Summer temperatures have finally arrived! What a beautiful Memorial Day Weekend! It’s the time of the year for graduations, and this year we have four students graduating. They are Elizabeth Dale and Sabrina Torres from Bullock Creek, Tristan Mapes from Midland High, and Brandon Devericks from Windover. They will be honored in Sunday morning worship on June 12 with each of them receiving a gift from the church. Plus, the pastors will be taking them out to dinner at a local restaurant. Congratulations!

State Youth Convention was a great success with the music of Finding Favor, the Worship Leaders – Leo and Megan Flores plus our speaker Marsha Reeder. Everyone had a wonderful time as we worshiped, served, played and were inspired and impacted in our walk with the Lord. Great Weekend!!!

June will be a month of graduation parties, church gatherings and the finishing of the school year. We are still “silently” fundraising for the three young ladies we have attending the International Youth Convention. Keep those bottles/pop cans coming and if you wish to help any of them financially, let us know.

iyc logoWe will depart for San Antonio, Texas for the International Youth Convention on June 30, 2016 from Tri-City Airport and will return on July 7. The theme this year is “One God, One Truth, One Body and One Mission” based on Ephesians 4:4-6 – “There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” We will be participating with nationally known speakers, artists, student conferences, service projects, tourist attractions and MORE while staying at the Marriott Rivercenter and Riverwalk. It will be a GREAT week for our students!

High School Sunday School classes continue with Pastor Jerry until July 31. Youth Meetings and GRADS @ Grahams on Sunday nights for the 2015-2016 school year are over for the summer. However, watch for details of events and happenings yet to come through July.

As most people know, Pastor Jerry will be retiring from Youth Ministry in the local church on July 31 to pursue grandchildren, other ministry opportunities and retirement life. Connie will continue to serve in her role as Youth Director for the Michigan Church of God, so we will continue to participate in state youth activities and functions. We will be formally departing from Mt. Haley to pursue other ministry opportunities and allow Mt. Haley to re-invent their youth ministry without the Grahams. We will visit occasionally and always have you in our prayers. PLUS, we have offered to organize and prepare a mission trip for Mt. Haley to Guatemala next February. If so, and you want to go on a mission to Guatemala, registration will be $150 on September 18, 2016 with the total mission costs being $450. (Includes registration and insurance) plus airfare. Our church has been faithful in this mission and we want it to continue for those who want to go. Cost of the house construction will be $6000 and we already have almost half of the funds in the treasury. Praise God and follow your heart to Guatemala.

Parents and church, your prayers, support and encouragement are greatly appreciated and we look forward every week to sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ with our students through interaction, study, fellowship and relationship. Thank you for sharing your son or daughter and our congregation for holding the youth up in PRAYER.

Love God, Love People, Live It!

Blessings,

Pastor Jerry

A FREE DAY! Our trip had a strange twist: we could not find reasonable airline tickets out of any city in Michigan. However, God answered prayer, and we flew out of Chicago which meant a 7-hour trip to the airport from Midland. Our flight home was a red-eye out of Guatemala City late on a Saturday night, which resulted in a blessing: we did not have to pay for another night in our hotel, and we had an extra full day in Guatemala. It did mean we traveled at night and didn’t get home until Sunday evening, but it worked out. The 2016 trip was indebted to Jim Sirks, Youth Pastor from the North Avenue Church of God in Battle Creek. Jim drove their big bus and transported us to and from O’Hare. Thank you Jim! Continue reading

LAST DAY AT THE TRACKS! Today was going to be our last day of working at the Tracks. Over the years this has been an emotionally tough day with many tears and hugs. In my travels here during the past nine years, I have learned it is all about the attitude and how we think about our work and friendships that have been made. My approach now is one of celebration; we know we will probably return at another time to renew our friendships and see the progress the community has made over the years. Its fun now because kids we met when they were 7 or 8 years old are now 15 or 16, growing up right in front our eyes. This brings us to our devotion for the day: the green paper is for growing in the Lord” (2 Peter 3:18). But grow in the special favor and knowledge of the Lord. I think back over the past nine years and the life experiences and growth in the Lord we have experienced throughout those years. And its the same with the Guatemalan people: they are maturing in their faith, and their community has had constant change and growth. So as we leave each year, we prefer to say “Te amo,” “Salud!” and “Hasta la vista amigo.”

