Calvin Church Youth Missions

Happy 4th!

2009-07-04T07:14:00.000-07:00

Nothing important to say or worthy of reading, I am just testing posting using my blackberry. Guess I should have taken a picture this morning with my phone so I could also test that. Maybe I'll take a photo at the parade today and attempt to upload it later today.

Friday, July 3, 2009

2009-07-03T23:17:00.001-07:00

I am praying everyone is packed and ready to go … so that the team can enjoy the 4th of July festivities tomorrow! Ending the day with a magnificent fireworks display, of course, and then straight to sleep for a 6:30 am arrival at SeaTac on July 5th.

I upgraded to a Blackberry today, with international internet (for one month) with the hope that we will have adequate access in Libre Union to post pictures and blog a bit about our mission trip. We will let you know if it works (if it doesn't work we won't have a way to let you know anyway!)

Davenport Recap - Picture Gallery 3

2008-08-05T22:31:00.001-07:00

Just a few miscellaneous Calvin team pictures:

Davenport Recap - Picture Gallery 2

2008-08-05T22:08:00.000-07:00

Youth Outreach Picture Gallery
Flaming (well, smoking) davenports to follow:

Davenport Recap - Picture Gallery

2008-08-05T21:48:00.000-07:00

Some VBS Pictures:

Day Five & Six in Davenport

2008-08-01T15:45:00.000-07:00

Sorry it's been a few days since we've blogged, but so much great stuff has been happening that we've barely had time to sleep or eat, much less actually take the time to let the rest of the world know what's going on. Yesterday (Thursday) was a whirlwind of activity - besides VBS, we had our last teen outreach night, Crazy Olympics, which included Jello wrestling, Steal the Bacon with Crisco-covered watermelons, and racing couches down the biggest hill in Davenport, one of which went so fast that the wheels melted right off from the friction.

That, along with watching Kathi get thrown in the Jello pit by Peter, Greg, and Joe, was the highlight of my night. Afterwards, we heard a band from one of the local churches play, and I know a few people, not just from Davenport but from Calvin as well, had some amazing spiritual moments. We showered away the remnants of Crisco and Jello and crashed as soon as we got back to the church in order to be ready for the last day of VBS and the picnic afterwards with the kids and their parents. We were all happy to see that our presence here has had an effect after watching almost 20 of the kids accept Christ into their hearts today.

Since Stephen and Sam had to leave on Thursday, we ended up doing foot-washing Wednesday night, and even though at that point we'd only been here for a few days, it was really amazing, probably one of the best I've ever had on a mission trip. Foot-washing is always really emotional and intense, but we've already had so many great moments together after sharing our testimonies that we already had so much to say to each other, even those of us who barely knew each other less than a week ago. I thought that because the youth group "clique" - Mary, Julia, Johanna, Garrett, the Ericksons - is nearly gone and because this would be my first mission trip without them around, it would be weird. Not only that, but there's such a big age gap between Sam, Stephen, and I and most of the rest of the group, who are mostly incoming freshmen or sophomores, I came into this week thinking it was going to be really awkward for everyone. Instead, the personalities in this group just clicked, and sharing our testimonies during the first few days of the trip helped us to be really open and honest with each other. It amazes me how incredibly close we've all grown in such a short amount of time. As much as I miss the old group, now that I've experienced it, I'm equally sad about the fact that I'm going to be missing out on this great new one. I'm really excited for tonight and for the next few days, which we'll be spending just hanging out and having fun together watching the light show at the Coulee Dam and at Silverwood.

Day Four in Davenport

2008-07-30T15:50:00.000-07:00

Hey all, Ray here!

Today's events went very well. The morning started up at 7:30am for most of us and at about 7:55 for the late risers. After a delicious breakfast of egg and sausage casserole, coffee cake (both homemade) and fruit we headed over to the community hall to set up and receive kids for VBS. By 9:00 we were underway; singing, doing hand motions and having a great time with the kids in our opening activity. Kathi did a great job of leading the assembly as usual but there was a little bit of a change in the format. Today I got the privilege of sharing a part of the gospel message in her stead, telling this room full of rambunctious, waiting kids about the life and death of Jesus and the resulting redemption of man. Needless to say I was more than a bit nervous about having to present this deep and life-changing information and not so sure how things would go... but God was faithful as usual! The words came out (hopefully in a way that at least one kid understood) and I'm trusting that God will accomplish His will in the lives of those kids, one step at a time.

