My sentiments exactly, and why I don't do overnighters (very often)!
PK
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Everyone Home Safe!
45 of our 46 team members returned home safely yesterday, and John Long, our chef returned home safely today at 4pm. He was gracious enough to drive our shuttle to Georgia and back pulling a trailor loaded with gear and luggage. This allowed those of us traveling on the airlines to travel with only carryons and eliminated the need to check luggage, saving us time and sparing us the possibility of lost luggage.
One cool note: I was originally trying to get our team to fly home on Friday, but I was unable to do so, so we went with Saturday. Turns out this was totally God. Friday New York had a big snow storm, and all flights into the city were canceled. One of our pastors was also in Georgia for something else, and he was supposed to fly home on Friday. His flight was canceled, and he was told that they would not be able to fly him home until at least Tuesday. He ended up renting a car and driving home. Thank God that He arranged for us to leave on Saturday. It would have cost me several thousands of dollars in hotel and food costs for our team of 46 if we had gotten stuck for three or four days. Our flights (plural ... we were split up on two planes - one took the kids, the other the leaders (just kidding!)) were on schedule - in fact, we actually got in early. Wow! God is so faithful!
For those of you who sent your teens and other family members, I just want to say a huge "Thank you!" for trusting God and allowing them to go on this trip with us. I know that releasing them is difficult and a bit scarry, but God honors the walk of faith and obedience!
Blessings,
PK
One cool note: I was originally trying to get our team to fly home on Friday, but I was unable to do so, so we went with Saturday. Turns out this was totally God. Friday New York had a big snow storm, and all flights into the city were canceled. One of our pastors was also in Georgia for something else, and he was supposed to fly home on Friday. His flight was canceled, and he was told that they would not be able to fly him home until at least Tuesday. He ended up renting a car and driving home. Thank God that He arranged for us to leave on Saturday. It would have cost me several thousands of dollars in hotel and food costs for our team of 46 if we had gotten stuck for three or four days. Our flights (plural ... we were split up on two planes - one took the kids, the other the leaders (just kidding!)) were on schedule - in fact, we actually got in early. Wow! God is so faithful!
For those of you who sent your teens and other family members, I just want to say a huge "Thank you!" for trusting God and allowing them to go on this trip with us. I know that releasing them is difficult and a bit scarry, but God honors the walk of faith and obedience!
Blessings,
PK
Friday, February 22, 2008
SPECIAL REPORT: FLIGHT INFO
I'll post part 3 of Thursday, the friday entry, and photos - lots of photos - in a few minutes. Right now, I'm gonna answer the questions a few of the parents (read: mine) have been asking...
AS OF 9:00PM ON FRIDAY NIGHT, BOTH FLIGHTS ARE ON SCHEDULE FOR DEPARTURE AND ARRIVAL. ALL STUDENTS WILL BE USING THE SAME AIRLINE THEY DEPARTED WITH.
AIRTRAM STUDENTS WILL BE ON AIRTRAM FLIGHT 360, DEPARTING FROM ATLANTA AT 8:15, AND ARRIVING AT LAGUARDIA AT10:29.
DELTA STUDENTS WILL BE ON DELTA FLIGHT 504, DEPARTING FROM ATLANTA AT 7:45, AND ARRIVING AT LAGUARDIA AT 9:54.
We suggest that all parents arrive in time for the earlier flight, as it will give you all a chance to welcome home the whole team.
PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE FROM THE AIRLINE; THIS MAY HAPPEN TOMORROW. ANY CHANGE TO THIS INFORMATION WILL BE UPDATED HERE AND ON THE PHONE MESSAGE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.
We appreciate your understanding in this matter, as well as your willingness to be flexible. In the words of my friend Oleg, "Blessed are the flexible, for they shall not be easily bent out of shape".
AS OF 9:00PM ON FRIDAY NIGHT, BOTH FLIGHTS ARE ON SCHEDULE FOR DEPARTURE AND ARRIVAL. ALL STUDENTS WILL BE USING THE SAME AIRLINE THEY DEPARTED WITH.
