Personal ministry

My personal ministry hours for this month were very exciting. The first ministry I did was I helped Mr. Dale move into his new home, we moved furniture and packed up the moving van and that took up four hours. I was a lot of fun to help him because I enjoy talking to Mr. Dale. The other thing I did was I helped Mr. Scott moved furniture into his house and that took four hours because we had to move stuff out put stuff in and rearrange the things in his house. I really loved doing these personal ministry hours just because I really love to serve and just to help people in any way I can, even if it mean moving heavy furniture because the joy of people being grateful that you made a difference in their lives is greater than you just working. Another thing I liked about it was all the knowledge that I got from Mr. Dale and Mr. Scott, they were always talking about Jesus and I learned more things and I not only ministered to them but they ministered to me in a mightier way and it was awesome. When I Worked with Mr. Scott it kind of started off slow with moving but once we got in the grove all of the moving furniture, taking furniture apart and rearranging it was very difficult but fun at the same time. I think that when I go home for summer break I am going to continue to do the ministry because Jesus never took a break from ministry so why would we? The things that I have done can impact anybody because everybody can help people move it is very easy to do and rather enjoyable if you ask me. And since I am moving to Minnesota I couldn’t think of a better way to get to know people than to serve and help them were they need help the most. And hopefully with me serving them in return they serve somebody else. What a joy it would be to see everyone serving one another and not worrying about our pride.  

i bought the lie!

The thing that I learned this week was during the retreat when they talked about past hurt, and I realized that the devil has been lying to me all this time about me forgiving me parents and I honestly thought I did but I didn’t mean it in my heart so the whole retreat God was dealing with me on that topic and it was very hard to admit that. But the devil was telling me lies like God will never forgive me for what I have done in my past and I am not his child I am just a nobody and I believed that lie for so long that I thought it was really. But this weekend I was set free from that lie and God told me that I was no longer an orphan I was his child and even though my parents were never there he was always there. Once I had forgiven my parents I felt like a weight was lifted off my shoulders and it was like I was being set free. So now I realize that God can do anything if you are willing to let him work in you for his Better purpose and he will use you in a mighty way.

Body shop

So this week for body shop ben and i walked around in atlantic beach for like an hour and it was very difficult because it was super hot. another thing that we did was played basketball for an hour and it was actually very fun but it was hot so very challenging. and for the last hour i had swam at atlantic beach and it was hard but rough because the waves were tossing me around like a fish.
The health benefits for these workouts was my endurance. the endurence i have can be way better that what it is right now and i feel like im getting better.

seeing the bigger picture

So this week was a week I will never forget, I say this because we went on a mission’s trip to Abaco Bahamas, we did numerous things while on this mission trip but the highlight of the trip for me was a village called peas and mud. The reason why it was my favorite was because of the little kids, I’m pretty good with kids but these kids were different they were very polite and very nice. Even though the kids didn’t have much they were very content with just receiving stickers and candy. It was so awesome to see the difference between the kids here and the kids there. The kids over in Abaco were not selfish at all and then you look at the kids over here in America and all I hear is I want this or I want that, But not once in Abaco did I hear that and it was just crazy to see the conditions they are faced with every day but they still have a smile on their face. The best thing that I loved about peas and mud was this teenager named deshawn and on the last day we were playing basketball with the teens and I noticed that his flip flop had got ripped and it was completely destroyed and he couldn’t play anymore and he looked really bummed that he couldn’t play. So as we were leaving I went up to him and asked him what size shoe he wore and he said 11, I told him he was in lucky because I wear a size 11 so I took of my basketball shoes and give them to him. I will never forget the look on his face, he was so grateful and I could just tell that he doesn’t really get much from anybody and what I got next I did not expect at all he gave me the biggest hug ever and thanked me. I have never felt that way when I have given stuff to people. I guess it’s because I saw such a bigger picture that he needed them more than me and I was more than glad to give them to him. I can’t wait till next year so I can see deshawn again.

