Tuesday through Friday

Sorry its been a while since the blog has been updated. This trip to Anaheim, CA was an awesome trip. We were so busy that we really didn't have time to update the blog so we will give you an overview of what went on...

Tuesday morning we all got up bright and early and headed down to the church to finish decorating and clean everything up and get it all ready for the children on Wednesday. We worked down there for a long time making sure everything looked just perfect, and it did! Everything turned out amazing and everything the LaHabra church donated was put to good use. We stopped for lunch and then back to work it was. We painted backdrops, taped numerous posters to walls, set up classrooms, and decorated and cleaned the entire entryway. The church was ready for the children and at that point we stopped for dinner (the ladies here at the church really know how to cook... we never went hungry on this trip, and we were so thankful to the ladies for that). After dinner we got everything together and headed to the park to set up a pop up tent, do some free face painting, would of had free popcorn if we could of found and electrical plug, and passed out fliers. At first people came around, mainly because they wanted to know why the tent was there, and our team had made some signs to let the people know and soon children of all ages were lined up to get their faces painted. It was awesome to see the lines of kids(and parents) waiting. While they were waiting some of the other team members were able to take that chance, hand them a flier and if God opened the door talk to them about Christ. We had one little girl Veronica, her mom brought her over to see what all was going on and she sat back and waited for her daughter to finish. One of the team members that went to the park that evening took the opportunity to ask if she had received the flier for VBS yet, she hadn't, and sat down and got to know a little about her. Come to find out she wasn't saved and after further discussion came to know Christ that night! PRAISE GOD!!! What an awesome thing to experience right there in the park in Anaheim, CA God brought this lady right where she needed to be and also brought our team right where we needed to be. We were so excited about this we couldn't hardly contain ourselves that night during devotional/testimony time. We had a great time talking about the day and discussing what tomorrow would bring. We all were extremely tired and soon after our devo/testimony time we headed to bed, ready for what Wednesday would hold.

Wednesday we woke up bright and early as we were excited to be having a free car wash in the church parking lot. We really wanted the people around the church to realize that there is a church in the community and they are there to serve. We didn't know quite how it would work out but it was great we posted signs, had people out on the street holding signs, and ended up having a few cars to wash. We had some people stop by just to see why we were having a free car wash, it didn't make sense to them... probably because we had a sign that said, "no donations accepted!" We had that sign because we truly didn't want any donations and when people asked why not it was the perfect opportunity to explain to them that just as we can do absolutely nothing for our salvation, they can do absolutely nothing for that car wash. Bro Rudy was able to have some really good conversations with people about Christ while they were waiting for their cars to be washed. It was so exciting and awesome to be able to serve the community of Anaheim in that way. We finished the car wash, had lunch all together, and headed back to the Rodriguez's home for a little rest before opening night. We headed down to the church to eat dinner all together and had some good prayer time before VBS started. We weren't sure how much of a response we would get from the community as the church there hadn't had a VBS in a long time. We truly believe God saw the efforts of the Anaheim church before we arrived and the efforts of the team to put on this VBS and God blessed on that first night of VBS!! We had 6 children from the community attend the first night of VBS which brought our total number of children for night #1 to 12! It was so exciting to see the members of the Anaheim church get emotional about the kids there, they really loved hearing the laughter and excitement in each child as we moved from singing, to lessons, to crafts, to games, and then back to our closing ceremony. We had a great time the first night of VBS and even though we were all so exhausted when we got back to Bro Rudy's and Sis Christine's we had our team time with devos/testimonies. Some of our team members were sick with colds and others were catching colds but even through all of that our team worked so hard. Every time something needed to be done they did it, without arguing, and really helped with the success of the VBS. This team really stepped up and got everything that needed to be done, done. We are so proud and excited to see how the next two nights of VBS are going to go. To God be the glory.

Thursday
Bro Rudy really wanted to go to the beach for a couple of hours to rest so we reluctantly (lol) went with him. Some of us got sunburnt because he kept us there for a little longer than I would have liked but the day was for him. We went back to the house to get cleaned up and rest before VBS. then we went to VBS and had a great vbs with return visitors from the community and we had some new visitors who had previously been in baptist work but had left a long time ago... very hopeful!! We were all really tired that night so most people were ready for bed after devo/testimony time. Thursday was great and we were all very excited about the new visitors, we can't wait for tomorrow!

Friday
Bro Rudy decided that he wanted us to do another one of the free car washes to help promote the church again. So we got set up and it started and it was really slow, and we were all tired from the long days before. Then as we got closer to lunch, the time we were going to stop, I went out to hold the sign and try to get people to come in, and all the sudden we went with three cars deep for like 45 minutes.  I told everyone that I showed some leg (not really) to get people to come. So I stayed out there and let the team do the washing. Then, that night we had VBS with the closing and we had a special time where we presented the gospel through the salvation bracelets. Every child and adult received a bracelet and heard the gospel. That night went a little long but everyone had a great time spending extra time with the kids and adults from the community. I just have to say that the team has worked so hard doing everything this week, I am so proud of this team and the way we have come together to pray about everything we have done. God has been working here in Anaheim and its been awesome to be a part of it. We had our devotional time where we really grew closer together.

Saturday was the teams day off and then Sunday we had the closing ceremony for the VBS and bro Rudy preached the final message before we had lunch. We helped the church pack up and said our goodbyes and headed home. This trip was a different kind of mission trip but it was amazing to see God work. I'm so excited to see God work in the Anaheim church this coming year.