Over the Horizon

THE CHALLENGE 2011: Week 5

Week 5 of THE CHALLENGE is done, and next week our 2011 CHALLENGE Champions will be revealed! This is such an exciting time for our youth ministry. We love to see kids who've never heard of Christ finally hearing the truth and responding so positively, and it's even more amazing to see other kids be renewed in their committment or brought back after a time of wandering. Praise God for how He is moving through this event!

Below you'll find Steve's report about week 5 borrowed from his blog, but if you missed any of the other weekly reports, check them out here:

Week 1 Report, Week 1 Video

Week 2 Report, Week 2 Video, Week 2: "The Great Deception"

Week 3 Report

Week 4 Report

Here goes the Week 5 report. Enjoy!!!

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EL RETO 2011 Week 5: "To Be Continued..."

One of the key words you will learn on a missions trip to Mexico is "flexibility." Sometimes you have to be ready to make split decisions given the circumstances that arise. This is how we started on Saturday.

Because of a death in town and a town meeting, the Town Commissioner asked us if we could do our open-air program on Sunday. Our plan was to carry out our activities in the center of town after we were given permission last week. Since Town Hall is less than a block away and the funeral wake was directly in front of Town Hall, it didn't work out.

It was 3 pm already, time to start. Instead of cancelling the whole event, we decided to go back to the church for our annual RETO Auction. Each team had a drama or skit ready as well; this was all to take place in the center as part of the outreach and open-air evangelism. Instead of performing the dramas, each team did a "practice run" in preparation for Sunday as we decided to do just the open-air evangelism at the south end of town in front of the Jr. High.

So, we had three activities on Saturday (The Auction, the practice, and Part Two) and one on Sunday (The Evangelism).

The students had been anticipating the auction all week. It is something we've done for the past four years and has turned into a classic. Each team is given a secret note informing them of how many points they have. All the teams can bid on any item they want, however, all of the items are hidden in a box. They "buy" theses unknown items with the points they have. Some teams use up all their points as they really have fun bidding and receiving the prizes we give them. Some prizes are good; others are not so good.

 

(left) The RETO 2011 Auction begins! (right) Each time a team bought an item, we would bring out another box so they could choose between the two.  Sometimes, they chose the one we brought out instead.

 

(left) The Servants of The Lord bought the first item...a cake! (right) The Humble bought the second item...some kind of tree gum.

 

(left) They also bought item #3...ICE CREAM! (right) The Heirs entered into the action taking #4...another cake!

 

(left) When The Prudent got in on the action, they got A NEW CAR!...a matchbox car, that is. (right) The Chosen's first item bought were the clues to the Hidden Treasure "Grace."

 

(left) The Faithful bought some Oreo Cookies in #7. (right) By this time, the students were on their feet going crazy as they bid the most points ever in the history of EL RETO AUCTION!

 

(left) The Chosen would say that it paid off by getting three 3-liter cokes in #8! (right) The Servants of The Lord got a bunch of chips!

 

(left) The Humble finished their ice cream and bought some Snickers! (right) The Prudent entered in again and got the clues to the Hidden Treasure "Judgement."

 

(left) The Faithful won 3,000 points! (right) Then, right away, they bought the next item...all the clues to the Hidden Treasure "Resurrection."

 

(left) The Prudent took the candy. (right) Fran is about to open a note that says his team (The Servants of The Lord) has to do chores after church on Sunday.  He wasn't happy.

 

(left) The Heirs entered the bidding again and had to distribute 3000 points amongst two teams.  They decided to give The Servants of the Lord 500 points and take 2,500 points for themselves. (right) In the end, Alfredo's team (The Faithful) won a taco feast for the second year in a row!  This is the item that all the teams are hoping to get!

RESULTS OF POINTS SPENT IN THE AUCTION:

• The Prudent - 11,600 pts.
• The Servants of the Lord - 11,100 pts.
• The Chosen - 8,100 pts.
• The Humble - 7,900 pts.
• The Heirs - 2,400 pts.
• The Faithful - 9,300 pts.

Once we finished the auction, each team did a practice run of their team project. We saw dramas, skits, and human videos.

In Part Two, we shared about what the Bible says about Heaven, where it is and who it's for.

Part Two begins!

The teams, then, came up for their final vote as they voted for another team to receive a prize (all of the clues to all of the hidden treasures).

Here are the votes...

 

(left) The Heirs voted for The Humble; (right) The Prudent voted for The Humble.

 

(left) The Faithful voted for The Humble; (right) The Servants of The Lord voted for The Humble.

 

(left) The Chosen voted for The Humble; (right) The Humble voted for The Chosen.

Amazing! The votes were unanimous as all the teams (except for The Humble) voted for The Humble.

