Hey, this is Jordan writing today, one of the many guest bloggers this year. It's Sunday night and we are having our regular kitchen night talks. It has been an awesome first full day at Rehoboth. Everyone is settled in at their dorm rooms. There are four to a room and despite the extreme heat it gets rather comfortable at night.

We started off the morning by doing our quiet time devotions. It's a really neat time that we have to start our day off right and remind ourselves why we are here. After that we went to the church on the Rehoboth campus. It was an awesome service!! The service was a glimpse to what VBS will be like. The VBS theme this year is "Kingdom Rock". The focus being on Standing Strong! After the awesome church service there was a potluck lunch in the Fellowship that we all went to. We got to go and meet new people from Rehoboth, but we also got to meet other kids from Ada Michigan, they were there on a mission trip as well.

Later in the day we got to go to the Zuni tribe which is about an hour away from Rehoboth. The group that went to Rehoboth last year went to Zuni as well. Last year the Zuni tribe was just building a new school. This year the school was fully functional! It was so awesome for those who were here last year to see the drasctic improvements to the Zuni Christian School and Church.

When we got back we had some free time. Some kids decided to stay in their rooms and talk. Some decided to go and play basketball. While others decided to go hiking and went to a rock formation a little while away from campus. They sat there talked and watched the sunset.

Tomorrow we will be starting our various projects. Some people will be doing VBS and Rehoboth, others will be doing VBS off site, we also have some brave people doing construction in this extreme heat for a family from Rehoboth.

We are all very excited for the week and look forward to growing closer to God, our peers, and local people. Keep checking the blog for more updates.

  On our way!

 

 Rehoboth campus

Our dorm rooms

The master grillers for our first dinner here!

Our home for the week

Pot luck lunch after church to celebrate the beginning of VBS

Zuni Christian church and school

Getting a tour of the new school from Pastor Mike Meekhof

The ladies of the group!

The Zuni Pueblo village

Outdoor ovens

The original mission in Zuni

Pizza at Chu Chu's

Evening walk around the Rehoboth Campus

Amazing end to our first full day!

Welcome back to our blog for Rehoboth 2013!  We are so excited to see what God has in store for us this coming week and covet your prayers for safe travel tomorrow!  We'll try and keep you updated on what we're up to as much as possible!

Good morning!  Thursday seemed like a long way off when we began our week but here we are, our last day of June camp and VBS.  It's amazing how quickly we've become attached to these precious children we've been working with...it's going to be hard to say good-bye.  Our devotions this morning came from I Corinthians 12 which talks about how Christ's power is made perfect in our weakness.  We're tired today and we have a long day filled with camp, VBS, a VBS dinner, the VBS final program, and then VBS take-down...but it has been so clear through this all that when we are weak we ARE strong because God has been taking our weaknesses and using them for His purposes.  Our OTE kids have put their hearts and souls into this week and it has been amazing watching God work through them. The joy that comes from serving the children and people of Rehoboth is indescribable and we have been forever changed because of it.  
Sorting clothes at the mission and June camp:

 

 Yesterday evening we took a trip to the Zuni Pueblo.  The Zuni are a Native American tribe that live about an hour from Rehoboth.  There's a CRC church and school that have been there since the early 1900's...Mike Meekhof has been the pastor there for the past 24 years and was gracious enough to give us a tour of the church and the new school building that is still under construction.  The Zuni people are a more isolated tribe than the Navajo and hold onto their culture and religious beliefs with a tighter hand. The pastor and the others who are serving at The Mission (the church and school) have experienced intense spiritual warfare in the village and it is still very much a reality for them today.  It's hard to imagine that this really happens but the stories shared and the oppressiveness felt while we were there was proof enough to us.  http://www.zunichristianmission.org is their website if you'd like to find out more information about the church and school in Zuni.

Tomorrow our whole group (youth and adults)is heading to Window Rock (the Navajo capitol) and Canyon D'Chelley for hiking. Later in the day we'll be attending an authentic Navajo dinner and tribal dance (given by a family connected with Rehoboth) Please pray for continued energy, health, and safety as we finish up this incredible experience. 

It's Tuesday night and it's hard to believe it's been two days since the blog was last updated.  We have been so extremely busy that this is the first chance there was to write!  Our schedule for this week goes a little like this....Devotions at 7am, breakfast, and then we're out by the kiddos on the playground by 8.  We herd them into June Camp, (summer school) head to our grade that we're helping out with and help out until 1:30.  At 1:30 we head over to the church where we help out with VBS.  From 2-5 we're in VBS, 5:30 is dinner, 6:30 is an activity (Monday was rock climbing and tonight we sorted clothes at the thrift shop and around 10 are heading to the observatory to look at the stars) After our adventure we take time to meet, do devotions, and chat about the day...that usually takes us to 11 and then we collapse into bed! These next few days are going to be even busier but we'll try to get an update or two in.  There have been many amazing experiences and we see God working in so many ways here in Rehoboth.....our team is learning so much, is being blessed by the people we are meeting here, and our hearts are overflowing with love for the children we have the privilege of spending time with every day.  Please pray for our energy to be renewed and refreshed every morning and that our hearts and wills stay open to serving in love and humility.

Here are a few pictures from the past few days:  

Rehoboth campus

 Hiking in the Crevice (pretty intense hike!!)

 June camp and VBS (and rock climbing)...

We made it!

Good morning and what a beautiful Sunday morning it is here in Rehoboth!  

 Our journey began early Saturday morning...despite the lack of sleep, we were ready to go...awake, alive, alert, and enthusiastic!

 Well..most of us were anyway...

 Traveling was smooth sailing and we arrived in New Mexico around 9:30am. We hopped into the vans and off we went to Rehoboth.  While the drivers toiled away at the wheel the rest of us got in a nice nap!  Their turn came when we got to our dorm rooms...

 Dewey grilled us some Sheboygan brats and then we were off for a tour of the Rehoboth campus.

In the evening we headed into Gallup for an art fair and a Native American dance exhibition.

 We joined in on the last dance....

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..and then ended our amazing first day with snow cones in Gallup and a time of devotions back in our dorms.

 We are so eager to see what God has in store for us this week!  Thank you for all your prayers and support it is so very much appreciated!