Let's Get to Work!

On Sunday night, I learned which students would be in my work crew for the week along and which work sites we would get to visit. 

My work crew was assigned to work the same two places every day.

(Each group was named after BBQ restaurants. We didn't go to Rosedale BBQ, but I bet it is yummy!)

Morning Worksite: The Upper Room

What Is It?: The Upper Room is an organization that provides out-of-school education programs to low income families in urban Kansas City. In the summer, reading programs are offered all over the city. Less than half of the students in Kansas City graduation from high school. This free program helps students catch up and become ready for their next year in school. Many of our work groups visited an Upper Room location this week. 
What Did You Do?: We assisted the teachers by listening to students read, helping them complete worksheets, and playing with them/talking to them during the break time. 
Reflection: Based on my experiences, this sort of volunteering always has a slow start. On the first day, my work group tried to figure out what there role was depending on the classroom they were in. We all had rough moments at the site in terms of feeling needed and understanding our role, but by the end the Upper Room kids loved our group and relationships were forming! Our group was exposed to life very different from our own. And they realized that they were making a difference in the lives of these young readers. Our students were excited to share when a reader they worked with did well on their comprehension tests. Seeing their pride warmed my heart. What great work these high schoolers achieved! 

I guess I've taking the ability to read and learning to read for granted my whole life. I always remember having books in my room and my parents reading to me before bed. (Thanks mom and dad!) I never struggled with it in school and my siblings are great readers too. I hope that our time at the Upper Room helped the youth start to gain confidence in reading. I hope they improve their reading ability this summer. I hope they go on to graduate high school and follow their dreams.

Afternoon Worksite: Della Lamb

What Is It?: Della Lamb is an organization and Charter School that provides services to the Kansas City immigrant population. (I can't even describe all they do here. Check out their website. Seriously.)
What Did You Do?: 
       Monday: Worked in the school building moving things - they are in the midst of a renovation 
       Tuesday and Wednesday: Worked with kids at the day care and prepped/painted three apartments for immigrant families moving in on Friday

Painting break!

       Thursday: Sorted donations and organized the donation room

Moving Boxes

Sorting!

My work crew! Yay Rosedale!

Finished product! (FYI There was no space to walk in before!)

Reflection: Most of the work we did at Della Lamb was behind the scenes, but we all learned so much about Della Lamb (named after the women that started it) and their services. I did not expect to serve the immigrant/refugee population of Kansas City mostly because I didn't know they had much of a immigrant/refugee population. 

Since I returned from the trip, I've been thinking what it would be like to be a refugee in the U.S. I wouldn't understand the language. Or know how to get a job or sign my child up for school or what foods were at the grocery store. I wouldn't have a social security number or know how to drive a car. 

Learning about this vulnerable population last week has sparked my interest about it in my community. Once I catch up on sleep, I plan on doing some serious research!


I want to hear from you! What sort of nonprofits have you served on mission trips? What has been your favorite? Has your service ever inspired you to serve at home? I seem to learn more about where I served a bit after the trip is over. Has the same happened to you? 

Fun in KCMO!

Our trip was not only work! Each evening, YouthWorks staff plan a fun activity. Here is what we enjoyed while in KC!

Monday: Trip to a Local Swimming Pool

Tuesday: Scandinavian Dancing
This was probably my favorite evening activity and the one that I felt the most skeptical about prior to. (I was not excited about convincing the students to try it.) The YouthWorks staff promised this would be a favorite for youth as well as adult leaders and they were right! The dancing lesson was led by a group of church members that uses church space to practice all year long. We learned all sorts of fun moves that we continued to preform the rest of the week!

Wednesday: Trip to the Plaza (and Youth Enterprise T-Shirt Fashion Show!) (and Thank You Circle)
YouthWorks staff prepared a scavenger hunt for our Families to try while at the Plaza. My group went a bit non-conventional and Andy made up random activities for the girls to try. I think we had the most fun, but we were obviously not really in it to win it. The girls threw down a beat with a street rapper, pretended to be store mannequins, and sang "When the Saints Go Marching In" with a trumpet player. It was fun night!

The fun didn't stop there though! Club began with an Adult Leader Fashion Show to show off the shirts made by Youth Enterprise that would be on sale the next day. (Last year, I worked in the YE warehouse one day and I wrote about that here.) Post-Club we had our traditional Thank You Circle. The Thank You Circle is a time for anyone to give a public Thank You shout-out to someone in the group. 

Thursday: Community Cook-Out (and Hug Circle and Foot Washing)
Thursday means Community Cook-Out for dinner at all YouthWorks sites. Participants are encouraged to invite people they've worked with during the week and church members are also invited. We had only a few community members at the cook-out, but it was a great meal!

