Woken up in the middle of the night...

Before going on my senior mission trip i had numerous expectations. Going along with that was the fear that it would not be as amazing as my other mission trip experiences. Looking back on our mission to Montgomery, Alabama it was one that was different than any other and i loved it! The last night we were at Common Ground i was woken up in the middle of the night with a thought......We had been taring out the walls of a house which most all of us in particular me felt like it should have been torn down all together and built all new. I had commented to a couple people that i thought in the long run it would have been better if we would have just torn the whole thing down instead of delaying the inevitable decaying of it. My thought when i woke up that night was that i was like this house. Knowing my sins and screw ups i should have been torn down with no hope of a promising future, but with christ he goes through our lives and 'takes out the bad boards' allowing 'new good boards' to fill our life. Through this our life, which should have been hopeless, can be built with a strong foundation. Christ does not allow us to be destroyed no matter how far we have strayed or what sins we have committed. This week i re-gave my life to christ. I am filled with excitement about the changes that i am going to make in my life. I pray that Christ will make me strong to follow through with these changes. God is amazing and i am truly blessed. Ill see everyone back in E-town!

Kelley Raines

Paul Blog #1

I am amazed by the children here. They seem happy, healthy, innocent, and able to interact normally. It is hard to imagine them coming from difficult homes. They hold no prejudices based on appearances. They are totally trusting, and they play freely with the youth group. I see many normal, lovable children. The fact that they are in position to be hurt and hardened is absolutely saddening. Perhaps this generation will bring a difference to this place, ending generations of fear and mistrust between the races.

we just had one of those moments when we were all singing, then all of a sudden GOD broke all of our hearts. and the majority of us started to tear up. it is a spine tingling moment, you start to get chills, and it is like we are one. and we are we are the body of Christ and i feel like i have found him once more he has revived me. and i praise him for it.

lovingly,
elizabeth S.F. (peaches)

to my friends and family i have had second look at life. through a fresh pair of eyes. and i love it it is nothing like home yet feel so welcome. for being out of the state where my mom or dad cant just come get me because i am home sick. ( witch happened every year in girl scouts). the first night that we stayed in Memphis it was hard because i could not sleep.i had all these questions like what if something were to happen to my family. but then the second day some one told me to take a leap of faith and i did i have met a few people i look up to like Alfonzo he is awesome i think he has made this mission trip incredible. i am so lad i came! and the look on the little kids faces is price less.

Love you all ,
elizabeth S.F.(peaches for the people at new cov youth)

Stickin out like a sore thumb

Being here is probably the best choice i've made for a spring break trip. it's spiritually, physically, and emotionally fulfilling. Every morning we wake up to Geoffrey's wonderful voice telling us to breakfast is almost ready. Food gets me up faster than watching Shrek. The food is then served by one of our servant team who have to wake up at an aching hour which is about 30 minutes before everyone else just to prepare and cook our wonderful breakfast. After breakfast, Bryan, who owns Common Ground, comes up for worship for about an hour. His style is incredibly unique and is like a breathe of fresh air where he applies how each verse applies to him, to us, and to everyone in the world. We are then sent of to do mission work: find bricks to sale, set up fences around the property, clean up the property, or go to a some place off the property to work for God. The work is my favorite part of the day despite the fact i had surgery for a broken collarbone just two weeks ago and doctor said i'm not supposed to be doing at all. It's funny when everyone keeps asking me if i need help or try to take over what i'm doing. Even today, one of the guys took over while i was shoveling dirt. It's also fun because i'm the only ethnic person....i stick out like a sore thumb. ;]

Crowbars and Power Tools

Today was probably the most intense day of work I have experienced in a VERY long time. I mean, I work at walmart- I fold clothes to pay off my car. But today I experienced a whole new level of work. I helped pry a roof off with a crow bar! It was hard work and someone dropped a crowbar across the backs of my ankles. But I am so happy to be here and this cause is beautiful and I want to help so I kept working and it totally paid off. I say this because if I hadn't kept working I wouldn't have had the opportunity to use the power saw!!! It was amazing and I am so excited that i got to do something that made an impact on our project so directly. I'm starting to see a difference through the hard work of this group.
This evening we had men from the community come and share their testimony about how they came to know christ and it truly touched me. I mean, I know that there are places like this all over the world and even in our own backyard. But I never took the time to actually see the world these people live in. I wish I had come into this kind of place sooner so that I could be helping more people. There are places within half an hour and even less than 10 minutes from me that I could make a difference in. I want t take all the amazing insight that I have received and my experiences from this week and show the people in my community that we can make a difference too.

I am exhausted and my pillow is calling my name. Can't wait for tomorrow and its blessings. Love you dad and Tiffy, I miss you both and Maddie too. Btw tell Jack hi next time you talk to him.

