How Time Flies

I am within three weeks of flying home and time just seems to move faster and faster each day. This last week, I went to Bob and Lisa’s house for Thanksgiving. I had a lot of homework to get done (I know I procrastinate, don’t we all?) and it’s a good thing too, sounded like the football games wouldn’t have been worth watching anyways. I am now one week from having to have all my papers finished and turned in. YIKES! That has come way too soon. I am so ready for it to be over with though. As some of you may have figured out, I hate to journal. (might be a reason I do so poorly keeping up my blog) Anyways, I had to keep a journal the whole time and I have grown to hate it with a passion. That will be the best feeling when I actually write my last entry. But I still have plenty of other things to do.

In the next few weeks we are going to wrap up our series over the fruit of the Spirit by talking about Joy and Peace. I picked them at the end cause I figured they would fit the best with Christmas. We have a lot to get done here in order to be ready for the happy birthday Jesus celebration we put on for the kids on December 20th. Kind of wishing I would have flown out earlier. But I really do want to see the fruit of my laboring and it should be a great time.

On a side note. I am almost out of food at my house right now. As I look into my fridge, I have a hot dog and some eggs and cheese. In the freezer, I have 3 hamburgers and some frozen veggies. I do have some mac and cheese but no milk to make it with. The only thing outside of hamburgers that I can make is…pancakes. I have a huge bag of mix that just needs some water. With the little amount of time I have left, I am wondering how much more food I should buy. I don’t want to throw much stuff out but as you can guess, I don’t think three weeks of pancakes would be good for anyone. Maybe I can just buy a case of Ramen noodles as an emergency plan.

Blessing
Jon

Hockey and Visiting Austin

On Saturday I had the privilege of going to a hockey game here in Stockton. The house was full as the crowd was estimated at 9,700 people. It was a good time but unfortunately the local team fell 3-1. You can see the pictures and some video clips on the right hand side of my blog. The ice was colored pink and the Thunder (Stockton’s team) were dressed in white and pink to commemorate the fight for breast cancer. It was great to see the local team support a great cause and the community rallied behind them and sold out the arena.

Today I took a two hour trip down to Fresno to visit Austin Pettigrew. We went out for lunch at the local Vietnamese restaurant. I have never had Vietnamese food before so it was yet another new experience. I order a dish that was pretty much a noodle soup with several different meats in it. I’ve had shrimp, crab, and pork before but not squid and fish balls. (not sure how to describe them) Kinda chewy? I could of passed on them but hey you have to try it before you say you don’t care for it.

I guess I should back up and explain who Austin is. He is a senior at Huntington and is majoring in sports and rec ministry. He spent the summer working at a camp in southern Cali. He is currently continuing his internship in Fresno working with World Impact. They are heavily involved with church planting in several cities in the western states. Austin spends a lot of time interacting with the various church groups and youth in the area. It was great to meet up with another classmate and talk about how things are going.

After a two and a half week trip up to Oregon and Washington, Bob and Lisa (the directors) are back from vacation. I am glad to see them refreshed and ready to get back to work. It is exciting to have them back in the office again.

-pray for school. I have a month to finish a lot of work.
-pray for Thanksgiving season. We have a lot of work to get done so that we will be ready to distribute holiday food boxes.

Blessings

San Francisco and Cookies!

As you can see from my blog site, I have uploaded some new pictures. I went to San Francisco this past Monday. It was a great time but rained most the day. In the pictures you will see the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz, and the houses that are in the intro of the old show Full House. I had seafood fresh off the coast (yum!) I tried clam chowder, calamari, and oysters for the first time. The only one I didn’t care too much for was oyster, I also had some fish. Sorry Howard Miami, it was better than the fish fry.

The last couple of weeks have been kind of interesting since my mentor and his wife have been on vacation. That has left Christina (the other missionary) and I in charge. Needless to say, I am ready for Bob and Lisa to be back. We have also been blessed with a higher than average attendance. We have averaged close to 25 kids each day these last couple of weeks. Yet another reason to have Bob and Lisa back.

Tomorrow we have a birthday party for all the kids at the center who have November birthdays. This month I have been selected (more liked forced) to provide the treat for the kids. Well since we did brownies two months ago and cupcakes last month, I decided to make some cookies. If you know anything about me, right now you are laughing and feeling bad for the kids. I am proud to admit that I have messed up easy mac and more recently hamburger helper. I am not a cook. Good thing I have a mom and girlfriend. My mom gave me the ingredients and my girlfriend talked me through the process in AIM. So hopefully I don’t burn too many of them (at least I can eat those cookies).

On Saturday, I am going to a hockey game here. There is an amateur hockey team and they are having a breast cancer awareness game and we decided it would be good to go and support breast cancer and watch some good hockey (ok the good hockey thing is suspect but oh well). I hope to have some pictures up for you.

One blessing that has happened out here is that proposition 8 passed! If you listen to Focus on the Family you may know what I mean. It is the proposition that marriage is to be defined as one man and one woman. It passed on Tuesday 52-48 percent. It is now in the California constitution. Praise God! Unfortunately, the opposition has begun to file lawsuits and fight back. Pray that the ruling will be upheld and continued support will be given.

-pray for strength as the holiday season is fast upon us.
-pray for focus, I have some homework to get done and the time frame is getting tighter by the day

Teaching and an upcoming event

The other weekend we had a work team come out from the local church that I go to (Quail Lakes Baptist Church). (and on another side note, I found someone yesterday at the church who grew up Mennonite, just thought I would add that)Later in the week, I received a phone call from the jr high leader, he wanted to know if I would be willing to teach Sunday school this Sunday. I figured I would give it a shot, if it works out then maybe I will have some sort of connection with the church…and if not, I am only here another two months and they have plenty of other people to ask (the church is around 1,200 people). Sunday went great, I thought the kids interacted well. I used an idea from when I was in Bolivia. We were going through a book by Max Lucado called It’s Not About Me, and I used some stuff out of a chapter that talks about how we were made to glorify God and we looked at Isaiah’s calling in Isaiah 6. We talked about the stages that Isaiah went through in order to be transformed into God’s servant so that he could glorify God and what does that transformation mean to us today. If you haven’t read Lucado’s book, I recommend it.

