Belize Trip Journal

Here is the link to our Trip Journal for the Belize mission trip with Praying Pelican Missions during the Summer of 2013 http://www.prayingpelicanmissions.org/journals?tripid=2427

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.  

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!

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!  

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.  
  

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!

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!

Something a Little Different for Lent

Hey! Is anybody up for an interesting challenge for Lent this year?? Take a look at this video below.  Then go to this blog post for a little bit more information.  If you are interested in doing this then let me know. I am not doing this all by myself.  I think this kind of experience would be better as a shared experience that we can dialogue about all throughout the Lenten season. I am tired of just giving up the same old fast food for Lent.  I want to try something a little more different and challenging.  Something with a little more variety.  So let me know if you are in!  I think this would be a fun with some friends!  

Concluding Thoughts on the Summer Mission Trips of 2011

Alright.  A long time ago I promised that I would finish up blogging about the stories of our last mission trip with the Junior Highers to Chicago.  I apologize that I am just now doing this but I am making a more concerted effort starting today to get back to blogging and reading!  So here we go!

JULY 26

The two teams headed out to their YMCA sites for the morning.  The kids at our site had a lot of fun this morning because they had one of those big blow up water slides to play outside with.  Of course any time I seemed to get near it an Epiphany teen mysteriously got wet.  Attempts were made to avenge but they soon discovered that I am indestructible.  

For the afternoon we took the "ethnic plunge" into Albany Park.  This is similar to a scavenger hunt.  We were given a list of things we needed to accomplish that would force us to immerse ourselves into the neighborhood cultures.  We had to do things like finding products in a store from other countries.  Find how many different ethnic restaurants we can find.  Talk with people about their cultural backgrounds.  See how many different languages we could find.  Buy a paper in a different language.  Along the way we met this one guy that I initially thought he was working on something that seemed like a part to a skateboard.  He noticed me looking at him out of the corner of my eye and called us over.  He showed us what he was doing.  He had what started out as a silver dollar that he was hitting with a spoon.  What was strange was that he did this over a long period of time and eventually transformed the silver dollar into a ring!  It was kind of crazy yet wild at the same time.  But he was very proud of his rings that he showed off for us.  

After that experience we headed out to the Ravenswood Community Services to help serve dinner.  This was a church that provided groceries and dinner for the poor in their community.  We started out by bagging groceries down in the pantry.  We worked fast and hard to get the job done quickly.  Then the teens helped to give out the groceries and serve the dinner.  It was a great experience.

Team #2 did several activities during the afternoon.  They did a "meet-a-need" activity where they were given $5 and they had to go out into the neighborhood to find someone and meet a need of theirs with the money.  They are also told to try and spend some time talking with the person and get to know their story.  Team #2 also served dinner at Cornerstone Community Outreach and then ate dinner at a Vietnamese Restaurant.  This is the team that Doug went with and of course, some of our most colorful stories have come from.  Apparently when they were driving through the city somewhere a very loud "pop-pop-pop" went off.  As the teens began to look around to see what the sound was, our awesome driver, Arlene Wise, very discretely with out making a scene, just put her foot on the gas to get away from whatever that noise could be.  Unfortunately, Doug did not take my class on how to be discrete in a potentially dangerous situation.  At the sound of the noise, according to many witnesses, he began looking around wildly declaring, "WAS THAT A GUN? DID I JUST HEAR A GUN?"  This of course, made the teens even more excited looking around like scared Barney Fifes.  Now, keep in mind, no one can confirm if they for sure heard a gun.  It could have been a car backfiring, a jackhammer, or any number of things.  There were police chasing someone, but no one in the van could confirm if they actually saw a real gun.  So myth busted.    

Team #2 had dinner at the Vietnamese restaurant and it did not get great reviews. My team on the other hand went to a Mediterranean restaurant and it was delicious!  We still have some teens freaking out about the food.  I won't mention any names but the initials of one of them is Rachel Mellett.  She did try some of the food so I had to give her credit for that I guess.  

