LOTS of PICTURES!

Yard work!

Painting!

Oh Painting....

Guttering...

Caulking...

Welcome to Canada

 Shayne and Curtis are pointing at Canada.....

 Beautiful Lake Huron... Who knew it was so pretty?

Derek and Easton Hard at work!

Driving to CANADA!!!  So excited!!

Alex's Alley: Tuesday Summary... and several pictures!

hey everyone, I'm here again to talk about our mission work so far. Today we were split up into various groups to maximize our work force. One group went with Kevin to replace doors and secure a house for a women whose house has been broken into two times. Another group worked on landscaping a yard, painting, and cleaning a gutter. Then my group and I had to put down our power tools and pick up some paintbrushes. We painted a porch and grouted a bathroom. After a hard days work we went to the rec center to swim and shower. After dinner we went into the city to look at the Detroit Tigers stadium. We also walked around and saw a building that was in Transformers 3. Then we found out that Ford Stadium, where the Detroit Lions play, was originally an old Ford factory. The weather has been great with the high at 89.

Everyone is getting along great. Although us older kids tend to keep our space from the young ones.  We are all super excited to be here in Detroit helping out for those in need. We are also enjoying socializing with the locals.

Love, Alex

Group picture in front of the Detroit Lions Stadium

EEK!!!!

This is for you, Chellie :)  Fun Fact: Curtis LOVES Chili

Interesting structure in Downtown Detroit

Fun Facts with Feekin: Monday Summary

Hello Friends and Family!  We have had many exciting adventures the last few days!  We haven't had quite as easy access to the internet to blog-- but today we are playing catch-up!

Fun Facts with Feekin!!

We’re here!! We made it to Detroit with all of our passengers and luggage. The last couple of days have been a world-wind adventure. Sunday morning, we had the opportunity to worship with the New Life Lutheran Church. Come to find out, the had four wonderful guests, Watermark, who provided a very powerful message along with adding beautiful music to the morning. After loading up the four vans, we headed out. Our first destination: Ed Debevic’s. As we walked in, the employees were instantly rude to us, their specialty. As we found our seats, we discovered that our waiter was also a member of the Disciples of Christ Church. That bit of knowledge took the sting out of his sass. :) After filling ourselves to the brim, we began our final stretch of travel. After five hours and a time change, we arrived at Northwestern Christian Church. We all unloaded, ate our first home-cooked meal of the week, and got debriefed on the week’s tasks. Monday, our goal was to clean up abandoned lots and board up the windows to help create a safer neighborhood. We worked on nine lots in three different locations. A group measured and cut all the wood to board up three houses. We also filled two whole dumpsters with weeds and leftover debris. As we worked, neighbors drove by, recognizing our efforts. One woman drove by and clapped for us as we continued to find   hidden fences and front lawns. Everyone worked extremely hard and was ridiculously sweaty as we hit the showers at the local recreation center. All in all, it has been a great couple of days. I’m so thankful for the opportunity to partake in this eye-opening experience.  

Sincerely,

Feekinator

(Lauren)

So in this picture, we are posing behind our hard work. The District Representative found out about Rippling Hope and is now trying to spread the word around the Detroit area. One of the local television stations filmed an hour long program, interviewing the head of Rippling Hope and the Representative. We were working in the background, cleaning up a corner of an abandoned lot. We filled 46 bags in an hour and a half. Also, we will be on TV in Detroit, so that's a plus. :)

--Feekinator

(We are supposed to be getting a link to the broadcast.  It airs Monday evening-- so I will share the link as soon as I get it!  --Sara)

We are in Detroit!

We arrived in Detroit, MI Sunday early evening and have settled into our temporary homes for the week.  We are sleeping on the floor mostly and it's hot.  We were told most homes and churches in Detroit do not have air conditioning because it doesn't get that hot here.  We, however, beg to differ.... after working for many hours in 93 degree weather.

The internet availability is not the greatest, but we will try and get posts up more frequently the rest of the week.  I wanted to let everyone know that we are here, we are settled in, and we ALL have been hard at work!

Peace,
Sara and the CYF Mission Team

First Stop: Chicago!

We have made it and are settled in at our first destination.  We are staying at a church in Bolingbrook, IL (a suburb of Chicago) and have set up camp in their fellowship hall/gymnasium.  We have already had quite an adventure-- the trailer hit a deer!  Everyone is fine, the trailer is fine, the deer however is not.  It came running across the 4-lane highway, tried to stop, but skidded and ended up under the back tire of the trailer.  Only minor damage, we fixed it and were on our way!  Scared us, but all is good-- and we have a good adventurous-- and we hadn't even made it out of Missouri yet!

No pictures of the deer, since it happened so fast-- but here we are before we left!





 Alex brought these awesome white boards... we have had fun with them already!

Heading to bed soon, before worshipping with New Life Lutheran Church in Bolingbrook, IL in the morning!  Tomorrow we travel to Detroit and get acquainted with our 'home' for the week!




Nick's Notes:

Hello friends, it's time for a segment I like to call Nick's Notes where I (Nick) add a little spice to our travel blog with my own pleasant observations about our trip thus far.

I can't believe it's been an entire year since our trip to Nashville! So much has happened this last year for all of us (myself especially) and this first day has been full of reflection on my part. In the last hour or so of our drive today, we began looking over all of the pictures we had of our last two mission trips. I couldn't help but recall all of the fond memories that we formed these last few years and I know that this year will have just as many wonderful stories to add to our collection of hijinks. I'm so incredibly grateful to have been invited back for another week of service and I can't wait to begin our service in Detroit.

Well, Sara is harassing me for hogging her laptop so that will be all for now.

Alex's Alley:

Hello all, this is Alex in my segment called Alex's Alley. These are a few of my thoughts on our trip so far.

Im excited to have the opportunity to come on another mission trip. This is my third mission trip. I am excited to experience new things and change the world, even if just by a little. On our way up to Detroit both vans had fun playing the guess the song game. Although some song choices were questionable we all could guess whose song was whose pretty easily. We also had fun writing messages to each other using the white boards I brought. I can't wait till tomorrow where we will be worshiping with the church here in Chicago, eating at Ed Debevics, and arriving in Detroit.

Well, it is way past my bed time, and we must get up early to pack up the van. Goodnight and Goodbye.

p.s. Hope your staying cool, it is 74 right now up here in Chicago.

(These kids are awesome-- they make me smile.  Peace, Sara)

CYF Mission Trip 2012: Detroit, MI

19 of us are leaving for a Youth Mission Trip in just a few hours.  We will be headed to Chicago first where we will sleep and worship with another church.  We will then head off on the second leg of the drive to our final destination:  Detroit, MI!  Check out this blog that will be updated with pictures, quotes and updates of our week.... I am sure there will be laughs, goofy pictures and inspirational moments for all to enjoy!