We had the staff pass through the graveyard to the voting room as well so they could experience what the students experienced each week. They even got to cast a vote for the team they thought had done a great job during EL RETO.

(left) The Staff makes their way through the Graveyard; (right) Without knowing how the teams voted, the majority of the staff voted for The Humble, so they got the vote.

The next day, we held the open-air evangelism at the basketball court in front of the Jr. High. Five of the six teams performed their project and they all did a great job. Pastor Luis shared about the Rich Man and Lazarus followed by the students leading a couple of praise songs. The energy was incredible and it was a very exciting time. The students are learning about Christ, learning about the need to share their faith, and learning about what it means to persevere in Leadership. I am proud of every one of them!

 

(left) Worship to begin with; (right) Chuy in action.

 

(left) Fran and Cintia in the Lifehouse-Everything Human Video; (right) Lifehouse's song "Everything"

 

(left) The Faithful had probably the best performance as they put together a skit of the story about the Talents. (right) Team captain, Alfredo Garzón, rocking out on his homemade electric guitar.  He was absolutely hilarious as he had the crowd roaring with laughter!

The students led a time of praise in the end.

Next week, EL RETO FINAL.

TO BE CONTINUED...

THE CHALLENGE 2011: Week 4

THE CHALLENGE is more than half-way over!!! The youth that are participating are enjoying themselves and playing well, and the Lord is definitely moving and working through this outreach.

Steve has posted the report of week 4's events on his blog, but if you missed the first three weeks' reports, here are the links so you can catch up:

Week 1 Report, Week 1 Video

Week 2 Report, Week 2 Video, Week 2: "The Great Deception"

Week 3 Report

Now, without further ado, here is the week 4 report! Enjoy!

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 EL RETO 2011 Week Four: "To Be Continued..."

Getting ready to start in Las Pilas

Ninety-two students have participated in this year's event so far. Right away, the students hopped in the vehicles to get started with all the action in Las Pilas, a town about 3 miles west. EL RETO goes from town to town in an attempt to attract attention and draw in not just students, but adults as well. As we are reaching out to the students involved, the people watching get interested and start asking questions. What an opportunity!

After taking roll call, the teams' first challenge was to toss as many small sandbags into buckets as possible. Each bucket had a different value; the more points the farther away.

 

RESULTS:

• The Faithful - 1,350 pts.
• The Heirs - 900 pts.
• The Prudent - 750 pts.
• The Servants of the Lord - 400 pts.
• The Humble - 300 pts.
• The Chosen - 50 pts.

After finishing in Las Pilas, the teams travelled another two miles to the town of Paso Real del Bejuco. There, the teams played a basketball/footbal style game as they tried to get as many balloons in guarded buckets as possible.

 

RESULTS:

• The Humble - 2,800 pts.
• The Servants of the Lord - 2,500 pts.
• The Heirs - 2,400 pts.
• The Prudent - 1,900 pts.
• The Faithful - 1,700 pts.
• The Chosen - 1,600 pts.

From there, everyone got back into the trucks and headed back to Cofradía for the much awaited annual RETO Banquet Fear Factor style. This has proven to be one of the biggest events that everyone looks forward to every year! This year, with Martín Garzon's homecoming, we asked him to prepare some of the food that he experienced during his time in Oaxaca (not that the food is bad, just different). Also, some of the staff prepared some other dishes as well along with the classics that the students always expect: Cow Eyes and Jalapeño Peppers.

Here is the menu:

Chips

Mixed Cactus Drink

Grasshoppers (from Oaxaca)

Tamales with Black Beans (from Oaxaca)

Homemade Pocket Bread with Zuchinni (from Oaxaca)

Eggroll-style flour burrito with zucchini and black beans (from Oaxaca)

Homemade Pocket Bread with Chicken Liver filling

Cow Eyeball

 

Jalapeño Peppers

An onion the size of a racket ball

Then the whole team had to down a 3 liter bottle of coke.

The Banquet is always an incredible time with lots of energy. It is probably the most desired event by the students.

RESULTS:

• First Place: The Heirs - 3,000 pts.
• Second Place: The Chosen - 2,000 pts.
• Third Place: The Prudent - 1,000 pts.
• Fourth Place: The Servants of the Lord - 750 pts.
• Participation Points: The Humble - 500 pts.
  
• Participation Points: The Faithful - 500 pts.

After the Banquet, we continued with Part Two. This was going to be a very unique Part Two since the Lord showed us how we could incorporate a very important lesson about real life, "Things Done in Secret."

