Obasi Ministry

Our friend Chris came over and got the peonies looking ship shape. Jada helped pull weeds.

Below-Savanah, James and Jodene pick the weeds on the side of the house.

This week we have a lot of kids at camp and Bright lights so we decided to turn the attention away from the beatitudes for this week and concentrate on the kids finding out about different organizations and how they can give back. On Monday we did yard work-cleaning up the rose bushes and pulling weeds, they look so much better. Jodene got the kids who missed last Monday all caught up on our Bible Study.

On Tuesday we went to the People's City Mission, the kids were impressed with the cafeteria. They feed over 300 people everyday.

Our tour at first it was a little disappointing because all their kids were gone skating, and the buildings were kind of empty, so it was kind of a building tour. At the end we were in the chapel the lady was telling us about how they sing songs and have a message everyday. Our new Kaedyn looks at the lady in a surprise, fun voice,says we do that too! He loves to sing. Then a lady walked in with her Bible and started reading and highlighting. Kaedyn was getting a little loud so we asked him to quiet down. She said oh that is ok. Then I went over to her and asked her what she was reading. She starts out well I have this problem, I don't thank God in the hard times, I want to learn to thank Him in the hard times, so I am reading Psalms. Then she went on to tell me how she is bipolar and before they figured out her meds she was really out of control. She has stopped drinking and stopped druggin and is now trying to stop smoking. She showed me all her scares from trying to commit suicide. Then she told me her husband was supposed to send her some money, it was supposed to be there last week, but was lost in the mail. I then asked her if we could pray for her, she said OH YES. So we gathered up the kids got in a circle, I told the kids that she wanted to stop smoking and that the money she needed had got lost in the mail, I asked her if she had anything else she wanted us to pray for she said she wanted her daughter to get closer to God. Jada, Savanah and Kaedyn all wanted to pray and I ended. Their prayers were really sweet, they were really sensitive to her situation and requests.After that we gave her hugs and she said, wow i feel so much better already.
It was just amazing and all so God. The kids are still remembering to pray for her every time we pray, it is very sweet. Just a reminder that Brenda could be me.
I think Savanah was really affected by the tour, she sat down with one of the staff at the mission and asked a lot of questions after. She looked at me and said, these people don't look poor, I thought homeless people didn't have very nice clothes, she was just thinking a lot.

Savanah talks to one of the supervisors at the Mission.

Wednesday- it's so nice to have kids who ask to read, here James reads to Kaedyn. James has matured so much, it wasn't so long ago he was learning to respect people and things.

We were sitting on the porch- braiding chewy toys for the dogs at the Humane Society, we were going Thursday. A lady had given us a box of freezy pops, they had been waiting all week to eat them. Today was the day and they were so excited, it was so hot and sticky, I said wow look around is there something kind we could do for someone. James is yeah we could get to eat our popsicles. I said look over there at those guys planting ( Seeds of Life was doing a yard a few doors down), Then Jada gets it, lets give them some of our freezy things, Savanah and Taj jump up yeah I want to go, so the three of them walked down the street giving their coveted freeze pops. They got back and were so excited to make someone else happy. Then I said you know when God gives you a blessing, He loves it when we share that blessing with others and give to others. Then He sees us doing good with what He has given us, He trusts us with more. It is pleasing to Him.
Later we were leaving, I have been saving this $100 gas gift card we got at Christmas time(my popsicle) knowing we would probably need it. God has been asking me to give it to Morissa, because she uses her car all the time and gas all the time and hardly gets paid. So I thought you know I really need to do that.
I called Morissa to the car and said I want you to have this to help out a little bit with gas. She was grateful and said Oh but don't you need it, I said no we will be ok.
I took the kids home, when I got home I got the mail, I usually have the kids get it at 3:00 but today I didn't. Looking back I know that was the plan all the time though, I needed to go through the other events to truly appreciate what was in the mail.
In the mail was a letter that said, God is really blessing our business this summer and we want to share the blessings with you all. I chuckled as I read the letter cause it was the message of the day and week. Then I read the amount of the check, it was a huge donation, I was so humbled. The money is awesome, but what gets me even more is how God times everything so perfectly so you get the lesson. He is a personal God, doing little things just for you to help you see He really is in it. Once again the lesson isn't just for the kids it is for the mentors also. God never ceases to amaze me.

Morissa teaches some of the kids how to braid.

Our new Savannah and Mary make blankets for kittens at the shelter.

On Wednesday we also made shrinky dink pictures of our Dads or Grandpa's and made key chains out of them for Father's Day.

On Thursday we went to the Humane Society and to Dairy Queen for snack and to Antelope Park to run off some energy.

Savannah pets one of the kittens.

Taj makes a new friend.

Snack time.

