exactly we were going to get a 15 passenger van toting a really, really heavy trailer packed full of equipment to the tops. Thankfully we only had to go halfway up and several sound effects and prayers later, we made it there safely and in one piece! When we got there, however, we were greeted by Soren who led us to the chapel/music room/whatever-they- need-it-for room for chapel time. It was so great to be able to worship with a community of believers in a college setting! We got to hang out with the people who came to chapel for a while over an awesome dinner at the college cafeteria. After much laughter and talking about life we retired to our hotel rooms at a nearby hotel! Luckily one of the people who attended chapel aided us in packing up our mini-setup and showed us how to get to the hotel! That was only day one and we were having a blast...

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Today I write to you on the last minutes of my 19th birthday. I have two different but partly related stories to tell. First, I fully realized today that my team is amazing and really truly care about me as a teammate. I’ve been having doubts recently about what my purpose on this team was and doubting that I was really important to the team and the function of it. We’ve been really busy the past couple of weeks and it seemed that my birthday kind of came out of nowhere. Needless to say, there wasn’t that much time to prepare. I was fully expecting a regular day with maybe a few happy birthdays thrown in. I was ok with that. I thought that I deserved less than what we did for other teammates birthday. I was struggling with these thoughts and then today happened. Yesterday, I found out that instead of just a 6 hour drive and housing, which was what the plan was originally for the day of my birthday, we were stopping at a nursing home in Madison on our way to Chetek, Wi. I fully believed that that was what was happening; I had no reason to doubt that...

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I thought I'd take the time to share some personal experience of being part of the Captive Free band at a Youth Encounter Event. For one thing it's a wild couple of days, but I'm glad to say its one of the best experiences I've had since being on team. For us Captive Free-er's getting to be in and amongst the Youth of our area was probably the best part of this Quake Zone. I went into this event fully expecting to share my experience as a Christian and help guide their paths, their issues, their problems. I never expected to be changed back! I think God used my experience this weekend to show me through how much we all are continually growing in him and how he uses the body of Christ to lift each other up. I have to give a kudos to God for the high schoolers he sent...

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This past week Captive Free West Lakes stayed in Clintonville, WI. We had our day off there, so we got to rest up after the Dells Event number one! While we were there, however, we got to worship with a group of half school-aged youth and half adults! I always get to worship God when we worship with the different groups but sometimes I tend to lose sight of getting to know God. Ya know what I mean? I get caught up in the superficial "Yay!!! Let's praise God, the giver of life, the God who abundantly blesses who we are not worthy of ever!" worship and fail to see the part of God that heals the broken and feels our pain---the God we can identify with and approach. I guess I was in a rut of superficial worship while in Clintonville at first because after we were finished putting on a family night worship/XP program a small boy approached me and caught me way off guard. I was at the merchandise table talking to other high school youth and I saw him standing in the back of the room silently watching and waiting. After the merchandise table traffic stopped and there were no longer any more people surrounding us, he came up to me, looked me in the eyes and simply said, "I have a question." Thinking it was something about team or about the Kid's Against Hunger display he was standing in front of, I responded, "I have an answer!" and smiled back at him. He didn't return the smile, but asked me how God knew if we loved Him back and also how we know if God loves us or not. I stood there like a deer in the headlights...I knew how to respond to the second part of the question and I explained that He sent Jesus because He loves us so much, gave us everything we have, surrounds us with the beauty of His creation, etc... However, I hadn't thought about the first part of the question in a while. How does God know if we love Him back? I know that God knows our hearts and just knows, but I didn't know how to explain that and my thoughts weren't really all gathered at the time to formulate a cohesive answer that a 6 year old would understand so I made a meanie-poo move- yes, that's right...I pulled the famous professor's line with a 6 year old and asked him what he thought. He replied that he wasn't completely sure but that it might be like how other people know that we love them...by our words and actions. I realized then that a six year old had just verbally slapped me in the face. I started thinking about how I show my love of Christ. I started to think about how I worship as often as we have a booking and even more with my team-and then I realized that I have been going through the motions and could be loving God more deeply and bringing Him more than a song. God isn't just a big guy up in the sky with a magic wand that we sing songs to in praise-He is our daddy. Yes, He knows if we really love Him or not because He knows our hearts, but if we love Him with our hearts, then wouldn't we naturally be showing that love of Christ? We don't show our love to other people by superficially singing them a song and putting our arms up at them- we love them with how we act, what we say, and what we do! God is someone who I can identify with just like another person and thus can have a deeper relationship with Him (as can all of us humans). The only thing is that we know God will always love us back no matter what!!! SO- I challenge all of you to take a look at how you show your love for God and to deepen your relationship with Him!!!!!! (It might save YOU from a verbal slap from a 6 year old! :-)