Each year we have what in English would be called "The War of Coins." Each Mexican peso coin has a point value. The greater the coin; the greater the point value. The ten-peso coin is worth a negative 250 points. Each team has the opportunity to deposit coins each week in their bottle as well as deposit ten-peso coins in other teams' bottles. This is why it's called a War. This year, the students have not waged any war for fear that they'll be seen. So, we set it up for them to be able to wage war in secret while they had their voting time. After each team had waged war, I removed the coins so that the other teams would not notice what had happened as they came in to vote. The end result was that 5 of the 6 teams waged war.

After the voting and the Coin War, I shared about how hurtful things can be to others, ourselves, and God, when we do things in secret that do not glorify God. Not only are those things hurtful, but also the Bible says, in real life, that those things that are done in secret will come to light.

At this point, I asked the students if they could put themselves in the place of being victimized. Then, for those who were responsible for the actions, I asked if they would like to come forward to the microphone to ask for forgiveness for what they did against the other teams. It was an amazing time! EL RETO is just a game, but we were able to create a teachable moment that had a huge impact on the lives of not only the students, but the adults as well who were watching. Four of the five teams came forward to ask for forgiveness, and each one was forgiven. The negative points were nullified and the slates were wiped clean.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Baptism Joy!!

Just a few days after Mexican Independence Day, on September 18, four people in the local church in Cofradia celebrated their own freedom in Christ by taking the step of faith to be baptized into the family of God. All four of these individuals have close family members who have been following Christ for quite some time and are greatly involved in the local body of Christ. They have all been prayed for so much over the years, and there have been people who have sought them out and invested in them with the hope of seeing them one day finally take the step to truly participate in Christ and in His body on earth. So, this day was very exciting for all of us!

Sandy wrote a report for this event, and once again I'm sharing it here for you to enjoy and celebrate together with these four individuals and all those who have surrounded them with love and labored for them in prayer and relationship. Thank you for your prayers! They really do work!!

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English Report

On September 18, there was great celebration in the heavens and on earth over four more people taking the next step and being baptized: Benito (my dad), Gustavo, Josefina (my aunt), and Ana (one of the girls that Amber mentored). In order to be able to take this step, Pastor Goyo spent time with these people doing a study that would make very clear the step they were about to take. This was so they wouldn’t do this lightly. When the day came, we began with some praise songs and a small teaching given by the pastor. Then we went straight into baptizing each one of the people already mentioned. When we were finished with the baptisms, the pastor invited us all to pray for them and place them in the Lord’s hands and to conclude the event. After this, the families had an opportunity to return to their homes or stick around and fellowship a while longer, which always brings more blessing between brothers and sisters. So, there were some who stayed and others who did not, but either way, we concluded the day with joy knowing that the family of Christ is growing.

Pastor Goyo & Steve leading the gathering in some praise choruses and a small teaching before the baptisms.

(left, L-R) Benito, Jay (missionary), Gustavo, Pastor Goyo, Pastor Horacio; (right, L-R) Josefina, Pastor Luis, Ana

 

Jay, who has been mentoring/studying with Benito in his journey to Christ, and Pastor Goyo baptizing Benito, Sandy's dad. Now Sandy's entire family is finally united in their devotion to Christ!

Pastor Horacio, Benitos' brother, praying for Benito after he was baptized and committing Him to the Lord.

(left) Gustavo being baptized by Jay and Pastor Goyo; (right) Josefina, Sandy's aunt, being baptized by Jay and Pastor Goyo

Praying together in the river after completing the day's baptisms.

Spanish Report (ve fotos arriba)

El dia 18 de Septiembre hubo celebración tanto en el cielo como en la tierra ya que 4 personas mas dieron su paso de al bautizarse, Benito (Papa de Sandy), Gustavo, Jose (Tia de Sandy) y Ana. Para poder realizar estos bautismos el Pastor Gollo pasó tiempo con estas personas haciendo un estudio para dejar bien claro lo que estaban a punto de realizar, y para que no lo tomaran a la ligera. En el momento, empezamos con alabanzas y una pequeña enseñanza por parte del Pastor, para después empezar a bautizar a cada una de las personas antes mencionadas, al terminar con los bautismos el pastor nos invito a hacer una oración para ponerlos en las manos del Señor y para dar conclusión al evento. Después de esto las familias tenían la oportunidad de regresar a sus casas o quedarse a convivir un rato más, lo cual siempre trae bendición entre hermanos. Así que hubo unos que se quedaron y otros no pero de igual manera concluimos con el gozo de saber que la familia en Cristo esta creciendo.

THE CHALLENGE 2011: Week 3

Well, another week of THE CHALLENGE (aka EL RETO) has been completed. From what I read and hear, it was yet another stellar week of fun, challenge, and learning experiences! If you missed the first two weeks' reports, here are the links you can catch up:

Week 1 Report, Week 1 Video

Week 2 Report, Week 2: Video, Week 2: "The Great Deception"

Now, here is the week 3 report from Steve's blog. If any videos are uploaded, I'll make sure to post them for you, as well, as they become available. Enjoy reading about Gladiators Week!

