Mission Trips - Summer 2019
June-August in North America means summertime, which means mission trips! Here are some highlights from those trips…
KidsGames in Italy: June 22-30, 2019
This summer, a team of 21 people from MidAtlantic Sovereign Grace Churches went to Chiavari, Italy, to partner with Verita di Grazia Church and Grazia e Verita Church, to reach children aged 7-12 through sports, games, crafts and gospel-centered teaching and devotions. Kidsgames has grown each of the last 5 years and now serves over 200 kids.
One team member said of the trip, “Our hearts are so full of thanksgiving for the ways God moved. This year we had more opportunities for clear gospel presentation than we could have imagined. Throughout the week, with the children, we were able to continually point to the grace of Jesus and what a relationship with Him means. Additionally, this year we had far more interaction with the parents of the town. Several offered to pay for the camp or for food (etc.) and when we replied that the entire camp was a free gift of grace because the gift of forgiveness is totally free for us, they were deeply affected. I had 5 parents tell me at the final day’s picnic that they were astounded and had never seen anything like this from Christians!”
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Children’s Music Camp, Nassau, Bahamas: July 13-21, 2019
This summer a team of musicians, educators and children’s volunteers from the Mid-Atlantic Region, in partnership with Crossway Church Lancaster, went to partner with Kingdom Life Church to run a gospel outreach music camp for approximately 130 kids aged 5-12.
Doug Plank, a Pastor in Crossway Church Lancaster, said this of how the camp went, “Fantastic! This year’s camp had so many opportunities to proclaim salvation in Jesus to the children, and the team (24 people) came with energy, joy and gospel-focus. We also featured ukuleles for the first time at camp, and the children loved them.”
Casa de Esperanza Orphanage in Caranavi, Bolivia: June 24-July 8, 2019
This summer a team from Kingsway Community Church, VA, and Grace Covenant Church, Jacksonville, FL, went to Casa de Esperanza (House of Hope) Orphanage, Bolivia (near La Paz) to serve the children and staff there.
Anna Rogers, a long-standing member of Kingsway and team leader for this trip said “We are so thrilled to be a part of this endeavour to support the precious children at the orphanage. We continue to see God’s hand move and provide for special needs these kids have. He has built a long-term relationship between us that fosters faith, hope and love.”
Children’s Camp and Adult Seminars in South Korea: June 3-11, 2019
This summer a team from Clarksburg, Knoxville & Orange County went over to Seoul, South Korea, to partner with Lord’s Grace Church led by Songhwan Kang, and serve at their annual camp for children and adults.
The trip went really well! You can read more about it in a previous blog post (click here).
Rancho 3M Christian Orphanage & School In Guadalupe, Mexico: May – July, 2019
This summer, three different teams headed to Mexico to serve at the Rancho 3M Christian Orphanage & School: Sovereign Grace Church in Aurora & Grace Community Church in Westminster (May 26-June 1), Sovereign Grace Southeast Churches including Lakeview Christian Center in New Orleans & Grace Church in Orlando (June 8-14), and Crossway & Risen Hope Churches from North Carolina (July 22-29).
Sovereign Grace Churches have been sending teams to Rancho 3M for many years with two main goals: to minister to orphans and staff, and to do any labour the 18-acre facility needs to have done.
Pete Schefferstein from Lakeview Christian Centre said, “This year we rebuilt a large Pavilion at the Ranch that gets used a lot for the kids to play under during the hot summer days. We also went out into the community and gave our invitations to an Alpha style dinner and Gospel presentation from one of our Pastors who speaks Spanish. It was awesome as almost 200 showed up and many responded that night!”
… How kind of the Lord. It is all His doing and so may it always be marvellous in our eyes.