After the opening program all the age groups went to their separate activities, my group to craft followed by bible lesson then snack and recreation. To say that I saw the wonder of God in the eyes of those kids today would be an understatement. Watching them play and laugh and sing and RUN, RUN, RUN was a great thing and I could actually see them processing and integrating the things we've been saying this week throughout the day. After VBS we cleaned up and headed back to First Pres. for a delicious lunch of tacos and brownies provided by one of the many families who have lined up to share with us through their cooking this week. After lunch there was a short meeting to talk about the morning's events and plan for tonight and tomorrow and to hang out a little bit with the youth helpers from Davenport and nearby Harrington. Afterwards we loaded up and went to the homes of a couple of church families for showers and general R&R (thanks so much to Gary and Alice for sharing your showers, your bikes and your hearts) and just recently got back to the church to cook and set up for a spaghetti dinner and the youth outreach event tonight down at the Harrington Pool. As a matter of fact I have to hurry up and finish here so I can at least pretend to help!

Before I go though, Calvin, please continue to pray and think of us this week as we continue attempting to share with and love on our brothers and sisters here in Davenport. See you all in a few days!

- Ray

P.S. HEY to my fellow trainees/sisters back in Shoreline. I've missed you guys this week and can't wait to get back to the quote board!!!!!!

Day Three in Davenport

2008-07-29T21:31:00.000-07:00

Day three was almost more like day one and two, for we had our second day of VBS and our first day of the youth outreach for junior and high school students in the evening. In VBS, the kids focused on the letter E, for Endurance. The alternative sport of the day started out as Broomball (hockey with brooms and a rubber ball), but quickly found out that the brooms did not have the endurance that we imagined. Thankfully we were able to buy some emergency brooms to keep them going, however. After VBS, we took our first official Davenport siesta, in the form of a napping period to regain our strength till the outreach. When rested, we headed to the park to meet up with our older teenagers and grilled hamburgers and hot dogs for dinner. A game of Bigger or Better than followed, where groups would start with a paper clip and go into the community, asking different houses to trade for our paper clip for something bigger, or better. By the end, groups brought back everything from large bugs to small children to a used basketball. Finally, to finish the night, several people shared their testimonies to the groups (including myself). It was a long day (including the first rain for the town in apparently two months!), but attendance levels grew and we got to meet many new people.
-Stephen Erickson

Tonight was SO fun! It turned out a lot different than I was expecting,which was a really great thing. We had a GREAT turnout, with kids of all ages. Dinner was super yummy (and I'm not just saying that 'cus I grilled the burgers, haha), and the game was really fun, and a great way to get to know some kids from Davenport, Rearden, and Harrington. My favorite part of the evening was when we shared our testimonies in small groups. After i shared mine, my group was super mature and supportive, and it was an amazing feeling to have these kids that I didnt even know express such love to me. Many of the girls in my group were excited to share theirs as well, and although there was some tough stuff that we talked about, I feel that overall it was a good thing for them that they did. I cant wait to see what the turnout is for tomorrow's pool outreach in Harrington!
God Bless,
Katherine Naten

Prayer Request for our first Youth Outreach tonight!

2008-07-29T14:05:00.000-07:00

Kathi here - we had another great day in VBS, despite gremlins in the sound system and brooms that failed to "Endure - our word for the day" some serious broomball fun ... but I will let the youth tell you about that.

I just wanted to ask for prayer tonight for our first youth outreach. Please pray for the youth of Davenport to come out to the park tonight. We know there is a real need in this community for the saving love and grace of our Lord, and we know that God has been working in the hearts of those who need to hear and feel is His love. Earlier in the week, our park decorations were maliciously destroyed ... we pray that these young men (there was a camera going in the park) come tonight, and that we can show them God's compassion and love!

Finally, please pray for the Calvin youth who will be sharing their stories tonight (of what Jesus has done in there lives). Please pray for the Holy Spirit to give them courage and boldness, to help them to share honestly, and to speak the Truth. We have been sharing our stories each night, during our team devotional time - the sharing has been very deep and meaningful. In fact we are all pretty drained this afternoon and are taking our first siesta! I think I will now join the team myself!

More later ....

Day Two in Davenport

2008-07-28T21:15:00.000-07:00

Today was the first day of VBS and it started out great! The kids showed up bright and early for a morning of fun, bible study, snacks, and worship! We were expecting around 100 kids, and sadly only 50 were there, but we are praying for an increase in numbers in the coming week. The theme of the day was Hope, and the kids made frisbees, and learned to play Ultimate Frisbee! We had a lot of down time after lunch, but we spent it making Jello for Thursday's Crazy Olympics, and preparing brooms for Broomball tomorrow. After that were graciously given the opportunity to go over to two of the helpers from VBS and members of the church's house. While there we got to play with month old kittens, ride a four-wheeler, hot tub, and HOT SHOWERS!