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EL RETO 2011 Week 3: "To Be Continued..."

Eight more new students showed up as we started our third week of events. This week we started in Arrayanes with the students painting their faces in order to get ready for one of our classic activities called "Gladiators."

 

(left) Guille, The Heirs Captain; (right) Alfredo, The Faithful Captain

 

(left) Francisco, The Servants of The Lord Captain; (right) Jorge, The Humble Captain

 

(left) Aidé, The Prudent Captain; (right) Jesús, The Chosen Captain

In Gladiators, each team is given the opportunity to throw water-balloons at the other teams as they run through the course. The team running can hide behind block-aids, but they have to make it to the goal in less than a minute.

 

 

 

Each team made it through successfully within the time limit. Most teams were hit numerous times with water-balloons, but there was one team The Servants of the Lord who impressed us all with making it through twice without even getting hit once. They were the team to win the activity; they also hit the most individuals of the other teams when it was there turn to throw.

RESULTS:

• The Servants of the Lord - 1,430 pts.
• The Faithful ­- 1,350 pts.
• The Prudent - 1,040 pts.
• The Chosen - 930 pts.
• The Heirs - 790 pts.
• The Humble - 600 pts.

From Arrayanes we began another race, but this time in the vehicles with their drivers. Each team started in accordance with the points they had with the last place leaving first. The Humble used the Medallion of Power in this activity to give them a 5-minute advantage over the next team to leave.

As they broke the code to where they were supposed to go, they ran to the basketball court where the drivers were waiting. Once they got to the Arrayanes Bridge, they had to decide weather or not they wanted to "pay" to go across or just run through the river below and not pay. Every team chose to run through the river!

 

(left) The Prudent running the race; (right) The Servants of The Lord crossing the river

After the bridge, they made it to the entrance of Cofradía where they had to draw a bottle with a message in it. Whatever the message said is the route they had to take. There were three messages: "Life," "Death," and "To Be Continued...".

Life: In "Life," the teams had to make their way to the center of town and memorize a verse from the Bible, recite it to the staff that was waiting for them, make their way to the store that sold gas, buy 2 gallons of gas (money was provided), and continue on to the town of Las Pilas. The Servants of the Lord and The Heirs both had to take this route.

Death: In "Death," they had to make their way around the outskirts of Cofradía and once they reached the soccer field in San Marcos, they had to run around the field two times, then continue to circle Cofradía, stop at the same gas store, buy 2 gallons, and continue on to the town of Las Pilas. The Humble, The Prudent, and The Chosen had to take this route.

To Be Continued: In "To Be Continued," all they had to do was drive right through Cofradía without stopping and make their way to the town of Las Pilas. The Faithful drew this one.

TEACHABLE MOMENT:

Sometimes, life throws curve balls at us and certain things that happen outside of our control can be either really great and easy ("To Be Continued"), or normal ("Life"), or even sometimes it can be something very difficult ("Death"). Even though things come our way, we can still trust in the Lord for his strength and give him thanks for the blessings he gives us.

As they left Cofradía, they made it to the main bridge to town and again all the teams decided to run through the river.

Their next stop was Las Pilas. The week before I had told them to study Matthew 5:1-12, The Beatitudes. So this week, I put together a quiz for them to fill out. Each team did pretty well; only one had some difficulty.

The Heirs arriving in Las Pilas

RESULTS:

• The Faithful - 2,000 pts.
• The Servants of the Lord - 1,500 pts.
• The Prudent - 1,000 pts.
• The Heirs - 750 pts.
• The Chosen - 500 pts.
  
• The Humble - 500 pts.

In Las Pilas, we had one more activity for them to do. Near the small lake, they had to fill a bucket full of water as a team. While most of the team was holding halves of PVC pipe, three individuals were running down to the water's edge filling up smaller buckets and poured the water from the beginning of the line. This ended up being a really exciting game! Hardly anyone was dry at the end, even the staff got muddy from the splashes of the student's feet as they watched.

The beginning of the activity by the lake

 

 

RESULTS:

• The Servants of the Lord - 1,500 pts.
• The Heirs - 1,000 pts.
• The Prudent - 500 pts.
  
• The Faithful - 500 pts.

Finally, we ended the evening in "Part Two" as we do every Saturday. This week's teaching was what the Bible says about Hell. Is it Real? Yes!, Where is it? The Bible doesn't say, and How do I avoid it? Jesus! Scriptures we used were, John 14:6 and 1 John 5: 11,12. As well as many that describe what hell is like.

