In the USA

Just a quick update to let everyone know that group 1 has made it to Miami and we are getting ready to enjoy our 4 hour layover. See you all soon!

A.J. Viola
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Last Day Rap

We had a great day living it up in Antigua. We stepped up our highlight rap from last year. It was a big challenge but we pulled off the first three sections before the lemonade workers shut us down. Check it out:

Previous Pictures from this week

Hope you liked them! :)

Love Hallie and Lauren

Green Day!

Hallie and Lauren here. Writing the blog again tonight because the boys have declared themselves lazy...

To start off the day we went to the ghetto for the last time. We saw many of the kids we had been hanging out with all week and were very sad to say goodbye. After a long, long prayer we broke into three groups; dishwashers (Eman and Jennifer H.), kid helpers (Lauren, Nate, and Dean), and paint removers for our big project of the day (Hallie, Tanner, AJ, Caroline, and Jen C.). Todd was overseer of all.

Dishwashing for almost two hours, Eman and Jennifer talked LOTS about the ghetto and how the future of its inhabitants will unfold. A myriad of dirty cups, bowls, silverware, buckets, and even the kitchen sink were washed by these two incredible dishwashers! Eman felt like an old man with gray hair and wrinkled fingers afterward.

Lauren, Dean and Nate hung out in Lucia's classroom for the morning class. Lauren hung out with Diana and she showed her all her school work that she had accomplished. Dean played matching bingo with two Limon students. Nate played "Where's Waldo?" with the rest of the students.

Tanner, AJ, Carolina, Jen C., and Hallie were assigned to start the project that would eventually take all the students help to accomplish; painting both Limon's door... inside and out and the rod iron bars on the window. To begin the painting we had to scrape all of the old paint off first. This task was tedious and a lot of work for little result. We spent an hour scraping before giving up and wiping the door down with water.

Finally the morning class let out and we grabbed the BRIGHT lime green paint and began the two hour paint job. Caroline and Jen C. went upstairs to Miarita's classroom to paint shapes in the bathroom and stripes on the outside wall of the bathroom. Hallie, Lauren, Tyler, Todd, and Tanner were painting the first door and the window. AJ, Nate, and Dean started scraping the second door. OIL BASED PAINT WAS A BAD IDEA!! Quick drying, thick, and permanent (especially in Tanner's beard), it proved to be a real challenge to get it all done. Hallie and Todd were on the inside of the first door, with it shut, painting the back. They knew they had been exposed to the fumes too long when Todd exclaimed; "I think I smelled it drip!" and they both proceeded to laugh for 10 mins while everyone else looked at them like they were high...

We finished painting the first door and Aj, Nate, and Dean had finished scraping the second and began painting. The window was almost halfway done.
We finally got the job done eventually and felt very proud of our work.

We ate lunch in the car on the way to Campo de Marte to play futbol (soccer) and basketball with the muchachos and Shorty :). Gringos (White people) and Chapinos (Guatemalan guys) tied the game of basketball. For soccer, they Chapinos gave us a break and made the teams equal (some of both on each). Team 1: Shorty, Eddie, Todd, Hallie, Dean, Eman, and Tyler (sub). Team 2: Tanner, Nate, AJ, and the rest of the chapinos. Team 1 won thanks to Eddie, chapino numero uno! Afterward Todd bought all the amigos, including us, Shucolos (dirties). mmm delicioso!

We got home, showered, ate refried beans with eggs and tomatoes and got ready to go to Cafe Barista. The coffee was very good and we learned about the guys with the guns in every parking lot... :) dont worry! they are for OUR protection!

That's all for tonight! We will write tmrw after Antigua! We love you! And Dios los bendiga! Translate THAT!

P.S.- View our pics from the week so far!

Day Cinco!

Hola amigos! We back, We safe, No worries yo, we going to get coffee, or a cup of joe, write mo later that's foe sho.

PEACE

( read as a rap )

Wednesday!!

Greetings from Guatemala!! This is Hallie writing because Todd went to play ultimate frisbee with a disc he is convinced is an antique.... typical Toddifer...