Joe- Today was really fun, and I enjoyed VBS a lot. However, my favorite part of the day was the kittens at Wade and Miranda's house. They were so small! The four-wheeler was really awesome too, but I went to fast so Katherine got scared and had to get off. Im really looking forward to see what happens in the rest of the week.

Day One in Davenport

2008-07-27T21:56:00.000-07:00

Our week in Davenport has had a great start! This morning we greeted the members of Davenport First Presbyterian for Sunday service, and later drove down to Lake Roosevelt for a church picnic, where we experienced great food, fellowship, and fun water activities.

Lena here.... the church was just what we expected... small. The worship though was just AMAZING! No other words can explain it. The whole church (about 30-40 people or so) was SO into worshiping. Everyone was clapping, and singing praises to the Lord. It sounded almost as loud as Calvin... which is a BIG thing. I don't know if it was just because we were there, but everyone walking in with big pearly smiles, and warm welcomes to us even though we were the ones greeting. After the whole day in the water, (I learned to water ski, and knee-board) we went to go decorate the park for V.B.S tomorrow. Later at dinner to our dismay... we got a call from Kathi telling us the park/decorations had been vandalized. Not to mention the bus got sprayed by a skunk. So we had a interesting first day but the hot, warm showers at the end of the day made it worth it!

-Lena Kirkman

Its Briell now.... This morning was a nice time when I was greeting the people of the church. The picnic after the service was the best part of the day because we got to sit in the sun and eat food while talking to the church members. It was nice to listen to Karl tell us what he thought the direction of the mission should go. He was also telling us a little bit about the town and some of the school kids and what they do. I was shocked to hear that some of the kids used drugs and did thing that they thought was okay. This is a day that I will never forget!

-Briell Mitchell

What's up, Greg here, we had a blast today. First we went to church, well, we were kind of already there. But that was fun. Next we went to lake roosevelt and I went innertubing but it was really rough and i flipped. next we went to someone's house and they had a trampeline. overall it was a good day.

Greg

All in all today was a fun, and interesting day. We are all looking forward to getting up bright and early tomorrow morning and welcoming the first day's kids for vacation bible school! Keep us in your prayers, that God may give us strength and patience to deal with these fun-loving first through sixth graders!

God Bless

-Katherine Naten

2008-07-26T21:17:00.000-07:00

Hello Davenport! After waiting for everyone to arrive at the church (coughLenacough) the Calvin Youth Team headed out on the long road to Eastern Washington. With one rest stop, and after stopping at The Blustery Drive-In (in Vantage) for burgers and fries, we made pretty good time, arriving in Davenport around 7:45 p.m. We got settled quickly and went for a tour of the town. It didn't take long to reach the edge of town before we turned back towards the church. We finished the night with exploring the church, chatting, and worship and devotions. Tomorrow we are all looking forward to greeting people at the door for church, helping with the praise and worship band, and experiencing church in a new way. After that will be the church picnic, and planning and set up for VBS for the rest of the week. Keep us in your prayers as we jump into this great adventure!

God Bless,

Katherine Naten

p.s. Sorry about the size of the picture, we are having technical difficulties, that we hope to fix in the VERY near future! Stay tuned

July 23, 2008 - Davenport Blog Kickoff!

2008-07-23T13:19:00.000-07:00

Davenport, HERE WE COME! In a matter of days the youth of Calvin Presbyterian will be taking off in the church bus for the small town of Davenport Washington. Equipped with VBS supplies, crazy Olympics games, fun plans for the week, and big smiles, the twelve of us are just about ready to go! We will be leaving Saturday the 26th of July, and making the trek across Eastern Washington, planning to arrive around 7, in the little town just West of Spokane. In the months leading up to this journey, the Calvin Youth team has hosted multiple fund raising events, such as the church rummage sale, and Cinco de Mayo dinner. (Thanks to everyone who supported us by coming out!) We have also gone up to Tall Timber for a day of bonding, preparation, and service, to get us ready for this mission. Everything so far is looking up, and all are excited to get on the road, come Saturday morning! Updates will be added daily, containing the day's schedule, along with testimonies of those attending, and pictures. So stay tuned, and keep updated on the happenings of Calvin Presbyterian's Youth Mission to Davenport Washington!
God Bless,
-Katherine Naten

Phew! I am in Gulfport!

