Working in our public school systems has shown me a lot over these past four years. What it has shown me the most is the amount of NEED our students have: a need for love, a need for encouragement, and a need for someone to believe in them, to show them they matter. When the PC3 Mentor Program was born, I knew I had to be a part of it. I obviously couldn’t be a mentor—working in the field daily with hundreds of students and picking only one might show some favoritism. So I decided to be the Program’s coordinator at the school where I work, Snipes Academy of Art and Design.

I’ve been privileged to serve with some of our church’s most dedicated and compassionate volunteers over the past couple years, and my heart is always touched when I see them in the hallways. Others I hardly ever get to see. Yet they still come, knowing that probably no one from PC3 will actually SEE their active efforts each week. But the Snipes staff continually pulls me aside to tell me how great they’ve been for the students they’re with, and I can only be grateful for the hearts the Lord has instilled in these dedicated mentors.

So this past year the Mentor Program was blessed to partner with PC3’s Treasure Island Live Theater (better known as TILT) and have the team visit a couple elementary schools to perform for children in the community who would otherwise never have the opportunity to see their extremely entertaining talents. Maureen Hill, founder of the Mentor Program and first-grade teacher at Wrightsboro Elementary School, asked TILT early this spring if they could come to her school for Dr. Seuss week, in celebration of the famous author’s birthday. She asked if they would put on a performance based on Green Eggs and Ham and put in an encouraging word to our students. When I found out about this, I soon asked if they could put on the performance twice and come to Snipes in the afternoon, after they performed for Wrightsboro that morning. Of course, they were more than willing to come, and our partnership was born.

Watching the K-2 students being thoroughly entertained left our staff so appreciative, knowing our children need to hear from the community—and not just from us, the teachers. They need to hear that they matter and that they can do just as well as any other student in any other school. After the students left the multipurpose room, getting high-fives from the TILT team as they left, my principal immediately said she wanted TILT to come back. In the following weeks, we came up with the idea for our third- to fifth-grade students to hear from them as well through an EOG Pep Rally! When I emailed the leaders of TILT about this, having the hearts they do for our community, they jumped at the chance to come back one more time before summer vacation.

So during the week of May 12^th, the TILT team returned to Snipes to see our stunned third- through fifth-graders! I’ve never seen such stillness from our upper grades, and I believe they were truly taken away by the performance and the amount of love poured out to them from people they had never seen before. The TILT team sang songs, danced and had volunteers from the crowd take part in some hilarious games. The kids were instructed from the characters onstage to do their best and believe in themselves during the EOG week. It’s a stressful test for these kids, and it was nice to see them relax and have fun beforehand. My principal thanked me afterward, for organizing the event, and I told her all I had to do was ask, and our church responded with eagerness to help in any way they could. The church has made a deep impression not only on our students but also on our staff. I’m so proud to call PC3 home. As the heart of the Lord’s body grows here, so does its imprint on our local community, one that needs Him so badly. We look forward to partnering with TILT in school years to come, as both the school and the church see the benefits of adults coming together to encourage the next generation in Wilmington’s backyard.

Submitted by: Rebekah O’Connor

Going to Kenya was a long-awaited, life-changing experience for me.  My heart has longed for Africa since I was in high school; it was hard to believe I was actually there when we landed in Nairobi.  It was like finally getting something that your heart had longed for for over 10 years.

One of the best but most difficult experiences of the trip was when Pastor Jackson took us to a landfill (where people actually live) to bring each family a loaf of bread and a bag of milk.  The people of Kenya are extremely grateful and happy, although they have next to nothing.  It was a humbling experience, one that made me aware of how truly blessed we are in America to have an abundance of food, clothing and shelter, and a government that ensures everyone has basic necessities.

While at the dump, I picked up a little boy who looked about 2 or 3 years old.  His nose was runny, and he had a cough.  Although he never smiled, I could actually feel how happy he was to be held.  It was like he never got the chance to just relax in someone’s arms.  I know for a fact that if I would have taken him with me that day, no one would have stopped me. Putting him down was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do.

At Mama Hellen’s Rehabilitation Center, a PC3-supported home for street children, I was able to get to know some orphaned children.  Two in particular are Chir Chir and Alex.  I am now sponsoring Chir Chir through PC3’s HOPE 127 program so that he can continue to live at the center and get a good education.  Chir Chir lived on the streets for four years before being rescued by Pastor Jackson.  Many Kenya children still live in the streets, and they often succumb to a life of drugs and theft.  Their drug of choice (because it is so cheap) is a shoemaker’s glue that they sniff throughout the day.  A former street kid who now lives at the center said that he used to sniff glue so that he wouldn’t have to “feel cold, hungry or lonely.”

