After a long day of travel and a restful night at a hotel on the way, the team pulled into Bethel Evangelical Baptist Church in Miami Gardens, which will be our home base for the week. We were able to meet the congregation and participate in service, which was done in mostly French Creole, with some English. After service, the team enjoyed a boat tour of downtown Miami and Biscayne Bay. We then returned to Bethel and enjoyed a time of fellowship and a pizza dinner with other teams serving this week. After an orientation meeting, the team went to bed to rest and recharge for a fruitful week of ministry. Thanks everyone back home in NC for your thoughts and prayers!

Today we got off to a wonderful start to our full week of being the hands and feet of Jesus here in Miami. After breakfast, close to 80 children arrived here at Bethel for a fun filled week of VBS. We dove right in teaching them the God's word through song, craft and Bible study. We enjoyed this opportunity to love these children. After VBS to have some free time and rest. We traveled to downtown Miami to Bayside Marketplace for dinner, where we also got the chance to do some shopping and hanging out. After we returned, there was a short meeting where we were able to share ours and to hear others highlights from the day of work. God is surely working in big ways in Miami! We know God will give us the power and strengh to do great things this week.

Robbie working with one of the VBS students at Bethel Baptist in Miami Gardens. Every team member helped to plant seeds of the word of God into the children here.

Megan takes a break from helping to lead the games and rec session at VBS.

This morning we started off with a pancake breakfast which gave us the fuel to begin our busy day. We started off once again at Bethel leading their VBS. There were several more students at VBS today. Praise be to God for all of these children getting to hear the word of God and how much Jesus loves them. After lunch, we worked on helping the staff at Bethel with some tasks that needed to be completed at the church. We worked hard all afternoon cleaning. For dinner, we headed over to Parkway Baptist Church, a Jamaican church, where we were treated to a traditional Jamaican meal. We were served beef stew with dumplings, fish, rice and peas (which is what the Jamaicans call rice and beans) and vegetables. After dinner, we joined with Parkway and their youth for a youth service. We had a time of games, a message and a time to share our testimonies and stories with each other. After returning home and having a quick meeting, we headed to bed. We look forward to the rest of the week of ministry here in Miami.

The VBS kids enjoying a game of soccer with Landon.

A look at the delicious meal and fellowship we shared at Parkway Baptist Church.

Wednesday we led another wonderful day of VBS. We spent to morning singing, playing, and teaching the kids here at Bethel about Jesus' love. After lunch we had a beach day planned, but unfortunately the weather didn't cooperate with us. It rained all afternoon so we had to pull out plan B. The team spent the afternoon at the mall, shopping and seeing a movie. Luckily, after the mall, the weather cleared and allowed us to head to the beach for a yummy dinner at Taco Shack and a service out on the beach. We worshiped and shared prayer requests for the churches that we are serving and prayed for them. It was a wonderful evening.

A look at some of our group sharing prayer requests at the beach service

On Thursday, the team continued with VBS here at Bethel. Each day keeps getting better and better! After VBS we had the opportunity to go to another church in Dania Beach to help with some painting in the sanctuary. Some of the ladies also helped Pastor Maurice clean and organize his office. We had a great time helping him and getting to know him and hear his stories. He even got the key and cracked open the soda machine and gave us all sodas and bought us cookies for a snack. We finished off the evening at Casa Chanpet, a Hatian restaurant. We enjoyed the time of fellowship with each other and the authentic Hatian cuisine. It was delicious. Our group meeting in the evening prepared us for our final day of ministry on Friday. We heard a message about finishing the race. God will do great things in our final day of ministry here!

The team enjoys fellowship around the table at Casa Chanpet.