2006-07-31T20:47:00.000-07:00

Just a short message from Miss Kathi (remember your drawl) to let y'all know that I missed traveling with you today! Celeste and I did get the vans back to Jackson this afternoon, and then with a rental car we returned to Pearlington, picked up Celeste's car and drove to the Gulfport Airport to get rid of the rental. Trace was over at the PDA camp when we stopped by and he says, "Heh!" Celeste dropped me at my hotel at 10:30ish. I have a 6:10 a.m. flight in the morning, that translates to a 3:50 a.m. wake up call! It is time for bed, but just wanted to say that God carried me through the day and kept me awake. Thanks for your prayers. See you on the weekend.

The Last Day!

2006-07-30T19:52:00.000-07:00

Today was a great day in Pearlington. The sun was shining, and we got to sleep in until 7:30 (if you count that as sleeping in). After Sunday School and a service at New Hope Church, we headed east to New Orleans. As we were driving we could see miles of swamp land, and it seemed that out of the water and grass rose 7 or 8 skyscrapers. It was quite the view. The rain started coming, but only lasted for the drive. When we got to Jackson Square, the sun had come out, and we got to see New Orleans in full swing. People were everywhere, shops were open, and we got to be tourists instead of workers. For about an hour we got to shop, explore, and see the city we had heard so much about in the news. Also, we walked through the French Quarter, saw Bourbon street (smelly) and enjoy a day off. When we drove off to leave, we passed the Superdome and saw just how massive it was. We got back to camp, enjoyed a nice pasta dinner and had our devotion. Thanks for all your prayers and support, and we will see you tomorrow. Posted by Peter Erickson

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It's been a busy day here in the Mississippi/Louisiana area. After our leisurely morning (rise and shine at 7:30!!), we headed over to New Hope Baptist Church for what ended being a 3 hour service (Sunday school included)! I have to say, that was the most spirited, friendly, Bible-quoting service I have ever been to. It was also inspiring to hear them talk about the cooperation between the churches in Pearlington, no matter what the denomination was. The people down here are certainly full of hope and are ready to rebuild their town. After the service, we disconnected our legs from the pews and headed to New Orleans. It was incredible to see all of the houses and businesses that still have not been cleaned out after the hurricane. Many of the houses have not even been boarded up. Even though the Ninth Ward was pretty empty, the French Quarters were still full of people and it was fun to see some parts of New Orleans that was not destroyed. It is painfully obvious that this area still needs a lot of help, but according to all of the t-shirts, souvenirs and people that we have encountered, there is a determination to rebuild and an unfailing hope in the possibility of restored neighborhoods. After returning to the camp with our new treasures found in the fun shops of New Orleans, we enjoyed a delicious spaghetti dinner cooked by our new friends from the Presbyterian church in Philadelphia. We also enjoyed some singing and worship underneath the stars and the lightening storm to the Northeast of us. We all appreciate your continued prayers and support and we are looking forward to seeing everyone tomorrow and sleeping in some REAL BEDS! Mom, we all hope that you had a happy birthday today and can't wait to see you and Laurel (and Joey) tomorrow! Mike says happy birthday as well! Posted by Katelyn Olden

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Jenni and I are sharing this post. We were supposed to wake up at 7 this morning to make breakfast (2 hours later than we normally would have had to, which was nice), but Kathi, being the wonderful, amazing person she is, let us sleep in for another half hour and made breakfast herself. Unfortunately, Jenni's annoying internal alarm clock woke her up at about 7:05 anyway, meaning that both of us were running around freaking out because we thought we had destroyed the small hope of a decent breakfast. Not that we've had much luck with that the rest of the week, either but Mary and Jenni managed to knock a few people off (did you know katydids are poisonous? Peter's glad he found that out before they got to him. Some others weren't so lucky. *insert evil laugh here* Just kidding!) But anyway...
After our very late breakfast, we sat around for a while doing Disney word searches before church. Church was very long. (See Katelyn's blog if you want an idea of how long it was.) We practically ran out of church because teenagers attention spans are not that long. Then we all piled into the vans and set out for New Orleans. Unfortunetly we stopped at MacDonalds for lunch and that tended to "disagree" with everyone's system so we invaded a hotel to use the bathrooms. And then there was only one bathroom for each gender so our line wound around the hotel. It was very funny when Garrett went into the bathroom and DIDN'T LOCK THE DOOR and this random man walked past all the restless teenagers and Ron Rutherford and walked in with Garrett. We all stared in shock and then burst out laughing (Garrett says he was still "doing his duty" when the man walked in). A minute later Garrett walks out and kind of looks around bewildered as we all laugh at him. So remember to always lock your stall in New Orleans. Jared, Sam, Rebecca, Susanna and I walked around together, except Susanna and I kept getting in trouble with Jared because we were "wandering off". Everyone's really tired right now and dreading re-packing (Well, I am) and cleaning our tent thing. We're excited to see everyone and escape from the humidity! Julia and Jenni

Flight Information!

