Junior High Mission Trip - Day Two : Paint and Pier
Today we started off at the Kline's house doing some painting. We were able to paint about a room and a half and also felt blessed to be able to get to spend some "quality time" with Lindsay and Noah. We talked Lindsay into doing almost two whole walls yellow; which really made our day! After lunch at the Kline's, we headed back to church to clean up. We cleaned up as quickly as possible and headed to Navy Pier for dinner. We spent a little time at Navy Pier looking around and then ate some dinner at Bubba Gump's Restaurant. The food was great, but the company was better! After dinner, we tried to walk off all the food we ate by walking down the Pier; where we spent some time watching a singing group, and a juggler. We stopped on the end of the Pier where the clouds were so blue and the sky so clear that you could see the lighthouse perfectly. If you've never noticed the lighthouse at Navy Pier, you should take a walk there on a quiet day; it wasn't that quiet this evening, but the light guiding all of the ships in is still a moment not to be missed!
During the devotions last night, our youth were all given "homework assignments"; to pick another member of the group that they didn't know that well and ask them some little-known things about themself. We had some interesting answers this evening about "what color crayon" our students would be given the choice or "what they'd change their name to" or even "if they could only bring 2 things to a deserted island and both of the items had to be non-survival items what would they bring?"
Tonight's devotions concentrated on fears, Jesus calming the storm, and being a little serious. For tomorrow, our youth will hopefully pick another member of the group and find out one "more serious" thing about them! God's blessings to you!
Friday, July 06, 2007
Thursday, July 05, 2007
Junior High Mission Trip Day 1: Hospice, Morningstar and the Jesus Rock
Well, day one of our Junior High Trip kept us all VERY busy! We started our day meeting at church and dropping off all of our stuff. By 9:00 we were all at the Greater Joliet Hospice and ready to roll! We spent our morning (in the heat) doing a number of jobs at Hospice, including picking up trash along the side of the road, picking large rocks out of all of their flowerbeds and driving the golf cart to transport the rocks and trash to the dumpsters. While that may not seem all that exciting, we did find one rock (AKA: The Jesus Rock) that is the size of a small planet that Jenny managed to dig out and is now among our youth room props. We had our usual chaos when one of the "brothers R" drove off in the golf cart leaving the other one hanging from his fingertips off the end of the cart; but everyone came away completely unscathed. (Luckily)
After Hospice, we immediately went to Morningstar Mission where we served lunch. A few of us "shucked corn" and did dishes while the rest got to serve the lunch. The youth did a great job serving the lunch - hairnets and all- and managed to feed all of the people that came through this afternoon.
We took a short break this afternoon to visit the Splashstation and cool off a little.
After Splashstation, we met up with Dave J. - who is our "project manager" for the sandbox that the youth will be building at Lambsfold on Saturday. We all (all 11 of us) went to Menard's to shop for the lumber, hardware, paint and sand that we need for this project on Saturday. One of the youth remarked that she had "never spent so much time at a hardware store in her WHOLE life!" Needless to say, ANYTHING can be an adventure!
After Menard's we headed to the Rey's house where we had dinner, followed by serenading one of our fave youth group members who had her wisdom teeth out today (NC) and stopped at Dairy Queen on our way back to church.
Devotions tonight focused on Matthew 28:20, and how Jesus' love for us is infinite. We talked about being at Hospice; we saw some families there that were clearly "saying goodbye" to loved ones; Hospice is a beautiful place, and for us, it reminds us of the even more beautiful future that God has for us in Heaven. We talked about Morningstar and how not everyone that we served was happy to see us. We talked about servanthood and how we are tasked with living each day to the best of our abilities; to serve HIM. Please pray for our group as we paint tomorrow and build a sandbox on Saturday!
Wednesday, July 04, 2007
Junior High Mission Jamboree 2007: The Fun Begins Tomorrow!
Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'
The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.' " - Matthew 25:34-40
Sunday, June 24, 2007
Pre-Visit to Mission Trip at CSM in New York
This particular blog is for the students going on the CSM trip to New York this summer and their parents. Dave and Jack and I pre-visited our site for the mission trip this past week. While I don't have the exact schedule yet, it looks like many of our projects will be similar to the projects that we did last year. We visited one of the soup kitchens that we'll be going to in NYC. This soup kitchen included serving a meal and also delivering a message from one of the pastors/staff that works there; in order to spread the gospel of Christ to others while they're eating. This particular soup kitchen seemed very similar to one of the ones we worked at last year (benedryl day), and it serviced an area of New York City that primarily ministered to the Hispanic and Asian population.
Some things to note: I will not be taking benedryl on this trip, so I will be fully functional to help at that soup kitchen. (Although I think RK would vouch that I was still okay last year) We will be walking to this location, and it is not that close to our housing location, so you will need SHOES!