AIRTRAM STUDENTS WILL BE ON AIRTRAM FLIGHT 360, DEPARTING FROM ATLANTA AT 8:15, AND ARRIVING AT LAGUARDIA AT10:29.
DELTA STUDENTS WILL BE ON DELTA FLIGHT 504, DEPARTING FROM ATLANTA AT 7:45, AND ARRIVING AT LAGUARDIA AT 9:54.
We suggest that all parents arrive in time for the earlier flight, as it will give you all a chance to welcome home the whole team.
PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE FROM THE AIRLINE; THIS MAY HAPPEN TOMORROW. ANY CHANGE TO THIS INFORMATION WILL BE UPDATED HERE AND ON THE PHONE MESSAGE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.
We appreciate your understanding in this matter, as well as your willingness to be flexible. In the words of my friend Oleg, "Blessed are the flexible, for they shall not be easily bent out of shape".
Thursday, Part 2
Construction work today was basically part 2 of what we started. More tree moving, more spackling, and more sheetrock hanging. One thing that was very cool to see was that there was a group of mentally challenged students from one of the local Boys and Girls Clubs chapters came to help us out. There was wonderful ministry going on both ways in that they were such a blessing to us helping us rake up some leaves, and our kids really took a shine to them and helped them feel special and important. You could see them smile as they left the work site. I was particularly proud of Sharon and Ashley. While they continued their work on moving the ‘manly logs’, the three of us took it up a notch. We had a part of a tree trunk that the three of us carried together. Not only was it heavy, it was slimy and had fungus growing on it. After the official “that’s disgusting” declaration, we all sucked it up and grabbed the log. All three of us were like “Eww, Oww! Eww! Eww! Owwww! Ow!” the whole way, but we got it done and we all felt accomplished. It was even more amazing to watch the piles of logs dwindle down to piles of pine needles. One thing I’m kicking myself for is not getting a picture of all the wood that we moved. I stepped back and took a look at it, and I was in shock in how much wood we had moved in about seven hours worth of work between the two days. We actually moved all the wood we had to, so we then helped Pastor Lenny’s family out by filling boxes of stuff and moving boxes from one house to another. It was just awesome to think of how much of a blessing our team was to them. We figure that in about two days, our team saved Pastor Lenny and his family between one and two months of work!
Another thing that we got to do that was really special was to be an extended family to Jonathan. Pastor Lenny adopted a few new children this past year from a single father who was terminally ill; the father died very soon after the adoption process had been completed. Jonathan was one of those kids, and Thursday was his first birthday without his biological father. The team stepped in, John Long bought a birthday cake, and the whole team got together and sung him happy birthday. Jonathan isn’t one of those kids who wears his heart on his sleeve, but as I took the picture of Jonathan making the first cut on the cake, I could tell that it meant the world to him that we were all there for him. It was great for our team to be Jesus to him.
With the exception of ‘the Dans’, Glen, Andy, and a few other guys who stayed behind, the team went back to the cabins for dinner.
After dinner, we had a time of reflection and debriefing on our observations on this trip and the things that we had learned. It was wonderful to hear so many of the students give testimonies of things that had blessed them over the week, and the surprise from the people who had been a part of those changes and never knew it. Judy and Jessica, your comment wins the award for the most laughter and best face of any comment i read - the 'mailbag' sessions were great this week as a whole; it was something many of the kids looked forward to. Thanks to everyone who left me comments to read aloud, as well as all the personal thank-yous. Once that reflection session was completed, we went to our rooms and started to clean up and pack up.
Another thing that we got to do that was really special was to be an extended family to Jonathan. Pastor Lenny adopted a few new children this past year from a single father who was terminally ill; the father died very soon after the adoption process had been completed. Jonathan was one of those kids, and Thursday was his first birthday without his biological father. The team stepped in, John Long bought a birthday cake, and the whole team got together and sung him happy birthday. Jonathan isn’t one of those kids who wears his heart on his sleeve, but as I took the picture of Jonathan making the first cut on the cake, I could tell that it meant the world to him that we were all there for him. It was great for our team to be Jesus to him.
With the exception of ‘the Dans’, Glen, Andy, and a few other guys who stayed behind, the team went back to the cabins for dinner.