We also continued with "generosity" as we did a two-for-one for the encouragement points we call "Filipos" or "Philippies." This idea comes from the book of Philippians, which is filled with encouragement. The drawback to this was that we also did the same thing for the penalties; and there were lots! Some teams lost 1,000 points or more!

The last item as usual was the voting time. This week the teams voted for a team to have to do clean up. The team that received the most votes was The Chosen, but they also were the only team to receive clues to the hidden treasures after they cleaned up the speed soccer court in Arrayanes.

 

 

FINAL RESULTS AFTER WEEK THREE ACTIVITES:

• The Heirs: (wk 3) 4,319; (Total) 12,384
• The Servants of the Lord: (wk 3) 4,414; (Total) 8,416
• The Faithful: (wk 3) 4,577; (Total) 7,726
• The Prudent: (wk 3) 2,86; (Total) 7,413
• The Chosen: (wk 3) -178; (Total) 5,928
  
• The Humble: (wk 3) 2,678; (Total) 5,917

TO BE CONTINUED...

Freedom Day!

September 16 is Mexican Independence Day. The celebration starts on September 15, also known as "El Grito" or "The Shout", and leads up to the culminating moment at 12 a.m. on September 16, when from the central plaza in Mexico City, the President rings a bell and yells out, "VIVA MEXICO, VIVA MEXICO, VIVA MEXICO!!!" (="Long live Mexico!"). They are commemorating the rally cry that began the 10-year war for freedom from Spanish rule in the 1800s. If you'd like to read more about it, check out this article that I posted several years ago on my original blog site.

In Mexico, freedom is a very big deal. In fact, I would argue that it's a bigger deal than even here in the USA. From their earliest beginnings this people has fought to be free, and even today they are fighting that battle. No longer are they fighting foreign oppressors, such as the Americans, the Spanish, and the French. Now, they are fighting internal oppressors such as poverty, corruption, prejudice, and hopelessness. While some battles will continue for a lifetime, other battles have already been won in Jesus Christ, a truth which many throughout the country, and espcially in the Cofradía area are proclaiming loudly!

This year the local church in Cofradía decided to celebrate their true Freedom in grand, Mexican style. They came together in their new facility and sang and celebrated and ate together praising the Lord not only for their national freedom but also for the ultimate Freedom He has granted them in their hearts and souls. Sandy wrote a short report about it and sent some pictures, so I am posting them here. Celebrate with them, but do please continue to keep them in your prayers as they continue to fight the good fight in Mexico!

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English Report

September 15 is when we celebrate “Independence” or “freedom” in our country, Mexico. So, we as children of God gathered together in the church that day to celebrate, in addition to our Independence as Mexicans, OUR FREEDOM IN CHRIST. It was a very special day, especially since I don’t remember us ever doing this before.

We had an agenda for the event that was very fun and rich in variety as far as activities and people that were participating. To begin, we had praise and worship music, which always puts us in the mood and submerges us in the presence of the Lord. Then we continued with the participation of Sister Rosa and Brother Magdaleno from Arrayanes singing some folk praise songs, which really got the crowd going and caused them to shout and whistle.

 

After that, Pastor Goyo stood up and invited some of the others to participate in a singing contest that he had already prepared beforehand with a very rich and sweet prize. There were several interested in participating, and although they don’t really know how to sing, they went forward placing their trust in God and their mind on the prize. There were three winners of the singing contest, and each won their own cake. Then, once the contest was over and to cal mus down a bit from the laughter and fun of the competition, we moved into the message which was given by Pastor Luis, our Youth Pastor.

 

(left) Singing contest contestants. Caleb, the youngester in frong, won th contest! (right) One of the winning contestants with her cake!

Pastor Luis preaching

After the message, Pastor Goyo invited the congregation to head for the kitchen and enjoy some wonderful tamales and a rich chocolate drink we call “champurro”, all of which had been prepared by the women of the church. This meal was a typical one for our ancestors and obviously is a very Mexican one.

 

Finally, the youth of the church played some praise and worship and all the rest demonstrated the freedom that Christ has given to each of us by jumping and dancing for joy in praise to the Lord. The Lord has taught us that we are independent WITH Him and dependent ON Him.

 

Spanish Report (ve fotos arriba)

El día 15 de septiembre se celebra la “Independencia” o “La Libertad” en nuestro país, México. Entonces nosotros como hijos del Señor nos reunimos en la iglesia ese día para celebrar, aparte de nuestra independencia como Mexicanos, “NUESTRA LIBERTAD EN CRISTO”. Fue un día muy especial ya que antes no recuerdo que lo hayamos hecho.

