Start. Stop. GO!

Whew! Life isn't slowing down anytime soon. From Trinidad, being thrown back into work, and now vacation.

Since the world didn't stop while we were in Trinidad, here are a few things worthy of highlighting.

• Shannon and Cooper moved. They headed south while Shannon's husband Mike is still in Iraq. Mike's parents are living in Tennesse and they will be with Shannon and rottweiler Cooper while "dad" is away.

• The United States early departure from Germany. The World Cup is over and Italy is crowned champion of the world for a 4th time. But the big news here in the states is...what happend? Needless to say it's back to the drawing board for U.S. Soccer.

• Sports happenings. Shaq and the Miami Heat took the NBA's top prize while the Detroit Tiger's are baseball's #1 team. The Twins have put together an impressive win streak but unfortunately the Tigers and White Sox have also kept winning.

• Entertainment News. Nicole Kidman got over Tom Cruise by tying the knot and producer Aaron Spelling passed away. But life moves on as Cars, Superman, and Pirates have taken the movie headlines.
  

Back in Minnesota, Erin came back to book orders, team budgets, hundreds of emails, as well as a non-stop phone. I was thrust back into Mission Maker season. Meetings concerning main articles and how to present them, creating Trinidad themed PowerPoints for Faith Baptist Church, and compiling and burning Trini pictures.

After feeling somewhat caught up, now we get to leave...again.

Erin and I will be celebrating our 3rd wedding anniversary this week in Sandusky, Ohio a top a 300 foot rollercoaster which broke 10 world records (including height and speed). We will be driving the 12 hours to Cedar Point Amusement park. There we will be camping nearby with Bella. It will be our first camping trip alone together.

Monday, July 17th will be our first day back to work and we have a golf marathon as well as another mission trip on the heels of our return. Yikes! As we wrote in a previous post, "I Need This Summer to be Over."

—b

Wednesday, July 5th 2006/Revelation chapters 13 and 14

GOD'S MESSAGE FOR ME TODAY
So the angel swung his sickle to the earth and gathered the clusters from the vine of the earth, and threw them into the great wine press of the wrath of God. And the wine press was trodden outside the city, and blood came out from the wine press, up to the horses' bridles, for a distance of two hundred miles. —Revelation 14:19 and 20

HOW DOES THIS APPLY TO MY LIFE?
The wrath of God is real. We must not take His patience with us for acceptance of our sins.

Copyright 2006, City Vision / John A. Mayer
You can purchase a copy of the CityView Report here.

BE IN PRAYER FOR:
THE WORLD RELIGION AND CULT/SECT/OCCULT GROUPS THAT ADVERTISE IN HOMOSEXUAL PUBLICATIONS
There are an estimated 275,000 homosexuals living in the Twin Cities. (The homosexual community themselves would claim higher estimates.)
• The Liberal Catholic Church of St. Francis, Minneapolis

Thanks From Trinidad!

How to...

For friends and family who were on the STEM team in Trinidad, scroll down to the bottom of the page and you'll be able to start from where I left off. I'll hold off from posting for a few days so that you don't have to use the "Previous Posts" section in the right hand column.

Thanks again for all of your prayers! The Lord used us all!

—b

Trinidad: Day 10

Last day in Trinidad. Brian seems to be trying to soak up as much as he possibly can.

Thanks Javed and Jen for all of your help and everything you do!

The bus is about full and TJ is saying goodbye.

End of trip but not of our Christian journey.
From STEM team #483, thanks everyone for your prayers and support!

—b

Trinidad: Day 9

Our final full day in the West Indies would be spent in Tobago. Here Chris is giving us a devotion in the airport while waiting for our plane. Chris also gave us gift from Texas..."Maggie!" (Maggie = a Trinidad version of "Made You Look")

"Here fishy, fishy, fishy! Here fishy, fishy, fishy!"


While everyone else was watching for "pretty fishes," Reggie and I placed my U.S. Soccer cap on an anchor cause I thought it might make a cool pic. It turns out it fits the way they performed at this year's World Cup. (They sank to the bottom of their group and never recovered.)

Can you spot the white people?

Tim filming his latest FBC Youth Video. It's a play on Baywatch. I'm looking forward to the end product.

Amidst filming, Tim took time to show me "Maggie."

Back on land we all got our choice of burgers, pizza, or a panini (kind of like a toasted sandwich). Chris even went above and beyond and purchased a smoothie for each one of us! Thanks again Chris.

Bri and Nicole taking advantage of some shade by getting their hair braided.

Time to fly back to Trinidad. Becca (in blue) shows me what she thinks of getting her picture taken.

Back at the church in Trinidad, FBC's youth put on a skit for "Youth Night." Later Tim would share with the group a fun message.

Despite spending the day in Tobago, some people's favorite part of the day was the worship at night. It was intense. Nothing like we've seen in America. Basically mosh-pitting for Jesus!

End of day 9.

—b

Trinidad: Day 8

Going on day 8 for Erin, Rachel and I. Day 7 for the rest of the team. It didn't matter how many days because right now, we were ALL running on fumes.

Even though were were exhausted, we always set aside some time for the Lord. Brian is taking advantage of it amidst some great sunlight and a green landscape.

After our "quiet-time", we headed back to our construction project. Absolutely no one complained! Everyone truly had a servants heart. They even stayed after quitting time in order to finish the job. (The promise of ice cream was a big motivation.) :)

The body of Christ working together. A great theme through out the trip.

