Mission Trip Summary

I know - this should have posted weeks ago. I have a couple of family vacations in the mix, along with a couple of hectic weeks playing catch-up at the office, so I apologize for the delay. I do want to take just a minute to give you my final thoughts about the mission trips.

Our Chicago mission trip was probably the best mission trip I have taken students on. Their level of contact with really hurting individuals, and the fact that they were put into the shoes of some of them (to an extent) really made the trip hit home. I feel like CSM did such a great job of educating our students about the city we were in so they knew a lot more about the hurting and the problems of the people in the city. The experiential elements to the trip were fantastic! I feel like the students were really taken out of their comfort zone, which is an important thing to do with teenagers. The thing that really makes me feel like this was a great trip is that so many students are bringing it home. Some students are planning a VBS for south Cape in a week and a half. Other students want to get involved into discipleship so that they don't lose their God-high. And that's what it's all about - being the hands and feet of Jesus, and allowing the experience to transform your own life.

Our Cincinnati trip was excellent as well. YouthWorks does a great job of providing students with a first mission trip experience, and this week was no different. Our students worked their tails off without complaining once. And they were able to do so much good for the community. On the last day of the trip, the guys at the food distribution center separated 26,000 pounds of food. WOW! And the other groups worked just as hard. The things that made this trip feel special was the number of setbacks that we had - schedule changes, dislocated thumbs, sickness, etc. There were too many things going wrong for it just to be a coincidence. I think other forces - evil ones - were at play because they were worried that we were doing so much good for the people of Cincinnati. But those forces didn't win! Jesus did!

Thank you for your support in prayer and for reading our updates!

Cinci Day Four

Tanda gave this to me this morning. I thought it was worthy of posting:

Answers to Prayers

Monday night I prayed that God would show me and the girls connections between weeding gardens and serving Him and I also requested to meet new people. Tuesday as I/we spoke to the women at the garden Dorothy made a wonderful statement to us. She needs two knee replacements and can no longer work the garden. She told us what a blessing it was to have us there to pull weeds and help. She said that many times the weeds and work become too much and discourage growth and the desire to continue. As we did the weeding it allowed them to focus on growth and hope. I saw the weeds as a variety of things in our lives that discourage us or keep us from growing to our potential. At times when we were weeding we did not know what was a weed or what was a wanted plant. This showed me that we need fellowship with Christians to help us point out the weeds in our life that keep us from growing to our potential in Christ.

______________________

There have been moments in my week when I have had these same questions: Why are they weeding? What difference is this really making. Praise God for giving our girls the answer!

Riddle: What do you call two adults and two really fun girls, mixed with lots of laughs, meeting new people, getting lost, and very yummy food? A trip to the ER, that's what you call it. After I made my way to work with Tammy's group yesterday, I got a call from Kristy. She told me that Alyssa may have broken her thumb playing extreme dodgeball (she fell on it). I told her to put some ice on it to see if it responded. It didn't get any better, so I met them at the YMCA so we could get showered, then after a brief stop back at the church, I took Alyssa to the ER at Cincinnati Children's Hospital. Kelsey went along for the ride, and Nikki - being the site director - came too. I never thought a trip to the ER could be that much fun. We were there for a few hours, and we laughed most of the time. Alyssa too, even though her pain level was a 9 on a scale from 1 to 10 (but you never would have known it by looking at her or talking to her). 

It all started as we were checking in. Mario was the guy at the check-in desk. He asked the standard check-in questions, then he asked to take a look at her thumb. She held up her hand, which looked far from normal. Mario's response: "Whoa! Oh, my! We're going to take you back right now." with a clear sense of urgency on his face. We cracked up at how bad he freaked out at the sight of her thumb. I told him that he'd never make it as a doctor with those kinds of reactions. He informed us that he had, in fact, just applied to medical school. I told him that 'how to respond to injuries' would be covered in one of his classes, for sure. We saw a few more people before being taken to an examining room. We had a sign that hung outside our door that said "Quiet Zone." We were anything but quiet! We laughed and laughed very loudly. I wished I had had my notebook with me so I could write down everything that was said and done for posterity's sake. 

