(Cumulative Timmies = 52ish)
Hi!!
We're the Deffett twins! (Erica and Aaron - 17 years old as of today) Guess a number? ...JUST KIDDING!!
This is Erica, the oldest of the two, and is fortunate enough to be writing this blog for many of reasons. My mother's friend, Jariane, had told her about The Journey Church many years ago and as of a few months ago I have become an active member...and I just love it! Over the last few months I have been blessed to meet soo many wonderful Christ followers who have truly impacted my life. In July 2006, LHBC Youth's Missions Team had visited Toronto, Canada where they brought their love and passion for God for the others of the GTA to witness. Once they had left to go back home, did I realize how much they touched my life and I thank each one of them for that. A few months ago, I gave myself to Christ and it was due to my church's love for Christ and the relationships of those from the trip that lead me to this decision. I am soo thankful for the Journey Church because without them our paths would not have crossed. I am looking forward to this summer coming! :)
This is Aaron, the youngest of the two, but the biggest. I have had the great pleasure to have started my Journey with Christ this year, with the Journey Church. I started my journey before I knew I was on one. My mom kept bothering me to come to this, "church", and being a Catholic I was kind of sick of the whole "Church" rituals and routines, so I brushed her off for about a few months. Then last Mother's Day, I didn't get my mother a gift, and I said if I come with you today to church, will that be good enough, and obviously she said yes! So I went and just loved what I was learning, each week,I learned that being a believer was about relationships rather then rituals and I loved that and I was excited to go every Sunday, something that surprised me more then ever. Then June 26 I believe, there was a BBQ at Sam and Kelley's house, current members of the Journey Church. That night I met a kid named Tyler, from Georgia, who lead me to Christ on the front porch and my life has changed for the better ever since. A couple weeks after accepting Christ into my life, a group from LHBC came up and all of them taught me more about being a follower of Christ, quiet times, how to represent God to others and since then, with some ups and downs and a few challenges, I've learned to trust God more and more and my relationship with him has grown stronger. Along the way, I was proud to see my sister and mother grow and accept Christ into their hearts as well and my life is so much more joyful with the support of both my families, my church family and my immediate family.
Early this morning at around 9:00 a.m. we departed the Adam's house and headed up to Barrie for some snow tubing. We had a lot of laughs and grew even closer together. After a few runs, we all headed up to the chalet where we ate lunch. The morning was soo much fun that we were ready to hit the hills once again. While in line, some of us were able to spark a few conversations about the Journey Church and were able to hand out a few tracts.
It has been a wonderful experience and have grown in our relationship with Christ by being in fellowship with our brothers and sisters.
// Erica and Aaron Deffett
Friday, March 16, 2007
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Day 5 - R.A.K.
Hello,
Today was the day for random acts of kindness. While that's what I'm going to talk about (pronounced "a boat" up here) at some point, it's hard not to recap the whole week thus far.
Some high points are:
Sunday - Leading worship for the journey church, meeting the people from Ghana, France, England, Ireland, Canada, etc. The food fellowship was most definitely Baptistic, wow, these ladies can cook. We met the twins and got to know them (new believers that God has planted in the journey church). "Do you want some gum?"
Monday - Our group rode the Go Train into downtown Toronto and worked with a local university. This was awesome.
Tuesday - Chris H. and I surveyed a local neighborhood for spiritual interest. Chris climbed the porch stairs on at least 30+ houses and rang the door bell even though it took a lot out of him physically. This was definitely my high for the day.
Which brings us to Wednesday.
Today we were entrusted with money and had to decide 1) in what use will the money be most impactful in touching individuals for Christ and 2) how can we maxmize the money we have been given to reach the most people in that way. We split into two groups. My group decided to minister to the needs of parents with children. We made gift bags to give to children along with water bottles and snacks for both children and parents. The overwhelming majority gladly accepted the gifts given in the name of God's love for them as a representation of the greatest gift they can ever have, that is Jesus Christ. People are very receptive to God's love, but Brampton is an area of over 420,000 people and 50% are immigrants. The journey church website had several new visitors in the hours after our ministry work.
This evening, the Langley family came over to the Adams' house and we were able to encourage them and love on their four sons, all under the age of 7 (one 4 mos.). Jeremy Langley is the only IMB college pastor in Ontario and has worked over the past several years trying to reach the Ontario university student population (over half a million students). God recently called his family to plant their lives in Southeast Asia. Talk about few laborers. Pray for his family as well as the students here.
May _your_ light shine among men that they may see _your_ good works and glorify _your_ Father in heaven.
-D. Windham
Today was the day for random acts of kindness. While that's what I'm going to talk about (pronounced "a boat" up here) at some point, it's hard not to recap the whole week thus far.
