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Virginia Beach 2012

June 29th 2012
Pastor E

I think I speak on everyones behalf when I say.....WOW, what an amazing week it has been!! I can also say that we are all ready to get back home. Yesterday was an awesome day at Busch Gardens....it was about 99 degrees out and the humidity was on the loose......it did however make the water rides feel that much better :) It was a long day that began with a few  roller coasters, a few shows, ice cream, games and ended with a night of pizza hut (what could be better). We saw a few students (and leaders) stare fear right between the eyes on some of the more difficult coasters and watched the priceless look on another as he tosses a small ring on a bottle top to win the biggest stuffed animal in the park (Baxter). Our night came to a close with a powerful message from Curt on hearing God when He speaks to us. It was a great day and there were no issues with lights out......everyone was dead tired.

Today was all about closing out, cleaning up, and finishing up any last minute jobs. A few leaders went to the RPAD site to finish up the booths and another group to "Dales" to finish the final touch ups on his shed. the majority of the crew was at the church cutting trees, laying mulch, cleaning up, and getting things ready for redeployment. After all was completed it was a Slushee run at 7-11 and it was off to the beach for one last time! It was 103 degrees today and the sand was so hot you ran to the water just to find relief. Once the failed "ducky" race was over and the Cammo team was crowed the water filing pipe chapions.....it was a hot game of volleyball....we will all miss the beach :(

Dinner was hot dogs and leftovers with a birthday suprise for Anne and Jordan (sweet 16)..Happy Birthday ladies! This was followed up with Curts final message :All In"......powerful challenge to the youth and to the leaders! And what better way to wrap up our time here in Virginia Beach..FIREWORKS.....thats right, we headed down to the beach to catch Ocean Views big 4th of July kick-off fireworks display......aaa, ewwww, ohhhhhh..!! We said our good byes to Curt and his family and it was lights out!!

The youth have been absolutely amazing this week......I cant ever remember leading such a large group of youth (42) on an outing!! With all of the awesome leaders and a back up staff here at OVCRC, this week went better than we could ever planned on paper!! A big THANK YOU to the leaders....you guys/gals ROCK!!

So......our bags are packed and ready to go, and we will be departing Va Bch around 8am.......pending traffic and any delays we should be in Grand Rapids around 11pm or so. We will give the youth their cell phones about 2 hours out so that they can call home.

Well thats it from the beach for now.........we miss everyone and will be home soon!! Love form all of us to YOU!!

Please pray for ssafe travels!!

Pastor E


June 27th 2012 @ 2137
written by Anne L, Jordan G, Sarah H, Mariajose G, Kailee N, Megan S, Lexie VS
Hola! This morning we had the opportunity to make and eat a delightful dish of French toast. Spliting off for devotions, some of us went to the beach while others stayed in the comfort of the church. Anne, Sarah, Mariajose, and Jordan ventured out to the night club where we party-rocked the paint onto the walls and mold off the floor.  The painting party began when Anne got crazy with the paint and attacked Jordan.  Soon there was more paint on bodies then on the walls, but have no fear, the walls still got painted. Kailee, Megan, and Lexie started the battle with the gigantic pile of brush at Zion Grace Church. The lovely people there treated our team to delectable muffins, cookies, brownies, and refreshments. There was so much food it was a wonder we got all our work done. We got to swing by the neighborhood dump to get rid of the brush. An inconsiderate dump truck driver almost demolished Megan with a flying television. We barely made it out alive. There was a massive prank war that got kinda got out of hand, but that's a different story. Brian squeled at the sight of a deadly brush snake. Upon arriving back to Ocean View CRC, many people walked to the beach to swim and sit in the sunshine.  Others stayed back to take naps and showers.  We ate pulled pork and chicken sandwhiches 'southern style.'  We then heard Kurt fabulous speech on freedom in chaos.  He is a very good speaker and easy to listen to and understand.  We greatly appreciate our former 'Lion.'  We then headed down to the beach to play or watch whiffleball.  After that game finished we were attacked by flying water balloons from Brian and Chris.  Mariajose even got hit right in the gut! Ouch!  But it was all in good fun.  Worked hard today and cannot wait to play hard tomorrow.  Thanks for the thoughts and prayers!
SHOUTOUTS FROM
Anne: Hi mom and dad! Having a BLAST and time is flying by! Luv ya!
Jordan: Hello mother and father, mother my stuff is a mess, just warning you.  Nick, I possibly might miss you, and Daisy and Lilly I miss you!!!
Sarah: hola parental figures. miss you. love you. see you when i get home :)
Mariajose: Thank you Friendship Church for all your support and prayers! I miss you, Bev!
Megan: Hello family! Aly, I hope you have found a substitute sister for the week to keep ya entertained ;) and will see you all soon, I love ya.
Kailee: Mom, you bought a lame air mattress. It lasted two nights. Over and out.
Lexie is alive.
Peace out girlscout and boys.


