• missions

 

 

Boston 2008

 

Friday, July 18
 
Its Friday night, our bags are packed and our team has decreased by 1/3.  I just received word that the first shift of students and leaders have arrived safely at home in Akron.  One down, two to go tomorrow. 
 
Today was a fun day spent at the beach.  Imagine the sight of 70 people charging into the water at full speed (see pic).  It was fun and a beautiful day to be at the beach.  It was also good to be all together as a team as we've been split up all week long. 
 
Enjoy some pictures from today and check out our pictures from yesterday that we were unable to download. 
 
Tomorrow morning the second group will depart from the Jubilee house at 7:00am.  We are scheduled to arrive on AirTran at 11:50am.  The third group will bring up the rear arriving at CAK at 8:49pm.  We'll see you all at the airport!
 
The Charge
 
The treasure
 
A man's gotta eat
 

Riding the waves
 
There was a sand sculpture competition.  The Hulk.
 
 
 
 
Thursday, July 17

Greetings from Boston!  Today was our last day of ministry and it was another good one.  I have loved hearing the students talk about how they really desire to have meaningful conversations with people in addition to meeting a practical need for them. Author Shane Claiborne said "Just as important as making poverty history is making poverty personal."  And that is exactly what your students have been doing this week.  Its been awesome! 

Here are a few snapshots from the day:

Hello. My name is eric  douglas  mcdonnell junior.  Today, my small group and I went to do our BAM (Be A Miracle!). We met this man named Dane, and even though he was homeless, he was so thankful for what God has given him. We took him out to breakfast, and he shared with us a lot of his life’s story. He was a very intelligent man, and said some really amazing things about the Christian faith. He even claimed to be the first and original lead singer for the band "Boston".

Hey this is David Shbeeb. I had a great day today; my group got to start the day off by sleeping in to 7:30 (which was late compared to waking up at 4:45 yesterday to get down to the soup kitchen), we got to clean up the "Domanion" (the house where all of the boys get to stay), and after that we went to Wainwright Park to run our VBS, which went by pretty smoothly. Then later we had the VBS kids come to the Jubilee House to have dinner with us, that was a lot of fun, and we finished the day with the usual chapel down at the Second Church of Dorchester.
    I would like to say Happy Birthday to my little brother Ben! And I cant wait to see you all Saturday!
    Good night! And God bless! ☺
        ~Shbeeb

Hey,this is Hannah Scherer and my day today was AMAZING! After lunch we went to Rosie’s Place (a soup kitchen) where we served these women (who I think were mostly homeless) their dinner.  The people in charge of that place were very organized, helpful, and actually kind of intimidating.  One of them was Andy who had retired from the army.and Eva,well I don’t know too much about her but everyone who came in seemed to just love her so much so I’m sure she’s very helpful there. And there was also this lady named Lisa who was the funniest person I’ve ever met. She cheered everyone up.
 It was so inspiring to see these people giving up their time to feed these helpless women. I met this one lady named Mora. She was a Korean catholic librarian  and claimed to be Christian but I’m not sure she was…anyhow the day was crazy and hard work came my way, but i worked with my group and we got the work done.
With love,
~Hannah

Tomorrow we’re headed for the beach to relax, unwind and enjoy our first outing as an entire group.  Please pray for safety at the beach as well for the first team that will be returning home.  A reminder that their flight will arrive at the Akron/Canton airport at  8:40pm and parents will need to pick them up at the airport.  

Good night!
  
 
Kara with some of the VBS girls at the family picnic
 
Its a great skyline
 
"Say cheeeese" at Cradles to Crayons
 
Mr Potato Head - a classic.  Making sure he has all of his pieces and parts
 
 Many of the donations the students brought were given to Cradles to Crayons
 
Baking cookies to pass out at the Boston Rescue Mission - Part of their "BAM" project
 
Sam was narrating a skit with Kevin and David about trust
 
...lean not on your own understanding...Leading songs at the Children's Learning Center
 
The little girls loved playing with the big girls' hair
 
 

 
 
Wednesday, July 16

Well, its been a long, hot very tiring day.  The heat broke 90 degrees up here but the sky was a beautiful clear blue and the water was flowing to keep us well hydrated.  Today I watched these students work very hard in the hot sun pulling weeds, mowing lawns, planting vegetables, serving food and working hard at building relationships with some pretty difficult kids in the neighborhood.  As the week has gone on and their energy drains, I’ve noticed that their attitudes are getting better and their desire to continue serving is increasing.  That is unusual…and that is the Spirit of the Lord working in and through them.  What a cool thing to be a part of as their leaders. 

