July 23, 2011

Final Senior Recap 
It is hard to believe that four years ago the three of us were wee little freshman venturing out on our first STAGE Mission Trip. It seems like it was just yesterday! For those of you who are reading this, we’d like to express our sincere gratitude for supporting STAGE. It has truly had a tremendous impact on us. Over the four years, we have strengthened our religious beliefs, established friendships, and created memories that we will carry with us as we move forward in life. This third week in July was full of endless laughs, occasional tears, countless prayers, inside jokes, and southern accents. Ask any youth about the trip and they will be able to tell about it. Our trip to Bear Branch, Kentucky was one that helped us in showing confidence in communicating our beliefs, even if those differed from others around us. This past week has sure been a challenge on that aspect, but we can say that the group accepted the challenge with open hearts and made the most of the experience. Life is a challenge, full of vicissitudes. You never know what the future holds. You have to trust and place your total LIVING FAITH in God and what He has planned of you.
Sincerely,
The 2011 Seniors 
Cydney McChesney, Kyle Brown, and Jessica Matthews


Guess what!!! We’re in a car, van thing on our way home!!! I’m sitting in the front row with Natalie and Jamie and it’s just plain fantastic! This morning we had a ‘continental’ breakfast and I had chocolate muffins, chocolate milk, and chocolate doughnuts! I can barely stand how healthy it was. Natalie, Kyle, and I decided that next year we’re installing a flat screen TV in the front of our van so we can watch DVDs. This is an interesting car ride because all the girls tried to pull an all nighter (that only lasted until 2:30) and the people who didn’t attempt this are just exhausted from barley sleeping all week. Can you say slap happy? I can’t because I’m laughing too hard. Looking back on this past week I am sad to have to go home. I’ve learned so much and OH MY AMY WINEHOUSE DIED! Anyways I learned a lot and had experiences that I will never forget, like meeting with some totally tubular old people and helping clean some really deserving people’s houses and performing random acts of kindness. I’m really going to miss people from this mission trip and even though it was overwhelming at first I’ll sort of kind of miss all the praying and sermons and devo’s. I’ll also miss my group’s leader Jaron even though he didn’t seem to like us too much at times. He could pretty much relate any conversation we had to God and then proceed to pull out a bible and quote something or say one from memory. My group had a great time together and I really got inspired to further my faith. GO GROUP SEVEN!!! I also feel like STAGE has become even closer even though at the beginning of the week I didn’t even think we could ever get any closer. Throughout the course of the week we all started to get southern accents because we were like the only group there without them but now they are kind of gone, bummer. I will now list some cool/ weird things that I saw while on this trip. First off, there is a Faygo machine that sells cans of Faygo for only 30 cents! Also people outside of Michigan don’t need to wear helmets on motorcycles, how unsafe! Lastly I would like to thank the Michigan government for banning smoking in restaurants because it’s disgusting. This morning Jamie found a baby kitten by a puddle but we couldn’t take it or anything since we were driving back to Michigan so we just wrapped it up in one of Dan the Bus Man’s shirts and put it in a chair in someone’s backyard where it would be easily found. Oh and we saw this homeless guy with a sign asking for food or money so Ann gave him a chocolate chip muffin, I thought that was very nice of her. We ate lunch at Wendy’s. Natalie keeps criticizing my blog so I’m taking back the part where I complemented her. Jessica Matthews keeps touching my neck and it’s creeping me out. I really like long car rides and STAGE, especially together. Well I suppose this is about all I have to write, mostly because everyone’s boredom has turned them into blogging maniacs and they’re dying to get a shot at informing you of their fun adventures themselves. Peace out ya’ll!!!!
Sincerely Yours,
Megan Seamans
Ps I love Jessica Matthews!!! <3
Pps I also love Natalie Snay!!! <33
Ppps Jamie Stafford is pretty loveable herself <333

This week we had an opportunity to grow closer as a group and in our own faith. In my community group I was very fortunate to have Jamie with me because I would be way shy without her and it helped to have someone with similar views because as you’ve probably heard things were a little different this year. With some of the challenges we faced it made us realize what we really believe in and how to accept and respect those with different opinions. The group I was put in was real friendly and after a couple of days we were a family. Two of the adults were best friends since they were born and their Kentucky accents were the most adorable thing I’ve ever heard. On our way to the sites each day we’d just make each other say random things that we say differently like pasta or hockey. One girl in my group, Marium, inspired me so much just from the way she lived her life so close with God. She was fearless in the way she talked about God to strangers and it helped me realize how closed up I am about my faith. I can’t even pray when our group leader asked for volunteers! The highlight of my week religion wise would be meeting Lester. He’s a janitor at a brand new elementary school where we helped move furniture, clean, and help teachers prepare for classes to begin August third! Lester suddenly opened up to Jamie, Marium, and I and it really touched me that he wanted to share his life with us. He admitted he doesn’t go to a church and he seemed pretty ashamed at that so our group gave him a bible and a list of churches nearby, and I honestly believe that he will go. My other highlight of the week was swimming at the pool during our free time. The pool had four water slides where you would literally just fall into the pool and watching each other’s faces was hilarious, oh and Mike crushed my ribs so I’ve probably bled internally, like a lot.
This week was amazing and I honestly don’t want to go back home but like Kevin told us plenty of times the mission trip has just begun!
-Natalie Snay


