Silent Auction: go to local businesses and ask if there’s anything that they can donate for as a prize. Tell them what it’s for.

Dessert/Cake Auction: get a group of 10 or so people to bake some amazing desserts and have a night where you auction them off and eat that night as their dessert.

Car Detailing: the good old fashion method of car washes works ok but what if you don’t have access to a water source? Or what if you just want to be environmentally friendly, and save the hundreds of gallons of water used up at a car wash? Your group can clean just the interiors of cars, and either charge a flat fee or ask for donations. You’ll need plenty of paper towels, but reusable cloths are a better way to go if you’re trying to be environmentally conscious. You can buy big boxes of them at club stores or auto supply stores. You’ll also need glass cleaner, as well as cleaners and protectants for vinyl and leather. Also have plenty of trash bags on hand to throw away Hold your detailing event in a shady area, if you can, since it will be hotter inside cars than if you were washing the outsides. If there’s an electrical outlet nearby, ask a group member to bring a heavy duty vacuum to use on the car’s carpets and upholstery. An upholstery cleaner might also be a good idea, if you want to clean up spills and stains for an extra charge. Throw in an inexpensive air freshener, and your customers can drive away in clean, fresh cars while you earn money for your cause. Or if you want, you can wash and detail the car!

Babysitting Night: offer to babysit for a couple so they can go out. You can host it at your church that the parents can just drop the kids off at the church and you can babysit them.

Location Night: plan a night and decorate the place (like a church gym) and serve food from that area too. For example, if you’re going to Peru, decorate like they would in Peru and research what kind of food they eat and cook it. You can charge a cover fee (ex. tickets are $10 each) to make sure that you cover the costs you will spend but put baskets out on each table so that people can donate extra as well.

Baby and Kids Resale: Babies and children outgrow clothing and toys so quickly, often before they are worn out. Host a baby and kids’ resale as your next fundraiser. You will need a large building with a cafeteria or gymnasium, such as a school or a church. You will need access to long tables. Clothing racks would be helpful, but not necessary. Set a day to have the sale, preferably a Saturday or Sunday to maximize shoppers. You could rent the tables to parents looking to sell their children’s clothing, toys, and accessories they are no longer using. You could rent the tables for ten to twenty dollars a piece. Charge an entry fee to shoppers. A dollar would be appropriate. Have a monitored room that the table renters can place their large items in for sale, such as high chairs and strollers. Mark each item so you know who gets the money when it sells. Have a concession stand with drinks and food for your hungry shoppers and moms. People will look forward to this sale every year.

“Butler” Auction: Auction yourselves off to be a “butler” or servant for a day to people in your church. Butler responsibilities could be yard work, babysitting, fetch their lunch, etc. Set rules in advance of what the butler is and isn’t responsible for. Identify what time the butler day starts and stops. It would be up to each employer if they are going to institute a dress code or not. Maybe their butler has to wear a silly hat or a Mickey Mouse t-shirt.

Yard Run: Set up a schedule in your churches foyer or get someone to call around to different people in your church to see if they want your group to rake leaves for them (or mow the lawn…shovel snow…depending on what season you’re in) Even paint fences. Go and do whatever yard work they want and then they will pay you an “honorarium” (aka whatever they feel like). It’s best if you schedule a couple houses in one day so you can “run” to the next place.

For more ideas, you can visit websites such as Fundraiser Insight or Fundraising Idea Center

Just click on these links and have the resources at your fingertips!

Curriculum’s:

For some good curriculum’s click here.

Spanish: There is some good info on Spanish curriculum’s here.

Some info from Christian Book dog com on 2010 VBS material here.

Crafts:
Info from Making Friends dot com is here.
Info from Craft Caboose here.
Some good stuff from Teacher Help here.
Good coloring pages can be found here.

Games:
Some great resources on games can be found here and here.

If you have any questions please let me know, thanks again for going to Costa Rica, we are super excited to have you.

If you have any further questions please don’t hesitate to call me at 206-550-2594, or email at phil@missionadventures.net

Thanks and have a great day.

YWAM Mission Adventures
c/o Costa Rica Trip
100 W. 35th St. Suite C
National City CA 91950

Please write YWAM on all check’s (cheques for Canadians) and include the application/registration forms.