After dinner, we had a time of reflection and debriefing on our observations on this trip and the things that we had learned. It was wonderful to hear so many of the students give testimonies of things that had blessed them over the week, and the surprise from the people who had been a part of those changes and never knew it. Judy and Jessica, your comment wins the award for the most laughter and best face of any comment i read - the 'mailbag' sessions were great this week as a whole; it was something many of the kids looked forward to. Thanks to everyone who left me comments to read aloud, as well as all the personal thank-yous. Once that reflection session was completed, we went to our rooms and started to clean up and pack up.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Thursday, Part 1.
They say that every day that goes by without learning something is a day wasted. I was fortunate in that when I woke up, by definition I learned something. Since when is there a 5:30 in the morning? Who came up with that boneheaded concept? Pastor Kevin planned it out well in that everyone was told to take a night shower, ‘cuz our plan was to just get up and go and save valuble time in the morning. I guess I should be thankful though, since we set up last night and were able to leave the stage set up at the middle school, we didn’t have to do so in the morning. Anyway, we just changed into our performance getup and headed out. Pastor Kevin told us that we should look outside ‘cuz we might see some deer on the side of the road. I told him that it was unlikely – the deer weren’t up yet.
Why were we up at such a ridiculous hour, you ask? The middle school has a program they call ‘first priority’. It’s a Christian service that they’ve got every morning before classes; their school systems allow them to have programs of a religious nature as long as it’s not during the official school day. Not only are there kids who actually get up early to attend these events, there are a lot of them. I’d figure that there were over 150 kids there, possibly closer to 200. We did Irene, Pray, and Everything at the school on the drama front. Tom S. and David both shared their testimonies there. Tom S. also did a kickin’ guitar solo at the beginning which helped draw a little larger crowd than normal. Being as it was a public school, I hesitated to take a whole lot of footage of kids, and I didn’t think it would turn out well anyway due to the seating arrangements. Additionally, there didn’t seem to be a whole lot of visible response to the dramas. I’m thinking that it is possible that the response was a bit less than we garnered at the high school and rehab centers because the younger kids probably haven’t done a lot of the things that Shae enacts, at least not to the point where they’d have hit rock bottom enough to feel that the drama hit home for them. That’s my take though, maybe I just missed the kids who the dramas really ministered to. I was fortunate enough to get the whole thing on video end-to-end this time, so hopefully I’ll be able to show everyone here what I’ve been raving about. We ended the time by singing the song ‘Lead Me to the Cross’. While most of the audience didn’t really seem to be keen on joining us in worship, the team thought it was the coolest thing to sing the song in a public school. I had an interesting thing happen on that front myself. Their “cafetorium” was equipped with a NICE projection system. Problem is, no one there knew how to use it. The person I spoke with said, “I’ll take you up to the room, and if you can figure it out, you can use it”. It took me a while – nearly three minutes – but only because nothing was labeled =). Actually it just occurred to me that I never went back up there to shut the system down. Someone isn’t happy with me. In any case, the interesting part was that the only place that I could plug in my laptop was on the stage, so I got to run the lyrics from the stage instead of the back, so that was kind of cool.
Once we left there, we went back to our cabins to take some group photos, do devos, and eat breakfast (cheese omelets and homefries in case you were wondering Ruth). Once that list was completed, we headed back to Pastor Lenny’s church for round 2 of construction.
