We're back... don't lose your momentum!

Hey everyone, we've been back from our mission trip for a week now. I hope you are thinking about how the trip impacted your faith, how you met and served God in Minnesota and how you can continue spending time with God and serving him here in Michigan.

Every year Youthworks, through their magazine Reverb (you ALL got one as you left ....) lets us know about their 1K challenge to kickstart some service/community minded ministry in our area. I'd like to challenge you all to think about this seriously. Would you like to start a once a month lunch/sandwich ministry in Detroit? (We made a big impact in the few we handed out in June, we could make it a once a month bigger project, maybe even get more youth involved!) Would you like to start and run a community garden in the back of our church? (thoughts are already forming on this with some adults from the church) Is there something else you can think of?

Give it some thought... let me know, and I'll help you fill out the paperwork to submit to Youthworks/Reverb.

For more information on the 1K challenge, click here

Thursday Evening, last day of work!

 Really? That’s all? We’re just getting started! We’re not ready to go yet. What do you mean it’s time to leave already?

What a wonderfully blessed week we’ve had. These 7 young middle schoolers started out a little apprehensive about talking with new people, old people, impoverished people, people not quite like them, and turned into brave, bold and empowered middle schoolers. I wouldn’t be surprised if you don’t recognize them when you see them on Sunday.

This group pushed themselves to do things they wouldn’t normally do. Even though there wasn’t a lot  of physical labor involved this week, there was still work! It takes work to make new friends, speak to new people, do repetitive tasks with joy and step out of your comfort zone. 

Last days are always busy. The ‘wicked crew was at UGM again, this time helping to unload a big delivery, serving lunch, and cleaning up. But they also had the opportunity to sit with some people and talk and get to know them. For some, this was a real challenge.

The ‘seek’ group was back at the nursing home. We weeded a bit in the morning. (Seriously, we CAN’T do a mission trip without SOME weeding,)  then jumped right in talking with residents, painting nails, exercised with them and made some brownies. After lunch we visited and talked (Nancy played several games of cribbage) and really got to know many of the residents. Even though we’d only been there two days, it was really difficult to leave.

There was a community cookout for dinner, then packing and the traditional Youthworks Thursday evening foot washing activity tonight. This is one of the best parts of these trips. Where Jeff and I get to pray for our students. I can’t wait.

Tomorrow it’s off to Clearwater Forest camp to meet up with the high schooler for some water activities, high ropes course and visiting with Elise Russell. (Sadly, Rick and the kids won’t be there- they are actually in Michigan!! Bad timing) After dinner we’re heading for Eau Claire for the night, and Saturday we’ll be home. I’m looking forward to meeting up with the other group and sharing stories of the week.

Don’t forget, we’ll be sharing AFTER church on Sunday (not during the service like we usually do.) I hope you can join us.

Thank you for your prayers. 

Third Day of Work

Wow! Are we busy! I’m not even able to write this until 10:00 PM, during our church group time.  Sorry- no time for pictures....

The “wicked” crew is telling me about their day… They went to the United Gospel Mission, the place where the “seek” crew had been the past few days. It sounds as if their experience was a little different than ours. First, they didn’t peel potatoes! They pulled pork! After lunch they sorted envelopes. They didn’t have too long to visit with people, but they are hoping they’ll be able to tomorrow.

The “seek” crew went to a large nursing home high up a hill in Duluth. We hung out and visited with some residents EVERYONE did an awesome job with conversations. One woman even wanted Luke to stay at the home with her.  Later Brenna and Lindsey helped with morning exercises. Before lunch we visited some more, some of us just talked and some played cards. After lunch, Nancy, Brenna and Lindsey went to help in the Alzheimer’s wing, a real challenge but the girls jumped right in. The boys went to another long-term care wing and played bingo.  Though I think we worked hard today, challenged in uncomfortable situations, the youth really thought they had a fun day!

After showers we went to a park for pizza dinner, and swimming or volleyball at Point Park. About 15 minutes after dinner, a big breeze came up and the temperature dropped about 15 degrees. That didn’t deter some kids from swimming anyway. We were supposed to stay at the beach but it looked as if a storm was coming up so we played it safe and came back to the church for club time.

These days always go by so fast on mission trips. We plan for so many months and think about the trip for so long, and then it goes by in a flash! We’re already ¾ done with our service days! We only have one more day of service… It’s really hard to believe.

Your prayers are reaching us…. Thank you. 

2nd Work Day

Whew- busy day for everyone! (And I hear it was super busy in Red Lake too!) God sure is present in Duluth.

The “seek” crew was back at the Gospel Mission helping to prepare food. (Putting together sandwiches for lunch and cutting up chicken for dinner, and of course….. more potatoes!! We served more people during lunch today and had lots of time to visit with guests in the afternoon before we got picked up. We are sorry to have to leave this place, we’ve really enjoyed serving here, but we’re looking forward to serving at the rehab center tomorrow.

The “wicked” crew worked on that deck more today, painting, painting and more painting. Of course, another hike was included! This time before lunch. Duluth sure is pretty. They also were able to visit Enger Tower, a 5-story stone observation tower on top of a big hill. What a view from there!

After showers today everyone from Youthworks went to United Gospel Mission for dinner. We ate and interacted for a very short time with the other guests there. We also took some time to visit a memorial close by dedicated to 3 African-American men who were lynched in Duluth in the 1920s. That was a pretty moving experience for all of us.