June 26, 2012 @ 2300
written by Nicole and Sarah C.

Hey guys! Nicole and Sarah here writting about our amazing time in Virginia!  This week has been spectacular, Sarah and I have had a wonderful time getting to know each other and other people. Today we just had a half day of work, which was rather nice. Then we got to go down to Virginia Beach to go shopping. Yes, only shopping.. -.- WE WANTED TO GO SWIMMING but NO. Half our group just wanted to shop.. in like 20 different stores that all have the same thing... Although, Sarah did get a pretty sick skimboard(;  & Nicole got a T-shirt for her wonderful brother (: 
We are super excited to go to Busch Gardens and ride every roller coaster 9847983 times. :D yayyyy!
Tomorrow we will be working all day at the R-Pad, but we are really upset because our group leader Brian ditched us! :'( & now we have to be stuck with Chris.. But at least Chris is a better driver(: (except when he almost rear ended Brian on Sunday...) In exactly 6 hours and 46 minutes Sarah and I will be getting up to go swimming with some of the others. While everyone else is sleeping.. Guess we are just that crazy.  We WILL be rocking our awesome one pieces though!! Alright well we are 40 minutes past lights out so I guess we should let you go! Good night family and friends <3




June 26, 2012 @ 2155
Written by Nolan & Tara

Hey! Nolan & Tara here, writting about our experience so far. First, it is hot here. Yesterday was 97 degrees with 97% humitity. Yea, and we had to work during it. We got used to it though. It was a lot cooler today. So, today! Our team went back to the night club and we cleared the parking lot and painted inside. It's so awsome to help out the community here. After 3 long hours of work this morning, we went to Virgina Beach. It was super nice and hot, and we had free time to eat and hang out and SHOP!!. It was a blast. We got back to our church and ate a delecious dinner. Then we listened to an awesome message by Kurt Aines about how important it is to take a time out. Then we had free time which I (Nolan) owned Tara in kemps. I'm actually wearing my crown right now. Tara lossed her sweatshirt, and after an hour long monkey-in-the-middle game with the leaders, Alexia made the all-star catch and got it back. HOORAY! We're pretty tired after a long day of work, but excited to be here. So far, we have been having a blast and are pumped for the next few days. We're off to bed, so bye and we hope your having as much fun as we are.

(your not   ;)  )


