Sunday, September 7, 2014
Starting the Year Off
Hey! Hope everyone is having a great start off to the school year. Starting next Sunday (September 14) we will go back to our Fall schedule which means that Food for Thought and Breakfast Club will be meeting at 11 am every Sunday for a quick bite and spending some time in God's Word. From 12:30-2:30 each Sunday we'll meet to play some games, watch a movie, and hang out! Your friends are more than welcome to come as well.
Thursday, July 24, 2014
Let Go, let God.
Let it go seems to be the phrase a lot of people have been singing recently. I get a daily email from a very wise person named Richard Rohr. He's been talking about letting go for the past few days. I really liked what he had to say on July 23.
Letting Go of Ego
Wednesday, July 23, 2014
Thursday, June 26, 2014
Wednesday night
We had an awesome time last night after our work day. First we took a little trip to see the Heidleberg Project (look it up!). For those of us who had been there before it was very moving seeing where some houses have recently burned. Then we went to Greektown and enjoyed a yummy dinner at PizzaPapalis. We were joined by Lindsey Anderson, who talked with us about the city of Detroit and our perceptions and experiences so far. We enjoyed speaking with Lindsey. She really added to our Detroit experience.
Wednesday, June 25, 2014
We are busy!!
Yikes! I didn't even have time to blog yesterday. We are working so hard!
The Metro Kidz camp group has really been getting to know the campers. Every one of our youth has been interacting with the kids as they dance, play basketball, sing, read, do crafts or each lunch (we eat lunch rite with them.) Even though it sounds like it's a cushy work assignment, these teens are being tugged on, sat on, and stretched. They spend a large amount of their day wrangling kids, and helping to get them where they need to go. It's not an easy job! Our last day with the camp will be Thursday, but we hope to see a lot of these kids, and their families when they come to the community celebration cookout on Friday night.
The other groups are coming back from their sites exhausted! They are definitely working hard painting and scraping and cleaning up yards and getting hot and sweaty and yesterday they even got rained on! It's really been difficult work.
We've been looking for God and see in Him at work here in Detroit. We can't wait to share our sightings of Him with you on Sunday.
Tonight we're on our own for dinner. Our plan is to make a stop at the Heidelberg project and then hit up Greektown and Pizzapapalis for dinner. We've asked Lindsey Anderson to join us!
The Metro Kidz camp group has really been getting to know the campers. Every one of our youth has been interacting with the kids as they dance, play basketball, sing, read, do crafts or each lunch (we eat lunch rite with them.) Even though it sounds like it's a cushy work assignment, these teens are being tugged on, sat on, and stretched. They spend a large amount of their day wrangling kids, and helping to get them where they need to go. It's not an easy job! Our last day with the camp will be Thursday, but we hope to see a lot of these kids, and their families when they come to the community celebration cookout on Friday night.
The other groups are coming back from their sites exhausted! They are definitely working hard painting and scraping and cleaning up yards and getting hot and sweaty and yesterday they even got rained on! It's really been difficult work.
We've been looking for God and see in Him at work here in Detroit. We can't wait to share our sightings of Him with you on Sunday.
Tonight we're on our own for dinner. Our plan is to make a stop at the Heidelberg project and then hit up Greektown and Pizzapapalis for dinner. We've asked Lindsey Anderson to join us!
Monday, June 23, 2014
Detroit Day One (work day)
All right!
Day one of our 'work week.'
Our group of 8 -- Brian Anderson, Lauren Arquette, Drew Degener, Caitlin Marchand, Alex Marchand, Nick Krone, Luke Pohl and me - Nancy-- had a great day of service. We started by heading down Woodward Avenue to the Central Methodist Church. You know this church! It sits in front of Comerica Park and has a beautiful tall spire. I'm sure you've seen it when you've gone to watch the Tigers play. Martin Luther King has preached from this pulpit before. This growing church of 300 members fills just about every nook and cranny of it's 6 story building with programs. The program we were working with was the Noah Project. http://www.noahprojectdetroit.org Specifically we were helping with their bag lunch program. We made sandwiches and packed bags for most of the morning, then served over 232 lunches! It was very rewarding being able to serve these hungry people. After the guests all left we were given a tour of this historic building. Like I mentioned, it houses many programs. We were able to catch an art therapy type program run through a little art studio they have on the 5th floor. We also went up to the rooftop and saw the small garden they tend there and then caught a great view of the Comerica Park playing field. The volunteer that was giving us the tour said a lot of people will gather there tonight to watch the fireworks.