Glenn and Brian taking a well deserved break. They probably would have liked to beat me for taking their picture only they were too tired to move. ;)

The same ditch diggers as day 1 of construction, Kevin (not pictured), Tim, and Reggie got to play in raw sewage; hense the masks. As I was taking the picture and not trying to breath, all I could hear was Tim cheerfully singing "Thinking of a happy smell, thinking of a happy smell."

Despite the tough work, Bri always seemed to have a smile on her face. (Especially when she is carrying 2 heavy buckets filled with wet sand and waiting for me to hurry up and take her picture.)

After finishing our construction work, eating, and showering, Brian, Tim, and Chris were reminiscing of childhood Bible songs.

Our last day of Bible Club saw a few sad faces, but for the most part the youth all had a great time singing, learning, and playing all in Jesus' name!

End of day 8.

—b

Trinidad: Day 7

Today we got to go to school. The first one was a preschool with about 100 kids and only 5 teachers! They were really well behaved as Kevin gave a Bible lesson and we sang songs. They even sang a song for us a gave us a Trini version of a pasty. We were so blessed!

Youth pastor Tim and I got a few minutes of playtime in with the Dinosaurs. Tim's intensity won. }:|

The second school was obviously older but still the youth were very considerate and polite. We found out that it doesn't matter how old the youth are, they all loved getting their pictures taken.

I'm horrible with names but this little guy had on a bandage from falling. (Don't worry, it happened before we even landed in Trinidad. No lawsuit.) Besides, I don't think he's in too much pain. :)

Here's how horrible with names I am, I can't remember the boys name but I can remember that this cow's name is Mary. It's true. She was always right outside the church where we had Bible Club.

That night we learned which attitudes to have and one's not to have concerning missions. Being broken into 3 groups, we had to present to the "mission's board" (the group of 4 on the left) why our particular missions group was the best. Alyssa is doing her best the convince the judges.

End of day 7.

—b

Trinidad: Day 6

Nearly every morning we would wake up to 5-10 minutes of downpour, then the rain would just stop. It did that about 5 times a day. It felt good after 90º heat and 70% humidity.

Our first stop of the day was an elderly home. Nope, Chris (pictured) isn't elderly, only disabled and unable to walk. While the rest of the team was in the main room singing hymns and getting to know the aged Trini's, I spent my time with him.

Just a few samples of his work with acrylic. He was very nice and interested since I do my "artwork" on a computer in America.

Ignacious, otherwise known as Blake, was just one of the 30 or so drug and alcohol rehab patients. Like all of the Trini's we met, he was very kind and touched my arm wanting to know what white skin felt like.

3:00 rolls around and it's time for Bible Club. Before it officially begins, some youth were more than anxious to show off their football skills.

Back at TTUM, we were treated to a steel pan band practice at the church. The lady pictured disguises herself as a mild-mannered cook by day, and at night is able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. (Ok, so she can't do the second part, but she sure can hammer away on the drums!)

To go along with our nightly de-briefings, Pastor Ashoke came up and gave his testimony and a memorable brief teaching. In return, we proceeded to give him a fold-out chair containing the worst football team in the NFL. (Just kidding Packer fans.) :P

End of day 6.

—b

Trinidad: Day 5

...Continuing the Trinidad de-brief.

(with a reliable internet connection.) :)

With our "relaxing" over with, it was time to start serving TTUM. Reggie, Kevin, and Tim were our designated ditch diggers. (With Kevin's wife De in the background making sure they were actually working.) ;)

Our "bloc socs" crew making custom-fit cement shoes.

The rest of us formed an oldie but goodie, bucket brigade.

After construction clean-up and lunch, we headed for "Bible Club" (VBS). We needed a little bit of help carrying Panasonic, our Arctic Edge themed Moose. (Panasonic name courtesy of Reggie.)

Where there is a digital camera, there is Trini youth!

Becca and friend making the best of Trinidad's rainy season.

After an exhausting first day of work, we were all ready for some food. (A special thanks to the cooks who "Americanized" our meals for us.)

End of day 5.

—b

Wednesday, July 5th 2006/2 John, 3 John, and Jude

GOD'S MESSAGE FOR ME TODAY
For this reason, if I come, I will call attention to his deeds which he does, unjustly accusing us with wicked words; and not satisfied with this, he himself does not receive the brethren, either, and he forbids those who desire to do so and puts them out of the church.—3 John 1:10

HOW DOES THIS APPLY TO MY LIFE?
I like the fact that John will confront the man (Demetrius) who is slandering him and fellow believers. John isn't going to talk behind Demetrius' back or avoid him but confront him face to face not using a letter to do it. John even lets Demetrius know ahead of time since Demetrius will know doubt read or hear about John's promise.

We need to confront those who slander us with love, respect, and boldness. Face to face if possible. And no gossip or bad mouthing.

Copyright 2006, City Vision / John A. Mayer
You can purchase a copy of the CityView Report here.

BE IN PRAYER FOR:
THE WORLD RELIGION AND CULT/SECT/OCCULT GROUPS THAT ADVERTISE IN HOMOSEXUAL PUBLICATIONS
There are an estimated 275,000 homosexuals living in the Twin Cities. (The homosexual community themselves would claim higher estimates.)
• The First Unitarian Society of Minneapolis, Minneapolis