Go Team!

Three days ago, we gathered our two youth mission teams for a day of teambuilding. Our senior high met in the morning, and our junior high convened in the afternoon. I started off the day feeling really ill, but that went away pretty quickly. Our teams worked very well together to accomplish the various tasks: passing everyone through the Metro Spiderweb, filling a huge hole-filled tube with water, carrying a large pole while keeping it upright, and moving some toxic waste. We had so much fun, and most everyone got pretty wet. Check out our pictures here.

30 Hour Famine 08

Just over a week ago, we completed our annual 30 Hour Famine. It was a tremendous success! The only drawback was the weather. Thunderstorms blew in preventing us from sleeping outside in a homeless simulation. Bummer. But other than that, things went great! Our students did a fantastic job of not complaining of hunger or anything else - much better than I would have done at their age. They served hard cleaning up trash in Cairo, IL, an area that has been hard hit with poverty, crime, and white-flight. And to top it all off, they brought in over $7,000.00 to feed and care for starving children in developing countries (this year's funds were directed to primarily Malawi, North Korea, Sudan [Darfur region], Kenya, and Swaziland). That would normally care for 19 children, but thanks to a matching grant by the U.S. government, that money was quadrupled, which meant that our students helped save the lives of 76 children! I have read in many places that this generation of students is looking for opportunities to change the world - these students are doing just that!

Click here to see pictures from the event.