After our work at the bag lunch ministry we headed back to our "home church" Metropolitan Methodist Church and helped out with the summer camp. Some of the boys played basketball with the kids and some of the girls hung out doing drama and dance until it was time for the kids to be picked up. This was the first day of the summer camp. Even though we only spent part of the afternoon here, we enjoyed interacting with and getting to know the campers. We will be working with the camp for the next 3 days and are looking forward to getting to know the campers even better.
The other group -- Mike Graunstadt, Jeff Doering, Debbie Krone, Madelyn Degener, Tim Walsh, Bill Stark, Joshua Doering, Nathan Pohl, Brenna Degener, Summer Benward, Louie Stark and Jessica Krone-- went to work through an organization called Rippling Hope. http://www.ripplinghope.org. They worked VERY HARD outside today. The group was divided into 2 teams, with one group (Tim, Nathan, Bill and Mike) cleaning out gutters at several homes. These gutters were filled with mud and dirt!
The other team (Jeff, Debbie, Madelyn, Summer, Brenna, Joshua, Louie and Jessica) scraped and painted and also worked on homes. Even that team split up between houses. Jeff, Brenna, Madelyn and Summer went to a house and cleaned up the yard, weeded, mulched, created a planting area and planted some lilies. The others, Debbie, Jessica, Josh and Louie scraped and scraped all the trim areas of a house to get ready for painting. It was hard work. Then, together they started painting all that they had scraped. Painting with a little rain made it even more difficult. Everyone kept their serving attitudes though and kept at it. They almost finished at this house and hope to finish up tomorrow morning if the weather holds out. The best part was that they were able to speak with the homeowners of the houses they were working on.
While Detroit is having it's Freedom Celebration fireworks tonight we will not be going. It gets a little (?) crazy downtown and we want to keep everyone safe! Instead, we'll stay here and enjoy worship with the other 130 or so folks missioning with us this week.
I'll post pictures later! We appreciate your prayers and comments!
Day one of our 'work week.'
Our group of 8 -- Brian Anderson, Lauren Arquette, Drew Degener, Caitlin Marchand, Alex Marchand, Nick Krone, Luke Pohl and me - Nancy-- had a great day of service. We started by heading down Woodward Avenue to the Central Methodist Church. You know this church! It sits in front of Comerica Park and has a beautiful tall spire. I'm sure you've seen it when you've gone to watch the Tigers play. Martin Luther King has preached from this pulpit before. This growing church of 300 members fills just about every nook and cranny of it's 6 story building with programs. The program we were working with was the Noah Project. http://www.noahprojectdetroit.org Specifically we were helping with their bag lunch program. We made sandwiches and packed bags for most of the morning, then served over 232 lunches! It was very rewarding being able to serve these hungry people. After the guests all left we were given a tour of this historic building. Like I mentioned, it houses many programs. We were able to catch an art therapy type program run through a little art studio they have on the 5th floor. We also went up to the rooftop and saw the small garden they tend there and then caught a great view of the Comerica Park playing field. The volunteer that was giving us the tour said a lot of people will gather there tonight to watch the fireworks.
After our work at the bag lunch ministry we headed back to our "home church" Metropolitan Methodist Church and helped out with the summer camp. Some of the boys played basketball with the kids and some of the girls hung out doing drama and dance until it was time for the kids to be picked up. This was the first day of the summer camp. Even though we only spent part of the afternoon here, we enjoyed interacting with and getting to know the campers. We will be working with the camp for the next 3 days and are looking forward to getting to know the campers even better.
The other group -- Mike Graunstadt, Jeff Doering, Debbie Krone, Madelyn Degener, Tim Walsh, Bill Stark, Joshua Doering, Nathan Pohl, Brenna Degener, Summer Benward, Louie Stark and Jessica Krone-- went to work through an organization called Rippling Hope. http://www.ripplinghope.org. They worked VERY HARD outside today. The group was divided into 2 teams, with one group (Tim, Nathan, Bill and Mike) cleaning out gutters at several homes. These gutters were filled with mud and dirt!
