At the beginning of January, the members of Final Greetings were ready to get started again. Sam and Kyle had already led worship at a winter camp with the help of our old band member Steven and a new friend of ours, but the rest were making their way to Oregon to meet up and start the year off right. #beginagain
Our first event of the year was the second annual AJM Gathering of the Bands in Modesto, where all 3 bands that are a part of A Jesus Mission join together to grow spiritually and in unity. It was an amazing opportunity for us to realign ourselves with God before we began traveling. We spent time studying the word, learning how to be better financially minded as a team, and also visiting with our friends. We finished off the last night praying for those at the conference who were struggling, our international missionaries, and for the year to come. #prayup
Next we visited Eureka, CA where we spent time catching up, booking, rehearsing, and joining our host home for a Bible study one night. We also celebrated Kyle's birthday with his family and friends! #reconnecting
We also visited the First Covenant Church of Eureka's youth group where we were rehearsing to lead worship, share about what it means for us to be missionaries, and play games with them. We had a lot of fun playing ping pong, carpetball and giant Jenga with them. #gamesfordays
Before we left Eureka we led worship for the first winter camp held by Faith Church in Eureka and Crescent City Foursquare. Amidst power outages and plan changes, we ended up having an amazing time hanging out with the kids. We played crazy versions of musical chairs, a game called Falcon Ball, and learned with them as pastor Reid shared every night. They also had us do a blacklight rock show with glow sticks and neon tape. A light almost caught fire, but otherwise the night went smoothly! #crisisaverted
Then we traveled to Antelope, OR for the second year we participated in Catalyst Winter Camp with around 15 Assemblies of God churches. We had so much fun connecting with the kids by talking about movies, music, and playing octoball. Andy and Jiross joined us for the weekend, and they helped us put on an AJM Q&A panel where we played a few rock songs and shared about what it really means to be a missionary and the costs that come with it. There were some amazing conversations that we had with some of the attending kids about their struggles in life and encouraging them to push through and rely on God. #relationshipbuilding
Then we returned to Tualatin, OR to spend time with a few host homes and write like crazy! We are in the process of finishing up two new original songs, along with prepping two of our other songs to record in late February so people can have access to them. We are trying to fundraise $3,000 to pay for studio fees, mixing, mastering and all of the other details that come with recording songs so that we can continue using them as an outreach tool. If you'd like to donate, please click on the link and give to our project!
Earlier in our blog we mentioned that we had a new friend help us lead worship at a camp after Christmas. Meet our friend Tyler, our new intern! We met Tyler at the Grace Free Evangelical Church in Kelseyville, CA during our travels. After he helped out at one of our winter camps, we asked if he would be interested in interning! Tyler will be traveling with us and learning band ministry over the course of this year with the hopes of one day starting his own AJM band. We are super excited to have him, and it's amazing to see his eager desire to help however he can. #bestinternever
Thank you for taking the time to see what we've been doing this month, and make sure to check in again in the future! We love what we do, and you are the ones who keep us going through your prayers and financial contributions. If you'd like us to come visit you, don't hesitate to contact us and we'll do our best to make something happen. #syonara