Josh and his mural with Lucy and her children
Josh and his mural with Lucy and her children

We were tying up loose ends today as we sought out the people we wanted to see. Our groups artist, Josh, painted a beautiful mural on the wall of Lucy’s daughters’ bedroom. We finished the installation of the stairs at Sonya’s house. We took lots of pictures of friends, our group, and the blessings of the Tracks we wanted to remember. Some of us we knew it was the last time they would visit; others knew they would return later. Some knew they would be moving to Guatemala in July. Fortunately, with the advent of Facebook, our communication and interaction with the people of the Tracks has increased tenfold, and we feel much closer than we have ever been. We felt excitement, satisfaction, blessings, and so many feelings as we said good-bye to the Tracks.

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BACK to work as we return to the Tracks for another day of serving the people. If my memory serves me right, on this day we went up the path to a small church to give away all of our clothing treasures. It was a grand morning as we displayed and gave away every type of clothing that you can imagine, along with toys, candy, Spanish tracts and Bibles. We saw lots of people, lots of clothes, many smiles and happy neighbors as they filtered through the best merchandise you can get – at the bargain price of “free.” What’s cool is that many of us, at the end of our week in Guatemala, donated almost everything we personally brought; we gave our clothes to David Beam for a good washing and distribution to families as needed. Across the street, we were building steps to the second floor of Sonja’s house. Dawn was still cutting hair, and we converged on Lucy’s home to paint the inside of her house to brighten it up and bless her family. It was a great day of service, blessing and relationships growing as we minister throughout the community of the Tracks.

the clothing giveaway
the clothing giveaway

Our devotional thoughts were on white paper today, a boring yet very significant color in the Gospel story, especially after our celebration of baptism yesterday. The white paper tells us that we are now clean and forgiven, which is the VERY reason that Christ sacrificed His life: so that we might be pure and forgiven of our sins. How BIG is that!! Because of Jesus’s sacrifice and God’s forgiveness, we get to live with God eternally. That’s HUGE! Psalm 51:7 says “Purify me from my sins and I will be clean, and I will be whiter than snow.” For Guatemalans, that is miraculous because they don’t see snow (and I wish sometimes I saw less). But snow is a symbol of purity that only God can provide. So, next time you see snow, it just may be a God-sighting.

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Our 4th day was an opportunity to reach out beyond the Tracks and serve elsewhere in the country of Guatemala. As we traveled a scenic pathway, we saw the culture and beauty of Guatemala. It’s a country of volcanoes, vast vegetation, architecture, and rural life. On past missions we had visited small and large orphanages, friends of David, feeding centers, small towns, Lake Atitlan (considered to be one of the most beautiful lakes in the world) and even the black sands along the Pacific Ocean.

serving lunch in San Antonio La Paz
serving lunch in San Antonio La Paz

Today we went to the village of San Antonio La Paz to visit a lady and her husband who have spent their lives serving the Lord and providing food for local children during lunchtime encounters. They had pots boiling and a feast prepared for the young children. Our job was to set up the dining area, serve the meals and interact with the children. That act seemed very small on our part, but it was perhaps the only meal they received for the day. Children always bring smiles and it’s very touching to see how they always, it seems, want to take home food for their families. We also met a young lady, Karla, and her son who live right there on the property. David and one of his mission teams had built a house for Karla in the past. Small things always make a big difference, and it is heart-warming how the giving of a home and the serving of meals for hungry children make the world a little better place.

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TUESDAY was a great day at the TRACKS with lots of preparation taking place. We were all allocated to our roles as we prepared for upcoming days. Dawn was well into her hair cutting, some where shopping for wood and designing a set of stairs, the ladies were preparing for the clothing give-away up at a church along the tracks, paint was being chosen and bought for the painting of a house, and lots of relationships were being caught up on and developed. A busy day.

Today we received a red sheet of devotions to reveal the Gospel story. The RED paper is for the blood of Jesus shed on the cross. We were blessed with possibly the most quoted and well known portion of scripture: For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16) This is the promise of scripture that people have held on to for centuries.

It was the type of day that went with our thoughts and reflections of a day such as this. We looked to scripture to exemplify our theme, Shaped For Serving God, that would define our work. 1 Corinthians 12:6 says, God works through different men in different ways, but it is the same God who achieves his purposes through them all.” This year’s team was different in that only one person had not been to Guatemala before on a mission. We were a variety of people: a little girl, a couple of high school kids, some graduates, some college kids, some adults with younger families, a family planning on the mission field, a couple of pastors, and finally a few of us older folks who were living out our God-given mission in our retirement years. We were a diverse group with a variety of skills and talents. The quote that equipped us was this: We will be the most effective when we use our SPIRITUAL GIFTS and ABILITIES in the area of our HEART’S DESIRE, and in a way that best expresses our PERSONALITY and EXPERIENCES. Of course, these capitalized words spelled out the shape of our preparation for the mission that God had in store for us.