It’s 11:44. I know I’m getting very behind in a lot of things (I still have 2 days worth of photos I haven’t downloaded, I haven’t even started my care cards, and my bags are about 1/3 packed), but it’s late so I’m gonna pull another To Be Continued on everyone. There will be a part 2, it will have photos, and it will be up by 1PM tomorrow. I can say that since we’re going into Atlanta and have a 2 ½ hour drive to get there, and I’ve got the internet on my cell phone and a power inverter. As you can see by my rambling, these late night blogging sessions are taking a toll on my blogging skills. Professor Maurer, if you’re reading this, you were warned! =)
Why were we up at such a ridiculous hour, you ask? The middle school has a program they call ‘first priority’. It’s a Christian service that they’ve got every morning before classes; their school systems allow them to have programs of a religious nature as long as it’s not during the official school day. Not only are there kids who actually get up early to attend these events, there are a lot of them. I’d figure that there were over 150 kids there, possibly closer to 200. We did Irene, Pray, and Everything at the school on the drama front. Tom S. and David both shared their testimonies there. Tom S. also did a kickin’ guitar solo at the beginning which helped draw a little larger crowd than normal. Being as it was a public school, I hesitated to take a whole lot of footage of kids, and I didn’t think it would turn out well anyway due to the seating arrangements. Additionally, there didn’t seem to be a whole lot of visible response to the dramas. I’m thinking that it is possible that the response was a bit less than we garnered at the high school and rehab centers because the younger kids probably haven’t done a lot of the things that Shae enacts, at least not to the point where they’d have hit rock bottom enough to feel that the drama hit home for them. That’s my take though, maybe I just missed the kids who the dramas really ministered to. I was fortunate enough to get the whole thing on video end-to-end this time, so hopefully I’ll be able to show everyone here what I’ve been raving about. We ended the time by singing the song ‘Lead Me to the Cross’. While most of the audience didn’t really seem to be keen on joining us in worship, the team thought it was the coolest thing to sing the song in a public school. I had an interesting thing happen on that front myself. Their “cafetorium” was equipped with a NICE projection system. Problem is, no one there knew how to use it. The person I spoke with said, “I’ll take you up to the room, and if you can figure it out, you can use it”. It took me a while – nearly three minutes – but only because nothing was labeled =). Actually it just occurred to me that I never went back up there to shut the system down. Someone isn’t happy with me. In any case, the interesting part was that the only place that I could plug in my laptop was on the stage, so I got to run the lyrics from the stage instead of the back, so that was kind of cool.
Once we left there, we went back to our cabins to take some group photos, do devos, and eat breakfast (cheese omelets and homefries in case you were wondering Ruth). Once that list was completed, we headed back to Pastor Lenny’s church for round 2 of construction.
It’s 11:44. I know I’m getting very behind in a lot of things (I still have 2 days worth of photos I haven’t downloaded, I haven’t even started my care cards, and my bags are about 1/3 packed), but it’s late so I’m gonna pull another To Be Continued on everyone. There will be a part 2, it will have photos, and it will be up by 1PM tomorrow. I can say that since we’re going into Atlanta and have a 2 ½ hour drive to get there, and I’ve got the internet on my cell phone and a power inverter. As you can see by my rambling, these late night blogging sessions are taking a toll on my blogging skills. Professor Maurer, if you’re reading this, you were warned! =)
Wednesday, Part 2
The waterfall was an incredible sight to take in. It gives the waterfall in Maryland a run for its money (I'm referring to the waterfall seen in 'Tuck Everlasting', my family and I have been there a few times). It was one of those places where everyone took photos in every conceivable combination of friends. It was a stunning backdrop to do so in. Depending on who you ask, Justin either fell in the water or deliberately went underneath the waterfall. Regardless of the story you believe, Justin had wet pants for the ride back. We took a quick pit stop so that the kids could change and whatnot; we also picked up the team that went to the jail. The seven that went spent their afternoon at the church continuing the construction.
Our next stop was the middle school. At each stop, we told kids about this presentation, as it was our only one open to the public. When we arrived, the maintenance staff there knew nothing about our scheduled stop. We cleared it up and started unloading. While we were a bit late to start, we did set up in record time. Despite the amount of people we told about the event and the advertising Pastor Lenny did, we had a grand total of eight people show up. The show went on, and you could tell that our guests had a positive response to the fact that they we didn't cancel the show due to the low turnout. All of them were attentive and interacted with the team after we had finished our dramas. It gets better. Remember the groups jeering and cursing at us yesterday? Both of the ringleaders were there, and they were clearly moved during the dramas, especially 'Everything'. One of them was the niece of one of the people we've been working with, and the church has been praying for her for over a year. Now I don't know what else God has up His sleeve, but I'm finding it difficult to imagine how God can top that. Before we packed up, some of the girls did an impromptu encore of "Lift It", with Pastor Kevin accompanying the song on the drums (although by his own admission he was a bit foggy on the breaks). It was definitely a memorable instance of spontaneity that rounded out the day.