Here are some snapshots of the day:

    Hey I am Kaitlin Caesar and I just wanted to tell you what I did today. My group did BAM. We went to downtown Boston and had no idea what to do.  We prayed and chose to let the Lord show us. We got off the subway and saw a man named Antonio who we got coffee for. He could not stay long but he was thankful. Later as we were walking by we saw a guy with a sign saying “why lie -  I need beer”. My team went into Dunkin Donuts and got him bagels and coffee. Well, in there a lady named Diana asked us for money and we asked her to lunch. At first she said no but then agreed to go with us. We all got to know her and found that she was born in a family of 10!!! And had 4 kids and is soon to be a grandma. It was cool how one person lead to other people like a chain reaction. If we did not meet one person then we could not have met the other people.  

Hi my name is Ethan.  Today my group & I went to a place called the Pine Street Inn.  There was a lady there, her name was Jeanette and she told us her story about how her family came here from Liberia.  Her mom had 4 sets of twins and she and her twin brother were the youngest.  I was just so happy that the Lord blessed her with this job of helping out this wonderful place helping out with adults with mental illnesses.  In conclusion that is how the Lord blessed someone today.   

Hey, it’s Lauren Herr.  This week has been pretty crazy. Yesterday, my small group was on the T heading for a place called Haley’s House. We were talking about what we were gonna do for our BAM project. BAM stands for “be a miracle”. We were writing down our ideas and we didn’t know what we were gonna do and it’s where we get thirty dollars to spend on random people in need or just to bless their day.  Then this lady sitting across from us who had a cast and was in a wheelchair asked us who we were.  We told her we were on a missions trip and were thinking of stuff to do to bless people.  She started giving us ideas of basic stuff homeless people would need and good places to go to find people in need.  It wasn’t until later in our conversation that she told us she was homeless herself.  God worked thru this woman to help us with our BAMming! It was pretty coooool!  

Here is how you can pray for us tomorrow:
-    A continued drive to work hard and finish our projects well.
-    Seeds to be planted in the hearts of the people we have interacted with this week as well as in the students.
-     A spirit of encouragement within our team.
 
 
Contents of the care packages for the homeless
 
This is "Q," our friend who lives in Boston Commons 
 
David with is new friend 'Lil' Craig
 
Jon Crabbs playing SPUD with some kids at one of the VBS parks
 
 
Lydia with Ayesha who attends the "Sisters for Change" club at the Jubilee House
 
Some of the girls at VBS 
 
Joe with Ryan who has been helping us out at one of the VBS parks
 
Planting vegetables at Waltham Farms, a Community Supported Agriculture farm
 
Tyler planting broccoli at Waltham farms
 
Desiree reading a letter from home
 
A little masonry to finish the retaining wall at Pilgrim Church
 
 
The infamous retaining wall
 
 

 
Tuesday, July 15 
 
***Here is the report from yesterday that we just couldn't get uploaded last night.  
 
 
Hello again! What a great day of ministry this has been. The students are learning that serving can be both fun and difficult but completely worth it. I heard one my girls say today, while picking up trash from a concert this past weekend, "This is so fun. We should just spend the entire week picking up trash." (I'll let you hold them to that when we return home.) They have all been working so hard and finding themselves energized by the work.Here are some stories from today:Hey everyone! This is Elise Castelli, I am currently in Boston on the missions trip! We’ve had such an amazing time so far. We pulled weeds and cleaned for a church, and tomorrow we get to do a thing called BAM… we get $30 to go buy something and hand out to people in Boston! My small group and I were talking about it on the subway, and a homeless woman just happen to be sitting right across from us, and had heard our conversation! She was very helpful on ideas for what to give to the homeless for our BAM project! I just could not believe that God sent this lady to us on the subway to help us, and she knew what to do from experience. Thanks to God and this woman we now know what to bring tomorrow and how to help someone even more! Wish us luck!