Another project: we were told about a project that we will be doing that is a little like "Food and Friends"; which is one of the ones we did last year in DC - this is food delivery service for those with different types of serious/terminal illnesses. It sounded like we would primarily be doing the delivery part of this project (and all of these deliveries are on foot).
Prayer Tour: We are doing a prayer tour again (we did one in DC). The NYC tour is a full-one day thing. We will split in half and one group will do this Monday, the other group on Tuesday. (You will be given your group assignment on Sunday night of the trip - don't fret; we will all be together for VBS on Wed, Thurs and Fri) For the prayer tour you will WALK and take the subway to a variety of NYC locations; including Ground Zero and you will walk the Brooklyn Bridge. This day is about 7 miles of walking, but not all at once, so pace yourselves! Also, you will be asked (in some cases) to pray aloud for different groups/people. I told CSM that many of the older students in our group would most likely not kick and scream if asked to pray out loud for the group; so please do whatever they ask of you - remember that prayer is for GOD and he doesn't care if it's perfect. You will not be allowed to take ANY PICTURES on the prayer tour - they really want you to focus only on praying. If we are at spots you want to photograph, we'll go back on Friday and Saturday.
VBS: We took the subway to our location for VBS. We will be at a Baptist church for VBS. This church is truly in a poverty-stricken neighborhood. (It is equal to where we were last year) There are NO paid staff at this church - this church is volunteer run. We will have an inside location - the room is about 1/2 the size of Hoffman Hall, but does have some dividers if we want to split up into groups for some of our activities. We will also be able to use their parking lot across the street for outside games with the kids.
Some things to note:
1. We are the ONLY group this summer that will do VBS for the children in this neighborhood - CSM had hoped to get another group to commit for a week, but has been unsuccessful in doing so. For this reason, we will be doing VBS Monday through FRIDAY. We will still do some "fun stuff" in the morning on Friday, but will need to be back for VBS from 2-5 on Friday.
2. There is a group from PA that came to VBS last year and brought a portable b-ball hoop for this church, but they have almost NO outside toys (balls, etc) We will need to bring our own stuff - I plan to ship some stuff, but need EVERYONE to look for balls, jump ropes, bubbles, etc...anything that's in your garage that you don't use anymore! We need this stuff ASAP!
Devotions/De-briefing:
1. I was told that some of the de-briefings are done at parks, but very few of them are in "tourist" spots; as most of these places are too crowded.
2. There will be a debriefing at Coney Island - you will need a ONE-PIECE SWIM SUIT - I know many of you guys will be mad and change your mind when you get there and want to swim, so PLLLEEEAAASSEE just break down and buy a $9 one-piece suit!
Showers/Lights Out:
1. The week that we will be at CSM is pretty unusual - the church we'll be staying at is an Episcopal church and they have a HUGE kids program the week we're there. The usual spots where CSM kids stay will be taken up, and we are supposedly going to be moved into 2 classrooms on the 3rd floor of the church - I saw both of these rooms and they are similar to our Sunday School rooms.
2. You WILL need air mattresses or you'll be pretty uncomfortable. There are no beds!
3. They are also considering moving our food to the 3rd floor kitchen so we would have our own "3rd floor suite" (the same kind of setup as last year) because they don't want us getting in the way of the other program. This would be a GOOD THING for us....we were told that they DO USUALLY ENFORCE the LIGHTS OUT IN A BIG WAY - they actually have a staff member who comes into the rooms at 11 and physically turns out the lights and makes sure everyone's in bed.
4. At CSM in NYC, the usual policy is 10 am quiet time and 10:30 or 11:00 lights out. If we are able to have our own "3rd floor suite" (because we are the only CSM group staying at the church that week - the other group at CSM that week is staying in a different location) then they are considering (as long as we could be quiet as mice) letting us police ourselves, but we will be playing that by ear. I wanted to let all of you know this info, because I think on most trips you guys have had more leeway than it sounds like they allow and I want you all to be prepared in the event that they DO decide to enforce their rules. Again, you guys know I don't like to be the "bad guy" more than I have to , so read this in the spirit of cooperation!!!
5. Showers - with this other group being there the same week we are, we are going to be assigned specific shower times for our group. We will only be allowed to take showers during the assigned time, and we have to live with that (so bring your antibacterial gel, AJZ) In each shower room, there are 3 showers, (there's a guys shower room and a girls shower room) so if we can all be quick, we should be okay. Just a quick note; they don't let us shower after 10 pm, due to light's out and quiet time. If everything goes okay, we should only have go downstairs in the church to shower and to get out.
6. Please note - they did say that they don't enforce lights out on Friday night, and we will be the ONLY group at the church on Saturday night, so we'll do our senior night/closing worship that night, and you can stay up on Saturday night too, because I don't care how crabby you are on the airplane on Sunday.
