An Opportunity Part 5: Reaching Out- A Sunday Mission Trip to Dallas

On Sunday morning, Me and Dad were up early to get ready for another awesome opportunity with Compass Church: a mission trip. But this, unlike some spring break mission trips, wouldn't require thousands of dollars in Airfare to travel to a different country or even a different continent, but only an hour-long car drive into the heart of Dallas to serve fellow Christians there. Late Saturday night as I was talking with a couple of the great guys from Compass, Matt (their youth pastor) was telling us what his group would be doing when they went to a different place than the one where I was going. It would involve going to a church of Burmese believers, worshiping with them in their Sunday service, eating a traditional Burmese-cuisine lunch with them, doing some community service, and journaling about it. When I asked Matt how or what they'd be journaling about, he offered an explanation for the basic format in a way that hit me like a ton of bricks: "So Caleb, tomorrow your group will be going to a Sudanese Church, where you'll worship with them, do Sunday school with the younger kids, and just have a great time with a bunch of really cute toddlers." I nodded my head with excitement. "Now," he said, "the thing we're going to ask teens to think about in their journals is this: Who is that child or group of children in your community, and why haven't you done anything to help them?"

That question plowed through me like a sledge hammer. While there might not be as many "organized" efforts in my area of Upstate NY for outreach work, I thought about my younger siblings that I'm helping with on a daily basis. Do I try and mirror Christ's love in the way that I interact and play with them? Sometimes you need a new place or a group of people can cause you to consider things you never would have thought about, or you think about them in a different way. The group at Compass did that for me. I now felt like I understood on a deeper level what I would be participating in on Sunday.

We arrived at Compass Center shortly after 8 a.m., to a whole flurry of people going this way and that, signing in for the Spring Break Trip, which would actually last for 3 days. Unfortunately I was going to be busy Monday, and leaving early Tuesday. Nonetheless, I felt honored and privileged to get to be a part of it as much as I could. As I was holding the doors to Compass Center open with some fellow teenage Men of God, we all made small talk and introduced ourselves. As I was telling the brief version of how I had ended up coming from New York all the way to Dallas Texas, I briefly mentioned how I had talked with CM and had gotten to spend a lot of time with him yesterday. All of the sudden, one of the guys I was talking with exclaimed, "Wait, my Dad is the reason you're down here?" As it turned out, one of the guys I had just met and was going to be spending the day with (named Mitchell) was CM's son! Needless to say, we all had a good laugh at our ironic "moment of truth."
 
After a everyone signed in and CM and Shawn had given a brief intro to the trip, everybody boarded the dozen or so 12 passenger vans Compass had rented to get us all to our various locations. The group I was in was so large we easily filled up two vans. While me and Dad didn't get to go in the same van with CM and some other kids closer to me in age, me and did quickly struck up some conversation with the wonderful couple driving our van, Brian and Angela Newbie. Brian and Angela are 5 months pregnant with their little baby boy Andrew, and I cannot give them enough credit for volunteering to cart a bunch of teens around the DFW area of Texas and minister to their brothers and sisters in Christ during such a crazy and exciting time in their married life.

After about an hour's drive, and a stop to Target to get some baby food packs to donate to one of the churches we'd be visiting, we arrived at the first location on the day's itinerary: a Mediterranean restaurant. While we wouldn't be eating our meal with the congregation of believers that we'd be worshiping with, we would still be getting a taste of some of the things they ate in their native country. Marj and a man named Nathan Bogue met up with us there, as Marj is part of the Youth Ministry team at Compass and Nathan is an employee of Aid Sudan who has great relations with the Sudanese residents of DFW. The restaurant seated us in an outdoor (covered) porch with an ingenious heating system that kept us warm as we ate our meal on the cool, rainy spring day.

After our meal, we traveled a couple minutes down the road to the church used by the Sudanese refugees for their worship center. The group we would be worshiping with was made up in part by a group called the Lost Boys, a group of boys that, as children, fled Sudan when civil war (which included forced child armies) began in the 80's and 90's, and then fled their sanctuary of Ethiopia when civil war erupted there too. They ended up at a United Nations sanctuary in Kenya, where they were given sanctuary here in the U.S. While most of the "boys" are now grown men with families, their testament of courage and trusting God in the most brutal hardships still stands firm.

