Here are the instructions for sharing your photos and please do share because there are definitely some things that some of us have and others don't and I promised we would share:
log in by:
username: aimpuertorico2010
password: aimpuertorico2010
Click on Green "Upload Images and Video" button
Select the photos from your computer from the trip (warning: it might take some time/hours so maybe leave it uploading overnight if you have a lot of photos)
You will see the status and after it says the number of photos have been uploaded just select your name under the drop down menu titled "Move all to album" (you can also add descriptions/tags if you want)
Click "Save" at the bottom of page
That is it!!!
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You can download low or high quality images that have been shared by others.
Also you can print from Kodak Gallery from here too. Click on "Photo Products" within an album and then click on "Order Now" under Prints.
You can also share these pics via facebook/twitter/myspace.
I have paid for a month subscription for the team so make sure you upload all the photos you want up quickly and I will let you know before I unsubscribe so you can download/print/share all you want before.
I have posted some pics of us on the blog. Check them out under the "Browse Photos" selection under the main menu on the left. Keep in mind we couldn't take photos of the ladies and children, so much of our trip will just have to be told or blogged.
If you have a story from the trip that you need to share on the blog please do.
Also we are working out the details to share all of our photos with each other so check back to find out how.
Everyone should be home, and many of you have already left again. Thanks to all the wonderful parents and families that encouraged their children to follow God in this adventure. I was so blessed to be a part of it. Thanks for all the prayers that have been prayed for our team. They were certainly felt in the opportunities and protection of our team. Keep each one of them on your hearts as they return back home to face many different circumstances, and pray that any fear of losing the freedom they gained over the past few weeks would leave. I know God was pleased with the way each one walked out their faith and you parents would be so proud. They were respectful and great to get along with us as leaders and the team as a whole. I pray that each one will have an opportunity to tell of what God did in Puerto Rico and that He would continue to get the glory.
With a team of 14 ladies and 4 dudes you know we have to do a little local shopping. So wednesday morning we headed out. We did have a little set back. Seems like the boys started a little prank battle and the girls had their revenge late one night. All I know is several of us ended up with mascara on and a wet mop in Colt's bed. We laughed it off. However you should have seen the look on the girls face when the van mysteriously wouldn't crank to go shopping - priceless. They were totally punked.
On the way back we picked up some pizzas to give the ladies a special treat before we left. We also worked for hours preparing a gift basket of the essentials (soap, shampoo, lotion, etc). Along with that we prayed over the 33 ladies names and asked God for some words and scripture to share for each and wrote them in a card. Haley led the way with making the cards beautiful. They enjoyed the pizza and we even got to take some extra for the kids at Pequeno Joshua. We said our goodbyes to the kids but not before giving them a bracelet and Courtney H shared the gospel. Back at the party with the ladies we received gifts of tote bags with local PR candy. The ladies also made us a huge card. We gave them our gifts and prayed with them. Then they performed a skit about what La Perla is all about. It was a lady going to another lady that had nothing and lived the street life. Crazy thing was that the drama is so real because the actress really doesn't have any family or someone who cares. La Pearla gives them a family and leads them to Christ. How beatiful is the transformation that takes place there in lives. Then the cycle repeats and the lady with a new start goes to lead another into the family of God. After their skit we performed the drime that we were given at training camp not knowing the atories of these ladies. How awesome to see them act out the transformation God has in the life of a girl that is filled with pride and following the flesh in drugs and alcohol. Then they do the Jesus dance. We should all be doing the Jesus dance. We ended on a good note with a bunch of chocolate cake - yumm.
The team stayed up debriefing and the good and not so good parts of the trip as well as a litlle testimony. It is so incredible having a group so close. This morning it was a lot of packing and cleaning. We did get to pray one more time and Lydia prayed for us. Carmen showed up too weak but walking - praise God. It was truly tough to say goodbye. There were a few tears and lots of hugs and kisses (PR style). The testimony of several of the ladies was encouraging as they spoke of how the young people blessed and encouraged them in their walk at a difficult time in their lives. One lady even said she was so close to losing her faith until we came and how awesome the time we shared was for her. I really don't think we will understand the full impact of our trip until we sit down in heaven. God moved and worked in our team and I was blessed to lead such a wonderful group of disciples for Christ.