valueable time

This week one thing that I learned is time management. I say this because we are heading to Abaco tomorrow for our mission trip and we can only take 25 lbs. on the plane so we needed to try to get all of our work done before we leave. Now I still need to finish a little bit of English but for the most part my time management was pretty good. Even though we had a lot going on this week I still had time to get my school work done. So that way when I get to Abaco I can focus primarily on the Mission trip and not have to worry about schoolwork. I was very surprised that my time management was pretty good because there was a lot going on this week but that has shown me how much I have grown with managing my own time and I am very proud of myself because it shows me that throughout my first year of mission I have grown in one area of my life and that makes me happy because I would have been very upset with myself if I had been here a whole year and not learned anything.

body shop

So this week I was allowed to do body shop and for my body shop I played basketball with the guys for about two hours and Then I did the workouts with Pastor Tim, And it made me realize how much one week away can take out of you becasue it was tough on me to get my speed back to where it was.
The workouts I did worked on my endurence for the trail we have coming up in a couple of weeks. I feel like im getting there but I know there is more i need to work on before the trail.

Body shop

This week for Body shop I was not able to do any workouts becasue I had a doctors note stating I couldn't do any type of workout for a week and honestly I did not like it it was very boring not being able to participaite in bodyshop but I am all cleared for bodyshop this week and I am excited.

Encouragment

This week I learned the importance of encouraging your teammates. This week I could not do any body shop because of a doctor’s note but Pastor Tim told me I could still encourage my team. So this week I was helping everyone give it everything they had by pushing them to go farther than they thought they could. It would have really been nice if I could have participated with my team because I felt like I was letting them down but Pastor Tim said I can’t control that I am hurt but I can control that I am not helping the team by encouraging them in every area of the body shop. This will be a lesson that will stick with me forever I say this because everybody in life deserves encouragement in their life. Another thing I learned was how to play the piano with David Hare. It was pretty amazing because i have always wanted to learn how to play the piano but have had no one to teach me and I learned that I catch on to things rather quickly I learned how to play the Star Wars theme song and I hope that next year Mr. David can teach me more on the piano so that way I will at least know one instrument. 

Memorizing Scripture

There are many reasons why memorizing scripture is important. One reason is because God wants us to know his word so that way we can use it whenever the time comes to minister to somebody. Another reason it is important to memorize scripture because there are people out there that know the word but twist the words around and if you do not know God’s word those people can deceive you and make you believe that the scripture really says that, Also is you want to be any kind of pastor in the church you really need to know Gods word just because you have all the lives of the members in your church on you so if you do not know Gods word you are going to lead those people down the wrong path. Especially for me because I want to be a youth pastor but if I do not take the time to learn Gods word how am I ever going to be a youth pastor if I don’t know Gods word? That’s the thing I will never be a youth pastor because I do not want to send all of those kids to hell just because I was too lazy to learn Gods word. I have come to realize that everything in life has a consequence and if I become a teacher of the word I will be judged more strictly. Also if you know Gods word you really understand the lessons he wants to teach us. Another thing is the only way you get to know people is if you either spend time with them, read about them or somebody tells you about them. And that is how it is with God’s word you need to read his word because if you don’t all you will know is what people tell you about him but the relationship you need with God you have to find on your own you can’t have people telling you about God all the time you have to find out who he is to you, that can only come with reading his word and keeping his word in your heart. The last thing I want is to try and tell somebody about Jesus and not know the right words to say because I don’t know his word because I don’t take the time to memorize his word because I feel like I have better things to do, then to learn about the God that died for me so I can live.  Another reason why I need to memorize scripture is because if I want my kids to walk in the way of the Lord I need to start putting memorizing scripture into practice because how am I going to tell my kids to memorize scripture if I don’t do it on a regular basis? That’s the thing I will be a hypocrite to my kids because I am telling them to do something that I am not. If I am supposed to be the head of my house I need to start doing these things now so that way when I have a family it will be easier and I will already have been doing it.

