Deep...

The team arrived back in the U.S. Thursday evening after flights through Santo Domingo and San Juan. It's so hard to describe the experience God led us through in Haiti... We were overwhelmed on many fronts throughout the trip. Watching the Haitian people smile in the midst of the extreme difficulty of their condition gave testimony to their resilience. Smelling the stench, witnessing the poverty, driving by hundreds of collapsed buildings, forced our team to wrestle with our ability to make any difference. The fact is we can't, but God can through our obedience to smile back, offer a hug, play a game, ask their name. God can change lives, transform hearts and redeem a culture. Do we believe? How can we come along side His plan for Haiti and 9 million people who are suffering? We're still asking and have more questions than answers. Thanks for all your prayers. The team is physically healthy but emotionally still processing many experiences gained from the DR and Haiti.

Now we are hosting several high school students at KBM's second annual Deep Camp at Bethel College in northern Indiana. Tonight we welcome the group and Dwight Robertson challenged them with the message of Kingdom Laborership. The Experience Team is doing a great job leading and engaging the students. Please pray that God's presence if felt and His Holy Spirit convicts hearts. This week's five-day journey for these students could be the time God wants to transform their lives for His Kingdom purposes! We'll keep you posted! (The pic is from the first night at Deep Camp.)

Heading to Haiti Tomorrow

At 7:00 AM, the team boards an international bus line for transport from Jarabacoa, DR through Santo Domingo and into Port-au-Prince. Were toting hundreds of pounds of donated hygiene and health supplies to give to the people of Haiti at the quake's epicenter near Leogane. We don't know all of the opportunities that God will is leading us into, but we do know He is leading. The team just spent more time in prayer tonight, praising God for the work He's already done through us during our time here in the DR and laying before Him the next 8 days we'll be spending in Haiti.

We know God is at work in the hearts of these people who've lost so much. Please pray that we'll be the most willing and obedient servants as we engage children and families living in tent cities in Leogane. Pray that the power and love of Christ shines so brightly through us. The team is a little nervous but also very excited to see what God does. Thanks for being part of our larger team of prayer warriors. God is moving through your prayers!

Majaguita...

Thursday afternoon the team piled out of the bus alongside a mountain road. "Here we are!" Matt (our Escuela Caribe guide) said. We unloaded our luggage and began hiking down a broken stone and concrete trail. Ten minutes later we arrived in a small, beautiful, valley community called Majaguita...

For two days we engaged with them, looking for ways to share God's love with them however we could. The community leader, Julito, is a man who loves Jesus and was very excited to welcome us into his life--this somehow preserved little corner of the world.

We played basketball, baseball and volleyball with the kids and young adults of the community (all you need is a ball!). We tried to speak to them as much as we could, digging as deep into our Spanish archives as we could. We swam in the river with them, shot the rapids (without an inner tube), led VBS activities and prayed for them.

Friday night we were invited by Julito to share the Gospel message with the community. Matt did a great job translating. We incorporated a simple drama visual of John 3:16. The people listened and watched intently. Afterwards we hung out around a fire and talked...

Saturday morning we asked Esperanza (the wonderful person who cooked our food for us) if they had often had groups like us come. She said they had never had a group that engaged the community so quickly and effectively. Then she said something super encouraging. She said she knew the message she shared with our mouths was real b/c she saw us living it with our lives. Wow. Praise God!

There are so many more stories to tell, but that's it for now... The team reached a new level of intimacy through our experience in Majaguita. It's neat to see God working and using willing vessels to impact the world around us!

This morning (Sunday) we are leading a worship service back at Escuela Caribe. The team is stepping up in new ways. Please pray that God speaks through us into the hearts and lives of the staff and students of this community. Thank you!

In Jarabacoa Dominican Republic

Sorry you haven’t heard from us for a few days!   We arrived on Monday Night at Escuela Caribe in Jarabacoa, Dominican Republic.

 

Escuela Caribe is a boarding school from high-risk American Teenagers and we have an opportunity to impact them with the love of Christ along side the staff members here who pour into them everyday.

 

Since Monday Night, Foster Christy (a KBM speaker) was here with us and taught us about Walking in the Holy Spirit and Shattering Strongholds of sin in our lives.  Last night we had a great group prayer time of confession and healing as a whole team.  Foster left this morning to go back to the States.

 

This morning we woke up and went on a great hike.  We boulder hopped up a river and swam under waterfalls.  Casi, one of the girls on the team did it all with a cast on her arm (she didn’t swim, just waded and sat in the water).  We had an physically exhausting BLAST of a good time.   We just finished lunch and are leaving in about 30 minutes to spend the next few days in a Dominican Community called Majaguita.   We will be doing some physical labor on some projects there and tomorrow morning and Saturday morning we will be leading VBS for about 100-150 kids that live in the area.   We will be sleeping in the community and will NOT have internet access (which has been spotty here, that is why we haven’t written anything in a few days).  We’ll communicate when we get back on Saturday with more info and pictures.

 

Please be praying for our time in Majaguita!

 

Also, pray for the team.  We are growing together and God is using us each and collectively to touch the lives of kids and students.  Pray that we will all be growing and developing into Kingdom Laborers.

 

Finally, if any of you have signed up for the daily email with our posts to this blog and our TLI tweets, we just noticed this morning that that email was not going out for some reason.  We will try to correct that when we return on Saturday.

 

Blessings to you all,

 

The Experience Team from Jarabacoa, DR

 

 

The First Week

This past week we have been learning about Gods abiding love and how much he loves us. We have been looking deeper into what it means to have an intimate relationship with God. One of the main core values at KBM is the number one command that God has given us, “Love God with all our being and to love those around us”.

So far we have gone through intense training getting a picture of what this looks like at the same time putting this love into action going on dates with God, engaging down town Denver with a prayer walks, and meeting with God in several different ways. God is continually to meeting us and revealing his love to us, as a group and individually.
   

As we wrap up this week of teaching, we will be teaching the students about the passion it takes to keep loving God and People.  We are focusing on interpreting and obeying the Bible today and on loving others through ministry and evangelism tomorrow.  

    

Keep praying that every class, every experience, every interaction will continue to have deep life-transforming impact on each of the students.

In The next few days we are gearing up and continuing training as we head to the Dominican Republic on Monday morning!

Thank you for all your prayers!

KBM Staff