Brazil Team Final Update

Here is the final team update from the Brazil Team:

Hey all,

We finished our ministry at Itapeva City. The last day we presented the gospel in each of the three sessions. All together there where 43 salvations. This is very exciting for everyone and the church is thrilled with the ministry that we did.

It was sad to leave our new friends there. Yesterday, Friday, we went to the Good Jesus City Church that the YMI Brazil Mission Team worked with last year. The college team members were finishing up their week of ministry there. We got to see Eric Wahlstrom, the first YMI music person work with the kids. He is teaching them a song on the recorder. They will be doing a song at church tomorrow.

Our team is also going to learn the song and join in with the kids. After the music session, Katie Henderson taught the basketball session, she was helped by Bryan Presler and Tim Keough, the other YMI College Team participants. The kids did better with basketball than they did baseball last year. After we finished at the church, we went to a church member's house. Tomorrow we are going early to church to prepare music and a pantomime. The team is doing very good and everyone is well and working very hard and loving our time here in Brazil.

God bless everyone,

Brad and Becky Keough

Brazil Team Leaders

Final Philippines Update!

Here is the final report from the Philippines Team:

Hey all,

The team is doing well. The youth have really begun to connect with the kids at the individual ministry sites. They are excited about the ministries that they have had the chance to witness and be part of, and they are doing very well establishing relationships with both the pastors/leaders, as well as the kids. We are encouraged :)

Our ministries have been very flexible - more so than we have ever experienced before. Mr. Curabo (Jess Curabo - Awana Missionary) knows when the Awana kids or the street kids do not understand. Because of this, he will frequently come to me and give a good suggestion on what to do next to keep their attention. We are blessed with a team that is perfect for that kind of flexibility. God certainly knew what he was doing :).

God bless, and thank you for your part in making it possible for us to be here. :)

Philip and Anna Ahrens

Philippines Team

South Korea Update!

Here is the latest from the South Korea Team:

Hey all,

Today is our last day of our first English Camp ~ we are all sad to be on our last time with the children. We have also prepared gifts for each of our translators and those that are helping us through our time here.

Last night was a very nice dinner out. It was chicken stuffed with rice and served to us by individual boiling pots. GOOD stuff!

John and Penii Jo Trautwein

South Korea Team

Brazil Team Update

Here is the latest from the Brazil Team:

The team is doing great. We are in Itapeva City, this is our second day of ministry. We arrived on Monday in Sao Paulo and drove four hours to get here. We are all staying in a church, it is very nice and they have been treating us wonderfully. The first day we walked around the town and handed out fliers inviting kids to the three sports clinics we are running. We do a soccer clinic in the morning and afternoon and basketball in the evening. They have had a very good turn out. The team is working very hard and running all aspects of the camp themselves with Juca interpreting. Tomorrow is the Gospel message and then we will leave here about 8:00pm to go back to Atibaia where we will join the college teams for their last day of ministry at Bom Jesus do Perdoes, a town nearby. Please continue to pray for all of us and the people here in Brazil that we are working with.

God Bless,

Brad and Becky Keough

Brazil Team

New Update From South Korea!

Here is the very latest from the South Korea Team:

Hey all,

Just thought we'd do a quick check in here.

We had a great day, everyone is doing very well and slept pretty good last night after our 5 hour bus ride from the airport in Seoul to Jungpyung.

Today they took us on a tour of the POW Camp and then down to the seaside and saw Windy Hill and then stopped to dip our feet in the South Sea.

We are all set for our ministry tomorrow with very detailed schedule and we all know just what we will be doing; we are expecting about 60 children but hoping more with show up.

God Bless,

Penii Jo, John & the team!

Philippines Team Update

Here is the latest from the Philippines Team:

We are going to s tribal ministry today. I think it will be more interaction and relationship building instead of an actual program. Everybody is really looking forward to it, but nobody is sure what to expect.

About the two Awana clubs that we were able to help with the other day: It was encouraging to see the leaders at both churches be devoted to reaching the kids. We hear many stories of leaders and pastors that have given up good jobs to work with youth full-time. Praise God for them!

At one church, the pastor had just started Awana about 3 weeks ago. Since he was reaching out to the unsaved street kids, he had decided not to start with handbooks, but instead to have the gospel presentation given for both the council time and the handbook time. So we got to do an hour and a half of songs and gospel presentations!

Philip and Anna Ahrens

Philippines Team

YMI South Korea Team Arrives!