En este evento hubo una agenda muy divertida y rica en su variedad de actividades y personas participantes. Para empezar tuvimos las alabanzas, lo cual siempre nos pone en ambiente y nos sumerge en la presencia del Señor. Después continuamos con la participación de la Hermana Rosa y el Hermano Magdaleno de Arrayanes cantando unas alabanzas rancheras lo cual emocionó a la congregación poniéndola a huaquear y chiflar, después el Pastor Gollo pasó al Santuario para invitar a algunos a participar en el concurso de canto que ya tenía preparado de antemano con un premio muy rico y dulce, al cual hubo varios interesados y aunque no saben qué es el canto (porque no cantan) pasaron poniendo su confianza en Dios y su mente en el premio. Entonces de este concurso al final hubo unos ganadores obviamente (3), los cuales ganaron un pastel cada uno. Entonces, ya que se terminó el juego, para calmarnos un poquito por la risa y diversión del concurso, después vino la predica de la cual estuvo a cargo el Pastor Luis, (Pastor del Grupo De Jóvenes).

Después de la Predi, el pastor Gollo invitó a la congregación a pasar a la cocina para disfrutar de unos ricos tamales en compañía de un rico chocolate (champurro) que las mujeres de la iglesia prepararon. Esta comida es una típica de nuestros antepasados y obviamente bien mexicana.

Para finalizar los Jóvenes de la iglesia tocaron unas a alabanzas y todos los demás demostraron la libertad que Cristo ha puesto en ellos saltando y demostrando su gozo alabando a Dios.

El Señor nos ha enseñado que somos independientes con El y dependiente en El.

Sandy's August-September 2011 Report

Well, Sandy has completed her first monthly report!! I'm posting it here for you to read and enjoy.

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Eddie From Ohio & My Early Birthday

Well, this weekend was certainly exciting! I was treated to an early birthday present by my dear friend, Beth. Two months early to be exact, but this event has been on the calendar for two months now, and it was well worth the wait!

Friday, September 9, I headed north to meet up with her at her condo. Upon arrival, I was let in on the secret of my early birthday surprise: TICKETS TO SEE EDDIE FROM OHIO IN CONCERT!!! Now, this is one of my favorite folk bands, and the only time I've seen them live was once in Fredericksburg during my last year of college when I was still fairly unfamiliar with the majority of their music. Beth on the other hand was introduced to Eddie From Ohio 15 years ago but never really followed them until recently when I discovered this travesty and began to remedy it!! She liked them 15 years ago, and she likes them even more now that she's becoming more aware of their music! So, we had a blast that night!

First, though we headed to Chef Geoff, a great little restaurant in Vienna. I had the most scrumptious dinner of Big Shrimp & Grits. Now, don't ask me why I've never thought of combining shrimp and grits, but it was the most delighfully flavorful meal! The grits were perfect, and we all know how much I love shrimp. My grandmother would have loved this meal, for sure!! Beth enjoyed her meal of Chicken Lemoncello, and we both basked in the glow of great dinner conversation.

 

After dinner we picked up some cheesecake from The Cheesecake Factory, whose cheesecake I had never tasted before, and then headed over to the Wolf Trap Filene Center to set ourselves up on the lawn for the show. We set up our seats and pulled out the cheesecake and accompanying beverage and began to feast and enjoy the wonderful evening air as the show began!

 

(left) My Reese's Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Cheesecake. Beth dared me to eat the whole thing. Piece of "cake"....I ate all but like 3 bites! (right) Beth's Dulce de Leche Cheesecake!

Chillin' in our lawn seats in the beautiful night air!

The opener act was Martin Sexton. I have never heard of him before now, but I am SO glad that I've heard of him now. He is at the top of my list of albums to purchase. His music was a rich mix of blues, folk, John Meyer, and Louisianna. It just made my soul sway! If you've never heard his music before, make sure you find him online and introduce yourself to his sound because it is truly heavenly, not to mention the creative and striking lyrics! Go ahead and hit play on this song. It's so great

Martin Sexton - 13 Step Boogie

Then, after a short intermission, Robbie Schaeffer (accoustic guitar, vocals), Michael Clem (bass, vocals), Julie Murphey Wells (vocals), and Eddie Hartness (drums, vocals) made their way onto the stage and began doing what they do best: having fun and making great music! I was surprised, however, to see a sixth man on stage....and he was playing a mandolin!! And then in the next song he switched to the fiddle!!! This was new to me, but WOW what a difference the mandolin and fiddle made to the classic EFO sound. It was so much richer and more blue-grass-ey, but it added a new level of sophistication to the music too! Amazing!

I took this pic from our lawn seats. Of course, my camera was all the way zoomed in.

This video is a portion of their song "Number 6 Driver", one of their songs that features Virginia. You can really hear the fiddle in this, though, and it sounds great!