After we arrived at the church and received a brief introduction, we joined the congregation in their Sunday service, which had just begun. Many of the Sudanese invited us to look on in their hymnals with them (their songs were all in their native language) and they were kind enough to have a translator there to help us understand the sermon better. While the service lasted almost 2 hours, it really was a unique experience to see another group's form of Sunday Worship. While we have Spanish services at my church, I rarely attend them, and having heard bits of Spanish here and there for long enough, it almost feels like some foreign second nature. After sitting in with our Sudanese brothers and sisters, however, I felt moved on a deeper level to try and interact with the Spanish apostelate my church has and to attend some of their services some time.

By the time we got out, the rainy, foggy day had turned into beautiful, brilliant sunshine. the Sudanese children, who had been in Sunday School while we were in Church, were running around in the enclosed yard that was in the center of the Sunday School rooms. Their little laughs added so much more to that feeling of the sun coming out- we had went from quiet rain into sunshine filled with the laughter of children.

 Some of the kids had made that TITANIC paper airplane you can see in the left hand corner- ah, good times :)

While I have a feeling most of us teens could have spent hours playing with all of those cute little kids, it was time to head on to our final location for the day. As we drove into the next area of DFW we'd be ministering to, I was quickly reminded of that "everywhere's a mission field" mentality I'd been praying about with the guys at Compass Saturday night. All of the previous areas I had seen of Dallas were filled with beautiful houses in gorgeous communities, all very nice and well-kept. As we arrived at the community center/church where we'd be working, I began to see the "poorer" side of Dallas: smaller houses on patchy dirt/grass lawns, streets that were going to be in need of pavement soon. To think that such different environments could exist only an hour apart, shook me into place, and made me realize just how in need so many parts of America are for the love, compassion and care of the Church.

Once we arrived in the community center, Nathan gave us a brief run-down of what the conditions for most Sudanese refugees in Dallas is, and what the group would be doing over the next few days to help fix this place up to be an even nicer facility for these refugees and their children. After we had talked a little bit and we got a tour of the center, CM divided the group into teams to teach different age groups Sunday school. Unfortunately at that point, little Colvin had hit a pretty bad fever back at home, so me and Dad would need to head back with Marj so we could get home with them. At that moment, CM pulled up two chairs for me and Dad and called the group together. They all linked arms in a circle around us, praying for our journey, what we were doing, what we had done, what we were yet to do. Sitting in the communal embrace of such a great group of people, many of whom had taken advantage of the small timeline they had to get to know me, was moving to the point of tears. It was the epitome of "The Church United." Needless to say I was more than happy to have a group hug with Mitchell and Marj to recompose myself a bit and recover myself. Shortly after that we left, after heartfelt goodbyes and farewells.

That night back at the Ochs' house we all enjoyed some time to decompress from the days events and enjoy some quiet company. While I felt a pang of sorrow inside that all was drawing to an all-too-soon close, I was beyond grateful for the opportunities and people I had been blessed to meet. So to all my Compass family, if you are reading this, thank you. You are forever in my heart and prayers. 

An Opportunity Part 4: Prayer, Orphan Care, Southern Food and Rain

When my Dad told me to go to sleep at 3 a.m., I thought it sounded ridiculous. I felt fine! I could run a mile! I was clearly running off lack-of-sleep hyperactivity, adrenaline, and a honey-barbeque-chicken-biscuit from Whataburger. 

 I had told my dad I would only sleep from 3 to 4 in order to try and miss as few people as possible, and be around for as much of it as I could. When my dad came to wake me up at 6, however, I realized I had needed more sleep than I thought. While part of me felt like careless for sleeping that "late," I was glad to have gotten a few solid hours of sleep in before I got into a busy Saturday, filled with manning the prayer station, and meeting up with adoptive families.

