Skit Guys - The Chair from Tim Schmoyer on Vimeo.
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
Saturday, August 04, 2012
Washington DC #4
Thursday, July 26
Well, Doug and I switched back to our original groups. We started the day out a few minutes early with me running down to get the van so that I could take the teens to the 7-11 right across the street so that they could buy some drinks for the day. The weather report was warning us that it was going to be a very, very hot day. So I wanted to get a head start and make sure the teens had drinks. Unfortunately, our fearless leader caught our attempt to get drinks and said we didn't have time. I grumbled inside my head but did not want to challenge him in front of the kids. So we pressed on! Ironically, we got to our mission site early and had to sit around until the kids started coming. Grumble, grumble.
We headed across town to a ministry call Brighter Day Ministries. It is a kind of day camp / summer school for lower income kids. Now if there was one thing I was beginning to feel as a result of these mission trips, it was that kids are much more challenging to me than working with teens. I am in my element when I am working with teens. I ended up in a room with our leader Brad. He and I tried to entertain a group of kids who were probably 5th-6th graders. They were a very lively bunch. Especially since any of the regular adults running the ministry seemed to disappear for a while as we played games with them. After some time, Brad needed to leave and some other adults at the church came to be with the kids. I took this as an opportunity to go to the other rooms to see how my teenagers were doing with the other age groups. I found one group watching a movie so I settled in and enjoyed about 2 minutes of the movie before I was asleep on the floor. When I finally woke up, I visited some other classrooms. Jennifer was talking with one little boy and invited me over. Once there, she told the kid to speak to me. He looked me square in the eyes and said, "You an oooooold man!". I casually smiled at him and said, "And you're a little punk!" I got a great facial expression out of him because he clearly did not expect that. But I told him I am just teasing him back and moved on!
Many of the kids had an awards banquet the night before. So technically their schooling was done. So there really was not much structure to their time. As a result things started getting a little bonkers. A small fight broke out between some of the older kids and I got to witness first hand how the teachers took care of it. It was real tough love, guilt trip kind of stuff. The kids at fault ended up apologizing to each other and the class so it seemed to end well just as we were getting ready to leave.
For lunch, we stopped at a little Jamaican restaurant. We had a lot of fun eating some spicy chicken.
Now after lunch, we had some time to kill until our next ministry site. So we headed over to the museums and as quick as we could, we took in some of the sights. First, we ran into the National Archives to see all the important documents. But since there was a line and I was with impatient teens, we saw then from across the room over the crowd in line and took off for a gander at some other things. Second, we stopped for about 45 minutes at the National Museum of Natural History. There was so much to see that it just did not do justice to rush through it all. But the few things I was able to stop and look at were amazing. Next we hiked it over to the Air and Space Museum. I got to see the actual Apollo 11. I could not believe how tiny it was. Talk about claustrophobia!
After that, we headed off to our ministry site for the evening. We went to the DC Central Kitchen. This was an amazing ministry. Many restaurants in the area donate leftover food to this mission site. They then take all their donations and make tons of meals out of it. They are a main source of food for many soup kitchens throughout the city. The organization of this place was amazing. For the majority of the time that we were there, we cleaned, pealing and cut collared greens. We had a lot of fun. One of the guys who worked there was wonderful with us. He told us his story of being a well paid cook but not feeling very content with his job. He wanted to do something else that he knew would help people. So he ended up taking on the job here at the DC Central Kitchen. He said as a result, he feels more fulfilled knowing that he is helping to feed the hungry and teach and train them in how to be cooks.
We ended up eating dinner at this site. As we were waiting to eat, our teens broke out into a wonder rendition of Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody. I wish I could have tapped it and put it on YouTube. It was priceless. Then we sang the Benediction as our prayer for our meal. The workers there were loving the attitude and spirit of our teens. We then headed back to our home base.
Friday, July 27
Of course being our last day of ministry, we had to wake up extremely early for our morning site! I had to be up at 5AM! I remember the alarm going off, feeling quite groggy. And then noticing the shape of something on the floor that did not seem right. As I cleared the sleep out of my eyes, I began to notice a very large cockroach staring back at me as if to greet me as the first one up! I tried to move fast with a deathblow, but I did not move quick enough. The roach darted quickly right to my luggage! Ooooooh great! What a way to start the day!
We headed off to an Episcopal Church that has a ministry called Charlie's Place. This was an early morning ministry in which they provide a warm meal and clothes to anyone that needs it. We were right by DuPont Circle which is a popular destination for the homeless. Our teens did a great, great, great job with this ministry also. They dove right in to help serve the meal, give out clothes, and also sitting down and talking with just about all the guests. At this point, I am not even needing to nudge the teens at all. They are attacking the opportunity to minister however they can. It was inspiring to watch.
From there, we had a few minutes between sites so we headed over to the Fredrick Douglass National Memorial Site. We saw a brief film on the life of Frederick Douglass. And we got to hang out at his house. He had a great view from his front porch overlooking all of DC. Austin demonstrated just how steep his front yard was by rolling down the lawn. This was a very funny thing to see as he was going much faster than he expected, with arms and legs flailing.
Our final site was at the Children of Mine Youth Center. We helped with some cleaning in the kitchen, a bunch of weeding in the gardens, and clearing out the tall grass and vines along the perimeter of the fence around the property. The teens did well despite the fact that we were all tired. The lady who runs this mission was very inspirational and passionate about all that happens at Children of Mine. She was enjoyable to just listen to her tell stories and to hear her vision for the future of this mission site.
For dinner we met up with our other team and all ate together at the Old City Cafe of Jerusalem. We ate some of the best Middle Eastern food shoved into a pita. Some of the teens did not like it but I ate it up! We also celebrated Kerri's birthday right after dinner.
For our debrief time, we all headed over to the Washington National Cathedral. It was closed so we did not get to see the inside of it. But the architecture of the outside of the building was breathtaking. As I gawked at the intricacies of the building, our teens started a lively game of Ninja in the yard. After a while of fun, we had a long time to debrief as we spent some time talking about what we were taking home as a result of this mission trip. All of the teens responded very positively. When we got back to our home base, some of us ran down to Rita's for our last shot at the most delicious frozen ice ever!
Saturday, July 28
Well we got up bright and early with every intention of getting back to Loveland at a reasonable time in the late afternoon. But before we hit the road, we had to make a few more stops in DC. All of the teens insisted rather emphatically that the very first stop had to be Starbucks. I tried to convince them that McDonald's coffee is just as good and so much less expensive. But they would not listen to my sage advice. To Starbucks we went.
Then we began the Monument March of Death! I took them on a quick tour of some of the big monuments that happened to be relatively close to each other. We saw the Lincoln Memorial, the Vietnam Memorial, the World War 2 Memorial and the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial. At the WW2 Memorial we were able to take a picture with a veteran and thank him for his service. All of these monuments were amazing and very touching. I was especially moved at the WW2 Memorial. There was a lot of emotion that you could feel in the air at just about all of these sites. And now that the teens are really good and tired, it was time to zoom home!
But part way into the trip, we realized it was going to take longer than we had hoped. We realized that one of the tires on the van was vibrating heavily. So we pulled off into a small town in the middle of nowhere. We found an auto parts store. The guy at the counter recommended a local mechanic that would see us even though all the garages were closed for the weekend. We showed up at his house and over the next couple of hours, he spent time fixing the tire while we ate lunch at the local Sheetz. It ended up being a good place to chill for a while.