The Puerto Rico team has made it safely to Atlanta! They have all of their luggage and are currently in the hotel eating pizza. We look forward to hearing their stories--and we know you do too!
Today Tess, Megan, Tiana, Kay, Carli, Herbie, Maddie, and Amanda went on a prayer walk. Usually we sing or shout scripture on our prayer walks, but today Carli felt that we should stop in front of houses and pray. We stopped at this first house and started praying whatever God put on our hearts. When we finished this man was outside this house. It just so happens the man who lived at this house was praying last night from 1:30 to 2:45 in the morning for God to send some angles to pray for him. I don't know if we were the angles God sent, but I do believe God sent us to specifically pray for that man on our walk. Everyone was amazed how God used us and how our prayer walks could just be an answer to someone's prayer. Just wanted to share this :)
Several of the ladies have been arguing in the shelter and one fight happened yesterday. Pray for peace joy patience and more for the ladies. There are a lot of them living together and one of them mentioned that this was simply an attack from the devil. Pray for victory as the ladies attempt to change their lives. One of the ladies in the fight was leaving this morning because of the punishment ( cleaning dishes for a month). Pray she would stay and for the strength to keep going.
Long time since the last post - yeah we have been busy. Friday afternoon one of the employees and our friend, Carmen, shared her testimony. How great our God is to bring someone through so much in life and live to be a humble servant for Him. She has such a powerful testimony for the ladies that are admitted to the program. Friday night we met with the local youth group again ford bible study, prayer, and singing. They have been a blessing for us.
Saturday we were simply blessed. God provided a beatiful day and the only one that it didn't rain. We asked for sunshine because we went to the beach. Pastor Heli and his wife blessed us with their condo on the beach and the 6 pools in the resort (Colt even got to play mini golf with Heli's son). We all hung out on the beach for a while. Then Heli grilled burgers and we ate on the veranda overlooking the resort. After some time in the pool and lazy river we headed back. Max and Lydia, our hosts, treated us to dinner at Martin's BBQ. It was awesome chicken, sweet potatoes, fired plantanes, rice, vegies, and more. Of course we couldn't pass up Maggie Moos ice cream next door for dessert. It is rough being a missionary. Seriously though, we were so blessed by those in PR that love the Lord and how they bless us. Funny when you think you come to give and so much is given to you.
We found out that night that Carmen had fainted and probalt had a stroke earlier that day at the olympics for kids. We prayed to God for healing and that the numbness of one side would return to health. That night we had a burden for her. Lydia let us know at church that she was discharged Sunday AM and all was fine. Praise God he heard our prayers. I can't wait to see her again but she is supposed to be on vacation this week.
Sunday church was great. They sang with such passion. The pastor even gave us a little of the message in English. It was on the exact same passage as the first/only blog I posted that God showed me for the team. Jesus tells Nathanael he will see greater things. This is my prayer for our team and pray that we will see even greater things on this trip.
Sunday PM we honored the day of rest with a nap. Then we left for old San Juan with the youth group leaders, Juan and Jennifer. We did eat at a PR buffet which was really cool. Old San Juan was beatiful. Since we can't take photos of the ladies or children for their safety everyone was eager to take photos. Amazing how God cleared the rain just as we parked for us to walk around (it had been pouring rain). We walked around the old fortress walls which were so cool. We also got to pray over the worst area in PR called La Pearla. It is the name that the shelter we are staying is named after because the founder went in the area in the 80s making a deal with the drug lords to bring food, clothing and more to meet the needs of the people there. Only the police can go there now or it would be really bad apparently. The first lady of the shelter came from their and has a wonderful testimony that hopefully we can get the video of.
The name of our shelter Is La Pearla Gran Precio. It uses the biblial reference in addition to the beginning of it. We prayed and shouted in Spanish that god loves you. All we could see of it was a wall and darkness behind it. Probably the same spiritually. As we walked back we challenged the group to pray for someone. Several found someone and it was really good. We headed back really late that night only to get up early the next AM.
Yesterday half the group went to take the children from Pequeno Joshua, the place next to us, to a vbs in a church in Guaynabo. The other half visited a veterans home with mostly men. Both groups were great and blessed those they went to. The men really enjoyed the visitors and prayers. The church appreciated us helping "contain" the runners and help with crafts. We were exhausted from the late night out so after a short break in the afternoon we went to make tshirts with the kids. They drew on their shirts and got to keep they.