packing hygeine kits for our Guatemalan friends
packing hygeine kits for our Guatemalan friends

All of God’s people are given spiritual gifts as they accept Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. Some of us have known these gifts for years, and sometimes they have even changed; some have a grasp of their gifts and several in group were still seeking the gifts that Jesus had given them. God gives every believer gifts to be used in ministry. This mission definitely expressed all the various types of gifts God had given and they were used to bring Him glory. Probably one of the most evident shape witnessed within the group was our HEART. For many, this was the second, third, fourth or even ninth excursion in Guatemala so the passion and heart of this appointment was extremely evident. Serve the Lord with all your HEART and have PASSION! The Guatemalan mission has always been fun and fulfilling; however, our team felt new passion and love once again. It gets into your heart, and you just want to go back. It’s hard to explain, but God has definitely placed the mission upon our hearts.

It’s amazing every year how God constructs a team that meets the needs of the people. Every year we have a variety of ABILITIES that shape the trip. This year we had hair cutters, singers, builders, painters, strong bodies, organizers, salesman, preachers, givers, leaders, artists, Spanish speakers, people persons, etc. And over the years we have also been blessed with seamstresses, teachers, nurses, masons, electricians and the list goes on. All our ABILITIES come from God and are to be used for God’s glory. As I said, it is always amazing how God puts together a team that is just right for the mission experience we are on. To God be the Glory!!

PERSONALITY – We are all unique! The personality of a mission team is always unique. With personality, comes humanity – good, difficult, positive, negative, optimistic, worried, reflective, flippant, God-honoring, and so on. Fortunately, my experiences have given me the wisdom that teams must be focus on one thing: God. When you have eight full days together with people other than your family, there has to be a lot of give and take. That’s true of all groups, and, yes, even Christian teams. We have to practice what we have preached. There are many hours of discussion, working together, free time, times we are tired. People agree on things, people disagree, and God gives us plenty of practice in thinking of others. When we are focused on God, it drives us the right way, helps us think less of ourselves and eventually brings glory to God. And that’s what is all about. It’s not Mt. Haley’s trip, not yours, not mine, but God’s. So with our personalities, does God shine through? Are we Loving God, Loving People and Living It? That is an every day thought that continues every day of the year.

Our last piece of our shape is EXPERIENCES. We have been shaped by the EXPERIENCES in our life. God has blessed Connie and me with many experiences through our 40 years of ministry. I have been on dozens of work missions, conventions, retreats and opportunities to serve God. Every one has helped me for the next one and yet each is unique and special. Past experiences teach you many things, but they are all about God and bringing Him glory. Even when an experience doesn’t work, we ask, “What did we learn and how can we improve?” I leave you with this scripture: “God has given each of you some special abilities; be sure to use them to help each other, passing on to others God’s many kinds of blessings.” (1 Peter 4:10)

As is always the case, we worked through our Key Questions and had a lively and blessed discussion on Tuesday evening as we shared with each other the many ways that God had touched our lives that day. Our thoughts for the day left us with a couple of reflections: To serve is beautiful, but only if it is done with joy and a whole heart. Our shapes divinely helped to fill us with joy today and we knew we were in the right place at this time. Love and kindness are never wasted. They always make a difference. Thank you Lord for letting us share in your kingdom today and may you receive glory in our efforts to make a difference in your Kingdom. Glory to God!!

NEXT: The 4th Day of Our Guatemalan Spiritual Journey

 

ANTICIPATION! This is the first day we would walk the paths of the TRACKS with many reunions of friendships. We did not really get too much done because we were wrapped up in relationship building and the smiles of what seemed like hundreds of children. The main corridor along the school was filled with literally tons of people as the “gringos” made their way through the crowd to seek people out, visit the schools and visit the homes of our many friends in this tightly knit Christian community.  Most of the day was spent planning our agenda for the week, doing small projects and seeking out the needs of the community and its people.

Our day began as we circled for prayer at our hotel and eagerly talked about what the day would bring. We then traveled to David Beam’s home, where we feasted with a unique filling breakfast each and every day of the mission. Every morning, I passed out a colored sheet that represented The Gospel Story by Colors and focused us into our spiritual journey of the day. We received a grey sheet on this Monday that stood for our sin. It reminded us that we are all flawed and fall short of the glory of God. Romans 3:23 says “For all have sinned; all fall short of God’s glorious standard.” It was a good reminder that we are ALL in God’s Kingdom no matter where we are in the world. Whether we are divided by economics, language, living conditions or miles, we are all God’s people trying to live a humble life and bringing glory to God.