Once the tire was fixed we headed off. It took a while, but we finally arrived back in Loveland close to midnight! Although the ride home did not end like I had hoped, overall this entire trip was amazing. Once again, our teens rocked and were not only an inspiration to anyone they came in contact with, but they continue to be an inspiration to me as well. Doug, Ally and Hannah all did a tremendous job helping out as leaders. It was a very memorable trip with teens who were just excited to do mission work together.
Thanks again for the opportunity to serve you and your families. It is an honor to create and share experiences that, for them, hopefully will shape their spiritual lives forever and help them develop into the men and women that God is calling them to be.
Well, Doug and I switched back to our original groups. We started the day out a few minutes early with me running down to get the van so that I could take the teens to the 7-11 right across the street so that they could buy some drinks for the day. The weather report was warning us that it was going to be a very, very hot day. So I wanted to get a head start and make sure the teens had drinks. Unfortunately, our fearless leader caught our attempt to get drinks and said we didn't have time. I grumbled inside my head but did not want to challenge him in front of the kids. So we pressed on! Ironically, we got to our mission site early and had to sit around until the kids started coming. Grumble, grumble.
We headed across town to a ministry call Brighter Day Ministries. It is a kind of day camp / summer school for lower income kids. Now if there was one thing I was beginning to feel as a result of these mission trips, it was that kids are much more challenging to me than working with teens. I am in my element when I am working with teens. I ended up in a room with our leader Brad. He and I tried to entertain a group of kids who were probably 5th-6th graders. They were a very lively bunch. Especially since any of the regular adults running the ministry seemed to disappear for a while as we played games with them. After some time, Brad needed to leave and some other adults at the church came to be with the kids. I took this as an opportunity to go to the other rooms to see how my teenagers were doing with the other age groups. I found one group watching a movie so I settled in and enjoyed about 2 minutes of the movie before I was asleep on the floor. When I finally woke up, I visited some other classrooms. Jennifer was talking with one little boy and invited me over. Once there, she told the kid to speak to me. He looked me square in the eyes and said, "You an oooooold man!". I casually smiled at him and said, "And you're a little punk!" I got a great facial expression out of him because he clearly did not expect that. But I told him I am just teasing him back and moved on!
Many of the kids had an awards banquet the night before. So technically their schooling was done. So there really was not much structure to their time. As a result things started getting a little bonkers. A small fight broke out between some of the older kids and I got to witness first hand how the teachers took care of it. It was real tough love, guilt trip kind of stuff. The kids at fault ended up apologizing to each other and the class so it seemed to end well just as we were getting ready to leave.
For lunch, we stopped at a little Jamaican restaurant. We had a lot of fun eating some spicy chicken.
Now after lunch, we had some time to kill until our next ministry site. So we headed over to the museums and as quick as we could, we took in some of the sights. First, we ran into the National Archives to see all the important documents. But since there was a line and I was with impatient teens, we saw then from across the room over the crowd in line and took off for a gander at some other things. Second, we stopped for about 45 minutes at the National Museum of Natural History. There was so much to see that it just did not do justice to rush through it all. But the few things I was able to stop and look at were amazing. Next we hiked it over to the Air and Space Museum. I got to see the actual Apollo 11. I could not believe how tiny it was. Talk about claustrophobia!
After that, we headed off to our ministry site for the evening. We went to the DC Central Kitchen. This was an amazing ministry. Many restaurants in the area donate leftover food to this mission site. They then take all their donations and make tons of meals out of it. They are a main source of food for many soup kitchens throughout the city. The organization of this place was amazing. For the majority of the time that we were there, we cleaned, pealing and cut collared greens. We had a lot of fun. One of the guys who worked there was wonderful with us. He told us his story of being a well paid cook but not feeling very content with his job. He wanted to do something else that he knew would help people. So he ended up taking on the job here at the DC Central Kitchen. He said as a result, he feels more fulfilled knowing that he is helping to feed the hungry and teach and train them in how to be cooks.
We ended up eating dinner at this site. As we were waiting to eat, our teens broke out into a wonder rendition of Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody. I wish I could have tapped it and put it on YouTube. It was priceless. Then we sang the Benediction as our prayer for our meal. The workers there were loving the attitude and spirit of our teens. We then headed back to our home base.
Friday, July 27
Of course being our last day of ministry, we had to wake up extremely early for our morning site! I had to be up at 5AM! I remember the alarm going off, feeling quite groggy. And then noticing the shape of something on the floor that did not seem right. As I cleared the sleep out of my eyes, I began to notice a very large cockroach staring back at me as if to greet me as the first one up! I tried to move fast with a deathblow, but I did not move quick enough. The roach darted quickly right to my luggage! Ooooooh great! What a way to start the day!
We headed off to an Episcopal Church that has a ministry called Charlie's Place. This was an early morning ministry in which they provide a warm meal and clothes to anyone that needs it. We were right by DuPont Circle which is a popular destination for the homeless. Our teens did a great, great, great job with this ministry also. They dove right in to help serve the meal, give out clothes, and also sitting down and talking with just about all the guests. At this point, I am not even needing to nudge the teens at all. They are attacking the opportunity to minister however they can. It was inspiring to watch.
From there, we had a few minutes between sites so we headed over to the Fredrick Douglass National Memorial Site. We saw a brief film on the life of Frederick Douglass. And we got to hang out at his house. He had a great view from his front porch overlooking all of DC. Austin demonstrated just how steep his front yard was by rolling down the lawn. This was a very funny thing to see as he was going much faster than he expected, with arms and legs flailing.
Our final site was at the Children of Mine Youth Center. We helped with some cleaning in the kitchen, a bunch of weeding in the gardens, and clearing out the tall grass and vines along the perimeter of the fence around the property. The teens did well despite the fact that we were all tired. The lady who runs this mission was very inspirational and passionate about all that happens at Children of Mine. She was enjoyable to just listen to her tell stories and to hear her vision for the future of this mission site.
For dinner we met up with our other team and all ate together at the Old City Cafe of Jerusalem. We ate some of the best Middle Eastern food shoved into a pita. Some of the teens did not like it but I ate it up! We also celebrated Kerri's birthday right after dinner.
For our debrief time, we all headed over to the Washington National Cathedral. It was closed so we did not get to see the inside of it. But the architecture of the outside of the building was breathtaking. As I gawked at the intricacies of the building, our teens started a lively game of Ninja in the yard. After a while of fun, we had a long time to debrief as we spent some time talking about what we were taking home as a result of this mission trip. All of the teens responded very positively. When we got back to our home base, some of us ran down to Rita's for our last shot at the most delicious frozen ice ever!
Saturday, July 28
Well we got up bright and early with every intention of getting back to Loveland at a reasonable time in the late afternoon. But before we hit the road, we had to make a few more stops in DC. All of the teens insisted rather emphatically that the very first stop had to be Starbucks. I tried to convince them that McDonald's coffee is just as good and so much less expensive. But they would not listen to my sage advice. To Starbucks we went.