Emily<3

So Amazing

Hey New Cov Family!! Well we are here at Common Grounds Ministry in Alabama and what a day and night it has been. I have truly seen and heard about God's grace this evening. We had some amazing neighborhood people come and share their stories with us tonight. The stories that we heard tonight were so telling of God's forgiveness and his mercy and I am reminded just how much I have been blessed with in my own life. This is such a life changing experience and I am so thankful to have the opportunity to be here. I am 28 and tonight I met a young woman tonight that is a year younger...that's right, I said YOUNGER, than I am and reality sank in for me. She has been through so much and I am so privileged that God allowed me to hear about some of the things that have happened in her life. Thanks so much for all of your prayers for us while we are here and keep praying!! Your prayers are making difference.

In Him,
Kristie

I LEARNED HOW TO JERK!

As I am sitting here I asked the girls what the title of this blog should be. Hints the title... The "jerk" is a dance move and the students taught me how to do it last night. It took me a while but I was so excited to finally learn it.

Speaking of the students, they are all doing great! I think everyone of them absolutely love being here. Even though we really have no idea what we will be doing everyday, they are so willing to jump at every opportunity to serve. I feel as if each one of them are growing in their relationship with the Lord. One of my favorite things is seeing them do their quiet times and praying that the Lord is speaking to them through His word. I love waking up in the mornings and seeing the students that sit down and take their bibles out just to soak up what God has to speak to them for the day.

I am learning a lot through the students and what God is doing in them. One thing that He has been teaching me through them is forgiveness. Yesterday as we were working with the bricks, I was hauling bricks back and forth and I accidentally dropped a brick on Hannah Wilson's shin. I felt awful and before I could even start apologizing she started reassuring me that she was fine and it wasn't a big deal. What a perfect picture of Christ. Also, the night before last I got a little annoyed with the girls as we were going to bed. All night I kept warning them to be quiet and respect others and I felt as if they were mad at me for ruining the fun that they were having. The next day when we woke up I was expecting them to be mad at me but as soon as I got up and around things were just they way they were before and we were all best friends again. It's like they had forgotten how they felt last night. I really had a "God moment" after I realized that they weren't mad at me anymore. This is when I could truly see God in them and who He really is. His forgiveness and grace surpasses all understanding and He was and is moving in their lives.

Brian brings us the word every morning and it is so encouraging. I hope and pray that the Lord is speaking to the kids through what he is saying. It is always rough in the mornings so the kids have a hard time staying awake and focused, so please pray that Christ's message gets through to them during these times, because what Brian says is really motivating and applicable to these kids.

Parents- just a warning: Your kids may come home wanting to spend their time with the poor. But don't worry because God will protect them. I encourage you to pray for your kids and support them in their urgency to serve those who are poor and suffering in our own community.

Thanks for praying! We can feel the prayers. Please keep them coming!

Love, Ava

Today, March Fifteenth, Two-Thousand and Ten we started this glorious day off at promptly seven a.m. with the amazing Jeff Bull as a wake up call. For breakfast we were fed egg burritos, shortly after we left to walk around downtown Montgomery and visited the Rosa Parks Museum. Then the youth group split into two, and one half of us (me included) went to help clean up trash at a lot that Common Ground owns, as well as cleaning up Bryan Kelly's (Director of Common Ground) backyard. Bryan Kelly lets anyone who needs meal at any time of the day to come get a free meal and he lets people hang out as his house whenever they want or need to. The other half stayed at Common Ground to dig up bricks that were buried around the campus, and for every brick in good condition, Common Ground received thirty cents and we dug up around 1500ish bricks! We finally were able to take showers this afternoon at YMCA :) We are just about to start worship and have some free time. This trip is soo amazing!! :D I thank the Lord for being able to come on this trip, along with the support of my New Covenant family for making this trip possible.
-Griffin Radford (Senior)

Loving God and Loving People

Today has been a very eventful day! The girls woke up FROZEN in the gym. Luckily we are going to be sleeping in a heated room tonight. I am really thankful for that, but at the same time I can;t help but think about the people and children living in this community who live day to day without any utilities. We have been immersed into a community of 100% African Americans and are probably some of the only white people in town. I feel like some students and leaders feel a little out of place being the minority for maybe the first time in their lives. They are all doing a great job accepting the folks here at Common Grounds. As for me, I haven't felt uncomfortable once and almost feel at home in a community like this. It is going to be really awesome seeing how God uses the kids this week and experiencing them serving, praying and loving the poor community. I have already seen them do amazing things!

Last night Paul Bruns rocked a crying baby and calmed him down by talking sweet to him.

Kathryn Hook made a new best friend; a little girl who clinged to her side as soon as they met.

Griffin Radford changed his first diaper!