Meals:
1. They took us to a Malaysian restaurant that we'll be eating at - it was lots like Chinese food and even Jack liked it! The food will be really similar to last year. Most of the restaurants we'll be going to will be in the neighborhood near the church where we're staying, because our VBS runs each day from 2-5 pm, and they don't want us on the subway too late.
CLOTHING - PLEASE READ:
1. We will be riding the subway/public transit to many of our locations and walking TONS more than last year. You will need GOOD GYM SHOES! I'm not kidding about this!
2. THEY DO NOT ALLOW FLIP FLOPS ANYWHERE except inside our housing site.
3. YOU NEED TO HAVE GYM SHOES WITH BACKS -they don't allow "slides" (shoes without backs)
4. CAPRIS - they are checking shorts length, so if you don't have knee-length shorts, be prepared to wear pants or capris all week - some of our work sites REQUIRE long pants so bring 1-2 pairs!
5. THEY LINE US ALL UP EVERY DAY before we leave for our sites and make sure our shorts are over our knees, and they also have everyone bend down to make sure their shirts cover their backs/and all possible skin in the back (and you know what I mean by this). They also have everyone reach up to make sure there are no bare midriffs, showing. They WILL send you back to change, so please don't put our group in this situation.
5. We want to fit in as much as possible - Dave and Jack and I experienced people on the subway looking at us funny like we didn't belong - I want you guys to wear your old soccer shirts, school play shirts, youth group t-shirts, old t-shirts and long shorts, that kind of stuff . PLEASSSEEEE... no Abercrombie, Hollister, that kind of thing...we want to blend in where we are. Leave your good stuff at home; anybody you're trying to make a good impression on during the mission trip will have to get that good impression because of what's in your heart; not what's on your back.
SNACKS/MUNCHIES/EXTRAS:
1. If you have a little fan, PLEASE bring it (and if not, it's probably a good investment at this point) - The church that we're staying at is not air-conditioned - I think we're going to need quite a few of these little fans. I will bring some power strips so we can plug in quite a few in our rooms.
2. Expensive stuff - (like ipods and phones) - leave as much of this stuff at home - the church is not locked during the day and people can walk into our rooms.
3. Cell phones - NO ONE will be carrying these to worksites except your group leader. I am again asking that no one use their phones during the day - only in the evening when we are done with the day's activities. I don't want to have to take phones away, so please just follow the rules. I think we were more than fair last year giving everyone time to return phone calls.
4. Munchies - I know everyone was hungry late at night last year - in preparation for this year; I am looking for mission trippers that have family/close friends of the family ALREADY IN NEW YORK that would be willing to do our group a favor. Please call me if you can help. It is my intention to send money to a friend of our group; in order to pre-purchase enough snacks and water/drinks/liquid gold to last us for a while - if we could get this stuff dropped off for us the first day of the trip, we wouldn't have to worry about going to the store, as there isn't anything very convenient to walk to. (There are little drug stores, but nothing like Wal-mart)
Thanks so much for reading and I am planning to have a last minute kids/parents meeting on Sunday, July 8th after the 8:30 am service - that is the day we're getting commissioned in church ; please plan to be there! God bless and let me know if you have further questions! Love, HCR
Saturday, July 29, 2006
Last Full Day Together - Second to Last Blog!
Happy Saturday, everyone! We're getting to the home stretch of our trip, and we all had a lot of fun today! We all got up early, ate breakfast here at the church and took the vans to Union Station to park. From there we got on the metro and went to Alexandria, Virginia for our boat cruise. In usual "Heather-fashion" we weren't completely sure how long it would take to get there, since we had to go on the train and the bus. We sent some runners (mostly our boys) to book down from the bus stop to the harbor, to hold the boat for us because we made it in the nick of time. The boat cruise was a great way to end our week because it was very relaxing and we got to marvel at God's creation along the way; we saw some beautiful scenery and got to look at the monuments one last time. There have been many moments this week where we were able to hear the voice of God, but being on that boat, decompressing a little, and being "a little part of history" on the Potomac River was a way to really hear HIS voice. We disembarked the boat in Georgetown, where we spent the rest of the afternoon shopping and eating. One of the highlights this afternoon was when Jim bought food for a man that was asking for money or food on the street outside where we were heading. After a hot, relaxing afternoon in Georgetown, we took the bus back to Union Station and headed back to the church. We plan to take the kids to dinner in a little while, followed by our 'senior night' devotions; we will talk in depth about our week, and honor and express our love for our graduated seniors. This will be our last "actual blog" of the trip; I will write once more on Monday, after we get home. For those who have been reading and praying for us, I thank you. Your comments, your prayers, your well-wishes have all meant so much to the youth group, the chaperones and to me. An experience like this doesn't happen by accident; we are thankful for the support of our congregation, the staunch support of our blog readers, and the love of our parents and families. And, last but not least, I would like to thank the parents of the youth who have participated in this trip; thank you for your faith in sending your youth on a trip like this; you should be so proud of all your children accomplished this week. They learned to be brave, they loved God through loving others, they protected and cared for one another, they cared for children who really needed them and they come back to you tomorrow; maybe with a better understanding of homelessness, but most assuredly with a little pain in their hearts for the children they are leaving here, and a little hope for how they are able to change the future of God's kingdom through the good they do for others. You have the most wonderful kids in your lives (I'm sure I don't need to tell you that!) and they are all such blessings in the lives of those who we serve and in the lives of all they touch. God bless you. We love you and we'll see you tomorrow.