Today we went back to Limon and hung out all day with the older kids :) ages ranged from 11 to 15. In the morning class we played a fun game where all the kids circled up and the person in the center would leave for a moment while the rest of us decided who to follow. Then they would enter the room again and try to guess who the leader was! Very entertaining for all! Lots of laughs and smiles from kids and adults! Then we did a bible study with the kids about forgiveness which is something they really need to understand according to the teachers at Limon. We heard testimonies from Nate and Monica (a Limon teacher) and then broke into small groups; boys and girls. We read the bible and became closer to the kids through our own stories and experiences as well as their own.

After the morning kids left our group of 12 cleaned the whole school! All three floors! We swept and mopped and cleaned the windows while the teachers were in a workshop which felt amazing! Helping them clean the place where they work all the time and better these kids lives felt like a job well done!

After cleaning we ate lunch and then began our home visits. Today we would cross the Limon-Mandarina line. We split into two groups to accomplish this. One group went to see Emerson and Arnold Contreras' house (Hallie and Todd's sponsor kids) and Luis Menchu's house (AJ's sponsor child). Both experiences were very eye opening and heart felt. :)

We all got home safe and sound with some ice cream in our bellies! Thanks Todd! Will write more later and hopefully add some pictures! Hasta Luego!

ps- HEY MOM AND DAD. from lauren. haha.

Wednesday

We are back from the ghetto. More later. Everyone is stoked about the
skype call home in an hour.

Guat-e-maler

Dear Diary,
Today was like TOTALLY a bueno dia! We spent the day chillin' w/some amigos en La Esuelita Limon. We made like the cutest EVERRRRR!!! The kids were SO cute! After making bracelets w/los chicos pocos we went to the futbol field to jugar some futbol.

After we got back we ate lunch and I was like SO hungry like oh my gosh lol rofl!!!!:) PB&J for the win!

Despues de almuerza we went to our home visits. Dean, Tanner, Me, Jennifer C, Hallie, and AJ went to visit Dean sponsor kid. La chica de Dean se llama Andrea and she lives with her abuela during the day while her mother works. Dean's child's face lit up when he gave her the gifts he had for her and she started to cry while he was holding.

We met Tanner's chica (se llama Rosario) at the school in the afternoon. Rosario and Tanner both were smiling from ear to ear as Rosario abrio los regalos de Tanner. The joy was very apparent on both their faces.

Lauren, Todd, Tyler, E-man, Jen H, and Caroline went to visit Lauren's 2 sponsor kids. Se llaman Diana y Sharon. Diana's house was just 1 big room w/5 beds all smashed together for 7 people total to sleep in.

Sharon lives with her parents y su hermano con su abuela in a 2 story house. "She was beautiful....she was so gorgeous," says Lauren.

So basically today was like UBERLY AWESOME and we def made an impact on the kids and they definitely made an impact on us as well.

Manana vamos a reportar mas noticias para sus chicos y chicas en la Carolina Norte.

Love,
Nathan Bruce Seaman
Reporting Student Extraordinaire

PS Si no sabes unas palabras que en espanol y eres un gringo aqui es un link de un sitio web que puede traducir para ti..... http://translate.google.com/#en|es|

Monday Day 1

Day 1 was awesome. We played soccer almost all day and had some great moments with the kids. We closed the day with a group gathering and shared wins. Meeting sponsor kids, playing with the kids, awesome hugs, team safety and unity as a team have all been great. We were moved by the level of poverty and can't wait to get back to the ghetto tomorrow to hang with the smaller classes. We will be continuing all week ministering to the Limon school and are excited about some unique opportunities that will provide. We are planning out a bible study to use with the older students on Wednesday. Then bed. More info tomorrow.

Please pray individually for our team as we enter day two
Orange: Caroline, Dean, Jen, Todd
Purple: Hallie, Jen, Nate, Tanner
Yellow: AJ, Eman, Lauren, Tanner

World Cup Day 1

We are out of the ghetto. Chowing on dinner. Mas info later

Good Morning Guatemala

We are all up and getting ready to go. Here's a shot of the purple
crew fixin' us all lunch for the day.

We're here!!!!!!!!