This new addition to the band joined them about three years ago, and his name is Jake Armerding. He is also a solo singer/songwriter, and Beth and I really enjoyed the one song of his that he played during the show. It's from his new album Her, and it's called "Harry/Sally". It's break-up song written from the perspective of the dump-er. It was great! Check it out!

This year EFO celebrates 20 years of making music together, and they've been doing a darn good job of it! One of my favorite songs of theirs is "Old Dominion" written for their home state of VIRGINIA! Of course, I truly believe should be our state anthem! They did this song as the encore at the end of the show, and it was STELLAR! Check it this video from a show they did earlier this year!

About three songs into the EFO portion of the night a couple passed us on the lawn on their way out of the arena. The wife came over and handed us tickets and said, "Hey, would you two like our tickets? We're leaving early. They're fifth row!" We looked at each other and took all of 2 seconds to say, "YES, THANK YOU!" We decided to grab our stuff and make a dump-run to the car (since you can't take food and such into the main seating area), and on our way out the seat rental guy said, "Hey, why don't you two just leave your stuff here. We'll watch it for you and that way you don't miss any of the show." Again, we responded enthusiastically and booked it down to our new fifth row seats. So amazing!!!

Our new fifth row view!!! So amazing!!!

EFO shows are so much fun, and there is always great audience participation. We had a blast, that's for sure! It was truly a night for the memory books! What a great way to kick off my birthday, even if it is two months early! I can't wait for the rest of it to commence in two months!

Thank you, Beth! You truly are the best!

THE CHALLENGE 2011: Week 2 Video

Here is the video for week 2. Macedonio made this one to be like a news flash report. It is in Spanish, so if you don't know Spanish you won't understand the words. However, just know it's a basic play-by-play review of the Week 2 event, which was described in the report I already posted. Whether you understand Spanish or not, though, you can at least see what the event is like and get a better feel for the energy by watching this video. Enjoy!

THE CHALLENGE 2011: The Great Deception

Steve shared the following story on his blog following his Week 2 report for THE CHALLENGE. This was a great teachable moment that took place with one of the teams. Keep reading to see how the Lord continues to move in and teach our youth through this event.

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"But the sign said go this way!"

There are many counterfeits all around us: counterfeit products, counterfeit logos, counterfeit money, and counterfeit Christs. They are all "signs" that deceive us into believing a lie.

This last week in EL RETO, the lesson to be taught was "Deception." As the teams took off from the church to run their race to Arrayanes, they didn't know that the Chinese code sign I gave them had counterfeits to lead them down incorrect paths. They needed to make sure the sign really said what they thought it said; they needed to make sure the sign said the truth and that it was going to lead them to where they needed and wanted to go. The problem was, they didn't know there were counterfeits and every team went down a road that led to a sign that said "Wrong Way; go back to the last sign that led you astray and don't pay attention to it."

There were activities throughout the race that they had to accomplish. Some were individual team activities; others were activities to be realized against other teams so they had to wait for a team in order to do the activity. Their final destination was the baseball field in Arrayanes.

One team showed up incredibly early. We found out that they made a wrong turn, misinterpreted one of the signs and ended up skipping the two activities near the river. This caused a lot of frustration on the captain's part, even the adult we had as a chaperone. Once things got a little heated, I realized that this was going to need to be dealt with and looked at through the eyes of the purpose of EL RETO. Learning things about God.

What happened next turned into one of the most impactful teachable moments EL RETO has ever had. In real life, we can get deceived very easily if we don't know the true signs very well. There are many false religions, false prophets, and false Christs deceiving people into believing a lie that looks a lot like the truth. The good thing about EL RETO is that it's just a game.

The truth is: (Jesus is) the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through (him). John 14:6.

The lie is: You need to be good and work for your salvation.

In "Part Two", we talked about the counterfeit doctrines, beliefs and religions. We exposed how Satan is out to deceive, if possible, even the elect. Here are the verses we used: Matthew 7:15-23; 24:10-13; 23-24; Galatians 1:8; and 1 Timothy 1:3-8; 4:1-8.

During the voting time, we spent time with each team giving them the opportunity to ask Jesus Christ to become Lord of their life. All the teams but one wanted to pray. In each team, there were at least 1 or 2 who I could tell were pretty sincere. That was time well spent.

WHAT IS TRUTH IS TRUTH. WHAT IS NOT TRUTH, LOOKS LIKE THE TRUTH. That is the Great Deception.

THE CHALLENGE 2011: Week 2

Yet another week of THE CHALLENGE (aka EL RETO) has been completed, and from what I hear the students are jazzed and participation is growing exponentially!! If you missed the report for week 1, then please click on this link:

Week 1 Report

Time for the Week 2 Report from Steve's blog. Enjoy!

