Showing posts with label Birmingham. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Birmingham. Show all posts
Friday, June 19, 2009
B'ham Update - Homeward Bound
Angel texted me this morning to tell me that they got on the road at 9:15am...and promptly got a flat tire at 9:17am. So while Danny and Steve took care of the flat, the rest of them took the students to McDonald's. Their current ETA, according to their GPS - which does not factor in lots of potty break for small bladders - is 4:30pm. So they will probably be in around 6:00pm or so...
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Birmingham, Day Two
Well, I've finally made it to a point where I can blog - but only for a little bit...I wasted much of my time uploading photos...so check out our flickr site...I've uploaded as many as possible over an hour and a half of VERY slow connection.
Our teams are all doing fantastic - and I promise that even if I have to blog after I get home, I will share with you some great stories...but let me give you a few updates about what's been going on:
Team Sweet Tea - JT, Morghan, Taylor, Larissa
They have people from the other church in their group as well - they spent the last two days in Kids Club working with underprivileged children. They've had a great time, but because there were alot of kids, they had a hard time connecting with them...but the second day was better. In fact, I think Larissa may have a new boyfriend. Unfortunately, he's six.
Team Botanical Gardens - Vicky, Hollie, Riley, Grayson, Ashley
They also have kids from the other youth group in their group with them. They have spent time at a nursing home visiting with residents and have also spent time cleaning the building we are utilizing for shelter and spent all afternoon today working in a homeless shelter type facility cleaning rooms. Riley and Hollie met Norma, one of the nursing home residents and became quick friends - and their whole team wrote Norma a card and signed it before leaving.
Ashley and Grayson had a great time tutoring kids...
Team Vulcan - Danny, Austin, Ryan, Garrett, Cody
These guys have spent a lot of time in nursing homes and have also gotten to go to Kids Club. Ryan met a lady that told him that she had experienced both heaven and hell...neat story...you'll have to ask him about it. When the boys were leaving, they had a woman tell them that she loved them...Ryan shared with us that this is the first time he's ever had an adult tell him that they love him...REALLY, Ron???
Garrett and Cody had a great time playing Bingo...and also played Wii with and made a great connection with a man named "Tiny". Oddly enough, Tiny weighs somewhere near 600 pounds...
Austin has had a phenomenal time playing with kids - he's really good at it too:-) He's so funny - I'm sure they were totally entertained with him around.
Team 16th Street Baptist - Steve, Easy, Caleb, Jared, Matt, Chylie, Dallas, Alle
These folks have been bustin' it - they've painted the outside trim on a house...and have worked really hard in some extreme heat. The heat index today was 107!!!
OK - they are telling me I have to leave now...so since I've already shared some about my team (Team Kelly Ingram Park - me, Tammy, Sarah, Rachel, Alex, Meredith and Kelsi) I'll skip more info on them today.
Check out our pics though, and I will do my best to blog more tomorrow...
Our teams are all doing fantastic - and I promise that even if I have to blog after I get home, I will share with you some great stories...but let me give you a few updates about what's been going on:
Team Sweet Tea - JT, Morghan, Taylor, Larissa
They have people from the other church in their group as well - they spent the last two days in Kids Club working with underprivileged children. They've had a great time, but because there were alot of kids, they had a hard time connecting with them...but the second day was better. In fact, I think Larissa may have a new boyfriend. Unfortunately, he's six.
Team Botanical Gardens - Vicky, Hollie, Riley, Grayson, Ashley
They also have kids from the other youth group in their group with them. They have spent time at a nursing home visiting with residents and have also spent time cleaning the building we are utilizing for shelter and spent all afternoon today working in a homeless shelter type facility cleaning rooms. Riley and Hollie met Norma, one of the nursing home residents and became quick friends - and their whole team wrote Norma a card and signed it before leaving.
Ashley and Grayson had a great time tutoring kids...
