Discipleship Conference September 17 - 18

.

Passing The Baton Discipleship Conference

Friday night and Saturday September 17th we will be having an inter-active and workshop oriented conference about our call to be disciple-makers.

There is a husband and wife coming from Chicago to lead us in this very important time of training. For more information you can go to www.passingthebaton.org.

Make sure to mark this time on your calendars and you will be hearing more about this in weeks to come.

2010 CCF Mexico Blogs

Click Here for all of the 2010 CCF Mission trip blogs.

HS Serve At Camp Lutherhaven

Here are two updates of what happened when the HS youth group went to help out at CampLutherhaven in Northern Indiana

By Jackie Booher

My week at Camp Lutherhaven was incredible!! It was slightly different than most of everyone’s, but it was still amazing.  Most of the youth group kept the same group of kids all week long and most of their children spoke English and came from Christian families. I, however, did not have the same child twice. and all of my children were either Muslim or could not speak English or both. The week went well, but the most memorable moment was on the last day with the kids.
On that day, I happened to have 3 little girls. (I would tell you their names, but I couldn’t pronounce their names let alone spell them). Three hours before they all left I noticed that during the prayer before lunch the youngest girl tried to pray, but the other two quickly slapped her hands away. Then once I noticed they would not eat meat, I realized that they were Muslim. So I asked them if they were Christians and if they loved Jesus. One girl tried to tell me yes, but the other two immediately scolded her. I explained that I loved Jesus and the He loves me. He loves me so much that he died on the cross so that I could go to heaven! I told them that he loved each one of them too. However, the eldest looked straight at me and said “No, not Jesus. Jesus doesn’t love the Burmese.”
No matter how much I tried to convince them, that Jesus loves them and Jesus loves the Burmese and He loves the whole world, she would shake he head and ask why he let them suffer. This little girl, only 9 years old, could not understand a God who loved them and at the same time allowed them to become refugees and be forced to flee their home. All I could do, was love them. I played with them, hugged them and drew pictures with them. I’ll never forget chasing their bus, hoping and praying that they will remember the love I tired to show them that day. I cried a lot that night, because I felt like I wasn’t enough.
It took me a while to understand why God didn’t let me have more time with them. I still don’t completely understand. One day just doesn’t seem long enough. I can not imagine being unlovable because of where I was from. But I have to believe that my short time spent with those little girls was enough to plant a seed in their hearts. I have to believe that they saw Jesus’ love through me. Maybe I will never ever see them again, but they will always be in my prayers.
But I’ll never forget my Burmese sisters.
No matter what little deed we conquer, it will always be something, always be a seed, always be enough. So I encourage anyone reading this, that you will always be enough! You just gotta try and keep up the good work!!

By Kayla Annarino

OK, well at the beginning of the week, before we left I was nervous. I didn’t know what to expect. These 3 little girls were soon to be under my guidance, they would look up to me as a big sister. I knew it, and I wanted to be the strongest person I could be for them. Though in my heart that week and also a couple weeks before then and even now I have been struggling with things that have happened awhile back. I knew I had to be strong for these girls, to be an example of true love and happiness…though I was broken I still managed to show them the love!
After seeing their faces for the first time, not knowing anything about them besides the fact that these girls are precious to God. They mean so very much to him, my Daddy. And all I wanted for them was for them to see his love and to be happy, strong young women!
I have never grown so attached to any little kid, (besides family) in just 4 days! it happened so fast, and I knew it was a God thing. God had made me strong for them throughout the days while they were there to just focus on them, their safety, their happiness, their well being, their future!
We would go out every morning to greet them at about 10AM when their bus arrived. The first day, they nor I knew what to expect. The second day they ran to me with smiling faces arms open ready to jump to me and give me a hug once more. They latched on to me every morning in the same way. One holding my right hand, one holding my left, and one under my left arm with their hand around my back. One time, two of my girls started fighting on who would get to hold my hand. I grew such a bond with them. They called me Mom…they called me Teacher…and they called me Kayla I really fell in love with these girls, who wouldn’t?
Every morning I would wake up wondering what God had in store for us. One day as we sat and colored I had the opportunity to tell them that God was my best friend, that he was always there for me no matter what and that he loved all of us, they looked at me, each one and smiled and said…”He is mine too” one right after the other it made me smile. I have a feeling this will not be the last time i see them
There is one girl i did not mention because she was only with me for a little on the first day. Her name was Ester. She loved me…i could see it in her eyes but she got switched to another girl in our group. but every morning…it never failed, she would come up and hug me say hello and she would go on with her leader. She would come up to me throughout the day and sit on my lap.
These girls no doubt looked up to me, just like i thought they would. on the last day, it was so hard walking up that hill like we did every morning, empty handed…with no little girls tugging at me asking me when we would do this and that (THEY LOVED SWIMMING IN THE LAKE!!) but walking up with no girls…knowing i wouldn’t be doing that again…possibly ever was heart breaking :/ Chasing after that bus when they left…i almost started full out crying! Every day we would stand there as the bus left…waving till we could not see the bus anymore. The very first day they had no idea what we were doing. they probably thought in their little heads that we were crazy haha. but it was so cool to see them wave until they could not see us as well on the second day. How they caught on they knew we were not gonna stop.
This camp was a great experience. I would do it all over again. I met some great friends. I showed these girls i loved, how much God loved them and cared for them. that was my mission there…and it was accomplished MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! I only hope the best for them…and pray for them, that in the future they shine so bright, in the darkest places!

