God is SO Good!!!

This past weekend we hosted a phenomenal team from Klamath Falls in Oregon. During a time of evangelism in Haight Ashbury(an area with a reputation of heavy drug trafficking and use); a few of them made a friend. Through the simplicity of sharing lunch with a man that they met in the park they were able to share the gospel. Not only did their friend accept Christ on the spot, but he also gave up his drug centered lifestyle. For years he had been addicted to meth and crack as well as occasionally doing other drugs. Now Jesus is at the center of his life. Our friend has been clean(drug free) since that lunch in the park and is now enrolled in a Christ centered rehab program. God is so good!

God + MA teams + prayer = changed communities!

We attended a wedding a little while ago. It wasn’t that it was on a beach, or that it was a sunset service, or that there were 300 people there, or that the reception was also held on this same beach in a tent, which made this wedding different. What made this wedding different, was that it was the first wedding held in this community since anyone can remember. One of the elders of the community said that he can’t remember a wedding happening there in his lifetime & he’s 70 years old.

The community is a First Nations community that we have been ministering into for the last 15 summers. It was such an honour to not only attend this wedding, but to also play an active part in it. We not only rejoice with the couple who were married, but we also rejoice with the wonderful changes that God is bringing into the lives of the First Nations people who call this community home. This is truly the result of all the thousands of prayers that have been prayed for these people.

In true Paul Harvey style, I want to tell you, “The Rest of the Story”.

In 1996, 1 year after we were married, Lynnea & I led our first summer outreach team to this community. The team was mostly teenagers, with a couple of adults who came along to also take part. That year we mostly assisted community members in doing projects around their homes & other public areas. It was a wonderful outreach, with many new friendships being formed.

One of the last projects that we were asked to assist in, was the cleaning out of a house that had recently been vacated. The house was a mess!! Early in the day we started a fire to burn all the junk that we were hauling out. Some of the guys found some couch cushions in the basement but couldn’t find the couch, so we threw them into the fire. Quite some hours later they came back out & announced, “Hey Graham, remember those cushions we burned this morning? Well we just found the couch!!” There were other things that we found in there too; like a little altar that had been used for some kind of rituals; a teenager’s journal that outlined the terrible pain & cry of his heart as he wrote about his innermost turmoil & longing to be accepted; & many other sad reminders of the previous occupants’ broken lives. Our team worked hard & at the end of the day the physical changes in the house, were very obvious.

We knew that physical cleaning was important, but even more so, this house needed spiritual cleansing. So back in we went with our team to pray & ask God to restore this house to be a dwelling for His Holy Spirit. One of the prayers that were prayed during that time went something like this: “God, we ask that you will bring into this house a family who will model family values for the rest of the community”. There was a young family that moved in shortly afterwards with a little baby boy.

That little boy, at the time of the wedding, was 14 years old & had an 11 year old sister. Together, they were attendants at their parents wedding as they shared their vows in front of 300 of their family & friends, on the beach, West Coast of Vancouver Island, in early September! Other couples are now talking about getting married & having the wedding take place in the community. God answered our prayers of 14 years before!

MA Gear Seen Around the World

Mission Adventures kid kits (aka t-shirts, bags, stickers, buttons, pencils, sharpies, necklaces, journals, and the rest of the goodies) have traveled the world as our students and staff have.  Check out a few of the places that our MA gear has been spotted.

Staff shirts from Lazarus circa 2007 in Ensenada, Mexico

Trek: Do Justice, Love Mercy, Walk Humbly circa 2008

Trek - Circa 2008 Nick in Whittier, Alaska

Detox circa 2006 Aubrey in Chichilom, Guatemala

Re:Act circa 2009 spotted at a Starbucks in Albany, Oregon

Trek circa 2008 Nick & Aubrey in Whittier, Alaska

So where have you seen the Mission Adventures gear? We would love to see all the crazy places this stuff has been through the years.  Send us your pictures and you may be featured on our site. You can email the pic along with where it was taken to youthgroups(at)ywamsdb.org.

New Perspectives by Rachel Villaire

photo by Rachel Villaire

I have had the chance to travel down to Ensenada, Mexico with my youth group every summer when I was in high school. This year, I’ve had an even greater opportunity to serve as a short-term missionary at the same base with Youth With A Mission (YWAM). I have been able to experience the joys of seeing a child’s face light up because of a simple balloon animal, a family of five living in a trailer and receiving a new home which I had the blessing of being able to assist in building, and a weeping mother, rather than asking for food itself, asking for prayer that God would provide the food. I’ve never seen such faith or contentment and joy than I have while working in the different parts of Ensenada. My stories and life-changing experiences could go on and on.

