Hi Everyone,
I´m Michael Berg the director of YWAM Orlando and I´m here in Sweden right now. I can only stay for a few days, but I wanted to check in on the team. The kids are doing great! Although they are a bit sore from all the drama and dance practice - their attitudes are tremendous. All the staff have been so impressed with the kids and their desire to really go deep with God. We are all so encouraged to have each one of your kids on the team. I leave tomorrow - Monday June 20th. Even
though I will miss them I know that they are in good hands and I look
forward with you to seeing all that God will do in and through them.
Blessings,
Michael Berg
6/20/05 6:00pm
What can I say? It has
been a great day! After last nights teaching on the Father Heart of
God (given by Michael Berg) the kids were given a chance to reflect on
what God was saying to them. There were some incredible times of joy
and release as God touched many hearts! The team has been working very
hard today. They have two dances and several dramas completely
finished and are halfway done with two others. They only need to
finish these two new songs and we will be finished. One schedule
change: we will be ministering in Sweden until Saturday. We will be
staying here until then unlike we had originally planned because of the
ministry opportunities. Please lift up Michelle and Denae as they
travel to Stockholm. Thank you again for your prayers.
-Bobby B.
6/21/05 2:30pm
Hello all! We
are currently at a very warm hearted church in Rosvik, Sweden. They
have taken us in as their own and gone above and beyond to meet many of
our needs ranging from preparing dinner, helping sew our costumes, and
running us to the city to buy ice cream for the kids. It has been
truly a blessing to be a part of God´s work worldwide and partner
with believers from a different culture than our own. It has also been
encouraging to see our kids be immersed into a culture different than
our own with ease and flexibility.
Over and over
again I have been in awe at the amount of passion within each and every
one of the youth on our team. God has been revealing daily to us staff
the amount of potential within our youth as future leaders. We
appreciate their humility, innocence, and reckless desire to get to the
next level in their walk with Jesus.
The dances and
dramas are coming together beautifully, thanks to the hard work by the
kids. They have been enduring some bumps and bruises and persevered
through "boot camp" with a positive attitude. When I was watching them
perform the dramas in a time of sharing, I was moved to chills and felt
the presence of God radiating.
We would like to
ask for you to cover our team in prayer as we go out and minister. We
have been reminded more and more on this outreach how prayer truly does
work.
We also have a
team cell phone which will be activated until Saturday, June 25, then
will resume activation on July 5 (It won´t work in Russia). The phone
is ONLY for emergencies and will cost about 2 US Dollars per Min.
The phone number is : 01146-073-8267051.
-Aron S. (The Korindian)
6/21/05 10:00pm
Hi Everyone! Just
wanted to say goodnight. The day is coming to a close. We had to
change our plans for the evening. We originally planned to play
baseball with some of the Swedes here but due to wet weather we were
not able. Instead we watched Spiderman 2. We asked the kids to look
for redemptive qualities in the movie and for truths about God. Then
we all had a time of discussion. All in all the day was good. The
kids have began learning the last two dances and dramas for
ministry. It so awesome how quickly they pick up on things! We will
talk to you tomorrow.
-Bobby B.
6/22/05 1:08pm
Blessings from Sweden!
Today has been a busy day so far. This morning all of the dances and
dramas that we have prepared were performed. The dramas were very
powerful. We also videotaped them so that the kids could see
themselves and any areas we could perfect. Tonight we will all have
dress rehearsel as we are preparing for our first day of ministry
outside of the Church on Friday. We want to ask for you to continue to
cover us in prayer in preperation for the days to come and as the team
becomes tired it is sometimes hard to press in. God Bless!
-Bobby B.
6/24/05 3:40pm
Yesterday there we went
down to a near by city to minister. We danced and did our dramas to
the passing crowds. There were many who stopped for a while and
continued on as well some who stayed for the whole program. Our
program consists of a mixture between dances and dramas with the youths
testimonies. Yesterday some of your kids got up perhaps for the first
time and told others how Jesus became real to them and who he is in
their lives. It was really exciting to see the youth go out after
their dramas were over and talk with people in the crowd. For our
second program we performed in front of the church where we have been
staying. Some of the congregation came to join us but also the youth
from the neighbourhood that we have been hanging out with came to stop
by as well. One of the neighbourhood youth, Abel, asked Jesus into his
life last night. At the end of the evening we had a large time of
worship with praise and dancing... and jumping around too.
Today our team is going
to the midsummers festival. There we are performing twice and we will
be doing some street evangelism aswell. We have had a really busy day
so far with trying to pack and clean for tomorrow, when we will leave,
and also preparing for tonight. We will be travelling from here to
Finland and then the following day on to Russia. Please lift us up in
prayer as we travel.
-Dave M.
6/25/05 7:21am
Good morning everyone!
Yesterday was a very long day. We ministered at the midsummers
festival. We performed our program twice. The more I watch this
group of teens the more excited I get when I think about what God has
in store for the rest of this outreach. After our last performance in
the evening a small group of us stayed out to evangelize. It was so
great, everyone had amazing stories of how they shared their faith with
people and how excited they were because it was the first time they had
ever done that outside of the church. This morning we will be making
our way to Finland where we will have a couple of performances. We
will have dsl for our internet access where we will be staying but as
we travel on to Russia we may not have many opportunities to update the
website. Hovever, we will do our best to keep you informed. Please
pray for us.
-Bobby B.
6/30/05 11:15am
Hi everyone! Sorry it has been so long
since we have updated. It has been very hard trying to find a good
internet connection. We are here in Russia, we are alive and healthy.
