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Meet Our Team-Jimmy L

Jimmy

We’re glad to have Jimmy aboard for the first time, and he’ll be helping shoot video this year. His love for basketball seems to be confirmed with his “signature” at the end.



Hi, my name is Jimmy Lee. I’m married to Sherry and we have four children who keep us young: Zachary, Dylan, Kaitlyn and Hannah. We’ve been attending Evergreen for about three and a half years. We are thankful for the kindness and friendliness we’ve received from the people of the church.  It has made our transition very easy.

Praise God for my very first missions trip! I’ve wanted to go in the past, but things did not work out for various reasons. This time, my schedule and commitments were all aligned to enable me to go. This is the year! This trip is an opportunity for me to love God by loving others. I am excited to be able to bless someone through our team’s service. Also, I am looking forward to spending time and serving side-by-side with fellow Evergreeners.  

Please pray for safe travels, no injuries at the work sites, well-being for my family while I’m away, and the salvation of the people touched directly or indirectly by our team.

Thank you!


—


Jimmy

|__  o
| W    O
|       |_         |   
|      /-           O   
|    /               | 
|                    /|    
|                   |


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Meet Our Team-Alice L

Alice La is the second newbie we’re featuring and will be assisting with photography and blogging while in OKC. She also happens to be engaged to two-year returning John.

Alice-

1) Why did you decide to go on the trip this year?
I decided to go on the trip after hearing good things about serving from my fiancé who attended last year.
Thought it would be a good opportunity for us to serve together before
our wedding in November. I am curious to see how we would serve as a
couple and how that would change as we grow. 

2) How long have you been going to Evergreen?
I have been going for 3 years now. Sometime in 2013. Advice for a newcomer: do whatever you need to get plugged in- join a branch, choir, a
ministry, serve, ask questions about everything! I’m afraid it won’t
come easily, but stick to it at least for 3 months. Then you will
quickly find 3 months has become 3 years! 

3) What can people pray for you on your trip (a concern or hope you have)?
I’m afraid of flying, a recent development ever since my last trip to IHOP One Thing Conference in Kansas City. Hoping that I’ll have no fears
and just enjoy it! Also praying for a window seat to relax my fears…
*hint towards OKC core*…

I’m curious how God will use my creative talents for this trip to
express what this Missions trip is really all about. I want the folks
back home to virtually be there with us. Many members says that it’s
more of a service mission than it is about getting people to come to
God. So it would be a new experience to being the hands and feet of the
Lord rather than direct evangelism like I am used to. Hope everyone can
find time to take a look at the blog that I will be contributing to and
become part of the OKC team from home base.
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Meet our team-Roz

Roz

As we return to Oklahoma City (OKC), we welcome a few first-timers, or newbies, as we affectionately call them. Roz Endow is one of our two women newbies, and jumped at the opportunity to help the team by organizing our Children’s message, where we speak with the children of the church.

Hi, this is Rosalind (Roz) Endow. My husband, John and I, have been coming to Evergreen for about 6 years now. I’m a 56 year old mother of four college age and up children. I am a part time dental hygienist.
I spend most of my free time studying and preparing to lead my BSF group. Last year I felt the Lord prompting me to go on mission but I had my excuses. I felt I was too old, I had never been on mission before and didn’t know what I would be getting myself in to, the timing wasn’t right because it was during the BSF study and I didn’t want to miss a class, and I couldn’t afford the time and expense.  This year the Lord wanted me to go despite my excuses so I applied and left it in His hands. By His grace my application was accepted and it is my prayer to experience Him, on mission, glorified in ways I have never seen before. God is faithful in calling me to go to OKC as He has provided by sending me with an experienced group, some in my generation, some with little experience like me and many friendly and familiar faces. I am looking forward to new blessings and stretching of my faith as I step out of my comfort zone. 

Please pray for me to be a good listener and to learn new skills quickly so I may be useful. Pray for me to have a gracious attitude no matter how tired I get or what I am asked to do. Pray for my love for the Lord and my fellow missionaries to increase and for me to decrease. I know God has plans for me this year at OKC and look forward to glorifying Him and for blessings through my obedience. 

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2017 OKC Team begins

Patrick, Kevin T,  Jeff, Randy, John, Kevin L
Alice, Virginia, Art, Jimmy, Craig
Tommy, Peter, Lorin, Chris, Brandon, Pam, Roz

We’re getting ready…
We’re heading back to OKC and we’ve got a few newbies.

Kevin T, Jimmy, Kevin L, Brandon, Alice L and Roz are first timers
Randy Gee’s returning for his second trip…

Looks like a good year!

We’ll be leaving two weeks after Easter, and our commissioning will be happening on April 23rd. We’ll have more info and introductions to our new members

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OKC 2016 Presentation Video

Today we had the presentation at our church

Craig opened, and Lorin, John and Tommy shared

And we got another cool video put together by Gary.

Kinda odd that Gary, who wasn’t in OKC with us this time, was able to put together a compilation about our trip…having not been there..

We’ll try and put up the mini testimonials from Lorin, John and Tommy soon… had some technical problems with one of them.. but stay tuned!


Serve OKC 2016 Final Presentation from SGV Habitat on Vimeo.