After dinner we had our team debrief, took our showers.  I told the teens that we would be going through the letter to the Philippians for our morning devotions.  So they needed to make sure that they read one chapter a day and be ready to discuss it the next morning.  What was really cool was that Doug and I were talking church talk in my room while all the boys had some free time before lights out.  As we were talking, all of a sudden Doug hushed me and said to listen up to what is going on in our dorm.  As we eavesdropped, we listened to our one Senior guy, Max, reading out loud Philippians chapter 1 to all the boys.  This was an awesome thing to experience for me.  This was confirmation for me that this youth ministry is working!  Typically it is common to lose many of your Juniors and Seniors due to many factors.  One of them being the "been there, done that" attitude, which quite frankly, I can understand.  So I tell my upperclassmen that if they want to stay connected and not be one of those "drifters" then they need to learn to give back by actively finding a ministry and pouring themselves into it.  Max did a great job of modeling this.  It was one of those moments where I felt very proud to be a youth pastor to this bunch of teens.  They didn't even invite me or ask for my spiritual insights and THAT WAS JUST FINE WITH ME!  After that we all hit the sack.

JULY 27

We woke up, ate breakfast, made our lunches and had our devotions.  Each morning we had a different adult lead the devotions.  I did the morning before,  Doug did this morning and then the interns took the other two devotion times.  We all sat outside in an alleyway for our morning devotions.  It was a really good way to start the day off.  

Once we finished we headed off to our 2 YMCA sites.  Today I decided that Doug and I would switch groups so that he could spend a day with each one of the teams.  I headed off to the other YMCA.  I had the chance to bounce around from room to room and watch our teens assist and help with many of the early childhood groups.  There was also another mission group there under a different organization so I took some time to talk with them and find out who they were. Some of our teens did really well interacting with the little kids and some felt out of their element.  With one of the rooms that felt a little awkward, I went ahead and taught everyone the glorious game of "Honey, if you love me, won't you please, please smile?"  This broke the ice for everyone as you attempt to try and get someone to crack a smile by saying the above line to them.  

For lunch we decided to meet at one of the Chicago pizza places.  We decided on Lou Minalti's.  I have never had this pizza before but I can say that it was definitely one of the best!  It was soooooo delicious.  I highly recommend this if you ever head into the Chicago area. 

In the afternoon we all meet back at the main site.  Doug headed back to Loveland at this point.   The rest of us were split up into groups of 5 or 6 for a challenge called "Immersion".  Each group was given different instructions.  My team had to walk down to the corner and take the subway train into downtown Chicago.  We had the assignment to initiate conversations with people to find out their thoughts on homelessness in Chicago.  We headed off to an area with several small parks.  I sent the teens in groups of two so they did not overwhelm any one person with this mob of teens coming at them.  Our teens did a great job engaging people and learning about the city.  After some time we headed down to the park with the giant fountain.  We came across a man who was selling "The Onion" newspaper.  I bought one and the teens took it from there and talked with this guy for at least half an hour.  He voice sounded a lot like Denzel Washington.  We then proceeded to the "Giant Bean" park.  We sat down and tried to come up with a plan for dinner.  This was one of the challenges.  We had $2 for each person on our team and somehow we were supposed to come up with dinner for all of us.  We eventually ended up at a 7/11 and bought some nasty hot dogs and slushies.  That was dinner.

We then headed back for debrief.  At the debrief we processed all the different experiences each team had in learning about homelessness and trying to find food with so little money.  They were also challenged to not eat any snacks that night so that they really do feel hungry.  The teens got a lot out of this experience.  

JULY 28

We started out the day like usual: get up, eat breakfast, no bag lunches though because we had special plans for lunch, and then do group devotions.  Then we headed off to our YMCA sites, hung out with the little kids all morning and had fun with them.  

We then had a little time to waste so we headed to the Navy Pier for a few hours.  The teens all had a lot of fun exploring all the cool stuff there.  I, on the other hand, found the food court, got some food and sat down for a little quiet time just to enjoy the opportunity to sit down and relax for a few moments.  

Later in the afternoon we headed back to the North Park University campus for a dinner and program involving all of the teams with the Center of Student Missions for this week.  We were all taken out to their main entrance where there was a nice open area where they had the group play some goofy games.  After that we had a Mexican dinner catered in for the entire team.  After a delicious dinner we went to their theater hall.  There we spent some time in worship and sharing as we got to hear how other church groups were experiencing the city and their faith throughout the week.  We then got to hear a speaker that was simply amazing.  I can't remember the name of the speaker but her story blew everyone away.  Here is a single lady who felt that God was calling her to minister to one of the worst gang areas of Chicago so she bought a house in the neighborhood and just started reaching out to the gangs.  Her house has evolved into a place where all the kids in the neighborhood know they can go to for safety, help, support and encouragement.  She went through a list of teens and kids who have died from gang related violence and the extreme hopelessness that so many of them feel as a result of believing that they may die at any moment.  None of them think of a future.  As she explained the impact that her ministry is having, you could see how what she is doing is beginning to help open the eyes of these teens to believe that they can have a future.  Through her ministry she has been able to see God restore many of these teens into people with hope, faith, and love.  It was very, very powerful.  