Camp Lutherhaven is in Northern Indiana and is a camp for immigrant children.  The CCF high schoolers went up there during the week of July 25th-31st 2010.

Thursday

HOLA from beautiful MEXICO!

We woke up Thursday morning to rain, rain and more rain!  In the am it rained so much all of the streets were flooded.  We were going to head to the beach after Claudia’s WONDERFUL breakfast, but because of the rain the men were able to finish the work projects they had started earlier in the week.  Which ended up being a better plan than the one we had!  God is Good!
While working on projects, Pablo cut his hand with a utility knife.  He cut it really deep and Javier had to take him to the local hospital.  When we got to the hospital, they took us right in, and looked at it right away.  The doctor saw that he had cut through a muscle, so he called in a specialist.  The specialist first stitched his muscle back together then stitched the skin. GOD IS GOOD and Pablo is doing great.  He is taking some pain medicine and is a little frustrated that he can’t use his left hand very well, but all in all he is great.  Please pray for him, I (Kassy) am a little worried that it will get infected or something else will happen.  Also, we had to pay out of pocket for the procedure, so please pray that our insurance will reimburse us.  THANK YOU!

Today we are headed to the dump.  As I type the team is making sandwiches to take and pass out.  We also have toys and clothes to pass out to the people that live there.  It is going to be a hard but exciting day!  After the dump we are going to have a bit of free time to shop and just relax.

THANK YOU so much for your continued prayers we can feel them coming our way!  WE have seen so many little blessings, it is incredible!

Love and miss you all!

Wednesday

PRAISE GOD!  The Vega-Benitez family has a place to call home!  The dedication ceremony was beautiful and very emotional, but a truly blessed time for all of us.  Listening to Edgar and Pablo pray, handing over the keys and watching the father of the house carry his bride over the threshold made us all cry our eyes out!!!  We can’t wait to share more when we get home.

Today we are off for a some what free day!  We are going to Claudia and Javier’s house for breakfast then we are off to the beach!  It is raining now :(  but, we are praying it will stop!  Javier will be teaching some of us how to surf.  Others of us are going to be baptized!  We are so excited about it!  After the beach some of the men are going back to Javier’s house to finish installing ceiling fans and to rehang the church sign.

WE are off now, and they are waiting for me…. so gotta go!

LOVE YOU ALL!!!!

Mexico Pics!

Praise God the house is complete!

Please continue for the team in dealing with the heat and also they will be putting up the Centro De Vida sign on the building today.  This is 35 feet off of the ground and not an easy task.

God has been blessing the team with a beautiful unity.  Please continue to pray for the team as the heat is taking it’s toll and everyone is beat.

It is truly amazing how God can use our little gathering in a borrowed gymnasium in Indiana to touch people’s lives in another country and to proclaim the Love of God to people who do not even know our language!

To God be the glory! God is good!

Worship and Prayer Night For Mexico Team

You are invited to join us for an evening of worship and  prayer with the CCF Mission team via Skype.

Come and check out the new church office from 7:30-8:30p as we worship and pray together for our brothers and sisters from CCF  in Mexico right now serving God.