Then we began the Monument March of Death! I took them on a quick tour of some of the big monuments that happened to be relatively close to each other. We saw the Lincoln Memorial, the Vietnam Memorial, the World War 2 Memorial and the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial. At the WW2 Memorial we were able to take a picture with a veteran and thank him for his service. All of these monuments were amazing and very touching. I was especially moved at the WW2 Memorial. There was a lot of emotion that you could feel in the air at just about all of these sites. And now that the teens are really good and tired, it was time to zoom home!
But part way into the trip, we realized it was going to take longer than we had hoped. We realized that one of the tires on the van was vibrating heavily. So we pulled off into a small town in the middle of nowhere. We found an auto parts store. The guy at the counter recommended a local mechanic that would see us even though all the garages were closed for the weekend. We showed up at his house and over the next couple of hours, he spent time fixing the tire while we ate lunch at the local Sheetz. It ended up being a good place to chill for a while.
Once the tire was fixed we headed off. It took a while, but we finally arrived back in Loveland close to midnight! Although the ride home did not end like I had hoped, overall this entire trip was amazing. Once again, our teens rocked and were not only an inspiration to anyone they came in contact with, but they continue to be an inspiration to me as well. Doug, Ally and Hannah all did a tremendous job helping out as leaders. It was a very memorable trip with teens who were just excited to do mission work together.
Thanks again for the opportunity to serve you and your families. It is an honor to create and share experiences that, for them, hopefully will shape their spiritual lives forever and help them develop into the men and women that God is calling them to be.
Friday, July 27, 2012
Washington DC #3
Tuesday, July 24th
Well today Doug and I switched teams so that we could each get some time with the other teens. So today I was with Zach, Henry, Brian, Kerri, Shayna, Carley, Katie and Aerin. Our first stop was at a ministry that I have already been to with the other group, S.O.M.E. (So Others May Eat.). I had a much different experience this time though. The guy that got on Ryan's case the day before seemed to focus all his attention on me. I got hauled back to the kitchen and had to do dishes. Not the plates and cups stuff, but the big serving containers and all the cooking stuff. Once I would get caught up I would go out into the serving area to cool off and check in with the kids. But the kitchen boss man did not like that. He seemed to find me immediately and order me back to the kitchen. The teens, on the other hand, rocked as they helped to serve breakfast to hundreds of people. Apparently there was a teen from another volunteer group that was serving right along with our teens and she clearly despised our teens. It was humorous to hear our group talk about it afterwards. With the personalities that we have it was good that they did not get confrontational!
For lunch we went to the National Arboretum. This was a beautiful outdoor area. There was also a pond full of what seemed like thousands of fish. Just by throwing in a tiny bit of fish food, the water would disappear under a flood of fish all flopping over themselves trying to get to the food.
Then in the afternoon we had our "Urban Plunge". We broke up the teens into 4 groups of 5 each. Then each team was given an assignment to go into the city and go to a location in which they would try to find out what it is like to be homeless. They needed to find out what a homeless person would do for clothes, food, health care, shelter and such. We also were given 2 dollars each ($10 total for the group) and with that money we had to find diner for ourselves and also share it with someone. If we could get them to talk with us that was a bonus. So my team headed off to Dupont Circle. We began by asking the first person standing outside of the church how to get to the bus we were supposed to take. As is typical with me, that is when the adventure began. He felt that with were we needed to go that was the wrong bus so he took us on a very brisk walk for over a mile to a much better bus stop. He talked our ears off about DC. Once we got to the spot he recommended, as he walked off, a lady overhearing our conversation redirected us to a bus on the other side of the street that she thought would be much faster. So we did that. Once we were on the but though, something did not feel right. Another really nice lady on the bus explained to us we were going the wrong direction so we should take the bus to the end of the route since we were almost there anyhow, and take the train into Dupont Circle. So that is what we did. We navigated the subway system to get to where we needed to go.
Once we were at our park we scoped it out and began talking to people. There was an area that had a bunch of people playing checkers and chess. This provided the opportunity that helped the teens to enter into conversations with others. One older guy in particular, took a liking to our teens and spent some time with them teaching them different levels of checkers. Through those conversations we learned about homelessness and how the city takes care of those who are down and out. This gentleman was not homeless. He was retired. He used to work for the government back in the Kennedy presidency. After that he worked for the US Postal Office until he retired. He also is an elder in a Pentecostal church. He was a really nice guy who enjoyed spending time down at the park as many of the others seemed to know him really well.
For dinner, we finally decided to go to Panera's. We bought a half dozen bagels and a bottled water. We were able to give away the water and one of the bagels but the guy we gave it to did not seem interested in conversation.
We met up with all of the other groups in a grassy area just to the west of the US Capitol. There we heard everyone's stories of what they experienced and learned as a result of their urban plunge.
Wednesday, July 25
Today Doug and I staid with the groups that we had on Tuesday. My group's theme for the day clearly was in caring for the elderly. We started out our morning by going to Model Cities Senior Wellness Center. This was not a residential place. Instead it was kind of like a YMCA for the area Seniors. It was very nice. All our teens jumped right in and mingled with all of the people there. We participated in an aerobics class, some played pool with others, some went to the social hall and had some great conversations with the Seniors hanging out in there. At one point I noticed that there were some from my team that I have not seen in a while. As I wandered the building to see where they landed I found them in the choir room. They were singing songs with some of the people in there. I sat in and just listened. Once they were done, I kindly recommended that they get Zachary in there to sing a solo. Of course, the people were thrilled at the suggestion and so was Austin! Austin went to go get him. At first Zach acted like a deer in the headlights, but then with Austin helping him, they ended up singing a duet and the people loved it! We had a great time here.
For lunch we stopped at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. This was one of the most beautiful churches I have ever seen. It had so much art all throughout the building from architecture to paintings to sculptures to stained glass to murals, etc. etc. etc. The very building commanded a respect and sense of awe as you walked through it and looked at its beauty.
Our afternoon ministry site was at St. Thomas More Medical Center. In the building that we were in many of the residents were undergoing dialysis. There were 5 floors of people. It was our job to go from floor to floor and seek out anyone who would like a visitor. If they said yes, then we would spend some time talking and praying with them. I could tell that this was uncomfortable for our teens. But with a little coaching and prompting, they did really well in approaching people and entering into conversation with them, then concluding their time with prayer. I was able to see at least a few who were deeply touched by our teens. It was a much different experience from our morning site. Here many were suffering and dealing with major health issues. Some felt very isolated or alone. We were able to interact with many of them on a positive level. We concluded our time with our debrief time in Lincoln Park.
We had the evening to ourselves so we took all the teens down to Union Station for dinner. Doug ended up meeting some relatives and I connected with my sister and her family for dinner. Most of us ended up at the Uno Pizzeria. It was nice to catch up with family and allow the teens to have some downtime to hang out and eat some familiar food! Once everyone was done, we met back up and walked down to the U.S. Capitol. The band from the U.S. Marines was playing a concert and we got to hear the tail end of it. It was a great night to hear the music and enjoy our surroundings. After that, we tried to make a quick dash to the Lincoln Memorial but we just couldn't make it happen. Maybe on the day we leave we will try again!
Overall, things have been going really, really well with all of the teens! We are having a great time!
