More Videos from Sunday

More Video Testimonies from Sunday

Videos from Sunday afterwards

Here is a video from the August 9th Sunday morning service at CEFC showing what we did on BUMP.

Day 9 - Saturday

It’s been a good week and a very long ride home but we made it back safe and sound. After packing up and leaving at 8pm last night to start out marathon of a drive we finally have arrived. The original plan was to arrive at church around 9 tonight but with Captain Kvamme and skipper Stromberg at the helm we made great time and arrived at 6:40pm The 7 flyers landed safely a little before 1:00pm today.
Amazingly, we didn’t have any major problems on the way home other than no A/C and a lot of us having a hard time getting any sleep. The vans and trailers held up great for us on the ride home and our ball bearing problem hasn’t effected us too much. We had a lot of good laughs and stories come around on this car ride, mostly because we were out of our minds with tiredness so some of them were down right hilarious. Trips strait across the country like this really make you appreciate being with the people you love even when you’re all cranky and sick of each other.
Thank you all for your prayers and support this week and for keeping tabs on us through this blog. There’s plenty more that we just can’t fit into our postings each day so we would like to invite you to CEFC tomorrow (Sunday) morning at either the 9:00 AM or 10:30 AM service to hear a presentation from our team about the joys and hardships from this week. I hope you will all be able to make it so we can further share with you our ministry in New York.

-T-Hoff

P.S. We will try to post a slideshow of some more pictures soon.

Day 8 - Friday

Construction

Today we finished (for the most part) the construction projects. There were a few minor things that we did not have time to finish, specifically putting the shelves in the snack shop.

Mike finished a few small things on the floor of the fellowship hall and the rest of us primed and painted like crazy. We were able to get two coats of paint on all of the walls and we finished installing the doors on the snack shop.

The largest setback was when the door did not fit in the hole. When we framed the walls for the snack shop, the bottom corner by the door got bumped about an inch and a half, making it impossible to fit the door. This was especially frustrating because we already painted the snack shop inside and out. We had to dig into the wall and remove one of the 2x4s that was framing the door so that we could make it fit. After a few stressful hours, we finally had it looking good.

I speak for all of us when I say that I am tired, weak, and sore, but also excited to hear about how God will use the work we did to further His Kingdom here on earth through His servants at Vroom Street Church who can now use their facility to better reach their community.

John


VBS

This is out last day, the children went to the Botanical Gardens and we stayed and cleaned the church. The Lord is truly in it all. So much fellowship as we work with the \
Children, prepare foods, lay out our sleeping attire and beds for the night. We’re up in the A.M. to start each new day. We talked today about “God sightings,” It wasn’t hard to see Him work in every day situations. Watching Jeff work with children who can’t speak much English, he has great ability to communicate and to teach. Craft could be hectic but with the Godly message Lori brought with it, it was a success.

I loved this trip. Actually I’m the oldest one there and my first mission trip. I think I learned more then the kids.

A little girl named Jessica told me more about China and her family, she drew pictures of them. Her Mother, sister, brother & Aunt. Her little brother 4yrs. and sister 2 yrs, actually cousin, are still in China. They will join them when they are five. This is common, the little ones stay with Grandparents.

We are now on our way home, traffic is awful so now we are preparing for the greatest God sighting “A successful trip home,” Thank You Jesus
Working with the team in New York was an amazing experience. Their love for the children apparent, but the children are easy to love. They really get into the music, and you should see our team get into it. Love of Jesus is in the hearts of all.

All in all everything we did was a blessing. Many walks through the different cultures left us awe inspired and tired. I’m so amazed at how late the streets stay alive no matter where we’d walk. The market places in China Town was most interesting, some fruits and vegetables I didn’t recognize, and oh the fish and turtles. Not such a good smell.

Well, I can say my prayers were answered this week and I thank all of you who prayed for us, I know it made a difference. God Bless You.
We will be getting home this evening and will share on Sunday at church, hope to see you there. Love to all of you Jane

Day 7 - Thursday

VBS –

This has been quite the experience! It’s so interesting to me that the Chinese, Arabic, Latino and Hassidic (Jewish) communities are just blocks from where we are staying in Brooklyn. Each night we have walked in their communities to observe and get a flavor of their culture. It has been very interesting. Anyway, regarding VBS… I was scheduled to teach the Bible story yesterday – which I did, but not without a lot of apprehension. I’m used to teaching smaller groups of 10 or less. When I found out I would be telling the Bible story to 50 or so kids, I was really nervous. So, my turn came and as I was talking to the kids, I looked around and wow, they were actually listening to ME. Ok, I thought, this is absolutely a total God sighting. You’ve heard from previous blogs how wild and crazy these kids can be, so for them to be sitting still and listening during the story time was totally a God thing. Thanks for praying for me and all of us!! (Of course it helped that Scott, Aaron and Taylor were great actors for me and kept the kids’ attention J). Well, it’s almost 1:00am and I’d better head to bed. We had a great time tonight “out on the town” in Manhattan – visiting all sorts of wonderful places that you always hear about. You’ll have to ask each of us our own fun stories… See you all soon!

Marlene

Construction Crew - Today was like the calm before the storm. We had a smaller crew than usual today because the work load was lighter. This was due to the fact that we could only go so far with the sheet rock taping and then needed to let it dry. The downstairs crew has pretty well completed the floor with only a few minor trim items remaining. Everything is in place for a whirlwind finish tomorrow and the team is pretty excited to see the completed project. We’ve also heard the youth group is pretty excited to see their new room as well. We as a team have felt blessed to be a part of improving the ministry tool God has provided for our brothers and sisters at Vroom Street Church.