2006-07-30T18:50:00.000-07:00

Yes, they are all coming home! Michael left this morning for his internship in California! The rest of the group (minus Kathi) will arrive in Seattle on:

Southwest Airlines Flight #388 from Las Vegas at 10:25PM

(the previous flight #550, is from New Orleans to Las Vegas)

We will have more posts later. We are starting worship in a few minutes. Just wanted to get this information out for you. Just incase the posts get really late againg tonight!

Thanks for all your comments and prayers!
Miss Kathi (say it with a southern drawl!)

Last work day

2006-07-29T21:04:00.000-07:00

Today was the last day of work here in Pearlington. The groups were successful throughout the week, and made significant progress in all areas. I was part of the demo group, which, over five days, completely tore down a severely damaged house. We have spent the last couple days removing nails from some of the wood we decided was safe to be re-used. Today was a half-day for my group. We spent about three hours removing nails and about two hours cleaning the camp. We then went on a tour of the city and saw some of the damage left by the storm. For the first time since arriving at the camp we went out to dinner at a pizza restaurant in Louisiana. Several people came up and thanked us for coming down to help them. As a way of showing their gratefulness the management treated us with six boxes of dessert pizza to take back with us.

When we returned to the camp everyone took part in the Calvin youth tradition of washing feet. Similar to what happened in John 13, we drew names from a cup the name of the person who would wash our feet. It was an opportunity to personally thank somebody for the impact they had on your experience here in Pearlington. I was selected to wash Stephen's feet and Reed was privileged to be able to wash my feet.

While I was prepared to see the damage left by Katrina, one thing that shocked me was the loving attitude the people of Pearlington. Nearly everything they had was taken from them, yet they are always looking toward the hope of the future. It would be easy for them to dwell on the past, but they are an inspiration to us all.

The trip has been great and I look forward to seeing you all on Monday.

Posted by Paul Werner

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Alright, well pretty much everyone here thinks that I should be writing this post with my "newly aquired southern drawl," but for my sake (and yours) I will spare you all. Be thankful.

There is a lot I could say about this week, along with a lot of things that are hard to express in words; or at least in writing. But I will attempt anyways...This week, for me at least, has been one of major ups and downs. And through those ups and downs I was reminded how much of an impact fellowship has on your walk with Christ, specifically when we as Christians have a chance to build each other up, or just give them a helping hand.

Today was one of the downs. I guess I hadnt been drinking enough water, and that combined with not eating breakfast and feeling queezy wasnt really a good combo. But I was fine. At least thats what I always tell people, and really I was fine. I promise (I know there are at least three of you out there who I am not convincing), but I was. After my lack of breakfast Jared, Greg, Kurt and I headed to our worksite at Sunni and Ada's house to try and finish wiring. I wasn't really in that great of a mood, and Jared of course picked up on that pretty quick. But I insisted that I was okay. But my mood continued to worsen as my job of splitting wires became a lot more frustrating than I figured it would be. I ended up cutting up my hands a few good times, as well as my thigh, in the process of stripping the wires of the rubber coverings with a very sharp hooked knife. So yes, I bled; and yes, I was too stubborn to say anything about what happened. Eventually Jared noticed that I had blood all over the right side of my left palm and gave me a "look" and said I should clean it up or at least let him look at it. And hey, guess what? I didn't let him. After about three hours of work we headed back to camp for lunch and by then I wasnt doing too well. I was really light headed and kind of queezy, and it turns out so was Johanna. Garrett, being the cool person he is notices that his girlfriend and I were a little out of it and brings over some hiddious tasting sour melon powerade and demands that we sit down and drink the entire bottle he had set in front of each of us. He then eventually noticed that my hand was still all bloody and proceeded to find the hydrogen peroxide and a bag of bandaids. After he had cleaned my cut and put a bandaid on it, he scolded me and johanna for still not drinking enough vile powerade (it was the only type they had at the camp) and came back every few minutes to make sure we hadnt passed out and were still drinking enough.

Now, this little scenario wasn't all that "spiritual" or anything, but it tought me a little bit about humility, and just letting someone be there for you. Talking to people about problems and such has always been hard for me, I just don't like doing it at all. I'd rather keep everything to myself and not bother my friends. But when you have friends who won't let you get away with that it is a lot harder to do. And though I hate to admit it, I really appreciated what Garrett had done, even though it was something so small and simple.