Well today Doug and I switched teams so that we could each get some time with the other teens. So today I was with Zach, Henry, Brian, Kerri, Shayna, Carley, Katie and Aerin. Our first stop was at a ministry that I have already been to with the other group, S.O.M.E. (So Others May Eat.). I had a much different experience this time though. The guy that got on Ryan's case the day before seemed to focus all his attention on me. I got hauled back to the kitchen and had to do dishes. Not the plates and cups stuff, but the big serving containers and all the cooking stuff. Once I would get caught up I would go out into the serving area to cool off and check in with the kids. But the kitchen boss man did not like that. He seemed to find me immediately and order me back to the kitchen. The teens, on the other hand, rocked as they helped to serve breakfast to hundreds of people. Apparently there was a teen from another volunteer group that was serving right along with our teens and she clearly despised our teens. It was humorous to hear our group talk about it afterwards. With the personalities that we have it was good that they did not get confrontational!
For lunch we went to the National Arboretum. This was a beautiful outdoor area. There was also a pond full of what seemed like thousands of fish. Just by throwing in a tiny bit of fish food, the water would disappear under a flood of fish all flopping over themselves trying to get to the food.
Then in the afternoon we had our "Urban Plunge". We broke up the teens into 4 groups of 5 each. Then each team was given an assignment to go into the city and go to a location in which they would try to find out what it is like to be homeless. They needed to find out what a homeless person would do for clothes, food, health care, shelter and such. We also were given 2 dollars each ($10 total for the group) and with that money we had to find diner for ourselves and also share it with someone. If we could get them to talk with us that was a bonus. So my team headed off to Dupont Circle. We began by asking the first person standing outside of the church how to get to the bus we were supposed to take. As is typical with me, that is when the adventure began. He felt that with were we needed to go that was the wrong bus so he took us on a very brisk walk for over a mile to a much better bus stop. He talked our ears off about DC. Once we got to the spot he recommended, as he walked off, a lady overhearing our conversation redirected us to a bus on the other side of the street that she thought would be much faster. So we did that. Once we were on the but though, something did not feel right. Another really nice lady on the bus explained to us we were going the wrong direction so we should take the bus to the end of the route since we were almost there anyhow, and take the train into Dupont Circle. So that is what we did. We navigated the subway system to get to where we needed to go.
Once we were at our park we scoped it out and began talking to people. There was an area that had a bunch of people playing checkers and chess. This provided the opportunity that helped the teens to enter into conversations with others. One older guy in particular, took a liking to our teens and spent some time with them teaching them different levels of checkers. Through those conversations we learned about homelessness and how the city takes care of those who are down and out. This gentleman was not homeless. He was retired. He used to work for the government back in the Kennedy presidency. After that he worked for the US Postal Office until he retired. He also is an elder in a Pentecostal church. He was a really nice guy who enjoyed spending time down at the park as many of the others seemed to know him really well.
For dinner, we finally decided to go to Panera's. We bought a half dozen bagels and a bottled water. We were able to give away the water and one of the bagels but the guy we gave it to did not seem interested in conversation.
We met up with all of the other groups in a grassy area just to the west of the US Capitol. There we heard everyone's stories of what they experienced and learned as a result of their urban plunge.
Wednesday, July 25
Today Doug and I staid with the groups that we had on Tuesday. My group's theme for the day clearly was in caring for the elderly. We started out our morning by going to Model Cities Senior Wellness Center. This was not a residential place. Instead it was kind of like a YMCA for the area Seniors. It was very nice. All our teens jumped right in and mingled with all of the people there. We participated in an aerobics class, some played pool with others, some went to the social hall and had some great conversations with the Seniors hanging out in there. At one point I noticed that there were some from my team that I have not seen in a while. As I wandered the building to see where they landed I found them in the choir room. They were singing songs with some of the people in there. I sat in and just listened. Once they were done, I kindly recommended that they get Zachary in there to sing a solo. Of course, the people were thrilled at the suggestion and so was Austin! Austin went to go get him. At first Zach acted like a deer in the headlights, but then with Austin helping him, they ended up singing a duet and the people loved it! We had a great time here.
For lunch we stopped at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. This was one of the most beautiful churches I have ever seen. It had so much art all throughout the building from architecture to paintings to sculptures to stained glass to murals, etc. etc. etc. The very building commanded a respect and sense of awe as you walked through it and looked at its beauty.
Our afternoon ministry site was at St. Thomas More Medical Center. In the building that we were in many of the residents were undergoing dialysis. There were 5 floors of people. It was our job to go from floor to floor and seek out anyone who would like a visitor. If they said yes, then we would spend some time talking and praying with them. I could tell that this was uncomfortable for our teens. But with a little coaching and prompting, they did really well in approaching people and entering into conversation with them, then concluding their time with prayer. I was able to see at least a few who were deeply touched by our teens. It was a much different experience from our morning site. Here many were suffering and dealing with major health issues. Some felt very isolated or alone. We were able to interact with many of them on a positive level. We concluded our time with our debrief time in Lincoln Park.
We had the evening to ourselves so we took all the teens down to Union Station for dinner. Doug ended up meeting some relatives and I connected with my sister and her family for dinner. Most of us ended up at the Uno Pizzeria. It was nice to catch up with family and allow the teens to have some downtime to hang out and eat some familiar food! Once everyone was done, we met back up and walked down to the U.S. Capitol. The band from the U.S. Marines was playing a concert and we got to hear the tail end of it. It was a great night to hear the music and enjoy our surroundings. After that, we tried to make a quick dash to the Lincoln Memorial but we just couldn't make it happen. Maybe on the day we leave we will try again!
Overall, things have been going really, really well with all of the teens! We are having a great time!
Monday, July 23, 2012
Washington DC Trip #2
Sunday, July 22
The long drive to DC was peasant and peaceful. If you ever have to do a road trip I highly, highly, highly recommend trail mix with a Starbucks Double Shot Vanilla Energy Drink. That combination will keep you very awake and alert for HOURS!
Once we got here we met our fearless leaders. We immediately took off to go pick up Ryan who flew in the day before and was staying at Erin Randall's place. Then we all went out to dinner at a Salvadorian restaurant. It was great! The teens chowed down.
We then hopped in our vans and went on a prayer tour of the DC area. We stopped at several sites that represented the powerful all the way down to the powerless. We prayed over the city in many different spots as well as learning a lot about the history of the DC area and the struggles that this area has had to deal with over the years.
Then it was time to go back and go to bed. We are in very, very tight quarters as far as the bedding situation goes. What is interesting is that I am right up against a tarp that separates the guys area from the girls. This may not seem like a big deal but I have discovered that I have direct access to the "girl talk". This actually scares me. I am not sure I want to accidentally over hear their conversations. I am intentionally loud so that they remember I am right there!
Monday, July 23
Our group got split up into 2 teams. So Doug and I are going to switch off every day so that we can get some time with each one of the teams. Today I had the team that was heading out very, very early. The team consists of Jennifer, Kaitlin, Maria, Hannah, Kristen, Olivia, Ryan and Austin. We had to be up at breakfast at 5:45AM! Then we headed off to a mission site that serves meals to people. We obviously were helping out with breakfast. The mission site was called SOME (So Others May Eat). It was a very well organized mission that does a lot for the community with helping them with any needs they may have in order to restore them to be able to care for themselves. It was quite impressive. Our teens did a great job working hard as we served pancakes and bacon for breakfast.