June 26, 2012 @ 2155
Written by KC and Ashley

Hello Michiganders! Hope the weather is nice it's very HOT here, with some wind here and there. Today was a very fun day!!! It started off with a great breakfast, which was eggs, sausage, tator-tots :) Which KC had a ton of! Then we headed off to do our devotions and got prepared for the message at night which Curt Anes would talk about. Off to the worksites next!! KC attempted to build a shed but things didn't go as planned because parts were missing and it wasn't opened in about a year! Ashley stayed at the church and did lots of painting (thanks for teaching me dad! hehe) we had lots of fun! Our work day ended early because we were going to VIRGINIA BEACH!!!!!!! We had some left over pizza and were given our phones back and we were off. KC and Ashley and a the crash van filled with many others and some pretty awesome leaders made it to the beach. We had about 3 hours to walk around the boardwalk and do what we wanted! The leaders gave us money to buy lunch or whatever we wanted! Many of you probably heard from your kids and were happy about that, we were too. We went back to the church for dinner and were a little late but that ok becaue we had an amazing dinner with bbq chicken and sweet corn! Yumm :) We finished our amazing dinner and heard a powerful message from Curt! Then of course we had free time or basically known as shower time! Tomorrow KC will be trying to build the shed again and Ashley will be working at the Ministrey Center. We are so excited for tomorrow and very happy to go to Busch Gardens on Thursday! Thanks for all your prayers and support we are having an amazing time! KC  and Ashley both thanks and love their parents for this oppurtunite! WE LOVE YOU!!!!! Until next time cya!!

June 26th 2012 @ 2021
By Shari Bultsma

A day in the life of a youth group leader...I just have to start by saying we have the best youth group kids.  I have never seen such hard working kids.  I have been working at the ministry center the last 2 days with a group of 21 kids and 2 other leaders, and will be going back tomorrow with 14 kids and Sallie.  It has been so much fun getting to know the kids, they have all been so willing to do what is asked of them and more, we have some serious work-horses in this group.  They have hearts larger than life.  Don't get me wrong, we work hard but I have never laughed so hard in my life, and I will never look at a yellow car the same way.  Thanks for allowing us to spend this week with your kids, I am so blessed to be a part of it.  Thanks for all your prayers, they are definitely felt.
Shari Bultsma


June 25, 2012 at 5:27pm
written by Haley Ritsema, Allyson Dykstra, Spencer Hondorp, and Kristen Dykstra
 
Greetings from Virgina Beach...notice how Virginia was spelled wrong? For that is how it is spelled on our shirts. We still like our shirts though. It's a good conversation starter. Anyway, today was the first day we went on our worksites. Kristen and Haley went to Zion Grace Church and helped chop down basically an entire forest.  You can be assured that pictures will be on facebook for you to see. Or somewhere. Kristen had quite thee experience learning how to use a chainsaw. She climbed up an iffy 18 foot ladder and cut off a huge tree branch. She felt pretty manly after that [: Spencer had a grand time cutting trees. He likes to cut trees a lot. After everyone was working for a while it was finally lunch time. There was a pleasant surprise waiting for them. People at the church made lemonade, muffins, and bought CHEESECAKE!!!! Thanks to them, lunch was sublime.  Allyson went to the RPAD center, where all the booths were ripped up and the teams are now in the middle of making new ones. Which was really fun, because they got to use a ton of man tools. And listen to Christian rap...ALL DAY LONG. Needless to say, they weren't real big fans. 

Later that day, after getting back from the worksites, almost everyone went to the beach, where we 'tried' to play some hardcore volleyball.  Boy Genius Spencer, being the genius that he is, was the only one able to figure out how to put up the net. The beach experience was cut short due to a tremendous thunderstorm. It poured elephants and giraffes. Haley and Allyson, seeing that the marvel that it was, could not resist but to go outside and run around.  It was a blastyblast.  We got drenched.  And now it is time to eat...TACOS!!!!!! so this blog must be ending now. We are having fun. Mmkay bye!   





25 June 2012 0645am
Written by Pastor Eric 

Good morning parents and friends........well, the first day of our work schedule begins and it was an early start (6am). The youth will be divided into thier teams and will head off to one or more of our projects. looks like today will be another HOT one, in the 90's with the humidity sitting at 97%. But dont fret....the youth will be drinking lots and lots of water and the leaders will be extra sensative to the heat conditions. Sitting around the breakfast table this morning the youth are all excited and ready to get started....they are in great spirits despite the early bugle call and it should be a great day!!

The youth have been awesome these past couple of days.......they have shown great patience, have awesome attitudes, and have all gotten along ready together really well. Not expecting anything less for the next couple of days as they work together at our job sites. Ocean View has been awesome as well......we have eaten some great food and we have juat about everything a person could need on a serve trip.