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Greetings from Clintonville, Wisconsin. My team and I are spending our day off at one of my teammate’s relative’s houses. We enjoyed sleeping in (after our Quake Zone, it was well needed), going for walks, watching the movie “Tangled” and just breathing. One especially fun thing that me and my teammate Holly got to do is ride horses. The host home that we are staying at has four horses. I got to ride a horse named Hunter and Holly got to ride a horse named Chloe. We were both had a blast. However, I think that one of the most amazing things that I learned about horseriding is just how sensitive horses are to human emotion. I had always known that horses picked up on emotions well, but I had no idea how much that controlled their response to the rider. Hunter, the horse I rode did not even need the reigns to know to stop. When you relaxed and breathed out, he stopped trotting around. On the other hand, if you breathed in and slightly tensed your body, he began to ride again. While I rode the horse I thought of how we often miss out on being willing to be as sensitive to other people’s emotions as horses are. While it is true that we may not be able to be as aware of their emotions as horses are, sometimes we can be but we choose not to be. Sometimes fear holds us back, but sometimes I think we are simply too busy to be in tune with the emotions that other are displaying. I encourage you to take some time today to take the time to really read the people around you to better minister to them.

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We were recently at Gethsemane Lutheran Church in Brookfield, Wisconsin. While I was there the Lord taught me a huge lesson through the actions of an eight year old girl. We met Emily (name changed) during our XP program. Her enthusiasm and friendliness instantly drew me to her. After the program she ran to me to give me a hug. She then slipped an envelope into my hands. I read the outside of the envelope and it said “I love all of you.” Touched, I leaned over to give her a hug. She told me to open the envelope, so I did. Inside I found $1.20 in quarters and dimes. That $1.20 meant more to me then any $50.00 donation did. See, Emily understood what giving from the heart was. Innocently and sweetly, she gave what she had for us without a second thought. If only more people understood what giving from the heart was about. Thank you, Emily for reminding me of the impact that love and corresponding sacrifice can bring to this world.

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This past weekend, we spent some time in the Wisconsin Dells at the Chula Vista resort for the November Quake Zone! What an experience! Youth and adults from all over Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin drove for hours to come praise and experience God with others! While we were there we met a group of girls who went to the same church but never had really spoken to each other. By the second day, these girls trusted each other and were leaning on each other as the body of Christ. They had embraced the gift of having sisters in Christ to share the burdens and joys of life with. I saw how uplifted and encouraged they were by each other and was reminded of how surrounding yourself with a community of believers tends to have that effect! What impressed me even more was that they had a plan to hang out and to support each other AFTER they left the Dells-they want to make it a regular thing!

So many times we do something like that to God...we go to church and go through the motions not bothering to get to know Him out of church or even in church. He wants a relationship with us and wants us to lean on Him and cast our burdens on Him as well as share our joys with Him! He wants it to be a regular thing...not just a thing we do on Sunday. He wants a relationship with us not just one day a week, but every second of every day!

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Here's one of those little lightbulb jokes to start this blog post:

Question: How many Lutherans does it takes to change a lightbulb? Answer: None. Lutherans don't like change! ;-)

Those who know me know that I am very non-denominational. I am all for being in a relationship with Christ and for unity in the church of Christ, however, I have noticed that I have one really big Lutheran guilty pleasure. Lutherans are commonly known for two things, I've found: their tendency not to want to change things (which is good for those who better worship when they already know the tunes, the liturgy, and the words and thus can focus more on actually worshipping and giving glory to God) and their good old fashioned hymns (anyone for "A Mighty Fortress is Our God"?????) Anyways, I grew up in a Lutheran church where those hymns were played, so I knew them all and embraced being able to worship God through singing and playing them. When I left to be on a Captive Free team, I had to adjust to all of the new-fangled Christian rock music with all of those fancy guitars, drum kits, and a need for a SOUND TECH...no organ... I had to I can't say how many times I complained to my team during check-ins that I didn't have my hymnal. Our team visited Zion Lutheran Church in Appleton, WI where they had "With One Voice" hymn books sitting out for free. They invited us to take as many as we wanted, so I took one! God, being the amazing God He Is (and always will be and always was) gave me that special treat! He Is...awesome!!!!!!!