Now the big story of the day goes to Ryan. Apparently, Ryan tried to lob just one small cherry in the general direction of Austin and one of the more intense kitchen workers just happened to see it and really leaned into him. Unfortunately, I did not happen to be present at just that moment to see Ryan get the hammer. I was bummed. Ryan is such a good boy I just can't imagine him ever getting into any kind of trouble so this was quite unprecedented.
We then came back to our home base. From here we did a prayer walk around the neighborhood. We made some observations of this neighborhood in comparison and contrast to the ones we live in. We also saw a lot of services that help those who are down and out. We ended the walk by being able to pray at the World Vision headquarters. And then we met up with our leader at Ebeneezer's Coffee House. This is a coffee house that was the site of Mark Batterson's first church here in DC. Goggle him if you have not heard of him before. He is a big pastor in the DC area doing a lot of great ministries and missions for this whole area. He has come out with some books that I hear are pretty good as well.
We had a little bit of down time after that so we rested up a little bit and ate our lunches at the church we are living in for the week.
For the afternoon we went to a site called Children of Mine Youth Center. The story goes that the lady who is running it had a tragic situation happen to one of her kids in this neighborhood so instead of it destroying her, she built a youth center that gives them all kinds of stuff to grow: meals, books, clothes, garden, playground, etc. It was amazing to see how she could turn a bad situation into something so good for the community. At first we did not know how to help because she had another whole team of volunteers from another mission that was already helping. So we hung out for a little bit and slowly found areas that we could all pitch in and help with. I noticed that her ceiling fans were not blowing the right way so it was stuffy and muggy in the dining hall. So after switching them all over you could feel the circulation of the cool air in the room so much better. Some of the girls got to help in the kitchen as they prepared dinner for the kids who were coming that evening. Some did yard work. There was plenty of grass to be mowed and weeds to be dealt with.
For dinner we ended up at a Thai restaurant. Needless to say we walked out of there stuffed with all kinds of excellent food in our bellies. We went down to the Jefferson Memorial for a time to gander and then do our debrief for the day. The teens got A LOT out of today. They had a lot of fun but also have already shown a sensitivity to what the Spirit of God is teaching them as a result of all our experiences from the day.
Tomorrow I will be with the other team and we get to sleep in a little bit longer than today so I am going to go take a shower to peal off about 20 layers of sweat that has covered me and sleep well tonight!
The long drive to DC was peasant and peaceful. If you ever have to do a road trip I highly, highly, highly recommend trail mix with a Starbucks Double Shot Vanilla Energy Drink. That combination will keep you very awake and alert for HOURS!
Once we got here we met our fearless leaders. We immediately took off to go pick up Ryan who flew in the day before and was staying at Erin Randall's place. Then we all went out to dinner at a Salvadorian restaurant. It was great! The teens chowed down.
We then hopped in our vans and went on a prayer tour of the DC area. We stopped at several sites that represented the powerful all the way down to the powerless. We prayed over the city in many different spots as well as learning a lot about the history of the DC area and the struggles that this area has had to deal with over the years.
Then it was time to go back and go to bed. We are in very, very tight quarters as far as the bedding situation goes. What is interesting is that I am right up against a tarp that separates the guys area from the girls. This may not seem like a big deal but I have discovered that I have direct access to the "girl talk". This actually scares me. I am not sure I want to accidentally over hear their conversations. I am intentionally loud so that they remember I am right there!
Monday, July 23
Our group got split up into 2 teams. So Doug and I are going to switch off every day so that we can get some time with each one of the teams. Today I had the team that was heading out very, very early. The team consists of Jennifer, Kaitlin, Maria, Hannah, Kristen, Olivia, Ryan and Austin. We had to be up at breakfast at 5:45AM! Then we headed off to a mission site that serves meals to people. We obviously were helping out with breakfast. The mission site was called SOME (So Others May Eat). It was a very well organized mission that does a lot for the community with helping them with any needs they may have in order to restore them to be able to care for themselves. It was quite impressive. Our teens did a great job working hard as we served pancakes and bacon for breakfast.
Now the big story of the day goes to Ryan. Apparently, Ryan tried to lob just one small cherry in the general direction of Austin and one of the more intense kitchen workers just happened to see it and really leaned into him. Unfortunately, I did not happen to be present at just that moment to see Ryan get the hammer. I was bummed. Ryan is such a good boy I just can't imagine him ever getting into any kind of trouble so this was quite unprecedented.
We then came back to our home base. From here we did a prayer walk around the neighborhood. We made some observations of this neighborhood in comparison and contrast to the ones we live in. We also saw a lot of services that help those who are down and out. We ended the walk by being able to pray at the World Vision headquarters. And then we met up with our leader at Ebeneezer's Coffee House. This is a coffee house that was the site of Mark Batterson's first church here in DC. Goggle him if you have not heard of him before. He is a big pastor in the DC area doing a lot of great ministries and missions for this whole area. He has come out with some books that I hear are pretty good as well.
We had a little bit of down time after that so we rested up a little bit and ate our lunches at the church we are living in for the week.
For the afternoon we went to a site called Children of Mine Youth Center. The story goes that the lady who is running it had a tragic situation happen to one of her kids in this neighborhood so instead of it destroying her, she built a youth center that gives them all kinds of stuff to grow: meals, books, clothes, garden, playground, etc. It was amazing to see how she could turn a bad situation into something so good for the community. At first we did not know how to help because she had another whole team of volunteers from another mission that was already helping. So we hung out for a little bit and slowly found areas that we could all pitch in and help with. I noticed that her ceiling fans were not blowing the right way so it was stuffy and muggy in the dining hall. So after switching them all over you could feel the circulation of the cool air in the room so much better. Some of the girls got to help in the kitchen as they prepared dinner for the kids who were coming that evening. Some did yard work. There was plenty of grass to be mowed and weeds to be dealt with.
For dinner we ended up at a Thai restaurant. Needless to say we walked out of there stuffed with all kinds of excellent food in our bellies. We went down to the Jefferson Memorial for a time to gander and then do our debrief for the day. The teens got A LOT out of today. They had a lot of fun but also have already shown a sensitivity to what the Spirit of God is teaching them as a result of all our experiences from the day.
Tomorrow I will be with the other team and we get to sleep in a little bit longer than today so I am going to go take a shower to peal off about 20 layers of sweat that has covered me and sleep well tonight!
Saturday, July 21, 2012
Washington DC Trip #1
Well, it is almost time for our next and final great adventure for the Summer. The Senior Highers are taking off to Washington DC to do a mission trip with the Center for Student Missions. We have worked with this organization on other trips (New York, Chicago and Nashville). They always have done a great job organizing mission trips and giving all of the teens a great experience. I am excited because I have never been to Washington DC before. And on top of that, we have a really, really great team of teens and adults going. I have high expectations that they will all have a phenomenal time together.
So, some things to pray about:
1. Safe travels. Long distances are never fun. I wish teleportation was invented by now but it is not. At least, not yet!
2. Spiritual experiences. Pray that the teens deepen their faith and enrich their relationship with Christ through everything we do.
