Where's My Community?

I usually try to get each mission team member to write a brief (or long) message for our final blog.  However, we were having so much fun at the pool and with the shorter travel time, I didn't get a chance to get the notebook passed around.  Therefore, you get my comments now and I'll try to get each trip participant to add a comment with theirs.

The end of a mission trip seems to always bring two feelings to me.  On the first night back, I am really happy to be back in my own room and not having to carry my things to the bathroom as I get ready for bed.  Then, I wake up the next morning wondering where everyone is.  I so enjoy each mission trip community - it is hard to believe this was my 10th mission trip.  Each group is different in composition, quantity, and interactions but they also have similarities.  The joy of working with youth and adults as the hands and feet of Jesus is so hard to describe.  The mission trip is always a highlight of my summer.  All the people we met and worked with were great - Mark at Metro North Recycling seemed to know most of the people that came on Saturday morning.  What a great example - greet everyone as a friend.  We worked with just our group that afternoon - a time to grow closer.  On Sunday, some of us found an overlap of our communities at church.  Linda saw several people she knew and I ran into someone who grew up in our church.  Then we worked with the Kebe's to clean up their yard and helping them feel a part of our community.  On Monday, we painted at a house of worship that is part of our Methodist community.  Tuesday, we picked tomatoes for After the Harvest, which we picked because Jim Merrill is president of the board.  (Jim's wife, Charlotte, is a much missed member of our church family community.)  We then went to Cross-Lines to work in their thrift store. Cross-Lines has served the KCK community for around 50 years.  Our last day, we served at Lazarus Ministries.  They have served the KCMO community for 21 years.  Each community we served was slightly different but also slightly the same.  They were each a part of the most important community - God's community.

I'm sorry to see this trip end but look forward to next year's trip - wherever it may be.  Thank you, Connor, Kate, Molly, Howard, John, and Linda for making the trip so special.  I will always smile when I think of the week and the special moments that made this trip unique.

Barbara (so grateful I signed that lifetime contract 10 years ago)

Wait - It's the Last Day Already?

It's hard to believe that we reached our final day already.  We were up at 6:30 to pack up, fix breakfast, and make our final lunch.  We worked at Lazarus Table, which used to be located at Grand Avenue Temple downtown but are in the middle of relocating to 31st & Olive.  They are working on getting their boutique set up so we helped sort, hang, and de-tag clothes and shoes.  We made pretty good progress so, hopefully, they will be able to meet their timetable of having the site set up for a practice run this Saturday with the goal of being back open for the public by September.  They really appreciated the shirts and jackets that we took with us -  thank you, Barbara Redieck for the donation.
We headed back to Hollis Renewal Center to have our final lunch and load the vans.  The plan was to grab lunch, change, put away the clean dishes, and head to the pool.  Ooops - someone (me) forgot to start the dishwasher before we left in the morning.  So, being ever flexible, we lunched, napped, got in a little foosball, and loaded the car as we waited for the dishwasher to finish.  I'm happy to report that Molly finally achieved her goal - she and Connor beat Howard and Kate at foosball.  I think it took 2.5million tries - perhaps a bit of a stretch on the count.  :-)

For our "fun" event, Linda Z offered the use of her community pool for the afternoon.  I ran a quick errand and when I returned to the pool, there was a rousing game of hand hacky sack going on.  I'm not sure if they tried regular hacky sack in the pool first or not.  I think we made it to our goal of 31 hits without a miss - but it took a lot of tries with many of them stopping at one.  We reminded each other quite frequently of the difference between up and down.

We finished the trip back where we started - at our church.  Our  biological and church family members joined us for our final devotion as a mission trip community, which included communion.  It was so fun to watch the team visit with those that came to celebrate the completion of our trip.  There are many stories to share - so keep an eye out for our video that will be shared.

Thank you for your support.  Watch for updates on the plans for next year's trip.  We are looking into returning to the Four Corners Native American Ministry in Shiprock, NM.

Barbara (who zoned out and then fell asleep last night)

Every shoe in its place

Never too tired to share a smile.

Hanging with Howard

John works on hanging in the boutique

One down for the count.

Another one down for the count.

And a third one - we tired a few folks out this week.

How did that happen?  Congratulations, Molly and Connor.  (Not sure how I missed a picture of the victorious team)

Pool time!

Final devotion time with our church community.

Day 4 (dog picture included!)

Day 4!

This morning, we got up at the crack of dawn (5:30), which is a little too early for most of us. We ate breakfast 'made' by Howard and Connor (cereal and yogurt), then packed lunched and headed out. At 7:15, we arrived at Wohletz farm to glean lots of tomatoes. By 9:35, we had gleaned half a ton of tomatoes. By 10:00:05, we had arrived at Dairy Queen for our annual stop. After our ice cream, we delivered tomatoes to Family Health Center, then to the Cross-Lines kitchen. We parked ourselves in a park for lunch, then arrived approximately an hour and a half early for our shift at the Cross-Lines thrift store. There, we sorted donated clothes into different bins. I'll let Linda finish the rest (this was Kate, hint the dog title). 

Hi, this is me, Linda!  Yes, it was a busy day!  These kiddos have so much energy that they make me tired.  And between that and Howard's puns, we have had so much fun - it's been an amazing trip, even though we didn't even go out of town (unless you call KC MO and Edwardsville "out of town!"

This is our last night here at Hollis Renewal Center.  It's a really nice place, and very reasonable.  Our accommodations have been really nice and comfy.  We've played lots of foosball, lots of Kings' Corner (a card game) and we've sung "Where is My Hairbrush" many, many times.  If you'll come to our "closing" at the church at 6 tomorrow night, we'll sing for you!  

Well, I'll let Barb close us out.  Sayonara for now.  Maybe next year, YOU can join us!

We worked with After the Harvest this morning.  It made me remember of an important member of our choir community that is no longer with us - Charlotte Merrill.  Her husband, Jim, is on the board of After the Harvest.  This connection is one reason we wanted to work with them.  It has been a great time so far.  We hope that some of our church family will join us tomorrow at 6pm as we finish our trip with our final short devotion and communion.  Thank you for your support.  Barbara

Connor's artwork from painting yesterday titled: "Harry Potter's scar", featuring his sister as the canvas

Last night's s'mores

As you can tell, we like s'mores a lot

Tomato pickers who don't like tomatoes

Turns out cows like tomatoes--even the bad ones!

A lovely lady with some lovely gleaned tomatoes

Gleaning crew

We all like to get close while waiting for our ice cream

Napping between ice cream and delivering tomatoes

Our group at the Cross-Lines Thrift Store

Last but certainly not least, Murphy!!!!