Sunday 7/26/2009 10:19 PM
Russ Ewing
The Colorado team arrived safely with all of our luggage this afternoon. Everyone on the team is doing fine. We had dinner at Scott and Megan's home this evening and then we had a planning meeting and a time of prayer for the week. We will be going to church in the morning and then in the afternoon, we will set up/make preparation for the first day of the Outdoor club. Tomorrow afternoon, we will hand out brochures door-to-door inviting people to church and to an ice cream social that we will host Wednesday evening this week. Please continue to pray for us.
Monday 7/27/2009 9:44 PM
Russ Ewing
We had a really good day. We had 25 children in our outdoor club (VBS). Our team did a wonderful job of leading the VBS -- everything went smooth. Then we had a picnic lunch at the state park where we are doing the outdoor club to debrief the morning and prepare for tomorrow. We are expecting more children tomorrow.
We have been joined by 7 young people from First Baptist Arnold. They are out here on a mission trip with Mountain View Baptist Church -- the church Christchurch is merging with. They have been an excellent addition to our team leading recreation, snacks, and guiding the children from one station to the next.
This evening, we distributed 300 invitations door-to-door inviting people from the neighborhoods to our ice cream social which will be Wednesday evening. It started raining and all of us got a little wet.
Tomorrow, we will be in our second day of outdoor club and will distribute materials about the church and its activities again tomorrow evening.
Please continue to pray for us.
Tuesday 7/28/2009 10:00 PM
Russ Ewing
We enjoyed an unseasonably cool day in Colorado. Things went well at our outdoor club -- we had 26 children. Everyone from yesterday came back and we had one new child. Our team is doing an excellent job of leading the various stations and the team from Arnold is helping out by filling the voids we would otherwise have.
This evening, we distributed more invitations to our ice cream social tomorrow evening. In all, we have distributed approximately 600 invitations -- mostly door-to-door. We also distributed approximately 300 brochures about upcoming activities at the church.
I forgot to mention yesterday that Allyson and Jenny shared their testimonies in church on Sunday morning. They both did an excellent job.
Tomorrow we will continue with our outdoor club in the morning and tomorrow evening we will set up and host our ice cream social. Please continue to pray for each team member and that our efforts will further God's kingdom in Colorado.
Friday 7/31/2009 9:40 PM
Russ Ewing
On Wednesday morning, we continued with our outdoor club. Scott presented the ABC's of becoming a Christian. Then on Wednesday evening, we held our ice cream social. It was rainy and cold, but we still had over 100 people that night.
On Thursday morning, we continued with our outdoor club -- our attendance at our outdoor club held steady around 26 children. More than one half of the children's families are un-churched , so this was a successful outreach event. On Thursday evening, we held our parent's night at the outdoor club -- despite the rainy, cool weather, we had about 15 children and their families (about 60 people) come back out for the evening.
All in all, Scott has estimated that he has met approximately 25 new families for the first time this week as a result of our outdoor club and other outreach activities.
Today, we completed our outdoor club and did some sightseeing/shopping this afternoon.
Tomorrow (Saturday), we will head back to the airport for our early morning flight -- we will arrive back at the St. Louis airport at 1:15 PM and back at the church at around 2:15 PM.
We have had a good trip. Everyone on the team made significant contributions to the team effort. Thanks for letting your family member/relative/friend come on this trip with us and thanks for praying for us.
