middle school mission trip 2009 - day 5

Day 5 has come and gone which means the middle school mission trip is in the can. What a great trip - I'm so prond of each of the kids and the leaders who spent so much time with them. We cryed together, laughed a lot together, had some great devotionals, and had wonderful food from some awesome parents. I will be getting out a lot of thank yous in the near furture to all of those who helped make this mission trip so successful. If you would like to see a slide show please click here or on the picture above.

middle school mission trip 2009 - day 4

What a great Day 4 for the trip. We had to leave the wonderful cabins we have been staying in and keep all of our stuff in the church mini-bus. It was a slow start of the day but relaxing and everyone was very upbeat. We got to the work site at Vinton where we divided into two teams. One team went back to the trial and laid a lot of mulch down on the trail. They also cleared more brush but this time it was a lot easier and fun to do. The other team got to pull more weeds at a local park. Right as the weed pulling team was leaving one of the local papers (Vinton Eagle) stopped by to interview them and take a picture. After the work was done we got to go to our hotel to enjoy some wonderful food, relaxing rooms, & fun by or in the pool. If you would like to see a slide show click here or on the picture above.

middle school mission trip 2009 - day 3

Day 3 took us back to Vinton for 1/2 a day to work on the Vinton trail. This was the hardest day for us so far as it had rain some in the morning which made everything very wet and hard to work with. We cut a path through a the trail that was flooded out last year. I did get to use a chain saw but having to move all of that wood after we cut it up was hard. The other 1/2 was a long trip down to Kolana where we had a great time seeing the cheese factory (some of the kids had never tryed cheese curds before - can you say squicky), then to see the beutiful contry side and a wonderful meal. If you would like to see a slide show of the day click here or the picture above.

middle school mission trip 2009 - day 2

On day 2 we went all the way to the city of Bell Plain, IA. Where we meet grandma and her daughter Mel. Grandma had her basement flooded out when the flood hit last year. About 2 weeks ago she finally got her basement ready to get stuff back down in it but had no way to move all that stuff or clean up her beautiful gardens - that was until we came and gave her a hand. Click on the pic above or just click here to see a great slide show of our time at grandma's house.

middle school mission trip 2009 - day 1

Now that I have access to the internet I can start down loading pictures from our awesome middle school mission trip. The first day we had a chance to work in the city of Vinton, IA where we stacked over 6 tons of paving bricks on pallets so the city could then reuse them for their brick city roads. You can click here or click on the picture above to see some of the work and time we had together.

Middle School Mission trip 2009 - updates coming

Been at the middle school missoin trip and haven't had internet access until now. Will have Days 1-4 up later on tonight - stay tune.

Deep Impact - impacted by Kids Against Hunger

We have a wonderful group of middle school youth here at NCBC who are part of a group called Deep Impact. It is our "dig deep" in your relationship with God group. We do a number of things together and today we got a chance to work with Kids Against Hunger. What a great project for our kids. We packaged over 2000 meals to be shipped to different 3rd world countries that could use this food. Thanks to Dustin and Jennifer who have done Kids Against Hunger now for over 2 years in the Cedar Rapids area. (to see a quick slideshow of what we did please click the picture)

MS Mission trip - Day 5

Well, here it is and I can so believe it is done and then I can't believe it is ending. Tomorrow we will wake early and head home to lovely Cedar Rapids, IA. I want to share with you some statements from the kids:

1) I want to come back and do this again next year - a soon to graduate 8th grader
2) I'm so glad I went on this trip - a soon to be 7th grader
3) I got to know these friends better than I have ever know them
4) I felt like I was really listen to and my ideas were smart - a soon to be 7th grader
5) How can we do this when we get home? We just need to love out loud.

And that is what we have done all week and what these young men and ladies are looking forward to doing when they get home.

The pictures are of some of the final things the group did so please click on the picture above and watch a short slide show. Then on July 18th come join the group at 2pm in the middle school room for a short (20 min max) slide show and open mic sharing - you don't want to miss this.