God has broken my heart for the children of Kenya.  They are so unselfish.  They have one or two outfits and eat very small portions of food each day.  We brought them candy and sodas on the last day of our trip, and they were elated.  It was like Christmas. One thing that really shocked me was that they didn’t say, “I don’t like this flavor”—which happens every time I give out candy in my classroom here in America.  They never complain about the heat, the flies, their situations.  In fact, the entire time I was with them I didn’t hear a single complaint. We took prayer requests one day, and Alex’s prayer request was for the needy.  He said, “There are a lot of people suffering in Kenya.”  This prayer request was given by a child with no parents, who lives in an orphanage and shares a room with about 15 other boys. All of his belongings fit into one grocery bag that lies at the bottom of his bunk bed. It is amazing that even though they have very little, these boys think of themselves as lucky.

Life is simple in Kenya.  They just have the basic necessities.  Sometimes I think maybe it’s better that way.

—Submitted by Shelly Long

Well, we made it back from our wild and crazy mission trip to Arizona!  Before we left, we had to regroup and change our destination for the week at the very last minute—something we had no control over! So we were able to go to the American Indian Christian Mission (AICM), a boarding school for Navajo and Apache kids who live on reservations in Arizona.  Our job was to work there to get the school ready for fall and then at night go to a tent revival on the reservation to provide a Vacation Bible School of sorts for the kids while their parents attended the revival.  We were also planning on putting on our TILT (Treasure Island Live Theater) program for the families. TILT is an energetic, creative “theater,” which we would focus this time on FAITH.

We were a team of about 11 kids—all under 12 years old—and 20 adults! The work at the school was taxing and included moving rocks from the wild to make a rock garden or line a prayer walk, moving furniture and boxes from one building to another, painting walls, etc. The nights at the reservation were long.  It took an hour and a half to get there, and we stayed for about two hours. We limped home around 11:30 p.m.—which was really 2:30 in the a.m. back home in Wilmington!

When I got home and thought about the activity of moving stones from point A to point B, an analogy popped into my head. This was pretty grueling work—the stones were heavy, but every now and then you’d come across one that was small and pretty.  So some folks would put the pretty ones aside to take home with them. The great big huge ones we were ready to throw down  right away.  We were making a rock garden to beautify a path.  So the analogy hit me on my return that those stones are like sin: Some are heavy ones we are so glad to drop as soon as we can.  Others are not so bad; they’re pretty.  We like them and are willing to carry them around a while—at least until we’re carrying so many little ones it begins to weigh us down.  Then we get convicted about that sin and know we need to leave it behind as well.  God uses those sins to make a beautiful path, leading us to His Son, when we are willing to drop the stones and look to Him.

So…. What stands out most to me from this mission trip is: God’s provision!  First, the school needed to get this work done for the kids’ return in three weeks.  They have teams who come throughout the summer but didn’t have anyone scheduled for that week!  Second, on our team we had a licensed electrician, a general contractor and a couple of guys who do handy work at home!  Third, on a personal note, my dietary restrictions were nothing strange for the cook as she has the same allergies as I do! Fourth, even though our traveling team—who were bringing out the equipment in a trailer pulled by a van—suffered not one, not two, not three, but FOUR tire blowouts (without a jack for the first two), and then somewhere around Albuquerque their radiator blew, they arrived safe and whole to AICM!! Fifth, the team acted as one during the VBS nights on the reservation.  We divided up and were able to manage the 40-50 kids that came by—some just to watch what we were doing, others who played rambunctiously around what we were doing, and some engaging completely in what we were doing! Sixth, on our night for TILT, even though we were greeted with a huge electrical storm while setting up in a circus tent with huge metal poles, we pulled it off without a hitch and were joined onstage by a couple of the kids we had seen there all week, as they danced and worshiped with our team of kid dancers!

So, as a whole, we cannot say the trip went smoothly—but as we carried the message of FAITH with us, God remained faithful to us in his provision.  I’m grateful to be given eyes to see that through it all.

—Submitted by Brooks Koff

Going on a mission trip had always been something on my “bucket list”—or so I thought.

We all have one: a list of things that we want to do before we kick the bucket.  At age 49, my list was almost complete, so going to New Orleans would just be one more thing to check off… .NOT. I soon realized God had another plan. He led me on this incredible journey where I met the most incredible, inspiring and uplifting individuals.

Before I left to go the New Orleans mission in June of 2009, I had never read the Bible.  I didn’t even know one scripture passage.  I had never even prayed anything but an “Our Father” or a “Hail Mary.”  So much has changed since then, and I credit it first to God and second to everyone that I met on this mission trip.  Christ led me there to help the victims of Katrina, but in turn they helped me so much more.

Yes, I helped paint a church, helped clear land around a house that was flooded, and interacted with people, but they led me to a deeper, more fulfilling walk with God.

I am forever grateful.

In Jesus’ Name.

—Submitted by Rosa Petrucelli