DENVER MISSION JOURNAL
We Appreciate your Prayers and Support!
We will do our best to post a few photos and a daily update each day. You will find our daily journal update posted below. If we miss a day, it is likely due to poor internet service and we will catch up as we are able.
On the right column below, please find our specific prayer requests. Below you will also see our itinerary and tentative plan. We could not do this without you! God intends for everyone in His Kingdom to work together as a cohesive body - today, we are the hands. We need you, the heart, to be praying and lifting us up. Together, we can impact our world for Jesus. Thank you for your time and prayer focus -
we don't take it for granted!
PRAYER
NEEDS:
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Smooth Travel and Safety
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Travel wisdom and sound vehicles and tires for the long trek
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Health and strength for the entire team
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Wisdom and discernment for all the leaders
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That God will begin to work on softening our hearts and preparing us to grow in the ways He desires for each of us, individually, and as a group
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That God will grant us wisdom and boldness to share the gospel
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That we will have "divine appointments" with the people God wants us to minister to and interact with.
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Please pray for Jenn, Jake, Randall, Gary & Walter, the local leaders we will be serving with.
DAY ONE
FRIDAY JULY 17th
WE ALL ARRIVED, PRAYED & LOADED UP - WE WILL POST AGAIN TONIGHT! PLEASE PRAY FOR OUR SAFE TRAVELS TODAY AND FOR OUR HEARTS TO BE PREPARED TO SERVE, LEARN AND LOVE: THANK YOU!
SMOOTH DAY OF TRAVELING WITH GREAT COMPANY, COOL AIR CONDITIONING, AND GOOD WEATHER - THANK YOU JESUS!
WE TOOK A LONG STOP AT BUCCEES SO EVERYONE COULD GRAB DINNER AND STRETCH THEIR LEGS - IT WAS A ONSIES PALOOZA (SEE IMAGES IN TODAY'S GALLERY).
PLEASE PRAY WE ALL GET A REPLENISHING NIGHT'S REST SO WE ARE READY TO HIT THE GROUND RUNNING TOMORROW. THANK YOU EVERYONE!
DAY TWO
SATURDAY JULY 18th
OH WHAT A DAY,
OH WHAT A DAY
THE ENEMY TRIED,
BUT WE DID PRAY
JOY IN TRIALS,
HANDS TO THE WHEEL
YOU KNOW OUR GOD
IS FAITHFUL STILL
SO ON WE ROLL
IN DENVER TOWN
ALL PRAISE TO GOD
WHO WEARS THE CROWN!
TODAY WAS A DAY FOR OVERCOMING CHALLENGES - ISN'T IS EXCITING TO BE A CHILD OF THE CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSE?!
WE STARTED OFF GREAT AFTER A GOOD NIGHT'S SLEEP - WE ENJOYED A GOOD BREAKFAST, HAD A QUICK MEETING & PRAYER AND HEADED OUT TO MEET OUR LOCAL OPEN DOOR MINISTRY LEADERS RANDALL, JAKE, JENN AND GARY AT WESTSIDE INTERNATIONAL CHURCH. GLORIA FLEW IN TO DENVER AIRPORT THIS MORNING AND UBERED TO THE CHURCH TO MEET UP WITH THE TEAM.
AT THE LAST MILE, UPON ARRIVAL, THE WHEEL BEARING ON THE FRONT LEFT OF THE CHURCH VAN GAVE OUT - IT WAS A BLESSING AND MIRACLE THAT DIDN'T HAPPEN ON OUR LONG TREK OR IN HEAVY DENVER TRAFFIC! WE IMMEDIATELY TOWED THE VEHICLE TO A LOCAL REPAIR SHOP - BUT WE WERE IN A PICKLE BECAUSE WE NEEDED A 15 PASSENGER VAN IN DENVER, WHICH WE DISCOVERED IS A NEAR IMPOSSIBLE UNICORN. AFTER MUCH PERSERVERANCE AND GOD HELPING US (THANK YOU JACK FOR THE POWERFUL PRAYERS!) GINGER AND JORDAN WERE ABLE TO FIND A SOLUTION. WHILE THAT ADVENTURE WAS PLAYING OUT, PART OF OUR TEAM WENT ON A PRAYER WALK AROUND THE AREAS IN DENVER THAT OPEN DOOR MINISTRIES SERVES. WHILE THE OTHER TEAM HELPED WITH PROJECTS AROUND THE CHURCH AND FIXING DINNER.