MS Mission trip - Day 4

Well it has finally happen. I have been on a Middle school trip longer than any other trip I have been on with middle school kids. Wow! Has this been a powerful time for all of us. I have watched the kids take spiritual step(s) forward in their walk and understand of Jesus in their lives.
Today, we got a chance to "Love Out Loud" w/Forgiveness. The kids have dealt with some issues in their lives and have given them over to God. I don't know what they are but I know that God has been working in mighty ways.

If you would like to see what the kids some pics of the kids please click on the picture. It is a shorter set of pictures than usually (only 16) since it takes a long to time to load them here.

Please keeping praying for:
- The kids to see God even more
- That Debbie, Erin, and myself stay focused on God and what He is doing in the kid’s lives.
- For yourself - be ready to ask a lot of questions to the kids when they get home. They each got a book and in it are a lot of post trip questions and devotionals that I would highly recommend the kids to go through. Just ask the kids to "Look in the Book" and they'll know what that means.

MS Mission Trip - Day 3

I'm setting at a Starbucks Coffee in the mall of America enjoying a nice White Chocale Mocha and putting this report together. Today has been a wonderful time as the kids have had a chance to "Love out Loud" - Risks. Today is a day off from the normal stuff and we are taking advatage of it by going to the mall and then to a local beach to get cooled off and play together. To be able to see what the group did today please click on the above picture and you will get a good idea.

Again thanks so much for all your prayers and letting us go on this great trip.

Tomorrow we will be back at the two homes and I'm looking forward to seeing what God is going to do in these kids lives.

MS Mission trip - Day 2

"Love Our Loud" serve - was today's theme here at Groupworkcamps and was it a serving day - oh my! I must admit that when I heard that our group was going to 2 mature adult homes I was a little nervous (OK I was a lot nervous) - how could our wonderfully energetic middle schoolers really click with these mature adults. Well I was put in my place and the Holy Spirit had his way in so many ways.

You can see from the pictures (just click on the picture above to see a slide show) and you can see the kids had a blast. Some statements from the group:

- I had so much fun
- that guy is really old but really cool
- we get to do this again tomorrow - YEA!
- Thank you for letting us serve
- Thank you for serving our mature adults (from the ladies we helped)

The day wasn't over after our service project. The boys and Lauren got a chance to serve the group by preparing, serving, and cleaning up dinner. Pulled pork and fruit - good stuff! The guys (and Lauren) really pulled together and got it all done with a smile.

A group of us got to hit the showers but when we got back the night was totally awesome. A couple of our kids got to help lead in worship (see pictures to see who they were). Then it was a very meaningful moment for the group as they got a chance to wash each other’s feet and think of what Jesus did.

After that wonderful time our youth group time blew me away. The group not only was moved by what they got a chance to be a part of but they also had a lot to say about it. They shared some great ideas of what we can do as a group back home to keep loving out loud when this mission trip is all over.

Thanks to all the parents and the people at NCBC that made it possible for us to go on this mission trip. It has already been well worth it.

Tomorrow it is another day of serving and then a get away time to the Mall of America and a local beach.

MS Mission trip - Day 1

Well we are here and it has already been great. With a wonderful send off from NCBC last week during all services and a great prayer time with the parents today we are in Minneapolis, MN ready to get some sleep and then start our first day tomorrow. We are staying at a wonderful church called Richfield United Methodist Church and they have a heart to reach out to their community with Christ love.

The theme of this year group work camps is "Love Out Loud" and here is a little thought from the book they gave us:

"Jesus' love for people was sacrificial. It was public. It was clear. It was loud." Good stuff.

Tomorrow I hope to share where our two teams (we are broken down into two teams of 6) went to serve.

I put a few pictures up on my flickr account (just click the picture to see a slide show or click here to see it). Below are a few statements from the kids that made my day:

- My suitcase and eat your suitcase for breakfast
- What? I'm not supposed to do that?
- Killer super frog takes out all during Debbie turn
- I'm really having a great time
- The drive here was the best part of the trip so far

I hope to post each day but can't promise because I'm working with a slower computer.