Accepting Your Assignment was our perspective for the day, and service was the core principle within our assignment. Each our devotions came from Rick Warren’s The Purpose Driven Life and only included a portion of what this excellent book provides, but these brought real significance to our mission. Our first assignment was to understand that You were created to SERVE God. Have you ever wondered why you were created and what your purpose in life is? As we follow the model of Jesus who served, we realize we were created for acts of service. And why else were we in Guatemala? We were there to serve the people of the Tracks – nothing more, nothing less. From another perspective, this is why we were created: to serve each and every day, whether in Guatemala, at school, at work, with our family, in every aspect of our lives. Jesus served and so should we.

The very Gospel of Jesus Christ brought our second assignment for the day. You were saved to serve God. Are you grateful that you have been saved, forgiven of your sins and bound for eternity with Jesus Christ? Because we are saved, we are blessed by God to bring glory to God through serving every day of our lives. So, You were called to serve God. This was a question we often dealt with in our preparation meetings: why were we going to Guatemala? Are we being called? We often talk about having a “Divine Appointment” to serve God in an area of the world with no distractions and complete focus on serving and bringing glory to God. What are you called to do in your service to God? A mission trip is only a few days of the year where you have this opportunity in such an isolated atmosphere, but what about your daily life? We are called to serve – everywhere, daily and all in God’s name. John 14:15 says, “If you really love Me, you will keep and obey My Commandments.” This sets up our next assignment: You are commanded to serve God. Now we are bringing love into the picture; God loves you to the point of sacrificing His son. Do you love Jesus? Loving Jesus is a daily decision we all have to make and part of our purpose in life. Then, because we love God, we are commanded to serve God. How much do you love God? Are you serving Him because of that love?

Every one of us is an influence or has an impact on someone, whether a spouse, a family member, a church member, a neighbor or a person at work or school. We all carry the banner of Christ, both positively and negatively. Are we wearing the title of “Christian” that brings glory to God? It’s important that we travel to Guatemala and serve the community of the Tracks; however, what about the rest of the year? Are we influencing people for Christ? Do we impact others with our walk? Service is the pathway to significance. We have impacted Guatemala and through this we see the mutual admiration, respect and friendship which exists between the people and ourselves. It is definitely significant. However, are you doing that next door, at work, at school, in our church or where life takes you? Anything that brings glory to God is significant.

Service is NOT optional was our last thought for the day. As we read this now, a few weeks after our adventure, I wonder if the assignments of service are still ringing in your heart and affecting your everyday life? This was part of the purpose of the trip: to bring it home.

Ephesians 2:10 states “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God prepared in advance for us to do.” What a wonderful feeling to know that Christ works within us to serve. May this be a key lesson we live each day.

A lively discussion took place on Monday evening as we shared the key questions of the day: God sightings, blessings, heart breaks, learning, scripture, community and our thankfulness for the day. Sharing our hearts was most often the best part of the devotions.

Included in each devotion time were a couple of quotes to stimulate our minds and keep us focused on God. Our first one on Monday was “Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn, or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace and gratitude.” Many things can bring us happiness, but only the joy of love, grace and gratitude can create the mind of God. Also, because we were a team, we ended with this thought: “Alone we can do little. Together we can do much.” May all that we do bring glory to God!

NEXT:  The 3rd Day of our Guatemalan Journey

TIRED! Our journey began on Saturday around 1:00 AM in the Fellowship Hall of Mt. Haley as we gathered to take our four-part journey to Guatemala. We loaded in our church van and the Adams’s SUV, which pulled a trailer with our luggage. We drove to the North Avenue Church of God in Battle Creek where we met up with Pastor Jim Sirks, who drove us in their church bus to O’Hare in Chicago. Chicago was our departure destination because God blessed us with cheaper tickets from there, saving our group almost $6,000. Incredible! Our flight out of Chicago was delayed, but we were able to arrive in Washington DC in time to make our flight to Guatemala. We made it into Guatemala after midnight and had a short night of rest. Tomorrow was a BIG day because it was church at the Tracks!

airplaneA huge blessing we had each and every day was breakfast and dinner at the home of our missionary, David Beam. Meals always included Guatemalan dishes and plenty of food. However, because of church and our short night, we got to eat at McDonald’s on Sunday morning. Prior to that everyone received his or her first installment of the devotion notes for our day, which were entitled “What is my PURPOSE for the Mission Trip?” Everyone on the mission received their devotion first thing in the morning, as a way of focusing their thoughts and preparing them spiritually for what the day brought. They were to read it, pray about it and process it throughout the day. We then shared together in our nightly devotions which immediately followed our evening meal at David Beam’s house. A Guatemalan meal, devotions and then a special dessert were our agenda for each evening of the trip.

