We're Home!

Around 6:30 Saturday evening, four vans of very tired people pulled into the church parking lot. The sight of loved ones energized everyone to jump out of the vans for hugs and kisses. It was hard to tell who was happier - the people waiting for the vans or the people in the vans. We got the vans unloaded as quickly as possible in the heat. After prayers, scripture, and a few remarks, the group disbanded to go to their own homes. Yeah - our own beds and showers. Life is good!

It was a privilege to be a part of the 2011 Leawood UMC Youth Mission Trip. We look forward to sharing details with our family, church family, and other friends. It is not too late to buy a share so you can attend our shareholder's dinner on Sunday, July 31, 2011 from 5pm to 8pm. You will have a wonderful meal and be entertained by a video presentation of the week. We look forward to serving you dinner and memories.

The 2011 LUMC Youth Mission Trip Participants

Saturday, July 16

We are on our way home now. Friday found us up early to pack the vans, clean our rooms, help clean up the campus, and then head out. We got on the road about 8:30 and headed to Chicago. When we arrived at Gary UMC in Wheaton, the first voice we heard belonged to Sandra Sagehorn, a former LUMC staff member. She gave us a warm greeting and joined us for lunch and then lead the way to the Wheaton train station. We took the Metra into Chicago, took the L to Roosevelt Station, and walked to the Shedd Aquarium where we spent the rest of the afternoon watching the animals and the dolphin show. We then hopped the water taxi over to the Navy Pier where we were greeted by Mike and Vanessa Coffey. The group split and went to various restaurants for dinner and then off to shop and enjoy the rides and music. We took the bus back to Ogilvie Station where we just missed the 9:40 train back to Wheaton. We kept ourselves entertained and then put a sleepy group on the train. It didn’t take long for the everyone to get to bed!




We are up now and sleepily trying to get ready to reload the vans to finish our trip home. We will make it back sometime late this afternoon. We all look forward to seeing our families and sleeping in our own beds.

Thanks for your support,

The 2011 LUMC Youth Mission Team

Jay

It is late Thursday evening - or early Friday morning. I'm not really sure which. Jay has been really busy getting to know all the youth. For those of you who haven't met our new Youth/Children's Ministry Director, here is a picture of Jay before we left LUMC.


It has been six days, so we wanted to share a picture of Jay now.



There is a story to share - and for the price of a share, you can hear and see the story. (Shameless plug.)

Thursday, July 14th

We finished our crew assignments today. It seems like all of the crews accomplished more than they expected to get done. Smiling faces are evident all over camp and Grand Rapids. Look for more pictures and comments to be posted after dinner.

Pictures - Random Order

This is a first attempt at posting pictures and they didn't load in chronological order - but it is a start.

The gray shirts are our arrival at Kuyper College and the red shirts are our departure from LUMC.

Garrett and Peter rock the house during morning and evening devotions. (Not pictured - Jeff).

Mac arrives at the airport and Katie conducts the ceremonial stripping of the electronics.

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

To answer a question from the comments: Jack – no, Jeff hasn’t wrecked the van. Please talk to your wife.

Today was another busy day. All of the kids are working very hard. Chloe, Annie, and Julie and the rest of their crew removed tile and installed new. They enjoyed putting scriptures and pictures on the bottom of the tiles before putting them down. Shannon, Peter, Janet and the rest of their crew really touched their homeowner by cleaning her kitchen even though it wasn’t on the “official” list of tasks. She is disabled and wasn’t able to keep it up. She felt so blessed by their presence. Katie, Mac, Barb and the rest of their crew continued cleaning the school. The carpets are really looking good! Alex, Jenna W, Jenna F, and Sherri and the rest of their crew unloaded a truck of donated goods, broke down boxes, sorted recycling and then went to Culver’s since they were working in the hot sun all day. Garrett, Melanie, Jeff and the rest of their crew removed a railroad tie retaining wall that was 4 feet tall and 50 yards long. Jeff broke the handle of a shovel and managed to whack himself in the face with it. There was no blood and the mark is not permanent. His good looks remain. David, Mara, Jake, Leslie and the rest of their crew spent time in a ginormous freezer at a food pantry. Chase, Danny, and Linda continued at the Thrift Store. Chase got to work the cash register. Linda found her missing phone. They are one day closer to their fashion show.

Reports on the rest of the crews will follow tomorrow.

Jay led our devotions this evening after a powerful service. The group shared many thoughts and feelings. They are growing closer to God and to each other. It is proving to be a powerful week.

Your 2011 Youth Mission Trip Participants

Tuesday, July 12 – 2nd Edition

OK – forgot to include a few things about the day.

We had our youth devotions on the beach. As we headed away from the water to find a place for devotions, we found that God gave us a rainbow. It was reassuring to see the sign of His promise to us. As we finished our devotions, the urge to sing came upon all of us. As the first verse of Amazing Grace ended, the police siren went off to tell us it was time to leave. Another sign from God.