We wish everyone there a blessed day and we will try and get some pictures posted thie evening when we get back. Thanks for your continued prayers....we miss you all and send all of our love. From Va Bch Va the "SERVE CREW"

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24 June 2012 10:15 PM

Written by Brittany Zuidema and Megan Wierenga!!

Good evening....well today has been humid and hot day but we had the privilage to worship with Ocean View Christian Reform Church.  After the church service we ate a delicious pot luck lunch with the members of the church.  Then we packed into the vans and headed to our work sites.  These are some of the bigger projects that we will be working on this week....

1. Zion Grace Church- has a new pastor coming in and the church need some paint and outdoor yard work.  There main focus is on outreach to the community.  Some pray requests are for younger members to join, outreach to grow and for new pastor and his big leadership role.
2.  R-PAD was our next stop where we meet Moses who is a Christian Rapper.  It was an old bowling ally which is being transformed into a outreach to youth who are full of anger, violence, gangs and drop outs.  Also there are many teen pregnancies.  They offer after school and summer programs, food programs, biblical principles and life skills.  We will be building booths and other construnction work.
3.  The last and final stop was a very bad night club being turned into a ministry center by Pastor Cheeks and his team of 12.  They will be offering barber shop training, consignment shop, coffee shop, legal aid, counseling, and pre-school programs.  We will be helping out in many areas.  Including weeding, painting, cleaning and many more things.

When we got to all these sites we surrounded the building in prayer. The Pastors were really passionate about what they are doing and it was really neat to see what they are doing to further the kingdom of God in broken communities.  We have tons of work ahead of us but we are all excited to see what God has in plan for the rest of the week!

23 June 2012 10:00 PM

(Written by Pastor Tim)

I just received a call from Pastor Eric. The team has made it safely to Virginia Beach after a very long trip. The team arrived almost four hours later than expected due to stand still traffic around Washington D.C. On account of this delay and due to a low speed fender bender that one of the vans was in while in this traffic (everyone involved in the fender bender is absolutely fine), the team had to eliminate their earlier planned stop in Washington. The van sustained some minor damage, but it is fully able to be driven. Everyone is very thankful there were no further issues.

Prayer requests:

1. Please take a moment to thank God for their safe arrival despite the delay and this minor accident.
2. Pray also that the team can rest well this evening, especially the leaders who didn’t have the opportunity to sleep along the way.
3. Praise God for the wonderful reception and hospitality given by Oceanview CRC.
4. Pray that God would give the team strength, energy and passion to lead the worship service at Oceanview tomorrow, and that Pastor Eric would be refreshed and ready to proclaim God’s Word.
5. Pray also that as the team visits each of the work sites tomorrow they could have good interaction with those they will be serving.

The team thanks you for your prayers, and covets your ongoing prayers as they eagerly await Monday morning to begin their work.

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23 June 2012 0845
Good morning to all.......well we look a bit rough but we made it through the night :) We are n Somerset PA having breakfast and stretching the old legs. The evening went very well, not much traffic and the weather is awesome. This is the half way point of the trip we only have about 3 hours before we reach Washington DC......from there its onto Virginia Beach in anot 3 hours. Everyone is doing great, high spirits, lots of laughs and excited to get started. Please keep us in your prayers as we finish our drive today and we will post more when we get a chance....Blessings :) Love from all of us to all of you <3 "the SERVE Crew"
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T-MINUS 15hrs 15min 10sec

After several months of planning and a whole lot of prayer, our SERVE trip is in sight!! We ask that our crew will be in your prayers today as we finish final preparations, complete our packing, and load everything up. Please pray for safe travels and a fun trip. Also be in prayer for the communities we will be working in and that God will open up heart and eyes our awesome youth of Friendship CRC share the good news of Jesus Christ through what they do and what they say!! We will keep you updated wth more posts and pictures as we the days go on......Blessings from the SERVE CREW!! PE

"The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners" Isa. 61:1

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Virginia Beach SERVE 2012

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