Doing what I never thought I could do!

So this week Pastor Tim gave us a challenge and he split us into three teams, It was the two girls and then the guys were split up. On my team it was me, Ricky, Josh, and Caleb. The challenge was to do 5,000 pushups by sunday. I heard this and my heart dropped because I am a little guy so pushups are my enemy, But I had an amazing team behind me pushing me all the way. I never could have asked for a better team. Needless to say we lost to the girls but we didn't give up. We finished our pushups yesterday after church I was not able to finish mine because I pulled a muscle in my neck but thats is where the team work came in my team saw that I could not do any more pushups so they helped me and finished my pushups for me. That is why I could never ask for a better team.

Pushing myself

So this week we did some workouts with Pastor Tim, and lets just say we did everything you could think of. We ran laps, pushups, Stations and relay's. And honestly it really pushed me this week to get better everyday and I got better everyday at the things we had to do. The pushups got easier, the laps got easier, But the stations were pretty tough. Throughout this workout I work every muscle imaginable even ones i didn't think you could work. But the health benefits of these workouts were they benefitted everything it benefits your leg muscles, arm muscles, abs, and everything else.

Time really is sacred!

So what I learned this month is that time really is important. I say this because I was not able to complete all of my ministry hours. I got Seven hours of ministry completed but a I had the time to get all of my hours completed but I decided to slack off and then time caught up with me. Its crazy because there are times in life when you feel like you have all the time in the but in reality you do not. This can be the same with your walk with God you think you have all the time in the world to get saved and live for God but you really Don't these days are coming to an end, and if you do not act now your time will run out.

My Ministry

So for my Ministry help, I decided since I really like sport's that I was going to help jeremiahs baseball coach. I asked Jeremiahs coach if I could help him with training since I have four years experience of playing baseball. His coach said yes so I went right to work in a two day span I accomplished 7 hours of personal ministry. I helped the coaches by helping the players with batting practice, pitching, and then drills. Honestly even though it was fun it was alot of work because it was hard. At the end of every practice I helped put away all of the equipment. I would love to go back and help again because it was alot of fun. The last hour of my ministry hours was I helped my grandma move around furniture in her house and cleaned her house up because she is getting up there in age and she is not able to do all the things she use to do. The house cleaning took two hours and was worth it because I got to spend time with my mema.

                       

Body Shop

So this week for bodyshop me and the guys played basketball for 2 hours in the rain so not only was it a work out but it was also a challenge not to fall. We played 3 games of Basketball and then for the last hour of my bodyshop I ran around the neighborhood and then did some pullups and pushups for an hour.
 The health benefits of my work outs is to prepare myself for the appalachian trail that we are doing for the end of Mission. I have been working out my leg muscles and arms so that way if we need to lift anything on this trail i will be able to do it.
 

Anything is possible

So we Got our grades posted up for our classes and I really thought i failed. I mean I tried my best but those tests were killin me. I was getting 100% on everything else but three quizes destroyed my grade.
So i decided to just continue doing good in my class to see if all of my other good grades would at least give me a passing grade. I started getting A's on all of my papers and discussion post's and it was making me really happy. But the moment of truth came when I had to write my Final paper for my class if I passes this i would pass the class. I was very nervous because I could not risk a failling grade, So I wrote my paper and I just got the grade back yesterday, I scored a 72% on my paper. I passed the class YAY!!!. This goes to show that if you put your mind to whatever you are doing you can accomplish anything.

Basketball

So for my body shop hours me and all they guys played Basketball throughout the week, even though it was fun it was alot of work. We played a game of basketball going by a half a point and it was alot more work. We worked on our leg muscles alot having to move around on the court and our stamina to have the strength to finish the game strong.
The health benefits of playing basketball is it pretty much works on every muscle in your body because you are constantly moving around on the court trying to make a play for your team.

Preparing for the trail.

