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| Capital on the Edge of Managua, Nicaragua - Heading out to California , USA |
I have enjoyed writing
about our tour though California. Commenting on facebook and then posting about
our experiences on this blog site have kept me exhausted, yet I felt it was
necessary to keep a record of the events from our first ever American tour with
Capital on the Edge, to look back on and see just how much God moved through
and around us. I won’t, however, be writing about every tour that we do.
Blogging for me, is about firsts, milestones, and achievements.
Right now, as I write
this blog post from our temporary home in Minnesota, I feel overwhelmed as I
consider all of the obstacles I now face for our third and final American tour for
2013. However, as I reflect upon our Californian tour, I see the many
challenges we faced, challenges which were seemingly so grand and repulsive at
the time, I almost quit (and on several occasions). However, my troubles turned
out to be mere speed humps to our God, who gave us the grace, courage and
perseverance we needed to get the job done.
In California we saw
50 people make decisions for Christ. To date in Minnesota and Wisconsin, and
with a couple of weeks less than in California, we have seen 60 people make
decisions for Christ. California was all about learning, and boy oh boy have we
learnt!
Now I’ll continue to
share about the events of our final days in California. There are stax of
things I could write about, both charming and horrendous, but I am only going
to squish a few bits in, because I know I’m bored with this outreach tale, and
so I cannot positively ascertain as to why you’re still reading!
On Friday morning I was
sitting on the steps within the stairwell of Calvary Temple Church in Concord,
trying to figure out where we would all stay. I was having no joy. Church after
Church responded with “you want to stay with us in 2 nights???!”
Whilst on one of these
calls, in the middle of my overwhelming frustration, the children’s pastor from
Calvary Temple Church (the Church that just KEEPS ON giving...) offered to take
the 14 of us in for a few days. SAVED!
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| Capital on the Edge folks staying with Calvary Temple folks, in Concord, California |
What an amazing
miracle! I had my phone in hand, and had been dreading every call. So to have
closed the deal, face-to-face, brought elation to my soul. Of course there were
the hugs, kisses, and “are you OUT OF YOUR MIND” type conversations, and then
we said “hooray” for the mo, she went her way and I sat back down to continue
working on our final leg of the journey – Los Angeles.
The very last obstacle
was yet to be overcome. Where would we be for our remaining 5 nights in
California? (which hadn’t been organised on account of us not planning to be in
California at this time – the waiting on visas had meant the price of tickets
had risen substantially, hence we had an extra week in the US at the end, in a
city we hadn’t even planned on visiting…)
I picked up my miniature
laptop and low-and-behold there was an e-mail from Jesse Ruggles, a handsome
ex-YWAMer come Youth Pastor, and he’d been having a bit of a hunt and had come
up with a pearler opportunity (brilliant bloke!) – The Open Bible Tujunga
(church), in Los Angeles. YES!!!
We’ve had some other
offers for accoms/ministry, but I hadn’t felt right about them. I called my
friend-to-be Kyle Logan (pastor), and hey-presto, we were OFF TO LOS ANGELES!!!
We left Concord (San
Francisco) that Friday morning thrilled to bits, smiling from ear-to-ear, and slowly
had the grins wiped from our faces on account of being engulfed in hours of
traffic jam from the get-go until Sacramento.
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| Capital on the Edge opening the U-turn Concert at New Life Community Church |
The U-Turn concert,
organised by New Life Community Church, was incredible! There was a band from
New Zealand (grrrr), some R&B blokes from the US, and us. Had a brilliant
time and the boys, all tired and sore, pulled out a marvelous presentation from
their bag of dancing, flipping tricks.
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| Capital on the Edge opening the U-turn Concert at New Life Community Church |
Praise God! On this
night 150 youth either gave their hearts to Christ or recommitted their lives
to Him (3 of our kids included: Francesca, Lorenzy-Ella & Rafael). Thanks goes
to Pastor Jeff Pitnikoff, because he put in stax of hard work and he is a
LEEEEGEEEEEND!!!