After a long plane ride and hearing allll about the food that group 1
got to eat in business class, we are finally here! Tita and Ronnie
drove us to the house and since it's winter it started raining!!
Question: who brought rain jackets? Answer: NO ONE!! :) how about a
rain dance? We exchanged our money and now we are about to go grocery
shopping. More updates later! - Hallie and Lauren

Flying First Class

Living it up up front... (plus Nate and Emmanuel)

Second Class Crew

We are chilling in the back of the plane while the other group is
blessed to be all the way up front.

"Welcome To Miami" - Will Smith

Landed safe and sound in Miami. Guatemala here we come. We all missed
you at church this morning!!! - Todd

Leaving for Miami :)

Raleigh to Miami

We are in the Raleigh airport getting ready to board the first leg of our flight to Guatemala. Everyone is pretty tired, but we are all very excited for what God is going to do in us and through us.

A.J. Viola
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Leaving In The Morning

I just finished packing. Only a few hours left before we leave for Guatemala. Hope the rest of you are in bed sleeping because 5AM at the airport comes pretty early! - Todd

Only 2 days left until the High School Mission Trip 2010 - GUATEMALA

Please be praying for our team of 9 high schoolers and 3 adults as we prepare for a challenging week serving in one of the largest urban slums in Central America, La Lemonada. We will be posting updates of our trip all next week. - Todd

MS Camp & HS Mission Camp 2010

About this time a week ago 33 of us were 4 days into one of those "mountain top" experiences like Matthew 17 where we felt closer to God and to each other than we had just a few short days ago. This time last week I was headed to a youth pastor's meeting where we shared with each other the weeks victories and defeats. Last week students from our ministry took big steps in their faith. For some it was releasing a burden they had been carrying to a leader who could pray for them and allow God to begin to heal them. For others it was an appreciation of health in contrast to the kids we served through mission camp. For some it was the unity that had developed amongst peers that were previously disconnected. Some students were moved by songs like "Lose it all" and "We All" and decided to swap the music they jam in their headphones from songs that dragged them down to songs that lifted God up. Others totally surrendered their lives to Christ and asked for Him to make their dead bodies alive in Him.

I am sure that once home some students shared every moment with their parents sparing no details while others left their parents wondering if their child had even gone. Rest assured that every student left changed in some way whether they express it or not. Something impacted them. At the end of that youth pastor's meeting the speaker David Rhodes shared that he wanted to celebrate and encourage those students who are connected to Christ but maybe don't feel like their journey has amounted to anything yet. He wanted them to know that although we may feel like the seemingly worthless biblical character Epaphroditus we read about in Philippians 2, our devotion to remain in God's love and be faithful with the little things is worthy of celebration even if those around us think it is pointless. That is just what we did in a big way. I can say that David's message that night, the worship time that followed and the time our kids spent encouraging each other and me later that night was a highlight of my week.

To all my fellow campers: Thanks for all the awesome moments of brokenness, excitement, laughter and celebration that you allowed me to be a part of. Thanks for being patient with each other as we navigated the treacherous paths of relationships and thanks for not judging me as I walked around camp singing "Oh-Oh-Oh-Oh..."

To all the parents: Thanks for trusting us with your most valuable possession. I pray that your children with live lives passionately connected with Christ as a result of every event, phone call and conversation that we as youth leaders are blessed to be a part of. Thanks for your patience and support as we attempt to partner with you to draw your kids closer to Christ.

In Him,
Todd

PS: If you want to stay connected this summer, check out the Wednesday Bible Study we are hosting at the Hub. Go to www.ignitedyouth.com and then click the Bible Study link for more details.

My Favorite Part of Student Life 2010

So, the trip is over and everyone is home and I'm not even sure this blog will get checked again until the next trip we go on, but I felt compelled to share my favorite moment from student life camp.

On Thursday night after a huge celebration service we went back to our church group time and began to discuss the fact that we were leaving to go home the next day. What happened next was amazing, all of our students began to discuss ways, very practical ways, that they could continue to live out their faith once they got home, back into the real world. They realized that it is easy to live out their faith at a Christian camp where you can walk up to people and say "Fist bump for Jesus!" but back in the real world, at school, at work, or even at home that doesn't always fly. The rest of the world doesn't respond the same way. So the students came up with all these practical ways they could live out their faith, it was like a huge brainstorming session and while they were discussing Todd began writing down all their ideas. They asked themselves the question "why not me, why not now?"