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EL RETO 2011 WEEK TWO: "To Be Continued..."

The energy continues as 64 young people (14 new students) showed up for the second week. That makes 80 participants after two weeks.

As normal, we start by taking roll call. Then, we immediately got into the activities as we gave points to the first team to be able to break the code to: "才哦年他一年我啊日啊"

The Chosen breaking the code

This was the sign they would see as they made their way on foot to Arrayanes, a town just under 3 miles north of Cofradía. The sign says "Continuará" which in English means "To Be Continued." Each sign would have an arrow indicating which way to go. Accompanied by chaperones, the teams took off one by one according to how many points they had from the previous week. Before reaching their destination, they will have put together a brain teaser in Cofradía's center plaza, decided between toll road and free road in order to head to the river where they were to run through a long puddle and match photos one by one. Once they matched 10 photos, they came to a tug-of-war station in the mud where they had to wait for the next team to arrive in order to realize the activity. The winner kept going while the looser would then wait for another team. Once they made it out to the main road (Plan A was to cross the river, but it rained too much so we had to go with Plan B). After crossing the bridge, they came to the ruins of an old church and had to search for their team's color ribbon amongst the rocks. From there, they made their way to the Arrayanes graveyard to unscramble some words before they reached their final destination: the Arrayanes baseball field.

 

 

Four of the six teams working on the brain teasers

Teams waiting on the Arrayanes baseball field for the rest of the teams to arrive

This week ended up being one of the most impactful teachable moments in the history of EL RETO as the last team to leave Cofradía (45 minutes after the first team left), surprisingly arrived second in Arrayanes. It seemed pretty odd that they could pass up four other teams. However, after chatting with the captain, we learned that they made a wrong turn and accidently skipped the two activities near the river. This caused some tension between our staff and the team until we were able to reason with those who were upset that this is "just a game." One of the main purposes for EL RETO is to learn about God, life, and leadership. This was the perfect opportunity of which to take advantage. There are many deceptive philosophies and beliefs that look a lot like the truth, but are only counterfeits. I have written a post about this circumstance titled "The Great Deception" on our blog. I encourage you to read about it, as "Deception" was the lesson to be taught during "Part Two". Everything that happened that day fit right into the teaching. We had made counterfeits of the Chinese code signs the teams worked with at the beginning. They looked very similar to the real sign, but they were counterfeits. Every team had gone down a wrong road, but eventually found their way back. One team was permanently lost...ironically, their name is "The Humble".

RACE RESULTS:

• First Place-3,000 pts. - The Chosen
• Second Place-2,000 pts. - The Heirs
• Third Place-1,000 pts. - The Servants of the Lord
• Fourth Place-500 pts. - The Prudent
• Fifth Place-500 pts. - The Faithful
• Sixth Place-500 pts. - The Humble

The Medallion of Power was used by The Chosen at the beginning of the race to give them a 10-minute advantage over the rest of the teams. They passed it to The Servants of the Lord who decided not to use it and passed it to The Humble who now have it in their possession.

In "Part Two" this week, we had the teams all come in together and meet in the sanctuary where we showed a PowerPoint of real signs and logos as opposed to fake ones. This is where they found out that there were fake signs to Arrayanes. Once we explained to them that in real life they will encounter counterfeit products, logos, signs, money, and even Christs, we had them one by one head over to the "Part Two" stage.

The Part Two stage

The lesson was all about Deception and our cry to them was that they would not be deceived by false teachings. As they walked through the graveyard, they met up with three of our staff dressed up as people who are involved in false teachings. Those staff members were pleading with the students to not go down the road they did (as if they had followed that teaching and already died).

 

Once they reached the voting room where I was, we talked with them on a serious note completely separated from the game of EL RETO. We prayed with the teams for salvation. There were at least one or two in each team who showed a genuine interest in accepting the Lord and their personal Savior. We've never done this during a voting time, but I sensed it was the perfect moment for the message that was shared.

 

(left) Praying with The Heirs; (right) The Heirs casting their vote

 

(left) Praying with The Servants of The Lord; (right) The Servants' vote

 

(left) Praying with The Prudent; (right) The Prudent's vote

 

(left) Praying with The Humble; (right) The Humble's vote

A divine moment

FINAL RESULTS AFTER ALL THE ACTIVITIES OF WEEKS ONE AND TWO:

• The Heirs - 8,065 pts.
• The Chosen - 6,106 pts.
• The Prudent - 4,550 pts.
• The Servants of the Lord - 4,002 pts.
• The Humble - 3,239 pts.
• The Faithful - 3,149 pts.

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TO BE CONTINUED...