So for my bodyshop this week I wanted to work on my leg muscles more than anything because of the simple fact that at the end of the year the Mission students will be tackling the appalachian trail. So I started off by taking a bike ride around the neighborhood for an hour and it was alot of work. I then started to do pushups and wall sits along with other stretches and it was a very good workout. for my last hour of bodyshop I went on a run around the neighborhhod then around the office building.
The health benefits of these work outs was to strenghten my legs to get me better prepared for the trail at the end of the year, and it builds muscled in my legs.

LiFe ChAnGiNg DrEaM!!!!!!

Ok so all of last week I was not feeling like me at all, I still did the same routine I always do but something was missing. Thursday night I had a dream, it was the first dream I have had in 6 months. I was in my room looking at at the cool things that I had, my clothes, hats, shoes, etc. But something didnt feel right. All of a sudden I hear this loud voice saying this " You want all of these things that wont bring you true happiness fine but im out of it", then in an instant I found myself in a dark room with all my earthly belongings and Jesus had his back turned away from me and he said these bone chillen words " Like I said before if you want all of these things I am out of it" with those final words the door to my eternity in Heaven was shut forever. I was in complete darkness, i started hearing these voices saying " you just like us now". After that I woke up and realized that who I was becoming was not who God made me to be I was trying so hard to try and fit in with the world that I lost who I was in Christ and that if I continue like this I will loose my eternity in Heaven. So I decided to amke the change that I will no longer be who the world wants me to be but who God wants me to be.

I judged the Book!

So this week we had the privilege to have two Mission Students from other Missions in Baltimore, Honestly I didn’t know how it was going to work because they are from Different places. So when they first got here I was kinda distant on talking to them because they seemed like they were too good to talk to us because they were from Florida and Texas. But throughout the week I started to realize that they were just like us Mission Baltimore Kids, We went on a scavenger hunt and I realized that Josh was just like us I had this mindset that he thought he was better than us because we was in Mission Florida but after he told me his testimony I realized that he was just like us. And Melanie told us her testimony and I thought my life was bad. But listening to their testimonies made me realize that God has used things in their lives to bring them to where they are now. And this whole time I was secretly judging them on where they came from instead of welcoming them into Christ’s family. So God made me realize that you can’t judge a book by its cover, because you never know whose story is worse than yours and what he has done to get them where they are.

Killin the competition!!

So this week for Bodyshop I played Basketball with Josh Williams and Ben Chaney for an hour, It was alot of fun even though it was only the three of us. The first thing we did was play a game of 21. Needlesss to say I crashed thier spirits because I won. The second game Josh and Ben teamed up on me and got me out but it was ok because I was having fun.
The next day David, Karla, Melanie, Josh, and I played basketball and I was on the girls team and we lost but we had so much fun then I was on davids team and we won. But we played for an hour then we went back to the office.
The next morning I woke up around 6 a.m. and went on a run around the neighborhood which was very good but very cold, I ran for and hour and it was AWESOME!!!!!

The health benefits for all three exercises that I did was to work on my endurance and work on my leg muscles. I mostly work on these because I am a basketball player and that is our main source of power and I want my legs and stamina to be in awesome shape when it is time for the trail at the end of the year.

Redeem the Time!!

I know Mission always tells us to redeem the time and I feel like I am finnaly starting to get how important time is. This week was overwhelming, I say this because we started the 12 days of prayer also on top of the prayer we had school work and busy schedules. But I remembered Pastor Tim saying "Redeem the time" and that made me think that i need to better organize myself so I started with school first and knocked out most of my homework in one day. And I started to realize that if you get everything planned out on your schedule you really do have time to do everything and I realized that because I got everything accomplished that I needed to do. I know that I will start taking time more seriously because once it is gone you can't get it back.

