4/29/2013

    This weekend, we had a meeting filled with information. We went over some important stuff about our trip, discussed some upcoming events, and we got our financial information. Some of the important stuff we had to go over was making sure everyone had their passports, reminding everyone to get their shots if they haven't already done so, we also went over how much spending money we would need to take over there. Another thing that was brought up, that I didn't know about was the visas. We will be paying for the visas when we get over into Kenya. I thought that you had to apply for a visa before traveling, because that's what my dad had to do when he went to India. Apparently its different in Africa, they welcome anyone into their country. 

    We have some cool things happening soon. Right now, we are collecting any used clothes to help raise funds. Anyone in the Ramona area who has any clothes they want to donate, let me know and I'll be more then happy to come pick them up for you! We will be accepting clothes through June 9th. Another super awesome thing we are doing right now, is that we have bibles up for donation for $5 that will be going to the Masii Christian Chapel. I think this is so cool! For just $5, you can have a bible donated to this chapel and with your donation, you can write a special encouragement on the inside cover. How incredible is that?? So any family that goes to the chapel on Sunday morning can open up that bible and see your message and know that they are loved from half way across the world. That's pretty cool. 

    Our team has been blessed with many tech-savy people, who are incredible. They are creating a website for our Africa Team. On the website, each member of our team will have their own biography that tells all about them, and gives any blogs or websites that they have. So this blog will be on my biography. There will also be a PayPal account where people can donate to individuals through that website, so its a little easier and faster than sending a check or cash. I want to thank Jessica and Rick and anyone else who helped create the website! You guys are AWESOME!!! I will get a link up to the website, I just don't have it quite yet... =]

    On a final note, I want to give a huge thank you to everyone who has donated to me in any way so far, Aunt Donna and Uncle Larry, the Hill Family, the Lewis Family, Uncle Bill and Aunt Diane, The Frias Family, The McNulty Family, Doris Ando, and The Evans Family. Thank you all so much! Thank you also to everyone praying for my team and I, I greatly appreciate it! 

    In two weeks the whole Africa team will be getting back together for a night of eating, picture-taking, and prayer, lots of prayer. We're going to be taking a group photo and having dinner and everyone is bringing something (I'm bring a delicious strawberry/cool whip/graham cracker desert. yumm.) and then we will spend the rest of the night in prayer with each other. It should be a great night, and I'm really looking forward to it. 

Seek the Lord and his strength; seek his presence continually!

1 Chronicles 16:11

4/21/2013

  A baptism is a public commitment to Christ. It shows others that you walk with Christ, and are fully committed to Him. I will be getting baptized sometime in the near future. I still need to fix a date with my Pastor, but I made the decision I want to be baptized. I was talking with my grandpa over the weekend and he was telling me that he would really like to see me get baptized before going to Kenya. He told me all about it and he also told me it had to be my decision, so he said to think it over. I told him I would.

    I've had something on my mind for quite some time now, it was something Pastor Mike said a while back. He said, you have to die to live. I really struggled with this concept. I realize that as a Christian, you shouldn't be afraid to die, you're going up to party with Jesus and what could be greater than that? But I do struggle with that sometimes, along with other fears. Everyday I would pray really hard about this, about what I had do to die to live, even though I was so fearful. I would ask God to help me through my fears, and overtime those fears have become less prevalent in my life. But I was still unsure about how to die in order to live, until I talked to my grandpa.

    I was thinking about what he had told me about baptisms and making sure it was the right thing for me to do. In a baptism, when you are immersed into the water, you are being buried just as Christ was, you hold your breath, as if you aren't alive. Then you rise from the water as Jesus rose from the dead and you are given new life. As I was processing all this, it hit me hard in the gut. And I understood. It's funny how that happens sometimes, how you get it all of a sudden. You're super confused one minute, and the next, you are in a state of clarity, and you hear what God is telling you. Any time this happens, I'm always thrown back in amazement because He really does work in mysterious ways and it's always amazing when you finally see it. 

    Writing this post has been fairly difficult, because I'm not one to put myself out there, and I'm laying a lot down right here. But I really feel it's important to be completely honest through this journey in my blog, to help me on my walk with Christ. 

    Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me."

Matthew 16:24

4/14/2013 part 2

    Well, I've been trying to upload this video since Sunday when I posted the first part of this blog, with no success. I think I have it figured out though.

    This is Mike talking about Tumaini Ministries and the work they do over in Kenya.

4/14/2013

    This past weekend has been fantastic. It was definitely a Jesus filled weekend. It was Facedown Fest at the Stronghold. For those of you who don't know what Facedown Fest is (I had no idea what it was until I was told we were going to be having it at the Stronghold), it's a two day event where 18 Christian rock bands come together to play music, spread the love of Christ, share their stories, and have fun. It's pretty awesome because some of these kids who come to see these bands play, come for the music, not for the "God" part of it, as someone said, and then some of these kids walk out of the church saved, their lives completely changed forever. The bands that play take the time before and after they're onstage to talk to anyone and everyone who needs to talk, and they pray for them also. 

    Along with all the bands that played Tumaini, the organization that we support in Kenya, had a booth there and was talking about the kids in Kenya and was getting their name out there. I was able to meet a couple women who have gone to Kenya many times and talk to them about it. That was pretty great. 

    Before the last band both nights, we raffled off a ginormous bag of Cheeto Puffs. This bag was almost 2 feet tall and weighed over six and a half pounds. We sold tickets for one dollar and made over $60 the first night and all the profits went towards the Kenya funds. We also had a snack bar and all the proceeds went to the Kenya funds, and in the first night we made about $700. 

    Overall, this weekend was wonderful. I think most of us who were helping out, lost our hearing for the next few days, and are thoroughly exhausted from the past few days. It was well worth it. I want to thank everyone who helped organize this, Facedown Records for putting this on, the Stronghold Family for being so awesome, and everyone who came to make this weekend to great! 

Emily and I watching the bands!

The Tumaini booth.

The stage crew setting up for Gideon!

The GIANT bag of cheeto puffs!!

My Epic was AWESOME!!!

War of Ages was equally awesome!

The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; he knows those who take refuge in him.

Nahum 1:7

4/6/2013

    Wow! Yesterday was amazing. A few weeks ago, I called my local McDonalds and asked if they could donate some happy meal toys for us to take to Kenya with us. The supervisor of the McDonalds said, absolutely, he would love to donate. He never told me how many toys he was going to give me, just that he was going to be giving me some. I went to McDonalds yesterday to pick up the toys and was pleasantly surprised. I saw this stack of boxes sitting there waiting for me to take them. 

    5 boxes of toys. 700 toys in total. 700 kids in Kenya will get new toys because of how generous my local McDonalds was. I can't thank them enough, because they are going to make 700 children so happy. We have 3 boxes of boy toys and 2 boxes of girl toys. 700 toys. WOW! I'm so excited about this! God is so great! He has done such wonderful things and I'm so excited to see what he has in store for us over in Kenya. 

    On another note, I want to thank everyone who has donated to me, The Lizewski Family, The Neal Family, The Cadman Family, The Wilis Family, Mr. and Mrs. Hill, and The Van Dusseldorp Family. Thank you all so much for the generous donations you have sent me. Thank you also to everyone who has bought shirts from me, Megan Kinnaman, Sue Saxon, and My Grandmama. I've gotten so much support from around the country, and I thank you all so much. Like I said before, I'm really excited to see what God will do with my team and I while we are over in Kenya and all of his work that we will do. 

Worship the Lord with gladness. Come before him, singing with joy.

Psalm 100:2