This address is the Mission Adventures Network office where all finances will go through for the upcoming 2010 summer. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me, Phil at 206-550-2594 or email at phil@missionadventures.net

You will probably wake up early the first day, before the 7:00 am breakfast bell. You will probably walk around and check out the campus, in all it’s beauty and glory. Might I recommend that before you wander off and look around that you get yourself a good, hot cup of Costa Rican coffee, it is yummy and also cultural. You don’t want to offend anyone, just kidding.

At 7 the breakfast bell will ring and you will go line up with your group and pray for the meal and the day. The food, mmmm the food. It is so good. I have been to a lot of countries and the food at the YWAM locations in Costa Rica is some of the best. Make sure you eat what you take and if you are not sure if you will like it or not then just take a little, there will always be enough for seconds. After breakfast some of you will help to clean up and some of you will get your Bible, bring your Bible, and go and spend focussed time with Jesus. After all, this is why we came, to love Jesus and love Costa Ricans more.

At approx. 9 your first session will start. We will have a time of prayer, singing and teaching. You will also get a briefing on Costa Rican culture and history. You will find out what is good to do, what you should not do, what the guidelines are for your time there and that you should never flush the toilet paper, that’s right, the paper goes in the garbage.

After your morning worship time you will have a short break and then be sent off on the amazing prayer race. This is where you get to go into town, split up into groups and do a prayer race/scavenger hunt. Picture the Amazing race mixed with prayer and no video cameras. All the teams that have done this love it. It gets you into the city, gets you talking to the locals, eating the fruit, shopping and immerses you into the culture.

After the prayer race you come back to the base just in time for dinner, once again yummy food. After dinner you have a break to clean up, nap, or play soccer and then it is time for the evening session. All the sessions have a time of singing, or another form of worship, teaching and prayer. They are designed to prepare you for your time in Costa Rica, but also for your life as you walk with Jesus.

After this, it is bed. You will be ready for bed by this time, it is a long day. I am sure you will have a great sleep mixed with happy dreams and lots of snoring, haha.

See you next week.

I am going to be posting a series of posts on a day in the life of a Mission Adventures program. I am not going to give you to much information so as not to ruin the surprises, but for your reading enjoyment here are some trailers, text trailers not video ones, of what an MA day will look like for you.

We are going to start this series with your arrival day. When you arrive in the country you will be totally exhausted from the travel. If you have never traveled internationally let me let you in on a little secret. For some reason sitting on your bum and doing nothing for hours and hours as you cross oceans and continents is extremely exhausting. Even if you spend your whole time sleeping you will still arrive in the airport feeling like trash.

This feeling of exhaustion will soon go away as you step off the plane into the blazing heat and humidity of Costa Rica. While you walk through the airport towards immigration drop into the gift store and feel free to reach your hand into the free sample chocolate covered coffee beans and grab a snack to munch on till you get to customs. When you get to immigration and customs you will line up in a zig zag, like lining up at a ride at the fair, and wait till you are called. Immigration will take your passport and give you a cool stamp and welcome you to Costa Rica. Make sure to use your Spanish, say hola instead of hi.

After you get your bag you will be greeted by one of the lovely and beautiful Costa Rica staff and brought to a bus/van and taken to the YWAM location in Heredia, which is approx. 30 minutes away.

When you get to the campus it will probably be late and you will be super, super excited. Why will you be super, super excited? Cause you are in Costa Rica baby. You will be taken to the registration table, get your nametag and sign in. During this time there will most likely be snacks provided by the YWAM staff for your munching enjoyment. After this the staff will show you to your room and you can feel free to get your bed, brush your teeth and fade off to sleep realizing that in the morning you will be waking up in Central America.

Please take some time, even a minute or so to thank Jesus for safe travels and that you are in Costa Rica.

It is our hope that we can interact together on this blog and get to know each other a bit more before we embark on this life changing journey. Please feel free to ask anything you may be curious  of, even if it seems silly or bizzar and we will answer to the best of our knowledge, or we will just make something up that sounds good.

We hope you enjoy.

Since the beginning it has been our desire to eventually open a University of the Nations campus so that we could offer all the secondary schools which are not available in Central America. For many Central Americans the cost to travel and difficulty obtaining visas makes it almost impossible for them to go to other countries to study. A campus right in the heart of Central America would put it within $100 and a one day bus ride for most students. We currently have capacity for teams of up to 50 people and hope to be able to house as many as 200 in the near futur.