OUR DESIRE IS TO SEE YOUNG ADULTS TRANSFORMED INTO

THE CHRISTIAN LEADERS OF TOMORROW.

““We are offering students an undistracted year of growth, exploration, and direction in a Biblical setting. This is accomplished through discipleship, travel, college classes, and biblical learning. We are building foundations that will stand the test of time for our students’ lives. Once the foundations are set, we begin to see incredible growth that cannot be experienced in a traditional college setting.””
— Josh Bialik (PYB Director)
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It’s been a busy couple of days prepping for the community event! We have been building escape rooms and getting to know the pastors and their families here. Pray for Spirit Lake Reservation with us— & that there would be a great turnout for tomorrow’s event. PS: follow our Instagram and Facebook stories to see our escape room progress 😃
Team Africa arrived safely to Spirit Lake Reservation last night! Over these next couple of days we will be helping prep for their community escape room event. The goal of this event is to connect with locals and help the local churches deepen their connection to the community. 🙌🏻 Pray for creativity and productivity as we put escape rooms together. #pyb201920
We welcomed snow to Ellendale last week and are making the best of it! Photo cred 📸 @kiawuthier
As we prepare for our next Reservation trip in just 4 days— here are some extra (mostly just silly) photos to enjoy from our last one to Pine Ridge! #pyb201920
In five days Team Africa will leave for their trip to Spirit Lake Reservation! 🙌🏻 This will be the first time Pack Your Bags is working at this specific Reservation and we are excited for these new opportunities! Pray with us— that God would use our testimonies to touch hearts and our hands to serve joyfully. #pyb201920
Since we value living a holistic lifestyle— spiritually, mentally, and physically, we are required at least three workouts every week! 🏃🏽‍♂️ One of our staff members was a CrossFit coach for many years so it’s been great having him head up our fitness classes and workouts (Thanks Jon!). It’s amazing to see the students become stronger, healthier, and more confident! 💪🏽
Yesterday we made the final preparations for the Harvest Festival and passed flyers out around the Reservation. Today at the Festival we got to help with hayrides, archery, zip line, bounce houses, food, and more. Rose and Quince shared their testimonies to the locals who were there. Pray with us that God continues to move in the hearts of those who heard our stories. We can’t believe our trip is almost over and we head back to Trinity tomorrow. Stay tuned tomorrow for more stories from the trip 😌 #pyb201920
Here’s what we did today at Pine Ridge: Fed horses 🐴 Built scaffolding 🏗 Put up a cross for the ministry here 🙌🏻 And.... had our first VBS for the local kids! We loved our time with the children here. They listened so well to Joe’s lesson on Psalms 139:14 (We are fearfully and wonderfully made). What a fulfilling day 🤗
Our first day at the Reservation is complete! 😁 Today we helped clean and organize the inside of the church and deep cleaned the kitchen. We also went to Glory Ranch which is where the annual Harvest Festival is held. To prepare for the festival we hauled 400 cases of water! 🙌🏻 Pastor Gus’s garden needed harvesting so we got to pick veggies and lots and lots of tomatoes. 🍅🥬🌶 We are prepping for the VBS we will be doing tomorrow for the local children. Pray that God speaks through us to whatever needs the children have at this time. We appreciate all of your continued support and prayer alongside of us! #pyb201920
Team Philippines and Team Nepal went on their way to Pine Ridge Reservation today! Pray with us for an amazing week and stay tuned for updates 🙌🏻 #pyb201920
Two of our teams leave on their very first ministry trip of the year in just four days! Team Philippines and Nepal will be heading to Pine Ridge Reservation to work with Pastor Gus Craven for one week. We will help the church with work projects, any areas of need, and being a part of their annual Harvest Festival. Prayer requests: that many from the community would come to the Harvest Festival and hear about Jesus. Also, that God would use our testimonies to connect with the locals in some way. #countdown
Welcome to another “Where are They Now?” Wednesday! ——————————————————— Meet Rebecca Veer 🤗 2015-16 Alumni “I have always loved traveling and Pack Your Bags truly fostered and grew that love. I have had the opportunity to travel every year since PYB!” Rebecca has since graduated from Trinity Bible College with her Bachelors in Elementary Education and Biblical Studies. She is now working at Learning Rx, a cognitive training center. She works alongside students to help develop processing and memory retention skills. #pybtbcalumni
Here’s a peak into our classroom this week 🤓 We are taking a ministry training course: Community Health Evangelism. A big thanks to the instructors Dwight and Heather McConnell who travelled from Springfield, Missouri to educate us. This course’s purpose is to equip people to minister to the whole need of a person, not solely the spiritual or physical but rather a holistic approach. We are so grateful for these opportunities to learn and prepare for a lifetime of ministering to others, whether that’s in the workplace or the missions field. 🙌🏻
Today Pastor Gus visited us and spoke about Jesus and serving Him selflessly. Two of our teams will be going to the Reservation Gus pastors at in just two weeks! We appreciate Gus traveling all the way to his alma mater to help prepare us for this trip. We also celebrated Jacob’s birthday today!!! 👏
Today we had special guests— the founding directors of Pack Your Bags, Jordy and Elizabeth Nunez! Since it is “Where are They Now?” Wednesday anyways, let’s take a peek into where the Nunez’s are! They started PYB almost 7 years ago and eventually transitioned to Vice President of College Relations (Jordy) and Director of Marketing (Elizabeth). Now they are itinerating missionaries to Estonia, where less than 2% are believing Christians. They plan to leave for their new home in Tallinn, Estonia, within the next year. If you would like to support them in any way, we encourage you to reach out to them.
The new Pack Your Bags shirts are here! ———————————————————————— Colors available: Mustard and Olive Sizes Available: S,M,L,XL,2XL,3XL Price: $12 on site $15 shipped How to pay: Message us or contact April Crowe (Cash, Apple Pay, Venmo, PayPal, Cash app, checks) Order before they are gone!
Today starts our First Aid certification classes AND cooking lessons! Every one of our students will be First Aid certified and also learn some cooking / baking skills. We are all about those practical life skills! 👍🏼
Today Trinity Bible College did Serve Our City, so our students got to serve in various jobs all over Ellendale. It’s a blessing to serve and such a good reminder to continue serving exactly where we are at!
It’s another “Where are They Now?” Wednesday! ———————————————————————Meet Michelle Wadholm! 2016-17 Pack Your Bags Alumni “Pack Your Bags helped me become more confident in who I am and who God made me to be. It helped me see the confirmation of my calling into missions on my life.” ———————————————————————— Michelle will graduate this spring from Trinity with a Bachelors in Intercultural Studies. During her time at Trinity she was the Student Body President and also travelled on Summer Teams. Recently married, she and her husband spent 6 weeks in India this past summer and are looking forward to the next steps God has for them! #PYBtbcAlumni
We have arrived safely back to Ellendale after our team building trip! From team challenges, canoe racing, seaweed covered shoes, swimming in freezing waters, high ropes, facing our fears and encouraging one another — it was an amazing time. We visited The Geographical Center of North America on our way home (aka: took a quick photo because it was raining 😆) and have nothing but great memories from this weekend together as a team. 🙌🏻