 When I came back to the main lobby, CM told me that a Men's Breakfast was going to take place in the adjoining cafeteria area, and he wanted me to meet Mr. Groom, the man who runs the breakfast and the Mission Trips at Compass. Mr. Groom introduced himself, and then, in the most polite manor, asked me if I wanted to speak to the group of men about Orphan Care. This would be a group of grown men, probably about 60 of them, who were total strangers to me. My first thought was to kindly say no. How on Earth would I, a teenage "advocate" for Missionary Work and Orphan Care, come across to a bunch of grown men 2 or 3 times my age? Regardless of my own doubt, I said yes and had breakfast with the guys before getting up to give the short version of my story and encouraged them to come visit the information table. To my utter surprise, I managed to carry out exactly what I meant to say without any slip-ups whatsoever. Praise the Lord!

After the breakfast finished, CM and a couple of the other men came over and patted me on the back and told me what a good job I'd done. Some of the men came over to ask questions, hear more of my story, and grab a brochure. It was both extremely satisfying and a major relief that a group of men I had never met before respected me as a fellow man and admired what I was doing.

For the next few hours, things remained pretty quiet, with almost no one coming or going. Around noontime me and Dad decided it was time for some lunch, so we decided to get our first ever Chick-fil-a meal. My adoptive family friends were supposed to be arriving within an hour or two, so I figured it would be better to be running on a full tank before they arrived.

Shortly after Dad left, however, I began to notice the color of the pavement in the parking lot was growing darker. And puddles were forming. And that there was a steady, driving ripple sound on the roof. It was rain. Torrential, pouring, driving rain. Looking at my watch, I surmised that the Moreno family, who was travelling from about an hour away (who adopted Baby J from Russia), probably hadn't left yet, and the Eubanks family (who adopted Shawna and Lindsay from Julia's room) was probably about half-way through a three-hour trek. Not the weather I had hoped they'd be traveling in.

I decided to go into the worship center and say a prayer or two for my friends who were traveling in this crazy weather, as well as for my family and friends back home. When I came back out, Matt (the youth pastor from the 7-3 shift) had dropped by to make sure we were doing well, and I met the other youth pastor who had been working with CM to get me down to Texas, Shawn. As Matt left to get himself some lunch, Dad came back with the Chick-fil-a, which forever changed my standard for fast food.

Thus the waiting continued. Matt eventually came back, as did a few other teens from the night before. After contacting both of the families to see where they were at, I realized the waiting was going to last even longer, due to traffic and weather. That afternoon of waiting taught me to patiently wait, pray, and enjoy where I was and what I was doing while it was happening, and to trust God with whatever experience He intended me to have.

Within an hour, the Eubanks Family arrived, amidst much hugs and hellos, even in the pouring rain. Both of the girls, from when I had last seen them over a year ago, had grown so much. Both were healthy, happy, growing little girls, far beyond my wildest dreams for what I hoped they would become. Naomi (formerly Shawna) was quite the snuggle bug, cuddling with anyone and everyone she could. Hannah (formerly Lindsay), on the other hand, loves her running around and exploring. The Eubanks' three biological children, Sarah, Nathan, and Joseph, clearly love their little sisters and were a joy to meet.

An hour after the Eubanks arrived, Marj dropped in to meet the Eubanks family and the Moreno's, who were on their way. Ashley, Ethan, and Juliana arrived in an hour or so, and the joy continued to build as the Reece's Rainbow population did. We were quite the site for all going in and out of the prayer vigil, but there were few better ways to prove the cause I was advocating for then to have 3 children adopted from that situation sitting right there in the flesh, a living proof of the miracle of adoption.

       I feel the need to caption the photo above. Junie decided she wanted to be a photographer like her new buddy, and luckily momma had a camera on hand that she traded her in place of mine. As you can see, she was clearly trying to copy my intense concentration :D

   Dad, all four of the Ochs (Colvin's the mysterious blue rain boots and coat) And Junie+ camera. Love it. 