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Sorry guys, it's long, but it's a whole 2 months :D

Hello All!!!!

So excited to get some time to be able to chat with you all and to finally tell everyone what I have been doing!!!

So, let us begin at the beginning where it is most appropriate.

My life on Team (Youth Encounter lingo for being a part of one of their bands) began September 4th in St. Paul Minnesota where I was able to meet my wonderful teammates after some months of fretting. (You know, I have to spend a whole year in a van with these people right?) So that day I met my 5 teammates including the members of all the other teams and the staff. They say it is somewhere between 50-60 people so it is a bit overwhelming. My team is as follows...

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As promised, here is the story of October 30, 2011. We were in Muskego, Wisconsin at Bethlehem Lutheran Church. Two pretty small things happened that just showed me that God really cares for me and blessed me with wonderful people who care and look after me. First, I must say that I have become notorious for leaving things places and we’ve only been on the road for a month! The crazy thing is the first instance was before we were even officially on the road! A week before the end of training we have what we call our “rally day” booking, where we go and sort of practice and test out the waters before we enter into the last week of training. For our Rally day booking we were in Ashland, WI. Dana and I stayed with Dana and Hunter Tyler and their family. They were wonderful people and graciously allowed us to stay in their house. The first thing Dana asked us to do was to take off our shoes and put them by the door. Maybe it’s because I wore different shoes the next day or because we left through a different door or just because I’m not used to that tradition but I left my Target Moccasins at their front door. :p I realize later that day but we were already on our way back to camp. I kept meaning to call and figure out a way to get them to me but I never got around to it. After a while, I just let it go and knew that I had plenty of shoes...

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One of my life mottos and the saying I always remind myself of when I face hardship is the fact that “God never wastes pain.” In God’s economy we see time and time again times where he has taken the broken ashes of someone’s life and used them accomplish something beautiful (most significantly we remember Jesus’ death on the cross accomplishing our eternal life). Recently I was talking to one of my closest friends from home about Youth Encounter and it hit me again just how crazy God’s plan is and how true that statement is. There were two things that led me to Youth Encounter: one was the struggle that I felt in my childhood and teen years and the other thing was friends who believed that I would be a good match for Youth Encounter and believed in the vision God had given me.

My teen years were a struggle; therefore, I always felt an empathy and compassion for youth. I observed a lack of strong leadership in the lives of many troubled youth and this caused me to peruse Youth Ministry as an option for my degree. When visiting colleges, I found and fell in love with my college, Eastern University.

A year before choosing to attend Eastern I met my close friend Jon. Quickly, we became like brother and sister...

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Dear friends and family!
Hey! Yay! This is my first blog and I’m really excited to give an update on whats going on in my life! First, God is amazing in so many ways. Every day He reminds me that this is where I’m supposed to be. We’ve been on the road for about 1 month and it has been wonderful. The first amazing thing that God has shown me is my team. My team has such a great dynamic and we work together so well. I couldn’t have asked for a better team. It really means a lot to me to have a group of people to count on and it is such a great feeling to know that I wont be forgotten. The second thing God has blessed me with is the generosity of the host families and churches that we have encountered so far. It is so wonderful to see how willing people to let young adult strangers into their homes. They have been so friendly and open and I can see God working through them to show me something about hospitality. We have stayed in a variety of places over the last month and each one has been amazing in its own right. Our team has had the privilege to stay together for a number of our bookings. These opportunities have been a great chance for my team to bond and to strengthen our relationships. Now, when we have separate host homes we get separation anxiety form the ones we aren’t with. :p Sorry for the shortness of my blog but in my next one I will tell about one day that I saw God so clearly.

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My Grandmother and I became close before she passed away in July of 2008. Up until the year before her death, I never really knew her. When I was growing up, she had lived far away and we did not see her often. However, when I was a teenager, she moved to be closer to my family in Northern Virginia. As much as I may have complained at the time about having to visit her in her assisted living center, I really did love my Grandma. It was not until after my Grandma died that I realized how much she loved me or how much she had come to mean to me. I treasure the memories of the months I spent really knowing her and taking care of her. Since her passing I have missed having Grandparents. Two of my Grandparents died before I was born and my Grandpa had been too ill to really know before his death when I was thirteen. With her passing, I felt like I lost a piece of me. Recently I’ve realized a few things regarding my Grandma. Although my Grandma is gone, she taught me a lot. A lot of who I am is reflections of who she was. I believe she gave me my love for music and I know that her sense of compassion was given to me as well. My Grandma sought to serve everyone she came in contact with. She took pride in her family and loved everyone. I think she’d be proud of me now.

