Houston Mission Trip Report 2013
Our team of women began the trip at 7:00 a.m. Sunday, July 7th.
Melanie Johnson, Gina Stokes, Kristie Garnett, and Kerry Alton
left for Houston and got to Long Point Baptist Church with plenty
of extra time to relax and meet with Jenn Delgado our worship
leader for the adult women VBS for the week. We attended the
worship service and visited with many of the women that we have
gotten to know through VBS. A couple of the women informed
me that they were looking forward to hearing “a Word” from the
Lord. God is answering our prayer that their hearts would be open,
receptive, and expectant to hear from Him! We unpacked all of
our gift bags and give away items and then spent the day beginning
to get our room ready for VBS.
Monday-We had group devotions and prayer at 9:00 a.m. and a
time of planning out our program order for the evening since it was
pouring down rain outside. We talked about how we would
incorporate the stuck sections of Winnie the Pooh, Christmas
Story, Baby Jessica, and the joined Twins to get their attention
before the lesson started. Kristie was in charge of the transition
talk between these video snippets and Jennie Allen’s 10 minute
video. Then we arrived at the church to do the decorating. This
took all day, but the room looked so great and inviting. The first
night went so smoothly and the prayers of God’s people were so
evident as 19 women attended and opened up their hearts to their
stuck places. We talked about Broken being the place where God
can begin His work in our lives. Jennie Allen’s Stuck Bible study
is our guide for the week, so we showed a small 10 minute clip
from her study and then Kerry Alton condensed a week’s worth of
study into 30 minutes. After Kerry’s talk we divided into 4 groups
and the ladies opened up and shared some really personal places
where they feel stuck. After that we had a big gift giveaway.
Every woman received a gift of some sort. One of the ladies from
Georgetown Wed. evening Bible study gave us $500 to use
specifically for gift cards, so we had a blast giving those out to the
ladies.
Tuesday-We had group devotions and prayer at 9:00 a.m. We
developed the pictures of families and friends that were taken on
Monday. We posted them on two photo boards with a sign letting
them know that they were free to take home. We took our local
missionary, Scotty Sanders, out to lunch (she wouldn’t let us pay
but paid for our lunch!) We then visited with Doug Sanders at his
home filled with golf memorabilia-quite interesting! We went
back to our host home so the team could rest and Kerry could
review over her talk for the evening. We led the Women’s VBS
group through the topic of Mad which was introduced through
Jennie Allen’s 10 minute clip from her study-Stuck. We had 10
new women join us for the evening leaving us with a total of 29
women hearing the fantastic news that God loves them and has
given His Son to us-He died for our sins and then rose again on the
third day. We had small group time and many women opened up
to the places that make them angry. We talked about if we have
ever felt that God was angry with us and then if we have ever felt
angry toward God. The women were encouraged to do their
homework reflecting on things/people/situations that make them
angry and then to take apart the given verses to see how God wants
us to deal with anger. We gave away many gift cards and gifts.
There was an excitement in the room as the women arrived and left
tonight. We are honored and excited to be serving such an
amazing God!
Wednesday-We got together for devotions at 9:00 a.m. We
developed the pictures that Gina took for the VBS attendees and
then posted them for the people to take home. We picked up some
bottled waters and cupcake mix for our Thursday night Celebrate
Jesus party. We took our worship leader/pastor’s wife from Long
Point Baptist Church out for lunch and then we shopped at FBC
Houston’s book store for gifts to give the ladies who work at the
mission center and to purchase cards that we will write to each
woman that attends the VBS. We were also given some books to
hand out as door prizes to our ladies at VBS. We came home so
Kerry could look over her notes for the evening’s talk. Our team
arrived at the church to register ladies, take pictures of various
families, and prepare the room for the evening. We talked about
being stuck in fear as we showed a 10 minute video of Jennie
Allen. We sang worship songs and Kerry talked about fear and
how we need to fear God more than we need to fear losing those
things that we love the most on this earth. We broke into small
groups and talked more intimately about things that we fear. We
gave away many gift cards and various types of gifts. We had 34
ladies attend the class for the evening. We are building
relationships that we are going to miss when we leave.
Thursday-We woke up and started baking cupcakes for the
Celebrate Jesus Party and to also give to the Daycare Workers and
Mission Center Office Workers. We had devotions and discussed
the order of events since this was going to be a night where the
ladies were going to have an opportunity through an altar call for
decisions to be made.
It was the birthday of the husband from our host home so we had a
small birthday party for him at lunchtime. We bought gift cards
for the Assads (our host home) and for Scotty Sanders (our
missionary from Faith Center/Long Point Baptist) We ordered and
picked up pictures to give away to the attendees of VBS. Our team
arrived at the church to register ladies, prepare the cupcakes and
water for the party, prepare the room, and hang the pictures on the
photo board for people to take home. Some ladies arrived early to
“shop” at our garage sale table as they could take as many items as
they wanted tonight. We worshipped in song, watched a short
introduction video on being stuck, and then watched Jennie Allen’s
Stuck 10 minute video on sad. Kerry talked about how we cannot
expect this world to bring us hope; only God gives us hope through
Jesus Christ. We hope in immovable objects God and heaven.
The women filled in their study blanks and even completed their
homework. Kerry led the class in a prayer to accept Jesus as their
Savior. Three women made a decision for Christ and prayed with
Melanie, Gina, and Kerry. We had a party to illustrate how God is
planning a big party for us in heaven. The ladies loved it. Many
women received gift cards and various other gifts. Some women
wrote us notes and brought us gifts. We were so blessed by these
women and we are excited to see how God is going to work in
their lives in the coming days.