We debriefed later that night, hit the showers and lights out!

JULY 29

Again, the morning went like clock work: wake up, eat breakfast, make sack lunches and do group devotions, then we head off to the YMCA sites for the final time.  It was another beautiful day so many of the kids enjoyed playing outside on the play ground.  It was during this time where two of the young boys were pushing each other around until one of them fell and hit his head on the steel frame of the fence going around the playground.  He opened up a gash on his head bad enough to have to call the paramedics and the police.  The boy would need a few stitches.  The other boy was hiding in the playground equipment thinking he was going to get arrested.  The YMCA staff were all apologetic and frustrated by the whole thing.  But it seemed to all work out.  Leaving was a little sad for many of our teens knowing that we will never see these kids again.  So there were a lot of goodbyes.  

In the afternoon the other team did their "ethnic plunge" while we while we did a prayer walk, meet-a-need, and served dinner at the Cornerstone Community Outreach.  The first event involved us going to a particular area of uptown Chicago where homelessness is the most visible.  We walked to a variety of sites where we would stop as a group and lifted up a prayer for the neighborhood.  At one point we came across the rather large mural painted on the side of this building.  It was a beautiful painting of Jesus.  As the story goes, apparently the local gang gave permission for a painting of Jesus.  And some of the gang members came down and helped with the painting.  The message and symbolism used throughout the mural was awesome.  

Meet-A-Need was the next activity.  The group was broken down into 3 smaller groups and we were give some money with the challenge to find someone who as a need and find a way to help them.  I thought I was quite sly in noticing a woman sitting along the sidewalk that we passed by about a block ago.  I took my team and quickly retraced our steps to go find that lady and see if we could buy here lunch.  Of course, when we found her she said some other group was getting her food at McDonald's but if I really wanted to get her something she would love some beef tips from the nice restaurant across the street.  I politely backed out of that and we found another person who was homeless.  We bought him some lunch and spent a little time talking with him.  Before he took off we also prayed for him.  After that we walked around and took advantage of opportunities to talk with people and invite them to dinner at the soup kitchen we would be serving at that evening.  

We then walked down to Cornerstone Community Outreach where we would be helping to serve dinner.  As we walked there we went down this alley that we were told was made famous by Al Capone and his gang.  It used to be called Blood Alley because you could not walk through it without getting blood on yourself from people getting whacked.  At the outreach we helped to prepare the food and then the people came in.  A couple of interesting things happened.  First of all, I love how hard working and fun our teenagers are when they are given just about any challenge.  This especially becomes apparent when you are working with teens from other groups who don't seen to be there for the right reasons.  Also, we encountered a lot of different types of people.  Those who were thankful for the food and very friendly and personable.  Others who were ungrateful, mean and just nasty about what they wanted and thought they deserved.  But it was a good lesson for our team to be reminded that when we serve, we do it for Christ.  People may be grateful or ungrateful.  It doesn't matter.  We don't serve to have someone pat us on the back and think we are great.  We serve in obedience to our faith.


That night we went to dinner at Silver Seafood.  It was an amazing Chinese restaurant.  We ate a lot of family style portions of many, many things that tasted so delicious!  Right across the street and down from where we were at, the speak-easy that Capone always hung out at was visible.  


We headed back to our campus and had a time to debrief with our CSM leaders.  It was a good time to process all that we learned throughout the week and how it can apply to our lives and change our perspectives on how we see our world.  


After that it was time for showers and lights out.  But being the last night and all, I knew that the Junior Highers over the past few days were getting themselves all tense about practical jokes.  In fact, just a couple nights ago I laid down the law that they needed to relax on the practical jokes.  But being the last night and all I did not want to end this week with the reputation of the big party-pooper.  So I thought if I could manage to control a simple, harmless, non-destructive practical joke, then the boys won't label me!  So I recommended that we go up to the girls dorm, open up their door, and then yell as loud as we can, and run back.  They were very happy that I threw them a bone so we quietly scaled the stairs up to their main entrance.  Just as we were about to open the door one of my junior high boys decided to drop his shorts so that he only had on boxers.  With a very perplexed look on my face I asked him what the heck he was doing.  He responded back to me as if I had no sense of humor explaining that it would be funny if he ran in there with his boxer shorts.  My response came rather quickly: GET YOUR FREAKING PANTS BACK ON!  Then we opened the door, yelled loudly and ran.  The boys were happy, I was no longer the party-pooper, and now we could all just go to bed.  

