Battles

I awoke to the mellow vibration of my cellular device. It was Tuesday; yesterday. Slowly getting out of bed, I silently prayed in my thoughts that God would fashion our day according to His will and teach us to further glorify His great Name! It was our first day of serving; going to an art school to paint the outside walls of classrooms. I was stoked.

After getting out of bed I quietly made my way into where the kids were sleeping, the living room, and awoke each of them with a pillow to the face (a great way to start the day). I urged them to commune with Jesus, shower, and meet in the lobby for some breakfast burritos and cereal. We then started our day by heading to the school to paint for several hours.

Once the painting was done (which was totally blessed by God because it wasn't too hot) we came back to the hotel, ate lunch, and went through our books "The Necessity of Prayer." Once our fulfilling times of learning about trust in prayer came to an end for the day we headed to the Tempe History Museum and walked around for several hours. The museum had insightful information as well as interactive exhibits such as a greeting card maker and a real T-series model car. Once done at the museum we started our trek home in which I grilled up some delicious burgers and dogs on the grill (I'd have to say I'm a rockstar at grilling).

When all were filled with delicious cooked ground beef patties we headed down to the Mad-Cap Theater and Mill Avenue to do some street evangelizing and promotion of the upcoming event, "The Stand." Some great opportunities and stories came up throughout the night such as one group being able to buy a man some dinner and pray and talk with him. The whole experience made me feel somewhat like Jeremiah in which there was a fire in my bones to preach the gospel. Such a great opportunity for us to step out of our comfort zones and serve Jesus.

But then today came, a day in which our faith would be tested and God would be further revealed to us in ways we wouldn't ever expect.

Today started like all the other days: Quiet times, showers, and breakfast. Once done doing our necessities we read more of our prayer books. Today it was over "Desire and Prayer."It really spoke to all of us how Bounds writes that prayer without a full desire of God is displeasing to Him. I challenged my group to come before Jesus and ask for more fire in their hearts and souls.

At the end of our great discussions we packed up and headed to the Mad-Cap for opportunity to serve. Little did we know that the enemy was ready to attack us in the best way possible, according to his strength, which is, of course, nothing compared to Jesus. Soon enough one attack after another came upon the students and leaders. By the end of the day we could sense fear surrounding our hearts; but we wouldn't let it affect us because our Lord is stronger than any force of evil. The encouragement that helped me stay strong throughout the battle in front of us was 1 John 4:18 where John states that perfect love casts our all fear; that fear is not from God and not of God. We trusted and prayed to Jesus and He came through and gave us all the peace we needed. Before I knew it we were all outside the theater on our knees with hands lifted high praising the Lord, crying to Him, and trusting in His faithfulness.
He brought us together.

Today we learned a lot. We saw that serving Jesus will cause the enemy to seek and attempt to destroy our mission. We learned that Satan doesn't necessarily want us to hate God, but to forget God (thanks for the insight, Richy). But most of all we learned that God is faithful, good, just, sovereign, and powerful. Nothing is clearer in His Word that He wants to give us the desires of our hearts, that He's willing and able to provide for us. We are encouraged tonight by what we've learned throughout our daily spiritual warfare.

"Trust in the Lord, lean not on your own understanding and in all your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct Your paths."

Keep the team in your prayers. Good night and God bless~

First night in Tempe!

So our first night in Tempe, AZ was awesome, and HOT to say the least, but awesome! As soon as we got in town, we quickly checked in to our hotel, (as quickly as we could anyway), and right away we were hit with the heat of Arizona. This was definitely an experience for us all. As Nick put it last night in his message, "It's like having a blow dryer right in front of your face," and in my opinion a super suped up blow dryer that is set to it's complete maximum. So in other words it was hot, sweaty and a big challenge for us right away. But after jumping into our vans, and reassuring the kids on 1 Corinthians 10:31, "Therefore whether you eat or drink to it all for the glory of the Lord," and listening to some encouraging words from Mat Kearney, "And I wont back down, cause no matter what comes crashing down, im still gonna stand on solid ground," we were pumped and sweaty, excited as we rushed over to the Anthem Church. We got there just in time for prayer. After that everyone was put to work. The kids were greeting people outside the theater and inside, handing out flyers welcoming all people to the Anthem. (The kids really executed their learned skills from 421!) So church started and as all our team sat in the front row, we worshiped God with our whole hearts, and adding to that experience a blessed atmosphere of dimmed lights, and complete worship and surrender to God. I felt everyone had a sigh of relief now that we had got here and we were just worshiping God. And aiding that even more was a powerful teaching from Nick Crespo on Philippians chapter 1 and how we need to have a ridiculous insane love for Christ ultimately and showing that love to everyone around us. It really was an awesome message and perfect for preparing us for the task of evangelism here in Tempe.
We ended the night by eating dinner at our favorite place ever...In and out burger!!! Yes this was amazing, and some of the kids had never eaten there before so it was definitely an amazing experience. We followed our stuffed bellies with a stroll across the street to Yogurt land. You'd think no one would be able to eat after double cheeseburgers and ice cream shakes. Especially immediately after we were done eating. No not our Velocity kids. They saw Yogurt land and the amazing 10 different flavor help yourself service and their dreams come true. So they ate and they enjoyed! We all did, and as the Anthem joined us at In and out and Yogurt Land with great fellowship, we headed back to the hotel for some needed rest.
God is so amazing and He is going to do some great big things with this whole team! All for His glory! Stay up to date with our next blog for today and don't forget to keep us in Prayer!!! We love you all!

We made it to the Anthem

We made it to Tempe safely and we just got to the madcap theater. We are now praying the church and after service the kids will give you all a call.

On the road again!