3. Bonding. Pray that all of the team deepens in their relationships with each other.
4. Processing. As always, I want them to apply all that they learn to their regular life: home, school, youth group. Pray that this trip will impact those areas so that this next school year will be even better as the youth group and their families continues to help shape them spiritually!
5. Sharpness! Pray that I and my leaders stay mentally and spiritually sharp all throughout this trip. Already Doug Ransom has been great with helping to make sure we are remembering everything we need before we go!
6. Weather. Pray that we have good weather. I know it is inevitable that it will be hot. It is the end of July. I just hope it is not horribly hot and muggy! But even if it is, that God gives us strength and patience to accomplish all we need to do!
Thanks!
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Cleveland Mission Trip #3
THURSDAY, JULY 12
We woke up today with a decision that was influenced by "the moms" but of which took very little arm twisting for me to agree. We decided that we would use this day as our last day to do all the mission work we have been involved in and use Friday to go to Cedar Point. That way, we can enjoy the day without having to be worried about driving 4 hours in the dark. Instead we can have fun at Cedar Point, then go crash at the Nehemiah Mission, clean up the whole mission site, then pack up and leave on Saturday morning, arriving at the church in the afternoon. It did not take much for them to convince me that this was a really, really, really good idea.
So we started out our day knowing that this is the last full day of our work.
The VBS team went back to their work site in the morning. We continued the work of painting a lot of the trim on a Spanish UMC church just a few miles down the road. The kids really cleaned up the look and feel of the building. It looked sharper and well landscaped. In the neighborhood it was in, it definitely stood out as a beautiful property, which is exactly what we wanted to do. We were unable to get all of the painting done since the last part required tall extension ladders. You can only get so much done if you want to do it right by cleaning and scraping before painting and making sure everyone stays safe on the ladders.
I had a chance to quickly go to the other site to pick up some tools in one of our other vans. I got to see the roof that the other team has been working on. It was amazing to see how much they accomplished in just 4 days. They completely ripped off the old roofing. Replaced any damaged plywood. And then re-shingled the whole thing! Roofing is tough work but these teens did it like pros and with a great attitude.
The teens that helped with VBS did a great job. If there was one thing that trumped all the other aspects of VBS it was the relationships that were made. Many of the kids that came were recent immigrants from Liberia. There was some tension at the beginning of the week with this group being bullied by the African-America neighborhood kids. But this has been an on-going problem throughout the Summer and the people at the Nehemiah Mission took a "no tolerance" position with it immediately. Our teens made some really great friendships with these neighborhood kids that came all week long. There were lots of hugs at the end of the day.
That evening we took the kids out for dinner and to the beach. We went to a popular local restaurant called MELTS. It had gigantic sandwiches with big sides. The kids had a lot of fun. Hardly anyone could finish everything on their plate. Including me! We got the fried Twinkie dessert and all sung happy birthday to Devin.
After that we went to Huntington Beach and just enjoyed swimming and wrestling in the lake. It was a beautiful night for a sunset and a group picture!
FRIDAY, JULY 12
We took off for Sandusky, Ohio and spent the day at Cedar Point. At first, some of the boys were upset with me because I did not just let everyone loose on the park like they do at King's Island. Instead, I wanted to keep everyone together so we could all hang out together and experience all there is as a group. After about the second ride the pouting stopped and we all had a blast. I have done the "check-in" thing at Cedar Point with other youth groups and it is not fun for the leaders because inevitably there are kids who show up late or "forget" and there is always at least one kid who got separated from his/her buddies and has been wandering the park by themselves. So it was just best to stay all together. At the end of the day I think all agreed it was a good plan. This really ended up being an amazing day for us to do this. We had perfect weather and extremely low crowds. The wait at most of the lines was less than 15 minutes. We got to ride everything that they wanted. Leigh Herrmann almost lost it on the SkyHawk. The concept of this ride is like a giant swing. Lucky for me she held it together but swore never again once the ride came to a halt. We also had a lot of fun watching each of the kids go on the Dragster: 120 MPH, strait up and straight down, 420 feet high. The G-force impact on everyone at the beginning of the ride was always funny to watch as it catches everyone by surprise.
SATURDAY, JULY 13
We woke up and spent a good amount of the morning cleaning up the entire facility so that it was ready to go for the next week's group of mission trippers. A great mystery was also solved. Around Wednesday, we discovered that the Cargo Van keys were missing. I try to be meticulous about making sure I know who has what, and any keys I have are either in my pocket or have a designated spot by my bed. So the missing keys were either connected with me or Leigh. We thoroughly went through ALL of our stuff multiple times and could not find them. I contacted D&L Leasing and had Stacey Mellett pick up their spare keys and bring them down since she was picking up Rachel on Saturday anyhow. It turns out that the keys were under Jackson's bed! Leigh bought something on the night we went out to Crocker Park. She put her keys and phone in a bag of stuff she purchased. When retrieving them, she only pulled out one set of keys and gave the bag to Jackson who then put it by his bed. It was such a relief to figure out what happened and get the keys back! No luck on my phone though. I had to take care of that one once I got home.
Overall, I think the teens had a great, great experience. I loved the adults who came on the trip. They were a lot of fun and added a lot to the whole week. The Nehemiah Mission is doing a great work in Cleveland. I wish I saw even more interest in the big mission organizations showing interest in establishing Cleveland as a mission site.
We woke up today with a decision that was influenced by "the moms" but of which took very little arm twisting for me to agree. We decided that we would use this day as our last day to do all the mission work we have been involved in and use Friday to go to Cedar Point. That way, we can enjoy the day without having to be worried about driving 4 hours in the dark. Instead we can have fun at Cedar Point, then go crash at the Nehemiah Mission, clean up the whole mission site, then pack up and leave on Saturday morning, arriving at the church in the afternoon. It did not take much for them to convince me that this was a really, really, really good idea.
So we started out our day knowing that this is the last full day of our work.
The VBS team went back to their work site in the morning. We continued the work of painting a lot of the trim on a Spanish UMC church just a few miles down the road. The kids really cleaned up the look and feel of the building. It looked sharper and well landscaped. In the neighborhood it was in, it definitely stood out as a beautiful property, which is exactly what we wanted to do. We were unable to get all of the painting done since the last part required tall extension ladders. You can only get so much done if you want to do it right by cleaning and scraping before painting and making sure everyone stays safe on the ladders.
I had a chance to quickly go to the other site to pick up some tools in one of our other vans. I got to see the roof that the other team has been working on. It was amazing to see how much they accomplished in just 4 days. They completely ripped off the old roofing. Replaced any damaged plywood. And then re-shingled the whole thing! Roofing is tough work but these teens did it like pros and with a great attitude.
The teens that helped with VBS did a great job. If there was one thing that trumped all the other aspects of VBS it was the relationships that were made. Many of the kids that came were recent immigrants from Liberia. There was some tension at the beginning of the week with this group being bullied by the African-America neighborhood kids. But this has been an on-going problem throughout the Summer and the people at the Nehemiah Mission took a "no tolerance" position with it immediately. Our teens made some really great friendships with these neighborhood kids that came all week long. There were lots of hugs at the end of the day.