On Friday as I was driving to pick up the girls from camp, I thought about the parents who had lost their boys at the Little Sioux Boys Scout tornado. The camp is a little over an hour away from where the girls were camping. The same storm system terriorized Lincoln and Omaha that night. I felt sad for the parents who were trying to pick up their lives after such a great lost. I was also grateful that I was able to pick up the girls, what a joy and privilege to have them in our lives. As I walked up to the camp I was greeted by the flower above. Another reminder of the wonders of God. The girls had a lot of fun and talked of all their adventures on the way home. They made new friends and had great adventures, tried new things. Again thank you Cornhusker Kiwanis for sending Dez and Cortesia, you really gave them an awesome opportunity.

Girls leaving camp.

Savanah, Anthony, Taj and Jada all got to go to Bright Light classes this week, they also had a blast. Savanah was in a funky furniture class, she painted a chair and surprised us with painted Matthew 5:3 on it. The first beatitude. I was so proud of her.

Anthony went to a Math Munchers class where they got to count a lot of candy and then of course eat it. He was in sugar heaven.

Taj got to go to farm camp, she loves animals and she got to learn a lot of new things and meet a lot of new animal friends.

Jada went to an art class. She had a blast, on Friday when I got home from getting the girls from camp there was a message on the machine from Jada, it said this is Jada from Obasi (I thought that was funny) I just want to thank you for letting me go Bright Lights, I loved it, I had so much fun!

Saturday- Today capped off a very special week with a very special occasion- Miss Cortesia was getting baptized. Our first Obasi baptism, it was very fun and humbling. A reminder of why we do what we do.

Cortesia and Sister Lil before the baptism.

Cortesia gave her testimony and then performed her ONE TOUCH dance for us.

Pastor Jessie baptizes Cortesia

Time to celebrate-let them eat cake!

Cortesia's fan club- these are the people who surround Cortesia to make sure she goes in the way she should go.

Again we are so blessed and grateful to know so many kind people and to serve such an amazing God.

Our Summer has started out awesome, I can't imagining it getting much better.Monday's are Bible Study, cooking and gardening day. We managed to get the garden planted between rains, I don't know if anything is going to grow, it was quite the ordeal, but we had a lot of fun trying. Our first Bible lesson was on the Matthew 5:3- Blessed are the Poor In Spirit for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven. The lesson went very well we studied how we search for things to make us happy, sometimes they make us happy for a little while but then we end up wanting more. We learned that we are all poor in spirit- we all need Jesus, only He can give us true happiness. The kids were a little confused, we have been studying parables the months before, so they kept looking for a really deep meaning. So we had to keep telling them it just means we need Jesus, they would look at us and say that is all it means- we already knew that. Chaney came over and helped us make some amazing honey covered apples.

Morissa helps Kaedyn plant beans.

Jada tries out our honey caramel apples. They were a big hit. Thank you Chaney.

This is my dog Gidget at the end of the first day she was ready for a nap.

Tuesday is Bee day! We are learning about the honey bee. There are so many life lessons on community, working, taking care of each other etc. We learned some facts about bees and then went bug hunting.

Looking for bugs, we found this awesome tree at Trago Park.

Wednesday is craft day. We made some cool honeycomb print visors and some fingerprint bee thank you cards. It was a lot of fun.

Athony rides the pony at the Children's Museum

Thursday we went to the Children's Museum and then to Wendy's for snack. We ended the day with awards and saying our verses. They did really well.

Smiley girls in the fire truck

Who said the Children's Museum is just for children. Jodene tries out this sweet ride.

Morissa sets up shop at the face painting station, I think she painted faces for about an hour.

Kaedyn and Jodene take an adventure on the moon.

A cool snack at Wendy's.

Friday Cortesia came over to practice her dance she is doing for church Sunday. It is to the song One Touch by Nicole C Mullens- It was a lot of work but Cortesia is so talented she really makes each movement look like a butterfly.Sunday it was youth sunday at church and the Obasi kids sang two songs, gave the welcome and then Cortesia danced. Pastor Jessie gave the message on the woman with the issue of blood to go along with Cortesia's dance. We were so excited because Cortesia's mom came to church for the first time and has never seen Cortesia dance. Half way through the dance Cortesia's mom and many others had tears flowing down their faces. It was so amazing.After church I took Cortesia and Dezhanay to camp. Their first time staying overnight at a camp for a whole week. They are going to Camp OK, they both got scholarships from the Cornhusker Kiwanis. They were really nervous when I dropped them off but I am sure they are going to have a great time.

Obasi kids lead worship at church.

Sunday I dropped off two very nervous but excited girls at camp, and Savanah begged to stay, but I reminded her that if she does everything that she is suppose to at Obasi, she gets to go next year.

Thank you for your prayers, God is doing some amazing things. We have 3 new kids this summer and they are just learning about God, so please pray for them.

Miss Brenda