Mission Trip with Wayside Cross Challenges Students to Live for Christ
07/09/2011
From Tuesday, July 5 through Saturday, July 9, a team of 10 students and 3 leaders served Jesus in Aurora. The team members were Mario Arindaeng, Kayla Thompson, Josue Valdez, Bethany Capp. Matthew Capp, Nick Oleno, Sabrina Pilkington, Samantha Pilkington, Jacob Schumacher, Tori Underwood, Jared Wentzlaff, Ray Williams, and Audrey Whybrew.
God really worked in our lives on the Aurora mission trip in the following ways:
1. God gave us team unity.
2. Our students learned how to clearly share the gospel and then put that into practice.
3. Several of the children trusted their lives to Jesus as a result of our junior high students sharing the gospel.
4. We saw several of our junior high students step up to the challenge in leadership.
5. Our students caught a passion for personal quiet time with Jesus.
6. We were a blessing to the Wayside Cross staff.
Each morning we started out our day with breakfast at the Pilkingtons. Then we rode to the Sugar Grove campus where each team member had 45 minutes to prepare himself/herself to serve Jesus by spending time alone with Jesus. We learned how to read the Proverb of the day (so if the date was July 8, we would read Proverbs 8) and pick out a verse to think on throughout the day to gain a heart of wisdom. We also learned how to pray the Psalms of the day to pray back to God. For each day, there are 5 Psalms we can pray back to God. You take the current date and keep adding 30. For example, if the day was July 8, we would pray Psalm 8,, 38, 68, 98 and 128 back to God.
We drove to Brady elementary school on the East side of Aurora and arrived there between 11:00 - 11:30 AM. At 11:30 AM, over 80 children from the surrounding community showed up to camp. The children were in grades k-5 grade with some junior counselors in junior high. We started out with lunch from 11:30 - 12:00 followed by free time from 12:00 - 12:30. From 12:30 - 2:45, the children were in groups of 20 - 30 and rotated through 4 different activities. There was Bible time, games, crafts, and academics. Then from 2:45 - 3:30, we finished off the day with free time.
To give our students exposure to different ministries, each day we changed what activity we ran. On Tuesday, we ran the craft, in which we had the children make a "Belt of truth" out of art foam and cloth. On Wednesday, we led the games in which we played dodge ball. The Bible theme for the week was the armor of God, coming from Ephesians 6:10-18. On Thursday, we taught the Bible lesson, which we taught about the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit.
On Friday, we took a field trip to Phillips Park, where the children had the opportunity to visit the zoo, play on the playground, play volleyball or play baseball.
We did work projects on the afternoons on Tuesday and Thursday. On Thursday, we cleaned out the Urban Youth Ministry storage room and on Thursday, we cleaned up around Brady elementary, mopping the floor, picking up trash around the school and organizing the storage closet.
Each evening, we went to a different student's home to eat dinner along with a time of worship, prayer and sharing what God did in and through our lives that day. On Tuesday, we ate at the Pilkingtons, on Wednesday, we ate at Nick Oleno's home, on Thursday, we ate at the Underwoods and on Friday, we ate at Wayside Cross.
We also were able to attend youth group on Wednesday night and on Friday, we had a fun day at the Pilkingtons. Each night the boys slept at Mario's home and the girls slept at the Pilkingtons.
At the conclusion of our trip, we asked the students 3 questions:
1. What was your favorite experience you had this week?
2. How did you see God at work this week?
3. What's one thing that God wants you to do different after this trip?
Below are their responses:
Jared Wentzlaff
1. Favorite experience was working with the kids and playing with them.
2. On Wednesday, we were challenged to pray and ask God to give us at least one opportunity to share the gospel with one child. Miguel, a boy who was around 6 years old asked me out of the blue who Jesus is and I was able to share the gospel with him.
3. God wants me to spend more time with Him in my quiet time.
Nick Oleno
1. I enjoyed playing with the kids.
2. I saw God work in the kids lives.
Matthew Capp
1. I enjoyed playing "jail" with the kids. The kids would "capture" us on the playground and then drag us off to jail.
2. God gave me an opportunity to talk to a young boy about who Jesus is.
3. God wants me to spend more time with him and pray more deeply.
Bethany Capp
1. My favorite thing to do this week was to hang out with the kids, especially the ones that I play baseball with on my dad's baseball team.
2. I was really impacted when I saw God at work using Tori to lead 7 kids into a relationship with Jesus.
3. God wants me to keep having "God and I time" each day.
Jacob Schumacher
1. My favorite part of the week was going to the zoo with the kids.
2. I saw God work through our team in how he helped us lead kids into a relationship with Jesus.
3. God wants me to go and tell my friends about Jesus.
Ray Williams
1. My favorite part of the week was getting to share the gospel with the kids. I was able to ask a boy if he wanted to know Jesus.
2. I saw the fruit of the Spirit work in and through our team. I haven't been able to swim all summer because of my allergies, but since the pool was 85 degrees, I was able to swim.
3. God wants me to pray the Psalms back to Him.
Samantha Pilkington
1. I really enjoyed hanging out and talking with the kids. They are all so cute!
2. I saw God work when He use my sister, Sabrina and I to talk to a girl about Jesus.
3. God wants me to continue to share the gospel with others.
Audrey Whybrew
1. I liked eating lunch with the kids because it was fun getting to know them in air conditioning.
2. I saw God work when I was with Karly on Wednesday and I told her about Jesus. She went home that night and talked to her mom about Jesus and the next day she came up to me and told me that she trusted her life to Jesus the night before.
3. God wants me to spend more time praying the Psalms back to Him every day.
Tori Underwood
1. My favorite thing to do this week was play outside with the kids at recess.
2. I saw God at work through the opportunities he gave me to share the gospel. I remember asking Denise if she knew who Jesus was. She said yes, but didn't know what Jesus did for her, so I shared the Gospel with her and she prayed to trust her life to Jesus.
3. God really showed me how I can have a deeper quiet time with Him through reading my Bible and praying.
Sabrina Pilkington
1. My favorite thing to do was playing with the kids.
2. I saw God at work because a lot of the kids were actually really open to hearing about God.
3. God wants me to share the gospel with others.