But even more than this, I have been able to grow in my faith with the Lord and take it to a new level. I have never prayed, wept, sang, or heard God’s voice so much (or so very clearly!) as I did in those three months. I have been able to understand why I love to serve and God has opened my eyes to new perspectives and a deeper love for Him, people, and his creation. There is something wonderful that happens when you are removed from the routines of everyday life and the consumerism and chaos many of us know so well. 

photo by Rachel VillaireRachel Villaire is a gifted photographer from Modesto, CA.  She is currently pursuing her passions in photography and getting ready to return to Ensenada, MX as a volunteer for YWAM. To see more of her pictures visit her facebook page. For more information on how you or some students in your youth group can volunteer for the summer or even just a week in the spring, find us on facebook or check out our website to apply.

If you would like for your students to have this experience but they aren’t old enough to volunteer, consider taking them on a missions trip to Ensenada, Mexico this summer. For dates & pricing, see our listings here.

Cambodia Afterglow

We have just returned from our most recent Mission Adventures trip to Cambodia, where a team of 12 youth from Wanganui Baptist, New Zealand were one of our favourite yet. The three ministries that we worked with all deal with children in poverty, so we spent lots of time washing hair, teaching English, and having loads of fun. A highlight of the trip was taking 38 children whose families live and work on a garbage dump to the Phnom Penh water park. It was all systems go, as many of them had never left their village, never been on a bus, and never been swimming before – but fortunately we had an incident free day!

Another highlight of our time away was a short trip across the border to Vietnam, where we investigated a new outreach option of delivering Bibles to remote villages via motorbike. Keep your eyes on the outreach page of this website for this new trip becoming available from 2012!

Probably our biggest highlight happened in the last week of our time in Cambodia. It came about through our work with a children-at-risk ministry in a relocated slum outside of Phnom Penh. We have worked with these guys with our Mission Adventures teams over the last several years, and have always been touched by the difficulties that families face with housing. In some cases, 40 families are living in a structure no bigger than a double garage. However, while we were there, 11 families – after four years of waiting – received a 6x7m plot of land from the government, and as it would happen, the majority of these families are part of a Bible study group who have been praying specifically for land for more than one year. While this was great news, the families were still unable to afford to build a house, so they constructed what they could out of bamboo, tarps and old pieces of iron, and moved in. So Wade had the thought, what if we could build a house? The week that followed was probably one of the busiest of our lives, with plans drawn up, money donated overnight from a business in NZ, multiple shopping trips with our tuktuk driver/translator, and a four-day build in 35 degree heat, assisted by an awesome team from the new YWAM Steps of Justice ministry. Finally, at 6pm on the evening before we flew home, we were able to hand the keys of a new 4x5m wooden house over to the family of mum, dad and three boys. And of course, we will be back in the future to continue partnering with the children-at-risk ministry in building more houses… So keep your eye out for this new mission opportunity also coming soon to Mission Adventures New Zealand!

The happy family sitting on their brand new front porch.

Principles for a Successful Mission Trip

As part of a series entitled “Planning & Preparing for Short-Term Mission”, YWAM San Diego/Baja will be updating and adding several short blogs with valuable information regarding experiences with Mission Adventures.  This is the first installment.  We hope you enjoy.

Teamwork is one of the most valuable skills each mission team will have the opportunity to develop. The following four principles will help each group enhance their teamwork skills and make their mission trip a success. We recommend each team leader read the principles with the group and challenge the group to think about how they can apply the principles to both the team and to their individual lives.

Four Principles:

1.  Submitting to Leadership
People have been appointed as leaders of each team. Some may feel more qualified than the chosen leader. In several cases, a team member may be older and more experienced in leadership. Each team member must make an earnest effort to support, respect, and follow his/her team leader. The team members should pray for the team leader every day as the team leader will confront many decisions (many decisions unknown to the rest of the team).

2.  Maintaining an Attitude of Servanthood
Projects work well when each group member maintains an attitude of serving. It is always good to keep in mind that, “We must look out for the interest of others” (Phil. 2:3-4). The team leader and team members are servants as they encourage, support, and affirm each other. A great question to ask in all situations is, “What is left to do? How can I help complete the remaining tasks?”
 
