Good evening all!!! We hath returneth from the land where hospitality knoweth no endeth! The North Carolina trip was extremely extreme in every aspect. We in the MB faith have an absolutely amazing extended family. I was raised Lutheran and I can say with pretty decent confidence that no other denomination has the family-like connection as the Mennonite Brethren. It was so amazing to see people from 6 different districts (Pac, Central, Southern, NC, LAMB, and Canada) showing love and appreciation for each other in a way that is consistent with that of Christ Jesus, our Lord. We as a group were blessed beyond our wildest dreams as we were able to go the the Bushtown MB Church in Lenoir, NC on Sunday morning and experience a worship service like we had never been to or seen. We were able to then enjoy more of the famous southeast U.S. cooking and then we were able to set up and perform a program of our own for their congregation and for those who were able to stick around long enough after the convention was over. It was such an honor to be in the presence of God in the Holy Spirit with those people. We had an amazing experience praising our Father together and we now possess a fervent love for those people and all of the historical struggles that they went through to get where they are now in the North Carolina District. Please pray for their continual growth and for the 6 churches there to thrive and blossom in the years to come.

It also hit home to me that the North Carolina District is the only MB district east of the Mississippi River. That is a very sad thought. We are missing out on so many opportunities to minister to and show Christ's love to the lost and the living in areas where we are not represented.

I don't have a scripture to reflect on today, but I was powerfully moved by the idea of memorizing scripture when I heard Dennis Fast (pastor from a church in the Pacific District) speak on Sunday morning. If you try to hold a bible on just your pinky, you can't do it. It falls time and time and time again. That represents knowing that the Bible is the living word of God. If you know the Bible as truth and study it very little it is like holding the Bible between your thumb and pinky finger. You grasp it, but Satan and temptation can easily take it away from you and you from it. Acknowledging and studying it deeper and meditating on it is like your thumb, pinky, and ring finger. Your grasp is a little tighter, but with a little more work and the like, you will still have the same result. By doing all of that plus finding other resources to more clearly explain things and knowing where things are at in the scriptures; again, your grip gets tighter, but Satan can usually still find a way to get at you and get you distracted and side-tracked so that you lose your place. But by doing all of those things and committing scripture to memory, not Satan or any other person, place, thing, or idea can take it away from you or you from it. That is a straight up challenge for us to study, meditate on, and memorize scripture. That isn't exactly how Dennis put it, but the main idea is the same. We all need to work to memorize the Word of God.

Next weekend we are off to Nebraska again, but to the eastern end of the state. Henderson, NE at the Henderson City Park on Friday night and then two places in Omaha, NE on Sunday. I am looking forward to it because I have many great friends from those places. God Bless and have a great week!!!!

Hey all i268 followers!!! We are hanging out tonight in Joelton, TN. We are on our way to North Carolina for the national conference and we drove almost 700 miles today. Needless to say, we are a little tired and ready for sleep. It was a pretty rad ride. I got to drive through some absolute POURING rain south of Paducah, KY. It was so amazingly fun. Without the Rain-X on the windshield, it wouldn't have been as much fun. Joanna and Jason and Andra(Prieb, the coolest gal in Topeka, KS) were in the front area with me and Joanna and I had lots of country going for like 3 hours and it was splendidly awesome. I don't think Jason liked it very much, but thats ok, he could have went to sleep. I drove the whole way from Hillsboro. I am NOT complaining. You have no clue how much I like to drive. If you want to know, just ask the i268 team about the trip from OK/AR to south Texas. There are somtimes that I think if we didn't have to stop for gas, food, or rest room we would end up on a different continent. I love the driving zone. God blessed us amazingly by giving us safe travel. We are having fun being together. We sorely sorely sorely miss Bri. She is in a wedding this weekend and wasn't able to make the trip out with us. Which stinks cause her smile brings great warmth to us. But hey, family, next to God, is the most important thing. Anyway, time for bed. Goodnight and God bless as you all finish your work-weeks. We love you all. Later!!!