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| Yordy with a Capital on the Edge fan... |
After the concert and
all the hype, Liz was offered the opportunity of staying the night in a “bed”
with Franny & Renzy, and she eagerly snapped it up. The boys and I slept at
the Church again, for the third time. Marvellous – more carpet impressioned
faces!!!
I was almost asleep
when I realised that someone in the room was breathing heavily, it seemed as
though he was suffering in a distressed state. I went over and put my hand on his
shoulder. It was Yordy. I led him by the hand to the youth sanctuary. He
confessed that his uncle (who he “lives” with) had just been committed to
hospital on account of a suicide attempt (slashing his wrists).
In Managua, when not
living with us, Yordy has “lived” with his grandmother, and she had just been
committed to hospital too, with heart problems. The poor woman...
Yordy has let me know that
his uncle has said several times that he is going to kill me one day. I have
checked the dude out via facebook and just the sight of his pictures assures me
that Yordy tells no lies. Yordy’s uncle is into the Satanic in a MAJOR way...
I'm not at all surprised poor gran was having heart problems, cause I was feeling
it a tad too!!!
Saturday morning
(midday) we climbed out of our makeshift, chairs in a row “beds”, and left the
ex-supermarket, tastefully refurbished building that New Life Community Church (Sacramento)
calls home, with several dazzling Church members - Jeremy Coffey (plus Dad), a
champ if ever there was one, and Geraldine Tinajero, the life liver/giver.
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| Geraldine in Lake Tahoe |
We drove a couple of
hours up to Lake Tahoe, a gorgeous, simply stunning place. The snow was patchy,
but still stacks of it. We giddily threw snowballs around, tobogganed a bit,
you know – the usual! Had the best time with heaps of laughter emanating from
our titillated troupe – they’d never seen snow before and so this was an extravagant
experience they’d treasure forever...
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| Rafael, Jeremy, Geraldine, Francesca, & Lorenzy, having fun at Lake Tahoe, California |
We wearily entered our
awaiting cars again at 6pm, although it felt like midnight on account of our
wind burnt, sun-scorched skin, sore eyes and dehydration. We were zonked. Every
second of joy had inadvertently also sucked life and energy from us. We dawdled
back to Sacramento, where we stayed with Geraldine’s folks for the evening.
Geraldine lives in a
beaut little complex, with pool and spa to-boot. We were having the time of our
lives until I was quietly ticking-off one of our boys in Spanish. As it turns
out, both of Geraldine’s parents are Hispanic! So my smiling all the way,
through the teeth discipline, was made only even funnier on account of the fact
that it didn’t make a droplet of sense. Only VERY embarrassing when they
(parents) were able to correct me on my correcting of them (the boys).
Anyway, we laughed and
moved on. They bought us pizza AND served us wine (which most American
Christians don’t do – it was yummo!). They allowed the boys to get wet in their
pool, spa & sauna (late at night), and let the lads play computer games and
watch telly well into the wee hours of the morn. The dudes thought they were at
the Hilton!
This night was our
VERY LAST in Sacramento. Boy what a way to go! And even though our leave time
was 5:30am, the Tinajero’s were up and at it, ready to see the back of us (just
kidding… They smiled and waved wildly… Maybe they were ready to see the back of
us?).
We drove through the
beautiful plains of the central valley, with nothing to look at but green.
Everyone else fell asleep and so I was able to turn off the lawnmower music for
a while (tch, modern music, where did we go wrong? It was all going so well
until Mariah Carey got the boot!).
We arrived at Life in
Christ Ministry, El Cerrito at 8am – waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too early. BUT, as my
parents (Greg & Kay Brien) always say, “Better to be on time, than to waste
it on a rhyme!”
Barbara, our TROOPER
of a sister in the Lord, was one of the first cars into the block. This woman,
Hoooooo this woman. All I can say is WOW! Love her so much. She has believed in
us since meeting us one year ago!
Pastor Flavio, in true
Brazilian bravura, arrived in his Italian suit, in his Italian car, with his
Italian descented Brazilian wife. This couple, what a number… Wish I had half
of their flair and style. Love them so much, very kindred…
Now Life in Christ is
THE most multi-cultural Church I’ve ever been to. The worship leaders were from
Tanzania and Kenya (I think). They did this sound “lalalalalalalala” (very
quickly) during worship, which means “Praise the Lord” in their mother tongue.
