Made it to North Platte

We've made it to North Platte all safe and sound. Tomorrow we will be at The Connection Shelter. We will serve here for a couple of days. More info to come

Day 2

June 24th day 2 Today we served with the people at The Connection Shelter in Kearney. The facility is lovely; the staff is so very kind and friendly; and the residents are men, women and families who have fallen on hard times.  What is so very evident to me is that no matter what life event has happened, their spirit and inner light shines through. The caring staff helps men, women, teens, families to get back on the right path. Many of the residents will later be called to give back and help others in similar situations We helped out in the office, sorting clothes, providing rides. Tomorrow we will help load sorted clothes on a truck to send to the Hastings location, where they have a thrift store and we'll do activities with the kids at the shelter.  We've had some touching experiences. One of our chaperones helped transport families with children to the pool for the afternoon. During the ride he spoke with one of the residents. They shared stories and at the end of the day, the lady shared that she would like to be able to go to church and take her children to Sunday school - but she didn't have any way to get them there.  We spoke with the First UMC staff, they are going to arrange to send a van to pick the family up on Sunday. We do devotions in the morning. This morning was Luke 10:38-42. The story about Martha and Mary. The two sisters who invited Jesus And his followers to their home for dinner. Mary sat and listened to Jesus speak while Martha did all the work preparing the meal for the group. Martha objected to Mary leaving all the work to her. Jesus told her that Mary made the better choice to listen and learn We discussed how confusing this story is. We'd all be pretty irritated if we were stuck doing all the work and how did Jesus think they would ever get to eat dinner if no one made and served it?  This also seems to be contrary to everything else Jesus has taught -to give kindness and service to others. So what does this mean?  We discussed who we identify more with - Mary, the thinker interested in ideas or Martha - the doer, capable and organized serving others.  Many of us have traits of both. What is important here is that there is a time and place for doing and serving others. To serve grudgingly is to miss the point. But, being a disciple - learning about his teachings and opening our heart to him is more important. The evening devotions are chosen and led by the youth. We have a pair of kids pick from resources, discuss and decide the format. They lead the discussion and then lead the closing prayers. The kids have really done a great job with this We've had chats with the First UMC middle and high school leaders and have been getting so many great ideas for next year. We're so excited!

Day 1

June 23rd -Mission Trip Day One Today we traveled to Kearney NE. We were prepared to camp at ft Kearney state recreation, but it is forecasted to be stormy tonight. We have been in contact with the First UMC in Kearney to try and meet up with their youth group, who are returning from mission today. We had decided to stay in a motel and had hoped they could help with somewhere to store some of our camping gear. They went way above and offered to put us up in the church and have given us a garage to park the truck in so we don't have to unload the gear!  So, tonight we are safe and dry and very thankful for wonderful hospitality. They have a very large senior and middle school group - 40 middle school and 25 youth and have a director for each group.  They have been so kind and supportive to offer up some words of wisdom for what has been effective for them. We have discussed in our group and plan to try out some of their suggestions! We had evening devotions and Maddy and Charlotte led the group.  There were some pretty in depth discussions and the box of tissues had to be brought out.  The scripture is 1 Peter 4:10-11 Each person read the scripture on their own, taking time and opening their heart to what is written. We were asked to consider that often mission trips are more "global tourism" and more concerned about what we did.  We need to concern ourselves more with being and not doing. Who will we be with and who will we be encountering. Trips should be about something.  We were asked what our gifts are?  How can we share those gifts with others?  What do we want from this trip?  Why are we here?  What makes this a successful mission trip? Tomorrow we will go to Crossroads shelter. We will work with staff and residents, share lunch and fellowship with them. We hope to learn from the people we meet and work with and can in some way demonstrate Gods love for them in our time here. We hope to continue to strengthen bonds between us and strengthen our relationship with God Special thanks to our congregation for their support and encouragement on this mission. Healing prayers for Kurt, prayers for safe travels for Keith and prayers for Jerry and all the dedicated and capable staff as they keep the home fires burning. --Kristin 

Getting ready

Here I am. Late at night getting ready for another Mission trip. To be perfectly honest - yes, it is lots of work; but I'm really getting pretty excited to go. I love the time with the youth. Love designated time each day specifically scheduled to read scripture and do devotions. Why in the world do I allow myself to forget to carve out that time when I'm home? The trip will be in Nebraska this year. I know it doesn't seem as glamorous and exciting when we don't go far away to somewhere new and different - but I think at least some of the kids are going to be surprised at how different the landscape in Nebraska is from one end of the state to the other. We'll be doing good things for God, having special reserved time with him and with each other. I think we often get more out of the trips than the bit of work we provide for others. That's why we use the term doing mission with. Rather than doing mission for. We are blessed and given just as much as those we go to serve. So, what to expect from us? We will leave the church after service on Sunday. (please come to send us off with a blessing!). We'll drive to Kearney first. Due to budget constraints - we won't be renting vans. We'll be driving in a caravan of cars. We'll do some camping too. Each morning we'll get up, get ready, have breakfast and then devotion time. The daily devotion will be posted on the blog each day so you can virtual mission with us. We will be serving at a homeless shelter on Monday and Tuesday. Then Tuesday, after work, we'll pack up and travel down the road to North Platte. We will serve at another shelter and we'll work to repair a greenhouse that grows food to provide fresh vegetables for both the shelter and food pantry. We plan to be in North Platte on Wednesday and Thursday. Thursday after work, we'll pack up and travel to ogallala. We will camp and spend our fun day at lake mcconaughey on the beach swimming and fishing. Saturday we will travel home. Our two seniors this year - Tyler and Maddy have both decided to go into some form of ministry. Maddy wrote the devotions book and designed our t-shirts as a senior project. Both Tyler and Maddy will get a chance to lead the group in large group discussions. Then, we also have musical youth - Charlotte and Spencer. They will have an opportunity to lead us in some songs. There are several who are unable to go this year. We will miss them and all their contributions to our team. Several of them will be holding down the fort and taking care of things back here in Omaha I'm so happy that we have a mom who is willing to come with her youth for a couple days when they have school obligations that keep them from attending the whole week. We invite anyone who wants to join us on any part of our trek across Nebraska Special thanks to the wonderful Pursel brothers who volunteered to serve as our male chaperones and saved the trip! Also a huge thanks to Tami who tracked them down and used her awesome powers of persuasion to convince them to help out. Tami you are so very greatly appreciated!