Since we hadn't eaten between lunch and now, and the time between was filled with running around and heavy lifting during setup. On the way home, the kids were about to eat the seat cushions on the van. Okay, that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but John’s ham filled the void when we got back. To all those who reminded us, we did get to see the eclipse last night, and I got tons of pictures. We turned in early, and necessarily so.
Our next stop was the middle school. At each stop, we told kids about this presentation, as it was our only one open to the public. When we arrived, the maintenance staff there knew nothing about our scheduled stop. We cleared it up and started unloading. While we were a bit late to start, we did set up in record time. Despite the amount of people we told about the event and the advertising Pastor Lenny did, we had a grand total of eight people show up. The show went on, and you could tell that our guests had a positive response to the fact that they we didn't cancel the show due to the low turnout. All of them were attentive and interacted with the team after we had finished our dramas. It gets better. Remember the groups jeering and cursing at us yesterday? Both of the ringleaders were there, and they were clearly moved during the dramas, especially 'Everything'. One of them was the niece of one of the people we've been working with, and the church has been praying for her for over a year. Now I don't know what else God has up His sleeve, but I'm finding it difficult to imagine how God can top that. Before we packed up, some of the girls did an impromptu encore of "Lift It", with Pastor Kevin accompanying the song on the drums (although by his own admission he was a bit foggy on the breaks). It was definitely a memorable instance of spontaneity that rounded out the day.
Since we hadn't eaten between lunch and now, and the time between was filled with running around and heavy lifting during setup. On the way home, the kids were about to eat the seat cushions on the van. Okay, that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but John’s ham filled the void when we got back. To all those who reminded us, we did get to see the eclipse last night, and I got tons of pictures. We turned in early, and necessarily so.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Wednesday, Part 1
Hello Ruth, Pastor Todd, Kog, Mom, Dad, Tim Steffens, Abrahamsens, Jessica, and everyone else who has been following along with our blog! It’s 10:09 when I’m starting, let’s see how fast I can do this…
Today was a bit different in that we ended up with two branches of our team. Glen, Andy, Kenny, both Dans, David, and Pastor Lenny went to a local penitentiary to witness to a few of the inmates. The rest of us headed over to a men’s drug rehabilitation center and do our repertoire of dramas.
According to the accounts I’ve heard from the crew at the jail, a few of the guys ran into a snag in that the facility is normally only supposed to let visitors 18 and over visit the inmates, but a few of the guys were 17. The whole crew was reluctantly let in after the obligatory ultimatum to not cause trouble. While they only had an audience of eight, all were open to hearing the Word of God.
On the men’s rehab center side, we had an audience of about two dozen guys. It was a bit cramped for space, but the group did extremely well despite the conditions. The view through the lens was a bit interesting. As we’ve already established, I’m of the persuasion that “Everything” is one of the most powerful dramas that we’ve ever put together. I do feel that I’m a bit jaded though, because I’ve had many female friends who have cut themselves and done the binging and purging and gotten hurt by guys, so a large degree of my sensitivity to the issues addressed is vicarious and out of hurt for them. Since I personally didn’t go through most of these issues myself, as most guys I know haven’t, I didn’t know how it would impact a group of men. I was pleasantly surprised to see that every eye in the room was intently focused on the drama at hand, and I could see many of them were deep in thought, sifting through memories. Tom S. and Gary both shared their testimonies. Both were very heavy hitters to this group of men; I saw a group of guys gravitate toward them at the end during the altar call. It was really nice to see such a positive response. A couple of the guys even helped me pack up my gear!
We stop back at mission control for lunch, and about half an hour later we were off to Toccoa Falls college. We weren’t there for an edumakashun, we were there to see Toccoa falls. One humorous anecdote here, the entrance to the falls is behind the gift shop, so our team had to go through it. Shocking as it may be (note sarcasm), some of the kids *had* to stop and buy something, in most cases edible. The look on the cashier’s face made my day. It seemed that the cashier’s entire compliment of customers today was likely three students and a raccoon – now she had forty-somewhat teens going through. If she had that look any longer, I think she might have called for backup.