One of the highlights was when I offered Kelsey a nickel to go ask someone what time the ER closed. We could hear when she asked the first person. We were all gathered at the door peeking around the corner. We couldn't see her, but we heard as she tried to ask, but she absolutely busted up midway through her sentence. We lost it! I haven't laughed that hard in a while. She did it again, this time asking one of her doctor's down the hall. When the doctor came back and found out that we had put her up to it, she said, "When she asked, I told her, 'Never,' but I was wondering, because she seemed like such a smart girl."

Alyssa's had two doctors. The first doctor met with her, then later another doctor came to show her the X-ray. As she looked at it with us, she didn't see a break or dislocation, so she took Alyssa's hand and really started to work on her thumb hard. Alyssa was in a lot of pain. Then we went back to the room and waited. Doctor #1 came back and said, "You have a dislocation. The other doctor, the pregnant one, wanted me to tell you that she's really sorry." Well, yeah! We got a laugh out of that, too. Apparently, they were all looking at the wrong joint. Hmmmm...

At one point, Doctor #2, the pregnant one, came back and was working on Alyssa's thumb again, this time trying to put it back in place. I said to her, "So I hear you're pregnant." She didn't respond right away. Then she realized that I was talking to her, and she said, "Oh, I thought you were talking to her [Alyssa]." I said, "NOOO!!!" She mentioned that if that were the case that I must not be that great of a youth pastor.

As we waited to be checked out, the door suddenly opened and a doctor rushed in and said, "Sorry. I have an urgent need for a SpongeBob video." Again, more laughs.

After all of the frivolity, I decided to take the girls out to a nice dinner, since we missed our dinner and evening activity. We ate at Max & Erma's and then, after a short visit to the pharmacy after a long drive to find it, we headed back to the church just in time for bed. I never thought that my personal 'fun' highlight of a mission trip would be a visit to the hospital, but it sure was. At least so far. Please be praying for Alyssa as she is still in quite a bit of pain today.

I didn't have much interaction with the work teams or leaders as a result of the aforementioned adventure. I did get to hang out with Tammy's group for a little while, though. They moved to a new site, Over the Rhine Community Housing. This is a group that provides low-income individuals with affordable, quality housing. They own 95 buildings with 220 units total. The girls were going to work outside, but since it was raining, they were taken to a warehouse/garage to clean and organize. When I got there, it seemed like they didn't have very much direction, as they couldn't really tell me what to do to help. I didn't like that. But none of them seemed bothered by it. They cleaned and moved stuff around with joy. They are much better at serving with a sense of joy than I am.

Another change has been with Lexi and Julia. Yesterday they stayed at the church to help paint. While that and the weeding has been OK, Tanda has sensed that maybe they would like some more interaction with some of the other students. I though at the beginning of the week that just having two students in the one group wasn't the best set-up, but we went with it. But today, with Alyssa staying back and one other student from another church going to a different site, we had the freedom to send Lexi and Julia out to City Cure to play with kids with Kristy's group. They seemed pretty excited about it.

For last night's evening activity, our group visited Tabernacle Baptist Church, then came back for club and church group time. I'm not sure what happened, if God was working on some students or if there was something else going on or what, but there were a few of our students crying. When they were approached and asked what was wrong, they didn't say anything. So please be praying for our students with this situation in mind. I don't know how to ask you to pray, because none of us adult leaders know really what is going on, but God does. So lift them up. I will keep their names confidential to protect them, in case they don't want it known that they were crying in front of everyone.

I'm going to go now to see how Tanda is doing back at the church (she stayed back to paint) and then will eat lunch and head out to City Cure to play with kids again. Darn. :-) We look forward to seeing you all soon. Don't forget to check out the pics...

Cinci Day Three

We are officially past the halfway mark, and it's starting to show. The students that were so gung-ho the first day were a little less so yesterday. As Tanda said, "These kids are working so hard. I know my daughter (Lexi) has never worked THIS hard before." But as tired as they are, they continued to work hard with a very positive attitude. That's what we like to see. But this morning I definitely noticed the fatigue setting in on some of their faces. That's to be expected.