WE ENJOYED A TIME OF WORSHIP & PRAYER TOGETHER AND
CELEBRATED OUR BELOVED NATALIE'S 17TH BIRTHDAY WITH A CAKE AND ICE CREAM.
THEN SOME OF OUR DEDICATED TEAM WORKED ON A PAINTING PROJECT THAT THE WESTSIDE INTERNATIONAL CHURCH NEEDS DOING - WE WILL CONTINUE TO MAKE PROGRESS ON THIS PROJECT DURING THIS WEEK.
THIS EVENING KENNY ARRIVED AT THE DENVER AIRPORT - JORDAN PICKED HIM UP AND HE HAS JOINED US SO WE HAVE OUR FULL TEAM TOGETHER NOW. HALLELUJAH!
THANK YOU FOR YOUR ONGOING PRAYERS FOR THE TRIP, THE TEAM AND OUR OUTREACH AND LABOR PROJECTS. WE KNOW THE LORD IS FAITHFUL AND THE ENEMY WANTS TO DISTRACT, DESTROY, AND DISCOURAGE - BUT WE AREN'T LETTING HIM HAVE ONE INCH - JESUS HAS OVERCOME THE WORLD AND IT IS OUR PRIVILEGE TO FOLLOW HIM IN EASY AND TOUGH TIMES!
WE ARE LOOKING FORWARD TO TOMORROW AND WILL ATTEND CHURCH HERE AT WCI - WE WILL BE PRAYING FOR YOU AT HOME - THAT WE CAN ALL ENJOY WORSHIPING OUR LORD, SECURE IN THE FACT THAT HE IS WITH ALL OF US, NO MATTER WHERE WE ARE - WHAT A WONDERFUL THOUGHT!
I BETTER GO TO BED SINCE I AM BREAKING MY OWN LIGHTS OUT RULE! THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT AND PRAYERS! THIS IS GOING TO BE AN AMAZING WEEK!
DAY THREE
SUNDAY JULY 19th
TODAY WE GOT UP AND EVERYONE SPENT TIME IN GOD'S WORD DOING PERSONAL DEVOTIONALS BEFORE WE CONNECTED WITH OUR FELLOW BELIEVERS AT WESTSIDE INTERNATIONAL CHURCH. IT WAS ENJOYABLE TO LEARN ABOUT OUR BROTHER & SISTERS IN THE LORD IN THIS MULTI-CULTURAL/BI-LINGUAL CHURCH. WE ENJOYED WORSHIP AND A COMPELLING SERMON (IN ENGLISH) FROM A SERIES THEY ARE DOING ON ALL THE QUESTIONS JESUS ASKED DURING HIS MINISTRY. TODAY WAS FROM JOHN 6 WHEN JESUS ASKS HIS DISCIPLES, "YOU DON'T WANT TO GO AWAY TOO, DO YOU?" WE WERE CHALLENGED TO STICK AROUND AND TRUST THE LORD, EVEN WHEN HIS TEACHINGS OR CONVICTIONS "OFFEND" US.
PLEASE JOIN US IN PRAYING THAT OUR HEARTS CAN BE OPEN, TEACHABLE AND READY TO RESPOND THROUGHOUT THIS TRIP.
I RECEIVED A MESSAGE FROM OUR LOCAL LEADERS THAT THEY NEEDED TO CHANGE OUR SCHEDULE, SO FOLLOWING CHURCH, I CALLED AN "AUDIBLE" AND DECIDED OUR TEAM COULD USE A MORE SUBSTANTIAL MEAL FOR THE DAY.
JACK & BEN BANDSTRA'S GRANDMA BECKY GAVE ME SUCH AN ENCOURAGING NOTE BEFORE WE LEFT AND IN IT SHE INCLUDED $200 AND TOLD ME TO TAKE THE TEAM TO ICE CREAM SOMEWHERE IF TIME ALLOWED. WELL, I WANTED TO HONOR THAT AND SO I TOOK US ALL TO GOLDEN CORAL - FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVE NEVER EXPERIENCED THIS - IT IS A FOOD PALOOZA OF EPIC PROPORTIONS! THEY DEFINITELY GOT LOADS OF ICE CREAM AND SO MUCH MORE!