As I go into nursing homes, I always seem to wind up missing my Grandma. Recently I stood before a nursing home and God and I had a little chat. Our little chat consisted of me rambling on and on about how much I missed my Grandma. God gave me time to vent and then brought the realization into my mind that I may not have my Grandmother to care for, but each person I come in contact with at these nursing homes on the road are my Grandparents in a sense. I have the wonderful opportunity of loving them in the place of my beloved Grandmother. In James 1:27 James challenges the believer that true religion is to take care of the orphans and widows in their distress and to keep from being tainted by the world. That is my prayer for myself and for my team. My prayer is that my team would show true religion to the elderly as we live lives of integrity before them. I hope that by doing such I will live in my Grandmother’s legacy and make her proud.

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Since the beginning of training we have been encouraged as individuals to keep in mind the motivations for the ministry we do on team. I've been an avid advocate for keeping God's glory at the centre of our teams motivation and ministry as we attempt to share the Good News with people all over the West Lakes region. I've been aware recently that this is better said than done. The culture of Team presents many challenges to our human nature which makes it difficult to remember this at some points.

This past week saw us visit a great retreat with close to 40 kids. Throughout the whole weekend I was enjoying meeting with the kids and building relationships and I was keen to do our Experiential Program on the Saturday night. I found myself Feeling like somehow I was making a difference in these kids lives, I think God really needed to remind me who was supposed to be at the centre of what I was doing..

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“Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so, little ones to him belong, they are weak but He is strong. Yes, Jesus loves me, Yes, Jesus loves me, Yes, Jesus loves me, the Bible tells me so.”

If I could count how many times I have heard the song “Jesus Loves Me” I’m pretty sure it would amount to over a hundred times. However, God has brought the words of “Jesus Loves Me” to a different meaning during my time at Youth Encounter. The first church service I attended in St. Paul in September they invited the children to come up and sing “Jesus Loves Me” from the front of the stage during the children’s sermon. The children on stage were absolutely hysterical to observe. From waving to their parents to picking their noses, the unpredictable and raw personality that we see displayed in their antics is a refreshing change from the organized leadership of adults. As I watched the kids sing “Jesus Loves Me” during the service that first Sunday of training it was clear to me that the kids really knew Jesus loved them...

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Hello all!
The last time I, personally, blogged God had randomly provided a need. Well, this time I must report that He has done it yet again! Captive Free West Lakes did not receive a shaker during training because Youth Encounter did not have enough. We had been using a gum container full of gum to fill that need. It was pretty awesome…until the gum was all gone. We kept the empty container in pursuit of something to fill it.

At a retreat at Moon Beach in St. Germain, WI I decided I would ask the camp owners if they could spare a ¼ cup of rice for our shaker. He agreed to let us do that if we really wanted but then offered up one of his extra shakers!!! We now have a shaker when all we asked for was a ¼ cup of rice! It was a true testament of how God provides for His children when we ask in His name!

Blessings and Peace of the Lord be with y'all!

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This week is our first week on the road by ourselves as a team! On this past Friday, we had the sending service (which was super awesome!!!!) and then we left the amazing people at training to officially go on the road on Saturday. As it happens, there were a few things that our team needed ALREADY! For example, Laura Joy, Jean, and myself all needed chapstick and I needed a small sling pack. After picking up a few things we needed at the music store, we ventured into the parking lot to get in the van. Lo and behold, a group of people, which turned out to be a medical group doing some advertising, came up to us and asked if we wanted some free stuff! Out of nowhere we all received pencils, chapsticks, sling packs (may I also mention that they were orange...THE BEST COLOR EVER!!!), antibacterial wipes, and various other handy items! We thanked the group of people and just stood there in amazement. All of us were in shock at the way God provided for us our first day on the road!!!! Moreover, let this be a testament to God's amazing ways of working through people and to his Word! Like in Matthew 6, he writes that we aren't to be anxious about anything-that if God provides for the birds, how much more He cares for us...

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