Okay, it’s 11:47 and I’m already shot. So this will be the first blog entry to have those three dreaded words:
To Be Continued…
Tuesday
Wow…today was a full day, meaning that you, my dedicated readers, have plenty of reading to do. This morning at breakfast, John Long made his amazing baked oatmeal with raisins. It’s one of those meals that the only reason you stop eating it is because you can’t possibly fit anymore (with the exception of a few people who aren’t raisin fans). It was a good thing too, because once we were done, we were hoppin’!
The first stop was Head Start, the same YMCA-like place we went to yesterday, only we had a much younger crowd (ages 3-6). The kids were so adorable and responded really well. Kenny, Tori, Ariel R., Christiana, Chelsea, and Christian all shared their testimonies; albeit a much more simplistic version for the younger group they were sharing to. The kids were so adorable when we put on Shackles and danced with the kids again. Photos to follow, and I know I owe you photos from yesterday, too. Anyway, it was a wonderful experience on both sides.
The New York Tour Vans made stop number two at Peer Ministries, a home for mentally impaired adults. While it was a relatively fast stop with only three dramas and just a few minutes of visitation, but it was impactful nonetheless. One particular noteworthy story here was that while Pastor Kevin was doing his intro to one of the songs, one resident called out, “hurry up, I’ve got things to do and places to go”. During the second and third songs, she actually got up out of her seat and joined the drama teams on the stage! While obviously she wasn’t doing the same steps as we were, she was fairly in sync and didn’t cause an immediate danger (although it did shake up some members a bit and the director rapidly escorted her back to her seat). The team did a wonderful job interacting with the residents. Some of the girls showed one of the members the dance steps. Shae was great in that she carried on a conversation with a resident about her stuffed animals and did so at a level that the woman was able to follow, but without being condescending.
Stop three on the hit parade was Crossroads Success Academy, an institution the natives dub an “alternative school”. What happens is that kids who get elongated suspensions from their schools due to behavioral problems, drug issues, and the like, go to alternative schools as a kind of ‘second chance’ kind of thing. This was a particularly unique scenario for our group twofold. First, in addition to presenting our dramas, the team served lunch to the students, a pork teriyaki dish as prepared by John Long. It was a humbling experience for the team; most of the students they served were around the same age as they were. Second, the very nature of the institution meant that they weren’t going to be as immediately receptive to the Gospel as some of the other groups; add to that the fact that the vast majority of the students we saw were boys and it’s pretty simple to see how there wasn’t a lot of emotion flowing while watching through the camera lens. Actually, it was the first stop we went to where we had kids smiling and laughing during “Everything”. But God. During ‘Everything’, there is a scene where Alexis plays a model, symbolizing the unattainable image that society expects girls to emulate. Shae, who symbolizes mankind, mimes bulimia in a vain attempt to attain that image. While some kids were laughing, others were simply eating, one particular girl caught my eye. Once Shae mimed the binging and purging, this girl put her hand over her mouth, blinking rapidly. I could tell that Shae had struck a chord with her. Another kid, who I incidentally stood next to most of the time while I was filming, didn’t take a bite of his food until we had finished all of our dramas. While at first I was wondering if he wasn’t big on pork, I then realized that he was intently watching everything as he quickly made up for lost time once we finished the dramas. Another kid I spoke with told me that he’d attend our show the following night. Sure there were walls in place, but our stop wasn’t in vain.
