Saturday, July 24, 2010

Friday-July 23

Paintball was a blast and my sister shot me to win the game. We spent Friday night in an extremely large church, which was much more fun than frightening. The story was that people that stayed in the church started to disappear and never seen again. There was a first aid room too, but it was more like a torture chamber. We had no power on the third and fourth floor. The top part of the sanctuary had A/C. A bathroom on the fourth floor had coffins. We played Aliens in the church too, and since the third floor did not have lights, some people were very easily scared, and it was fun scaring people. We also had some awesome Euchre games in which we played with six people and there were seven tricks. We had a stretch where we only played three complete hands and managed to have a score of 9 to 6. There were quite a few re-nigs. Baseball, there was a line drive foul ball and it hit an old woman in the mouth. The old woman got first aid after about a half hour. It started raining hard then they brought the tarps out. Eric and Tom went down to talk to the grounds crew about trying to slip-n-slide on the tarp but only two people walked by and they were JERKS. * Eric and Nick (AND DREW & TOM TOO)

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Probs the best last day ever.

It started out pretty nasty actually. We got up at 6:30, cleaned the church, took pictures in the hot sun, then, in my case, got into the unair-conditioned part of a hot van. The three hour car ride wasn’t too bad; I mean AMISH BOYS!!!!!!! Then, there was paintball. I think I was one of the few girls who were excited for it. The first two games were attack and defense (one team attacks and tries to get a bell and the other team tries to kill them before they ring the bell). Then we played some others. The last game I played was called team death match where you literally shoot anybody on the other team up (great game for a youth group to play). That was my fatal game. It’s going pretty good until…I got shot...up close and personal. Ouch.

Anastasia

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Thursday, July 22, 2010

The day the music died

Today was very hot!!!! It was okay though because in kids club the fireman came and sprayed the fire hose on us for an hour or two. There were water fights and everyone got wet even if they, like me, didn't want to. The cold water mixed with the very hot air made the day bearable, while the music blasting from Mike's car made it even more fun. We also visited the nursing home again. We all went around carrying doughnuts and offered them to the old people. This really helps because a lot of people who live there don't really like random visitors and tend to open up more when Tim Horton's doughnuts are involved. I talked to a lady names Odessa who had a machine to help her breath because of a condition she had. Even though she had breathing problems that didn't stop her from chatting up a storm. She told us about her niece who will be a senior this year and we also talked about more random things like Harry Potter, flip flops, and yogurt. A lot of people there have very unique senses of humor and would say things that made no sense, but it made the experience more memorable. So all together the nursing home was cool, my only complaint was not being able to pump our jams on the way there. Today has been great so far, and I'm sure it will get even better when the cookout that will be open to all residents of Steubenville gets started!
-Megan!!

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Craig's post-

On the day of Wednesday was a day of hard work. Our work group the mombo lito sure that’s what we’re called, but more then likely spelled differently. Well any ways we went to help this nice old lady at her home that just so happened to be a church. There were many of a jobs to be done. I took it upon myself to work on a door that she had for the back entrance. The job was to remove the paint that was on it. Now this was no easy job, it took a lot of paint/varnish remover to work. And then came the scraping. It took a lot of strength to scrape off what was on that door. I might have spent almost five hours on that door. In addition, some was vacuuming too, but not the door. Vacuuming the stairs is what I did. From 9 am to 2:30 pm ish. Then after we are done, we shower. Six shower heads and many people. However, the good news about the showers is that there is a boy and girl section so we are only with our own gender. This is a smiley face. Showers go by fast except that there is one person who takes thirty-minute showers every day. Today which is Thursday we are having fun at the old folks home while I type this some of the girl teens are giving manicures to the older women. Painting their nails. Topics are hard to think about when talking to the old folks. (Don’t criticize my type). I just used Cydney as a distraction because she is great (escape goat) when it comes to conversations. So that’s that..
Craig Cichowlas

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Thursday Morning with Tom

So yeah it’s been awesome at Kid’s club. We have been helping the kids and they have been getting better and more attached to us, which is cool. One of the kids, Derrick, was distraught and all he wanted to do was see Eric, and when he came in, he ran right up to Eric and gave him a big hug. The best news though, is that today is water day! Hopefully I don’t have to give too many shoulder rides today. My shoulders and neck are getting pretty sore because of all of the shoulder rides that I’ve been giving. We also went to a sweet church called the Tower of Power! It was a really energetic church with “explosive services” that I could get real in to. The preacher had a lot of energy and seemed real in touch with God, and he was definitely feeding on our energy too. As we got more into the service, he got more into the service. It was definitely explosive. We also went to the Dairy Owl for Ice Cream. It was pretty good, because they had a Twix flurry! Which I got. But their prices weren’t as good as the prices at Jim’s (*cough cough* where I work *cough cough*). Anyway, I gotta eat my biscuits and gravy this morning so Peace!

