Dutilh Student Ministry

Our team has arrived and is settling in at First Baptist Church of Waldorf! We are excited and ready for a week of service with this church during their mission’s week. 

This morning we joined First Baptist’s youth group for small group Bible study time and fellowship. 

A part of our group with members of the church went out into the neighborhoods by the church to invite people to Vacation Bible school and offer to pray for them. It was a great way to work on being more comfortable praying! 

We had a group taking water out to a community in Nanjemoy, MD where the houses are not connected to running water. This ministry was organized through Lifestyles of Maryland. 

Tody we split off and half our group headed to the Catherine Foundation. Ms. Amy started by sharing what services they provide. The Catherine Foundation provides five different types of services to pregnant women. They offer medical services like ultrasounds or pregnancy tests, material assistance like baby clothes, education (free classes), community outreach, and they spread the Gospel.   

The other half of the group went to Berry Elementary School where we are serving this week. It is such a blessing to be able to work with a public school, even with the behind the scenes work. Today we helped sort out many many packages with items for the next school year, along with tearing down old bulletin boards from the previous year.

Our group came back to the Catherine Foundation in the afternoon to finish up the power washing job. We stripped paint and cleaned walls in order to prep for another church to come in and paint the building. It is always encouraging to be a part of many churches working together!

Tonight for dinner Pastor Randy and First Baptist of Waldorf treated the team to Raising Canes. Cranberry Township does not have Raising Canes so it was exciting for the students to try a new fast food spot. We are so grateful to have a host church that encourages us! 

This morning we took a group of Dutilh students and First Baptist students out to prayer walk together. We split up into groups and walked the neighborhood offering prayer. We also invited families to Vacation Bible School and we had two kids sign up! Afterward, we spent a few minutes playing on the playground. 

This morning, the other half of the group went back to Berry Elementary. We opened all the packages and made bags for the teachers with the items purchased for them.

We are so grateful for the hospitality of First Baptist of Waldorf for hosting us this week. This afternoon some of our students stayed at the church to help out with various projects around the church. We set up the stage for VBS, moved around some storage areas, and cleaned the outside playground area. Here are some of the kids prepping the stage. 

Last night, we took a trip to Point Lookout State Park for our debrief and worship time. We sat on the beach and spent time worshiping together. We got to see a beautiful sunset and be in the stillness of God’s creation! 

On Wednesday morning, we went back over to Berry Elementary School to complete some final projects. We washed the cafeteria tables, moved furniture and boxes, and cleaned the desks in all the 5th grade classrooms. We really focused on giving 100% of our effort to God in all the tasks we did. 

Wednesday afternoon the other half of our group prayer walked with First Baptist of Waldorf’s youth group. We were able to grow a lot in our confidence praying and talking to people this week! 

On Thursday we spent time walking the National Mall. The kids enjoyed seeing the WW2 Memorial and taking cool pictures at the Washington monument. 

We enjoyed our time at David’s Tent so much we decided to go back into the city and experience it late at night! We got there around midnight and spent time intentionally praying over each other. We left (at 1:30 am!) feeling encouraged and ready to continue to grow in our faith at home.