Hey Everyone,

Once again this morning YMI is pleased to announce the arrival of another mission team to the international field. The South Korea Team arrived early in the morning (around 3am) PST. We were notified by one of our International YMI Interns of their safe arrival. More to come later, hopefully, once they are rested.

Please note: This team will be spending time on some islands in the south of South Korea - one being off the southern tip. Given the new location, we will have to see how communication happens over the course of the trip. Be expecting at least one more update mid-way through their time in-country.

YMI STAFF

Brazil Team Arrives!

Hey Everyone,

We are pleased to let you know that the Brazil Team has arrived safely in Sao Paulo. They are now traveling to Iptapeva City, to a church there where they will do a sports camp. As this is a brand new location for YMI (and fairly new for YMI Brasil), we are not anticipating much in the way of internet updates. Be expecting at least one more, though, mid-way through the trip.

YMI STAFF

Philippines Latest Update!

Here is the latest from the Philippines Team:

Hey All,

Two days into ministry everything is going very well. Yesterday we visited an Awana club in a very poor section of town. The club was run out of a space no bigger than 15'x15' and they had about 30 kids. It was run at the Awana office by the regional director and staff. Our team mentioned over and over again how they were challenged by the joyfulness that these people had in their conditions. We have a couple similar ministries later this week and are looking forward to it!

Philip and Anna Ahrens

Philippines Team

Update From the Philippines Team

Hey all,

Well, to amend what was said earlier, it looks as if the team now has internet access and has been able to file the following report:

Hey,

I (Philip) am typing on my iPhone from the guest house, so this will be brief. :)

We arrived without problem and are very well taken care of at this guest house. We have no concerns and are getting ready for our first ministry to a school. I think everybody is ready to get out and do something as we have had a day and half of rest and we are very well adjusted to the time.

Thank you to all for your prayers!

Philip Ahrens

Philippines Team

Philippines Team Arrives

Hey everyone,

We were notified today by Jess Curabo, the host missionary, that the Philippines Team arrived early (12am) in Manila. By the time they were through immigration it was 2am. They are resting up after their journey and will begin their ministry tomorrow! As a side note, it seems that internet for this particular trip will be limited. Therefore, we are expecting at this point to only hear from the team one more time (the mid-trip report) prior to their arrival home.

YMI Staff

The Latest From Peru...

Here is the latest from the Peru Team:

Hey all,

The team continues to have valuable ministry opportunities. Julio Serrano, the missionary hosting the team, told us tonight that not counting the street evangelism and community outreaches, we have shared the gospel with over 2300 people! It has been truly amazing to see the response in so many different ways. We have seen over 200 children, youth and adults make professions of faith. In addition, we have seen the church commit to continue evangelizing their local community and neighboring areas using the tools we have taught them.

The leadership said on Sunday that they are organizing a mission trip for youth and young adults to go to a different city and share the gospel. This trip will happen next month! We give God all the praise for what He has done through this team and we are not finished. We have two days of ministry left. We have two additional schools we will minister in during the next two days. Please pray for protection for the team and that our focus will remain steadfast on Christ and Christ alone. The theme for our team has been "We are complete in Christ" as we have been studying the book of Colossians. Thank you for your prayers.

Rick and Raeann Velasquez

Peru 2011

Picture from Peru Team

This is the YMI Team with YMI Peru National Director Julio Serrano and family.

Peru Mid-Trip Report

Here is the mid-trip report from the Peru Team:

Hey Everyone,

All is well. We see God moving so visibly on this trip. We are actually so overwhelmed by the vision and excitement of the church body we are working with. We have worked in established children's projects, sharing the gospel and God's love. We have seen over 100 children make first time professions of faith in an environment where they will continue to be discipled. In addition, we have spent evenings training about 140 people from the church in evangelistic tools! They have become so excited by the possibilities of what they can do. Two nights ago, we went out with the church and shared Christ on the street corners. The church shared the gospel using gospel fliers while we were the attraction factor doing our music and pantomimes on the street corner. The church had 800 fliers and ran out!