JULY 30
Today was the day to pack up and head off.  We managed to get everything back into the vans rather well.  But I will admit that when we held onto these vans for back-to-back mission trips on two weeks where it was pretty hot, and saving the last week to be with Junior Highers, the vans we quite a mess to behold.  We said bye to our group leaders and then left.  Knowing that we had to travel through Chicago, we just had to stop for a few hours.  We parked our vans, walked around for a while, and then ate lunch at Ed Debevic's.  This is one of the most classic 50's diners were the waiters and waitresses are very obnoxious and fun.  The kids loved it.  After a nice, full, and entertaining lunch, we left for home.

CONCLUDING THOUGHTS
As I look back over the Summer now I do have to say that it was really interesting to go on an international, urban and rural mission trip all in the same Summer.  There were many, many different experiences that come with each type.  I loved it.  I really enjoy doing mission trips.  I love helping teens see that they can make a difference in their world.  I love teaching them how to be the hands and feet of Jesus to those who are hurting and hungry.  I love helping them to get a much bigger picture of life outside of our safe suburban neighborhoods.  But to do 3 trips crammed into one Summer was a lot.  I did not like the fact that if a teen was not signed up for a mission trip then there was very little else going on back here in Loveland.  So I hope to limit myself to 2 trips each Summer.  I want to continue to add variety to the locations and types of trips we do as I believe that this gives us a new perspective and challenge every Summer to help grow our faith.  And I also want to make time throughout the Summer to do fun things back here in Cincinnati just to keep everyone more connected.  Now if you made it this far in this post I will reward you with letting you know what we are doing for next Summer!  I am trying to work it out for the Junior High to go to Cleveland and serve with the Nehemiah Mission from July 8-14.  The Senior High hopefully with be going on a trip to Washington D. C. through the Center of Student Missions on July 22-28.  I hope these dates work well for everyone so that we can get maximum participation.  Both trips will be awesome!  

"Soup"er Bowl of Caring at Epiphany UMC sponsored by the Youth Group!

THIS WEEKEND! SouperBowl of Caring!!! This is a nationwide movement! Check it out! Sign up now to help with our Chili Cookoff and canned food collection! It is going to be huge! 

Cleveland Mission Trip: Day 6

A Perfect Day at Cedar Point!

Day 6 consisted of us waking up, packing our stuff, and heading off to Camp Sandusky.  Once we arrived at the camp ground we got settled into the cabins that we would be spending the night in.  And then once all was situated, we headed off to Cedar Point!  And boy did we have the absolutely perfect day for Cedar Point.  It was a little warm but not bad.  It was so much fun to take a large group of teens of whom, many have never been to CP.  I promised them that if we could all stay together, I would take them on a roller coaster tour de force.  We had a few coaster-haters with us.  When we got to the Maverick I dragged one of them in line with me convincing her that this was an easy ride.  Of course, I have never been on this ride since it was relatively new but I knew that it didn’t break any records for being the tallest or fastest.  But once we road it, it ended up being a lot more intense of a ride then I ever expected.  In fact, this became the one ride that we went back a second time before we left the park that night.  We hit them all throughout the course of the day: Mantis, Raptor, Magnum, Millennium, Gemini, Maverick, Skyhawk, Dragster.  We had such a fun time together. 

            After our time at Cedar Point, we headed back to Camp Sandusky, crashed for the night, and then made our trip back home!  Overall, this trip was a huge success.  We had many teens go for the first time with our youth group.  So this was a significant trip to help bond a new group of teens for the new school year.  I missed several of my Seniors whom I have had several mission trip experiences in the past with but I knew that most of them were just busy transitioning into the next stage of life and it’s time for a leadership shift in our youth group.  This trip helped us to achieve just that. 

Things that we learned from this trip:

1.  Once again, I really need more adult guys to come on these trips.  I was the only guy on this trip.  I thought I had another coming with me but it was at the last minute that he was unable to come due to unforeseen reasons.  But unfortunately I did not have a Plan B.  For the health of our team and the diversity of leadership we need more adults to attend these trips.

2.  A mixture of experiences was a very good thing.  We had days that involved hard work and others that involved relationally connecting with people.  Having a variety like that helped all the teens to discover what type of service really got them excited.

