Picking up from the rushed email pertaining to getting to the airport…our team left the hotel to rush to the airport.  Jon and Blake dropped us off and went to return the rental cars.  It took longer than expected and we had to wait to check-in as a team until they got back.  While we were waiting, per advice from the Delta agent, Ceann and Kent went to the baggage office to talk about our unknown luggage.  The lady there was great.  She went through the system and inputed every destination onto our luggage.

Luggage accounted for..check.  Jon and Blake back..check. Here comes the stress.  Most things are automated…supervised by an employee.  We started to check in…and for some reason the system wouldn’t accept Judy or Ceann…grrrr.  The lady did it 20 plus times and no luck.  Every time I would would say…”why don’t you go take it to your supervisor.”  But she would respond…”no, one more time.” She did it so many times.  Well it got down to one hour before take off and she took it to her supervisor.  The rest of the team left to get to the plane while Ceann, Judy, and myself waited.  Fifteen minutes later…it got done.  As Ceann and Judy were walking to work through security…Jon came back saying they won’t let me through.  He didn’t have a destination on his ticket…which is a nogo for TSA.  I looked down and saw I didn’t either.  NOOOOOO.  So, we gave our tickets to the agent.  She worked and worked and no luck.  T-minus 30 minutes until the plane took off or we were in NYC again.  I looked up and saw the agent running to us with around 20 tickets???  She said lets go and off we ran to security.  She walked us through.  By the time Jon and I got there it was finishing up boarding.  We got on. WOW.Praise the Lord.

All the other flights were great.  We went through Copenhagen, Denmark…then Paris…then Lyon.  Getting luggage at Lyon and BOOM…we were missing two pieces.  One of which was Jon’s which had all our direct boxes and cables in it:(  They filled out the paperwork and the airline said it would be sent to our hotel.  We got on the van and started traveling.  After a great warm meal…and lots of driving…we got in bed around 3:30am. We decided we were going to meet the missionaries at 11:45am to go get lunch.

OK. no alarms worked.  Debby came to Jon and I’s room and had to wake us up at 11:38am.  Wow. crazy trip, but we got it all together and went and had some lunch.  Then half the team went to the airport to pick-up luggage…which wasn’t there…and the other half went to the church to pick up equipment.

After an hour and a half drive…we got to the church, unloaded all the gear, and had a quick run through.  We had a great meal at a members house and saw some unbelievable French country side.  Then back to the church for the concert.  From what I understand, church is not a very popular thing in France.  That being said, I was expecting about 10 people there.  I would guess there were close to 200.  The place was packed.  The concert went great. We had two encores.

After the concert a French person committed, “There is something different in the way that they sing.  You can tell it came from their hearts.  It is clear they believe what they sing.”  Wow.  We were all humbled by that comment.  25 New Testaments were taken that had contact with the missionaries in them.  We were so excited.  So after refreshments with the church staff, we loaded everything up had a very spirited ride back to the hotel.  It is 2:00 am now and I am wired.

Please be praying for sleep and energy as we go out again tomorrow.

Exciting news from Japan.  Hannah Weakley, one of our interns working with the International Mission Board, has reported that two girls are anxious about becoming apart of a Bible study.  This is so exciting!!!! Please be in prayer for the ministry that Hannah is doing.  Pray that the Lord grant her strength to communicate the Gospel boldly.  Also, pray for these two young ladies, that want to know more about our loving Savior, that they will make a decision to follow Christ.

This is the day that the Lord as made.  Today people from Living Hope will be worshiping in Bowling Green, Fargo, Niger, France, Scotland, and East Asia.  How cool is that?  Be in prayer for Pastor Jason and Jeff as they preach today.  May they bring glory to the Lords name.

Please pray for the families of those on mission trips, that they can be comforted in worship today in the absence of their family members. Pray for the France team as they lead worship today in a sister church Claremont-Ferrand.

YEAH! We got tickets for tonight.  I will post again in a few days.  I only got an hour to get ready before we leave for the airport.

Well everyone, things have not gone as planned.  We left Friday from Nashville for a 1hr and 45min flight to JFK.  Along came a storm and camped on top of JKF.  We were in the plan over 3 hours.  It was so long, we had to land in Harrodsburg, Pennsylvania.  Every flight was stopped going into JFK. You can only imagine the Chaos.  I stood in line in Harrodsburg at the Delta counter the entire time almost.  I did manage to re-book us a flight.  But the agent didn’t have time to print the tickets he handed me a old school in-house print out.  We had to get our flight orders re-issued by the FAA.  We got in the air somewhere after 10 pm last night.  By the time we got off the plan in JFK around 11:30 pm …our flight for Paris was gone:(  So you can imagine the chaos at JFK with all the missed flights.   When we got there…we went into survival mode…for our flight to Paris was not going to leave until Sunday.  Jon went to the car rental place…and his wife started looking for us a hotel.  All the hotels were booked around the airport.  What does a Kentucky team do?  Luggage…yeah, about that, it never came to the carousel.  We checked the baggage tracker and some of them said Paris on them, wow.  I went to the office for baggage issues and they said if we want the luggage…it would take 3 to 4 hours to request them…if they were there…really!!!  I was told it would meet us there. It was 3 am in the morning.  I also tried to negotiate our tickets again, but no luck.  Everyone remember, hundreds of people are in line everywhere.  So about 4 am, we have our carry-ons and some instruments and two rental cars.  The iphones and GPS were going over time to try and find a hotel.  We learned that NYC is a busy place on the weekend, and the hundreds of missed flights didn’t help.