The other team (Jeff, Debbie, Madelyn, Summer, Brenna, Joshua, Louie and Jessica) scraped and painted and also worked on homes. Even that team split up between houses. Jeff, Brenna, Madelyn and Summer went to a house and cleaned up the yard, weeded, mulched, created a planting area and planted some lilies. The others, Debbie, Jessica, Josh and Louie scraped and scraped all the trim areas of a house to get ready for painting. It was hard work. Then, together they started painting all that they had scraped. Painting with a little rain made it even more difficult. Everyone kept their serving attitudes though and kept at it. They almost finished at this house and hope to finish up tomorrow morning if the weather holds out. The best part was that they were able to speak with the homeowners of the houses they were working on.
While Detroit is having it's Freedom Celebration fireworks tonight we will not be going. It gets a little (?) crazy downtown and we want to keep everyone safe! Instead, we'll stay here and enjoy worship with the other 130 or so folks missioning with us this week.
I'll post pictures later! We appreciate your prayers and comments!
Sunday, June 22, 2014
We're here!
We made it! Of course, with just a 35 minutes drive we weren't too worried about getting here. We arrived to this beautiful old church on Woodward. (Metropolitan Methodist Church- check it out on Google Street view!) We set up in our rooms, and had a tour of the place. We'll be happy if we don't get too lost all week. This place is huge! There's a basement and 4 floors above. Our boys are all the way on the 4th floor (showers in the basement) and the girls are sharing a room on the 2nd floor with some girls from Atlanta.
Before dinner we had meetings, leaders and youth separate. We will be serving in 2 separate groups this week. One group (12 of us) will be working on homes in the community, painting, clearing gutters, fixing up yards, and whatever else needs to be done. The other 8 of us will be working in a lunch ministry on Monday at another church, then Tuesday-Thursday working right here at Metro Church at their kids summer camp program.
After dinner (spaghetti) we had a devotional service and some church time after. 'Lights out' time is almost here so I can't write too much more, but we're all very excited about being here and serving God this week. We appreciate your prayers!
Before dinner we had meetings, leaders and youth separate. We will be serving in 2 separate groups this week. One group (12 of us) will be working on homes in the community, painting, clearing gutters, fixing up yards, and whatever else needs to be done. The other 8 of us will be working in a lunch ministry on Monday at another church, then Tuesday-Thursday working right here at Metro Church at their kids summer camp program.
After dinner (spaghetti) we had a devotional service and some church time after. 'Lights out' time is almost here so I can't write too much more, but we're all very excited about being here and serving God this week. We appreciate your prayers!
Monday, January 20, 2014
Follow us!
follow Geneva Youth on Tumblr and Twitter!
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and
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http://genevayouthgroup.tumblr.com
and
https://twitter.com/GenevaYouth
Monday, December 2, 2013
Helping you to prepare for Christmas
Hey everyone, I encourage you to go to this site as much as you can during advent. Each day there is a reflection and music to help you really prepare for Christmas. Check it out!
Following the Star
Following the Star
Thursday, November 14, 2013
It’s that time of year again when we get up really early on a Sunday and spread God’s love and compassion to the guests at the First United Methodist Church in Plymouth. FUMC hosts a rotating homeless shelter through the Cass Community Social Services. This will be our 6th year of serving in this valuable ministry. Our youth group is scheduled to prepare and serve breakfast on Sunday, November 17 to about 50 homeless people who stay at this rotating shelter. This would mean getting up pretty darn early in the morning, but it is a great opportunity for service. Let me know ASAP if you’d be willing to do this. Please let me know in person, text or email me.
We meet at the church in Plymouth at 5:30 AM and prepare and serve breakfast at 6:00. We also eat with them and fellowship with them, showing them Christ’s love over breakfast and conversation. Sometimes we play games like chess, or cards before they leave about 7:00 AM. Once breakfast is over, we clean up and head back to our homes (usually by 7:30.) We will still have Food For Thought that morning at 11:00.
We will be preparing eggs, fruit, pastries or muffins, juice and sausage to go with our meal that morning.