Most of the group transformed into a caballo ( horse) or jungle gym as the kids love to play and be held. The rest of the night we spent with the team in study and prayer. We prayed specifically for Adriana, a lady here. We also prayed for Jame's (teammate) father's health. It was ended by snack time.
To all the parents (and my wife): we are fed at 7:30 12:30 5:30 and snack at 3:00 and 8:00. If anyone is grumpy or to prevent grumpiness, you might need to keep this in mind until we adjust - haha. We have ate so much good food and a lot of it. One more bit of advice for the dads: if you want the girls to get ready fast threaten to turn the water off by 9:00. Amazing how many showers can happened in just a few minutes. I know this is long but since I had the chance I wanted to share. Pray that we would finish strong and keep running the race.
Yesterday we visited with the children again. It went so much better than the chaotic first day and was really fun. We sang songs, musical chairs, danced, wrote with chalk under the shelter as it poured down rain, played with crayons, playdough, and more. Courtney S found a friend named Uziel and they spun circles, tried to talk, and played in the rain with the sidewalk chalk. Tiana and Genesis ground up the chalk and Genesis would giggle as they slapped their hands on the wooden shelter leaving handprints everywhere.
The afternoon was nice too. We did take a little nap since we have been getting up around 6am every morning. We bought a special treat for the ladies, ice cream. They rarely get it and we enjoyed it as well. It is very humid and pretty warm here and rains everyday. After the ice cream we shared testimonies. Courtney S started us off and the ladies shared with us too. Afterwards we just prayed for those who had needs. It was really sweet. We had an evening mostly for our team and wanted to start on a prayer walk. We walked all the way to the front door before we had a chance to pray for Marista. She had left the shelter earlier because she wanted to go back to the normal life. Tess and Becky were there to pray for her and brought it to the group to pray that she would return. Thank God he brought her back that night. As we all prayed she still planned on leaving but we found out this morning she has decided to stay. Thank God for an answered prayer.
Baldeo means a really deep cleaning of the facility that they do monthly. You should have seen Haley and Megan scrubbing down the kitchen. Don't worry we have photos. The rest of them mopped, swept, scrubbed walls and baseboards, cleaned bathrooms and more. Surprisingly they actually enjoyed it and learning how to clean.
The girls are in beauty parlor now. No boys allowed.
This is the bomb! I don't want to leave. -Herbert Norman
I love PR, but I hate not pooping. God is moving here, but not in our bodies. Please pray for PR and the team. -XOXO, Liv
I love PR. We are having such a great time with many laughs. We are thankful that it is so pretty here. - Suzanne
Loving PR - absolutely beautiful! We're all wanting to see how much more God is going to move. The women here are incredibly sweet and we're all enjoying the time we have with them. Love you guys! Keep praying! - Becky
This is the best eight days of my life. - Colt Sentell
God is incredible! He's so present! Please continue praying for us! Thank you! - Madeline S.
PR is amazing! I'm so happy I'm on this trip! I miss yous so much and can't wait to see yous! I love yous!! - Tiana
We are having so much fun in PR! Our team is bonding so much as we look for ways to serve the Lord everyday. Thanks for the prayers! - Courtney Stoltzfus
We are finally in PR after a long time at training camp! Thank you for praying for all of us. God is at work. - Carli Bowman
We are really happy to be here and get to know all the women! We are living way up in the mountains, so we will be spending a lot of time helping out around here. Thanks for praying for us! - Tess Dozier
I'm very excited to be in PR! I can't wait to see what God has in store for us to do. I pray that we all listen to God and let him lead us on a crazy, wonderful adventure! - Kay Parker
I can't believe we are already here in PR! This experience is flying by so fast and thank God for every second of it. I can't wait to see what God has in store for us! - Courtney H
I'm so excited to be in PR! I can already see God working in our lives and the people around us. This experience has taught all of us so much so far and I know God will bless the rest of our trip. - Haley Y
I'm already having so much fun these past days in PR! Working with all the women and children has been amazing. I can't wait to see what God has in store for us this week! - Megan
This past week has been truly awesome and fun packed. The place we are staying treat us like royalty and we have been able to pray and help out the women and children at our local center. - James Orth
