What I Did On My Summer Vacation Part 1: The Non-Artist-y Stuff

Hi all!  I've been taking a blog break this summer to be able to enjoy the activities we had planned without feeling guilty about not blogging, and now I am back and ready to catch you up on what I've been up to.

• The summer started with Zach graduating from High School in May.  I can't believe how fast things went - one moment he was 8 and the next he was 18 and then he was ready for college!  

• Two weeks after graduation Shawn and I, along with 15 other youth mentors, went with 65 of our High School students on the annual Go Missions trip.  

All the students at 6am ready to GO!

The trip was absolutely remarkable!  We have 8 teams of students who, each day, go out to 8 ghost towns in rural Nevada to teach Vacation Bible School to kids ages 5 - 18, and do various community projects in each town.  All the students and mentors prepare for 12 weeks for this trip by memorizing verses, studying and journaling, learning skits, learning songs and preparing props for each town.  The students do everything at each VBS, and the mentors are just there to basically support and encourage them.

At night, we had our 'Holy Huddle' where we had a sermon and team time and then all of us - approximately 85 total - slept in the Goldfield gymnasium.  

My team was based out of the home base town, Goldfield, NV.

The Goldfield, NV Team

The "Student Takeover" church service when we got back from our trip - pretty amazing worship!

I can't even tell you how much this experience changed me.  I think I now have a small but better understanding of what it means to ask God to "break my heart for what breaks Yours".  Between the kids from the town and the students we brought, I was an emotional wreck from learning more about how they can live and give of themselves in spite of some of the home situations they came and come from.  A truly humbling experience.

• The Monday after we got back, Shawn lost his job, which was a little bit of a shock.  He's still looking, but we have faith that he will find something soon.

• Three weeks after GO, Shawn and I were two of 17 mentors who accompanied 99 students to our High School Summer Camp, "Camp Cali".  We stayed in the dorms at The Master's College and went to 2 theme parks and to the Santa Monica beach, where we ended up baptizing 18 students in the ocean.  Each morning and evening the students had sessions with our pastors, and learned about "Running The Race Of Your Life". 

Baptizing students in some crazy-big waves!

100+ students & mentors waiting for the buses to go home

• And THEN, just last weekend, we moved Zach into his new dorm room at Grand Canyon University (Go 'Lopes!):

Zach in his dorm room - I'm not sure I'm ready for this yet!

That's it for now.  I'd love to hear from you, so leave me a comment and let me know what you all did this summer!

Some Perspective...

With two teenagers in our household, life can get pretty crazy.  I try to keep perspective, but it is way too easy to slip on blinders, concentrating on the small, moment-to-moment details, getting caught up in them to the point where I lose the forest through the trees.  So I sat down this morning to regain that big picture view of my life by taking inventory of the the things that are truly important to me:

I have a husband who is an amazing, Godly man with a heart that overlooks my flaws, endures my quirks, and just plain loves me.  No judgment, asking for nothing to earn it - just love.  We laugh at ourselves (and, on occasion, at each other), and we cry when we need to.  He is my greatest champion.

Every day my boys continue to grow into wonderful young men, despite being faced with so many more challenges than I ever had to deal with at their age.  Some choices are easier to make than others, but, somehow, they continue to make their own way.  I am a proud mama; they give me reason to smile every day.

I am so thankful for my church family.  They are an amazing group of people, and I know that whatever I need, they are there for me.  I love that they give me the chance to give back by sharing my time, talents and treasures with them.  Our church is growing like crazy, and it is humbling to see the hand of God working in amazing and miraculous ways; I am blessed to be a part of it.

Above all else, I am overwhelmingly grateful for God and what He is doing in my life.  I love that He sees me through His eyes and not my own.  I am His child, and He is my Father who loves me and wants His best for me in all that I do.  I thank Him for the gifts He has given me, and for the opportunity to share them with others.  He grows and stretches me every day through opportunities and challenges, and every time I come out stronger, filled with a peace and joy only He can give.

So, although the day-to-day details are not going to go away, I know - truly know - what is important to me. 

And really...I couldn't ask for anything more.

On the Ground In Haiti

Earlier this week, Palm Valley Church sent down a group of our pastors to Haiti to survey the damage and to meet with, encourage and help our ministry partners, their famlies and congregations, as well as to pass out food and supplies. 