If you have volunteered for this ministry in the past you know how much joy you can bring to others less fortunate and you know how much joy you also receive from serving. I encourage you to sign up, you won’t regret it! Adults are more than welcome to stay, help prepare, and fellowship with the guests.
Looking forward to serving alongside of you,
Nancy
Monday, October 7, 2013
Top Ten Reasons to Join a Youth Group
It’s
can be tough out there on our own. In our hearts, we know we are called to love
others and be faithful to God’s word – but it’s not easy. Not everyone defines
love the same way. Jesus said, “Love consists in this – laying down one’s life
for a friend.” At church, there are caring adults and other teens who lay down
their lives for us – by giving us their attention, time, prayers and
friendship.
No
group is perfect, but our God is – and God is always there. God calls us to
love, to forgive, to be patient and to make a difference. He calls us to do
this together as his church. Friendships made in youth ministry groups can grow
into lifetime friendships as we continue in this faith-filled community.
Why should anyone join a youth group? Pat Rinker of Faithmag.com posted the top 10 reasons a youth group is a great place to be and I thought I'd share them here:
10. In any
friendship, we make mistakes. Being part of a Christian youth group means we
believe in forgiveness.
9. The negativity
of others can bring us down. A Christian youth group will encourage and uplift.
8. We look around
our world and wish we could make a difference. In a Christian group, we are
called to work together to make this a better world to live in.
7. It seems like
there’s no right or wrong in the world we live in. Being in a Christian group
can give us direction and help us to choose what is right and provides friends
who will support us.
6. By ourselves,
we don’t always feel close to God. Jesus promised that where two or three
gather in his name – he is with them.
5. Some of the
other teens around me seem so lethargic. They don’t seem too excited about
their faith. In a Christian youth group, most people are there because they
want to be there. The enthusiasm is contagious.
4. In a Christian
group, we have others with whom we can pray and share our concerns.
3. In a Christian
group, Jesus is our role model and we have other leaders who strive to live
like him.
2. In a Christian
youth group, we can bring our friends who have the same needs we all have and
who also need a supportive group of friends in their lives.
1. In a Christian
youth group, we are connected to the larger church that Jesus established. It
is a place where we can know our God, grow in love and faith, and change the
world we live in.
Thursday, September 19, 2013
So much planned!
Being a disciple of Christ means a lot of things. For starters, it means learning about Jesus and growing closer to Him, practicing your faith and serving others. We've got opportunities coming up that will allow you to do all of those things!
Here's what we've got planned for the next few months - (mark your calendars, set your sights on Christ!)
Learning - finding out more what it means to be a disciple!
Food for Thought! every Sunday at 11:00 in the Youth Room
Winter Retreat! Friday January 24-Sunday, January 26 at Michindoh. We will be a part of their teen retreat weekend. (Cost $105)
Practicing - doing stuff! Youth group on the 2nd and 4th Sunday evenings from 6:30-8:00. This is not just a time for fellowship, but also a time where we can be doing some service for others, and sharing our faith. Sunday nights are perfect times to bring friends!
September 22 - making care packages for college students, games and possibly campfire (weather permitting)
October 13 - Corn Maze
October 27 - campfire/s'mores and stuff
November 10 - Operation Christmas Child (extended youth group time)
November 24 - possibly bell ringing for the Salvation Army
December 8 - Christmas Cards for seniors, treats and movie
December 22 - rehearsal for Christmas Eve service
Serving - serving others means serving Christ!
October 13 - Crop Walk (after church)
October 26 - Running games at Trunk or Treat 4:00-6:00
November 3 - Sandwich Ministry (after church)
November 10 - Operation Christmas Child (we will collect and pack shoe boxes to send overseas)
November 17 - Serving Breakfast to the Homeless Guests at FUMC in Plymouth - 5:30-7:30 AM
November 24 - Ringing bells for the Salvation Army during youth group time
December 8 - Making Christmas cards for seniors during youth group time
December 26 - Boxing Night! all night long!
January 5 - Sandwich Ministry (after church)
January 11 - Taking donations to Fort Street
Here's what we've got planned for the next few months - (mark your calendars, set your sights on Christ!)
Learning - finding out more what it means to be a disciple!
