Idlewild Mission Trip

Last week we enjoyed hosting another mission team in "International Nashville." Idlewild Baptist Church from Lutz. Florida brought 50 middle schoolers to spend a few days with us. Middle schoolers are fun and hilarious. It was a great week!

 Q & A at the Islamic Center of Nashville 

Picnic at The Parthenon

 

 Storying with refugee children

 Isaiah loves trying to keep up with the big kids 

 We enjoyed working alongside one of Mobilizing Students' newest staff members, Ben

Visiting Sri Ganesha Hindu Temple 

 Isaiah and his neighborhood buddies

Supporting some of our friends' restaurant...the best gyros, tabhouli, and baklava in town!

This group of young teens really had a heart for the nations and a sweet boldness for sharing the Gospel of Jesus. Thanks Idlewild! 

On a side note, we've been so humbled and thankful for how the Lord has provided for us this summer. Between Josh's teaching jobs the budget numbers really just don't make sense, but we have lacked nothing. We've had a few odds and ends jobs and Josh has helped a friend with a pressure cleaning business. Plus, we've gotten to be a part of these Mobilizing Students mission exposure trips. We are blessed. Thanks to all who are praying us through this season. 

Next on the prayer list: the right job for Mr. Boren this fall :)

Summertime in a refugee apartment complex is nothing shy of....vibrant. Kids are out of school, the days are long, it's hot (meaning popsicles are a necessity), and the list goes on. While this is all super fun and it's one of the facets of our ministry here, it's pretty wearing at times. I can't lie that the phrase "Please stop knocking on my door! My baby is asleep!" has come out of my mouth more than a few times this month, even though the baby (who is actually a toddler) has a sound machine and can't hear a thing. Sometimes a girl just needs some peace and quiet :)

Nonetheless, one of the many blessings of summertime in an international sector of town is that our neighborhood is a hot-spot for domestic mission teams. Mobilizing Students hosts several of these mission trips a year. Since the Trek-Xers (who would typically lead said teams) were out of town this week, Josh and I had the opportunity to host and lead a high school group from First Baptist Church Heavener, OK (hometown of our dear friends Monica and Sean!).

The group was immersed in culture from around the world as they were trained on topics such as refugee resettlement, Hinduism, and Islam. They toured a few world markets, Sri Ganesha Hindu temple in west Nashville, and The Nashville Islamic Center. In the afternoons they spent time at our apartment complex and the complex where Trek-Xers live engaging people. Some of them were invited into homes to talk and have tea. Some helped us do a survey to learn the needs of our neighbors (english as a second language, driver's ed, and children's activities/tutoring where among the options) so that we can better follow up when they leave. Some of them gathered children (you know, the ones who keep knocking at the door) to play at the playground, hear Bible stories, make crafts, and sing songs. After everyone was all sweaty and exhausted we served the team meals from the cultures represented in our neighborhood- authentic tacos, hibachi, and shawarma.

Our prayer for these mission teams is that 1. the hearts of the teenagers would be awakened to God's movement among the nations. We pray they leave with a new passion for the Gospel of Jesus.  And 2.new doors would be opened for us to engage our neighbors. When they give us the names and apartment numbers of families they meet we are able to better follow-up with those who are interested in Gospel conversations. Enjoy some pictures below of the week. And if you ever want to bring a group of students or families to serve in the international village of Nashville, Mobilizing Students can hook you up :)

Thanks FBC Heavener for your partnership in the Gospel this week! 

 Isaiah was shy to meet the team, but it didn't take him long to warm up

 Morning training session

One of the 4 markets we toured

 We broke a record and had 38 people in our living room! They couldn't all fit in one picture!

 Playing soccer with some of the teenagers

 

 Isaiah says "Mission teams bring snacks? I love mission teams!"

 

 Inside Sri Ganesha Hindu temple 

 Outside the temple

 We had lunch at The Parthenon at Centennial Park 

Baked breads and sweets from a local Mexican bakery

As I was writing this, I answered a knock at the door to a little Nepali boy who was dying for some jello. Some things never change :) 
A special thanks to my mama for bringing some snacks (like jello) last time she was here.

