The Lord opened up opportunities for us to lift Jesus up all across the nation, through preaching, testimonies, music and drama. Above left you see an evangelistic drama at the leper's colony in Quito.
“Emotionally wrenching” is the best way we can describe ministry to mobs of Ecuadorian children. Our team wept right with them as the children told stories of abuse at home. We dealt with the underside of the culture in some of Quito's worst neighborhoods and villages. It was a shock for our team to have an outreach that majored on this type of ministry.
The team led a camp for 108 people at a retreat center in a jungle village on the Pacific coast. Many Ecuadorian kids came to the Lord. The camp's theme was the serious problems we had found in many families, relating to abuse, alcohol, unforgiveness, relationships with parents and rejection. We had some intense times of ministry and deliverance, and heard powerful testimonies of changed lives on the last night.
Rudy Valadez and Vinnie Carafano went to Ecuador's largest city, Guayaquil, to lead a youth ministry training seminar and a one hour live TV program, which was also taped and shown in Quito. It was exciting for our team to know that most of the nation could see video of their performing arts ministry!
God was really dealing with deep things in the team members. We had many hours of intense ministry among the team kids and staff members in the evenings. So many Christian teenagers are struggling with wounds from the breakup of their families, rejection and other issues. Even good kids who have not brought trouble into their own lives by drinking, rebellion and immorality still need the comfort and grace of God applied to their wounded hearts.
We had a great experience at the bullring in Quito and ministered to about 7000 people for 45 minutes, followed by some big name Spanish speaking Christian musicians. The kids spoke fearlessly before that huge crowd. About 500 people came forward in the altar call! We also ministered in several other churches and youth groups.
Memories of Ecuador …drinking hot banana juice to keep warm on 40 degree nights in the Andes… barbecued guinea pig for dinner- it tastes like chicken… five lengthy bus rides across the country, including hours of stomach churning corkscrew turns through rugged mountains and beautiful jungle…visiting the monument marking the equator…memorable times of the team worshiping the Lord together in settings of natural beauty that show's God's glory, such as in an Andean valley lit by the full moon and fireflies, and on the beach at sunset…our team made a strong impact on the students and staff from Peru, Brazil, Colombia and Ecuador who lived at the YWAM base with us. We taught in the training school, had some deep personal ministry to them and made friends. There were many tears when we left… There was a lot of excitement and interest in developing a King's Kids team of Ecuadorian kids to continue reaching out there…
This summer I was able to return to Haiti after being there a little over a year ago. I received an invitation to work with a church in Gonaives for two weeks. My role was training leaders and teaching youth dramas and choreographies for outreaches to their own people. As I was going alone this time, I made sure that I had a lot of prayer support. God was incredibly faithful as I did not get sick at all, and even on the back of a motorcycle with no helmet, racing down busy, unpaved streets without streetlights, I lived to tell you about this trip!
I joined 60 youth and leaders for a 6 hour bus trip to Jacmel where we spent 8 days in worship, training, teaching dances and dramas prayer, evangelism and outreach. I was amazed to see how effective this church was at reaching out to their own people. They did street and door to door evangelism during the day and film projection, performing arts and concerts at night. Many people came to the Lord, and it was exciting to see God move in such a dramatic way.
In Haiti voodoo is very common and the Haitian people really do respond to the love of God when presented with it in a way they understand and can relate to. It was wonderful to be able to support our fellow Christians in the local church in Haiti.
It was a privilege to work alongside the outreach team from Heartland Baptist church from Concordia, Missouri. They did a great job and put their hearts into their work. This team finished the dorm rooms that were started by the Spring Break Outreach teams. As a result of the fire which destroyed the old dorms, the school building became the new dorm. They framed the inside, installed the roof and sheetrocked the bedrooms and bathrooms. Not only did the team do the work but made a lot of personal financial sacrifice to see the job completed. We give thanks to the Lord for groups like these!
For the past few years we have worked with a small orphanage off the Casas Grandes Highway in the Juarez desert. It was started by the daughter and son-in law of Pastor Jose Padilla with whom King's Kids has worked for the past ten years. The orphanage began as a home for boys and expanded to a small Christian school serving the poorest of the poor living in cardboard shacks in the surrounding desert.
This past year King's Kids began an earth block building on the property to serve as a new school house. Unfortunately the orphanage burned down in July as a result of a cooking fire. Everyone was safe but left homeless. We are currently putting the finishing touches on the school house which will now serve as a new home and dorm for the orphanage. We appreciate all our camp teams and partner ministries who have given time, hard work and finances to provide for the completion of the building.
We experienced another great Extreme Encounter with Living Water church from Los Lunas, New Mexico and the Northeast Vineyard church from El Paso. Three days of adventure, camping, team building challenges and meeting with God were an incredible, life changing experience.
Here's what kids said:
“It really brought our group together.”