After Club, we had foot washing and another tradition, the hug circle. During foot washing, each adult leader had their feet washed and were then prayed for by a YouthWorks staff member. They then wash the feet and pray for a group of youth from their church (in our case they were the kids in our family). Later we held our traditional Hug Circle. It is pretty self-explanatory, but you move in a circle and eventually hug everyone in the group. 

I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet. So you also should wash one another's feet. I have given you an example. You should do as I have done for you.  - John 13:14-15

I want to hear from you! I mentioned a few of our Mission Trip traditions in this post (Thank You Circle, Foot Washing, and the Hug Circle). Are you a veteran Mission Tripper? Do you have some traditions for each Mission Trip you participate in? 

Destination: KC MO!

Sunday: Traveling to KC!


Leah and I right before we got on the road!

Today (I was hoping to post this Sunday night via my phone, but internet access was not great at our housing site so this is a bit delayed) after packing all of our luggage in the vehicles, taking a group picture, saying 'goodbye' to loved ones and offering a prayer we were on our way to Kansas City!

My mini van (named Snow White) was just me and luggage, but I followed the van that my family of incoming freshman girls was traveling in and stopped to each lunch with them. 



Me (in my Snow White inspired bow) and my van full of luggage!

When we arrived in Kansas City we headed for our housing site, a Lutheran church that has participated as a Youth Works site for about six years! (Fun Fact: Our current senior Pastor had served this congregation before coming to the QC! We may have found an old picture of him...) We set up our beds (hurray to the inventor of the air mattress!), enjoyed a dinner of pulled pork (thanks Youth Works staff for cooking for us! and had an orientation of the week! This year another church from Texas was at our site so we got to meet them as well! Later, we had Club, Church/Family time, and got ready for bed!

If you are not familiar with Youthworks, Club is a time where staff mentions announcements, we share highlights of the day, sing songs, and explore the daily theme. Church/Family time is after club where adult leaders meet with a small group or family of high school students (my family was made of five awesome freshman girls and myself). We share worries, excitements and support each other.  

My bags are packed. I'm ready to go.

Almost ready!

I won't be traveling via jet plane, but tomorrow I'm headed to Kansas City with 74 high school students and fellow adult leaders! The trip starts tomorrow morning as we all gather at church. We will load everything into vans, say a prayer and then be on our way! I can't wait to see what the week will bring!

I don't think I'll make it through the week without coffee in the morning! Also un-pictured are my CD's and snacks. What is your travel or car trip essential?

 

Mission Trip 2014 Prep

This week I'm excited to be preparing to be an adult leader on my third mission trip with the high schoolers of my church. Read about my other trips here and here. 
(And I just realized that I never finished blogging about last year's trip...maybe I'll go back and fix that...)

Our trip this year is (again) being facilitated by YouthWorks, an organization that organizes Christ-Centered mission trips for youth all over the U.S. This year's destination is Kansas City, Missouri!
(Apparently, I'm working my way to all the states that boarder IA. I guess Nebraska is up next year!)

The format of this trip will be very similar to last year. We will again have a "work crew" and a "family", but we will be visiting a YouthWorks mega site, which has a larger capacity than others, so our work crews may have students from other churches. We will work at various nonprofits in the city during the day and then do something fun each night. Our work sites include an urban farming site, a food bank, a literacy camp, and working with disabled adults. We will not know exactly where we will work until we get their on Sunday! This is a bit of a struggle for this type-a planner. On Thursday night we will have a cook-out where organizations we've worked with for the past week and community members will be invited to share a meal with us. 

Something different about this year's trip is that my little sister, Leah, is coming along. She is finally old enough (even though I'd be fine if she stayed little forever and didn't go to high school). Leah loves serving others and I'm very excited to see Leah experience her first mission trip with St. Paul Youth.

Trip Facts:

Miles to Kansas City: 326 miles

Number of Vehicles: 8 (Decorated with Snow White and the names seven Dwarfs!)
(My van is "Snow White" so I need to work on a costume aka red hair ribbon)

Number of Students: 62
Number of Adult Leaders: 13

Trip Length: 6 days (4 days of service)
Hours of Work per Day: 6ish (that's 1800ish hours of service total!)

This year everyone going on a St. Paul Mission Trip will get one of these t-shirts! People wearing these t-shirts will be serving other people. It is neat to know that these shirts are traveling to Kansas City, Madison (with the family YouthWorks trip), Tanzania and Appalachia. I already feel connected to others on mission trips because I know we will be wearing the same thing.  

(Plus they are super cute!) I can't wait to wear mine!

I better get back to my laundry and packing list writing!

 

 

Are you preparing for any mission trips this summer? Where are you headed? What kind of work will you be doing?