Hello friends! We have hit the road, with a banjo on my knee! We are well equipped with cheese puffs, gummi bears, and twizzlers. We are journeying to an environment foreign to our own a land of dirt and heat; wait?! Well you get the point. We should be arriving in Tempe around 3ish hour, Lord willing. Please pray for traveling provisions. We are gonna claim this city for Christ!

Acts 17:6b

Let's Not Stop Training

My favorite athlete, Georges St. Pierre, wrote an interesting tweet today it said

" People ask why I train 7 days a week, all year long. It's simple: that's 5-6 more hours of training a week than if I was on a 6-day program. I’ve been doing this for the last 10 years- I'll let you do the math! Keep getting better every day!!! "

Wow! That's dedication! We can draw a beautiful parallel between this dedication and our lives as believers. As the time is closing in on our mission my prayer is that we have this same dedication. We sometimes think, like most athletes, that we train hard then we take a break. Yes we take our sabbath, but we never should stop training. Let me be CLEAR, we are NOT going on a vacation. This is not going to be just a trip you go on over the summer. This is not just 2 weeks away from your parents. This is going to be training. This will be challenging, trying, and a testing of our faith. There WILL be spiritual battles. There will be mental and physical challenges.

Yes, we will have a ton of fun. And yes, it will be vacation-like. However, we must not forget our mission and priority; serve, proclaim the gospel, love. So before we depart, friends, let's be ready. Let's be prayed up. Let us be rested up. Let us be bold and unashamed. This will be life changing. This will be life challenging.

So when we leave the parking lot, lets leave expecting great things. Leave with audacious, radical, mountain moving goals. Stepping out in faith trusting that God will protect, provide, and move powerfully in Arizona. Pray that the Lord would be working in the lives of whom we will minister to and also to us before our mission.

We won't stop till our mission is accomplished. We will be training all 7 days, all 24 hours. We won't let our guard down because our enemy is relentless and does not sleep. So let's be ready for the fight
“These who have turned the world upside down have come here too." (Acts 17:6b)
Let's turn the world upside down!

Arizona Team Commissioning has been moved to the Main Service

We will meet in front of the PLEX @ 6:45 then head over to the main building.

Arizona Team Commissioning Service in the PLEX

We will have a commissioning service this Wednesday June 22 from 7-8:30 in the PLEX.
Everyone is invited.

ARIZONA TEAM PACKING LIST

Duffel bags are the best way to pack. You are allowed one carry-on and one duffel/bag. We don’t have room for more than that.
o Toothbrush, toothpaste & floss
o Razor & shaving cream (if you need it)
o Sun screen, sunglasses & a hat
o Extra pair of prescription glasses if necessary
o Deodorant (please!)
o Soap & shampoo & antibacterial hand soap
o Famine hygiene items
o Comb, brush
o Earplugs (for noisy roommates)
o Baby wipes
o Hand Sanitizer
o Towel
o Medicines: antibiotics, vitamins, aspirin, allergy tabs, diarrhea medicine, ointments,
Band aids. Etc. Make sure all prescriptions are in a prescription bottle.
o Bible
o Notebook/Journal
o Pen
o Water bottle
o Snacks for the road
o Spending money
o ID (if you have one)
o Camera
o Pillow (optional)
o Bug spray
o Sweater or Light jacket (may not be need but you never know)
o Work gloves
o Work clothes - light cotton is best, work sneakers (Bring something you aren't worried about getting dirty or paint on.)
o Jeans & Shorts
o Girls: no spaghetti straps, low-cut shirts, short shorts or skirts. T-shirts are the best way to go
o Swimsuit (no two piece swimsuits)
o Handkerchiefs or headband are handy for keeping the sweat off
o PJ’s
o Walking shoes (sneakers)
o Shower sandals, flip-flops
o Laundry bag (to keep your dirty clothes in)
o Have one change of clothing as well as anything that you need to clean up with you so when we get back from training you have some clean clothes to change into on Saturday.
o Do not pack you spending money in your suitcase once we pack your suitcase in the trailer you won’t be able to get to your suitcase till we get to Tempe.
o No electronics at all besides your camera and cell phone. (You are allowed to being a cell phone with you. It WILL remain off till your leader says you can call home and check in. and your leader will have control of your phone.)
o No knives, lighters or matches.
o Leave valuable jewelry at home
o Zip lock baggies are great for any liquids that may open accidentally
o Tag your entire luggage with your name & address & phone #
o We travel as a TEAM - never alone


Please do not call your son or daughter while we are out in Arizona. We will have time set aside for them to call.
If you have an Emergency you can call the Student Ministry office at 505-338-3699 and they will get a hold of the team.
You can follow the AZ Team at www.vsmmissions.blogspot.com/ we will be posting daily

Parent Meeting this Saturday Night after service in the PLEX

Last Team Meeting

We have our last team meeting this saturday from 1-4 then the parent meeting right after service.

Street Light this Friday

Hey Team street light is this friday. Meet here at calvary by 6. Make sure to bring a few bucks.

Mission Trip Money Is due:

Remember all money is due today. If you have any questions email me at reuortiz@gmail.com

Street Light Ministry is Canceled

Hello all,

I just want to let you all know that the Street Light Ministry has canceled tonight's event due to fact that we will not have enough leaders and transportation. Sorry for the late notice. We will see you next weeks Street Light.

Reuben

Prayer

Hello everyone,

Make sure to stay in prayer this whole week for the money that needs to be due this weekend. It is imperative that we trust in God continually as we get try to get the money together. Remember our God is Jehova Jireh, meaning "my provider." And He has been and will provide for us. Jesus says in John chapter 14:13 "And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son." Let's continue to stay united in our prayers to our God.