There's not a whole lot new to report today. Many of the reports were very similar to the reports from the first day: we pulled weeds, we separated cans of food, we played  with kids, we cut down honeysuckle. Not a whole lot of new information from the work sites. There are new pictures from City Cure - Kristy's site - which is where I ended up yesterday. I got to play basketball with Devon and get shot by Super Soakers by VonVon. It was so rough! :-) There was also a Mike Mike at the site, so Kristy started calling me Fitz Fitz. The girls there are doing such a great job being totally interactive with the kids and focusing on them instead of on themselves. I did get to meet Gordon, the youth pastor from the church that does this program. What a trip! He is this hip, street, late 40's white guy who pours his life into these little kids. He blew in to give a short talk about repentance and then took off to another site. But during his talk, he looked at me and said, "You're God!" It was a little shocking. Basically he 

was asking me to pose as God for an interactive demonstration of repentance. I've never had someone call me god before. It was unnerving.

We broke early from our work sites yesterday because our evening activity actually took place in the afternoon. We went to the Freedom Center, which celebrates the Underground Railroad in America. The layout of the museum wasn't nearly as user-friendly as the Civil Rights Museum in Birmingham, but there was a lot of good information, interesting displays, and informative movies. The two things that stood out to me were:

• A box that a slave enclosed himself in to ship himself to Philadelphia - free territory. The box was only 2'8" x 2'8" x 3'0", and the man was 5'9" and 200 lbs. I thought about how terrible his situation must have been to put himself through that to be free.
  
• 
• A piece of artwork that showed various aspects of the slave trade. One of the images showed a black baby being sold at auction and being taken away from his mother. Now that I am a dad of small children, that image hit home even more forcefully than it may have otherwise.

After dinner we had some extended free time, so I took our crew to experience Graeter's Ice Cream, my personal favorite. I don't think it disappointed at all. There is definitely much ice cream being consumed on this trip!

We had our normal club experience, which reminds me of a great comment by Rachel. Someone was complaining a little bit about club, that's is not as big and flashy as they may be used to with The Porch. Rachel said, "They put a lot of work into it, so I think we should be grateful." I gave her a high-five and praised her for her attitude in front of several other students. But then after club, we had a powerful church group time. We covered our work days, which got the normal kind of comments, but then when we started talking about the Freedom Center, things changed a bit. The air got a little heavier as we experienced something pretty serious and sobering. Several kids mentioned feeling very sad as a result. There were tears shed by students and SIMYs alike. I then took the opportunity to encourage them to not simply be sad about what they saw but to get angry. I pointed out that a lot of times, we get sad when we see something like that, but in a day or two, we're not sad anymore. But when we get mad, it tends to burn in our belly until we do something about it. I want our students to get mad about issues of injustice and slavery and poverty, so much so that they are determined to make a difference. God is working to make things right in the world, and he wants to use us. So let's let Him. Will we rid the world of slavery or poverty or racism? No. But can we do our part to make a dent. That is what I hope our students will do.

**Apology alert: Before you hear it from your students, I wanted to let you know that I used some strong language during our discussion in church group time. I used two phrases in particular that may offend. One, I told them that I wanted them to get 'pissed off' about the things in the world that aren't right. Two, I quoted the movie Network in saying that I wanted them to have the attitude of saying, "I'm as mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore!" If this offends you - or if it offended your child - I am truly sorry. My goal was not to offend, but to emphasize how bad these situations are and how badly God wants to work through them to make a change. I hope you understand.**

I think that's about all for today. Don't forget to check out the pictures as there are new ones. And I bought a new camera yesterday, so after today the pictures should be much better. I will close with two funny comments:

• Someone used the word 'esophagus.' Alyssa asked if that was a vegetable.
• This morning before devo time, Ellie asked me, "Can you say 'tutti-frutti' when you hiccup?" I told her that I honestly have never tried. She said, "Its really hard." And I truly think she knows from experience.