THEN WE HEADED TO OPEN DOOR HEADQUARTERS AND TEAM 2 DID A PRAYER WALK WITH WALTER WHILE TEAM 1 DID A SCAVENGER HUNT AROUND THE NEIGHBORHOOD TO CHALLENGE OUR TEAM. THE PRAYER WALK WAS BEAUTIFUL AS SO MANY OF OUR KIDS PRAYED BOLD, YET GENTLY HUMBLE PRAYERS FOR GOD TO WORK IN THE LIVES OF THOSE IN THE AREA. THE SCAVENGER HUNT TEAM WAS DEFINITELY CHALLENGED TO GO OUTSIDE OF THEIR COMFORT ZONE AND DURING DEBRIEF WE EXPLORED THE PROS AND CONS OF THIS ACTIVITY!
WE THEN ALL HEADED BACK TO THE CHURCH AND SARA & MELISSA PUT TOGETHER A GREAT DINNER - FOLLOWED BY PRAISE AND WORSHIP TIME.
I NEED TO GRAB SOME SHUT EYE - BUT I AM SO THANKFUL TO THE LORD FOR THE OPPORTUNITY TO SERVE HIM AND TO KEEP LEARNING AND GROWING EVEN AS I AM NO LONGER A "SPRING CHICKEN." WHAT AN AWESOME GOD WE HAVE - MY HEART LONGS TO SEE THESE YOUNG PEOPLE KNOW THE LOVE OF GOD AND THE POWER OF FULL SURRENDER THROUGH THESE EXPEREINCES - BE BLESSED AND WE WILL UPDATE AGAIN TOMORROW.
DAY FOUR
MONDAY JULY 20th
This is going to be direct our dear friends - but we will give a full report on Sunday July 26th!
This morning we got up, did devos, had breakfast and broke up into 3 teams. One team did the scavenger hunt and it was simply beautiful. Our teams got the opportunity to pray with some people in difficult situations and to speak with individuals experiencing homelessness.
Another teams stayed at the Westside Church to complete the painting project. They did a fantastic job and the church is so grateful for the help.
The final team worked on one of the ministry homes at Open Door Ministry, removing mulch and laying rock - hard work but made such great progress.
We then came back to the church for lunch - got cleaned up and played "Loaded Monopoly" that challenges us to deal with unfair rules at times.
Ginger and Jordan returned the rental van to the Denver Airport and picked up the fully repaired Living Hope Church van.
There is SO much more detail and stories of God's faithfulness weaved all into today's activities, but I am tired and need rest -but please join us in glorifying God in our hearts for who He is and how He works for us, in us and through us.
We headed out for the Forrest Frank Concert where we had an awesome time of jamming out with about 17,000 other people who joined together in singing not just FF songs, but worship songs as well. Still - it is a concert after-all so there was lots of dancing and singing! So much fun!
We then came home, had a time of prayer and retired for the evening,
Oh! and we, as a youth group, have adopted a child through World Vision to care for in Ethiopia - more on that later!
Please keep praying for safety, stamina, the gospel to be shared and for us to learn and grow in the ways the Lord so desires on this trip! Thank you for all the amazing support - your prayers mean so much.
(And, Monty, my dear hubby- sorry I didn't get to call you this evening - I appreciate how much behind the scenes coordinating you took care of to get our church van repaired - even from afar. You are always so dependable and your care for me and our team means even more than you know!)
DAY FIVE
TUESDAY JULY 21st
Today was a full day with team work from start to finish. We got up, did devotionals and had a great breakfast thanks to Sara and Melissa. Sara made me eat breakfast today since I normally skip it - it is a blessing to have friends along looking out for you!
We headed out in 3 teams:
Team one- Jeremy, Jack, Dade, Kenny, Henry & Mason went back to the Open Door Ministries house to complete the landscaping project.
Team two- Sara & Melissa cleaned our base camp, did all our laundry (really a 'fun' job with all the manual labor in the heat that we've been doing) & took care of some shopping at Walmart.
Team three- Natalie, Ivy, Laine, Kendall, Ginger, Gloria, Jordan, Ben, Chase, Beau, Luke, Ian, Connor, Noah & Will went to partner with an amazing local ministry that reaches the lost and serves communities called, Extreme Community Makeover. We divided into 2 sub-teams and tackled cleaning local alleys of a neighborhood on behalf of the organization.
After each team had lunch at their respective, we then met up back at Westside Church for a brief rest and then we headed out to our cultural experience where we enjoyed shopping at a local market area called "Far East Center," where we shopped and enjoyed some amazing authentic Vietnamese food.
