Nursing Home Trip

Today a group of AWO kids and I went into Lake Haven to minister alongside Kingdom Compassion. Even the guys took the initiative to sing worship music from their hearts. The music they sang was so beautiful! They sang two songs to the residents, but even more than that they greeted the residents and went from room to room inviting them to enjoy the concert and message (given by Mr. Robert Lewis). They even went so far as to give a private concert to a resident who was bedridden and could not leave her room! I am certain that many people were blessed by their young, smiling faces, and their beautiful worship music! I am so proud of the kids who give of themselves and learn to give back to others the way that others have given to them. They are learning to exemplify Christ through the way they live their lives! :)

New Covenant's Night of Prayer for Ministries

I have to dedicate a small post to the biggest blessing Arms Wide Open has received to date--last night's "evening of prayer" hosted by New Covenant Church. I was so humbled by the number of people who spoke words of blessing and prayer over us and our future vision for our ministry. I was so honored to be part of such a special occasion, to have so many people take time out of their busy schedule just to bring us blessing. I am so grateful for my church family and the support, encouragement, unconditional love, and the PRAYERS that they give us, not just as a ministry, but as a family and as individuals, too. It is truly the BODY OF CHRIST extending arms of love out to us! Thank you to Gerald and Aleta Spell for all you did to organize this night--it was such a HUGE blessing to us!!!

2012 Grand Bay Trip

This year at Grand Bay, we split the girls from the boys with separate guides. The girls traveled one path while the boys traveled another. The above photo is of the girls' Bible study which was conducted during a picnic lunch on the wooden walkway. Miss Corlisha Castle and I chaperoned the girls and focused primarily on helping them to see their value in God's eyes--that they are as precious as jewels to Him--and the importance of building Godly relationships and shedding worldly ones. We heard lots of oohing and ahhing and even a few squeals as we encountered the delights created by our Creator that were all around us. We saw beautiful butterflies, dragonflies, birds, flowers of all kinds, and an interesting variety of trees. We also saw intricate spiderwebs with quite a few very LARGE spiders inhabiting them (hence the squeals!). I have never seen spiders that big! The most interesting, and surprising, thing we encountered was a SNAKE. There just happened to be a non-poisonous snake traveling the boardwalk at the same time we were. We very carefully walked past him, and he didn't seem to mind us too much. We incorporated an art project into our Bible study (no small feat considering our surroundings!) and allowed those who were brave enough to walk up the 54-foot viewing tower. It was nothing short of an adventure!

The boys were simultaneously enjoying their own adventure, chaperoned by David Godwin and Chris Howard. They saw different creatures from the girls, including a small deer and an alligator. Their Bible study focus was on appreciating the infinite value on Godly things (like love, relationships, blessing, His word) and the false sense of value we find in money, Nike shoes, and other worldly possessions. With the pressures of our culture to acquire, acquire, acquire, it was a timely message. The boys also enjoyed a picnic lunch in a tree-canopied picnic area. It was a wonderful, beautiful day!

As always, we are grateful to New Covenant Church for the use of their vans for transportation, and also to our faithful volunteers for spending their Saturday out with us ministering to the youth. We owe a special thank you to Mary Corbin of His Hands Ministries for donating us the wonderful youth-friendly Bible curriculum, which we were able to use on this trip. We are so blessed by those who support us!