“I didn't know how many comfort zones I had!”
“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!”
If your group would like to schedule an Extreme Encounter for next spring, call Dave Arnold at our office.
This summer local Kings Kids joined KK Denver on an outreach to the Crow Indian Reservation in Montana. Yedi Quiroz, Justine Olmstead, Danny Crisera and Karen Rissling joined a team with 55 people and ministered to the Indian people June 6th - 13th. One wonderful thing about this outreach was that there were many different types of activities. Some of us were able to help staff a week long basketball camp, which is exciting as basketball is one of the favorite activities of the teens on the reservation. Others helped with Vacation Bible School and had a chance to befriend many children. There were opportunities to be involved in a worship workshop, construction and service projects. The people were warm and interested in getting to know us, and we made friendships with them. God worked through and in us on this outreach, and hopefully one day there will be a chance to return!
Spring 2003
Extreme Adventure was the theme for this years Junior Team, and our 27 young people ranging in age from 8-12 experienced just that.
The adventures the team participated in were centered around learning about God's character in extreme ways. The team became special agents, pirates, cowboys, and even soldiers as they grew in their understanding of God's love, compassion, trustworthiness, power and constancy.
Other adventures came in the form of outreaches to the community. Here in El Paso, our team ministered in a special needs children's home and a men's rehabilitation home. The team took gifts and crafts, played games and made friends. In Juarez the team went into one of the poor colonias and winterized homes. This helped four families through the cold winter. The second time we went to Juarez we did a children's program including dances, crafts and games. Some of the team's bilingual members even shared about Jesus in Spanish.
The team had a great year and learned that the most extreme adventure of all was growing in our love for God and each other as we demonstrated that understanding to the many, many people around us.
This year the Senior Team of 45 kids ages 13-18 had a busy year. One major emphasis was ministering to their peers. The team led workshops at two IGNITE youth conferences, which is a concept we initiated of entirely youth led events. Kids do all the ministry at these conferences, while the adult leaders stay in the background. About 420 kids attended these conferences in El Paso and the Albuquerque area.
King's Kids Senior Team also ministered in music, drama and prayer for their peers at an all day youth conference on prayer and worship, led by Christian musician Andre Gonzalez. The team took a full day prayer journey through El Paso, performed music and drama at Jesus Chapel West and many participated in the intensive discipleship course we offer on Monday nights.
We've seen God touch many lives through the 40 major camps we've held in Juarez, Mexico during the last 10 years. This spring was an exciting time as four Spring Break Outreaches brought 450 children, teenagers and adults to Juarez for mission camps. Door to door evangelism, Bible distribution, children's programs and ministry to the Tarahumara Indians brought many people to the Lord. We were able to encourage the work of local churches and other ministries as the teams did major construction projects for two Christian schools, two poor pastor's homes and an orphanage.
Each week kids and adults from South Carolina, Colorado, Texas, New Mexico, Oregon, Tennessee, Massachusetts and across Canada responded to God's call to walk closely with Jesus, and we saw powerful times of ministry at the camps. Our largest camp was 217 people, and over 100 responded to a call to serve the Lord as missionaries.
Many campers were fascinated with ministry to the Tarahumara Indians, a primitive tribe from the interior of Mexico. About 70 Tarahumaras are living in a shelter in Juarez provided by a local pastor. We led children's programs through the double language barrier of having English translated to Spanish, then to their language, Raramuri.
Evangelism in a poor colonia of cardboard houses was a new experience for others. Teams of 40 broke into smaller groups with a Spanish speaker, then took bags of groceries, New Testaments and Gospel tracts. The people were very receptive and many small groups saw people give their lives to the Lord. Several families asked if we could build them a better house, so we referred them to other ministries that concentrate on home construction and we're considering making this the focus of next year's spring outreaches.
Each year evangelistic fiestas with local children as well as Vacation Bible Schools are a highlight. A combination of fun and spiritual activities brings home the message of God's love for each person, and the camp participants especially enjoy interacting with the Mexican kids. One location holds a feeding program for about 80 children who come to a church in western Juarez for both spiritual and physical nourishment.
Fierce winds, hail, cold weather and blowing dust didn't deter the construction projects. One of our major work sites was an orphanage in the desert south of Juarez, where the director recently lost his wife to cancer. Our teams built an additional building for use as a private school as well as bathroom facilities.
The teams built playgrounds for two Christian schools, with slides, jungle gyms and other fun apparatus. The school children were so excited about a new place to play. The teams poured cement sidewalks, painted a Christian school, added on to two pastor's homes and began construction on another home.
King's Kids looks for strategic partnerships for our camp projects. Our desire is to bring people to serve the vision of pastors and missionaries who are in Mexico on an ongoing basis, meeting the spiritual and practical needs of people. We believe God wants to serve and encourage His faithful servants in every nation where we send teams.