Food for Thought! every Sunday at 11:00 in the Youth Room
Winter Retreat! Friday January 24-Sunday, January 26 at Michindoh. We will be a part of their teen retreat weekend. (Cost $105)
Practicing - doing stuff! Youth group on the 2nd and 4th Sunday evenings from 6:30-8:00. This is not just a time for fellowship, but also a time where we can be doing some service for others, and sharing our faith. Sunday nights are perfect times to bring friends!
September 22 - making care packages for college students, games and possibly campfire (weather permitting)
October 13 - Corn Maze
October 27 - campfire/s'mores and stuff
November 10 - Operation Christmas Child (extended youth group time)
November 24 - possibly bell ringing for the Salvation Army
December 8 - Christmas Cards for seniors, treats and movie
December 22 - rehearsal for Christmas Eve service
Serving - serving others means serving Christ!
October 13 - Crop Walk (after church)
October 26 - Running games at Trunk or Treat 4:00-6:00
November 3 - Sandwich Ministry (after church)
November 10 - Operation Christmas Child (we will collect and pack shoe boxes to send overseas)
November 17 - Serving Breakfast to the Homeless Guests at FUMC in Plymouth - 5:30-7:30 AM
November 24 - Ringing bells for the Salvation Army during youth group time
December 8 - Making Christmas cards for seniors during youth group time
December 26 - Boxing Night! all night long!
January 5 - Sandwich Ministry (after church)
January 11 - Taking donations to Fort Street
Wednesday, August 7, 2013
It's almost time for fall!!
Here we go!
We're getting ready to kick off another great year of High School Ministry at Geneva. I'm looking forward to all the activities and events we're planning, but I'm also looking forward to being able to see everyone grow in their faith and grow closer to Jesus.
In a side column you can sign up to bring food for our weekly fellowship/education/small group time called Food for Thought. (Now you can click on the date on THIS site and it will take you to the Sign-up Genius site! How easy can you get??) We meet EVERY Sunday during the 11:00 service in the Youth Room.
Also in a side column, you can see the events and activities planned for each month. These activities are subject to change, so check back often! FYI We'll have youth fellowship on the 2nd and 4th Sundays of each month from 6:30-8:00. I hope everyone can come, and BRING FRIENDS. The more people we have, the more fun we'll have!
Are you ready??
Sunday, July 28, 2013
We're back... now what?
Hey everyone, we've been back from our mission trip for a week now. I hope you are thinking about how the trip impacted your faith, how you met and served God in Minnesota and how you can continue spending time with God and serving him here in Michigan.
Every year Youthworks, through their magazine Reverb (you ALL got one as you left ....) lets us know about their 1K challenge to kickstart some service/community minded ministry in our area. I'd like to challenge you all to think about this seriously. Would you like to start a once a month lunch/sandwich ministry in Detroit? (We made a big impact in the few we handed out in June, we could make it a once a month bigger project, maybe even get more youth involved!) Would you like to start and run a community garden in the back of our church? (thoughts are already forming on this with some adults from the church) Is there something else you can think of?
Give it some thought... let me know, and I'll help you fill out the paperwork to submit to Youthworks/Reverb.
For more information on the 1K challenge, click here
Every year Youthworks, through their magazine Reverb (you ALL got one as you left ....) lets us know about their 1K challenge to kickstart some service/community minded ministry in our area. I'd like to challenge you all to think about this seriously. Would you like to start a once a month lunch/sandwich ministry in Detroit? (We made a big impact in the few we handed out in June, we could make it a once a month bigger project, maybe even get more youth involved!) Would you like to start and run a community garden in the back of our church? (thoughts are already forming on this with some adults from the church) Is there something else you can think of?
Give it some thought... let me know, and I'll help you fill out the paperwork to submit to Youthworks/Reverb.
For more information on the 1K challenge, click here
Sunday, July 21, 2013
We are back from Red Lake!!
What a week! It was brutal at times and oh so beautiful at other times! I learned so much and saw God doing such wonderful work through the greatest group of young adults I have ever had the pleasure of spending time with. I am sure we are all glad to be home enjoying family and the comforts of home, but we will all remember this mission and pray for those we served and served with this past week!
Friday, July 19, 2013
Our last day at Red Lake...
