Summer Mexico Outreach Report
From wilderness adventures to wheelchair distribution in Mexico, 35 King’s Kid’s staff and youth had a varied and exciting time this last summer. The team leaders were Karen Rissling and Dave Arnold. Our group included eight Canadians who crossed two borders to begin the outreach with a three day wilderness adventure, or Extreme Encounter as we call it, in the mountains outside of Albuquerque, New Mexico.
After an intensive preparation week, the group traveled to San Bartolo, Mexico to work with Mobility Project, an international ministry which provides free wheelchairs to the poor and needy in third world nations. The team participated in distribution and fitting approximately 50 wheelchairs in villages surrounding San Bartolo. We had an opportunity to pray with each person that received a wheelchair. One man’s foot was badly infected with gangrene. It looked like it had not been cleaned for a long time and there were flies swarming around his wound. A couple of our teens asked if they could clean and treat his foot. The man’s heart was touched as the teens ministered to his needs with the love and compassion of the Lord.
The rural communities we served in San Bartolo were about two hours drive from Mexico City and populated by various Indian people. We worked with local churches doing evangelism, using performing arts and open air meetings as well as Vacation Bible Schools.
Finally, we helped with the construction of a new international wheelchair distribution center for Mobility Project. It was a privilege to help a ministry that is reaching out to so many desperately needy people in many parts of the world.
Junior Team Makes a Difference
King’s Kids Junior Team has grown, and it has been exciting to see this group’s enthusiasm to serve Jesus. We have 42 children (8-12 yrs) and it is great to see the individual giftings of each child and how God chooses to use them to touch others.
October was our month for training where we bond as a team, spend time learning some bilingual choreography to be used on future outreaches, and especially to start teaching and training them in how to develop a deeper relationship with God.
Because so many of our Junior team are new this year or have been with us for just a year, we want to really focus on teaching them foundational truths about the character and nature of God. Also, throughout the year we will be dedicating a few of our weekends to teaching and creative prayer times that will really strengthen their walk with Jesus.
Our other main focus is to be a team that serves practically in the spirit of mercy. Because we see so much need across the border in Juarez, many of our outreaches will take place in needy Mexican colonias.
For our November outreach we had planned to winter proof homes in Anapra, one of the very poor colonias in Mexico. Our plan changed due to rain and bad weather, but we had a great turn out, and were able go to a church in Anapra and spend time with the local people. We did a mini Vacation Bible school for the colonia kids. We trust that what happened was what God wanted that day. We plan to go back in December to do the winter proofing and look forward to a great time.
Families are always welcome and it has been great to see so many parents join us in our outreaches with their children! Please pray for us as we continue to seek God’s direction for the team. They are an awesome group and we look forward to an incredible year of seeing God move in and through us!
Senior Team Update
This year’s Senior Team is the largest ever, with 47 teenagers from 15 churches involved in reaching out to others with the message of the Gospel.
In November the team spent time with special guest speaker Pastor Ashu Wakode from central India. Through worship in the Marathi language, stories from Ashu, eating Indian food, wearing authentic Indian clothes and a multi media presentation, team members learned more about God’s heart for nearly 1 billion lost people in India.
Team members also worked at the Columbine Redemption rally and conference, in which a team of survivors from Columbine High School spoke at school assemblies and held a large evangelistic rally at the Civic Center. Our teenagers counseled teenagers who came forward in the altar call and had a great time of personal witness and ministry.
In December the team will serve the poor in Anapra, Mexico through winterizing homes. Following up on the successful youth conferences we held last year, we’re working with churches in the Albuquerque area in January and in El Paso in April to hold the Ignite the Fire conferences and rallies. Our team will also help in the February King’s Kids North American Leadership Conference and Spring Break Outreaches. It’s going to be a busy year!
Summer Outreach in the Philippines a Success
Last summer 37 teenagers and adult staff led by Vinnie and Jodie Carafano spent 5 weeks ministering to kids throughout the Philippines. God gave us amazing opportunities to preach the Gospel in school assemblies to crowds of up to 7000 teenagers , as shown in the photo above.
We were in many different settings, from urban Manila with its 14 million people and terrible smog to quiet jungle villages and people who had never seen white skinned foreigners before. The tremendous hospitality of the Filipino culture and their openness to the Lord made the trip one of the best ones yet.
It was a stretching experience for much of the team to deal with primitive surroundings, including sleeping in a bamboo church with dirt floors and no running water, taking cold bucket showers and eating many strange foods. The menu included lots of rice, squid in many forms, frogs and muskrat. We traveled on ferry boats, motorcycle powered tricycles and even got to ride on a water buffalo. The constant humidity and beautiful jungle scenery were new experiences for our Southwestern team.
E-mails from the Filipino pastors tell us of many kids coming to their churches for follow-up programs and new campus Bible studies in the schools where we ministered. We’re grateful to the Lord for giving us the opportunity to bring many kids to Him on this outreach!