When we came back from the city we had a long free time before the evening Club activities started. The youth (OK, and me….) used this time to play and interact with kids from other churches.

Tomorrow both crews go to new ministry sites. “Wicked” to United Gospel Mission and “seek” to the Chris Jensen Rehab Center.

Thanks again for your prayers….

First Work Day!

We had a great first day of work! The “wicked” crew (Jeff, Zach, Alex and some people from Minneapolis) spent the day working at the home of Emily, a single mom with a 5-year-old girl. They swept the deck, then sanded the deck, caulked all around and smoothed it out. They had an “epic” lunch break, according to Jeff. They walked down to a park for lunch and enjoyed the beautiful weather. Then after lunch while waiting for their wood filler to dry, Adam, the man from One Roof Community Housing ,took them on a hike in a park along a river with a series of waterfalls.  Adam also told them a lot about the history of Duluth. Once they got back to the site, they started priming the deck. They didn’t have a chance to finish, so they will finish tomorrow.

When I saw them after their work day, before their showers, they had a bit of primer on them, but they were also smiling, they had a good day!

The ‘seek’ crew (Nancy, Nathan, Brenna, Lindsey, Luke and Louie) got dropped off at Union Gospel Mission and were immediately put to work peeling potatoes and quartering potatoes. It only took ½ hour before we had our first casualty (Lindsey’s finger was cut with the potato peeler, but it was fixed with a band-aid.) After the potatoes were finished, we had a chance to visit with the guests of the mission. People were very nice, and the kids did well interacting with strangers. A few were a little shy, not talking too much, but they quickly relaxed and some genuine conversations were taking place.  We ate our lunches early, then, set up a table with donated bakery items from a local food store. We stocked the table with breads and rolls and sweets that guests could take home after they ate lunch. Once we finished stocking, it was time to serve the guests for about an hour. Once the guests left, we cleaned up (wiping tables, sweeping and mopping) It was more food preparation. We peeled and cut cucumbers (no accidents this time!) and peppers.  You’ll hear more about the Union Gospel Mission when we share more about our trip Sunday after church.  

Tonight’s dinner was tacos/nachos/burritos. The staff here had a challenge. They called it “Messy Mexican Monday” they challenged people to eat their dinner without using their hands. Jeff, Luke and Louie accepted the challenge! I’m not thinking we are going to institute this at home…. It got pretty messy!

Tonight we’re going to Canal Park to hang out a while…. More tomorrow.

Thanks again for your prayers….

Day Two- Travel, Leisure and Arrive at Youthworks!!

We left Marquette bright and early this morning (stopping at Starbucks of course for Nancy)

This morning’s car ride was much quieter than yesterday’s. Most of the morning the kids slept or read in the car while Jeff and I listened to worship music. We arrived in Duluth at about 12:00 central time, and began looking for a place to eat lunch. The lead car’s GPS (not ours) told them there was a McDonalds not far, but it sure seemed far by the time we got there!

After lunch we said our good-byes to the high schoolers as they went on their way to Red Lake Reservation (check out their blog at genevaseniorhighs.blogspot.com - Mike will be posting…)

We had about 3 hours before we could check in at our Youthworks site. Someone suggested a movie, and there just happened to be a showing of Despicable Me 2 in about 5 minutes, about ½ mile away! So off we went.

We all enjoyed the movie, but we still had about an hour to kill so we went to Canal Park for a bit and walked around.

Once we checked in at our Youthworks site, we met the staff: Mike, a recent graduate who would like a job in Youth Ministry; his wife Rachel, beginning graduate studies in the fall; Macy, a college student and Starbucks fan (I like her already!) and Kelly a student at Colorado State University.  The staff is warm and friendly.

As soon as we unpacked and set up our sleeping areas the girls, Brenna and Lindsey began playing cards with girls from another church while we waited for dinner.

After dinner was adult leader orientation and youth orientation. In the adult leader orientation, we learned how our church groups were split up and what sites we’d be going to. At this orientation, I was reminded that all mission trips aren’t ideal. That we don’t always get to do what we want to do or have the experiences that we want to have, but that God will be able to use us no matter what. I  found out that our group was not split evenly (or close to it) but into a group with one leader and 5 youth and no other churches working with us, and another group of one leader and 2 youth - working with another church. Part of the reason I like mission trips is so our youth get to meet other kids, but for 5 of our youth, they’re going to have to meet and hang out with other kids not during work time. The good news is we actually are traveling to our work sites with another church (they are going to drop us off…) so I guess that’s something.

Our crews are broken up into “Seek” - Nancy, Brenna, Lindsey, Nathan, Luke and Louie and “Wicked”- Jeff, Zach and Alex (along with some people from another church).  “Seek” will be hanging out Monday and Tuesday at Union Gospel Mission, primarily known as a soup kitchen and food shelf. Wednesday and Thursday we’ll be at Chris Jensen Rehabilitation Center, a nursing home and short-term rehab center. “Wicked” will be working Monday and Tuesday with One Roof Community Housing, which is an organization to promote and sustain home ownership in Duluth. On Wednesday and Thursday, they’ll be at the Union Gospel Mission.

I can’t wait to see what God has in store for us this week. Thank you for your continued prayers!!