From Beth:
Working in kids club today was amazing. Josh & Paul, another teen from our crew (Wisdom Rocks!), were leading the Bible story time. Yesterday was a little difficult because many of the kids didn't want to sit and listen to us talk. Today, however, many of the kids responded when we asked them questions and all of them were excited to help us do the review puzzle we made that said "Jesus ate with people like us!" It was so much fun to see how much the kids were enjoying themselves and so many of them wanted to be the one to put a word together. The best part was probably how happy the kids sounded when we read the phrase out loud together.
All in all the day went smoothly and I'm looking forward to being able to use this experience when I help out in VBS next week back home!
From Angie:
We spent our morning today doing work projects at two locations. Seak was at the woman's shelter and Wisdom was at the senior care center. We spent a few hours working and then took our lunch break. After lunch it was back to kids club. I was impressed by our youth. YW runs the kids club similar to a VBS. but for each center, OUR youth made up the entire lesson, with very little help, and then ran their lesson. When Beth mentioned the puzzle they made - they actually came up with the idea and MADE the puzzle. Awesome. Dinner was a community cookout at the Mission church. However after having the threat of rain every day and never seeing a drop, we got rain, lots and lots of rain. Kudos to Mike for getting totally soaked bringing all the food back to the school so we could still have our community picnic. It was good to meet some of the parents of kids club kids and hear that the kids have been telling their parents about Jesus! Our club time tonight included the YW tradition of foot washing. It is very emotional as each of us has our feet washed and are then individually prayed over. Our youth kept up the Geneva tradition of washing the feet of the YW staff. Then we had a fun bed time song which included Aladdin (ask Josh about that one!) we had a good week but are really excited to start heading home. :-)
Working in kids club today was amazing. Josh & Paul, another teen from our crew (Wisdom Rocks!), were leading the Bible story time. Yesterday was a little difficult because many of the kids didn't want to sit and listen to us talk. Today, however, many of the kids responded when we asked them questions and all of them were excited to help us do the review puzzle we made that said "Jesus ate with people like us!" It was so much fun to see how much the kids were enjoying themselves and so many of them wanted to be the one to put a word together. The best part was probably how happy the kids sounded when we read the phrase out loud together.
All in all the day went smoothly and I'm looking forward to being able to use this experience when I help out in VBS next week back home!
From Angie:
We spent our morning today doing work projects at two locations. Seak was at the woman's shelter and Wisdom was at the senior care center. We spent a few hours working and then took our lunch break. After lunch it was back to kids club. I was impressed by our youth. YW runs the kids club similar to a VBS. but for each center, OUR youth made up the entire lesson, with very little help, and then ran their lesson. When Beth mentioned the puzzle they made - they actually came up with the idea and MADE the puzzle. Awesome. Dinner was a community cookout at the Mission church. However after having the threat of rain every day and never seeing a drop, we got rain, lots and lots of rain. Kudos to Mike for getting totally soaked bringing all the food back to the school so we could still have our community picnic. It was good to meet some of the parents of kids club kids and hear that the kids have been telling their parents about Jesus! Our club time tonight included the YW tradition of foot washing. It is very emotional as each of us has our feet washed and are then individually prayed over. Our youth kept up the Geneva tradition of washing the feet of the YW staff. Then we had a fun bed time song which included Aladdin (ask Josh about that one!) we had a good week but are really excited to start heading home. :-)
Wednesday, July 17, 2013
Immersed in Red Lake
Hi Geneva Family from Dan! Today we all got to experience Red Lake in every sense of the word. Though we are on separate work teams, we all ended up working together today. After a morning orientation from Jenna, we set off to work at kids club. When I was here in 2005, kids club was in the elementary school,and the Youth Works staff had the entire building at their disposal. This year, the elementary school said "no" to their building request. As usual, the YW staff had to adapt on the fly. On the reservation, there is an organization called "Boys and girls club". This is a non-religious organization that works with children from ages 4-13(ish). When YW asked them the unthinkable...."hey,would you let us come into your club, bring dozens of teens and their adult leaders, and run an 8 week program teaching who Jesus Christ is to the kids on the reservation?" .....they said "yes!" Praise God for his mysterious ways! So the