That evening we took the kids out for dinner and to the beach. We went to a popular local restaurant called MELTS. It had gigantic sandwiches with big sides. The kids had a lot of fun. Hardly anyone could finish everything on their plate. Including me! We got the fried Twinkie dessert and all sung happy birthday to Devin.
After that we went to Huntington Beach and just enjoyed swimming and wrestling in the lake. It was a beautiful night for a sunset and a group picture!
FRIDAY, JULY 12
We took off for Sandusky, Ohio and spent the day at Cedar Point. At first, some of the boys were upset with me because I did not just let everyone loose on the park like they do at King's Island. Instead, I wanted to keep everyone together so we could all hang out together and experience all there is as a group. After about the second ride the pouting stopped and we all had a blast. I have done the "check-in" thing at Cedar Point with other youth groups and it is not fun for the leaders because inevitably there are kids who show up late or "forget" and there is always at least one kid who got separated from his/her buddies and has been wandering the park by themselves. So it was just best to stay all together. At the end of the day I think all agreed it was a good plan. This really ended up being an amazing day for us to do this. We had perfect weather and extremely low crowds. The wait at most of the lines was less than 15 minutes. We got to ride everything that they wanted. Leigh Herrmann almost lost it on the SkyHawk. The concept of this ride is like a giant swing. Lucky for me she held it together but swore never again once the ride came to a halt. We also had a lot of fun watching each of the kids go on the Dragster: 120 MPH, strait up and straight down, 420 feet high. The G-force impact on everyone at the beginning of the ride was always funny to watch as it catches everyone by surprise.
SATURDAY, JULY 13
We woke up and spent a good amount of the morning cleaning up the entire facility so that it was ready to go for the next week's group of mission trippers. A great mystery was also solved. Around Wednesday, we discovered that the Cargo Van keys were missing. I try to be meticulous about making sure I know who has what, and any keys I have are either in my pocket or have a designated spot by my bed. So the missing keys were either connected with me or Leigh. We thoroughly went through ALL of our stuff multiple times and could not find them. I contacted D&L Leasing and had Stacey Mellett pick up their spare keys and bring them down since she was picking up Rachel on Saturday anyhow. It turns out that the keys were under Jackson's bed! Leigh bought something on the night we went out to Crocker Park. She put her keys and phone in a bag of stuff she purchased. When retrieving them, she only pulled out one set of keys and gave the bag to Jackson who then put it by his bed. It was such a relief to figure out what happened and get the keys back! No luck on my phone though. I had to take care of that one once I got home.
Overall, I think the teens had a great, great experience. I loved the adults who came on the trip. They were a lot of fun and added a lot to the whole week. The Nehemiah Mission is doing a great work in Cleveland. I wish I saw even more interest in the big mission organizations showing interest in establishing Cleveland as a mission site.
Thursday, July 12, 2012
Cleveland Mission Trip #2
Tuesday, July 10th
Well the past 2 days have had some interesting moments! Tuesday began with the team being broken up into two groups. Team 1 went to a work site all day to work on a garage roof that is really bad. I sent a group of boys to do this job because, now that we know what to expect for VBS, we only need just a few of them to help with the handful of boys who are attending. They went to the work site with Scott Arnold and according to him they worked hard and had a great experience.
The other group spent the morning at a new work site. It is a Spanish United Methodist Church with a very old building. Much of the trim and highlights to the outside of the building are in desperate need of a new coat of paint. So we are landscaping, painting and trimming trees all around the property. The teens were dying to get paintbrushes in their hands and attack the job. They had fun once they were let loose on the building.
A little before noon we headed back to the mission site to prepare lunch for the VBS crowd and get ready for bible school! We start out doing our VBS songs. Then I read the Bible story as some of the teens act it out. The kids are split up into 3 teams and they rotate through their stations for the rest of the afternoon. We are discovering with these kids that well-defined teams with organized stations and time limits on when to switch are hard boundaries to follow. Some of the kids just want to do crafts and only crafts. Some would like to socialize and dance and laugh at each other the whole time. Others really like just playing games. The teens are learning the frustration of what it feels like to heard cats! But overall, they are having a good experience and building relationships with the kids we are hear to minister to.
On a lighter side, I discovered that some of the boys are dealing with some serious chaffing. I told them to use Gold Bond. They looked at me with quizzical looks not sure what I was talking about. I tossed it to them. They figured it out. Then they came back with the kind of joy you only see on a person who has lived a hard life only to discover for the very first time that Jesus loves them. Chaffing be gone!
On the frustrating side, at a certain point in the afternoon when we had a little bit of down time, I crashed on a couch in the dining hall area. I woke up and realized I did not have my phone on me. I remembered plugging it into my computer up by the sound board so it could charge. When I went up there to get it, it was gone. I spent a good amount of time retracing all my steps, going through all my laundry, looking in every single possible place it could have possibly fallen or hidden from my sight. I could not find it anywhere. My stress level maxed out. It is amazing how lost we feel without a phone of all things. But we have turned our phones into so much more than just a phone. And the kicker is that I JUST got this phone 3 weeks ago at Ichthus.
On the serious side, as we were having our debrief time in the evening, there was an accident right outside of our building involving a motorcycle going strait that plowed into a car making a left turn. The teens wanted to toss their Bibles aside and run outside to see what was going on. I put the brakes on that really quick. Instead we said a prayer, continued with the debrief and sent them to their rooms. They were able to catch a glimpse of the accident scene but only from the windows. It was a shocking reminder about how fragile life can be and in a moments notice so much can change.
On the funny side, for our evening down time, we took off to Crocker Park. This is a huge outdoor mall area in Westlake. It is a really fun place to go just to walk around outside and hit some stores. Unfortunately, the boys discovered the limited edition of Dark Berry Mountain Dew which they bought cases of and drank profusely until it was time to go to bed. I was about to blow a gasket at their continual chatter and laughing at farts. Just then, the one young man sleeping directly beside me, made some smart-mouthed comment that he could easily take me in wrestling. At that point my skin turned green and the gamma rays took over. I pounced on Braden and put him in a hold to the point where he felt like a pretzel. He begged and whined to be let lose. All the boys were shining the cell phones to see what was going on. Braden no longer mocks me in my wrestling skills.
Overall, it was a good day with just some minor frustrations with the thought that my phone got stolen. I will deal with that the next day.
Wednesday, July 11
Today started out similar to yesterday. One group working on the roof of a garage. The other group was working on the church property that needed some painting and landscaping. It is turning into one of those jobs where once you think you got it all done, you look and see so much more we can be doing. So a lot more landscaping and painting occurred throughout the morning.
We came back for VBS even more determined to bring some more structure and organization to the day. We had a great day. The kids did some great crafts. We talked and did skits on True Power, focusing on the story of the temptation of Jesus. We taught the kids link tag and "Honey If You Love Me Won't You Please, Please Smile!" They had a lot of fun. The structure is still a little chaotic just because of the nature of the kids we are working with. I think we are learning to accept that Epiphany VBS is slightly different when you try to bring it to an inner-city neighborhood. To be fair though, I am definitely seeing some friendships blossoming between our teens and the neighborhoods teenagers and kids. So I think our teens are learning how to adapt and change from moment to moment.