July 21, 2011
Today, I am sick and therefore cannot go to with my work group, *sad face*. I do believe that they are going to paint and do yard work today, which I cannot endure in my current condition. This week has certainly been interesting. I’m in community and Cydney is the only person in my group from STAGE. At first, it was really awkward and I didn’t like anyone very much, but now I love them passionately. I’m pretty bummed that I couldn’t go work with them today. The other day, we weeded an elderly woman’s yard (she wasn’t home, and didn’t know that we did it). There were MILLIONS of ants everywhere. It was nasty. There were also prickly weeds we had to pull out with our bare hands. I got stabbed a few times. The car wash my probably my favorite part of this week; we went to one of those do-it-yourself car washes, and paid to wash people’s cars. It doesn’t get better than that. Last night, we had a free night and went to a park in Hazard. There was a pool there that had a mushroom thing. It was great.
It’s sad that this week is coming to an end, but I learned a lot of new things and met so many amazing people. Mission trips like this make you realize that you need to appreciate what you have, because some people have nothing.
~Mallory Bennett~

July 20 (Miranda's B-Day!)

July 20, 2011

Howdy y’all! I’m in a community group and today we were supposed to go to Compassionate Hearts, an adult daycare, BUT there was some kind of complication so instead we did random acts of kindness. This includes sorting a whole bunch of clothes Big Creek Missions is donating (and trying on some of the more ridiculous outfits), and going around to construction and kid groups to hand out cold water. While we were at a construction site, some local kids were taking their kitten and trying to put it in wet concrete! It was horrible! That kitten was honestly SO cute! Not only was it adorable looking, but it also came up to me and started purring when I pet it and let me hold it and it curled up next to me!!!! I wanted to take it home SO much, but I don’t think my dad would appreciate another cat in the house. See dad? I’m the best daughter EVER!!!!!! ~Stasia Rogers

Today was amazing! I’m in the children group, so this week I’m working at day camps. Each day the kids get closer and closer to us, and you can see the trust they have in us building. My specific day camp is in a town called Pennington Hills. Unfortunately, the city is full of drugs and crime. However, that only makes anything we can do to help them and love them that much better. When we got there today, we fed the kids lunch and jumped right into games. The first, “Duck Duck Splash”, is an awesome version of the game “Duck Duck Goose”, but instead of goose you splash a cup of water on the person! It was a great game for the 90 degree day. We went on to play on the swings for over an hour, giving countless underdogs until it felt like we could hardly raise our arms above our shoulders. Arts and crafts, tag, and shoulder rides also took up a large part of the day. After coming along to pick up the kids from their homes yesterday, I could feel that my attitude towards them had completely changed. As we picked them up, kids were sitting outside their small homes. Some, we knew, were way too small to support the eight or ten people living inside. The image of kids racing towards the van, smiles spread from cheek to cheek, is not one I think I’ll forget anytime soon. It made it that much easier to give them ten shoulder rides instead of five and thirty underdogs instead of fifteen. I know the week and our time with the kids will just keep getting better and better, and I can’t wait to spend more time with the kids! The time with S.T.A.G.E. and everyone else back at the base is really special as well. The week has been awesome so far! We’ll keep you updated! ~Moriah Moore

During my day at Turkey Foot which is a holler where they are all related somehow or in some way there was a copperhead by the creek where it was laying in the grass. I told my leader that it was there and she told me to go up to the third house from the left for the man who lived there. He came out took a small stick and hit the snake on the head with precision and killed it instantly. He then walked over to it said “thanks” and briskly walked back inside his home. I am expecting a snake skin wallet of some sort tomorrow from him. - Eric McChesney

July 19, 2011

July 19^th AKA Day 4

So I’m in a community group and we spend our days helpin’ out the community!!!! Today we went to this parsonage that was not taken care of very well in the past. The last lady who lived there recently lost her husband in April, and since he had been their pastor the people in the church decided she had to move out and make room for the new pastor. On top of this, the woman’s daughter went to visit her boyfriend in California and a couple days after she left she called her mother and told her that her and her boyfriend had gotten married and moved to France. So in a period of two months this woman lost her husband, home, and her daughter. That story made me un-excited to help clean out the house because of how they forced the woman out but then our leader told us that we should put that aside and think of how God is working through us. I wasn’t allowed to go in the house because it had also been the home of 11 cats and five dogs, and I’m allergic to both of those animals. I spent my days scraping paint off a porch so it could be re-painted. I really like my group because there are five of us from STAGE in it and the rest are Southern so we are always pointing out and teasing each other about our accents. According to them we say air, bag, and cat, weird among many other words. They also cringe every time we say pop and claim it’s called coke….all kinds of pop. This makes me really unsure how to just order plain old coke in the South. Let’s just hope this issue never comes up. And that has been my mission trip adventure thus far J