After the Moreno's had been around for about a half an hour, me and Dad had to quickly bow out for Mass down the road. Luckily, Marj, Ashley, and Ethan (the Eubanks were heading out when we were) were more than willing to run the table and keep the video running while we were gone. I was beyond grateful for their understanding, support, and willingness to fill in for us.

After braving torrential rain to and back from church, we got back and hung out together with everyone for another 45 minutes or so before Ashley rounded up her crew to head back home, as it was getting pretty dark. I couldn't thank all 3 of these families enough for braving the rain and traffic to come and see me. As I was quoted as saying this summer at the RR reunion, On the Internet we're close friends, in real life we're family. It really has proven to be a true statement :)

After everybody had left, Marj and Ryan were awesome enough to bring us some hot barbeque briscuit to fuel our tired bodies as the prayer vigil was done by then. It was AWESOME. I had hoped to get a real taste of southern food while I was down there, and little did I know there was even more awesome southern home cookin' to come.

Thus a 24 hour period of endurance, love, prayer, advocating, friendship-making, and so many other great things came to an end. It really had been an amazing, powerful, growing experience that I will never forget. I was still excited to get back to the Ochs' house and get some rest though, as tomorrow would bring an awesome opportunity to go with Compass on a Mission Trip around Dallas.

Little did I know the fantastic experiences that awaited.......

An Opportunity Part 3: Of Toddlers and Prayer Vigils

After a great night of solid sleep, I woke up to a gorgeous Friday morning, as well as to the sounds of excitement coming from down the hallway, where the Ochs' two youngsters, Colvin and Georgia, were waking up. After briefly cleaning up, I joined Marj and the two littles out in the playroom. Both were quite excited to have me and “Mr. Tom” (Dad) visiting, and we played trains before going downstairs for breakfast.

 After breakfast, we played in the living room and visited some more. It was a morning well-spent, laughing, playing, sharing stories, and relaxing for a little while before some of the big events of the coming days came into action. 

 After pouring over some scripture for a while in the afternoon, I got ready for the prayer vigil and had a quick dinner with Marj, the kids, and Dad before me and Dad would be off for the prayer vigil. Getting to compass was pretty easy, and we arrived at Compass Center in perfect time.  Things were pretty quiet when we arrived, but one of C.M.'s fellow youth pastors, Matt, was there to welcome us and help us get set up.

 Things were pretty quiet after we set up, and initially it looked like it was going to be a long 24 hours. But by the grace of God, a group of fantastic teens came to keep vigil from 7PM to 3AM, and we quickly got caught up in introducing ourselves and talking for hours. There has only been one other time in my life when have I felt so instantly and warmly welcomed by a group of Christian Teens, and I will never forget how great that feels. They all proved to be such smart, nice, funny, Godly teens. At 1 in the morning, me, Matt, and two other teens guys decided to read scripture and sing praises to our Savior by the light of a few dim lamps. Later, when we all got a little hungry, they even went out at 2 A.M. and got us all a bite to eat. I could already tell they were a great group to be with.

  That night, from 7P.M. Friday to 3A.M. Saturday, God had blessed me with some of the best opportunities to share my story, advocate, and meet fellow Christian Teens. Around 3 A.M. Saturday morning, after C.M. arrived and I got to meet him in-person, I went back to the “green room” behind the stage of the main worship center to catch some sleep. “So far, so good,” I thought to myself. Almost half-way through the prayer vigil, I had already been blessed by so many people, and prayed that God would help the words I had spoken and would speak to be wise, used for His greater glory, and to inspire others to advocate and consider missionary work. All that was left was to persevere and lay it all in His Hands.

An Opportunity Part 2: Departures and Arrivals

The morning of March 8^th, 2012, was a gorgeous sunny morning in New York, and unusually warm for March at that. Me and my dad left home around 11:30 a.m., to make the 2 hour drive to John F. Kennedy Airport, and then make full use of the extra 2 hours before our plane departed at 3:30 in the afternoon. The drive to JFK went off without a hitch, we breezed through Airport Security, and then grabbed some lunch while waiting for our flight at our gate.I had done some research into what the weather was going to be like in DFW upon our arrival, and from what the weather channel said, things weren't looking good. Thus it was with little surprise that they announced our flight would be delayed an hour due to all planes in and out of DFW being grounded until the worst of the weather had passed.