Tom Puckett

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Wednesday, July 21, 2010

July 21, 2010

Today we were able to help an old woman named Gloria do some house work that we did at an old church she bought and is renovating into a new home. The reason it was so great doing what we did is that Gloria is much too old to do most things. Gloria is also unable to walk and requires a motorized wheel chair. It was a really great feeling to be able to help a person who can’t do most things we can on our own. I also felt like I was doing something great when Nathan told me about when Will went to talk to Gloria the day before. When Will went to talk to her she was saying she only had enough money to pay for us to be there for an hour or two, and when will told her we were going to do it for free she started to cry. This didn’t necessarily make me cry or anything like that but it did make me feel like I was doing something important, wanted, and needed.
As for last night, we had a hip-hop concert which took place at the church we are staying at. The concert was done by a group named Kalledout. They were a sort of youth ministry group that spread the word of God through rap and hip-hop music. Also, a group of teenagers did several skits for us to represent some of the troubles we go through at school and in our lives. At the beginning of the concert we had a representative from our groups go up and have a dance-off. Drew Gordon went up and ended up in second place. The rest of the night was chill and relaxing. As for tonight, we are going to one of the local churches for a night service and then going over to West Virginia for ice cream. Still tired and hope to make through the rest of the week.

-Kyle Brown

Washing BIG Windows

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

According to Mallory if you look closely you can see God...

mission trip!

Hey! I am having so much fun! So far I have weeded,scraped wall paper, picked up trash, and visited a nursing home. If thats not fun I dont know what is haha :) Gotta go make dinner soooo yea bye! Love you Mom and Dad
- Eryn

Around the city, July 20, 2010


Today to start, the groups went to a few different nursing homes. We split up and visited the different places to talk and befriend them. I went to Country Lane Manor (nursing home) and we talked and got to know some of the guests there. We also got to sing some songs we know to the guests. I started with two other girls, talking to a guest there named Ruby. Erica (adult leader) also came and join the three of us and help with the conversation, since Ruby didn't like to talk much. After the nursing home we got to go to a small park to eat our lunch. From the lunch period we drove to a school and walked from there around the city to pick up the trash on the streets. We got to shower and eat dinner after that. Tonight we are going to do our group sessions and maybe have Mike's (adult leader) "Dance Competition."

-J. Adamic

New photos!

Please click on the link on the right
to our Flickr account for photos from the last couple days-the photos are in reverse order of our events, but should be edited soon!

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Monday, July 19, 2010

Day Two...

Thoughts and ponderings......

Today was absolutely unpredictable. We came into this game wondering if the children would like us, or if we got the right words to our songs, or even when to start arts and crafts. However, the children bloomed like flowers when they saw us. We quickly realized we’d have 14 new best friends and a million more stories. Certain flowers had thorns at first, but after we talked and played we realized their true beauty. Throbbing hearts caused by our parents were soon forgotten from all the new friends and laughs we had.

Jamie

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The day started off with an early breakfast. I’ll admit having to get up with the roosters to be at breakfast by 7:15 was rough. It took a lot of mental encouragement seeing as we were up until about 11:30 the prior evening. Our group was split up into different work crews. The group I’m apart of are helping out with a program called Kids Club that Youth Works runs during the summer. The second group took a short drive to help clean, paint and weed a local home. I can’t speak of how their day went, but I can tell you about mine.