Hey all i268 maniacs!!! Things are beginning to slow up a little bit. after working a few days last week upon our return from south Texas we went to southwest Nebraska this last weekend. Normally that wouldn't be such a big deal except that I am from there. Yes we got a chance to stay at my house on Friday night and spent Saturday doing some 'housekeeping' as a group and saw where I grew up and went to school and spent my happy days working. I don't know if the rest of the group enjoyed it as immensely as I did, but it was a joy for me to show my best friends where I had come from.

We performed a concert on Saturday night in the Grant City Park in the bandshell (which was a righteous blast and the first of it's kind in Grant) and afterward we drove to Hamlet, NE (about 50 miles due southeast) and stayed with host families there overnight. We got up the next morning and set up at Hamlet Union Church, home church of Tabor College's very own Ashley McKillip (whooooohoooooo!!!!!). After the 11 AM worship service (which was an extremely joyful experience), we packed back up and hit the pavement towards Hays, KS. It was amazing for me to see how vibrant and alive the church in Hamlet was being a town of 45 people or so and having a thriving congregation of almost 150. It was such a blessing to be involved in there worship experience. Oh, and Pastor Matt Hoffman asked me to pass along to any ministry minded internship hunters from Tabor College and the like that the Hamlet Union Church would thoroughly enjoy a student looking them up and applying for an internship there. There is definitely divine work of the Holy Spirit going on in that congregation.

When we arrived in Hays, we went straight to the church. I had performed there a year and a half ago when the choir stopped through on the way to Denver and California, but I had no knowledge of the church's recent expansion. They have erected a beautiful new sanctuary facility. Now they are effectively ready to expand their membership beyond the capacity of their old sanctuary. It was a great joy to see a few of the young kids that were at Junior Camp when it was here at Tabor a month ago. We performed another worship style program there and spent some time afterward visiting with the congregation and getting to know them a bit better over some great cookies and lemonade. It was a blast.

After that we packed up and headed back for the 'Boro, thoroughly exhausted. The van was extremely quiet all the way back for 150 miles. All in all, the weekend was an extremely fun and rewarding experience. We learned a lot about each other in our group and I believe we are going to be developing deeper and deeper bonds within the group and our friendships will now begin to thrive beyond our comprehension.

Scripture Passage to study: Luke 4:16-21 "He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it was written: 'The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.' Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him and he began by saying to them, 'Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."

That was the scripture passage that Trent spoke from in Hamlet on Sunday morning and it was splendid. The Lord spoke to me through him. Thank you Trent for your study and your inspiration to dig into scripture.

Have a great week everyone. Keep praying for us as we travel to North Carolina starting Thursday morning and please continue to pray for Marilyn Regier from Grant in concern to her healing elbow. I got to see her twice this weekend and she is doing extremely well, but she will have to have the brace on there a long time in order to let the screws and bones and such heal the right way. God bless!!!! May God guard you and your families with a jealous heart and keep you safe in your comings and goings!!!

Hey everybody!!! Wow, we were way down south!!! I didn't realize how far south we were going until we drove all the way down there and then back again. It was a great week. We were blessed to be a part of what God is doing in many hearts. We got down there last Monday at 4:30 AM and we were there until Sunday, the 16th at 3:30 PM. A lot, a lot happened in between. We were blessed to be God's instruments of praise and worship in leading nearly 40 amazingly fun Senior high youth in worship and also in being able to tag along and watch them in action at two different communities' churches as they put on a very festive and fun Vacation Bible School for young children. The people down in that part of the country are different from anywhere else. They opened their homes and their hearts to us. They fed us some of the most amazing food I have ever eaten like three times a day. I never knew you could do so much with a tortilla. I also never realized the difference between corn tortillas and flour tortillas and that homemade tortillas are so much better whether they are corn or flour. When it came time for us to leave, tears were shed, hugs and kisses were exchanged and I truly felt like I was leaving a piece of my heart in South Texas. It was truly incredible to see how even in a week like this, we were invited into families. It was also truly awesome to meet Joshua, Gilbert (aka Gib), and J. Those three guys will be packing there bags to come to Tabor College in a little over a month. I can't wait until they get here. We also met and developed relationships with so many others who want to come to Tabor in the future, like Randy, Kezia, Ali, Matt, Jon, and maybe more. Tabor would be so blessed to have them as students.