Later that night after dinner in Louisiana, like Paul talked about, we all took part in the traditional foot washing activity. For me, washing feet wasn't a big deal, it was getting my feet washed that I am always weary about...it just tickles too much. But the idea of what we were doing was really awesome. Getting to see the combinations of people that turned out was amusing, and its cool to see how much of an impact we have on each other; sometimes without even realizing it. Even just getting to know new people this week has been so much fun, specifically Paul and Rebecca; to which I owe props for staying up with me while I tried to figure out what to write...even though we managed to distract each other very effectively.

Tomorrow we have a late breakfast, church, and then off to see New Orleans. Paul forgot to mention in his blog that he is really looking forward to seeing New Orleans- so I thought I would add it for him. He is not the only one though, I think all of us are curious to see the damage that is still there after a year has passed and also what progress is being made.

I don't think there is one person on this trip who hasnt been touched in some way by the wonderful people here in Pearlington, whether it was Pam, Dallas, Sunnie, or so many other amazing characters that we met this week. They are an inspiration in so many ways.

I hope some of this made sense, but my brain is not really in "essay mode" seeing as its still July. But I promised Kathi I wouldn't write a huge essay, and beating Mary would mean less sleep for me. So I am going to go to bed, seeing as its about 1 am and sleep is a happy thing.

Keep us in your prayers!
Sam Steuby

Friday, and still going strong!

2006-07-28T16:23:00.000-07:00

Today has got to be one of my favorite days, it was so much fun. I worked in the third group which is assigned to start the construction on Dallas's house (the woman in the center front). Earlier this week our work was best described as landscaping, flattening the ground for each one of the 27 footings that are 5 feet high. Today we got to change it up a little and we started to sink 10 foot rods of Rebar 5 feet into the ground. At first I tried to use the side of an axe to hammer the rebar down, which scared Stephen and Reed. They did not like holding shaking rebar with a sharp axe speeding downward. Soon after Dallas found a post pounder. Reed and I started fighting over who got to hammer the rebar in because it was so fun and an awesome display of our manly strength. Oh by the way all the hammering was done from on top of self made scafolding (photo to the left). My work day ended with moving to 42 x 80 pound cement bags. All in all, today was awesome and tons of fun. Posted by Daniel Hancock

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Wow, this week is just flying by. It's difficult to believe that we've been here 4 days already. I've gotten to know the women working in the lunch kitchen at First Missionary Baptist church so well and I feel like they are practically family. Let me explain a little bit about my job. Jenni Herold and myself volunteered to be the "grub masters," not exactly understanding what that meant at the time. You see, PDA doesn't have a full time cook working in their makeshift kitchen. Therefore, generally one of the adults from each group steps in. As we all know, our adults are all very very busy so Jenni and I stepped up to the plate, not exactly realizing that we were actually going to be doing all of the cooking (with lots of wonderful help from friends) for the day. It has definitely been a week of stretching for God and learning in accordance about ourselves are our "cooking skills." Haha. During the time between breakfast and lunch, Jenni and I have spent time helping two women, Jonnie and Jackie, cook the humongous lunch of delicious southern cooking and clean in preperation for the meal. I'm sorry Grandma, Dad, and Mom, but their southern cooking surpasses even your fried chicken and hush puppies. The women feel like family. I love them like my own parents and the idea that tonight is our last night together is making me a bit teary. We have also gotten to know the Reverend Rwals. He is the sweetest most welcoming man I have ever met. Today he saw me yawning a bit and shouted out at me, "what you gabbing about baby?" He pulled me over to him and we spent about 15 minutes talking and hugging and I feel like I've known him my entire life. He's a sweet heart to the core. It's been such and amazing privilege to get to know these wonderful women and the wonderful man that God's blessed Jenni and I with this trip. One more funny little thing to share, then off to the next blogger. I just thought you should all know that the dreaded plauge has caught a few of our young workers. We have caught the.....dundundun........SOUTHERN ACCENT! Myself included, yes. The worst infected was Sam Steuby, who caught it yesterday and was in denial all evening. We all had fun hearing her talk despite the fact that she couldn't hear the twang in her voice. I'll be honest now. Today I spent the morning with 3 women from Mississippi, a boy from Texas, and a girl who was raised in Alabama. I bet you can guess that it caught me too. I was talking with a twang was beyond that of any you'd hear on most of the locals down here. Everybody was baby or girl or darlin' and or mam or sir. It was quite entertaining, but thank the Lord, it's left me for now atleast. It was actually pretty funny and helped bring an extra reason to laugh despite the humidity and heat so I guess you could say that blessings come in unlikely packages. Okay, as I always do when blogging, I've written a short novel now so I'm going to head out before Kathi's cell phone dies down. All of your children, friends, family, and myself miss you all and love you all as well! We're praying for all of you back at home! See you all on Monday!
Love always,
Miss Mary