3.  I loved having more control over the design and implementation of the trip.  For the teens to take an active role in making decisions, crafting worship, and putting together devotionals I think helped grow them spiritually.  We could have gone with a mission organization that had all of that together for us already with a higher quality of preparedness, but I believe that giving teens, especially Senior Highers, the opportunity to lead themselves actually has a greater impact on them.

4.  Experiencing the culture and interacting with specific people are a big part of any mission trip.  It was exciting for me to introduce them to some of the culture of Cleveland and to meet specific people who have been heavily involved in ministry to that area or have been ministered to through these important ministries that we supported. 

5.  The greater the challenge, the more our teens would rise to the occasion.  Easy jobs were always completed quickly and efficiently.  But if you give our teens a job that was challenging they would always work hard to accomplish it. 

6.  Cedar Point was the perfect way to end a mission trip!  I loved taking the team there. 

7.  With maturity, comes rewards.  Our Senior Highers are very, very trustworthy.  When teens come across this way it is so easy for me to trust them with greater responsibility and reward them for their hard work. 

8.  It is always fun to see what happens with teenagers when left alone in a spiritually challenging and friendly environment.  Many good conversation, spontaneous worship, group counseling, and depth to friendships occur on these kinds of trips.  

What an awesome week!

Cleveland Mission Trip: Day 5

            This was our final full day at the Nehemiah Mission.  We got ourselves up and moving with the anticipation of not quite knowing what our assignment would be for the day since we were done with all we needed to accomplish at the City Mission.  So we were relying on the leadership of the Nehemiah Mission to give us jobs to do.  Jim is the head guy that runs the mission.  He had two sights for our teams and we ended up doing a lot of hard work!  My team went over to an elderly lady’s house.  She has let her house get out of control so much that the city of Cleveland wanted her to clean it up.  Our job was to paint her porch and clean up her backyard.  I got a team of boys going on the porch and then went to go see what the backyard looked like.  It became apparent to me right away that nothing has been done with this backyard in years.  Many of the bushes have grown to be as large as the trees.  In fact the teens got into an argument as to whether or not these were trees or bushes.  I assured them that we were dealing with bushes that have not been trimmed in a long time.  All of the bushes and trees connected at the top to form almost a cave-like feel in attempting to get to the very back of the yard.  So the hedge trimmers were set aside for a chainsaw instead.  I took a chainsaw to the backyard attempting to level all of the bushes and tree branches that were out of control.  We hacked down a ton of foliage.  Several hours were spent just bundling the branches in 2 foot length bundles.  Also, we spotted a lot of poison ivy in the backyard.  We tried our best to keep our distance but eventually several of us realized that it was a hopeless cause and chances are we will suffer.  The good news is that to my knowledge, I don’t think anyone got any reactions to it after the trip. 

            While we were working hard on bundling, there were many neighborhood kids outside in their front yards trying to escape the heat by starting a water fight.  It was fun to watch the water fights escalate.  Eventually one of the small kids made eye contact with me and I motioned with my eyes to throw water at one of my teenagers.  The kids got the hint that that would be a great thing to do and everyone would have a good sense of humor about it.  So they set their sights on Tyler and went after him first.  Then the attacks kept coming until just about everyone was wet.  And it was cold water too!

            As we cleaned up our sight and began to get ready to head back to the Nehemiah Mission, our elderly lady we were helping came out to talk with us.  This is when she approached me and said, “I didn’t even know that people like this even existed anymore.”  This floored me.  I asked her if she had any family and she said no.  She never married or had kids.  Just before we left we took the opportunity to gather together in a circle and lift her up in prayer.  She was really moved by our teens and all that they have done to help her out.   It was awesome.  The other team did a lot of similar type work cleaning and painting someone’s property that needed help.

            That evening we had another special guest speaker: my dad!  It was fun again to introduce him to our youth group.  He spoke heavily on stories related to missions, but then he wrapped it up with a challenge to live fully into what God has called you to do.  He did a great job.  He was very impressed by our teens and adults that he got to meet.  Afterwards some of the teens were laughing at how similar I was to my dad in mannerisms, speech patterns, body image, etc.   

Once he left we had our final group meeting to process the entire week and how it will affect our lives back home: our family life, our school life and our church life.  This is always a very critical part of the mission trip to help the teens realize that the purpose of a trip like this is to establish new ways of looking at our lives.  It is NOT about doing a mission for one week out of the Summer and then forget about it until the next adventure the following Summer.  Instead, these trips help to instill habits and behaviors that can help us to learn to serve in every context of our lives.  It was a really good night.