Team Vulcan - Danny, Austin, Ryan, Garrett, Cody
These guys have spent a lot of time in nursing homes and have also gotten to go to Kids Club. Ryan met a lady that told him that she had experienced both heaven and hell...neat story...you'll have to ask him about it. When the boys were leaving, they had a woman tell them that she loved them...Ryan shared with us that this is the first time he's ever had an adult tell him that they love him...REALLY, Ron???
Garrett and Cody had a great time playing Bingo...and also played Wii with and made a great connection with a man named "Tiny". Oddly enough, Tiny weighs somewhere near 600 pounds...
Austin has had a phenomenal time playing with kids - he's really good at it too:-) He's so funny - I'm sure they were totally entertained with him around.
Team 16th Street Baptist - Steve, Easy, Caleb, Jared, Matt, Chylie, Dallas, Alle
These folks have been bustin' it - they've painted the outside trim on a house...and have worked really hard in some extreme heat. The heat index today was 107!!!
OK - they are telling me I have to leave now...so since I've already shared some about my team (Team Kelly Ingram Park - me, Tammy, Sarah, Rachel, Alex, Meredith and Kelsi) I'll skip more info on them today.
Check out our pics though, and I will do my best to blog more tomorrow...
B'ham Update
I just got a text from Angel in Birmingham. She hasn't been able to get to anywhere with wifi since Monday to blog or to update photos. She has had to lead a team, which she was not anticipating doing. She will try to get out of an evening activity soon to got y'all some updates. As far as I know, everything is going OK. We apologize for the radio silence...
Monday, June 15, 2009
Birmingham Pictures
OK - the wi-fi here is CRAZY slow...I've been trying to upload pics this whole time...and nothing. So I will try to find another option for uploading pics but it probably won't happen until tomorrow. Sorry:-(
Birmingham, Day One
Well, today is officially the first day of the Birmingham mission trip. We traveled all day yesterday - and successfully turned a 6 1/2 hour trip into a full 10 hour trip:-) Whoever said it only takes 6 1/2 hours obviously has never done the trip with 29 people.
The trip down was awesome - a little rain early on - but then beautiful the rest of the drive. We stopped for lunch in Memphis and picked up Cody House there - we should have known there would 'timing' issues when we didn't leave Memphis until after 1:30p!
But seriously - we made it to the mission site in plenty of time. We would have been EXTREMELY early if our kiddos would have had bigger bladders.
The church that we were originally supposed to stay in this week had a fire a couple of weeks ago (that's maybe an understatement, it's no longer standing really), so we were blessed to be welcomed into an old school house next door that has taken in the church family as well and is allowing them to meet there while they rebuild.
It's quite warm down in these parts - and without a beach nearby - I think we are all realizing very quickly how spoiled we are!
After dinner, we had meetings to prep us for all that's going to be happening this week and the kids were divided into their work groups that they will stick with for the rest of the week.
Here are a few of the places we'll be working:
BEAT, Church of the Reconciler, Cornerstone School, and The Foundry.
The original plan was that I (Angel) would go from site to site taking pics, making sure everyone had what they needed, blogging for parents, etc. However, once we divided into teams, it was necessary that I lead a team with Tammy to keep two leaders per site. SOOOO, I'll be depending on the info I get from the other leaders and the pictures they take to keep you completely up to date on things.
My group (Sarah S, Rachael D, Alex E, Kelsi M, Meredith C) is at The Foundry for the next two days and we are totally pumped.
There's a group called Soles4Souls that donated 10,000 pairs of brand new shoes to The Foundry's thrift store. Today we are organizing boxes upon boxes of shoes by size and style and tomorrow we actually get to help distribute the shoes! What a REAL impact they are making on showing God's love to the people of Birmingham - and the fact that we get to participate in His big plan is amazing.