This Friday we are taking the kids to a fall party at QLBC. The theme that they put together is Trunk or treat. I guess people drive their cars in and decorate them like Bible story themes and kids go from car trunk to car trunk to get candy. They also have a super cool guy coming. He rips phone books, smashes pop cans in his hands, bends steel bars, and other cool stuff. He also is a devote Christian and travels around sharing the Gospel to youth. It’s going to be fun!

As part of the college course I am in, I have to keep a time log for two weeks. I find that to be kind of annoying. I hate having to check the time every time I change to a new task. And besides, I don’t really want to know how much time I waste. That makes me feel like a bum. I have also decided that I really should get started on homework for school. It’s not that I am real far behind, I just would rather get it done so I don’t have it hovering over me in December.

Well that’s all for now. I hope to take my camera with me to the fall party, get some cool shots for everyone to enjoy.

Blessings

Settling down

It’s hard to believe I have been here for almost a month! Wow that went quick. I just now feel like I am in the flow of things. It is a good thing because Bob and Lisa (the directors) are heading to Washington and Oregon for a couple of weeks.

Last weekend I have had the pleasure of getting in touch with Ashley Scally, another PRIME student who is in Santa Cruz with Fellowship of Christian Athletes. She came into town with a softball team that she is coaching. We were able to spend some time catching up with each other. I have also contacted Austin Pettigrew, a PRIME student who is in Fresno. I plan to head down to there next Monday.

These last couple of weeks have been crazy, the school system in CA has a modified schedule which means kids have a shorter summer with breaks in the school year. The kids were out for two weeks on vacation so we decided to open an hour early. Our numbers grew from around 20 to at least 30 kids a day.

This week the kids are back in school and it has been great to get that extra hour back. We are currently doing the fruit of the Spirit with the kids. Each week we are picking a new fruit and using it as the theme. Last week we looked at Peter’s life as a model for self-control. We looked at Peter’s life as a disciple and compared it to his life as an apostle.

On Saturday, we had a work team come out from Quail Lakes Baptist Church, the church that we attend. They helped clean up trash around the center in the morning and then played with the kids during the afternoon. I think they enjoyed it and we appreciate them coming out to help.

Well that’s all for now!

-Please pray for Bob and Lisa as they are going to be on the road traveling for the next few weeks.
-Pray for Christina and I as we try to keep things moving here while Bob and Lisa are away.

Blessings

Stockton Peniel

I have been so busy trying to keep up with a new change of pace that I often have put the blog on the back burner and now I’m sure it’s burnt. Anyways, I arrived here last Tuesday and haven’t seemed to have had a day off yet. Bob and Lisa have been great support helping me with transitioning to yet another culture. I have really quickly began to recognize that God brought me here because he saw that they need more help here. Sure enough, they have put me in charge of leading all the Bible times.

The ministry, Stockton Peniel, is a ministry that was originally started in the late 1800s for homeless women and children. Since then it changed to a homeless shelter for everyone then back to just a ministry that is designed for kids. Our center is located in the heart of gangland here in Stockton. Within a two mile radius we have 16 registered gangs. Our ministry is an afterschool program for youth. We try to provide a safe environment for youth to go to afterschool from 3-6 where they can get help with homework, play, and learn about the Bible and Christ’s love for them. Last week we averaged about 15-20 kids a day and this week we have had a couple of days with more than 30 kids!

What I do for the ministry is design a lesson plan and execute it during Bible Club time. Each day we have time for the learning center (time for academics) and then for Bible club time (I think you know what goes on there) and then we have time for games. Each week we have a new lesson and it breaks down into four days. The first day is designated for memorizing a Bible verse that has to do with the lesson. The second day is for the lesson out of the Bible. The third day is either crafts, skits, or something that is hands on to help drive home the lesson. Then Fridays are fun days, we either have worship time, or games.

For those who are interested, yes I do live “in the hood” I am in one of the houses the mission owns. And no there aren’t bullet holes in the house. Well not yet. The house was remodeled three years ago by a contractor who was willing to donate the time and money. Just one way we see God working here. I’m sure I will have many more blogs to continue that theme. I am living by myself in a one story, two bedroom house. The best part about it is……it has a dishwasher!!! Ok I am lame but I hate doing dishes. Right mom? I hope to take some pictures of our birthday party and buildings so look for a link in the near future.

-Pray for my safety. The neighborhood seems calm and safe but you never know with all the activity that goes on around me.
-Pray for growth in the children’s ministry as well as someone who will be willing to start up a youth program for Jr/Sr high.
-Pray God’s direction to be revealed as the ministry is trying to figure out where to go from here.

Blessings

Going to California

Thanks everyone for all your prayers. The last few days have been crazy but God has been with me. I left on the midnight flight out of Santa Cruz and arrived in Miami at right about 8 am on Thursday. Moved through customs really easily with the help of Beverly.(They must of thought that she was my grandma) I even got to Indy about 10 minutes early so my brother didn't even have to pay for parking. But of course I crashed last night at 10. This morning I woke up at 8:30 only because my brother woke me up. I called the office at WGM and we have just about everything worked out. I will be heading to Stockton, CA on Tuesday morning. Not sure how the finances are going but it sounds like if I have to raise any, it won't be much.

Blessings