Yvonne's experience on DREAM

I was blessed by being able to go with this group down to the Dream Center on Saturday. It was a great day and so many things inspired me. First and foremost the kids that were on this trip with us are amazing. They have such open and giving hearts. They never once complained about their tasks or being too tired to go on. That is true dedication and service to the Lord.

One of my favorite parts of the day was the Church On The Streets Worship Service. From the moment we walked in there were people at the alter on their knees praying. It stayed that way all the way through Praise and Worship. The alter was lined with people surrendering to the Lord! The music was amazing and you could just feel the Holy Spirit flowing through. I had tears in my eyes just knowing that everyone was on their feet, hands in the air, singing their praises to our God.

People were hungry for the music and the experience. I think we sang a minimum of 12 songs and I never wanted it to end. Time didn’t matter, the fact that we worked out in the heat all day and had little energy didn’t matter. God filled us with the energy we needed so that we could just be with him and he could love on us.

The other uplifting part of that service were the people. They were so humble and thankful to be there. Even though most of them have been in jail or prison they were grateful to just be in that place of worship and forgiveness. You could feel their pain and love all in one. They jump up as soon as their pastor calls on them and just give their testimony. Speaking out as to what they were, who they are and what God is molding them to be!!! How Great Is Our God.

-Yvonne Martinez, CCCSM Staff

Livin' the DREAM

I don't even know what to say about this mission trip. All I know is that it was better than my wildest, most extravagant dreams. God worked through us and in us while we picked up trash, laughed, sang, packed food bags, and boldly proclaimed our faith with our words and our actions.

On Friday, we did team building exercises and established that we were each a unique part of the Body of Christ, each with our special gifts. We also learned that, by faith, God takes the little that we give and multiplies it exponentially to do huge things in His kingdom.

We also picked up CCC's Adopt A Street (both sides of 43rd Ave. from Thunderbird to Acoma). I was blown away by the way that the team encouraged each other. The heat may have been scorching, but we trudged on, picking up every piece of trash we could.

This year, we had the opportunity to partner with The Phoenix Dream Center, which seeks to "Reach in and mine the incredible potential we believe lies within the lives of at-risk youth, the homeless, and the needy families of our community by restoring hope and allowing them to dream again." On Saturday morning, we worked with the Block Outreach ministry by cleaning up a street, which we later found out was a neutral territory between two gang infested neighborhoods. This was an incredibly tedious, dirty job, but we kept reminding ourselves that we were part of a something much bigger that God was doing in the neighborhood.

That afternoon, we got to hear our guide Jamar's testimony about how God had saved Him from a lifestyle of drugs, filled him with the Holy Spirit, and given him a passion for ministry. Little did we know it was the first of many powerful testimonies that we would hear. After that, we prepared for an outreach that the disciples do every week before Church on the Street. This outreach happens each week at an apartment complex - they make hotdogs for all the residents, preach the Word, and offer them clothing and bags of food. It was inspiring to see their passion for reaching their neighborhood as they interacted with kids and their families, danced, and rapped about Jesus.

From there, we went to Church on the Street, where we experienced the Holy Spirit in worship, shared about our trip, and heard a ton of amazing testimonies about how God had reclaimed the lives of the people in the Dream Center's discipleship program.

On Sunday morning,we had the opportunity to do a cross walk. Every Sunday, a group from Church on the Street carries crosses on Van Buren from 19th avenue to the state-run CASS homeless shelter on 15th avenue and Washington. We started by praying and asking the Holy Spirit to work through us as we prayed for people and shared our faith. We experienced several divine appointments. We prayed for a lady named Tillie, who has made a habit of praying for the drug houses in her neighborhood. She was congested after having the flu, and God totally caused her sinuses to start to drain when we prayed! We also got to witness to a couple of jr. high aged boys. After we talked with them, they accepted Christ into their lives. Needless to say, we were pumped! Once back to The Dream Center, we got to share testimony from the Cross Walk in the Sunday morning service. They also celebrated graduates of the discipleship program in the service, which was totally a blessing to me because we got to see some indirect fruit of our obedience.

I was so humbled to watch our team be the hands and feet of Christ this weekend. I'm reminded of James 5:13-15, which says:

"¹³ Are any of you suffering hardships? You should pray. Are any of you happy? You should sing praises. ¹⁴ Are any of you sick? You should call for the elders of the church to come and pray over you, anointing you with oil in the name of the Lord. ¹⁵ Such a prayer offered in faith will heal the sick, and the Lord will make you well. And if you have committed any sins, you will be forgiven."