Cinci Day Two

Well, it's the beginning of day two, which means this will be a report on day one. I know, it's confusing. But try to keep up. :-)

Yesterday was our first day at our work sites. Suffice it to say that our students worked hard - sometimes at jobs that they didn't really know why they were doing it - accomplished much and all with a great attitude. You parents have done a good job of raising your kids with a good work ethic and great attitudes, even if the circumstances are not the best. Mad props to you!

After I finished blogging and uploading pictures yesterday to our Flickr site (BTW, there are new pictures today from yesterday), I ran to the store to pick up a few items for various people - toothbrush, air mattress, etc. - and headed over to the FreeStore Food Bank. I got there just as the work team (Ryan's) was finishing up lunch and was getting ready to watch a movie about the ministry that FreeStore provides. So I ate my lunch and watched with them. This is a ministry that not only distributes donated food to food pantries all over the area, but also helps people process their food stamps, provides hot meals for kids, and teaches people to be chefs so they have a marketable trade, among other things. The team had a great time there separating barrels of non-perishable  food into various categories: corn from beans from tomatoes from sauces from fruit, etc. By the end of the day they had separated 18,000 pounds of food. That is not a typo. Nine tons of food they separated! WOW! What a great job! And they had a lot of fun doing it, too. I think they are feeling it today. They will be there again today, then off to a different site. And just a side note, he guys in Ryan's team now refer to him as 'Dad.' (and me as the evil stepdad)

Tammy's group went to Eden Park yesterday. She said the park was beautiful, but they went into the woods and helped tear down some honeysuckle and other plants that would be damaging to the other plants around them. It would have been natural for the students to whine and complain for not being able to do something that may seem more mission trippy. But Tammy said that their attitude was great, that she heard not one grumble. And many of the students came back feeling pretty good about themselves about the work they were able to accomplish. And they said that there were no bugs and they were in the shade. Must have been a God thing. And also, apparently our friend Sergei has a good singing voice as he serenaded the group from the pavilion. He is definitely the kids that everyone will be talking about when we get home!

Tanda's group helped weed a couple of neighborhood gardens. The first one was for kids to help them learn about stewardship, but they only encountered one kid that day, Cameron. Then they helped weed another garden, the food from which was distributed to senior citizens. Tanda had a great time, but I think Lexi struggled a bit since it seemed like they weren't really interacting with anyone. She didn't complain about it; just a sense I get.

Kristy's team went to City Cure, which puts on a day camp for kids. They were greeted by a crazy white youth pastor in his late 40's who rapped for them. An interesting greeting, to say the least. The kids absolutely loved this guy (Gordon)! And they loved on the kids in a big way! Kristy had some expectations for how our students would do, and she said they far exceeded them. Gordon had set the groundwork by telling them that they were not to be talking with each other, but instead to be interacting with the kids that came, and our students jumped into that task with both feet. They had a ball! Kristy said that Mikayla probably had more fun than even the kids that came to the camp. She also said that it was neat to see some of the quiet kids come out of their shell, and the clique-y kids be not so much.

During our team leader meeting each day, we go around and report how our day went. When it got to be Ken from Michigan's turn, he had a stern look on his face as he said, "I had a terrible day." We were on the edge of our seats to hear what went wrong. He went on to say, "I had to play laser tag all day. It was awful!" We absolutely cracked up! He totally set us up. But he went to go on to say that there was a kid that came that was in a wheelchair who had never played laser tag before, so Ken pushed him around the course while he worked the gun. They both had a fantastic time, and they came in the top 10. Fun stuff!

Also in the leader's meeting, Nikki told us how important youth leaders were in her life and spiritual development. It's always good for volunteers to hear that, so I'm glad she shared her heart.

Last night for our evening activity we walked across the Purple People Bridge. We started on the Kentucky side, walked across to Cinci, and then back again. Before venturing into Newport on the Levee for ice cream, we stopped to pray for the Cincinnati. This was cool, but it's also a little discouraging for me - the youth leader - to see how hesitant our kids are to pray out loud. I'm not sure yet if there's something I need to do differently, but it is something I have noticed. After praying, we went into Newport and the kids got hopped up on sugar: ice cream, sno cones, candy. It's a very nice little shopping and eating area. The kids don't know it yet, but we will be returning there on Friday for our fun activity: The Newport Aquarium.

