God is good.

We're home now from an amazing week in Milwaukee. I think it’s safe to say that this week has been an incredible experience for all of us. God was visible in everybody there; whether during worship, hard work, or just having fun with one another. The interns who worked with us and led us through worship all week were fantastic, as well as the other youth groups there. The warmth and hospitality of everyone was just really astounding to me, and I felt very blessed to have the chance to work with such great people. Much thanks to Melissa and Jake as well for putting up with us the entire week.

God is good!

(Jake/Melissa will be posting a few more pics and one or two more posts so stay tuned yet)

God is...amazing.

Hey folks. Jeremiah here. I think it's safe to say that these past few days have been quite a ride for all of us. We're approximately halfway through the week and we're all exhausted, but this is a mission trip, so we all find that extra strength from God (or caffeine) to get out to the community and serve them through the Lord. Last night we (Next Step Ministries) threw a picnic in a local park and the youth went out to the surrounding apartments and told people that we were having a picnic where there would be food, music, a bouncy house for the kids, and a fun time. We had a spectacular turnout. There were tons of local people at the picnic, and hopefully they were able to see Jesus Christ through the event, even if they didn't exactly know him. It was a great night. Today was a blazing hot summer day, about 94 degrees celsius (just kidding, farenheit) and the CPC youth went out and worked. Paulo, Laura, Eleanor and Jake went to Adullam and chipped paint all day, while Melissa, Anna and I went to a school and moved plywood and bundles of hardwood into a gym so they could replace the flooring of a basketball court. After that, we went to the Community Warehouse where we removed nails from old plywood boards (we signed a waiver just in case a nail flew into our eyes). Between the sweltering heat and the work, it was a fantastic day for everyone, and we all saw Christ through some aspect of what we were doing.

Right now, the CPC crew is playing a game called Say Anything, which, like any game, is better if you're not keeping score. We found a secluded area to feast on our food from Target and to have our much needed family time. We have one more day of work before we relax on friday afternoon at Bradford Beach, which hopefully Nate will join us for so we can have a great end to the week. Thanks for keeping up with our blog, and keep us in your prayers, please.

-Jeremiah

God is good. Today was day two of work! Today the whole group was at the same place. We were at a place called Strong links. It's a youth rehabilitation center for kids who have drug addictions, are homeless, or don't have a supporting family. It was an old barn that was turned into a hang out place with a bunch of cool things like a climbing wall, a few tvs, a work out space and a basketball hoop. What we did was help fix up the place. A group of people cleaned boats and got them ready to be used. Some other people sorted through wood and burned all the bad stuff. I spent my day cleaning out a little area with fishing supplies in it. We were out side for the whole time. When we came back we went to a park by a run down appartment area and we had a cook out. We went around to the different doors inviting the public to join us. We had hot dogs and a huge bouncy house and we played an awesome game of duck duck goose. It was actually really nerve racking to go out in not the best neighborhood and talk to random strangers and invite them to the event. But the whole point this week is to step out of your comfort zone and that's what we did. It was a great day and at the end of the day we had a great worship service. Looking forward to tomorrow! It's about to be lights out so goodnight to everyone and thanks for support! God is good. 

We arrived late afternoon after making a culture learning stop to eat at Culver's. We're tyring to experience our new surroundings so we thought we would eat at a popular Wisconsin joint - haha.

Most of the evening was spent getting tired playing (basketball and ultimate frisbee) in the very large gym at the church we are staying at. There is one other large group from the Milwaukee area and we are getting along well for only knowing each other a few hours. With next step staff there are about 50 of us here together.

Last night also included dinner, worship time and church time where our group had a neat time talking and praying for each other. What a neat group of kids we have at CPC. I am thankful to be able to spend this week with them. And now, after this inital post you will get to hear more from them throughout the week. We just got back from our first work day and I'm eating cheese nips with Paulo and Nate (thanks Nate!) while I write.