Una Mas

Hello to those of you in the pacific time zone. Well today we are getting ready to debrief with our group and spend an afternoon walking around Nashville. Pray that decisions that were and are being made will be cemented "down the mountain".

We have seen a different way to live life, one that will make us have compassion for all others.

Please ask these kids how God changed their life this week.

See y'all in church on Sunday.

Joe

Wednesday

So today we were able to go back to 2nd harvest food bank to pack more meals for kids, today we packed 5016. That is over 9000 in two days. That is a lot of meals.

Again the kids worked really hard and we never heard them complain at all. So if they complain about making their own lunches you can refer back their time in Nashville and the over 9000 meals they helped make.

We are growing together and learning about the word compassion a lot. Compassion is not a wimpy word to us anymore, just look at the Greek definition.

Keep praying that we will put our expectations aside so we can be CHANGED by God from the inside out. Pray the kids would really be challenged by the messages and worship that is being presented every night. Pray for Matt Wilkes as he is really praying through his messages and he told me last night, that he has pretty much thrown his manuscripts away and gone a new direction. God is really leading him, pray it will continue.

All of the kids are doing really well in less than two days we will be on the way home.

Joe

Dinner Post

Here is what some of my team says about the day at the food bank.

Danae - "I like knowing that I am making a difference in someone's life and making a difference. Allowing a child to eat that wouldn't normally."

Kelsey - "It made me realize that working with people you don't know is hard but having a loving heart to show compassion. "

Ashley - "I felt good about helping 1000 kids by just filling up bags. And now I can work in a grocery store as a bagger."

Michelle - "Knowing that in 3 hours, I helped so many people and satisfied their hunger, made me feel happy. Something so small is going to help so many people."

Kelly - "Sweaty! just kidding. ummmmm. I felt honored to be a part of an organization that helps children, go home with food for the weekend."

We are headed to worship and a challenging word from our speaker Matt Wilkes, who was helping us today at the food bank, that was cool too. Pray Pray Pray.


Joe

2nd Street Harvest Food Bank

WOW!!

What an amazing day of service at the 2nd street harvest food bank. We,(our group of 50 people we are partner with) pack 4086 bags of food. The bags will be used to feed 1000 children every weekend for one month. You see 2nd street takes bags of food to schools to give out to children who would normally not get to eat on the weekends. So on Friday before they leave school there teacher will put the bag of food in there backpacks for them to take home. How cool is that?

I will try to get some responses from our kids at dinner and update you. But I will tell you our kids worked really hard today to pack those boxes. Not one time did we have to tell anyone to get going or move faster. Our host from 2nd street, Matt, was amazed at what we got done in such a short amount of time.

I was so excited I couldn't wait til dinner to post, but I will try to post at dinner.

Joe

101 degrees

So the start to our week came with scorching southern heat and time spent in the cleaning the streets of Nashville. Our students came home red faced but smiling the whole time. God is speaking to the kids in many ways. Since I am with the guys, we will start with them.

Parker - "I need to be more open to looking at situations differently."

Brandon - "I need to accept people I don't know for being a child of God. "

I will try to get more from the girls tomorrow.

Joe - "No matter what God is calling you to do, or where, or how hot, we need to do it 100%."

Our speaker is challenging us to be a part of God's story, to contribute to God's story and to accpet His love for us. Tonight was an amazing time of worship and Matt Wilkes really helping us see God in a new way. Keep praying. Lives are being changed.

Joe

Al Gore

So as we are sitting on the ground waiting for other people to board with us to Nashville, guess who walks in and sits down, Al Gore. It created quit a buzz as people started to come on, you could see them all say to themselves, "that was Al Gore".

Well, we have arrived here in Nashville and Vanderbilt University, our home until Friday. This campus is very beautiful and we are glad to have a day to get focused before we start our week.

This morning we are eating breakfast at Panera Bread and waiting for our ride to church. We are going to attend Highland Park Church.

Emotions on the team are very high. We did some team building stuff last night to get them to see their strengths and weaknesses. There were some frustrations but I think they realize the point of the exercise and are ready to put what they learned to practice.

This afternoon we are going to do some site seeing downtown and then take a (long) stroll home through centennial park.

Thanks for praying, I will update you all later.

Joe

Nashville Beginnings

Nine of us are embarking on a journey to Nashville, Tennessee. We are sitting here in the airport with nervous anticipation of what God is about to do in our lives. This experience is going to be more unique than anything we have ever had. I know that the lives of our one Junior High student and six High School students will change forever if we allow ourselves to be open to HIS leading.

Please pray for us: Joe Broesamle, Kelly Broesamle, Brandon Ivy, Parker Fox, Kelsey Walters, Nickole Martinez, Danae Sym, Michelle Rusher, Ashley Tassano

Look for more...

Joe