After boarding at 4 P.M., we sat on the runway for another hour before take-off. At that point, I had thought that the flight would be totally smooth sailing. I was wrong. Mild turbulence buffeted us the whole way, and at one point we even saw a lightning storm in the clouds a few miles out. While I couldn't say the weather was trying to get in our way, I would say it was an early sign of God telling me I'd have to trust Him more every step of this trip. Being as I had never been on a bumpy flight in my life, I did. Furthermore, I was reminded even as I watched a lightning storm on one side of the plane, but saw a deep red sunset on the other side, that there is beauty, safety and glory, even in the storm.


We landed safely and quickly got into DFW Airport. We stopped for a minute to grab a bite to eat, and then caught a shuttle bus to go get our rental car. After getting our car, we began the journey to the Ochs' house. We quickly realized, however, that the DFW airport complex was quite large, and that a lot of roads were redirected or closed because of construction. Luckily we found our way out and onto the main highway after a short while and found the Ochs' neighborhood pretty quickly. Marj was waiting for us outside, and met us with hugs and warm welcomes. We went inside and visited for a while before going to bed. That night I was already feeling blessed twofold: 1) in the fact that God had led us to such a wonderful, welcoming family, and 2) that a packet of about 200 brochures, our key hand-out to spread the word about Reece's Rainbow, had arrived the same night as us, after being lost for quite some time in-transit from the printing factory. While it hadn't been without its bumps and trials so far, the trip was already being blessed. For that, I was thankful.

An Opportunity

Figuring out where to pick up after 3 months of being gone from blogging is a tough thing to decide on. So many different stories to tell, Orphans to advocate for, amazing people doing amazing fundraisers......

where to start?

I'm going to start with the story that has taken up the last two months of my life. An amazing one, a crazy one, but a beautiful one.

So here goes.

A wise man once said that God closes some doors so He can open others. While we as humans on one side of the veil see things one way, God sees them in the master-plan, not the narrow view we perceive things from. My life changed forever when I went to Ukraine in December of 2010 to help my parents finish our 3^rd adoption journey. The trip not only gave me a deeper understanding of adoption, but opened my heart to outreach and advocacy for Special Needs, Orphan Care, and Missionary Work. I decided to start Speaking for the Silent shortly thereafter, as a way to advocate and share my passion for Orphans.

 This blog, the opportunities it has given me, and the people I have met through it, have changed my life forever for the better.

But for all of the good and amazing things God worked through me and this blog, I still wanted more. While it is only natural to want to go further and further into something once you've found God's love and your own heart in it, there was one major opportunity I had been hoping for that hadn't come yet: a chance to travel somewhere new to spread God's love and find a deeper understanding of where God might be calling me to work in the Missions field. I'd hear about a trip to one place or another, or a group that was doing something, but either schedule conflicts or money always got in the way of it. I felt like the Israelites in the desert at times, praying for a new call, a new sustaining message from above.


January 30^th, 2012, was a regular day in my life. I was wrapping up schoolwork and got a couple alerts that a lot of friends I had gained through Reece's Rainbow were in an active conversation on the RR Facebook group, and that my name had been mentioned. When I clicked on the conversation and read through it briefly, I came to understand that a mom from the Dallas/Fort Worth Area of Texas was looking for a teen advocate to speak on Orphan Care at her church. This talk, if someone stepped forward, would involve manning a “station” at a 24 hour prayer vigil anticipating the church's spring break mission trip. This mom felt that the message of orphan care and missionary work would tie in well with the trip since much of it would involve reaching out to Sudanese refugees (and their young children) who now lived in Dallas.