We also got to spend some time as a team relaxing and enjoying each other as friends at a beautiful little place called South Padre Island. We were able to go there on Saturday for a few hours in the afternoon and swim in the salty, salty, salty surf of the Gulf of Mexico and spend some time walking, jogging, or running along the beach. It was pretty grand. I think sometimes we get so caught up in touring and preparing and such that we forget sometimes that we are all friends outside of the group and we have to remove ourselves from that context sometimes to maintain our focus and to love on each other. In the context of the team, I can have difficulties and conflict with the members, but outside of that context, we can forget about those things and enjoy being together as friends.

We got back this morning (Monday) at 8 AM. We left at 3:30 PM yesterday and drove all the way back straight through the night. It was a long haul and we are all pretty exhausted, but we needed to get back before we just decided to take up permanent residency.

God blessed us so much through the people, the miles, and the ministry of so many. I almost felt like I didn't minister to others as much as they ministered to me. Weird. Crazy. Yet totally the way that God works and operates. How Great is Our God?!

Scripture to ponder: John 15:15-17 "I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit - fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. This is my command: Love each other."

Hey all,
Things have been going well here in South Texas. We're leading worship for a LAMB conference youth mission event at Joanna's church in the morning, then hanging out all day w/ the youth and eating lots of GREAT food! The kids are organizing VBS in two different churches in the area so we go w/ them in the evening. Now me and the guys are in Brownsville dropping off our trailer to be fixed. On the way here our right trailer tire blew and totally demolished the fender and rim! So we took a 20 min. break on the side of the highway to change it out.
Well, that's all i have time for now. thanks for praying for us!
Danae

Wowsers!!! The last few weeks have been crazy. We had a phenomenally awesome week at Junior Camp, followed by a righteous blast at Morning Star Ranch with the Senior High Youth there from Chicago and Wichita, and then a much needed, marginally deserved, break. I had a family reunion that I needed to go to in South Dakota. After picking Jamie up in Kingman, Josh (eldest bro) in York, NE and Justin (younger bro) in Grant, NE, driving to Belle Fourche, SD and then going back the same way I came between Friday at 2:30 PM and Monday at 7 PM; I would say that I was a wee bit exhausted after 1800 some odd miles. But it was a great time and I love my family; they remind me of how disfunctional and sorely in need of God's mercy and grace I am. That side of the family has a tendency to be quite jolly and definitely vocal about it. You could swear that the whole family has Turrettes (don't know if I spelled that right) except without the cuss words! It was a kickin time. Now I am taking a day or so to get the van in order and ready to go for an 11 day trek to New Life Ranch and deep, deep, deep, deep, deep, deep, deep, deep, deep, deep, deep, deep, deep, deep, deep, deep, deep, deep, deep, deep soooooouuuuuuth Texas. I am looking forward to it, it will be a lot of miles, but it should be fun!

Jason, our director, is taking some far overdue and much needed and deserved vacation so he will not be traveling with us on this trip. Instead, Mr. Jesse Janzen (one of the coolest admissions counselors ever!) is going with us. We are going to have an absolute blast!

Please keep us in your prayers in concern to travel and friendship within the band. We are going to have a lot of hours couped in a van and God needs us all alive in order to perform this ministry. Say a special prayer over the next 4-5 days for Joanna, Trent, Toby, and David as they are already down at Junior High Camp. Joanna, Trent, and Toby are counselors and David is spending some deserved time with Becca. It won't be the same traveling down to New Life Ranch without them and I miss them all already. Pray also that God's love would be received at Junior High Camp this week and in south Texas next week. We can't do this on our own and we are so blessed to have a great God helping us out. Also, if someone wouldn't mind still praying for Marilyn Regier from Grant, NE (her elbow still needs a lot a lot a lot of healing).

Ok, I guess I should quit and go to bed now. Catch y'all on the flip side!!! Take care and God Bless!!!!!:D

Hello again Internet. Take a moment to meet the band.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1074998320503845653

Ha ha ha, silly band. Here's a more serious approach to the band.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5363718198267713322