Cleveland Mission Trip #1

Well we took off for our Junior High mission trip early on Sunday morning, July 8th.  We got off on the road and had an uneventful trip which is always the kind of drive you want for mission trips.  Once we arrived, we parked our cargo van at the Nehemiah Mission, ate lunch at McDonald's and then headed down to watch the Cleveland Indians take on the Tampa Bay Rays.  It was a beautiful day for a game considering just how hot it was this past week.  The cold front moved through upper Ohio and made it really pleasant.  Thank you God!  I was dreading the heat and praying that it would cool off.

At the Indians game the Junior Highers had more fun socializing rather than actually watching the game!  Sounds like most high school football games I've been to.  Unfortunately the Indians played a stellar game except for the 9th inning.  They allowed the Rays to catch up and pass them by 2 runs.  Then the Indians couldn't rally enough to push the game into extra innings.

After that we headed off to Panini's Bar and Grill which has a classic sandwich that is as tall as it is wide, and piled high with sauerkraut and french fries.  A nice cultural experience that made the taste buds smile!

We headed back to the Nehemiah Mission and got ourselves situated for VBS.  The teens did a great job in setting up the decorations, organizing the plan for the next day, and getting excited.  When it was lights out it appeared that we had the wrong adults with the wrong teens.  I had to bark at the boys because they would not settle down, be quiet and go to sleep.  But the girls, of whom really wanted to sleep, were kept up by their adult leaders who were gabbing away like college dorm buddies.  They had to be asked politely to quiet down because others were needing to get up early the next day.

On Monday we began the day wondering what our first day was going to look like.  About 12-15 kids showed up and we dove into the Vacation Bible School.  Being the first day it was a little chaotic.  Our teens did their best as our plans morphed throughout the day. We did story time, songs, crafts, games and snacks with all of the kids.  We had about 12 girls as well as 4 boys show up for the VBS.  They seemed to have a lot of fun and enjoy spending time with our teens throughout the day.

For dinner we had an amazing Mexican Fiesta!  Delicious tacos, burritos, rice, and crapes.  The teens really dug into their meal.

We took some time after dinner to go over our devotions on the first chapter of 1 John.  Then we made a plan for the next day.  Since we have more of our teens than the actual VBS kids we will be sending out a group of our teens on a demolition project for the day tomorrow.  If we have a lot more kid show up for VBS then we can call these teens back to help us.  But we shall see as we are coming to understand what it means to be flexible and adapt.

After that, we went out for ice cream at the Sweet Moses.  One scoop on a waffle cone looked like a gallon of ice cream.  The boys were daring me to get the "Eiffel Tower" which included 10 scoops of ice cream for a mere $29.00.  The scoops at this place were the size of a softball.  I declined.

Now that we are back at the mission the teens are settling down playing Frisbee outside until people started getting hurt. Now they are inside playing card games before bed.  The moms have continued their flashback to the college days by getting a big Uecher game going.

All is well!