Last night we had an evening devotional to discuss our hopes and fears for the week. We had lots of sharing which was great...here a few of the hopes some of our students shared with us that they have for this week (my :shorthand" method of taking notes isn't great, so I'm sure I'll be paraphrasing a few of these):
Holly - that she experiences a real connection with God
Kelsi - that we will draw closer to others on this trip
Ashley - that she will know what it feels like to serve God outside of her comfort zone
Rachael - that we will learn to serve with a true servant's heart; serving when no one is looking
Larissa - that we influence the people we come in contact with and actually make a difference.
Ryan - that he will reconnect with God
Austin - that he will remember the week and actually put it into context in his life back home - he doesn't want to forget everything he learns this week
Meredith - that we would not judge people - that we would realize that they all come from different backgrounds and that they are deeper than what we see on the outside
Sarah - that she would do everything this week with a joyful heart and be as selfless as possible while always maintaining a positive attitude.
As you can see - our students have alot of hopes for the week! They don't just come up with this stuff on their own - you all (parents) have a lot to do with shaping their minds and environment - and you are apparently doing a great job:-)
At the end of the night, we had a little time with just our group (La Croix). JT reminded all of us that we aren't doing this to get attention, but to bring glory to God. We were encouraged to make friends with the other church we are serving alongside and to make it a point to interact with the people we come in contact with.
JT also encouraged the students to journal this week..."just like when you are a kid and your parents put you up against the wall every six months and marked your growth on the wall - journaling is a great way for us to measure our spiritual growth."
Well - as you might have guessed the Foundry does not have wi-fi, which means I am currently a block up the street sitting in a Krystal blogging to you, as my girls are working their tails off with Tammy. Thus, I'd better stop rambling. I am going to upload some pics of the trip down on the Flicker site (no pics from today yet - I'll do those tomorrow...no wi-fi where we are staying).
If you make any comments on the site, I'll relay them back to the group...
Thanks! Until tomorrow...
The trip down was awesome - a little rain early on - but then beautiful the rest of the drive. We stopped for lunch in Memphis and picked up Cody House there - we should have known there would 'timing' issues when we didn't leave Memphis until after 1:30p!
But seriously - we made it to the mission site in plenty of time. We would have been EXTREMELY early if our kiddos would have had bigger bladders.
The church that we were originally supposed to stay in this week had a fire a couple of weeks ago (that's maybe an understatement, it's no longer standing really), so we were blessed to be welcomed into an old school house next door that has taken in the church family as well and is allowing them to meet there while they rebuild.
It's quite warm down in these parts - and without a beach nearby - I think we are all realizing very quickly how spoiled we are!
After dinner, we had meetings to prep us for all that's going to be happening this week and the kids were divided into their work groups that they will stick with for the rest of the week.
Here are a few of the places we'll be working:
BEAT, Church of the Reconciler, Cornerstone School, and The Foundry.
The original plan was that I (Angel) would go from site to site taking pics, making sure everyone had what they needed, blogging for parents, etc. However, once we divided into teams, it was necessary that I lead a team with Tammy to keep two leaders per site. SOOOO, I'll be depending on the info I get from the other leaders and the pictures they take to keep you completely up to date on things.
My group (Sarah S, Rachael D, Alex E, Kelsi M, Meredith C) is at The Foundry for the next two days and we are totally pumped.
There's a group called Soles4Souls that donated 10,000 pairs of brand new shoes to The Foundry's thrift store. Today we are organizing boxes upon boxes of shoes by size and style and tomorrow we actually get to help distribute the shoes! What a REAL impact they are making on showing God's love to the people of Birmingham - and the fact that we get to participate in His big plan is amazing.
Last night we had an evening devotional to discuss our hopes and fears for the week. We had lots of sharing which was great...here a few of the hopes some of our students shared with us that they have for this week (my :shorthand" method of taking notes isn't great, so I'm sure I'll be paraphrasing a few of these):
Holly - that she experiences a real connection with God
Kelsi - that we will draw closer to others on this trip
Ashley - that she will know what it feels like to serve God outside of her comfort zone
Rachael - that we will learn to serve with a true servant's heart; serving when no one is looking
Larissa - that we influence the people we come in contact with and actually make a difference.