Club last night was a mix of the silly and the serious. It started with a fashion show. Youth Enterprise is a ministry connected to YouthWorks that makes and sells t-shirts and pours the money back into the ministries. The YW staff pushes the shirts all week, so last night we had a fashion show, of which Ryan, Tammy and I were a part. It was very silly! You can see the shirts we modeled on Flickr. Later during club, Alicia shared from her heart and life, a life of alcohol and drug consumption from the time she was in 6th grade. She continued this lifestyle until last spring ('07) when she lost three close friend to death. This helped to serve as a wake-up call that she needed to get right with God, which she did. I hope and pray that the kids were listening and that this story will come to mind when the face similar temptations as they pass through these teen years.

I asked everyone where they saw God in their days. We had many various responses. I then told them that I saw God in how they served and with their attitudes. It is exciting for me to see so many of our students allow themselves to be used by God to be a part, an instrument for what He is trying to do in the world to make everything right again. In closing, I read the lyrics from Remedy by the David Crowder* Band. I will leave you with those lyrics, and also remind you that we will be going to the Freedom Center today. Please pray that the students take this time seriously and allow it to open their eyes to injustice still in the world today. Thanks, and here are those lyrics I promised.

David Crowder* Band - Remedy

Here we are

Here we are

The broken and used

Mistreated, abused

Here we are

Here You are

Here You are

The beautiful one

Who came like a Son

Here You are

So we lift up our voices

We open our hands

To cling to the love

That we can't comprehend

Oh, lift up your voices

And lift up your heads

To sing of the love

That has freed us from sin

He is the one

Who has saved us

He is the one

Who embraced us

He is the one who has come

And is coming again

He's the remedy

Here we are

Here we are

Bandaged and bruised

Awaiting a cure

Here we are

Here You are

Here You are

Our beautiful King

Bringing relief

Here You are with us

So we lift up our voices

And open our hands

Let go of the things

That have kept us from Him

He is the one

Who has saved us

He is the one

Who forgave us

He is thee one who has come

And is coming again

He's the remedy

Oh, I can't comprehend

I can't take it all in

Never understand

Such perfect love come

For the broken and beat

For the wounded and weak

Oh, come fall at his feet

He's the remedy

He's the remedy

So sing, sing

You are the one

Who has saved us

You are the one

Who forgave us

You are the one who has come

And is coming again

To make it alright

Oh, to make it alright

You're the remedy

Oh, in us

You're the remedy

Let us be the remedy

Let us bring the remedy

It's Cincinnati's Turn!

We made it safely to Cincinnati in about the amount of time we had expected. We would have been there quite early, but then the post-lunch potty breaks started kicking in. We still got in with about an hour to spare - plenty of time to claim our space, set up our beds, and relax. The trip was fairly uneventful, and only one student - Alyssa - got a little car sick. Nothing serious, just a little queasy.

Dinner last night featured Sloppy Joes (which prompted our students to sing the Sloppy Joes song from Xtreme Camp), mac and Cheese, and watermelon - much different than the ethnic cuisine on the senior high trip. Taylor did get a little extra treat - a small piece of cake to celebrate her 13th birthday.

After dinner we had our orientations so we knew what the rules were, what the ministry sites were, and how the week would play out. We have some good YouthWorks staff this week: Nikki, our site director, is from Atlanta, and loves teens and missions; Alicia, our urban staff, is from South Bend, IN; Kyle, our other urban staff, is from Cincinnati; and Mary, our club staff, is getting ready to graduate from Princeton Seminary (smarty-pants).

