Cedarville University

Hey everyone! This is Hanna and I’m excited to tell you all about our time with the wonderful people at Shepherds Ministries in Racine, WI.

Shepherds Ministries, a nationally recognized organization founded on Jeremiah 23:4, provides compassionate Christian care, vocational education and job opportunities for adults with developmental disabilities, helping them attain appropriate independence with fulfilling jobs and lives, while also providing for their spiritual development. For adults with developmental disabilities and their families, Shepherds’ case managers, living skills instructors, nurse, consultants, teachers, work supervisors and administrative staff provide a future and a hope.

We started with worshipping in the evening with the staff and residents at Shepherds. The Shepherd’s community did motions with us, sang along, and there was even one man who signed to the lyrics. It was so beautiful to see the differences in worship throughout the night! The joy expressed through their smiles was enough to show the love they have for God. It was also very humbling to talk with the clients and residents of Shepherds. They were very open and welcoming people, which I think is a quality we can sometimes grow calloused to through the busyness of life.

Worship with the Shepherds community!

I had the privilege to talk to several people the two days we stayed there. Connie was a client of Shepherd’s who comes and works at Shepherds but lives off site, in the town. Connie has such a cool story! She met and married her husband, John, at Shepherds. It was so neat to hear her life story, and how she has grown through God’s working at Shepherds.  She also loves to sing, and has a CD available! It was so cool to talk about what God has done, and was doing in her life at Shepherds. The thing is, these wonderful people will never know what a ministry in return they were to us. I was so encouraged by their welcoming hugs and their smiles. Their optimism was contagious and we were blessed as a team to interact with them.

The next day we helped out at Shepherds Enterprise. Shepherds Enterprises is committed to providing a diverse work environment that stimulates opportunity for growth and independence for Shepherds Ministries’ residents and clients. To achieve this goal, Shepherds Enterprises provides manufacturing and outsourcing services opportunities to Southern Wisconsin and Northern Illinois. The team packaged different objects like wires and combs. This is a purposeful job and the people at Shepherds knew they were doing work that needed to be done. They get a pay check and are trained how to manage their money and eventually live out in the community. We worked throughout the day and had more great conversations with the people of Shepherds. We ended our stay that day with eating lunch with the Shepherds community, and hit the road for Green Bay, WI.

Hanging out at Shepherds

Overall it was a great experience for us all. I know I learned a lot and was challenged by my experiences with the Shepherds community. I was really challenged to see the staff, residents and clients fulfilling the grand purpose God designed for them. I met a lot of people who were overflowing with joy, and in return I was blessed immensely. I know we will have many more great experiences as tour continues, but our stay at Shepherds was a definite highlight! If you have any questions or want to know more about Shepherds, they can be found on the web at:  http://www.shepherdsministries.org. Thanks for praying for us, reading and watching the blogs. We greatly appreciate it! See you soon!

Hanna

Tour is more than halfway over! Wow, it even feels strange to see that in writing. It’s been one big blur but amazingly awesome.  We just finished week 6 of tour. The last two weeks were spent at Spring Hill Camp in Seymour, Indiana and then Camp Patmos on Kelley’s Island, but I will talk about Spring Hill first. I had never been there before, but it was one of the most beautiful camps I’d ever seen! The kids arrived on Sunday night, and we hit the ground running. Even though we were primarily a part of the junior high camp, we actually had the opportunity to hang out with the senior high campers and elementary campers as well. That aspect of this week was really awesome because we got to hang out with as many campers as possible!

We got to take part in a ton of sweet activities at Spring Hill, from paintball to rock climbing to going down their water slide called “The Gusher.” They have something on their lake called “The Party Barge” which was literally a barge on the lake with blobs, water zip lines, and trapeze bars that you swing into the water. It really was a party on a barge. On Tuesday night, we got to take part in a competition called Crud Wars. The name pretty much says it all. Basically, we just got handfuls of paint, mud, shaving cream, horse feed, and cherry pie and just attacked each other with it. I’ve never been messier in my life, but it was well worth it to get to throw “crud” at campers and my HeartSong team members.

CRUD WARS!

Another thing that was really awesome from this week at camp was the skits that the counselors put on each chapel session. They really hit home with a lot of issues that teens face today, and we got to meet in small groups with campers after each skit to discuss them. One of the days, I got to do the high ropes course with one of the junior high campers. God really showed up on that ropes course. I could tell she was really nervous when we started and wasn’t really sure if she wanted to do it. I got to step aside with her at the top of the course, pray with her, and talk with her about trusting the instructor, the ropes, and me and how that can relate to her walk with Christ. It was awesome to see her put her fears aside and trust in Christ, even with something as simple as completing a high ropes course. It was a really good reminder for me, too about how we need to trust Christ with everything and actually live that out: not just say we’re trusting Him when we really don’t. This camper ended up getting saved at the end of the week, which was so awesome and such an answer to prayer!

God is continually teaching us more and more each day, and we’ve gotten so much closer as a team. Being on HeartSong, you are just reminded every day how this life is not about you, at all. I honestly didn’t know what it really meant to serve until this summer. In John 3:30, it says “He must become greater, and I must become less.” We hear those words all the time and even sing them in one of our songs. It is such a simple phrase, but something I have to consciously remind myself each day. God has been constantly challenging me with this more every day of tour. I need to die to myself every day and follow Him, and I think that’s something I will always need to be continually striving for. I am so thankful for the lessons I’m learning, going to learn, and the ways God has used my team and me.

Worship times at Spring Hill

This past week, we were able to serve at Camp Patmos on Kelley’s Island right on Lake Erie. I have never seen more beautiful sunsets than I did when I was there! God’s hand in creation was so apparent everyday at this camp. We had a blast with campers biking around the island, playing games, worshipping in chapel and doing water sports on the lake all day. God broke down so many walls and began changing lives as soon as the first day of camp was over. About 10 kids got saved and so many more have made commitments for Christ! We were challenged everyday by Pastor Sean Koonce as he talked about surrendering to God’s will for our lives, being true disciples of Christ, and the steps needed to pursue holiness. This was an incredible week for us this summer, and it was so awesome to get to know the campers and the staff as we were poured into by them as well.

Creation at Camp Patmos

Now, we’re back home at CU for a week at Camp Electric! We’re so excited to be here and to see some big names in Christian music! If you have never heard about Camp Electric you can check them out here at www.campelectric.com! There’s only 2 weeks left of tour, but I hope to check back in soon!

In Christ,

Ali