We will be worshiping together and hearing from the Mexico team via Skype and praying together.  Afterward, if it fits into their schedule, there will be an opportunity for individuals to speak one on one with family members in Mexico.e

The new church office is at:

6169 West 300 North, Greenfield, IN‎ 46140

It is located just North of  I-70 just off of MtComfort Road.

Click Here for a map

or paste this in your browser:

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=6169+West+300+North,+Greenfield,+IN%E2%80%8E+46140&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=6169+W+300+N,+Greenfield,+Hancock,+Indiana+46140&gl=us&ei=Z45PTLPRB9_nnQe8qICQBw&ved=0CBYQ8gEwAA&ll=39.824754,-85.911069&spn=0.016381,0.038581&t=h&z=15

View Larger Map

Tuesday

HOLA!
Today was another amazing day!  The house is completely sided, the dry wall is hung and mudded, and the roof is on!  The mother of the home and all 4 kids were there all day today with us.  She is truly grateful and her face glows more and more as we continue to build the home!  We were also blessed to meet the father today!  He has been working a double shift, but he was able to come home today between shifts from work.  He also is extremely grateful.  It was awesome to see him play with his baby girl and then kiss his wife good bye when he headed back to work.  They are a beautiful family!

We did split our team in two today.  Some of the ladies went over to Javier’s house to paint.  They painted his boys bedrooms, the stairwell, and the entry way, bathroom and some on the outside of the house.  A few of the men also hung a celing fan.  Javier and Claudia are very thankful and couldn’t stop thanking the ladies!

Tomorrow we are headed back to the house to put a second coat of paint on the outside and paint the inside.  The windows and doors will also be put in, along with some electrical work.  The exciting part is that we will be able to put in all of the furnishing!  We raised enough money to purchase bunk beds, a double bed, bedding, a kitchen table, cooking materials, diapers, wipes, food, etc!!!!  Edgar and Amber will tell the mom she needs to leave and we will set it all up!  We want to make it like EXTREME MAKEOVER! 

All are healthy and happy here!  But, continue to pray because it is VERY hot!  I can’t tell you how hot it really is.  Our team is a well oiled machine, so we take breaks, help each other out, and make sure everyone  drinks enough water!

THANK YOU for your prayers!!!

Sunday

HOLA!
It was AWESOME to see everyone this morning!  How amazing technology can be!  It was such a blessing.  We pray we can see everyone again on Wednesday.

Church at Centro de Vida was AWESOME!  The worship was in Spanish, but two of the songs were songs that we all know well, so it was amazing to be able to sing along and worship our God.  Toby taught and Javier translated for him.  It was an amazing experience to watch the two of them share their passion for Jesus in both languages!

After church and lunch we went back to Javier’s church to fix some electrical problems and give it a good deep cleaning.  Some of the  guys also went to Javier’s surf shop and hung a huge sign for him.   We were back at the base for dinner then had some free time to go to a local Juice Shop for some yummy Jugo (juice smoothies) and see a beautiful sunset!

Tomorrow is our first day at the work sight.  Please pray for our safety and that we all are able to handle the heat.  It was really hot today and we were working inside, tomorrow we will be out in the direct sun light.

Thank you for praying for the few illnesses, everyone is feeling much better and no one is having any stomach issues any longer!

THANK YOU for your prayers!  Love and miss you all!

Prayer List Of Mexico Team

Below is a list of the CCF Mexico team.  Let us lift them up in our prayers continuously this week.  Also consider signing on and making a comment of encouragement on their blog. For simple step-by-step instructions complete with pictures simply click here. If you forgot your password or need to change it to something easier to remember go to the sign-in screen and click to have it emailed to you.  Then sign in and go to “Your Profile” and change it to something you can remeber.

Also, here is a picture of the sign for the Centro De Vida church they are moving next week.  This will not be an easy task so let’s keep them in our prayers.

2010 Mazatlan, Mexico Team: JULY 24-31

Bob Bolander

Joyce Bolander

Richard Brenner

Dennis Gavaghan

Monica Gavaghan

Cindy Lane

Ashley Morales

Kassie Morales

Pablo Morales

Mark Pack

Ronda Pack

Sandy Risner

Toby Risner

John Short

Tammy Short

Jason Sitko

Sarah Sitko

Austin Stover

Penney Weiler

Javier Diaz

Dori Hobbs

Ikaika Hobbs

Next Page »