Some high points are:
Sunday - Leading worship for the journey church, meeting the people from Ghana, France, England, Ireland, Canada, etc. The food fellowship was most definitely Baptistic, wow, these ladies can cook. We met the twins and got to know them (new believers that God has planted in the journey church). "Do you want some gum?"
Monday - Our group rode the Go Train into downtown Toronto and worked with a local university. This was awesome.
Tuesday - Chris H. and I surveyed a local neighborhood for spiritual interest. Chris climbed the porch stairs on at least 30+ houses and rang the door bell even though it took a lot out of him physically. This was definitely my high for the day.
Which brings us to Wednesday.
Today we were entrusted with money and had to decide 1) in what use will the money be most impactful in touching individuals for Christ and 2) how can we maxmize the money we have been given to reach the most people in that way. We split into two groups. My group decided to minister to the needs of parents with children. We made gift bags to give to children along with water bottles and snacks for both children and parents. The overwhelming majority gladly accepted the gifts given in the name of God's love for them as a representation of the greatest gift they can ever have, that is Jesus Christ. People are very receptive to God's love, but Brampton is an area of over 420,000 people and 50% are immigrants. The journey church website had several new visitors in the hours after our ministry work.
This evening, the Langley family came over to the Adams' house and we were able to encourage them and love on their four sons, all under the age of 7 (one 4 mos.). Jeremy Langley is the only IMB college pastor in Ontario and has worked over the past several years trying to reach the Ontario university student population (over half a million students). God recently called his family to plant their lives in Southeast Asia. Talk about few laborers. Pray for his family as well as the students here.
May _your_ light shine among men that they may see _your_ good works and glorify _your_ Father in heaven.
-D. Windham
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Day 4- More Surveys!!!!
(Timmy Count- 7)
Today started out a little more mellow compared to the rest of the week. We had a "Sanctuary House" from around 9:30am till around 10:15am; where we got to have our time alone with God and really pray diligently about the days we still have ahead of us. We ate an early lunch at The Mandarin, a great oriental restaurant in town (awesome Sushi!!!). Then after a group picture or 10 we headed back to the house. But it doesnt end there. After getting back to the house, We got together in our groups and got ready to go door to door in a nearby neighborhood. At first we were all really excited to go out and do it again, but after the 4th house telling us that they didnt have time we got a little discouraged. The Lord gave Clint and I a reassurance that he was with us when he led us to Sonny. Sonny was outside washing his car when we approached him and at first he thought we were sketchy, after finding that we were trying to share a little Jesus with him he lightened up and informed us that he was attending a baptist church in another part of town but that he would love more information and that he was 100% supportive of what we were doing. The team was able to make several great contacts with new people in the area with a variety of responses. We met back at the house at 4 ish and had a short break before eating an early dinner. We headed out of the Adam's house to make room for 8 women to meet together with the Kristie for a Women's Bible Study. We joined up with the Journey Youth for a fellowship of Laser tag (connected with several youth prospects also).
Today started out a little more mellow compared to the rest of the week. We had a "Sanctuary House" from around 9:30am till around 10:15am; where we got to have our time alone with God and really pray diligently about the days we still have ahead of us. We ate an early lunch at The Mandarin, a great oriental restaurant in town (awesome Sushi!!!). Then after a group picture or 10 we headed back to the house. But it doesnt end there. After getting back to the house, We got together in our groups and got ready to go door to door in a nearby neighborhood. At first we were all really excited to go out and do it again, but after the 4th house telling us that they didnt have time we got a little discouraged. The Lord gave Clint and I a reassurance that he was with us when he led us to Sonny. Sonny was outside washing his car when we approached him and at first he thought we were sketchy, after finding that we were trying to share a little Jesus with him he lightened up and informed us that he was attending a baptist church in another part of town but that he would love more information and that he was 100% supportive of what we were doing. The team was able to make several great contacts with new people in the area with a variety of responses. We met back at the house at 4 ish and had a short break before eating an early dinner. We headed out of the Adam's house to make room for 8 women to meet together with the Kristie for a Women's Bible Study. We joined up with the Journey Youth for a fellowship of Laser tag (connected with several youth prospects also).
