INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL

Great Missenden, England

     Our puppet and clown team was one of two teams from the US invited to join the ministry of Lighthouse 2003. Lighthouse is a holiday week for children run by Christians from all the local churches (Baptists, Anglicans, Methodists, and Roman Catholics) in the Great Missenden and Prestwood area of Buckinghamshire, England. This event is similar to our VBS in structure but takes place in an open field that can house 10 to 12 large circus tents. The children attend all day bringing their lunches and rotate by age groups from tent activity to tent activity. Our puppet and clown team was stationed in the drama tent to emphasize the Bible message for the day with puppetry and clowning. We performed six shows a day - a different show each day for five days - for an attendance of 1,500 people each day. It was one blessed time in ministry for the Lord!
     To learn more about Lighthouse click on Lighthouse Missenden or view one of their sister sites now in Hazlemere, Lighthouse Hazlemere.

El Salvador

     For approximately seven years since 1998, the children's pastor at Cathedral of the Cross Church has taken a children's mission team each summer to work with King's Castle in El Salvador. This is a week of ministering to the children and families of unreached villages for Jesus. For several years the puppet and clown team has been able to send some of our members to minister. It's a blessed time serving the Lord!

Honduras

     For the summer of 2005, the children's mission team from Cathedral of the Cross went to Honduras to work with King's Castle. Several of the puppet and clown team members had the opportunity to go with the children's mission team. King's Castle provided the puppets and stage for any willing puppeteer and the clowns brought their own costumes. It never gets old seeing the faces of the children light up when the puppets and clowns minister God's love.

Jamaica

     The children and youth from Cathedral of the Cross Church combined forces on this mission trip to Jamaica in 2001. A special VBS week was planned for the children along side an interactive training workshop for children's workers. Puppets and clowns were featured along with human videos, dance, singing, games, object lessons, and lots of fun activities.

Scotland

     Members of the puppet team were invited to minister at a Friday night youth service at Struthers Memorial Church in Greenock in May of 2005. A puppetry workshop for students, teachers, and any interested individuals was also held at Cedars School of Excellence, a Christian school in Greenock, by our puppet team members. It was a wonderful experience to be able to share the love and usefulness of puppetry to others as we fellowshipped with fellow believers across the great pond!

Mexico

     One of our clown members in 2005 heard the cry from a fellow church member, "Come and minister to our kids" and headed with her family to Mexico. Miss Lollipop was able to minister the love of Jesus to dozens and dozens of children with skits, balloons, illusions, and tons of love.