Youth Trip Blog

More Mission Trip Fun

sami — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 22:48:30 +0000

Wow this place is really amazing. We have two projects- painting a house and building a wheelchair ramp. I chose to do the wheelchair ramp and it’s sooooo much fun! Everyone is hot and sweaty and its hard and wonderful and tiring and rewarding. I loooove it! I am extreeeemely proud because I dug a 18 inch deep hole and it was so fun! I really like this mission because we are actually with the individuals we are helping and it’s very rewarding. Kevin is an amazing group leader! He is the head of construction and has been doing soooo much! So today Kevin was hammering as he had been all morning and he got kind of a Charlie Horse in his wrist and his whole forearm and hand just locked up! It was really bad but we got some bio-freeze kind of stuff at Wal-mart and I think he’s doing better. Well I gotta go eat supper!

Katie Balfany

Wasp!

sami — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 22:47:58 +0000

Wasps!

We have spent the week with wasps. I can tell you, on a normal day I would run like a rabbit far, far away from any sight of wasps or hornets. This house is covered….covered. I don’t know if it is the fact that I am trying to be brave for the youth, just to show them that there is no need to fear these horrible, ugly things. Or maybe it is my way of trying to see if my mom was always right when she said “they will not bother you if you don’t bother them….” (she was right by the way).

We ended up talking about this concept as we painted today. We came to the conclusion that maybe mission work is different than ordinary work. Perhaps it is simply the idea that nothing should stop us from our goal that kept the fear at bay.

Whatever the driving force is, I stood back and watched our youth scrape, wash, and paint with wasps all around them. Yet another time I stand in awe at the strength of these kids.

Job well done gang!

Cindy

Middle School Mission TripMiddle School Blog

sami — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 22:47:35 +0000

Middle School Blog

We arrived safely at Reelfoot Ministries. The bus ride was really fun. I, of course, drove the loud bus, while Carolyn got the very, very quiet bus. Arg. Upon arrival, we changed our clothes and immediately went to our mission site.

My team worked to paint a house. We just scraped and prepared the house for painting the next day. The other team worked on getting the blueprints together to build a wheel chair ramp; a 31 foot long wheel chair ramp. We got home late, ate a wonderful supper, had a fabulous worship service led by the amazing youth director (me), and went to bed, exhausted. Whew, what a day.

Sami

More fun

sami — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 20:29:13 +0000

Okay so we have been having a super fun time. The float trip was incredible sarah and i were canoe partners and we did really well until we flipped but fortunately we tipped in a shallow area and didnt lose anything. Today was the horseback riding and it was great i loved my horse. Tomorrow we do our mission and outside worship. -Katie

Rafting and horseback riding

sami — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 19:49:07 +0000

Well we survived the canoe trip with only a few tips and battle scars. Today we went horseback riding. It was amazing and the horses were beautiful. We had great scenery! ;) we will be meeting up with mike to rehearse. tomorrow mission work! We’re all having fun!! ~carolyn

High School Choir Trip

sami — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 00:02:27 +0000

We arrived safely at Shannondale and our little home is very nice and air conditioned!! We have been to dinner and are now going to Grace Community Church where the choir has been asked to do an impromptu song. Tomorrow we are off to the float trip. More to come!

Carolyn

almost over…

sami — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 14:07:44 +0000

Well, its 8:45 am and we are all “chillaxin” waiting for worship to start. Its funny how all the stories (memories) start as soon as we stand still. I think everyone had a wonderful time, with both the mission and the fun parts.

Having mixed feelings about going home. SO ready to be home but its going to feel a little lonely without my 14 temporary family members.

Our youth are leading the time for children at the worship this morning. We are staying at Traci Benton’s aunt and uncle’s church. They cooked us breakfast, it was wonderful, and have been more than amazing.

That’s all for now. Will chat later.

Stacey

Fun day

sami — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 11:07:42 +0000

I cannot even tell you how proud I am of these students. They have encountered so many obstacles and didn’t freak out or get upset, but just rolled with it. We arrived in elmhurst on Friday to really heavy storms. We got to the church, went out for supper, got back and began getting easy for bed when the lights went out. Not one freaked out. We all started laughing and went to bed.
On a brighter note, fun day was exactly that. We went to Chicago to the museum of science and industry. Many students said the public transportation we took was their fav part. I don’t know who liked the mueum better, the adult leaders or students. Then we went to eat lunch and lee, Lars, maggie, Morgan, Stacey, and I had thi food. The rest had boring old subway. Lunch was amazing. Then we went to millenium park, got our picture by the bean and relaxed for a bit before heading to navy pier. We ended the night at the weber grill restaraunt. The food was awesome!! We missed our train so lee and some os the youth had time to go to the harley davidson store. Then we started our long journey back to elmhurst. We were all so tired I didn’t think we would make it. The youth and I agree, we work hard and we play hard. I can’t believe how much we acieved this week and I can’t wait to share it all with you when we get back.

Sami

hights

sami — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 23:16:51 +0000

so we had to paint the whole outside of a two story house today and we first had to scrap the paint off the house and than paint it well to get to the high stuff on the house you had to get on a latter and i don’t like hights at all but i told myself that i was going to do it cause it needed to be done so we could move on so i hopped on the latter to start painting and i kept having to go farther up and sami came over to take my picture and she made me look down and than i look down and my hands start to sweat and the paint on my hands started to come off and sami took a picture of it wait till you see it
***Traci

Inspiring Work

sami — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 22:30:43 +0000

Today was our final full day of our mission work. I have to say that the experience of working with our young adults has truly been inspiring!!! I have had the privilege and honor of working with all of them at some point during the week. Each and everyone has worked tirelessly and without any complaints. Your youth have represented St. John exceptionally and have shown how the Holy Spirit moves among us.

Finally, I have to thank Sami and Stacy for all the time, effort and planning that has gone into this trip. We are truly blessed to have such wonderful staff and members in our congregation.

Lee