Week 2- First Baptist Grand Junction, TN

Okay so I know what you're thinking...where on earth is Grand Junction, TN. Well if you go about an hour southeast of Memphis down Hwy 57, you will run into Grand Junction. It sits about 6 miles from the Mississippi State Line and only has a population of 320 or so. The team did Saddle Ridge Ranch VBS there last week and we absolutely loved it! In the morning times, we would do a Teen Oasis for the Youth and that was just something that the teens could come to to play games, have a devotion, worship and just have good, safe fun. I absolutely fell in love with those Youth and their town. The church and its members showed so much hospitality and love that it was so abundant. We stayed on a 19,000 acre plantation called the Ames Plantation. It was owned by Hobart Ames and his family a long time ago until it was left to the University of Tennessee to do forestry, agriculture and animal studies. The professors and staff all live on the plantation and we were given the opportunity to stay with some of those families. You know you are in a very hospitable small town when your host family lets you call them "mom" and "dad." When Friday came, we were not ready to leave...some of the Youth cried when we were leaving that last night of VBS because they knew that it would be the last time they saw us...God is really moving in the town of Grand Junction and if you ever have a chance to visit, you need to eat at the Grand Junction Cafe, visit the National Bird Dog Museum & attend services at First Baptist Church at 11am on Sunday. Pastor Danny Rachel would love to have you and tell him that Chase with the "Exalt" Team sent you!

Love in Christ,

Chase

Week 1 (really week 2 but orientation didn't count ha ha)

Week 1 of Tennessee Travel Teams will be over soon and so far I have had a blast! We are at Opportunity Camp in Memphis, TN and have been camp counselors. The boys camp took place at the beginning of the week and then girls camp began yesterday. J.T. and I are having some much needed rest time, while serving a few snacks to the girls here and there. I absolutely fell in love with the guys that I had in my cabin. Jake (my co-counselor) and I really enjoyed getting to know each of the kids and show then the love of Christ. I really enjoyed getting to know some of the other counselors this week and hope to maybe see them again next year. The week was full of swimming, soccer, photography, fishing & all that stuff that boys like to do. These kids just needed to be loved on and there is no telling how many of them do not get that. Of course I was tired at the end of the boys camp but deep down in my heart, I was really not ready for them to go home. The Opportunity Camp staff is pretty cool and I have really liked getting to know them as well. We will be moving on to Grand Junction, TN this Saturday for Vacation Bible School and working with the youth of First Baptist Church of Grand Junction. It will most definitely be a blast! 

Summer Training Update

So much has happened in the last three days as our teams prepare for the summer of serving God. We arrived in Brentwood on Saturday night to go to Dinner and then have a team bonding experience bowling. Driving to Linden for orientation was a trip in itself with us getting to know each other in the suburban that we are driving and jamming to music. We have such a great group of people this year serving. Our Linden orientation consisted of good food, interpretative movement, laughing, crying, sleeping and all around good fun! We have come so close as one big team and it will be sad to have to be split into two teams but we can reunite at Camp for a couple of weeks. We came back into Brentwood last night and had the night off. Some of us were so tired that we grabbed dinner and stayed in before taking a group trip to Wal Mart to get washing detergent. Gotta have those clean clothes!! More updates to come as we go through summer missions orientation at the Baptist Convention and when Friday rolls around, we will be heading out on our first assignment.

Leaving Tomorrow!!!!

It has finally arrived...our TN Travel Team is leaving for training tomorrow and then next weekend we are leaving on our first assignment. I will be posting updates as often as I can about where our team is and hopefully some pictures as well. Keep checking back for updates...

It's So Close!!!

Tonight was an awesome night! At our Baptist Collegiate Ministry (BCM) we had a commissioning service for our Mexico Missions Team. But on a sad note, we have had a change of plans. There has been some danger that has arisen in the Northern part of Mexico and Reynosa, where we had planned to serve was added to the list of cities that they advise you not to visit. We have decided not to go into that part of Mexico. We will stay in and around Alamo, TX to serve and so some of the projects that we had already intended to do. God is up to something much much bigger for this trip since the plans changed. He already knew we would not be able to go into Reynosa and he is working on something else. We will serve wherever we are and end up this week. More updates to come....

First Post about trip to come soon

Greetings to all who visit! Me and the team from the BCM will be leaving for Mexico on the 6th of March and will be returning on March 12th. I will be posting about the Mexico trip sometime after I get back. I will not have my laptop with me and may not have access to a computer to post. I will be journaling everyday and will compile those thoughts into my blog for you to enjoy reading. Thanks for all the prayers and contributions that have been made. God Bless!

Chase