New England Road Trip

We love to travel. It's in our blood. Not many things get me more excited than packing up and taking out. I love to see new parts of the world- so much so that I was crazy enough to agree to a 2 week road trip with a one year old.

Josh's parents asked us several months ago to join them on a road trip to Vermont where they had some time-share reservations. Riding 18 hours with a one year old sounds fun, right? I thought for about .5 seconds and said no! But apparently I'm easily persuaded and before I knew it I was researching all the cool places we could stop along the way.

Isaiah was a-maz-ing. The car put him right to sleep the majority of the time and we stopped to eat or stretch/play when he woke. He was really content singing and reading during awake time in the car, too. The longest stretch of car time was only 6 hours so it was really a lot less intimidating than I expected. We hardly even pulled out the millions of toys and games that I packed!

We started in Nashville, drove through Kentucky, and spent the first night in Columbus, Ohio.

We stopped at this neat little park in Bedford, Ohio for a picnic and to let Isaiah run around. There was a nature trail and remains from an old grist mill powered by the waterfall pictured below.

We drove through Erie, PA and on to Buffalo, NY where we spent the night and roused around downtown. Buffalo boasts a beautiful city hall and an ancient mosaic floor.

From Buffalo we drove into Canada to view Niagara Falls. The pictures in no way do justice to this masterpiece.

From Niagara we drove through the Adirondack Mountains in upstate NY. The mountain drive was slow, calm, and beautiful. As it got dark we realized we were quite far from the nearest town of any real size. We ended up in the village of Speculator, NY, where all three restaurants were closed for the night and things were quite dark. We found the little motel pictured below and spent the night. Thankfully I was already delirious by the time we arrived and the situation was just funny :)

The next morning we had breakfast at one of the three places, which happened to be run by a Filipino woman. You have no idea how remote this place was; it was amazing to run in to this lady in the middle of the mountains. We also visited the park and the general store which pretty much wrapped up the whole town.

We drove through New York and into Vermont, the most beautiful state I've seen. The mountains are green, roadsides are clean, and everything is local- no chain restaurants, grocery stores, etc. If it weren't for the frigid winters I might move! They have more covered bridges than any other state and pure maple syrup is grown and sold everywhere. Yum! Most of the state was farmland and there are 4 cows for every 1 human.

We camped out in Smuggler's Notch, Vermont for 4 days. We toured Ben & Jerry's, Cabot Cheese, and Green Mountain Coffee. We took Isaiah swimming at the resort and went to a farmers' market. And Josh and I enjoyed a morning out and lunch date while Isaiah played with grandparents :)

The drive from Vermont to Cooperstown, NY was perfectly picturesque. We picnicked along the way and worked hard to convince Randaddy that we really didn't need to stop every 20 minutes :)

We spent a night in Cooperstown, NY, where we visited The Farmer's Museum which housed original restored buildings from the 1840s and The Baseball Hall of Fame.

From Cooperstown we drove through the lush Catskill Mountains to Hyde Park, NY. There we toured FDR's presidential library, museum, and homestead.

Leaving New York and driving through Pennsylvania we stopped at another farmers' market where we bought a bunch of celery that took us straight back to the Philippines. Celery in the Philippines comes with the leaves still on it. The leaves are delicious for soups and stews and we were pumped to find this! And since Randaddy brought along 5 coolers we were able to keep it fresh for 3 days until we got home :) 

We spent a night in Lancaster, PA, home of the oldest standing Amish community.

After spending the morning in Lancaster we drove down to Gettysburg. I'm a little ashamed to admit that I slept through over half of the auto tour so I don't have many facts or photos....woops.

We drove through Maryland and West Virginia and spent a night in Harrisonburg, Virginia. On our way out the next morning we visited White Oak Lavender Farm. It was beautiful and smelled amazing. We watched a demonstration of them extracting oil and toured the drying room and picked a little to take home.

We spent a night in Knoxville, TN and wrapped up the 14 days by driving back to Nashville. It was a super fun trip. Isaiah spent more time with his Grandma than he's ever had the chance to before and it was fun to see them together. I'm sure we'll be telling him about the time we went on a road trip to the northeast for years to come.