Our last performance stop for the day was a place I like to call satan’s stronghold – a public school. Crossroads was at least willing to let us make a brief mention of God, but despite the beliefs of the people in charge of the school, their hands were tied. The content of the songs wasn’t a problem (We got to do “Pray” in a public school!!), but Pastor Kevin couldn’t mention God, Jesus, etc. Here too was an interesting dynamic that happened – some of this came through the camera lens, some through the grapevine. First off, it was lunch hour, so attention was divided in most cases. Kids were talking to their friends, eating, and watching us. There were kids who refused to do anything more than acknowledge that we were there. Some kids were trying to do classwork. One group of kids jeered at Shae as her character contemplated suicide in ‘everything’ saying “do it!”, among other things less-than-G-rated. But God. One girl dropped her fork as Shae mimed cutting herself; this girl was also wearing long sleeves. Another girl was obviously holding back tears. A whole group of guys were sitting at their table intently watching the drama in total silence amongst themselves. My favorite story was how a table of professed atheists walked out of the room. What made it my favorite was that they didn’t leave during the ‘opening credits’ when Pastor Kevin introduced himself as being a pastor, nor did they leave during Irene. They left during ‘Everything’ right around the time when the group enacts the separation between God and mankind that sin makes. Problem with the fact that there’s a church in their school? I think not! The school provided us with free lunch coupons so our group ate there at no cost.
Our group has now done four performances, and it’s just passing 2:00. By most accounts, that would constitute a full day. But we’re on a missions trip, and where I come from, missions trips don’t have anything less than a 12-hour day! Our next stop was at Pastor Lenny’s church where we did various manual labor tasks. Some of the guys helped put insulation up on the roof. Some team members helped clean up Pastor Lenny’s house; their basement carpet was heavily soiled by the red clay that comprises much of the ground our team walks on. Other kids raked leaves. Some grabbed screw guns and hung sheetrock. Other kids followed them and put spackle over the screws. A few kids got the coveted job of mowing the lawn – in Pastor Lenny’s riding mower! Still others helped move some tree branches that were left in the yard after the trees were cut down. For four hours we did this, and we’ve got battle scars to prove it. We’ve got spackle on our clothes, sawdust in our hair, Rug Doctor fluid on our hands, leaves in our shoes, fiberglass between our fingers, and splinters and cuts on our arms. The view was awesome through the lens. The teamwork was impeccable. Kids were stretching themselves on their own. Two of the ladies while operating the Rug Doctor learned that there are 16 cups in a gallon, not 8. Other ladies put up entire pieces of sheetrock with only limited help in lifting it up and aligning it properly. Ashley and Sharon made me laugh a bit. They were in the log-moving group, and they insisted on moving “manly logs” (their words) – those logs that were rather heavy and awkward to carry. There was one particular tree trunk that was extremely heavy and took nine of us to move. Kerry took video of us moving that log; it was a wonderful example of the teamwork that is happening – I just hope it’s in focus!
After a day of hard work and plenty of energy exertion, it was time to head home. After dinner, we had a team meeting and prayer and worship time. It was wonderful to watch the team worship God and have a real encounter with the Holy Spirit. It was a powerful, personal time for the group. It’s difficult to describe; I did take a few video shots of it but it got to the point where I was questioning the appropriateness of filming. Suffice it to say that those of you who have ever been at the Winter Retreat on a Saturday Night have a pretty good idea as to what it was like tonight – just a wonderful time of immersing ourselves in the presence of God. What was supposed to be a 1-hour meeting brought us all the way to 11:00!
Okay it’s 1:48 in the morning, and Pastor Kevin doesn’t give me much leeway on sleeping in =). I know I promised you all photos from yesterday and today and I will do that, but you’re gonna have to wait until sometime tomorrow when I have sifted through the hundreds of photos we’ve taken to get the good ones that will effectively illustrate our days. It will happen though! To the individual who commented that they check the blog constantly, I’m flattered. I tend to write the blog at the very end of the day so that I can describe the whole day in one shot, then do photos the next day on the van as we’re shuttling between destinations. Ruth, you're a rip. The whole crew burst out laughing with your Panini party line. Oh yeah, speaking of comments, so that all the readers are aware, at the end of the day we have a 'mailbag' kind of time when I read off the comments posted here. Since it's the only means of communication for the team, it means alot to them to hear from you, so if you're reading this, I encourage you to leave a comment! Also, be aware that the comments are read aloud in a group setting. We haven't had problems so far, but just keep in mind that everyone will hear your comment. Comments for specific team members are fine, but just realize that it's not a private message, it's quite the contrary. We do exercise discretion, so things that are truly personal will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis as determined by the leadership here. Inappropriate comments will not be regarded. Again, we haven't had any problems with this, but I just wanted to let you all know how much the team appreciates your kind words, and that this is merely a proactive reminder as opposed to a reactive response. Okay it's now 2:13 and I'm sure that you get the point by now. Be Blessed!