After orientation we had our first club. Think mini-Porch, and you have a general idea what that looks like: we sing some songs, they do a skit or two, and we hear a short message. The theme for the week is 'Jump', as in, there are some things that God will call you to do that require more than taking a step of faith, they require more like a jump of faith. Last night we focused on Mary's jump of faith as she said yes to God who told her that she would give birth to Jesus. Judging from the conversation we had after that during church group time, many of our students are taking a jump this week as they expressed nervousness about this week. I asked them all to come up with three word to describe how they were feeling about this week. Here were their responses:

• Cory: Very, very nervous.
• Casey: Ecstatic. Happy. Thankful.
• Riley: Nervous. Confused. Excited.
• Kristen: I am excited.
• Meredith: I am unsure. (and yeah)
• Candace: I am excited.
• Taylor: Ready, but nervous.
• Kelsey: Nervous and Excited.
• Ellie: Excited. Disoriented. Prepared?
• Mikayla: Nervous. Excited. Thankful.
• Alyssa: Excited and nervous.
• Tammy: Thankful. Way excited!
• Ryan W.: Nervous. Excited. Expectations.
• Ryan L.: Anxious. Excited. Flexible.
• Houston: I don't know.
• Tyler: Super, uber-excited!
• Tanda: Unsure. Grateful. Ready.
• Lexi: Anxious and tiresome.
• Julia: I'm extremely excited!
• Fitz: Uncertain. Sad. Jazzed.
• Kristy: Grateful. Hope. Distractions.
• Morghan: Straight up ready.
• Rachel: Excited. Expecting. Uncomfortable.
• Larissa: Excited. Scared. Nervous.

I will let you follow up with your own child to find out why they picked the words they did.

This morning, the students learned what work groups they would be in and who they would be with and what they would be doing. Here is what they learned:

Kristy's Group (each team has a creative name, but I forgot to write them down)

Job: City Cure (working with kids at a day camp in the Over the Rhone community, where 95% of the families live below the poverty line)

• Kristen
• Morghan
• Kelsey
• Alyssa
• Candace
• Mikayla
• Taylor
• Larissa
• and students from other churches

Ryan's Group

Job: FreeStore Food Bank (sorting food for a food distributor that distributes 10 million pounds of food donations each year)

• Houston
• Tyler
• Cory
• Ryan
• and students from other churches

Tammy's Group

Job: Eden Park (helping park managers to clear out some overgrown plants)

• Meredith
• Rachel
• Riley
• Ellie
• Casey
• and students from other churches

Tanda's Group

Job: Neighborhood Gardens (help maintain some gardens owned by a not-for-profit organization that uses the gardens to help teach stewardship and finances to at-risk teens)

• Julia
• Lexi
• and students from other churches

Speaking of other churches, we are spending the week with teams from Minnesota, Wisconsin, Buffalo, and Michigan. I don;t feel so bad about the length of our drive after hearing some of their stories.

Tonight our evening activity will be to walk over the Purple People Bridge into Newport, KY. It is the longest pedestrian-only bridge in the U.S. connecting two states. But the evening activity I'm really excited about is going to the Freedom Center tomorrow. It celebrates the underground railroad. Knowing how moving the Civil Rights Museum was for our students in Birmingham, I expect much of the same from this.

A couple of random notes:

• We now know the kid that everyone will be talking about after the trip is over: Sergei. He is an extremely extroverted 6th grader from Wisconsin who was adopted from Russia when he was two. He is a trip!
• Ellie got to sleep with Pinky last night, a stuffed pig. Not sure why.
• When we did 'Yea God's last night (an opportunity to praise God for what he's doing), Kyle introduced the 'Yea God Orb.' Someone said, "Orb?" He said, "Yeah. It's spherical." OK, it's not funny in print, but it was quite funny live.
• When we were getting a tour of the church, I saw a stained-glass window that featured Jesus with a turtle at his feet. I pointed this out to Ryan as being odd to me. He said that maybe Jesus was slow. I said, "Jesus wasn't swift of foot." Again, probably not funny in print, and I normally don't brag on my funny comments, but Tammy made me include this.
• Cory was bragging about how he put his lunch on top of the ice pack in the cooler so he would have a cool lunch. Tyler said, "I told you. That's a first-aid kit. It won't keep your lunch cool." Funny!

I am off now. I will upload some pictures to our Flickr site. Please forgive the quality as our camera doesn't do well indoors. And then it's off to Wal-Mart to pick up some stuff and then to the FreeStore Food Bank. Thanks for reading and for allowing your child to come on this trip with us.