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Day 3 - monday : : Toronto
(Timmie Count= 5)
Today we jumped on the GO Train to run around Toronto. We spread out on the GO train to look for opportnities to talk with people commuting to Toronto about the Lord. The highlight of our time downtown was a visit to Ryerson University to do some "Spiritual Interest" surveys. The University is right in the middle of downtown and has a student population over around 70,000. We offered $2 Tim Horton's gift certificates in exchange for the survey info. It was very interesting and inspiring to see the way the people responded to some of the questions. For example, one of the questions was, "Which area of your life are you most concerned with?" The multiple choices were: a)physical, b)emotional, c)spiritual, or d)intellectual. Most of the answers to this particular question were emotional and intellectual. Seeing how emotionally drained and wrecked the people were without having a relationship and dependency upon the Lord was heartbreaking. God was moving upon hearts today and bringing conviction, and it is really amazing to see Him reaching out to them and how much He loves them. Overall we got between 45-50 contacts with Ryerson students. 14 of them indicated openess to learning more about being a follower of Christ. About the same number indicated they would be interested in coming to a church plant or Bible Study geared for College students if it was offered.-Britt
Monday, March 12, 2007
Day 2 (Tim count 2 trips)
With this day being Sunday, we had the privilege of participating in worship with the Journey Church; this year, there were more there than usual in several different ways. First of all, there were about 35 people present at worship. Because we were anticipating more than usual for worship and lunch, we had to shift our place of worship from the Adams' house to the Brown's house. Second, the worship today was very multinational; some of the countries represented were France, Ghana, and the United Kingdom. Thirdly, with some of the different nationalities came different religions and cults including Ba'hai and Mormonism. However, even with this variety on many different levels, something occurred that rarely happens on any given Sunday in eastern Canada-- the preaching, teaching, and worshiping of Jesus Christ. Unfortunately, this church in Canada does not grow as fast as some churches in the U.S. However, it is still amazing to hear some of the stories of the people who are now involved and associated with the Journey Church; it is an absolute God thing how some of these people and families have made it here, where, last year, these people were not even on the radar. God is definitely testing our patience. We must continue to trust His guidance. Please continue to pray for us as we head out on Monday to get our hands and feet involved in serving Jesus. --Jonathon
With this day being Sunday, we had the privilege of participating in worship with the Journey Church; this year, there were more there than usual in several different ways. First of all, there were about 35 people present at worship. Because we were anticipating more than usual for worship and lunch, we had to shift our place of worship from the Adams' house to the Brown's house. Second, the worship today was very multinational; some of the countries represented were France, Ghana, and the United Kingdom. Thirdly, with some of the different nationalities came different religions and cults including Ba'hai and Mormonism. However, even with this variety on many different levels, something occurred that rarely happens on any given Sunday in eastern Canada-- the preaching, teaching, and worshiping of Jesus Christ. Unfortunately, this church in Canada does not grow as fast as some churches in the U.S. However, it is still amazing to hear some of the stories of the people who are now involved and associated with the Journey Church; it is an absolute God thing how some of these people and families have made it here, where, last year, these people were not even on the radar. God is definitely testing our patience. We must continue to trust His guidance. Please continue to pray for us as we head out on Monday to get our hands and feet involved in serving Jesus. --Jonathon
saturday :: the journey to toronto
The day started off very very early (5am). Mark Cantrell took us to the airport and dropped us off. We got through to the terminal with no problems and saw Jessica Renfrow at the airport as she was heading to Hilton Head. We had a good flight to Dallas and ate lunch at TGI Fridays. After lunch it was time to get on our second plane which brought us to Canada. We mostly slept on the plane rides. We finally made it in to Toronto, Canada about 3p.m. While going through customs Britt realized that he left his passport on the plane. So he got interrogated by the Canadian custom officers. Also, Clay was so nervous that he wouldn't get in the country for some reason that he caught the attention of border patrol and they gave him an extra round of intimidating questions, but every thing turned out just fine. Then Britt finally got out of his interrogation and was able to join us. We got our vans (Clint is now ready to be the soccer dad that he has dreamed of driving a "pimped out" maroon [Go STATE!] Dodge Caravan)and drove to the Adam's house. Of course we had to stop by Tim Horton's before getting to the house. We all needed the caffeine!!! The Adam's family welcomed us with open arms and opened hearts. I was told the Adam's girls were little, but they are almost teenagers. We all got settled and then headed out to dinner. We ate dinner at Swiss Chalet and had great fellowship. After dinner we all went back to the house and crashed.
Amber
Clint
Amber
Clint
Thursday, March 01, 2007
Toronto 07
The LHBC 20 Somethings are in the final stages of preparation to journey north for the Toronto Mission Trip 07, from March 10-16, 2007. This is our forth year partnering with the Journey Church, Brampton Ontario. http://www.thejourneychurch.ca/ . Please be praying for our team:
David Anglin Britt Hodge
Clint Loudermilk Amber Smith
Bethany Goodman Tuyet Nyugen
Clay Debolt Jonathon Clay
Chris Herndon David Windham
Pray that God would gives us His eyes, ears, hands, and feet. Pray that he would lead us into Divine appointments to share the love and message of Jesus with many Bramptonians. Pray that would be able to encourage the Journey Church and help them as they seek to impact the lostness of Brampton and Toronto.
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