Tuesday, July 12th

Julie says yesterday was Tuesday. Linda adds – all day. Perhaps you can sense that our group, at least the adults, are tired. Janet is now paranoid and thinks people are out to get her.

Tuesday was another busy day. We all went to out to our crew assignments. Some painted very small rooms that ended up being very crowded when you put 7 painters in them. Annie was delivered to Julie in a box- the best present of the day. Katie and Mac cleaned some more carpets and moved on to cleaning lockers where Mac discovered a violin. There is video of him playing – so if you haven’t bought a share in our trip, it is not too late. You will enjoy the musicality. After painting, some got to play in a water park and then returned to painting. The water park rated higher in the telling. They also had a young man from the neighborhood join them for chips and more chips and some more chips.

We all rushed back to the campus at the end of our work day so that we could clean up and head out for our evening with just our group. We went down to Saugatuck for a Bune Duggy ride. Each dune buggy held 18 people so we filled up most of two vehicles. We drove up and down and around and through sand and woods. Katie did not like the snake in the tree. Even now that she knows it was not real, she still isn’t fond of it. We discovered that Garrett is geographically challenged as he claimed the large body of water that was visible was the ocean. We are now teaching him about the Great Lakes. Some of the group took the challenge of dune running. Running down was pretty easy but coming up was not! Even some of the kids admitted it was tough – which made Barb, the only adult that tried it, feel a bit better. Corrinne and Shannon took a side trip when we were stopped on the highest dune. Their reward was a beautiful view of Lake Michigan.

After the dune ride, we had dinner at the Beechwood Inn. It was fantastic. (Fortunately, some of us took a long walk on the jetty and worked off some of the dinner which helped us sleep better.) We then headed to the beach for a bit of fun and then devotions while admiring the sunset. God sure paints a beautiful picture. We rushed back to beat the dorms being locked. Some were apparently a bit tired and did a few circles in returning but we all made it back before we got locked out.

As you may have determined, time is a bit limited so these posts are not on a regular basis. We look forward to sharing more details when we return.

Your 2011 LUMC Youth Mission Team

Our First Day of Crewing

Monday, July 11, 2011

We started the day off with breakfast and worship. As worship ended, the thunder boomed and the rained poured down. As some of us ran to the vans to bring them closer to the building, we ran through water several inches deep and got totally drenched. The rain changed some crew assignments. The group heading to a thrift store had to change locations because the power was out. This will put them a day behind on planning their fashion show. Katie and Mac, the Steamin Demon, have become experts at cleaning carpets. Katie operated the spray detergent and scrubber and Mac spent the day walking forward to rinse and backward to extract the water. Annie, Chloe, Julie, and the rest of their crew spent the day unloading 5 pallets of food at a local food bank in one hour in the rain. Two crews worked sorting items for recycling and a thrift store. They found some rather interesting (read that as disgusting) items in their boxes. We discovered today that between the whole youth group, we have both Marys and Marthas – there are those that are visiting with people and those that are cleaning and moving heavy items and sorting. We discussed the important of being both Mary and Martha. There is a purpose behind both.

It is almost time for lights out so this is good night. We are blowing kisses to all of you.

The 2011 LUMC Youth Mission Trip Participants.

We've Arrived!

Sunday Evening, July, 10th

We arrived safely at camp. There was the usual chaos of finding our rooms, getting to meetings, learning our way around campus, picking up Mac from the airport, meeting our crews, finding out our tasks, and our own youth group meeting. We met Mary, Alison, Bob, and Marc who are our camp staff and leaders. Showers helped put everyone in a better mood. For those of us that have been on past mission trips, we feel like we are at the Hilton. If we had less than 8 people sharing a bathroom, we would feel like we are at the Ritz. Not sharing a bathroom with bugs is definitely a plus.

It will be a great week.

Your Mission Team.

Day 1 : The Car Ride

Saturday, July 9, 2011
Thank you to all that came to see us off this morning.  We appreciate the support you showed us.  We spent the day traveling to Dwight, IL.  The time in the vans allowed us to get to know our van mates a bit better.  We stopped in Springfield for dinner.  It was a pretty uneventful trip.  Van #2 said when you see a trailer on stilts and a Bible verse on a truck, it is a good sign.  We will let you look it up (John 15:12) and report back.  Van #3 was intrigued by the field of windmills with their red lights glowing.  They were an eerie sight.  They also have two budding authors who are working on the next great American novel.  Van #1 has cool LED lights that Garrett controls from the back seat – just ask Chloe.  Van #4 reports that the girls were playing stimulating intellectual games as they traveled across the states.  The kids are now working off energy in the gym of Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Dwight. 
You can help Van #2 out by giving us the names of animals that start with the letter Q.  We could not come up with 6 – I don’t think Quack Quack really counts.
We will report more as the week goes on.  Please keep us in your prayers.

Getting Ready to Go

Based on CDT, it is officially the day before we leave. Plans are falling into place for the week. The excitement is building. Come join us for a potluck meal at 10am on Saturday, July 9th and participate in our commissioning service. Please keep us in your prayers for the next week as we travel to Grand Rapids to connect with that community.