A pivotal ingredient of each devotion time was the discussion of some key questions we had each day. The first question was always “What were your GOD SIGHTINGS for the day?” God sightings were examples of seeing God working in His kingdom during the day. Often, we are so engrossed in our activities that we miss the common workings of God as he interacts with people and his world. We had discussed this a lot in our preparation meetings and hopefully we were keen on watching how God really does proclaim his presence in His Kingdom on a daily basis. From there we moved to the question “What BLESSINGS did you receive from the Lord today?” We were personally involved because our God sightings touched us emotionally, and we felt God’s inner glow as we witnessed his sightings. Blessings are strange things; we are so blessed and should be filled with gratitude, but life can take us away from the ways God really restores our soul.

Our third question took a completely different direction as we gazed upon the reality around us. Culture is always different as we travel to other environments outside of our own. We view different climates, different housing, different people and customs and, most often on a mission trip, the poverty that is the reality of the area we are in. Looking into the eyes of hungry children, much like our own, and what appear to be unhealthy living conditions, we ask the question “What BROKE your heart today?” We are grateful for our own living conditions, but the blessing is that these people are happy and grateful also for what God has provided. Although it may break our heart, they are God’s people living in his Kingdom. And from there we asked, “What did you LEARN in your walk with the Lord today?” The lessons we learned each day were amazing as we worked and lived among the people for one short week. They taught us about sharing, love, service to one another, friendship, gratitude and Jesus himself. If you don’t learn something about others, yourself and Jesus on a mission trip, you have missed many blessings.

During the preparation meetings and devotions, we surrounded ourselves with scriptures from the Word of God. From that came the question “Were any SCRIPTURES fulfilled in your life today?” It’s amazing how scriptures that are so familiar or casually read became very real in the situations we encountered with people. Often these scriptures connected with our next question, “How did you interact in COMMUNITY today?” We learned that we all live in the Kingdom of God and we share in the same Word of God; we are only separated by miles, cultures and family. Community and relationships are core aspects of any mission trip and everything else is secondary after our common belief in our Savior Jesus Christ.

The last question we asked each day was “What are you GRATEFUL for today?” God has blessed us in incredible ways, and he has blessed the Guatemalan people in incredible ways also. However, we do come from different cultures that we can be grateful for and we serve the same risen Christ! For that we can be grateful and hopefully give God the glory in all that we do.

So, after the first day we did not discuss the significance of each question. However, we did ask the questions, and God opened up a world of reflection shared by everyone in the group.

What is the purpose of a mission trip? There are several aspects: We want people to participate in something that’s bigger than ourselves, to realize and understand the world is bigger than our hometowns. We need to be good neighbors and practice the Golden Rule with people from around the world. We need to walk through an environment with the eyes and ears of God, knowing that although their culture is different than ours, it is very much the same.

People are people everywhere, and our friendships should extend to all people as we express the love of Jesus to a world that truly needs Jesus.

Our first day ended with a reading of Matthew 25:34-40, and we went to sleep and prepared for the adventure of a lifetime.

Coming soon: The 2nd Day of our Guatemalan Spiritual Journey.

Guatemala! It has been a blessing as we share fond memories, experiences and lots of pictures of our adventure at the “Tracks” in Guatemala City. Facebook has been alive with our pictures and thoughts on Guatemala filling our expressions of gratitude in our mission. It is always our hope that participants not only have a wonderful time, the pleasure of serving and the making of friends, plus the huge blessings for the people there and ourselves, but that they experience a spiritual journey throughout the week. We began spiritual preparation for the mission four months prior to the actual trip with meetings that not only prepare us physically, but also clarify our purpose and reason for glorifying God as we live daily in His Kingdom. Success is not only measured in our completion of the mission; it is measured in how this journey as changed our lives and whether or not it has created a new spirit of Christian growth and maturity. Our “real” mission is how we believe, think and live in the Kingdom of God we are surrounded with on a daily basis. Are we making a difference? Are we sharing Christ? Are we serving others? Are we bringing glory to God and His Kingdom?

There will be a series of articles I will share through the next few weeks that will express our spiritual journey as we prepared for our mission, and the daily devotions we discussed every evening of the mission. Hopefully, this will give you some insight and thoughts about the Guatemala experience that we have grown to love and value. Continue reading