Helping the Community

So for my ministry hours I did what I normally do in the summer at my house and that is rake leaves and pick up trash.
A. I went around too several peoples houses in my neighborhood and raked there leaves and picked up the trash in the yard, I mostly did it for the old people. The reason why I chose to do this is because I always use to help my grandma rake leaves and I find it really enjoyable.
B. I did this Job for an hour for four days i did about two houses in an hour but i enjoyed it.
C. When I think about it there was only one person who asked what I was doing and I told him that im just serving the community I live in and that made him smile and i enjoyed that.
D. This type of ministry can be carried through the church because anybody can do it and it is a very good ministry opportunity.

Bodyshop

This week was so crammed full of events that it was hard to get anything squeezed in there, But I made time for my bodyshop.
 I first began running around our neighborhood and I did that for about an hour which was a very good workout because it will get me ready for the trail that we have to do at the end of Mission.
Another bodyshop that I have done was playing basketball with Ricky, David, and Clarence. And i will say that it was a very good workout because I love Basketball. The last and final workout I did was I worked out in the gym downstairs.
The health benefits of my workouts was too gain more muscle in my legs and get more endurancein my body so I can do more sports and not run out of breathe easily.

God is answering a prayer

So the one thing that i learned about me this week is that God is answering a prayer in my life. I am really bad with respecting the authority over me and I always get attitudes with my leaders so I have been praying to God that he would help me with my problem of respecting leadership.
So this weekend we went to Rochester New York to help at an event called Winterfest and the whole ride up i was praying that God would help me have a positive and good attitude. So we get to Winterfest and it seemed like everything was going wrong and it seemed like the communication was not that good but I remember the prayer I sent to God and throughout Winterfest I didn't get an attitude with any leader and it was awesome I loveed it. I had a really god time at Winterfest and God was in that place. And I just thank God for answering my prayer, and I hope he continues to help me.

Working as a team

So this week for my bodyshop i played an hour of basketball with the guys, and it was a very ghood workout because I love sports and you are getting excercise while doing it. My other two hours consisted of working out and swimming at the htel which was very good.

The health benefits of my workouts are very good because I worked on my endurence and to work on my arms and leg strength.

My team was not as good as the other team but we worked as a team and won three games in a row.

Finding myself!!!!

So I  never was the biggest kid growing up or the smartest so I wasn't really the most liked person in school. So i would never try to make friends and I would always fight people and get into trouble because I hated who I was. I wanted to be popular and the one that everyone liked. So I figured that I would try to be somebody I wasn't. So I bought the clothes that made me look important, But that didn't work, I threw the parties but for some reason that still didn't work. Since all that didn't work I just went back to what I did best and that was fighting all the people who made fun of me. That brought me joy and happiness for a little bit but it started to get boring. Then one day a man named Stephen Diggs invited me to his youth group and I liked it because the people there excepted me for who I was and actually talked to me. I kept attending this youth group and while I was attending I started to realize a change in me. I was so concerned with who i was trying to be instead of who I was. And at Mission I started doing it again  and I realized that trying to fit in won't get you anywhere. So i just talked to God and asked him to make me into the man he wants me too be instead of what the world wants me too be.

The Fitness

So this week for my body shop I did a list of activities, One of the first things I did was I lifted weights downstairs in my basement along with push ups and sit ups. I did that for about an hour every other night so that was about 4 hours of lifting weights and other exercises. on Sunday I went to the Gym with Robert, while at the gym I work on my legs and my abs mostly doing exercises such as leg press and ab crunches. Robert and I were at the gym for an hour and a half.

The health benefits of the work outs that I did helped me gain more muscle in my legs and abs. the reason why I wanted to work on my legs is because I play basketball and your legs are very important for basketball. The health benefits for lighting weights and push ups was to gain more muscle in my arms and get them stronger.

workout

This weekend was crazy I didn't have alot of time to do a workout but I did swim for a little bit on the time i did have and it was really enjoyable. The benefits for swimming is that when you are swimming even though it is relaxing you are working your arm muscles, leg muscles and so many other others and it is just a fun thing to do in your spare time.