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OKC 2016-Our Return Video

Our Return Home

Hilltop
It’s always fitting and bittersweet to end our trips on a Sunday. We begin our day with worship at Hilltop. It’s nice to be part of a church here. Matt’s preaching is solid and challenging, but you also see how a community church reaches out to its neighbors.

They presented gifts and recognition to the 3 High School graduates they had, they promoted a car and motorcycle show they plan in the next few weeks, so you saw how they cared both inward and outward.
Praying for their graduates



Lorin and Laura
Lorin met up with Laura, as she’s been emailing since we met her three trips ago when we first started staying at Hilltop. They caught up, and Laura gave Lorin a custom shirt she had made with “Team Lorin” printed on the back. Lorin also received some artwork from one of the children at Hilltop



The Greenwoods
Joyce and Robert joined us for worship. This was all part of our growing cultural experience. Robert was there to present Art with his bolo tie, in response to Art’s compliment. Prior to the presentation, Art checked with Joyce if there was anything special he should do in response, she said a gracious response was all that was necessary.




I pulled Joyce aside, saying I was a little hesitant to compliment her and I didn’t know how their culture handles appreciation vs gift giving. She suggested that I say “that’s a beautiful watch” is less complicated than “I like your watch”

The generosity and sharing attitude of the Native American/American Indian reminded Craig of parallels with the Hawaiian people… and how they too had given much away when being visited by outsiders.
Presented with the tie by Robert, Art graciously accepted and we prayed all together with Matt and Mike from Hilltop.




S & B Burgers
We went to S&B Burgers, another good find from Pam/Jeff/Tommy, for food and fellowship. It started settling in that this would be the last meal as a team, and specifically with Denise and Paul.

Shakes are pretty good here, yes, that’s a toasted marshmallow on the “S’mores” shake


Our last meal together
Airport
We arrived a bit early, but it gave us time to chat. We prayed for Denise and Paul, and some tears were shed as we bid each other goodbye. 





LAX
Our flight home went well, we met some folks along the way, and we landed at LAX, having a quick team meeting before we went out to baggage claim.


Our friends and family came out to greet us, Jeff’s kids made some signs for him, and they received the gifts he had picked up while out in OKC


It was a sweet return back to home, but part of our hearts were still out in OKC. The newbies were now “vets” and we all knew a bit more about crown moulding, American Indian Culture, Kosher practices and God’s hand in all we do.


We’ll be posting the photo libraries, and info on our presentation coming up in the next few weeks.
Thanks for your support!







Thanks Gary, once again for a great video

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OKC 2016 Day 5 – Last day at Greenwood’s

With Joyce Greenwood and her son Brent 


With Joyce and Chris Hearns in the back.





Wow. We’re done with the job site.


What a week and what a way to end it out.


Started the day at 8am at the Greenwoods home..


John did our devotional at the job site, sharing our time and message with Chris and the Greenwoods.





Robert looked extra dapper today, he was kind enough to take his friend to a funeral. Bunch of the guys liked his outfit and wanted to take a picture with our friend







Paint Paint and more paint


Team went to work painting all the trim



Jeff took on the task of cutting new cedar decorative “exposed beams” to replace the damaged ones we/he took out on our first day there



We worked on the baseboards and crown moulding for the new room, and painted the siding that had been installed in front of the once-garage. And we installed an attic ladder





Also, we saw that their TV had been sitting on a stand, so for earthquake safety, we asked if we could mount it on the wall






Storm Shelter
Coming from California, many of the team hadn’t seen a storm shelter before, so the Greenwoods were kind enough to let us take a peek







Fry Bread
By this time, we really felt like we were helping out a friend who needed some work done on their home. Miss Joyce had mentioned she wanted to make some fry bread for us on our last day, but we didn’t want to impose… but this was the second time on this trip someone had treated our entire team to a meal. 


This was the best fry bread! Someone on our team had to be held back from getting his fourth serving, and they were big!


Miss Joyce’s hospitality and warmth was remarkable





Gracious Greenwoods
Later in the day, we met Brent, Joyce’s son, who came to greet us, but also to bid us farewell.  We chatted with him for quite a while and found much in common in cultural experiences between Asians and Native Americans. There seemed to be a high value in both cultures for honor, respect and courtesy. 


So much so, that we found that Brent’s presence, and even our fry bread lunch was part of their culture, to thank us. And it might have been an insult to deny Joyce’s hospitality. So weird, because our asian side wants to not have people go to any inconvenience on our part…. 🙂


Art was complimenting Robert on his bolo tie, saying he rarely had no occasin to wear one… but little did he realize that Robert would offer it to him. Seriously. I just realized that Robert was dressed for a funeral. So of course that would be one of his nicest


Robert and Joyce will be joining us for church at Hilltop on Sunday, specifically to give it to him.


They are a very gracious people, both their tribe, and their specifically, their family


Prayer
We prayed for the house and the Greenwoods and Chris H.


And yes, you might see it in some videos, we prayed for our own Chris too. He had hurt his ankle on Monday, and re-injured it in the last hour of today.







John wrapped in Saran Wrap to hold the ice in place, which was reminiscent of our first year in Mississippi when Tommy wrapped Peter’s shoes with shrink wrap



Okay, that’s it for now, enjoy the recap video!