Ryan - that he will reconnect with God
Austin - that he will remember the week and actually put it into context in his life back home - he doesn't want to forget everything he learns this week
Meredith - that we would not judge people - that we would realize that they all come from different backgrounds and that they are deeper than what we see on the outside
Sarah - that she would do everything this week with a joyful heart and be as selfless as possible while always maintaining a positive attitude.
As you can see - our students have alot of hopes for the week! They don't just come up with this stuff on their own - you all (parents) have a lot to do with shaping their minds and environment - and you are apparently doing a great job:-)
At the end of the night, we had a little time with just our group (La Croix). JT reminded all of us that we aren't doing this to get attention, but to bring glory to God. We were encouraged to make friends with the other church we are serving alongside and to make it a point to interact with the people we come in contact with.
JT also encouraged the students to journal this week..."just like when you are a kid and your parents put you up against the wall every six months and marked your growth on the wall - journaling is a great way for us to measure our spiritual growth."
Well - as you might have guessed the Foundry does not have wi-fi, which means I am currently a block up the street sitting in a Krystal blogging to you, as my girls are working their tails off with Tammy. Thus, I'd better stop rambling. I am going to upload some pics of the trip down on the Flicker site (no pics from today yet - I'll do those tomorrow...no wi-fi where we are staying).
If you make any comments on the site, I'll relay them back to the group...
Thanks! Until tomorrow...
Birmingham Update
Angel asked me to let y'all know that they got to B'ham safe and sdoun. She will be blogging later today...
Monday, June 25, 2007
We made it!
When we had to stop for potty breaks twice in the first half-hour, I thought we'd never get to Birmingham. I could just see me calling Emily, the site director, and telling her, "Sorry, but our people can't get their bladders and intestines synced up, so we're not going to be able to make it." But, despite the early setbacks, we made quite good time. We arrived in B'Ham at around 5:00pm, well within the time frame we needed to arrive. We unloaded quickly and then hung out for a while. The trip was pretty uneventful, except for one of the vehicles that now has van clean-up duty thanks to their desire to throw candy throughout the van they were riding in.
We are staying at Woodlawn UMC, an old UM Church. It's right across for a boarded-up Piggly-Wiggly, much to many students lament. The Pig was a popular junk-food stop each afternoon when we were here two years ago. Darn, less sugar for the students! What will we ever do?
Last night consisted of orientation for the leaders and the students, the main church leaders from each group - Gretchen and I for ours - breaking the team up into work groups (which is a lot easier when you have two students as opposed to 36!), Club (which is a mini-youth group) and church group time, during which we have time as a group to debrief. I asked the students, "Why did you come on this trip?" The most popular answers I heard were to serve God, to have fun, and to meet people. I asked them, "What if you don't have fun?" I was encouraged to hear so many students say that it didn't matter because they were still serving Jesus, and that's what counts. I then told them what I hoped would happen this week, and that is that they would all be blindsided by Jesus, that he would wreck their lives. It sounds harsh, but if they come away from this week realizing that the life of a Jesus-follower isn't about their happiness and contentment, that it's about serving the 'other' person, then I think that will be a very good thing.
Sleep was hard to come by last night as many of the guys had, shall we say, difficult times winding down. We'll put an end to that tonight. Not to mention the fact that Ken snores like a "wounded bear" (his words, not mine). So thank God for coffee even more today than usual! Currently, the students and SIMYs are at their work site. Here are the breakdowns and a brief description what they are doing:
Rye Group
Southern Environmental Center: Gardening with an organization housed at B'Ham Southern College whose purpose is to highlight and educate people on urban environmental issues. These gardens have provided hope and beauty to communities that have seen rough times.
