You would be so proud of this team!! They have worked really hard… Fatigue is setting in a little so continue to pray harder… Strength and anointing!! God has been doing great things at each opportunity….

Wow! What a sermon we had tonight!

Pastor Tommy amazed us all with some stories from his past. The best of all had to do with a scooter and 8 ft tall flames. As epic as that sounds, its definitely one of those do-not-try-at-home stories.

In all seriousness, Pastor Tommy took us on a journey through James 3:3-12,

³When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. ⁴Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. ⁵Likewise the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. ⁶The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.

⁷All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and creatures of the sea are being tamed and have been tamed by man, ⁸but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.
⁹With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness. ¹⁰Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be. ¹¹Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? ¹²My brothers, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.

James compares our tongues to horse bits and ship’s rudders; small objects that steer large things. It is the same way with the words we say; although it’s small, it controls the type of person we are to the world. A mean person says mean things, a nice person says nice things, etc.

Controlling the tongue is difficult. James goes as far as to call it impossible. It should then go without saying that controlling it is an intentional act, it’s something that we have to put our will to. We have to make the conscious decision to learn to control the tongue; it doesn’t happen by accident.

Some questions to ask yourself to help you control your tongue:

What does your mind dwell on?
Remember Philippians 4:8. Whatever is holy, whatever is pure…
Do I consider the other person’s feelings before I speak?
With what motives are you speaking with?
To congratulate, to comfort, to attack…
What types of music, books, tv shows, movies, etc., are affecting the way you speak?

Taming the tongue is impossible to do. No MAN has ever accomplished that goal. But we have a GOD who can do all things. If you want to learn to tame your tongue, go to God for help! You can’t do it on your own but God is just a prayer away, waiting to help you in all that you do.

UPCOMING EVENTS!!
THE BIG SERVE! Registration is out! Get excited to hear Press Play and help out the community!!
WATER WARS! 7/23 from 7:00 to 9:00 pm @ youth center!!
NO YOUTH ON 7/28 due to Mega Sports Camp! Instead, meet us for lunch, games, and bowling at the Colosseum at 12:15 (bring money)
MEGA SPORTS CAMP VOLUNTEERS! Volunteer online! Pastor Jan needs you!
SUNDAY SCHOOL! We’re going to talk about Jesus and what role He plays in your life! 9:30 to 10:30 am @ Youth Center

Blessings!!
Alexa

It is the end of our third day and we are physically tired, but spiritually refreshed. Today we did one school assembly… It was super fantastic! A bunch of little ninos came up front to receive Jesus and pray the sinner’s prayer… It was awesome! After that we went to one of two food distributions… The first one was a very humbling experience… I (Miranda) saw this one girl who looked like she was about 10 years old and she had this big thing bulging from her back… At first I thought it was a tumor but then I remembered where we were and why we were there and I realized it was a bowl for her food… All the little children had bowls with them and after we were done doing our program we lined them up and gave them comida (food)… It made me realize that I have so much compared to them and I should not complain about not having enough stuff… After that food distribution we went to another one… We also did a program and then we handed out food to the children… All in all, both distributions of food were humbling experiences for all of us… After that we went to the orphanage for the afternoon and evening… It is always fun to play with the children… Some of our boys played futbol (soccer) with the kids from the orphanage and of course our boys got schooled… Then a BIG and SCARY thunderstorm occurred in the middle of our frolicking with the children… But we all made the most of our time with the children… We also got to do our program for the children… Luckily we get to go back on Saturday, or else the departure would have had mucho (a lot) of tears from all of us… After we left the orphanage we came back to the place where we are staying and we all got together in the breakfast room… Both the PA and OH teams experienced God in a totally spectacular way… He definitely showed up and wrecked some of us… But in the best way possible… Overall we had a great day… We can’t wait to see what God will do in the next couple days…

SHOUT OUTS…

Mommy, Daddy, n Jake – Hope all is well en la casa! I miss you guys lots! Love you!

Calah – I saw Larry at the orphanage today… He got pretty big but his personality is the same! Carlitos isn’t there anymore… I’ll tell you about it later… I miss and love you!

Deanna – Miss and love you too!

Ally – I’ve seen lots of cows and they all have made me think of you!

And to everyone else… Thanks for your prayers! They mean a lot! Keep them coming!

Mucho Amor,

Miranda =D

Mommy, Daddy, Ashley, G, Ginger – we’re having an amazing time down here. we miss you a lot and can’t wait to see you! And mama don’t worry, im drinking plenty of water. Love you so much!

Devin-Hope your surviving without me =] can’t wait to see you! I love you!

Everyone else- miss you all so much! Thank you for supporting us!

-Chelsea and Leah

The team did street ministry today and now we are getting ready for our nite service!!!! It’s gonna be amazing… I can just tell from our great prayer time we had last nite!!

