 |
St. James Lutheran Church |
 |
|
|
|
Youthworks Junior High Mission trip July 30th-August 4th, 2006 Our Mission Team: Abby Dolan, Kara Huen, Andy Jensen, Allison Kane, Jason Kane, Loryn Reed, and trip leader Michele Kane. After getting to know each other at our ‘What to Pack’ gathering at the Kanes, we headed out for the mission trip on Sunday, July 30th. It was a three-hour drive to the Salvation Army in Moline. That was where we would stay for the next week. Thank goodness the building was air conditioned, because it was hot, hot, hot. When we got there, we played games. While the leaders met to decide our ministry team assignments, we got to know the youth from the other churches who would join us in our ministry to the Quad Cities community. We went to our rooms to sleep at 11:00 p.m. It wasn’t a long sleep before we had to wake up at 7:45 am for breakfast. For all of our meals, we had special tasks we had to do, depending on where we sat…push-ups, Barney song, dancing, singing, etc. The youth from Saint James sat together at a “Sit Here If You Dare” table and we had to eat without silverware. After breakfast each day, we gathered for devotions and learned about what we would ‘open our eyes’ to in the community during that day….beauty, justice, mercy, humility. Then, we left for our ministry site. Did we mention that it was hot? One theme for each day was --- Drink Water!!! It was 100+ degrees from Sunday through Wednesday. Our ministry site was called Lydia Homes. Lydia Homes had a summer program for inner city youth to hang out during the day and also ran a program for single mothers. At Lydia Homes we split into 2 groups. One of the groups helped the kids and the other group worked around the neighborhood. Each day we switched; so that both groups got to do relationship ministry (with the kids) and work ministry. We kept hydrated by drinking Gatorade and water. When we worked with the kids, we:
When we worked around the neighborhood, we:
Each evening we participated in a fun evening activity – John Deere scavenger hunt and ice cream at Whiteys, swimming at White Water Junction, community barbeque, and a fun junior high youth service with Pastor Nate (it’s theme was ‘how to pray’). To wrap up each night, we had ‘Club’ time where we shared ‘You Got Rock’ and ‘Yeah God’ stories. The YouthWorks staff shared something from the Bible related to our ‘Open Our Eyes’ theme of the day, and we sang songs. We retired as a Saint James group for ‘Group Time’ right before bed… to talk together about the day. You could certainly tell who got squirrelly when tired, and who got cranky when tired. Can you guess which category our leader fell into? The Mission Trip experience was awesome! We learned so much and had such a good time getting to know each other, the youth from other churches, and the Lydia Home kids. Please take the opportunity to ask us about anything that you read here that you’d like to know more about. We’d love to share; even if it does take some of us out of our comfort zones. We worked a lot on going outside of our comfort zones when we were in the Quad Cities. Also, please pray that we will continue to apply what we learned on the mission trip; now that we are home. There are so many opportunities for us to perform acts of ministry in our own homes, schools, and community; so many chances to open our eyes to beauty, justice, mercy and humility right here at home. Thank you to our parents and everyone who supported us and prayed for us during this Mission Trip! We had a great time. One last item – Did we remember to say that it was hot?!? --- Abby, Allison, Andy, Jason, Kara, Loryn, and Michele
www.YouthWorks.com
|
|