Kids Club: The students will run a Kids Club each afternoon that includes skits, crafts, songs, Bible stories, and games. The theme for the week is "Be a Hero."
Restoration Ministries: The book I have doesn't have a description of the ministry, so I will try to update later.
Family Life Center: The goal of this organization is to provide supportive educational services for urban school-age children. The participants will be tutoring children.
B.E.A.T. (Bethel-Ensley Action Task): They exist to provide low to moderate income houses for families in the Ensley neighborhood. Students will be painting primarily.
We are staying at Woodlawn UMC, an old UM Church. It's right across for a boarded-up Piggly-Wiggly, much to many students lament. The Pig was a popular junk-food stop each afternoon when we were here two years ago. Darn, less sugar for the students! What will we ever do?
Last night consisted of orientation for the leaders and the students, the main church leaders from each group - Gretchen and I for ours - breaking the team up into work groups (which is a lot easier when you have two students as opposed to 36!), Club (which is a mini-youth group) and church group time, during which we have time as a group to debrief. I asked the students, "Why did you come on this trip?" The most popular answers I heard were to serve God, to have fun, and to meet people. I asked them, "What if you don't have fun?" I was encouraged to hear so many students say that it didn't matter because they were still serving Jesus, and that's what counts. I then told them what I hoped would happen this week, and that is that they would all be blindsided by Jesus, that he would wreck their lives. It sounds harsh, but if they come away from this week realizing that the life of a Jesus-follower isn't about their happiness and contentment, that it's about serving the 'other' person, then I think that will be a very good thing.
Sleep was hard to come by last night as many of the guys had, shall we say, difficult times winding down. We'll put an end to that tonight. Not to mention the fact that Ken snores like a "wounded bear" (his words, not mine). So thank God for coffee even more today than usual! Currently, the students and SIMYs are at their work site. Here are the breakdowns and a brief description what they are doing:
Rye Group
Southern Environmental Center: Gardening with an organization housed at B'Ham Southern College whose purpose is to highlight and educate people on urban environmental issues. These gardens have provided hope and beauty to communities that have seen rough times.
- Wendy Blankenship - SIMY
- Danny Rees - SIMY
- Molly Powell
- Chelsea McDowell
- Matt Leimer
- Drew Nall
- Kylie Goodier
- Lauren Kalb
Kids Club: The students will run a Kids Club each afternoon that includes skits, crafts, songs, Bible stories, and games. The theme for the week is "Be a Hero."
- Shelly Stone - SIMY
- Tyler Camp
- David Watts
- Adrian Gomes
- Mick Grace
- Sydney Ozbun
- Morgan Bean
- Blake Stone
- Matt Griffith
- and students from another church
Restoration Ministries: The book I have doesn't have a description of the ministry, so I will try to update later.
- Kim Holman - SIMY
- Ken VanWinkle - SIMY
- Myles Edwards
- Nate Nunnery
- Curtis Mathson
- Michael Denmark
- Blake Ozbun
- Lexi Smith
- Julia Simmers
- Casey Mehner
- Taylor Quade
- and students from another church
Family Life Center: The goal of this organization is to provide supportive educational services for urban school-age children. The participants will be tutoring children.
- Gretchen Taylor - SIMY
- Anthony Watts
- Shelby Halter
- Nate Nall
- Kasey Rutherford
- Kara Goodier
- Derek Adams
- Ashley Curnell
- and students from another group
B.E.A.T. (Bethel-Ensley Action Task): They exist to provide low to moderate income houses for families in the Ensley neighborhood. Students will be painting primarily.
- Andy Stieff - SIMY
- Kristy Mehner - SIMY
- Meredith Grissom
- Cori Shockley
- Sydnei Lemmons
- Garrett Arnold
- Jacob Gentry
- Blake Kidd
- and students from another church
- Meet your YouthWorks staff
- Inspiring stories
- Funny stories
- What the heck is a Happy Fun Bag, anyway?
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