The Lesson of the Bucket

We start off with Molly and John making and serving us eggs, yogurt, and cereal along with drinks. We make our lunch and then we head off to the church to paint. We painted a whitish color to paint over a dark brown. The pastor wanted the walls to look invited rather than dark colors. We start to paint the walls while Howard comes up with a new invention where he connects a stick to a brush to get high corners that the roller can't get. He wants to sell it for money for "modern technology". Our job was to paint 2 floors in white paint with high walls which took longer than expected. We finished about half and decide to take a lunch break, (which lasted about 45 minutes, got too involved in conversations). When we head back to work I (Connor) head to the paint bucket for more paint when I decide to dunk the paint bucket in the paint instead of pouring it. Well, it didn't go as well as I though it would. It was to messy so it becomes "The Bucket Dunker".  After I told everyone we all call it "The Lesson of the Bucket" (title).We finish painting around 3:00 but didn't leave till 4:00 because of cleaning up. We head home and shower so we can have an early dinner. But the time that Molly and John took to shower, we had dinner at normal time. We all were starving so we finish dinner in under 30 minutes. We then have free time where Connor and Howard play competitive foosball. Connor lost again right as we begin Devotion, which Kate and Linda lead. As we finish devotion, it then comes to the gaming time till bed time. Connor beats Molly, Kate, and Barb in cards while Connor and Molly get mad 2 times after Howard and Kate beat them at foosball. We then go to bed early since we leave early for gleaning tomorrow morning. That is a wrap for a the "gang" for today.
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And now...finally...as we prepare for bed...after much "waiting" for the computer to do its 'updating' (sigh...) and a certain young man to complete his blog with pictures...don't want to mention any names... I get to add my brief thoughts...

So why does a pastor go on these crazy mission trips, anyway? "Isn't it a lot of work?" Well...yeah, but it's a lot more than that. It's fun getting to know one another through work, play, eating, singing, praying, playing, worshiping, riding, talking and just being with one another as community.
We've talked about many things, singing about any tune that comes to our head while working, and zeroing in on scripture and thoughts during our devotion time.

As physically tired as we all feel by the end of the day, the spiritual energy flowing through us is amazing. Each of us brings a special gift as a beloved child of God. It's a great reminder! Next time, maybe your gift could be part of this experience!! Think about it!

 Linda hard at work!

 Connor chillin on the rail

 Lunch Break!

 Howards great invention at the end of its life

 "I'm hungry"

 The doors to the sanctuary

 Connor and Howard's painting

 Another rail picture

Finishing touch

The Sabbath- Day 2

Hello Leawood Family! This is Molly and John bringing you a blog post for day 2 of mission trip 2017! Today we got to sleep in an extra half hour, we got to get up at the late time of 7am! WOO! Then after a wonderful breakfast of waffles we had an extra hour and half to kill before we headed out to Jacob's Well church, So obviously we continued our foosball "tournament" (basically a lot of shouting and trash talking). Then around 10am we headed over to Jacob's Well which is a church in Westport that has very nice people and a very nice set up (beautiful sanctuary!) We sat up on the balcony, and luckily being in the first row I (Molly) didn't fall over the side like I thought I was going to, just knowing me. After a nice service and a picnic for lunch in Penn Valley Park we all headed (except Howard who had to leave us to go to his grandkids birthday party) to the Kebe's house. The Kebe's are Linda's second family from South Sudan. We went to their house and did a lot of yard work for them and got to meet some of their 8 kids. We got done faster than we thought we would, the kids were very eager and willing to help us pull weeds and trim branches and bushes. After saying goodbye to them we decided to stop at McDonald's to get some ice cream and Diet Coke for Barb, sadly they were out of Diet Coke and Diet Dr. Pepper so Barb settled for some "overly sweet" tea and the rest of us got ice cream cones! Then it was one more stop on the way back to Hollis Renewal Center, to Walmart! We really needed gas for the van and we needed to pick up some more supplies and food for us. We managed to not get lost in the store and made it back to pull weeds out of the sand volleyball court, though it wasn't really a sand volleyball court...more like a weed court. Howard met us back at the cabin for burgers and watermelon (I'm, Molly, proud to say I ate 17 slices of watermelon, though they were small, and I, John, tried to keep up but quickly fell behind) Then we roasted some yummy s'mores outside on our grill after devotions and now we are here writing this blog for you all! It's getting late and we don't get to sleep in tomorrow, see you soon, miss you all!
Sweet Dreams, John and Molly!