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Even though today was the most tired we've been all week, the sheetrocking siite had our most successful day so far. We prayed in the morning to ask for patience with each other, and God responded. Nobody got frustrated with each other and it seemed like everything flowed together. Even Joby, the 9, soon-to-be-10 year old (as Joby makes sure everybody knows), pitched in, helping hold sheetrock, even volunteering to use the exacto knife (YIKES). He came to lunch with us at the First Missionary Baptist Church for the second day in a row--such a difference from when we first met him and he wouldn't say a word. Today he was dragging people into the woods to see his newly built fort (and trying to convince me there was a wild hog in the woods-he was sure that if I was afraid of "harmless" things such as deadly spiders and giant crickets, I would be terrified of wild hogs-sorry, Joby). Tonight we went to the Pearlington revival at the newly rebuilt First Southern Baptist Church (inside, with air conditioning!) led by a group of volunteers from Nebraska who have been rebuilding the church and holding VBS all week. The music was REALLY loud and the sermon rambled on and on, but it was fun, and interesting to see the differences between Calvin and the Nebraska Baptists. I'm looking forward to the traditional Southern service on Sunday. Its hard to believe it's already Friday and we'll be leaving in 3 days--time flies when you're sweating buckets. Thanks for all the comments and keeping us in your prayers. Looking forward to a flush toilet on Monday! (Posted by Rebecca)

Spent the Evening at the Beach

2006-07-27T20:31:00.000-07:00

Sorry, no updates from the kids tonight. We took off right after dinner to go to the beach (Waveland on the Gulf Coast). The water was warm, the white sand was beautiful. We created a fire (with some mini battery powered lanterns) and sang and had devotions on the beach. We parked in a driveway (where there was no longer a home) right across the road from the sand. When we first arrived and were heading out to the water a car drove by and asked Garrett, "Where are you from?" Garrett answered, and the people in the car said "Thanks for coming and helping us!"

We will let the kids tell you more about our day, but here are a few pictures of today's activities. (Posted by: Kurt, Ron and Kathi)

Day 3

2006-07-26T18:45:00.000-07:00

Although the weather today was significantly more uncomfortable than yesterday (no thunderstrorms/rain to cool us down), we still got a ton done. At the demo site we worked extremely hard to get the majority of the house torn down, but we ended up tearing down all of it, which kept our spirits up. We got alot more interaction with the people across the street today. There are three adorable kids that kept coming over to see what we were up to and how we were doing, and the 5 year old boy even invited us to join him in his pool, but in order to finish tearing down the house we sadly had to decline. The man across the street came over and talked about the hurricane and how he could never leave Pearlington due to his strong family roots. The hospitality within the small community of Pearlington is amazing. Although their houses were destroyed their spirts thrived and are continuing to get stronger day by day. Everyone knows each other like their own family, and are so greatful for everyone in their lives. They take nothing for granted, and even though we Seattleites' are not used to the humidity, heat, and huge bugs, watching these people and the emense love they have for one another is truely inspirational. Today has been a difficult day, but we are working together and are plugging along strong. (Posted by Kirsten)

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Hello today was very hot and there wasnt a lot of clouds in the sky to cool us down, but it wasnt that bad. The demolition site has come a long way and everything is done except for the base. Its good were keeping the base on since there are probobly tons of poisonus spiders lurking, Our distributer of jobs, Dallas, has just got us to start working on rebuilding her house that got completely demolished. She told us a story of how she came outside to get over to a tree to get above the rising water water of the hurricane since she stayed and by the time she got out of her yard she could swim over the fence. It rose so fast. Working on Dallas's house is leveling out the hard ground so we can put stilts up, a local said that they would eventually all be living in bird houses. While moving a cinder block Stephen Erickson wasn't wearing gloves at the time and we found a Black Widow. The locus here are so big but so slow and about as big as my palm. We even saw one crossing the road, thats how big they are. Anyways, i miss everyone but am having a good sweaty time. (posted by Carl Turner)

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IT WAS A LONG DAY. I've heard that wednesday is always the hardest day of a mission trip, and today seemed to fall into that catagory, at least at the sheet-rocking site. Yesderday we took care of the easier drywall jobs, leaving the ceiling, the corners and the more difficult cuts for today. The morning was hot and hard, and frustration was wide-spread. Most of us strained to keep a happy facade. There were misquitoes. The camel's back broke around 11:30 when a piece of ceiling drywall refused to be hung. Ron Rutherford and I tried over and over to screw the sheet rock into a tiny strip of joist, but couldn't stick the landing. We were ready to give up when the suggestion of prayer came up. We prayed over the drill, the screws, the sheet rock and the ceiling. And it worked. The rest of the day was better, but still hard. Katelyn found a tic burrowed in her side after getting back to the village, (she was alright) and the weather remained hot and stickey throughout the evening. But, the day wasn't without its small victories. We finished sheet rocking the living room. Kathy gave a stellar devotion to the entire camp. Moral grew throughout the evening. And we know that as long as we're working in the name of Christ, things can only get better. (Michael Erickson)

