Friday, July 26, 2019

Mission City Portugal Team- Days 3 and 4





English Camp is Over
And it flew by. When you are spending 9 hours a day with kids you bond quickly and the week goes so fast.  Our team has been so much a picture of our church; the right people placed by God in the right places to accomplish God’s purposes.  We have athletes, students, logistics people, teachers and an MD and everyone of them has served a crucial role.

Here are some highlights of our time with 42 future leaders of Portugal:

·     We were divided into 5 color groups that competed in all sorts of strange competitions and games
·     We played Frisbee golf every day with most of them having never heard of it before
·     We featured American food each day for lunch…imagine never having a hot dog or a smore!
·     Water Balloon Wars! (Colin and Donnie were the targets of the launchers)
·     Most Importantly- we had lots of team talks where the kids sharpened their English and shared their perspectives on Life.
  




Kid Stories

On to the World Championships
We have a girl here at the camp that is a world class athlete. In fact, in a couple of weeks she will be competing at the World Championships in Tokyo in her sport and has a chance at the next Olympics. One of the ways we led team talks was to spread out 50 pictures on the ground in front of our teams and have them choose ones that represented their lives. This young lady chose a close up shot of a person on an escalator. She said that she wanted to make her way up to God. A great discussion followed about which way the escalator was currently going. Later her team leader caught up with her and explained the difference between works and grace and she very simply stated: “ I trust Jesus.”



Did Jesus really rise from the dead?
The thing that is so amazing is that the very same picture was chosen in another group the day before with the same explanation;  “I am trying to take steps to God.”  This young man proudly stated that he believed in God and even went on to say that he believed that Jesus rose from the dead. And all this was shared immediately after his best friend chose a picture of a dark hallway because he did not believe in God or the afterlife. The next day our team leader talked with this young man and he is well aware now of how to trust Jesus for eternal life.


What is a Salvation Story?
Each of our team members wrote their salvation stories before coming on the trip and each of them have found times when they shared their stories this week in gospel conversations. This is a hallmark of Mission City Church Short Term Trips. No matter where we go will tell of the night-and-day difference Jesus has made in our lives. This is how we engage people where they are with the gospel of Jesus Christ and lead them into lives of transformation. Please join us in praying for the students who heard the gospel and heard our stories.



The very first time.
I remember the first time our team met and we shared how we came to Christ. It was a way to get started in writing our salvation story. One of our team members had never written His story but worked on it the months before the trip. It was a real struggle to find the right situation but he really wanted to share. One of his teammates sat down with him and encouraged him and prayed with him and the next day he had the opportunity for the very first time to sit with someone and share his complete story with a young lady that desperately needed this hope.

Block Party Tonight!
Please pray for our block party tonight. We will spend today getting ready for the very first block party ever held at The Living Room. The Living Room is an amazing 3 story apartment and retail space that is being renovated by the Gereckes, our missionaries here in Coimbra. The Gereckes will move into the second and third floor apartment when reno is complete and they will open a Café on the first floor that will also be available for people in the community for events and family gatherings. This same space will also be the site of a church plant here in Coimbra.

Prayer Requests:

·     Pray for Block Party tonight- good attendance and divine appointments
·     Pray for our Street Evangelism today in the city of Coimbra
·     Pray for Stamina for our team as we help Gereckes out some with The Living Room move today
·     Pray for safety in all forms of travel. More planes, trains and automobiles to come
·     Pray for Annalyn Flores- had a head-on collision yesterday on the dodge ball court that resulted in a migraine last night. Took her to the ER (under the supervision of our own Dr. Kelly Smith) and all is well now but she will be very soar today.

·     Jennifer Holmquist- experienced heat exhaustion/leg cramps- doing much better and back to normal activities

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