PS - from Barbara - I received communion from Amy Mardiat, who grew up in Leawood UMC.  (I don't recall her married name but I got to meet her two children and her husband.  I'm so happy she recognized me - I'm not sure I would have recognized her if she hadn't spoken first.  Linda also ran into a few people she knew at church.  Our community extends further than we know. 

 breakfast table set and ready!

 Cute puppies next door to the Kebe's

 The Kebe's

 Kate decided to be special and get a slushy instead of ice cream like the rest of us

 The "weed" court

 s'mores!!!

(part) of ALL the watermelon consumed by Molly

Day 2

Well, we are all really tired tonight!  We went to Metro North Recycling Center this morning and helped people from the area recycle everything from 9-1.  Mark, the supervisor, said that people in the northland don't want to pay for curb recycling, that they'd rather bring their recyclables to the center, and boy, do they - in BULK!  Never seen so much plastic and bottles.  And aluminum!  People in the Northland drink LOTS AND LOTS of sodas and beer!  It was fun, but really tiring.  We sat any chance we got.  Of course, I (Linda) got too much sun, so when we got to Howard's house later in the day, I didn't feel like doing much other than supervising! 

So after a great dinner (baked chicken, rice and salad), some of us are playing foosball and some of us are just sitting and contemplating the BLOG!  Here's Kate!

Today I (Kate) got to see lots of dogs, so I would call it a good day. The foosball games we've been playing have become quite competitive. At the recycling center, I had the honor of fishing a broom out of the tin bin, as well as lots and lots of misplaced beer cans (lots). At Howard's house, we got to meet his dog, Chloe, and his bird, Rosie Peach (who knew he had a bird??). We also got to put lots of mulch around his tree, as well as cut lots of brush and straighten up his apricot tree that got pushed over by the wind.

Check out Connor.  We took a mattress off the top bunk for him, but he fell off of it (it was on the FLOOR) and slept quite comfortably on the cold hard floor. 

So glad we got the top bunk mattress down for him.

Mark, our fearless leader, and the gang at the recycling center.

Happy crew after straightening the apricot tree.

Home Sweet Home

We have made it to our Lodge to stay our whole trip! We are safe and glad we didn't hit any animals on the road. We started blowing up mattresses so we can sleep, but as dedicated as Connor is to Molly and Connor's camping mattress with Brandon, Connor will not sleep on Linda's extra mattress, a couch, or an extra bed as he will not give up on his mattress as he quotes, "Me and Mattress go WAY WAY back." While we wait for the mattress to blow up, we start devotion. Our theme for our trip is Community as we will be helping other family's and more. As we finish up devotion, (mattress still not done yet) Molly and Kate did a ukulele show for the rest of the "gang" for Joy and comfort. As of writing this blog right now, we are all worried that Connor's "legendary" mattress might not be blown up by the time we go to bed, we have come to conclusion that we will not go to bed until the mattress is done blowing up! This is a wrap for the day and will begin a new day tomorrow as Connor and Howard will make Breakfast and Dinner Tomorrow!

Written by Connor

PS - we  gave up on the mattress.  Thank you, Anne Byrd, for our delicious dinner.

Exploring the Meaning of Community

Our departure date is rapidly approaching.  Our small, but mighty, group will gather at church between 5:30 and 6:00pm on Friday, July 28th.  We should arrive at our lodging between 6:30 and 7pm - the same night.  Yes, we are staying in the Kansas City area for our mission trip this year.  Our theme for the week is community.  As we work in various parts of the Kansas City community, we will consider the story of God's people, friends, family, work/school/play, and our place in the world.  We will return to church on Wednesday evening, August 2nd and invite our families, friends, and church community to join us for our final devotion, including communion, at 6pm in the sanctuary.

Please keep our team in your prayers during our mission trip.  Your support and care make the week possible.

Your Mission Trip Team
Connor, Kate, Molly, Howard, Linda, John, & Barbara