2006-07-25T18:36:00.000-07:00

Today in Pearlington we started the working. We seperated into 3 groups, one started to demolish a house, one worked on building a house, and another set up stilts for another house to sit on. The house building group worked on puttin up sheetrock in the living room and kitchen of a house. It is a team effort and they are having a great time, working around 8 hours. The family that owns the house are living in a motor home just next to the house, and are extremely greatful that the team can help give them hope in rebuilding their house. Posted by: Sam Werner

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We on the other hand, were OUTSIDE trying to destroy a house. Sounds easy, but we were also trying to salvage as much as we could, so it wasn't as easy as BLOW IT UP, or PUSH IT OVER, or even burn it to the ground. we had to take it apart board by board. Fortunately the thunderstorms were merciful and we had a nice (not exactly cool) spot to work without being struck by lightning. the roof was knocked down by Stephen, Garrett, and Kurt, we also helped by pushing it on its back (see picture). My favorite part was when it fell to the ground. I was inside, destroying the drywall in their bathroom with an axe when it happened... Good times. We still have to take down the main frame of the building. yeehaw!
~Russ

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Ahh, the humidity of Mississippi. Working outside, doing hard labour of tearing down a house, really starts to get you sweaty. Forseeing this problem, our leaders made us come prepared, with water and Powerade galore. It was so hot and stuffy (yet somehow overcast) that we were required to take a drinking and resting break every 30 minutes. It was easy to see the breaks getting longer and longer as the day went on. But the work itself wasn't that bad. It is quite satisfying to smash walls over, pull boards down, and push the remaining roof off the house. It really brings one back to their primate instincts and pleasures of destruction.
Post by Stephen.

We are here!

2006-07-24T23:08:00.000-07:00

It is 1:00 AM (11:00PM in Seattle) and we are finally here! We arrived around 12:15AM. Everyone is settling into bed in our "pods" and we have breakfast at 6:30, and hopefully will be out at worksites by 8:00. Everything was dark when we came in, so we don't really have an idea of what things look like yet. The camp manager was still awake and helped us to find our sleeping arrangements, etc.

Good night! Posted by: Kathi

2006-07-24T10:47:00.000-07:00

We're at Pheonix now. we saw Mt. St. Helens and the Grand Canyon on the way here. It's 100 degrees but the building is air conditioned and very comfortable. There are many resturaunts in the airport. The city is very big and there are barely any trees or other vegatation. We got here at 10:05 Seattle time. Kathi talked to the camp director and there are only 9 other people at the camp.

Posted by: Gregory

Training at Home Depot

2006-07-18T22:25:00.000-07:00

Thank you Araz, David and especially Ron (sheetrock) and Miguel (roofing)!

16 members of the team had a great training session today at the Aurora Village Home Depot. While none of us have become expert roofers or sheetrockers, the time spent with Ron and Miguel served to relieve much apprehension! Now when someone in Pearlington asks one of us to lay the felt on the roof or to cut sheetrock to a certain size, we will not only have an idea of what they are asking us to do, but we will also know what tools we will need to do it!

Thank you Kurt for setting the training session up for us! Thanks again to Home Depot for providing the free training!

Posted by: Kathi

Fundraising at the Market

2006-07-18T22:16:00.000-07:00

The youth mission team has had a presence in June and July at the Edmonds Garden & Summer Markets. We have had a "Make It & Take It" booth - making things like stepping stones, wind chimes, kites, etc. and sharing about our mission trip with people who stopped by. The response has been edifying and we appreciate all the generous support of this trip.

Thank you Edmonds Garden & Summer Market Organizers for letting us be part of the "market" this year!

Posted by: Kathi

Blog Launch!

2006-07-17T19:47:00.000-07:00

This blog will keep family and friends updated on the Calvin Youth Summer Mission Trip to Pearlington, MS. Twenty-two senior high youth and 3 adults will be staying at and working with the Presbyterian Disaster Assistance Work Camp in Pearlington, from July 24 - 31st. We will attempt to post information, updates, photos and prayer requests everyday!

As we prepare and pack this week, we ask for your prayers for the mission team, as well as the people in Pearlington!