As we begin another mission adventure we are happy to invite you along. It's so much more fun knowing you are there praying with us for lives to be touched and changed. During our journey you will get to know about the ministry of Children's Bible Fellowship of New York and three of their ministries we will be serving.
CAMP JOY CAMP HOPE URBAN OUTREACH
ENTER
"GET READY!
JESUS is about to
pour out a blessing
on you. Bring a
BIG CUP!"
~Chris Cote
Friday - July 28th ~ Today is a day of preparing for our journey. We are packing and praying. It's been a very busy summer of ministry. We've been looking forward to this mission all summer and now it's here. Tomorrow we will be up very early so we can make a stop in Neptune, NJ to see a dear friend before continuing on to Carmel, NY. Visit us often during the next couple weeks and be sure ALWAYS, to sign our guest book. We love hearing from you. If you include your email address in the guest book the first time you sign in it makes it easy for us to respond. GOD BLESS YOU!
PEI HOME
FIKA/BO HOME
NIGHT COMMUTE
CBF of NY
BRETT RUSH
You will really enjoy this NEW CD by Brett Rush. Visit his website now to hear his music. You can purch- ase single MP3s or the CD. You're just a click away from great music!
Saturday - July 29th ~ We were up very early this am going over our packing checklist and then loaded the van. When we finished there was just enough room for us in the van. We wanted to make sure we had everything we might need for ministry with us (and then some). As we drove to NJ the guys made some of our weekly contact calls to people who we love and support us with their prayers. Thanks to a dear friend who believes in our ministry we have three cell phones so we can all make calls and then we end up passing them around so we get to talk to everyone. It's great.
We stopped in Neptune, NJ to spend some time with a dear friend "Uncle Don" and see his new house. It's awesome. We are so happy for him. It's really an answer to prayer. We had a cookout with him and he was able to remove a gallon of transmission fluid from my van and replace it with two new quarts and two products that might help with the life of my failing transmission. WOW! It sure is running different! We got to camp in the early evening and settled into two very beautiful rooms. I am in the same one as last year and the boys are across the hall.
AMAZING GRACE . . . at Camp Joy
Romans 8:28?
For those of you who are very close to us you will be saying: "the black cloud" as I share this little story with you. The night before we arrived there was a terrible storm at camp. Aaron Louie was in the chapel playing the piano when it began to rain. He didn't think much of it. Then a strong wind began to blow and the windows and doors of the chapel began blow open and rain come in. Soon debris began falling and by the grace of God Aaron was not harmed when a huge tree came crashing down on the chapel. When we arrived and heard the news I didn't know whether to cry or laugh. (Not the first of many things we've experienced as we go to do ministry). Can it be fixed? CAMP JOY needs help! If you can help in some way email or call me. Thanks!
Sunday - July 30th ~ We were up till after midnight getting settled in. Today we were up at 5:00am preparing to go out for breakfast with Rich Meyer the "behind the scenes" guy at CBF. He's amazing.
Rich greeted us, hooked me up with a golf cart, took us to our quarters, and helped us unload the van. Now he was up extra early taking us out to breakfast and for an awesome worship experience at Walnut Hill Community Church in Bethel, CT.
After church we headed to the Bronx (Rich drove one of two buses. A third bus went to Coney Island to pick up campers there.) We got to know some of the Camp Joy staff on the ride to the city. Though tried from a long summer of ministry - they are dedicated to being God's servants here. We will be praying for them and encouraging them as they show the love and grace of God to these kids for the next two weeks! Please PRAY for them (and us)!
After a nice meal and time of swimming we had
our first chapel service and it was awesome.
(PRAYER REQUEST: Chris is having a problem with his right ear. Pray that the LORD would heal this. It is affecting his hearing and ability to sleep.)
Rich Meyer
Walnut Hill
Community Church
REGISTRATION
- BRONX, NY
Rich has the gifts of administration and helps! Pray for him as he continues to serve God in many ways here. He's a jack of all trades - master of many. He's also an amazing father and husband. Pray that he continues strive for a good balance with ministry and family.
Chris interacts with a camper during the registration in the Bronx.
Fika's little brother was electricuted by wires on their TV. He lost the use of his left arm. They prayed for him and the next day he was back to normal! Thank you Lord!
UGANDA:
There are currently peace talks going on in Southern Sudan between the government of Uganda and the LRA. KEEP PRAYING.
We may have found the people we can work with in Uganda to minister to the children in Gulu! PRAY!
PRAYER REQUESTS
Please pray for Chris. He has a bad ear infection in his right ear. It seemed like it was getting better after using some drops in it yesterday but last night when he tried to but the drops in, one drop caused a severe pain and burning. That lasted almost 3 hours. Looks like a trip to the doctor will be in order. PRAY.
Monday, July 30th ~ Traditionally, the final session of camp is the hottest. I had no idea when I prayed that God would work a miracle so that we wouldn't roast in the chapel during our services that He would allow a tree to fall on "His house", giving us the opportunity to have chapel in air conditioned comfort at a local church.
(Don't take me too serious here).
It's a blessing that a local church would open their doors to us. We had our first service there tonight and it was awesome. The worship team is great.. Fika and Bo are playing their dejembe drums with the team. This two week session I am speaking on "THE TRUTH - FROM BEGINNING TO END".
I am building a foundation for the campers and their faith. I began with the origin of satan (the devil) and I will take them through the basics of the faith, spiritual warfare and how to live a victorious Christian life, even when you live in the midst of the struggles of life. We will talk about the difference between a "Friend" and an "Enemy". Seeing mom, dad, siblings and authority the way God sees them. Please pray as we have a wide range in ages from 6 - teens.
To teach the TRUTH I will have to expose some of the myths ie: Santa Claus, the Easter bunny, tooth fairy, stork etc. For the youngest children this could be quite a shock. The TRUE stories of the Bible will be good replacements and children take the stories at face value. They believe them. (Noah, Jonah, Lazarus etc.) They need to know that these are not just "stories". The people in them are not "characters" that someone made up! Please pray for me to be filled with creativity!
I gave the counselors an assignment last night. (Talk to your kids about salvation and prepare them for an inviation Tuesday evening.) Please pray! We look for decisions early in the session so we have the rest of the session to pray with campers and help establish them and prepare them for re-entry into the "real world" beyond Camp.
Counselors make it happen. Pray for them and pray for all of us as the next couple days will be record high temps. here. God bless you!