The kids are doing great. Coming to a land of where darkness has ruled
for so long it is exciting to see God use us to shed light. Our
ministry performance has attracted crowds of people whom have never
heard of the name of Jesus. Their hearts that have been cold all their
lives are starting to warm with the love of Christ. Soon you will have
a chance to hear testimonies from the kids. Current photos will also be
available. Due to lack of Internet access we have been unable to update
as regular as we would like. Please continue to pray for us as the
spiritual climate is very difficult to break through. Love from the
team,
Michelle and Bobby
7/1/05 6:55pm
Hello all! We have just arrived in
Murmansk, Russia. Our time in Apatity was very fruitful we have all
built relationships with many people and for some it was hard to leave
our new brothers and sisters. Before leaving we prayed over some of
the pastors and members of the Church there. We saw many give their
lives to the Lord and we planted many seeds as well. One of the
Pastors thanked us for coming and ended by saying "because we had come
he and the Church had lots of work to do with the new converts and
people that are now searching for God. Many people here dont believe
in God at all and some have never heard the Gospel message at all. We
felt as we prayed about what to share that God wanted us to not only
speak of our salvation experiences but also about creation and where
this world began. The kids stepped out time after time pouring out
their hearts to these people and it was so amazing to see this. We are
posting our worship times, programs, and testimonies so check out.
We are now in Murmansk but after
traveling we decided to just rest for the rest of the day and prepare
for ministry tomorrow. Please pray for open hearts and that God would
prepare the way. Also pray against any opposition from the authorities
because they say it is very hard to receive permission to hold
performances like we do. We want to let you know we are all doing
great and that God has really blessed us in this time! We have found a
great place for internet access so be looking for more updates!
God bless,
-Bobby B
7/2/05 3:25 pm
Ministry here has been
awesome! We have already seen nine salvations today and many seeds
planted. We have already performed two programs and we have one more
this evening. The people here are awesome and the team is really
stepping out. Sorry we are having problems posting the voice clips but
we did post a few pictures. Before our next program we get to have a
little free time and the team is going shopping. Thank you for your
prayers we love and miss you all!
-Bobby B.
7/4/05 4:30pm
Our time so far in
Murmansk, Russia has been both challenging and encouraging at the same
time. God has given us a heart for both this city and the nation of
Russia in general. Specifically, we have felt a huge burden to be
encouraging, loving on, and praying for the generation of youth within
the nation. The current generation has a huge responsibility of
helping restore a nation which has been frozen both economically and
spiritually. We have been able to minister at elementary schools
around the city and share our faith and the hope we have. We have seen
and believe that God is moving in Russia and is on the verge of
revival. We have been blessed to have been able to witness this first
hand.
It has been encouraging
to see many members on our team share their faith with someone for the
first time. Many have even had the opportunity to lead some to the
Lord for their first time. It gives me chills seeing the faces of our
students and how encouraged they are because they truly believe that
they can change the world one person at a time. We leave for Norway
tomorrow and will be doing ministry with the Natives, a people group
called Sami(s). We appreciate all the prayer and encouragment all of
you have been leaving us. We have already been seeing many prayers
answered. From the land where the sun never sets, till next time.
-Aron Sakhrani (The Korindian)
7/6/05 1:26pm
We have made safely out of Russia. We
are now in the town of Kautokeino, Norway. Russia was an awesome
experience for us all. The people were so hungry and open to recieving
the Gospel. There have been many great experiences that have come from
this trip and we arent even done yet. Coming into Norway was amazing.
The land here is so beautiful. Many of us were amazed at the huge
change in scenery by just crossing the border. Norway reminds us of
Sweden. We have performed twice since arriving. People here have
heard the Gospel already but they sometimes seem very hard. There have
been great conversations already. Please pray for open hearts and that
walls would fall. Thank you all for everything please be looking for
more updates. We will be traveling back to Rosvik, Sweden tomorrow.
God bless
-Bobby B.
7/7/05 7:47pm
Another day of traveling
is finished! We left Norway this morning around 6am and now we are
back safely in Rosvik, Sweden. On the way back we were able to stop at
the longest flowing water fall in all of Europe. We got some awesome
pictures and a few of us even got to swim a little. When we arrived in
Rosvik some the ladies from the church had prepared us all the fixins
for nacho supremes. The kids loved it. Our time was fruitful in
Norway although it was short. We only had about twenty people show for
our performances but we were able to share with a few that were really
touched by God. In the morning we will be leaving for Gotland for the
last leg of our trip. We will travel fourteen hours to stockholm by
bus and then three hours by ferry to Gotland. Please pray that we can
find rest while traveling.
7/11/05 4:00pm
hi everyone. Just wanted to let you
know we are doing wonderful. We have been here in Visby, Gotland. It
is so beautiful here. We are on our last day of ministry here
before traveling home on Wendesday. Tomorrow we will have a whole day
of fun in the sun. We will shop, swim, sleep, and eat. Love to you
all please pray for our travel home.
Bobby Benavidez
7/12/05 11:00am
We are on the island of Gotland and
loving it. Our programs have been drawing a croud of over 100 each time
and the conversations tend to be very deep. We are looking forward to
our trip home (starting tomorrow, Wednesday the 13th early) but sad to
leave such an awsome outreach. Cant wait to see all my freinds and
family back in the states!
-Creagon Mulddon
7/15/05 2:12pm
Well, we are back in the states. It
feels so good to be home! We have been sleeping at a church here in
Orlando. Right we are going through our debriefing time. There have
been many awesome strories of how God worked through someone or
revealed Himself. It has been great. Tonight is our completion
ceremony at Wycliffe. It starts at 6:00pm. Tomorrow we will be going
to Islands of Adventure and just have fun. Thank you for everything
this outreach would not have been what it was without your support. God
bless!
-Bobby B.