It was at this point we sadly said goodbye to Noah as Sara took him to the Denver airport so he could fly home to participate in the fair at home showing his pigs. We will miss him on the rest of our journey but are so glad he got home safe!
Following our delicious dinner, we headed out to Meanstreet Ministry where we divided into small teams of 3, each with two from our team and one staff/local volunteer. We took food, Bibles and information packets to individuals and families living in temporary housing hotels down Colfax avenue.
We ministered to them by simply offering burritos and snacks and asking them how they were doing. Many of us prayed with these people and got to hear their stories - it was a beautiful time of ministry in the city.
We got home and took showers and, finally...sleep!
Praise God for His faithfulness, kindness, and that He allows us to serve Him in this way - this team is doing an amazing job - all glory to Jesus! Tomorrow is another big day of serving - please be praying for us to know how to care for those the Lord puts in our path.
Good night!
DAY SIX
WEDNESDAY JULY 22nd
Yet again, I manage to be writing this after midnight - Oy!
Today we sent two teams to different Denver Rescue Mission locations to serve breakfast bright and early! Denver Rescue Mission feeds thousands daily and we got to be a part of this powerful ministry. Tomorrow our 3rd team will do the same thing downtown.
We then got ready for back at the church and all of us headed out to Open Door Ministries headquarters for a training and discussion on immigration issues. Following this we headed for Mango House, a place with restaurants from various countries with immigrants cooking up delicious fare for all of us!
We then returned to Open Door Headquarters and did an outreach training before we divided into 8 teams of 3 to go out and minister to people on the street, listening to their stories, giving out our provision bags that we assembled back home, sharing the gospel, and praying with people. We did this for the remainder of the afternoon and then did a debrief discussion about our experiences. Our whole team gave this a thumbs up.
We then returned to the church and ate a delicious dinner of Spaghetti, thanks to Sara and Melissa!
We then gathered for a meaningful time of worship, prayer and fellowship. We took time to pray for our two local intern leaders, Tafadzwa and Jake.
We are light on pictures today because it would have been inappropriate to take pictures ministering the way we did today. We look forward to sharing more about this at home!
Goodnight all!
DAY SEVEN
THURSDAY JULY 23rd
Today was a full day of fun fellowship and adventure. We started out with our third team going to serve breakfast with Denver Rescue Mission while the rest of us tackled cleaning the church, packing the cargo van, and getting everything ready to check out with Open Door Ministries.
We then headed straight to the Denver Museum of Nature & Science and broke up into teams to explore everything from Dinosaurs to Space. We met up at the mammoth statue in the park for a sack lunch and then watched a beautiful film in the Imax theater on the continent of Asia.
We left the museum around 3:30pm and checked into our hotel. Some went swimming, others who are older and tired took a power nap........ :)
We gathered in the lobby and headed out for the iconic adventure that is Casa Bonita (oh the memories from my high school days!) where we enjoyed a great meal, delicious food, sopaipillas, games, and most importantly fellowship following a week of growing, learning and serving in the Lord's Kingdom.
We plan on letting the drivers get a full, good rest before heading out, so we will likely leave about 9:30 in the morning. Please be in prayer for our safety in travel and for us to continue showing love for one another, being patient, kind and caring with each other to finish strong!
Thank you for your support and prayers - the Lord is faithful and I can't express how blessed I feel to know each of the amazing people on this trip - also - I could cry in gratitude for a night in air-conditioning - what an incredible blessing God has provided!!!!!!!!!
Blessings to all and goodnight!
DAY EIGHT
FRIDAY JULY 24th
Praise God - we made it home! What a joy to return to the most spectacular cloud infused sunset across the Absaroka and Crazy Mountain Ranges. It was like God was showing off and rolling out the welcome mat for our return.
Today our beloved Natalie and Ian were picked up by their mother early at the hotel so they could fly east for a wedding. We miss them and pray their travels will be safe and enjoyable. We all arose after a refreshing night's sleep and had literally the best breakfast I've ever seen at a hotel, which included overnight oats, carnitas pulled pork breakfast tacos, eggs, sausage, waffles and more - we were one happy bunch.
We loaded up and headed north - we don't have a ton of pictures because it was just a travel day. We made it home safe about 9:20pm, had a quick group prayer and went our separate ways home, which always feels so poignant to me. What a blessing that we are all safe and back in our homes - we learned so much and I can't wait for the team to share this coming Sunday at all three services.
Have a blessed weekend and remember how much the Lord loves you!