So we drove all around NYC…let me tell you Manhatten early in the morning…scary.  The freaks come out at night.  It is also very expensive for hotels in New York.  I am used to paying $100 for an awesome hotel…here, jump up to the $200 range:(

We finally found a hotel in Westbury…an hour a way.  So 5:45 am on Saturday we finally got in bed…what a day.

Now seven hours later and with a five hour power nap…I have been on the phone with Delta for over 2 hours.  For you see they booked us a flight to Paris that had a 30 minute layover to catch our next flight.  Eight people to get baggage, go through customs, and switch terminals in an international airport, not possible.  You think they would have caught this.  So here I wait.

Everyone on our team has been troopers.  We are safe.  We did sleep.  Eating…well, that will come.  I praise the Lord for some great people he sent our way.  Diane at Viana Hotel in Westbury.  She was so kind to us.  She gave us all toothbrushes and some personal items.  Veronica at Delta…she is working hard to find us options to get there quicker.

Be praying for us strength, we got a long way to go.  Pray for health, this kind of force marching can wear a person down. Pray for us to find a cheap place to buy some clothes.

The missionary told us that Satan has been working hard to shut this trip down.  She said last time something like this happened, a team lost their luggage.  When it was delivered the missionary shared Christ with him and he accepted Christ.  That made me think…is this pain worth someone coming to Christ.  Yes it is.  May God receive the glory for this amazing adventure.

The France team should be arriving in their final destination today.  Pray for energy, for they have lost a night of sleep and have to stay awake all day.  Pray that they will be able to get on the right sleep schedules and be able to glorify the Lords name through their performances.

Pray for Pastor Jason today as he finalizes his sermon.  Also, for Pastor Jeff as he does the same for his message in France tomorrow.  Pray the Lord gives them both guidance from the Holy Spirit on the message He wants them to speak.

Also, praise the Lord…this is the 100th post on the prayer blog:)

Be in prayer for the France team as they depart today.  Pray for traveling mercies as they will be in transit for two days.  Pray for strength, peace, and encouragement for their families as they are gone.

We know the Lord is working in this area.  Pray that we see where and are able to join Him in reaching the people of Claremont-Ferrand, France.  This team is a Gospel/bluegrass team.  We will be playing and singing everyday.  Please pray for vocal and hand endurance as we glorify the Lord through music.

From Erin Bloss:

I have been spoiled today. 🙂 I’m not gonna lie, I have taken advantage of ALL of the wonderful amenities that Niamey has to offer (such as American style bathrooms–complete with REAL showers!, beef fajitas at the American embassy for lunch, A/C at the Phillips house, and indulging in some movie watching and card game playing!)

I look at today and compare it with the past couple of days that we just spent in “B”, and honestly it feels like I’m in a completely different country when I’m in Niamey! I think I have successfully adjusted to African city life, but village life?? Shoot, that’s a different story!

I feel like I could talk for hours about what life in “B” has been like over the past couple of days. It’s probably been the best and worst time of my life. God has taught me SO MUCH, but my faith has been tested in ways that I never expected…which has been hard to say the least. To keep it short, my biggest blessing has been the closeness that I’ve felt with God from having to rely on Him for EVERY SINGLE DETAIL OF MY LIFE. My biggest hardship has been the physical, emotional, and mental toll that village life takes on my body. I have had more physical problems here in the past 5 days than I have had in the past 5 years! But it’s just another thing to give over to God…that’s what I constantly have to do: give it to God and trust that He’s going to take care of me.

Awhile ago I made a blog post about how my mantra has been that God is so faithful. While God has continued to remain faithful in ways that I can’t even begin to describe, my mantra seems to have changed to: Jesus never said following Him would be easy. I think I’m finally learning what it truly means to be a disciple of Christ, and it’s a hard lesson to learn!! But I am SO CONFIDENT that it’s worth it. It’s worth the blazing heat that makes my skin feel like it’s burning off my body; it’s worth drinking the dozens of bottles of water that smell (and taste) like sulfur; it’s worth the sleepless nights and waking up to donkeys and roosters and cats and who-knows-what-else; and it’s worth the persecution that we’ve already had to face.