3.  Forgiving and Letting Go
It is impossible to live with people day after day without someone getting offended. Each person must make a commitment to forgive and work out problems that arise. Remember, if a brother or sister is mad at one another, each must go and make things right (Matt. 7:23, 18:15, James 5:6, 19-20). Above all, forgive as Christ has forgiven.

4.  Praying
If team members are to experience a successful trip and spiritual unity, they must pray in small group prayer, individual prayer, and whole team prayer. Many problems would be solved much quicker if prayer were the first weapon of defense. Unfortunately, prayer is often an afterthought. YWAM’s goal for each team is to have prayer become the team’s highest priority. A famous preacher once said, “Prayer works so well in a crisis, it’s a wonder we don’t implement it on a regular basis.”

Written & Complied by Sean Lambert, Andy Ortega, Amber Stamos, Sheril Brasher & Ema Tuvoukula as part of the Mission Adventures Outreach Training Manual from YWAM San Diego/Baja. 

Mourning To Dancing, Deserts To Gardens by Andrea Lambert

East Vancouver can be a ruff place to grow up, with high instances of drug and alcohol abuse, broken families and violence. These youth know what it is to mourn. During the course of their week in Mexico we had special speakers sharing with them the love of God, there was training for ministry, we built a…

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Whats crackin' at YWAM Idaho

The summer is coming to an end and I have finally caught up on all my sleep from a crazy and exciting summer of MA. So with that being said, its time to start planning another year of amazing out reaches. Something I am super pumped about is…

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A Home by Adrienne Wanner

She sometimes just sat quietly beside her blind husband, listening with him to the sounds of the tools, the talk, the laughter. At the end of the first day, she said…

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2012 Outreach Locations

Young people made a difference all over the world in 2011! Turn their stories into yours!!! 

Outreach locations for 2012…

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Brian Bluebird

Brian Bluebird was part of a proud, highly trained military unit that led the U.S. invasion of the island of Grenada in 1983. Last week, however, I found him sitting on a dirty walkway in the tiny town of White Clay as he awoke from a drinking binge

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We Left Tired But Satisfied by Tamara Ochoa

Mary Cruz is a single mom who works for the city pulling weeds out of the gutters alongside the road. She left her husband years earlier because it was an unhealthy relationship. Mary has 4 children, the oldest is married with a child. The second lives in a little dirt-floored shack in the corner of the lot

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Summer Day Camp in Hunter's Point

Through games, scripture reading, songs and small group discussion this group from Oregon is making a big impact. Their theme for the camp is “Jesus is Light”(which is always followed up by the little kids saying “ding!”- it’s really cute) and that is exactly what they are portraying

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Dedication, Hard Work, & Passion

Mission Adventures teams in San Diego partnered with Feeding America, a ministry dedicated to stamp out hunger and provide nutritious meals to the millions in America that don’t have enough food to eat.

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A Tangible Expression of Jesus's Love by Nick Johnson

I was so incredibly blessed to see these kids serve others and be a tangible expression of Jesus’ love at orphanages, colonias, churches, and at the base interacting with the other students. I got to talk to all of them about their experience throughout the week and

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A farewell that breaks the heart

Go E.P.S! E.P.S. is what the children from Eratap, Vanuatu (a small group of islands in the Pacific), call their primary school for short. You can always tell the impact a team has on a community by the farewell they receive. Farewells in the Pacific Islands are often bid with tears, stories with laughter and

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Changing Lives, One Meal at a Time

The students served with a local homeless shelter called Father Joe’s Villages each day.  They arose each morning at 5:00 AM (some even earlier) to head to downtown San Diego to serve the homeless men, women and children living either on the streets or in the village.  They served with a joyful heart and

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From Vengeance to Forgiveness

We heard his testimony, how he was just a boy when a group of young men beat his brother to death just because he was a follower of Jesus.  Jayenta vowed to avenge his brother’s death and as he grew up he practiced martial arts for the day he would bring justice to those who killed his brother

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Short-Term Outreach: Turning Point for “Soul Surfer” Bethany Hamilton

I took my kids to see Soul Surfer over Spring Break. My nine-year-old daughter was totally into it. She gripped my hand through the first third of the movie, thinking that any scene in the ocean would be the shark attack. My eleven-year-old son, on the other hand, thought Jaws was better—I think he

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"We can do no great things..."

She then said that she had been given a rose about a year earlier and that is was a huge boost to her self-esteem. She went on to encourage them that what we were doing has a huge impact on the working girls, that she had eventuall quit hooking because of it, and that (at the time she told us) she had been sober for 111 days.

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