Jamie Jekel played jump rope for hours with some cute little girls in the gym.

There are many more things I could write about, but these are just a few from the day. Our kids are growing in Christ and radically loving Christ through loving the kids and people of this community.

I sat with some ladies who work for Common Ground last night after their bible study. I felt so blessed and inspired by just sitting and talking with them. I really look up to those ladies who can raise their kids and deal with all the stress of running this ministry (with Christ's help of course). They are true women of God and their lives prove it.

We have met tons of great people already and we are all so excited for God to continue teaching us about His love for this community.

Love, Ava

Good Morning Monday

So far our time has been amazing! Yesterday after we got here we just played in the gym with all these little kids. We colored and played basketball and did other games with them. They were all very very happy that we are here. Today we are going to visit two museums and then we will be doing some work in the afternoon. We found out last night that we will be renovating some houses, cleaning up the property, and playing some more with the kids every day. The experience so far has been kind of eye opening and it makes us realize that we should not take the simplest things that we have back home for granted.

~Alex Wileman~

Dear Diary...

Hey everyone! It's Melanie Darter, but you may know me as simply Mel. We are in the process of getting our bedding set up for the evening....we have to go down to get our stuff that we need 5 at a time and Ava is guarding the door in true Ava fashion! ;) We have had a great, long, tiring, inspiring day on the road. Tomorrow we get to go to the Rosa Parks museum and take a tour or 2 of the neighborhood that Common Grounds is located in. I'm super excited to start hanging out with the local kiddos and forming relationships with them. I'm excited to see what God has in store for this place, and inspired to bring it back to Edmond to spread the LOVE. I love these kids, I love you all, I love our God...I'm sleepy! Good night!!

I Heart Alabama

This is Katy typing! I am super excited about this mission trip!!!!!! We have finally reached our destination. We were almost immediately greeted by lots of kids that we were able to play with for a few hours. The neighborhood was not exactly what I expected. It seems pretty friendly; my hope is that we will feel that way by the end of the week! We were informed that "Tina's Lounge" located right across the street from the community center gets pretty entertaining late at night! I am extremely pumped about all of our adventures to come:)

Bedtime in Memphis

Okay - we made it to Memphis (thank you Christ UMC for housing us). We had a first good day of driving and a wonderful evening worship experience. We all seem to be very excited to get to Montgomery tomorrow to start unpacking all that God has in store for us. Tonight we talked about Genesis 1:1-2 (our theme scripture) and how, just like God was hovering over the emptiness then, He is hovering over and with us as we begin this trip - and we just can't wait for Him to begin speaking. Thank you for your prayers and goodnight. Montgomery - here we come!

Here We Go!

Hey everyone!

We are ON THE ROAD! As far as I can tell, everyone is so excited. Thank you all SO much for supporting us in prayer! One of our students, Kayla Alsobrook, is gonna share a little bit about how she's pumped!

Ok, hi guys soo like I have been waiting for this since like fourth grade!!!!!! You have no idea how excited I am!!!! Every year I see the High Schoolers leave and they are so happy and ready for what God has to do in their lives, and then they come back and share their stories of how much he truly does move us, and how blessed we are! I have wanted to go and now that I am a freshman I CAN!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!! I'm so excited!!!!!!!!!! :)

-Kayla Alsobrook

Well there we go! Lots of first-timers on this trip with us. Let's pray that God will move and we can let Him. After all, the theme is "Fill in the Blank." So let's clear our slates and let God write His story.


In Love,

New Covenant Student Minstries

Spring Break Mission 2010

This year our Student Ministry (High School) will be heading to Montgomery, AL for Spring Break to serve a local ministry there, Common Ground Montgomery, www.cgmal.org. We will be keeping a journal of our time away from Edmond right here on this blog - so you can join us in this experience. And so you can pray for us by name, our team members are:

Tracy Alberty, Katy Allen, Kayla Alsobrook, Lindsey Belcher, Claire Belden, Kelsey Belden, Kylie Brown, Lauren Bruno, Travis Bruno, Paul Bruns, Jeff Bull, Debbie Conrady, Jon Cunningham, Melanie Darter, Carly Dougherty, Summer Flores, Eric Gifford, Ava Heard, Trae Hiett, John Hollon, Kathryn Hook, Emily Jedlicka, Jamie Jekel, Maddy Junk, Justin Lyons, Maci Majors, Colin McCartney, Cari Miles, Megan Montgomery, Lee Nguyen, Micah Parsons, Zach Peterson, Brayden Prough, Kaleb Prough, Griffen Radford, Kelly Raines, Mandy Redinger, Kristie Rodriguez, Emily Smith, Sami Strong, Ryan Thomas, Alex Wileman, Haley Wilson, Hannah Wilson.

Thank you for your prayers and support.