Joey
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Monday
I still don’t know what John Long does to make his pancakes so wonderful, but as someone who is quite guilty of skipping breakfast, I find it to be one of the best parts of missions trips. Our first stop was a YMCA-like building where the Boys and Girls clubs of America had a gathering. With a largely younger crowd (only a handful seemed older than 10), they were a lot of fun to work with. The way that we worked with them was that the team members who weren’t a part of the dramas sat in the crowds with the kids and quietly interacted with them. It was interesting experience for me personally. God hasn’t given me the natural ability to effectively interact with younger kids; I’ve normally taken to doing my best in taking care of the logistical end instead. What happened was that as I was sitting on the bleachers, one of the kids asked me about the video camera, so I let it rest on his shoulder and look through the eyepiece. The child next to him showed interest, so I did the same to her. This went on for several more kids. It was so strange to me that it would make their day to have a 15-pound camera on their shoulder, and it was a unique avenue for God to allow me to minister through. But enough about me. After the dramas, we played Shackles and got all the kids up and dancing. I’d never seen a 9-year-old break dance, but it was an incredible sight – naturally I didn’t have the camera handy to film it. After that, many of the team members played basketball with some of the kids. It was a great game that got a lot of our team members involved, as we switched players every few minutes. Justin, Emily M, Tori, David, Tom, Dan, Christian, Tim, and Ariel, among others, gave these kids a memory that I’m sure will last – even though pointwise they won the game =).
Our next stop on the Georgia tour was H.E.A.R.T. ministries, a rehabilitation center for women who were coming clean from their drug and alcohol addictions. There was a very visible emotional connection from these women to the message our team presented, especially in “Everything” – then four of our girls shared their testimonies. There wasn’t a dry eye thereafter; the box of Kleenex made its way all over the room. After a few more dramas, Pastor Kevin shared a brief message (not the one that he initially planned on) and gave the opportunity for residents to receive salvation. Several of the women raised their hands.
Many of the team members have already picked out their fast food restaurant of choice that they want to go to before we leave – places like Sonic, Dairy Queen, Chick-Fil-A, and a few other places that don’t exist in New York. The ladies at H.E.A.R.T. settled that debate for us and treated us to lunch. During that time, we got to talk with the ladies at the home. When I asked some of them for their story, many of them humorously replied something to the extent of, “We’re in a drug rehab center, duh!” While most referenced the struggle that inherently comes with their situation, it was wonderful to hear such a positive outlook from these women about their circumstances. I personally had a tremendous respect for them; they left their homes, many of their own impetus, and pay a sizeable amount of money to be a part of this eight week program to help them recover.
While the rest of the group came back to the cabins for a little chillout time, God had a divine appointment for me. The guys in the shuttle with Pastor Kevin and me took a quick detour on the way home from the rehab center to stop at the church where we were to have the youth service tonight. The rationale was that in the event that we needed to set up our sound gear, we would have the time and manpower to do so. The church was pretty well equipped in that area, but I decided to stay there for the short time span and dialog with their technical and media teams. Their lead tech, Wendel, I actually knew from an online forum, ChurchMedia.Net, and ended up meeting him in person! We had a great discussion about all things technical and wrapped it up just in time for the youth rally to start.
The youth group we merged with was about the size of our team, so it was a great match and I could see that many of the kids from our group were interacting with the local kids. It was great to see them have such a great time and being with new kids their own ages. After the dramas, worship, wonderful testimonies from the team, and challenging message from Pastor Kevin on ‘Untamed Christianity’, There was a true outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Christianity is all about surrendering everything to Him – our thoughts, our dreams, our plans, and our future. Nearly everyone from both youth groups had a personal encounter with Christ. It was a blessing to see the group have such a genuine response to the moving of God. Further fellowship ensued after the service was dismissed.
Thanks for reading! Keep praying for us, and I’ll try to get photos up tomorrow morning (I figured it out finally! =)
Monday, February 18, 2008
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