A light drizzling rain fell from the sky in the morning. I had the privilege of going with Ann Brown to pick up one of many groups of children who we were going to be hanging out with us youth for the day. We pulled up to a cluster of apartments, honked the horn a few times and yelled “Kids Club!” Seconds later a group of about 10 kids whipped around the corner. From the distance you could see the bright smiles on their faces. Ann and I just looked at each other and smiled. We didn’t really know what to say. As I watched the kids run to the car, I realized that God was lifting their spirits. To be able to leave their homes and hang out with us “older kids” for a few hours was incredible for them. As the children started to pile in the van, one girl stopped me. Her precious little face looked up at me from the ground. With her arms in the air, wanting me to pick her up, she asked if I would be her friend. I immediately said of course, lifted her in the air and helped her buckle up her seat belt. Alicia followed me around until 3pm, when it was time for her to leave back home again. I found my little 7 year old best friend today.

After all of the kids arrived, some said a quick little prayer for the sun to come out. God worked wonders on that first day of work. About an hour later you could see the sun beginning to come out from behind the clouds and shine down on us. The mission work ended at 3pm and everyone went off to take a shower. The evening activity for the day involved an interesting tour of Fort Steuben and a “Mural Scavenger Hunt” throughout the city. On our way to dinner at a local park, we passed Franciscan University of Steubenville. Before this trip I knew of Steubenville because of the University. It was cool to actually pass by and see the school’s entrance. After the Youth Works leaders ran a few activities, our 24 youth and 5 adults closed the evening with some group discussion time.

As you can see, today was a busy one. If I could take one moment away from this entire day it’d be that everything happens for a reason and we need to trust God that he has a plan for every decision he makes in our lives. Anastasia Rogers helped me with this little life lesson today. Anastasia, if you ever read this, thank you for letting me use you as an example! :) She had been hoping that she would be in the painting group. Anastasia said she wasn’t a fan of kids and really, really, really did not want to have to work with the Kid’s Club group. When we found out what type of mission work we’d be doing for the week, Anastasia was not too thrilled. Just looking at her you could see that she wanted to complain, but she held back the urge. At that moment, I looked at her and told her that God placed her in the group to work with children this week for a reason. Sometimes people wonder why God puts them in specific situation. I know that I often find myself asking God why certain things happen. Not knowing why things happen drives some crazy, but some learn to accept why things happen. The 24 high school students and 5 adults were brought here to Steubenville, Ohio by God for a reason.

I’m finally done! See you Saturday.
- Cydney

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Sunday, July 18, 2010

24 Youth... 5 Adults... 1 Mission

Finally after we decorated the windows on the vans and waiting for Nathan to find the keys so we can start our six hour drive to the wonderful state of Ohio! We did not really doing any mission work today. We arrived to the church where we are going to stay for the week. Come to find out that this church does not really have air conditioning. We found our rooms and went downstairs to "meet" the rest of the groups (which did not really happen). While we were downstairs we got in a circle and sang songs and play some games while the food was being prepared. When we all sat down to get ready for dinner we were told that we were having pulled pork sandwiches, macaroni and cheese, baked beans, fruit cocktail (no alcohol involved) and salad. IT WAS AMAZING!!! After that there was clean up, we sang songs, and had to listen to a bunch of rules which were common sense. But it is time for bed because we have to be downstairs for breakfast tomorrow at 6:45 so we will see who the early birds are.

Wish me luck,
Danielle Steele

Mission Trip

Last minute update

Some last minute mission trip changes...

We welcome Jessica Adamic as she comes in for Jordan's spot. Its good to see her again! Unfortunately, Terrance no longer can make it, but we keep him and his family in our prayers. To fill in for one open adult leader spot is Erin Buitendorp, who just finished her Masters in counseling and was able fit in our trip between her job interview schedule!!!

The van drama! Mike and Paul had quite the adventure tracking down the vans yesterday, which were scattered across the metro detroit area, neither one being at the office it was supposed to be! It all worked out though and we thank to Phil, who was able to get us a sweet deal!

The weather looks a bit rainy this week, so pray for our ability to adapt. Also, stay posted for news of adventures from the kids all week!

-peace
nathan

Friday, July 16, 2010

Hey Steubenville, here we come!

Things I'm looking forward to...

*30 people in 2 vans for 6 hours.

*Meeting new people from around the States!

*Meeting the community kids and getting paint all over my clothes.

*Sweat.

*Baseball & Paintball.

*Eating because I'm hungry. Sleeping because I'm tired. Worshiping because God is with us!