Hola from Nicaragua! Jenna & Corinne here. We safely arrived to this beautiful country yesterday around noon-ish. After settling into our rooms, we traveled to our translator, Abdias’ church. The ride there was…interesting. Did you know that the roads in Nicaragua are extremely bumpy?! Lucky for us, we have one amazing bus driver. He can literally do anything; from squeezing through a crowded street half our bus’s size to going in reverse for multiple blocks. He’d be a great cab driver in NYC. We arrived at the church and performed a few of our dramas for their congregation. They really enjoyed it all! P. Jeff preached it up and we had an awesome time of prayer and fellowship with the people there. Because of our sleep-deprived day, many of us attempted to sleep on the ride back to our camp. That….was a little bit un-successful. SO BUMPY! After a yummy dinner of McDonalds and a great night’s sleep we took on our second day here. Breakfast this morning consisted of pop-tarts, cereal, and milk-in-a-bag (Weird, I know.) Then we headed out for a very adventurous day. We traveled to a small village of people that had been kicked out of their previous homes to do a food distribution program. We all split up into groups and walked around handing out food to the houses and praying for the families that lived in them. The roads there were not bumpy…they were MUDDY. We trudged through the lovely mud in the scorching Nicaraguan heat. Our sneakers got destroyed. But! We got the amazing opportunity to give the people their food to last them throughout the week. As Leah and I (Corinne) said: “We became one with the mud!” Then we ate lunch at one of the house’s there. Jenna’s first PB&J sandwich! (We got a picture.) After lunch, we headed over to another village to put on a service. All the little kids and adults absolutely loved our stomp, dramas, and dances. We got the opportunity afterwards to pray with many of the people and handed out candy and silly bandz to the little kids! After that amazing time, we drove to the orphanage. We were all so ready and excited to go there. While there, we got to meet and play with all the kids. They were so fun and SO adorable! We jumped rope, painted nails, played soccer, and watched Toy Story in Spanish! It was a really great time. After playtime we ate dinner that the cooks at the orphanage made. Toquitos and cole slaw! “It was delish!” says Jenna. After dinner we said our goodbyes until tomorrow. On the ride home an intense game of “King of the Bus” took place. This is when three people stand in the middle of the bus isle and have to balance without touching anything. As you can imagine, this was extremely difficult on the BUMPY roads. Leah was the Queen of the bus today! After arriving back at camp, we all sprinted to the showers. We then got together for a time of fellowship and prayer with the Ohio team. Also, we had a birthday party for Ryan! We even got a cake! (and we were introduced to the Latin American version of Happy Birthday by P.Jeff) It was a great time. This country is so beautiful and we are so looking forward to the days ahead and what God has in store! Adios!

Jenna’s shout outs: Jourdan…..even though you didn’t say hi to me in your blog…I will say Hola to you. I love you and miss our funny times of laughter in the mornings. Mom…DON’T WORRY! I wore sunscreen today!!!! I love you<3 Corinne and Grace… I love you both and miss fighting with you all the time! Hehe…Just Kidding! Daddy…I miss your loud singing throughout the house! Love you all and miss you! See you in 8 days!!!!:)

Corinne’s shout outs: Mommy- Take a deep breath, I’m perfectly okay and healthy! All your medical preparations are coming in handy. I love you & miss you so much. Oh! & please hand in my AP works, thank you! <3 Daddy- I didn’t have you to link arms with on the plane during lift off, but I made it. Hope the show is coming along great and can’t wait to see you! Love you lots! Phillip- Miss & love you bud. You better not have switched our phones! RachieRee, Aeriel, & Erica- I miss all your beautiful faces and cannot wait to see you when I get back! Love you all so much.<3 Miss you all like crazy! Love you bunches!

On our way to a school assembly… Tried to send the blog again this morning but I couldn’t get on the network… Dave Wellman has his computer so we will be sending 2 blogs tonite!! Sry but my phone has been the only way for me to send anything!!

We have a long blog to send out… Wireless Internet went down will send in morning!! Everyone is doing great!!

Just finished passing out food to families that have been misplaced by a landslide that wiped out their village… They have only been here for 5 weeks and we had the opportunity to lead over a dozen people to the Lord… Taking a break for lunch and we have a church service at 3p! Keep praying! God is up to some great things!!

The students are exhausted and all in be after a long day of travel and ministry… Then an hour ride to MCD’s… It never tasted so good… They will blog tomorrow… But everyone is doing great! Miranda feels great too!! Food distribution tomorrow and an afternoon service!! Thanks for all your prayers!!

Jumping right in…. We all got our bags… Thank u Lord!!! And now off 2 our first church service…. Have a great prayer nite at CLA!!