-Megan Seamans

Exactly one year ago I spent a week with an enormous group of impeccable kids. I learned to switch my attention from one kid to another and how to fit every kid I could into an activity. But so far my first days at my Big Creek mission site have consisted of only about 10 kids. The first kid I met I immediately bonded with and was looking forward to bonding with so many other great children. Then, I realized I only had the opportunity to connect with nine other little ones. This reality check saddened me at first but I quickly learned how to give my full attention to one special little kid. Spending hours talking and playing with one kid opened my eyes to the one on one attention I had been missing out on giving last year. After spending a few hours playing and teaching the children, I returned with my group to the elementary school we’re staying at. We experience group talks with the other children’s groups who go to different mission sites and we hear different stories about the kids we, unfortunately, don’t get to meet. After those meetings we go to a worship service filled with songs and “slightly” long sermons. Now that we’re on our second day and approaching our third we are getting used to praying, sermons, southern accents, and oh yeah a little more praying. This week is becoming more entertaining as we go on and it’s clear here in Big Creek, Kentucky how much we're teaching and mainly how much we’re learning.

-Miranda Hunt

July 18, 2011: First day of missions

July 18th THIRD DAY
Today was our first day of missions. Some went to work on a house; some at a retirement home and working with the community; and the rest of us worked with children all over the county. I had the pleasure to be allowed to work with a small group of children who were all family and were very close. When they finally opened up to our group they were so great. We had a good time playing games, reading stories and sharing God’s love. I can’t speak for the other groups but, I can say it was a great start to a great week. I only look forward to it. Oh, and David Bluhmkin ate a clementine in one bite, fun was had by all.
-Eric Samuel Timm- (Kyle)


They call everything coke. Except for sweet tea. In which case it is referred to as sweet tea. It looks like they have mountains in Kentucky, it is yet to be determined if they are mountains or just tall trees. In addition, the clouds here are less smart than the clouds in Michigan. Clouds should be way up high in the air but many of the “special” clouds remain at the level of the tall trees or mountains if they turn out to be mountains. But fortunately when these clouds are hollered at enough they will slowly rise to the proper altitude. I have grown to appreciate the advanced program clouds that we have been blessed to receive in Michigan. They have a soda, or coke, as it is referred to as, called Ale 8-1 and if you say it right it sounds like “a late one”. Anyway it’s pretty tasty and I plan to bring this “coke” back on our voyage to Michigan. It tastes much like Vernors but is sold in glass bottles.

-Walks with thunder the bus man- (Nick)

July 17, 2011: Big Creek Mission

July 17th SECOND DAY! (Nate’s Birthday woo!)
Today we were introduced to Big Creek Missions. After one fun baseball game and a day of beautiful landscape that replaced rock-climbing, we’ve finally arrived. Everyone down here in Kentucky seems to be super friendly and happy to meet us. Everyone is excited to worship God and get real about faith. Some ideas and beliefs may be a little different than ours. We take in what they say with open minds and the thought that in the end, we’re all here to do God’s work. I’m excited to help the community and live faithfully. I think that some of us are feeling a little anxious about the preaching and ideas, but I truly believe that this will be a wonderful and necessary week in all our lives! - Jamie

July 17, 2011,
Today started out with a rainy trip to a rock climbing place. At first it was not very fun because everything was wet, but once we walked around and saw everything it was actually a very nice time. The views were beautiful. Today was also the day that we arrived at the Big Creek Mission place. I knew coming in that this would be a different experience with things that I have never experienced before and that I may feel uncomfortable but I felt that I was willing to risk my safe feelings of home to try to help others. I also thought it would be a good experience to have before I went off to college. I know that I will be meeting new people with different backgrounds and beliefs and know that I need to become more open to things like this. When we started the worship services I started feeling a little awkward because it was very different from how I pray and whatnot. I started off not participating in the prayers or the songs because it wasn’t what I was used to and I didn’t exactly know how to make it correlate into my beliefs. As we continued, I started participating more because I know that we are all praying to the same God, just in different ways. When the worship leader was teaching it was a little difficult to keep focused because sometimes I had absolutely no idea what he was talking about. As we were leaving, I was kind of concerned as to how I would follow my beliefs while trying to keep up with all that I was learning about other things. When we went into our church groups though, my fears and concerns were soon gone when we all started talking about our days. I realized that everyone is having difficulty with the teachings and expectations at the worksites, it wasn’t just me. It was nice to find this common ground with everyone and I feel that I can make everything work out. - Anna