It was ear piercingly loud, and very African – so much so, in fact, that I
wouldn’t have been surprised if an elephant had have stomped through our
service…
When it was our turn,
we sang “At the Cross” as a group, watched the video of our ministry, and then
Liz and I spoke from our hearts. We were given an hour and subsequently were
given the gong when we went over (we’re still used to 3 hour Latino Church
services…).
We went to a classy Brazilian
couple’s house for lunch. Yummo, is all I can say (and I’m still only referring
to the house – the lunch, gaaaaaaaaaaaaaah gaaaaaaaaaaaaahlicious). Life in
Christ blessed us with an enormous gift (cheque) and of course this will no
doubt helped us get to our Midwest tour. HUGE THANKS goes to Life in Christ
Ministries – true brothers and sisters in the Lord!
On the Monday we slept
in until midday. We were staying with a beautiful lady from Calvary Temple
Church, and her family. This woman welcomed 14 complete strangers into her
life. Eternally grateful for members of the Church who have put their necks on
the line for us.
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| Bunking at the Children's Pastor's House (Calvary Temple - Concord) |
After having “breakfast”
we had a devotion, waited on the Lord in a time of repentance, talked more
about rules, chatted about our team, discussed the next week, etc. It was a
good time.
We also spent some
time with just the Brien family, on the “neighbour’s” lawn, just telling them
how proud and excited we are of/about them.
We drove to
Fisherman’s Wharf in the evening, with the intention of evangelism, but ended
up just strolling along the pier instead. It was a nice time with lots of
photographic moments.
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| Yader in front of Alcatraz in San Francisco |
In the evening we went
to the Twisters Gym (my favourite gym in the World) with the Loop Kicks people.
During our final weeks in Northern California, we were really moved by this
"Tricking" community in San Jose. Whilst not overtly Christian, they
clearly displayed Characteristics of a well-functioning Church. They loved each one another and encouraged
each other, for starters.
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| Francesca & Brandon, talking with Capital on the Edge people and Team Loop Kicks |
So what drives the
philosophy of the Loop Kicks people? Here is what they had scribbled on their
wall: "Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because
your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what
others think you are." (John Wooden)
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| One of the Team Loop Kicks "Trickers" |
The Trickers were a
great bunch, committed to the cause of justice in their world... and besides, Brandon,
a true champion for tricking, helped our Sezni learn how to do a double
back-flip.
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| Brandon with Sez & Raf |
On our final Wednesday
in California, we spent the night at the ever-brilliant Valley Christian
Center. We performed our street theatre production, “Created”, in front of the
youth group and hearts were really touched.
Elizabeth did a really
cool alter call afterwards, which I would entitle “Chucking a U-ey” (Aussie
slang for a U-Turn) and nearly ALL of the kids went forward with tears in their
eyes to repent and get “right” with God.
The Church then
treated ALL of us (which was really cool cause we were out of the green stuff
and didn’t have dineros for din-dins) to a meal at In-N-Out – YUMMO!
Then it was back to
our regular Wednesday night hang-out, Twisters Sports Gym for a last night with
our Loop Kicks pals.
Thursday was the worst
day of my missionary career! I cannot tell you how sad I was with myself and
various members of our team. It felt like we had experienced SUCH victory on
Wednesday night, and therefore we had to go zooming-on backwards, didn’t we???
Long story short we
didn’t ever end up arriving where we were meant to be staying in the city of
San Francisco, nor did we collect a forgotten item of Raffy’s at another
Church, nor did we move ourselves towards our beloved Greyhound Coach-line.
Hence, we were to lose out financially and cause ourselves a LOT of stress for
both the day of pain we were living in and the following morning. However, we
learn from our experience and move on – to Greyhound…
The following morning
was our coach trip to Los Angeles. Of course its ALWAYS delightful when you’ve
consumed several cups of good morning jarrah, only to be busting for the
loo-lah by not 11am. You arrive in the coach lavatories, only to be confronted
with indescribable messiness and no sink! NO SINK! Yummo... Please just cut off
my fingers and THROW THEM AWAY!!!