entire Geneva team spent the day teaching scripture "then Jesus replied, 'I am the bread do life, He who comes tome will not go hungry, and he who believes in me will never thirst". And we played games, and we did art projects, what a day! After the club ended, we had to drive some of the kids home, which in itself was a trip! These kids wanted to milk every minute of time with our kids, and purposely told us the wrong turns in order to prolong the ride home! They are precious children,though many of them have seen and experienced things no child should. I was shocked and near tears when I dropped off Carl and his little sister to a trailer that had a sinking foundation, broken and boarded windows, no grass, mud everywhere, and it was worse inside. I was once again reminded of how blessed we are,and how far we have left to go to get our world back to the order in which God intended it. After a physically and emotionally draining day, it felt awesome to go swimming in beautiful Red Lake! We drove to the beach and had about an hour to relax and swim. I decided to swim out and down the lakeshore , and as I swam, I looked up and saw an eagle flying out over the water. I had to stop swimming and just watch it fly. It was so beautiful. When I returned, I told the group what I had seen, and asked them to guess what bible verse I thought of when I saw the eagle flying. It didn't take long for Jessica to say "Isaiah 40!" Our group never ceases to amaze and bless me! Thanks for all your prayers, we feel the power of your love here every day. One more day with these wonderful children, and we will be homeward bound! Peace and love, Dan.
Tuesday, July 16, 2013
Tuesday at Red Lake......
From Josh:
Today the Wisdom group went to the only church on the reservation for its work site. When we got there we split into two groups. The first headed upstairs and began painting a room. The second headed outside to begin moving things around to prepare for a garage sale. This involved moving lots of heavy objects, including furniture, from building to building. I spent my morning painting. It was hot and stuffy, but we pushed through. We had the entire room covered in one coat of paint by lunchtime! After lunch I switched over to to help move things around to get stuff for the garage sale ready. We had to move a room of heavy items into the gym and make it presentable for sale. It was very inspiring to see the incredible work ethic each and every person showed. Near the end we had to move a large couch. As we were trying to relocate this couch to the gym, we had a lot of difficulty getting it through two doorways. We were even forced to take a door off! However we persevered and got the couch where it needed to be. I cannot express how thrilling it is to see God all around us in so many ways!
From Angie:
Breakfast today was waffles and sausage. It was prepared by the Seek group. That means some of us had to get up earlier than usual to make it. The rest of us appreciated it!
After breakfast Wisdom group had to do building clean up - yep, we cleaned the bathrooms. I hope everyone appreciated that!
After clean up time we have Devo time, aka devotional time. This is done alone, just each of us and God. Today's lesson included the "un" story. We talked with God about how we see ourselves, and others, using "un" words - unworthy, unloved, un accepted, unhelpful, etc. but God doesn't see us that way at all. I like that, in addition to work, these mission trips include time to pray and time to praise God. Then we went to work.
As Josh said we spent the day painting and moving heavy items. The Seak group joined us after lunch. None of the areas had air conditioning and like Michigan, it was in the 90s today. HOT! We really needed showers today.
Dinner was pizza at a park in Bemidji (look it up on a map!) It was fun to play and be near Bemidji lake. Then we got Dairy Queen - yummy!
Well, time for lights out. Like Josh said, I have been amazed by the work ethic of all the teens here. God is amazing in how he is working in the lives of so many teens from different places in our country. Praise God!
Today the Wisdom group went to the only church on the reservation for its work site. When we got there we split into two groups. The first headed upstairs and began painting a room. The second headed outside to begin moving things around to prepare for a garage sale. This involved moving lots of heavy objects, including furniture, from building to building. I spent my morning painting. It was hot and stuffy, but we pushed through. We had the entire room covered in one coat of paint by lunchtime! After lunch I switched over to to help move things around to get stuff for the garage sale ready. We had to move a room of heavy items into the gym and make it presentable for sale. It was very inspiring to see the incredible work ethic each and every person showed. Near the end we had to move a large couch. As we were trying to relocate this couch to the gym, we had a lot of difficulty getting it through two doorways. We were even forced to take a door off! However we persevered and got the couch where it needed to be. I cannot express how thrilling it is to see God all around us in so many ways!