Once I hit our early afternoon down-time, I headed off to a Verizon store to see what I could do. As is with anything of this nature, it took much longer than it should have, but we eventually figured it all out. 3 weeks ago I also bought insurance on the phone. I was approved to be able to get a replacement phone! Woo-hoo! I knew I bought the insurance plan. It just took a while to figure out who the 3rd party company was that I had my policy with.
In the evening I had my father come and talk to the teens. He brought my niece who just got into town from Arizona. The twins were happy to see their cousin. Dad did a great job challenging the teens to live their lives according to their faith. The teens were amused at the apparent similarities between my dad and I.
In our debrief time later on in the evening, we have been going through the letter of 1 John. We look at one chapter a night and apply it to what we are experiencing. The teens have been doing a great job of reading God's Word and talking it out in how it applies to us right now. They have been doing great. Although I will say, I am not allowing any highly-caffeinated, outrageously-sugary drinks right before bed. They already sound quiet so I hope to get a good night sleep tonight and a new phone in the morning. So I apologize if any of you have been trying to call or text me. If my phone texted you back in the past 24 hours let me know because it wasn't me! I will be back up and running no later than 10:30AM. I just need to pick it up and charge it. My claim has already been approved. Glad I got the insurance!
Well it is time to hit the sack and I do not hear any clowning around! I want to be joyful and excited! But the inner voice of "Junior High Past" also reminds me that I could be getting set up for falling into a prank. So I will move like a ninja as I head to bed hoping that I don't have to unleash my cat-like reflexes!
Well the past 2 days have had some interesting moments! Tuesday began with the team being broken up into two groups. Team 1 went to a work site all day to work on a garage roof that is really bad. I sent a group of boys to do this job because, now that we know what to expect for VBS, we only need just a few of them to help with the handful of boys who are attending. They went to the work site with Scott Arnold and according to him they worked hard and had a great experience.
The other group spent the morning at a new work site. It is a Spanish United Methodist Church with a very old building. Much of the trim and highlights to the outside of the building are in desperate need of a new coat of paint. So we are landscaping, painting and trimming trees all around the property. The teens were dying to get paintbrushes in their hands and attack the job. They had fun once they were let loose on the building.
A little before noon we headed back to the mission site to prepare lunch for the VBS crowd and get ready for bible school! We start out doing our VBS songs. Then I read the Bible story as some of the teens act it out. The kids are split up into 3 teams and they rotate through their stations for the rest of the afternoon. We are discovering with these kids that well-defined teams with organized stations and time limits on when to switch are hard boundaries to follow. Some of the kids just want to do crafts and only crafts. Some would like to socialize and dance and laugh at each other the whole time. Others really like just playing games. The teens are learning the frustration of what it feels like to heard cats! But overall, they are having a good experience and building relationships with the kids we are hear to minister to.
On a lighter side, I discovered that some of the boys are dealing with some serious chaffing. I told them to use Gold Bond. They looked at me with quizzical looks not sure what I was talking about. I tossed it to them. They figured it out. Then they came back with the kind of joy you only see on a person who has lived a hard life only to discover for the very first time that Jesus loves them. Chaffing be gone!
On the frustrating side, at a certain point in the afternoon when we had a little bit of down time, I crashed on a couch in the dining hall area. I woke up and realized I did not have my phone on me. I remembered plugging it into my computer up by the sound board so it could charge. When I went up there to get it, it was gone. I spent a good amount of time retracing all my steps, going through all my laundry, looking in every single possible place it could have possibly fallen or hidden from my sight. I could not find it anywhere. My stress level maxed out. It is amazing how lost we feel without a phone of all things. But we have turned our phones into so much more than just a phone. And the kicker is that I JUST got this phone 3 weeks ago at Ichthus.
On the serious side, as we were having our debrief time in the evening, there was an accident right outside of our building involving a motorcycle going strait that plowed into a car making a left turn. The teens wanted to toss their Bibles aside and run outside to see what was going on. I put the brakes on that really quick. Instead we said a prayer, continued with the debrief and sent them to their rooms. They were able to catch a glimpse of the accident scene but only from the windows. It was a shocking reminder about how fragile life can be and in a moments notice so much can change.
On the funny side, for our evening down time, we took off to Crocker Park. This is a huge outdoor mall area in Westlake. It is a really fun place to go just to walk around outside and hit some stores. Unfortunately, the boys discovered the limited edition of Dark Berry Mountain Dew which they bought cases of and drank profusely until it was time to go to bed. I was about to blow a gasket at their continual chatter and laughing at farts. Just then, the one young man sleeping directly beside me, made some smart-mouthed comment that he could easily take me in wrestling. At that point my skin turned green and the gamma rays took over. I pounced on Braden and put him in a hold to the point where he felt like a pretzel. He begged and whined to be let lose. All the boys were shining the cell phones to see what was going on. Braden no longer mocks me in my wrestling skills.
Overall, it was a good day with just some minor frustrations with the thought that my phone got stolen. I will deal with that the next day.
Wednesday, July 11
Today started out similar to yesterday. One group working on the roof of a garage. The other group was working on the church property that needed some painting and landscaping. It is turning into one of those jobs where once you think you got it all done, you look and see so much more we can be doing. So a lot more landscaping and painting occurred throughout the morning.
We came back for VBS even more determined to bring some more structure and organization to the day. We had a great day. The kids did some great crafts. We talked and did skits on True Power, focusing on the story of the temptation of Jesus. We taught the kids link tag and "Honey If You Love Me Won't You Please, Please Smile!" They had a lot of fun. The structure is still a little chaotic just because of the nature of the kids we are working with. I think we are learning to accept that Epiphany VBS is slightly different when you try to bring it to an inner-city neighborhood. To be fair though, I am definitely seeing some friendships blossoming between our teens and the neighborhoods teenagers and kids. So I think our teens are learning how to adapt and change from moment to moment.
Once I hit our early afternoon down-time, I headed off to a Verizon store to see what I could do. As is with anything of this nature, it took much longer than it should have, but we eventually figured it all out. 3 weeks ago I also bought insurance on the phone. I was approved to be able to get a replacement phone! Woo-hoo! I knew I bought the insurance plan. It just took a while to figure out who the 3rd party company was that I had my policy with.
In the evening I had my father come and talk to the teens. He brought my niece who just got into town from Arizona. The twins were happy to see their cousin. Dad did a great job challenging the teens to live their lives according to their faith. The teens were amused at the apparent similarities between my dad and I.
In our debrief time later on in the evening, we have been going through the letter of 1 John. We look at one chapter a night and apply it to what we are experiencing. The teens have been doing a great job of reading God's Word and talking it out in how it applies to us right now. They have been doing great. Although I will say, I am not allowing any highly-caffeinated, outrageously-sugary drinks right before bed. They already sound quiet so I hope to get a good night sleep tonight and a new phone in the morning. So I apologize if any of you have been trying to call or text me. If my phone texted you back in the past 24 hours let me know because it wasn't me! I will be back up and running no later than 10:30AM. I just need to pick it up and charge it. My claim has already been approved. Glad I got the insurance!
Well it is time to hit the sack and I do not hear any clowning around! I want to be joyful and excited! But the inner voice of "Junior High Past" also reminds me that I could be getting set up for falling into a prank. So I will move like a ninja as I head to bed hoping that I don't have to unleash my cat-like reflexes!
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