My first reaction to this trip was despair. How on earth could I get to Texas? Would my message affect anyone? Would I really do anything that would have a lasting affect? Nevertheless, I went out on a limb, half of me thinking it would fail, the other half of me praying it would work, and asked the mom some questions about the trip and some other details. The mom, whose name was Marj Ochs, said that they could both pay for my plane ticket and host me in their own home. Right there, even though I had been a “doubting Thomas,” God had already moved two of the biggest mountains- the expense of traveling and lodgings. Marj told me she needed to talk more in-depth with her youth pastors, Shawn and C.M., about making this a reality, but once they had cleared the idea and it had been cleared by the other Youth Pastors on staff at the Compass Church Campuses, we could begin planning flights and other important events.

I was extremely blessed in the fact that both of my parents supported me 100% and were willing to pray with me, help me plan, and even have one of them come down with me. I kept the matter among my family and a few confidants before Marj told me it was looking more and more like a reality, and then I began to quietly spread the word about a missionary opportunity I had in the works.


Finally, the week arrived when, on a Tuesday afternoon, Marj told me all the Youth Pastors would meet to finally set things in stone, a definite “Yes” or “No” answer. I prayed, thought hard on it, prayed more, and then waited. When I finally got the courage to ask, it was a “YES!” God had blessed me with both an amazing opportunity and a great group of people working with me in Texas.


The next few weeks flew by with phone interviews, travel plans, and getting hand-out materials and a video presentation together to show at my Prayer Station. On top of that, 3 adoptive families I knew in Texas (besides the Ochs family, who were adopting from Eastern Europe) wanted to meet up with me, either at some middle-point or at their own homes, so we could finally meet in person. With all of these plans and conversations being made, it didn't seem like too long before I was packing my bags and getting ready to go.

.......To Be Continued......

Still Here!

Hey Everybody! Sorry It's been another 3 months since we last posted- alas, life has been crazy, but still FILLED with Orphan Care! Over the next week, I'll be plugging giveaways, sharing what I've been up to, and continuing to SPEAK FOR THE SILENT! I also ask you to continue to pray for our last Silent One of our "Three Musketeers," Ilya P. IF we band together, we CAN find this little dude a family!!!

Talk soon!

Overwhelming Positivity

Since getting back into the blogging groove a little under 2 weeks ago, things have been on the up-and-up here at S4TS. A huge thank-you to 4Girls4Christ over at Rainbow of Hope (formerly John 14:18) for helping us get word about ourselves circulating again so when can move back into what we love doing most: Speaking for the Silent!

First and foremost in the news, BRIGITA HAS A FAMILY!!!!!!! YAY Brigita! Thank you for all who were praying, spreading the word, etc. And thank you Sarah B. for making sure I knew ;)

Now the three S4TS musketeers are down to one- sweet little Ilya P! Plenty of posts about/for this guy coming in the future.

Speaking for the Silent has crossed so many landmarks in just the last two weeks! The Spitz family is
finally home with their precious Gavin! woo hoo! Congrats Spitzes- I am SO looking forward to playing with Gavin and all of his brothers and sisters this summer!

If one family home isn't awesome enough, the Eubanks family passed court! They are so close to being home with our precious Shawna and Lindsay! They have remained so positive and energetic throughout their entire month-long stay, and I give them SO much credit for it. Please pray for them in the coming week. Gotcha Day will be some time mid week, and they desperately hope they can get the girls' passport process complete so they don't have to take their two lovely new daughters out into the freezing cold weather expected the week after this one. Regardless, we could not be more excited for the end of a very long journey to two precious little girls and for the Eubanks' new life as a family of 7 to begin!

In an attempt to fulfill a promise I made almost a month ago, head on over to the Guardian Angel group blog to support their T-shirt fundraiser to help bring home little Rush Gustafson, formerly Mary on RR! The project ends January 31st! So if you read this post before then, PLEASE hop on over and help out!

While the full story is a post for another time, I am beyond happy to say I got to reunite with The Hinz family down in Washington D.C. a week ago this monday. So great to see all of them, and beyond surreal to think that this time last year, two of the little lovies that brought my family and theirs together were sitting in an orphanage.

Well, while there's still PLENTY of page updates to do, followers to gain, and orphans to advocate for, we're finally getting back into the swing of things here at Speaking for the Silent! And all the while, we being surrounded by Overwhelming Positivity.