John

Day 6 - Wednesday

VBS

“I now realize that God does not show favoritism but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right.” Acts 10: 34.

I got to teach the 1^st grade today. It wasn’t planned. Ms. Rachael went down with a severe sore throat (we hope not strep). Everyone had to flex due to her absence and the VBS crew came up big today. Our team showed incredible flexibility and unity today as many had to shift from what they had planned to what was most needed at the time. It is not easy losing a teacher in this setting. Besides being missed by the children, the whole staff feels the loss of a veteran disciplinarian.

These kids are crazy. They are good kids, but their age and language diversity makes keeping order nearly impossible. Take Ms. Rachael’s class today: every child is bilingual, but the problem is that English in not necessarily one of them. For instance, Kevin speaks fluent Russian and is good friends with Sayad whose grandparents are an Indian couple I met at church on Sunday. I don’t know what Kevin and Sayad speak to each other most of the time. When they can’t translate what they want to say to each other in English, I seriously think they are speaking in some kind of Indian-Russian-English language that they make up.

We also have Spanish speakers, languages from Eastern Europe and of course two dialects of Chinese: Cantonese and Mandarin. I learned that some of the Cantonese speakers can understand a bit of Mandarin but many of the Mandarin speakers do not yet understand Cantonese. This makes it impossible to do class in any kind of traditional way. Whenever you ask your class a question in English, the better English speakers begin to translate into Cantonese which in turn in translated into Mandarin which in turn is translated back to Cantonese and full round back to English. There is a lot of talking and it is very difficult to tell what discussions are on task and which are off task. Mostly things go off task very quickly.

Our team has become adept at getting kids back on track. One of the signals the team has been using very affectively is “Clap once if you hear me. Clap twice if you understand me; Clap three times if you are quiet”. Another great commotion stopper I’ve seen is “the quiet game”. You say, “We are going to play the quiet game, 1, 2, 3 go”. The kids then all zip their lips to try to outlast their classmates. They are competitive! If someone talks, they are out and the game continues until the last person speaks.

It is a privilege to work with these kids. They are so eager to learn. They are so adorable and so appreciative. They are also so incredibly receptive to the gospel. They really look forward to the skits prepared by the acting team each day and the Bible story skits that they get to participate in. The children are incredibly enthusiastic worshippers and love the crafts, games, and snack/Bible memory. I always thought that missions meant going overseas, but the mission field has come to us—right in our own cities. Acts 17:26, “From one man He made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth, and He determined the times set for them and the exact places that they should live. God did this so men would seek Him and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him.”

-Jeff.

Construction

The construction crew got a ton done today. In the basement we finished laying the flooring, and it looks great. We now have to work on all of the details like installing the trim, coloring in and touching up blemishes on the floor, clean up, and moving the stuff back in. The details seem to take longer than you expect! The basement seems to be more comfortable with the brand new flooring.

The crew upstairs looked like they were putting a huge effort in. The upstairs area is not air conditioned, and the temperature steadily seemed to get hotter throughout the day. They worked on staining, painting, mudding, and prepping for finishing the dry wall. The expanded room upstairs will enable the church to keep the groups together after meetings for more fellowship.

The Vroom Free Church truly appreciates our help. I know there is a great need for additional help not only in Brooklyn, and Jersey City but in many urban areas. We have received a warm and gracious welcome from the church, and words of thanks and encouragement from the church members we have met with. They are truly changing their community, and connecting with ethnic groups in ways that I could have only imagined. It is exciting to see them changing the world.

Some of the church ladies served us a wonderful “soul food” dinner in the basement. With all of the energy we burned up during the day we all ate more food than normal, beside it was delicious! The VBS crew has no idea what they missed, so we aren’t telling them about it.

The mission trip has been a wonderful experience. We are having an impact on the communities, and building relationships within our own church.

Keep praying for us, thank you for your support.

-Brian

Day 5 - Tuesday

VBS

Hello everyone back in Minnesota! Today was our second day with the little kiddos. It was a trying one for all of us who were involved. Our headaches from yesterday have now turned into migraines. Although we are all very tired we try our hardest to minister to the students the best we can. Today the children were taught the fifth commandment: obey your parents. Today I was placed with the second graders, who we have been told are the most challenging in the group. They do not listen, scream constantly, and bite each other. This makes it hard to make it through the day, but I believe it has helped all of us to rely on God even more. The morning devotional we read was very encouraging. 1Peter 4:19 states “So then, those who suffer according to God’s will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good”. This reminded us that while we may not be seeing instant results this week, we are fulfilling the call that God has placed on our lives. Something we have learned from the children is a game called Ninja (see video).

Around 7 we went to the Arabic part of town, we walked a lot of blocks! It’s been cool to see the different areas around the city of Brooklyn. We are hoping to have an early night tonight so we will be ready for another long day tomorrow.

Angela

Construction

Good progress was made today on both construction projects.

The guys upstairs got the edges of the removed wall fixed up with sheetrock patches and the first coating of drywall compound applied. This puts things in good shape for that to be painted or at least ready to paint by the time we leave. Also, they started and made major progress on the ‘snack shop’ that we are building in the newly-enlarged youth room. The structure is done and it is almost ready for the door and serving window details. Greg has really kept that project moving ahead.

On the flooring project, we have made it across the room in the shortest dimension, where the flooring meets a [curved – tricky edge] stage on the side opposite the entrance. Mike did a great job jumping in whenever we ran into a sticky situation. It is starting to look like something now. We are also sitting in a good position to have this job finished by the time we have to leave.

We swapped Strombergs today, and I switched from the upstairs to the downstairs, otherwise the crew was the same. We also great help from Josh, a young man from the church.

Ron