No matter what happens this summer…whether we see fruit from this experience or not…I know that this will not have been in vain. I think it will be easy to go through all these hardships and become discouraged if we don’t see any immediate results. But God’s teaching me to rely on Him and HIS time table. He’s the one who’s COMPLETELY in control and at the end of the day, if I’m doing work for God, I know that in the end He will be glorified. And that’s really all that matters. 🙂

We have made it through our first full day.. Yay! Today we got the chance to sit in classes and begin to really get to know students.The first class that I sat in on today was an RMPS, which is some what like a religious studies class, where they are learning and discussing who Jesus is/was and what it means to lead by example. This teacher did a great job of stressing the Jesus wasn’t just a man, myth, or a has been. He allowed the students to answer a series of questions but pulled them back to truth while they dissected scripture such as the story of the Feeding of the 5000 found in Matthew and the story of Jesus bringing Jairus’ daughter back to life in Mark. I found this class very interesting as did the students. They were very interested into what their teacher was going to say next. Please be praying for the team as we will cover who Jesus really is to these classes next week. Relationships are already beginning to be built as kids are inviting us to go to the Town Center and come to their Musical Concerts. What a praise that we are accepted and welcomed like we are and a praise that Christ has given us this opportunity. Please just continue to be in prayer for this team and those who in which we come in contact with.
I would also like to share that Karen yesterday told us that before she started this job where she is building relationships and sharing class with students that she had a dream. A dream of just an empty harvest field. She then quoted Mathhew 9:37, “Then he said to His disciples, “the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.” She told us that she believes that we are an anwsered prayer to help plant and help grow this beautiful harvest. Man, God is good!!! 🙂
Untill next time….

Rosie:
Like Alex Jane, I spent my day at the high school. The first class I sat in on was Higher Politics, which is a class for six years (the highest grade at the school), and discusses political structure, theory, and examines scottish, british, and americans politics. Being a political science minor, I really enjoyed this class. My next class was an RMPS class, but it was for fourth years, so their theme is crime and punishment instead of religion. Lunch was a great opportunity to get to talk to the students and find out about them, what they enjoy, and to invite them to the biblestudies and church events we are involved in. I also got to talk to a couple of the girls more indepth this afternoon during the interhouse games. Please pray that we will continue to forge relationships and connect with the youth, and that God would give us wisdom and the words we need to answer questions and lead some of the studies that are going on.

Taylor:

I, too, spent the day in the school, where I sat in on a number of classes. I began the day with the RMPS class for the second-year students. In this class, we discussed bits from last week’s lesson looking at some of the miracles performed by Jesus–in particular the feeding of the five-thousand, the expulsion of demons into the pigs, and the healing of the blind man. From there, we got into looking at the people that Jesus angered. We read Matthew 21:12 and 13 and then watched a video clip from the musical “Jesus Christ Superstar.” Discussion came next where we talked about the meaning of the passage and the similarities/dissimilarities between those two verses in Matthew and the video clip.

From there, I had a break–where I used that time to familiarize myself with the high school. I ended that break in the Social Studies base (teacher’s lounge) where I enjoyed some tea and carrot cake (both were really quite splendid!). I next went to the RMPS class for fourth-year students where we discussed crime and punishments for those crimes. I stayed in that room for the next period which was geography for the ‘freshly-moved to’ second year students. The students were working on reports for an upcoming field trip to the local park. I finished the day in the gym helping with the inter-house games–basketball in particular.

In every case, I was able to meet students and faculty, and begin to build relationships with the students. That said, I would like to ask for prayer that relationships with these students and faculty can continue, and that the hearts and minds of the students and faculty be opened and willing to hear what the three of us are here to offer. Thank you for the continuing prayers! God bless!!

We are here!! 🙂 We have finally made it to the lovely Scotland and it just wouldn’t be the right if we were not greeted with the typical Scottish weather. (In which we have already experienced three out of the four seasons with a little bit of hail, some sweet sunshine with a slight breeze, and then of course the chilly drizzly of a spring rain.) Our flights went very well and we even got sometime, while we waited in Newark, to get too know each other a little more before we started this amazing adventure as a team together. As we arrived in Glasgow this morning at around 7:35 am we wasted no time. We got to the Mackinnon’s with about an hour and a half of down time and then went straight to the local high school (Calderglen High School). I always love walking into that school because I see so many familiar faces. Faces of ones that have accepted Christ just this past October and then even some from the years before. Karen gave us a quick run around the school and showed us the classes that we would be teaching/helping in for the next two and a half to three weeks. We met many new faces, and of course, all were very welcoming and helpful. So tomorrow we will dive right in to many different ministry opportunities and start to build relationships with not only the students but also the teachers. Karen also shared with me some very good news this afternoon… Out of the 60 that stood up and made a profession of Faith this past October, she believes that 12 of them have taken then next step of obedience by being baptized and another six or seven are becoming more and more involved with in the church of Calderwood. What a Praise!! Walter had even said to me that even though they may not be over flowing in numbers… the youth that they have are growing spiritually and that alone is a praise. So please continue to pray for the hearts of all of those that we are going to be coming in contact with over the duration of this trip as well as those who have already accepted Christ. Please be in prayer that the Holy Spirit will open their hearts to what we have been sent to say, and in the same that we will dive in eagerly with obedience to share the Good News every opportunity that presents itself. We want to have no regrets and no “what ifs” because lets be honest… we do not have time for it. God is going to do amazing things and what a blessing it is to be apart of it 🙂
Until next time…