I feel like this is exactly what we experienced this weekend. We got to function as a community that prayed for the burdens and hardships of the oppressed, praised God for everything that He was doing, and pressed in for healing from headaches and heat exhaustion. We saw God multiply our willingness, obedience, and faith time and time again as He touched people through us.

I'm so proud of everyone of the people on the team - Bekah Wilson, Yvonne Martinez, Jeff Burbank, Victoria Martinez, Noah Best-Acosta, Fred Short, Hanna Poertner, Hannah Gangemi, and Rachel Shroeder. We each experienced God in new way. May we keep dreaming!

- Amanda Cates, Louder Than Words Coordinator

A Weekend Full of DREAMS

This weekend was so amazing and impacted my heart in a big way. I had such a great time with everyone that went on the DREAM trip as we served the Lord and had the chance to reach out to others within our own community as well as those that we often do not have the chance to serve and can so easily be pushed aside and be forgotten. Every event that we had a chance to participate in opened my eyes and heart in a new way. From picking up trash on the street to praying for people in front of a bus stop everything was almost in a way indescribable.

For the past three days I was given the amazing opportunity to help lead the Junior High Mission Trip. We worked with the Phoenix Dream Center and got to lend a hand in serving the community of Phoenix in amazing ways. We got the chance to clean up the streets, and though it was a dirty job and it was about eight thousand degrees out it was amazing and I loved every moment of it. It was a chance to make a difference, and even though we may never see how lives are effected by it, its enough to know that we had a chance to make God's masterpiece clean and beautiful.

We also had the chance to help out with the children ministry of Church on the Street. Through this I met some amazing people who will hold a place in my heart for time to come. Just to see how God has changed their lives and filled every hole in their hearts filled me over the top with unexplainable joy. These men and women have had troubled pasts but no matter where they came from or how much they went through they now live their lives for the Lord and serve others with all of their hearts and give all they have to others and that amazed me. Their great determination to bring others to God so they can have the same peace and joy is such a great thing.

Later Saturday night after a full day of serving the Lord we got to spend our time worshiping him. And though I know we were all so tired by that time it didn't matter anymore and for that time for me it was as if all my exhaustion was gone so I could give everything I had to the Lord. Worship has to be one of my favorite activities EVER, it provides a safe place for everyone to just get everything out and put forth praise to God. When I looked around and saw all the people around me so overwhelmed with his love and giving everything they had to him it touched me,there seemed to be a smile on every face in the room and as hands were lifted love filled the entire room.

Then today we got to do what I think was the most impact filled experience of the trip. We participated in the cross-walk, where we had the chance to walk down Van Buren with crosses on our shoulders and share the love of our Lord with everyone we met. We even had the chance to bring two young boys to Christ, and as they accepted him into their lives and repeated the sinners prayer chills came over me because of how amazing that moment was. Later we walked by CASS, and that is where it really hit me. I have always had a place in my heart for the homeless but had never really had understood the intensity of their situation. I can now begin to understand how hard it is for them and it really made me think that I want to do more for them and I want to get more involved with anything I can do to help lift them up after they have fallen so hard.

This entire weekend has opened my heart in new ways. I have been filled with more passion then i ever thought possible and I know I want to do so much more. I spent the weekend with some of my favorite people and had a chance to get out and serve. I will never be able to forget this trip, the things we did, the people we met and the sights we saw. Ive learned so much in just the past few days and I hope to keep this fire in my heart burning strong for the Lord. I feel so blessed that I had the chance to participate in such an amazing weekend of service. :)

- Bekah Wilson, Student Leader

Dream Packing List

-Sleeping bag, pillow, sleepwear (appropiate for mixed company)

-Knee length shorts, long pants, and t-shirts that you can work in

-Tennis Shoes

-Toiletries: sunscreen, sunglasses, chap stick, soap, toothbrush, deodorant, toothpaste, towel, washcloths

-Bible and notebook with pen or pencil

-Water bottle with your name on it

- Bathing suit - girls, you must wear a one piece or tankini with only 2 inches or less between the tank and the ini. Please do not press the limit on this, lest you find yourself in a tshirt. Guys - swim trunks