Mission Trip Information
Welcome to our blog site for our J-Walk Youth Mission Trip!
As many of you know we are partnering with Paradox Teen Center in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. If you have partnered with us before you know that we are directly partnering with this organization instead of going through Mission Trip programs. The reason we like to do this is because the relationship between the ministries is so much more personal. With Mission Trip programs the organizations are used to seeing lots of people come and go and eventually it can become like a revolving door as church, after church, after church serves with them.
This year as we partner with Paradox we will be working alongside Bill Kucenski to give the building some updates. The building is used by local churches, youth groups, bands, and neighborhood kids. The youth center has a skate park, gaming center, and a place to have concerts. We will be working alongside Bill to put a fresh coat of paint on some parts of the building, rebuild a bathroom, and landscaping.
As we plan for this trip questions that keep coming to mind are: Why are we going away to do this? Why can’t we stay and do this at FPC? Through prayer and seeking God the answer came to me, we are doing this with another ministry because Jesus himself told us to “GO.” This is one of the major things we want to teach our J-Walk students. As a youth program, we hope to build students that go around the world proclaiming the news of Jesus Christ and we believe that a Mission Trip is a very concrete way to do this. As a church I hope that we are not only supporting Missionaries but more importantly, that we are developing and sending our own.
For these reasons I would like to ask you to partner with us in prayer. Please pray for our group to experience God on this trip and more importantly to be good ambassadors of his gospel. Also, one of my worries is that there is a lot on our agenda and that we will not get it done especially since there is a lot of manual labor and most of our group is made up of young girls. I do covet your prayers as I know anything is possible with our God.
There will be four adults: Rigo Ortiz, Miguel Aguilar, Elizabeth Cerutti, and our fourth adult is yet to be determined. There are twelve students: Beth Bunnetto, Kristine Hayden, Julia Moore, Cory Bunnetto, Anakin VanSlyke, Joseph Carr, Rebekah Farnum, Nicole Baker, Hannah Pavey, Emilie Benoit, and Natalie Baker. We will be leaving on Friday, July 17th and returning on Saturday, July 25th. I would also like to inform you that this is an educational trip. As I read many books about today’s youth walking away from the faith, a subject that keeps surfacing is creation. The creation account is being denied in our public schools and we all know our youth spend more time there than at church. That is why we would like to visit the Creation Museum so that our students have a life time opportunity to see the concrete evidence of our Creator. I do believe that this will help solidify the faith of our students.
We are all excited to be part of this journey. If you would please join us in prayer as we continue to prepare our minds, hearts, and attitudes towards this trip we would really appreciate it. For some of the students it is a their first mission trip and others it is their fourth; we are looking forward to the older students coming along side the younger ones to give them the proper serving attitude that we need on this trip.
If you would like to partner with us financially please send checks to: First Pres. Aurora 325 East Downer Pl .Aurora IL, 60505 and on the memo line write J-Walk Mission Trip 2015. Your donations will go towards covering the cost of transportation, materials, food, and lodging. Please know that all of your donations are tax exempt.
Thank you in advance for your prayer and financial support.
In Him,
Rigo Ortiz
As many of you know we are partnering with Paradox Teen Center in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. If you have partnered with us before you know that we are directly partnering with this organization instead of going through Mission Trip programs. The reason we like to do this is because the relationship between the ministries is so much more personal. With Mission Trip programs the organizations are used to seeing lots of people come and go and eventually it can become like a revolving door as church, after church, after church serves with them.
This year as we partner with Paradox we will be working alongside Bill Kucenski to give the building some updates. The building is used by local churches, youth groups, bands, and neighborhood kids. The youth center has a skate park, gaming center, and a place to have concerts. We will be working alongside Bill to put a fresh coat of paint on some parts of the building, rebuild a bathroom, and landscaping.
As we plan for this trip questions that keep coming to mind are: Why are we going away to do this? Why can’t we stay and do this at FPC? Through prayer and seeking God the answer came to me, we are doing this with another ministry because Jesus himself told us to “GO.” This is one of the major things we want to teach our J-Walk students. As a youth program, we hope to build students that go around the world proclaiming the news of Jesus Christ and we believe that a Mission Trip is a very concrete way to do this. As a church I hope that we are not only supporting Missionaries but more importantly, that we are developing and sending our own.
For these reasons I would like to ask you to partner with us in prayer. Please pray for our group to experience God on this trip and more importantly to be good ambassadors of his gospel. Also, one of my worries is that there is a lot on our agenda and that we will not get it done especially since there is a lot of manual labor and most of our group is made up of young girls. I do covet your prayers as I know anything is possible with our God.
There will be four adults: Rigo Ortiz, Miguel Aguilar, Elizabeth Cerutti, and our fourth adult is yet to be determined. There are twelve students: Beth Bunnetto, Kristine Hayden, Julia Moore, Cory Bunnetto, Anakin VanSlyke, Joseph Carr, Rebekah Farnum, Nicole Baker, Hannah Pavey, Emilie Benoit, and Natalie Baker. We will be leaving on Friday, July 17th and returning on Saturday, July 25th. I would also like to inform you that this is an educational trip. As I read many books about today’s youth walking away from the faith, a subject that keeps surfacing is creation. The creation account is being denied in our public schools and we all know our youth spend more time there than at church. That is why we would like to visit the Creation Museum so that our students have a life time opportunity to see the concrete evidence of our Creator. I do believe that this will help solidify the faith of our students.
We are all excited to be part of this journey. If you would please join us in prayer as we continue to prepare our minds, hearts, and attitudes towards this trip we would really appreciate it. For some of the students it is a their first mission trip and others it is their fourth; we are looking forward to the older students coming along side the younger ones to give them the proper serving attitude that we need on this trip.
If you would like to partner with us financially please send checks to: First Pres. Aurora 325 East Downer Pl .Aurora IL, 60505 and on the memo line write J-Walk Mission Trip 2015. Your donations will go towards covering the cost of transportation, materials, food, and lodging. Please know that all of your donations are tax exempt.
Thank you in advance for your prayer and financial support.
In Him,
Rigo Ortiz