I can't wait to hear about how these words on this board turn into real, tangible actions.

A.J. Viola
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Red Rumble!

Here's a shot of the Red Rumble team that our middle schoolers were a part of this week. This is just after our activity time where Brett, our team leader leads us in a devotional. These activity times have been some of the most apparent times where I've seen our middle schoolers bond and become united. It has been a really cool time.

A.J. Viola
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Last night's worship

Here is a pic of Rush of Fools rocking out as we prepared to learn how
God calls us to RELATE to Him and each other. Why not me? Why not now?

Camp day 4

Just getting ready for the last full day of camp. Found four girls
waiting to go to quiet time. Apparently it doesn't feel good to get
poked in the eye... -Todd

Twins

Todd and Molly did not plan to be twins today, but you know what they say about great minds. Not sure if that applies here, but here ya go.

A.J. Viola
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Middle school guys!

Here's the middle school guys out in front of the wake forest university cafeteria before our soaked activity day.

A.J. Viola
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Rush of Fools

Here's a quick, blurry peak of Rush of Fools leading worship this morning.

A.J. Viola
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Camp Day 3

Student Life 2010 Day 2 Wrap Up

Wow! What a day. Today was filled with worship, teaching and heat, more specifically sweat (at least for the middle school guys group). While the high schoolers were at their mission sites the middle schoolers hit the fields for recreation time. We played all kinds of games that were focused on team building, it was great. Our recreation time tomorrow is called soaked, so I guess you can imagine what that means, yup, no hope whatsoever of not getting wet. So that should be exciting!
After dinner and the 2nd fire alarm that went off in the girls dorms (nothing serious I promise) we headed to a really powerful time of worship and a message that connected with everyone listening, not just the students. Some tears were shed and emotions were high, but most of all the spirit of God was alive in that place. God's presence was present and the room was filled with music and prayer. It was awesome to see these students respond to God. Lifepointe's mission is to help people connect with God, I can promise you, students did tonight.
So after Eddie leading us in some individual and group trust falls, we are in our rooms and going to try to get some sleep for another long, but exciting day. Peace.

A.J. Viola
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Camp Day 2

We just finished up dinner and are getting ready for our small group
Bible studies. We are going to explore Ephesians 2:8-9 & Acts 3:19 and
ask ourselves what we need to REPENT from to grow toward God. Just thought I would attach a picture of the chapel we are having worship in so you could get a feel for the campus. The girls dorm is just to the right of the chapel and the dining hall and guys dorm are both behind me. -Todd

Mission camp lunch break

The high schoolers have been working hard cleaning toys and chairs,
stuffing envelopes and filing papers at an amazing childrens center
for physically disabled kids. We took a break to eat lunch and play
some spoons. Back to main camp this afternoon to join the rest of the
crew. It's great to see these teens living out 1 John 3:16.

Camp day 2

We starting to get into the routine of camp. Already had breakfast,
quiet times and fit in a little ultimate frisbee. Reading Zechariah
1:3 and asking what do we need to RETURN from as we run back to our
God who never left us?

Student Life Camp: End of Day 1

A.J. here. It's 11:45PM and all of the middle and high school boys are actually in their beds with lights out, surprised? Me too! it's been a crazy day so far, from sun and heat to monsoon like rains, but their is no doubt that God is moving in this place. I'm excited to see how God works in the lives of these students this week, as well as in me. I will mostly be hanging out with the middle school guys, so my posts may seem pretty random, but it should be fun.

A.J. Viola
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Monday - Camp Day 1

Thirty three excited students and leaders made it safe and sound to Wake Forest University today for the start of Student Life Camp 2010. Rush of Fools are some great musicians who love the Lord and David Rhodes is doing a great job connecting the Word with our everyday lives. Can't wait to see how we all RESPOND to the message. If you want to follow the study we are doing here, read Micah 6:8 and ask yourself how you will respond to God's call.
- Todd