Then, yesterday morning we went to the sight of their church plant. It is an old mechanics yard full of broken down vehicles, huge truck tires. It's a mess! Still, there is a vision for this place. We prayed for the future of the site and then we went door-to-door (business-to-business) sharing the gospel. We had two team members with an interpreter and we leap-frogged groups down the street. Seventeen people professed faith. One lady said she has heard the story many times but had never been asked to make a decision. It showed us how important it is to make sure that they have a choice. Then on the bus to our next ministry, one of the church members asked for an evangecube. She said "I want to try it" and she proceeded to share with a school boy sitting next to her. He responded to the gospel and she got off the bus saying "eighteen"! It was so cool! The church is being equipped to share. Also, the local residents were so happy that there will soon be a church near by for them to attend.

Finally, last evening, we went to a mall and performed in the food court. We rented a bus to get there and it was completely full of people. There was standing room only. The church proceeded to hand out many more fliers. They said it was the first time a group had been allowed to come into the mall and share! The only requirement was they had to hand out a promotional flier for the mall.

Next week, we will go into 5 schools - both private and public - to preach the gospel. This weekend, we are doing sports ministry and sharing the gospel with the community. It has been a very full trip and the team is so encouraged by all that they have seen. God is so good!

All praise to Him,

Rick and Raeann Velasquez

Peru Team

Here is the latest from the Peru Team:

Wow! So we went out with the church this evening and did street evangelism! About 50 - 60 people from the church came. We went to two different locations very close to the church. The team did songs and pantomimes while the church shared the gospel to those on the street using a gospel tract. They ordered 800 pamphlets to use for the three evangelistic campaigns planned. They ran out. Over 1000 people heard the gospel tonight because the church has mobilized to go out and share! Julio is thrilled. The Pastor was beside himself. We came back to the church and they shared testimonies of what they saw God do. It was so amazing! They challenged themselves to continue after we're gone. They also ordered 1200 pamphlets for the two outreaches tomorrow. All praise to God!

Rick and Raeann Velasquez

Peru Team

Update from Peru!

Here is the latest from the YMI Team in Peru!

Hey Everyone,

We did three ministries today. The first two were at the Compassion International projects. We ministered to 130 children. After the presentation of the gospel, the "teachers" talked with the children in their small groups. They reported that 20 became new believers today. We are completely overwhelmed by what we are privileged to see God doing in this country! We then spent 1 hour training the leaders of this project, teaching them pantomimes, illusions, the evangecube and the one tear cross. It was so well received and we received valuable insight for our evening ministry.

Afterward, we went to the church to train the leaders for their evangelistic outreach. We had 130 leaders who were trained in puppets, pantomimes, evangecube, and songs. The church is so excited by what they are learning. None of us can believe that this is day 1 - it feels like we did a week of ministry today! Please remember to pray specifically for the evangelistic outreach that will occur Thursday and Friday night. These 130 leaders will go out and evangelize their neighborhood in a church planting effort. We got to meet with the Head Pastor of the church and his wife this evening. He has a great vision for this community and is so excited by what Julio [The YMI Peru National Director and missionary host for the team.] is doing and the way he sees God working.

Rick and Raeann Velasquez

Peru Team

Peru Team Arrives in Lima!

Hey Everyone,

Below is an email from Rick and Raeann Velasquez, the leaders of the Peru Team. After a long journey, the team has arrived safely in Peru. Be on the lookout (potentially) for at least one update in about a week!

YMI STAFF

Hey Everyone,

We're here in Peru sitting in Julio and Rosario's [the missionary's] living room! Wow, we were met by a large group from Julio's church - about 20 people! The team is feeling very blessed to be here and extremely excited to start ministry with the church and Julio. The team is doing very well!

All our luggage made it as well!

Rick and Raeann

Peru Team

2011 Summer Mission Blogging Begins!

Hey everyone!

It's July 1st and that means one thing: YMI Teams are preparing to launch. This year, all of our YMI Teams will be launched and received in the month of July. Only the South Korea team will be debriefing into the beginning of August. So, we are ready for a rapid-fire month of sending trips.

In fact, as this is post is being written, our first YMI Team of 2011 is assembling in the Seattle area. This team will be heading to Peru! Parents, friends, and family - please come here for updates from the teams - when they arrive and perhaps another update during the trip (as long as there is decent internet access where they are going).

YMI already has been running sports camps in the US, sent out multiple college students to South Korea, Haiti, and Brazil, and a church team to Costa Rica. Now it is time to send out our teams of individual high school students to share the message of Christ. We are very excited for what God has in store for our YMI Teams this summer. Be on the lookout for our first post announcing the arrival of the Peru team...and please, remember to pray for our teams this month!

YMI Staff