From Angie:
Breakfast today was waffles and sausage. It was prepared by the Seek group. That means some of us had to get up earlier than usual to make it. The rest of us appreciated it!
After breakfast Wisdom group had to do building clean up - yep, we cleaned the bathrooms. I hope everyone appreciated that!
After clean up time we have Devo time, aka devotional time. This is done alone, just each of us and God. Today's lesson included the "un" story. We talked with God about how we see ourselves, and others, using "un" words - unworthy, unloved, un accepted, unhelpful, etc. but God doesn't see us that way at all. I like that, in addition to work, these mission trips include time to pray and time to praise God. Then we went to work.
As Josh said we spent the day painting and moving heavy items. The Seak group joined us after lunch. None of the areas had air conditioning and like Michigan, it was in the 90s today. HOT! We really needed showers today.
Dinner was pizza at a park in Bemidji (look it up on a map!) It was fun to play and be near Bemidji lake. Then we got Dairy Queen - yummy!
Well, time for lights out. Like Josh said, I have been amazed by the work ethic of all the teens here. God is amazing in how he is working in the lives of so many teens from different places in our country. Praise God!
Monday, July 15, 2013
Monday's activities with a note from Madelyn...
What a blessing Monday has been! We had our time with the spirit this morning. Everyone wanders off to a spot where they can have some alone time with Jesus. We were all given devotional guides to help us through the time but mostly it is your time to find your self and seek God's guidance. We then got our orientation on what our day would bring. It was painting for all. The Wisdom group (Angie, Beth, Bill, Josh, Tim, and I) were assigned to paint a poll barn storage building for the school we are staying in. The other half of Wisdom is made up of an adult leader and four high schoolers (3 girls and 1 boy) We will work with this great group of people tomorrow when we paint a few rooms at the only church on the reservation. The Seek group (Dan, Madelyn, Drew, Jessica, and Caitlin) were assigned to paint at the Kids Club building. The other half of their team is made up of an adult leader and five high schoolers. Both jobs were a challenge and had a few other odd jobs thrown in, but the connection our crew made with the others in the group was a true wonder for me to see!
From Madelyn Degener....
Group: Seek
Today we painted one of the walls in the boys and girls club. We finished way early and then had lunch while we waited for it to dry. After we painted the second coat, we went to help unload a truck at the church for a garage sale that they were having. Then we came back to the school we are staying at and talked to the kids who were skating. Most of the kids here crave attention, because they come from broken or poor families. Some of the kids we talked to were only like 6 or 7 and they were swearing and throwing rocks at our van. It's really sad to see the situations that these little kids are being put into.
Then for showers, we all came into the school, and only about half the kids could get showers in before all of the water was in that section was shut off. We waited for like a half hour before we could go to the high school locker rooms - which are much nicer anyways and had individual stalls with water that had adjustable temperatures - and which was great after three days without a shower for a lot of us.
We closed tonight with the usual Club Time and then our own Church Group Time. Tonight Tim and Drew lead us in that discussion of our evening yesterday and our day today. So much great input from our kids. It is truly an honor to be with this group of young adults!!
Please continue to pray for us and keep us in your thoughts,
Yours in faith with Dan and Angie,
Mike.
From Madelyn Degener....
Group: Seek
Today we painted one of the walls in the boys and girls club. We finished way early and then had lunch while we waited for it to dry. After we painted the second coat, we went to help unload a truck at the church for a garage sale that they were having. Then we came back to the school we are staying at and talked to the kids who were skating. Most of the kids here crave attention, because they come from broken or poor families. Some of the kids we talked to were only like 6 or 7 and they were swearing and throwing rocks at our van. It's really sad to see the situations that these little kids are being put into.
Then for showers, we all came into the school, and only about half the kids could get showers in before all of the water was in that section was shut off. We waited for like a half hour before we could go to the high school locker rooms - which are much nicer anyways and had individual stalls with water that had adjustable temperatures - and which was great after three days without a shower for a lot of us.
We closed tonight with the usual Club Time and then our own Church Group Time. Tonight Tim and Drew lead us in that discussion of our evening yesterday and our day today. So much great input from our kids. It is truly an honor to be with this group of young adults!!
Please continue to pray for us and keep us in your thoughts,
Yours in faith with Dan and Angie,
Mike.
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