They landed safely in the Dominican Republic and drove about 12 hours to Port Au Prince.  Please check out Pastor Greg's blog post at http://www.gregrholinger.com/ for more information and for pictures of their trip so far.

Helping In Haiti…

It has been a while since I posted, but I wanted to share with you the involvement our church, Palm Valley Church in Goodyear, AZ, has with the people of Haiti and how you can help.  Our church has been partnering with ministries in Haiti for the past 3 years, and we, as a congregation, have built 2 churches, help with one of the local orphanages, and work with a local ministry training center.  I wanted to give you an update of how all of our ministry partners are doing and to put some faces with the ministries (most of what I am including below comes directly from our pastor’s blog, http://www.gregrohlinger.com/.  You can go out to his blog for updates.):
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** Photos of Palm Valley staff in Haiti are from a trip in November 2009 **

…here’s a rundown of the ministry partnerships Palm Valley has in Haiti…

Missions Door- the mission organization that we work with to partner with Guillo and his team in Haiti. http://www.missionsdoor.org/

Joaquin Vargas- Vice President of Missions Door and heads up Latino and Caribbean Ministries. Joaquin works with each of our ministry partners in Haiti and Dominican Republic.

Our pastor, Greg Rohlinger, with Guillo, the national Ministry Director (Pastor), in front of Vallue Baptist Church (one of the churches Palm Valley built)

Herode Guillomenttre (Guillo)- Church Planting
Personal Profile- Wife Edline and 2 young girls Deinlee and Leissa.
Ministry Profile- Herode Guillomenttre also known as “Guillo” established the Christian Center for Integrated Development, which trains and equips many Pastors and leaders through seminars and conferences.
Guillo is the National Ministry Coordinator in Haiti for Missions Door. Some of Guillo’s responsibilities include equipping pastors from across Haiti (over 750) this includes Vallue Baptist Church and Pastor Emmanuel. Guillo also works directly with the Haitian Baptist Association (network of pastors) and is the director of a the Community Hospital Center of Lilavois.

Alexis Francklin- Children’s Ministry
Personal Profile: Recently graduated, and would like to continue his studies.  Ministry Profile: Francklin is a children’s Pastor and works directly with 8 different churches and their children’s ministries over 800 children total. Francklin also works runs a facility in Petit Goave, that just recently opened as a location for ministry groups to stay at, as well as a location for further equipping for Pastor’s. This was demolished in the earthquake.

Palm Valley Ministry Team with Francklin

Jonathan Joseph- Leadership Development
Personal Profile: Married to Alexandra in 1999.
Ministry Profile: Working with

Pastor Emmanuel- Pastor of Vallue Baptist Church
Personal Profile: Engaged and will be married November of 2010.
Ministry Profile: Works directly with Guillo and Missions Door. In 2007 Palm Valley Church was able to send the finances to the church in Vallue so they could build a facility to meet in. This facility was damaged in the earthquake.

Palm Valley Pastor Greg Rohlinger with Pastor Emmanuel

Community of Joulien- funds where also sent from PVC to help build a facility in the community of Joulien. The pastor has continued his education at HaitiArise Ministries. This community is also where we are having a Well drilled.
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HOW YOU CAN HELP:

HaitiArise- Marc and Lisa Honorat are the directors of HaitiArise Ministries. They are located in Grand Goave which is located 30 miles west of Port Au Prince. HaitiArise is a Bible school and technical school. They also have started a church at HaitiArise that has over 400 adults and 300 children weekly. http://www.haitiarise.org/

Maison Des Anges- House of Angels orphan home is located in Port Au Prince. http://lamaisondesanges.e-monsite.com/accueil.html
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The earthquakes in Haiti have brought the world’s attention to a much-neglected country that may finally get the help it sorely needs.  The people are filled with such amazing strength and resolve, and I wanted to share some pictures that really spoke to me about the faith that is getting them through:

“He gives beauty for ashes…

…strength for fear…

…gladness for mourning…

…and peace for despair.”

Join me in praying for Haiti and its healing.  The road to recovery is a long one, and will not end with the immediate needs.  There will be a need for help for many months to come, and my prayer is that the needs of the people continue to be met long after the rescue stage is over and the reporters are gone.

Quick Thoughts On Passionate Living...

"When you reach the point

that you are passionate enough about something

to the point that you would die for it,

shouldn't that change how you live for it?"

~ Pastor Greg Rholinger

Lead Pastor, Palm Valley Church