Friday, July 28, 2006
Friday's Blog - It's Almost Not Even Friday Anymore!
Okay, so I'm posting the blog pretty late tonight...we started today being dropped off by our AWESOME van drivers Jeff and Jim at the Holocaust Museum. (They met us later) The Holocaust museum was very moving, and many of our group was a little teary-eyed going through it. I guess it's good that a group of kids who have worked so hard this week, had a little time to release some of that emotion before coming home. The end of the exhibit brings you to a HALL OF REMEMBRANCE, where many of us lit candles and prayed for survivors and victims of the Holocaust. We then walked over to the museum of American History, where Matt was VERY DISAPPOINTED to find out that the Disney exhibit was really just one Dumbo statue and one giant teacup. We liked some of the other exhibits however, especially the Jim Henson exhibit, where he had some of his original muppets, and some of his well known muppets. Of the original muppets, Kermit was the only one who became immortal; some of his original muppets "didn't make the cut" because they were a little scary! After eating lunch at the museum, some of our group went to the Washington Monument and some went to the National Archives to see the Declaration of Independence, Bill of Rights, Constitution and Magna Carta. We all met up at dinner time at Union Station, where we ate and then some of our group came back to the church, and the rest of us went back to once again see the Lincoln Memorial, the World War II memorial, and the Washington Monument. We took some pictures, and we just got back to the church a little while ago. Tomorrow it's on to the boat cruise from Alexandria to Georgetown! God bless; see you all soon!
Thursday, July 27, 2006
Last Day of Work, Skits, and Leaving Vacation Bible School
Well, today we made it through our last day of work; early this morning one of our groups went to the Third Street Prayer Breakfast (the group that hasn't gone yet) and the other group went to Food for Friends; an organization that prepares and delivers meals for people with life challenging illnesses (primarily HIV, and Lou Gehrig's disease and other debilitating diseases) The highlights for those at Third Street were meeting some really neat people, singing "Our God is an Awesome God" with Eric, the song leader, learning about the Vietnam War from a Vet, and cooking in the kitchen and hearing the life story of one of the cooks. The highlights for my group were packaging food into bags to prepare them for delivery, and working with another group to put food into bags, as well as delivering food to homes. After lunch, we all met up at Vacation Bible School at the park for the last time. According to Nancy, our resident amateur meteorologist, it was about 120 degrees out today, so it was a lovely warm day for VBS. When you see our pictures of the trip, we are just so glad that you won't be able to smell each and every one of us through the photos! We went to get the kids for the last time, sang with them, lead them in Bible study, did a craft and played at the park. After snack it was time to take them home, which I know was very difficult for our kids; many of the little ones had asked if we would be coming back again and they had to answer them honestly that we would not be returning. They received lots of hugs, loves and smiles from these kids and got really attached to them! After leaving VBS, we went on the Urban Plunge - a team adventure where we did a little scavenger hunt around Adams Morgan - a really diverse, cool neighborhood in DC. We ate dinner in 2 groups ; our group ate at an Irish restaurant, and the other group ate at a burger joint. Some of our kids bought dinner for a homeless gentleman that we met, which made us all really proud! At the end of our day, we met for closing debriefing at the Senate fountain; which is right on the side of the Capitol building, and has a really cool view. We did "musical skits" that depicted what we enjoyed most this week; Jim's group sang Sanctuary, Sandy's group did a rendition of "Popular" from the musical Wicked with lyrics switched up to be about followers of Christ, Jeff's group did a HILARIOUS rendition of "Little Bunny Foo Foo" with the words changed to be about homelessness, and my group did a 3 part skit showing our love for our CSM leaders, where AJ lead a stunning rendition of the "Banana Song" that one of our leaders taught us this week. We returned home to devotions and evaluations. The kids are looking forward to sleeping in a little tomorrow; the heat has really taken it's toll this week. We are going to the Holocaust Museum and the Museum of American History tomorrow; I imagine that this will be an emotional day for our group. We miss all of you and are praying for families back home - God bless you and keep you this evening! Love, Heather and the FPJ Youth