Winterfest

So this weekend was one of the best experiences of my life, I have always went to winterfest but never worked winterfest. They had me working the inflatables upstairs and honestly I loved it. I learned something that weekend, That I am really good with little kids. I know most of the times I say im not but this weekend it confirmed that I really am good with kids. I was playing dodgeball with them for like hours upon end, even though i was drained of all energy I never stopped playing with the kids because thats all theyy wanted was for somebody to play with them and talk to. But I had a really fun time and I hope I can do it again next year.

The power of service

This weekend I had the awesome opportunity to help Josh Kimble put in marble countertops at the training center. Some people may not see that as a big deal put Josh and pastor Tim really needed help so I told them I would step in and help. Even though it was a lot of work me and Jodh still had fun.

I got to the training center around 9:30 and did not leave until around 1:30 so i would say I was at the training center for four and a half hours. The only reason it was that short is because me and Jeremiah Brooks went to the batting cage to finish my bodyshop hours.

The lives that we impacted im not really sure of, I guess I would have to say anyone who uses the training center they have nice countertops they can use instead of regular tables which is a good thing.

We can use this ministry to help anyone who needs help in there homes or with anything with building or putting something together. I think Josh and I make a good team we are both funny but are very hard workers and we can get anything done with hardwork and determination.

This is the closest thing I could find to the style of countertop that is in the training center.

The power of Prayer!!!

So one thing that I have learned about myself this week is that my prayers do make it to God and he does answer them. The reason why I say this is because I have been praying ever since I got saved that my sisters would accept Christ into there lives and turn from there old lives. For the longest time I didn't think God was hearing my prayers. Until yesterday I was talking to one of my sisters on Facebook and I was just talking to her telling her i was praying for her and stuff like that, Then what she said next shocked me. She said she broke up with her boyfriend of almost three years because she knew that the way she was living wasn't right and she accepted Christ into her life. That gave me so much hope that if she can do it my other sister Brittany can too. I am continually praying for her everyday. if you ever think that God can't hear your prayers think again!! He hears them but he answers them on his time not ours.

The true Test

So this week for my bodyshop I continued my workout downstairs with lifting wieghts and doing more push-ups and sit-ups. But the highlight of my Bodyshop was friday, Friday afternoon I went with Jeremiah Brooks to the batting cage and the indoor basketball court. We played basketball for about 20 mins then for the last 40 mins we went into the batting cage. Now I haven't played baseball in over four years so I was a little rusty but it was all for fun so we started with 50 mph then on to 60 mph just for a warm up. Then me and Jeremiah wanted to have a contest on who could hit the most baseballs. Needless to say even though I was rusty I beat him 11-10. The true test of who was the better hitter.

The health benefits of going to the batting cage and playing basketball is to help me get my cardio good and to build muscle in my arms and legs. The health benefits for lifting wieghts is to build muscle in my arms legs and torso.

Putting myself in Their shoes!!!

So last thursday we had the experience to be homeless for the night. The experience was already going to be an amazing experience. But that all changed around 2:30 friday morning it started to get really cold and unbarable. This really made me realize what homeless people go through everyday and it really made me realize that I take alot of thingsfor granite in my life and it really made me appreciate all the things i have in my life. Saturday morning we had the opportunity to hand out Hot chocolate to homeless people, In this event I got to make some new friends with those people. And i remember a friend I met there named George he told me that if I do not stay in school and do the right thing that I would end up just like him and he knew that God had awesome things in store for me. When he said that it really made me appreciate the things and the people that I have in my life.

The Workout

This is my post for body shop. The physical activities I completed for this week was just lifting wieghts, doing push-ups, sit-ups, and jogging around the block of my neighborhood.

I did my first day of lifting wieghts and doing curls. I did that for an hour straight. then I did pushups and situps and ran around the block the next two days.

The health benefits of running is to get my cardio in great shape so i dont loose breath easy. Lifting wieghts and doing push-ups and sit-ups is to help get my arms stronger and every other part of my body strong.