Yet I didn’t let my
circumstances get me down. Far from it… and so I chatted with the happy
travellers around me from Scandinavia, Spain and England, and had a pretty good
ride after my poorly planned potty experience.
We arrived in Los
Angeles, and I checked out google maps, quickly realising that one of the stops
on our “non-stop service” was fairly close to the Church we were going to be
staying at. Without hesitation I pulled everyone off the bus, much to the
distress of Greyhound staff and sleeping troupe members.
The driver didn’t
mind, she was given another opportunity to suck back another cigarette. We
hurried and pushed until all was done-and-dusted.
Then what? We had no
money. We had no vehicle. We had NO INTERNET!!! I honestly just took a moment
to pray. “God, we have no money. We have no vehicle. We HAVE NO INTERNET!!!” I
waited for the Heavens to open, but nothing...
Started chatting with
the Greyhound lady, and she was very nice. She helped me work out a route that
would only take 4 busses and 16 hours for us to arrive at our destination. We
had no money. We had stax of bags. Sickness and tiredness had set in. She
sensed my concern and went out and asked a taxi driver for the cost of such an
expedition. I followed her and began chatting with my Mexican taxi driving amigo...
Long story short,
because you KNOW how I LOATHE long stories, the Mexican taxi driving amigo offered
us a substantial discount and charged us only $40 for the ride (big deal!
Friday night, peak hour traffic, stranded passengers, longer than anticipated
distances...). I planned on taking the ride, with all the bags, and then would
organise to return with a borrowed car and collect everybody else.
My other Mexican
friend, the lady who worked for Greyhound, asked me “How many of you are
there?” I replied expectantly in a whisper, “Only... 14?” She said, bring your
stuff around the back. The young lass had a MEGA SIZED pick-up truck and we
eventually put EVERYTHING in her tray, and filled up both cars.
We made it to the
Church in one piece, in one hour, in one mind – to do the will of God!
We walked in on a
wedding rehearsal for some Mexicans (theme?). Turned out that this young chap
getting married the following day poured 4 hours into our boys, cooked them all
dinner, and completely loved them. AMAZING time... The Open Bible Church in
LA... A phenomenal bunch of people!
On the following
morning we slept in until late and then had some GREAT conversations with both Pastor
Kyle and Carlos Alvarez, the latter of whom was to be the groom.
Pastor Kyle had shown
us SO MUCH kind hospitality, even when we’d been deliriously tired, rambling on
like complete loons.
Carlos, the groom,
just continued to give and give and give. Today was his wedding day and he just
gave and gave and gave. It started in the morning with a crate of water
bottles, just for us! Then it was a cooked breakfast, just for us. Then he
invited us to his wedding in the evening, and we ate and drank (coca cola and
coffee) like Kings and Queens. Our boys did a show too, and were sensational as
usual.
Over the following
days we went to Church, Venice Beach and organised ourselves home to Nicaragua.
And that was it! Lots of good times, loads of bad times, souls won for the
Lord, mistakes made, friendships ignited, decisions made that would affect our
group forever.
We give all glory to
God for the work he’s done in us and we thank the American Church, for
extending themselves to us, a bunch of people committed to the Gospel and the
Great Commission.
If you would like to learn more about who our Nica-Youths are, or to support them, please visit their page, SUPPORT Nica-Talent
To learn more about our street theatre production, "CREATED", please visit our page,NICAVANGELISTS: "CREATED", North American Tour (2013)
If you would like to see a video of some of our Nica-Youths practicing, please CLICK HERE
We are not up to budget, and travelling with 14 people is very expensive. We need an investment from Christian people for our next evangelism tour to the Midwest. To support us or make a once off donation, please visit our page, Contemplating SUPPORTING something significant?
To learn more about Team Loopkicks in San Jose, please CLICK HERE
To learn more about Calvary Temple in Concord, please CLICK HERE
To learn more about Valley Christian Center in Dublin, please CLICK HERE
To learn more about our home Church, Capital Edge Community Church, please CLICK HERE
To learn more about the Australian Christian Churches, please CLICK HERE
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