This month we had a youth team come here from different Calvary Chapels in South Florida. We had a lot planned for the four days that they were here. The first day we tried something new here for the first time – a free car wash. We advertized it on Facebook and had youth on the side walks holding up signs. At first, nobody came. It is a concept hard to believe – receive something for no cost. But for the 3 hours we were out there, we had a good amount of cars come through. We offered free coffee and homemade chocolate-chip cookies as they waited. We got to show them the love of Jesus and invite them to the events that would be taking place later in the week.
This past month the church body had been donating non-perishables. We chose to give a lot to a few families instead of a little to a lot of families. So, we had asked our church body if they knew anyone that was in need that could be blessed with some food and supplies. The team met up with some from our church and after we bagged all of the donated items, we split up and went and visited these families that were brought to our attention. Most of them were living in poor conditions. These bags of food and supplies were a big blessing to them. We talked with them, prayed for them, and we hope that this day they will remember just how much Jesus loves them. That night we had our first big event – the Kids Festival. After advertising on Facebook and passing out 400 fliers, we were expecting a big turn out. We set up the church courtyard and youth room with games, chairs and tables filled with crafts, face painting, animal balloons, and the popcorn machine. We saw about 300-400 people come out to this event, and many from our church were able to connect with these first-time visitors and share with them. We know how difficult it is for people here to take that first step and come into a new church, a christian church. We are continuing to pray for them.
The next night we had a Volunteer Appreciation Night. This event was for all of the volunteers that serve in our church plus their family (spouse/kids) were welcome to come also. Each volunteer received a hand-written note from someone in leadership that they serve with. We played “Name That Worship Lyric” and heard some encouragement and gratitude as Len shared a little with the group. Afterwards they were all surpised with an ice-cream bar! The team were the servers and each volunteeer could have their bowl loaded up with vanilla or chocolate ice-cream and about a dozen toppings to choose from. The kids’ faces just lit up as they probably have never seen anything like it in their life! Overall, we are so thankful for those that serve here at Calvary Motul and we hope they were blessed this night.
On the team’s last day, we had a youth night. Normally our church’s youth nights are on Saturdays, but we advertized with enough notice to make the change this week so we could have it while the team was here. This youth night was a bit different as we planned to have a big turn out with free pizza! We had about 70 youth come out, over half of them coming for their first time. A bit of teaching, worship, eating, and then a lot of fun with some games! Over these four days, we met a lot of people, had a lot of conversations, and many seeds were planted. Please pray for these seeds that they would grow and that they would find Jesus!
Just a week later after the team was gone, some of our youth from our Calvary Motul went off to join Light/Salt Weekend Summer Camp. There were youth from many churches there - about 100 youth in total. All of the kids packed their bags and brought their own hammock to sleep in as they stayed at a location on the beach. They were split into different teams as they played games, ate together and had times of worship around a bonfire and teachings throughout the day. It is the biggest youth camp experience our kids have ever been a part of and we are grateful that they got to go!
Comments