Hey everyone back in OHIO!!! It’s Sam Hill here. My group and Steve Simmons’s group today got the privilege of working with a lady named Sheila. She has 4 kids two of them were there today when we were working at her house landscaping. I started off helping with pulling weeds for about an hour and a half and then I realized that her four-year-old son, River was playing with a tape measure. He looked really bored so I went over and started to play with him. Pete (my leader) came over and told me to just keep River busy for the rest of the time. I played football with him and we played superheroes. When we left he kept saying bye to me over and over. At dinner his mom saw me and said that she was so thankful for having me to play with River. She said that he didn’t have anyone to play with and that he kept talking about me. Through this experience I realized how much of a blessing we could be without knowing it through Jesus Christ! Thanks!

Hi everyone back in Ohio, It’s Mason Swires broadcasting to you from a room in the Jubilee House in BOSTON!!!!! Today my group and I went to Pilgrim Church to finish the job on building the retaining wall that the church so desperately needed. When we first arrived there we all just looked at the overgrown weeds and the sagging structure and thought that this was going to be impossible. But as we persevered and did absolutely backbreaking work, I found that the place was metamorphosing into a beautiful landscape. And when we had to leave today I looked upon the land from a hill and thought to myself that nothing is impossible. That through God we can be tools for his use. I guess my job was to be the positive one. I’m just glad I’m up here helping people. Live to serve!!

There are so many stories to share about how God is moving. Your prayers for awareness and sincerity are being answered. Thank you for praying and please continue! Here is how you can pray for us tomorrow:

- Continued health and stamina for students and leaders.
- An increasing passion for Christ; that the students would fall in love with Jesus more than this trip.
- Creativity and boldness as groups participate in their "BAM" (Be A Miracle) projects.

I hope you're enjoying the pictures each day. Please note that some of the organizations we're working with have requested that we do not take photos.
 
 
Organizing at the Haley House, a homeless shelter
 

The spot for the retaining wall that Mason wrote about
 
 
Unloading supplies from Home Depot for the retaining wall
 
 
Digging out a tree root at the Pilgrim church
 
Sorting donated shoes at Cradles to Crayons, a children's charity
 
Their job was to build stuff with legos...  
 
and 'test' all of the toys.
 
All of the students are great about helping wherever needed.
 
 
 
 
 
Monday, July 14
 
Hey everybody!  Its Monday night and the team has settled in (sort of) after our first full day of serving.  Each night we meet as a team to share stories from the day and ways in which we saw God work.  Here are three of the stories:
 
Hola! My name is Sam Slovisky and this morning I weeded a garden for a ministry that grows and gives away food. At the beginning of the “activity” I was all hyped up and excited but slowly I tired out and got more and more hungry. At one point I was quite useless because I was so tired and unmotivated then this woman who I had no clue who she was gave me a little talk, told me what to do and set me back on track . I found out later that she was an intern on the farm and a single mother, and I found it awesome that someone with that much trouble and stress in her life could come out and help me without me even knowing that she was. This taught me that we should always encourage others and give our best even if we aren’t under the best conditions. Please pray for us the rest of this week. See you at home!
 
Hey I’m Gary Older
  Today we did BAM (Be a Miracle) where you take thirty dollars and go and be a miracle for Christ!  So today we got on the T and rode to Boston Commons and we sat down on a bench and tried to decide what to do when we saw these two men feeding some pigeons and stuff so David S., Jon C., and Aaron K. went up and talked to them while Joe T., Jacob A., and I started talking to the man that had been talking to the bird men. We found out that his name was James and he was on an anti-petroleum trip from Detroit to here in Boston, then in a few weeks he was going to go to Orlando then San Diego then back to Detroit. Then we offered to get him lunch and he said “Yes.” But he said he had some journaling to catch up on so he was gonna stay there. So we went to a deli place and got three subs, two huge waters, and six apples. Eventually, we got back to James with his sub, drink, and two apples and talked with him about poems he made about God and things about Christ! Then after we talked to James we went back to the J House (Jubilee House).
 There is so much more to this story if you would like to hear it just ask!

Hey everyone! Its me, Desiree.
Today was our first full day of work in Boston. Earlier this morning, my small group and I got a chance to serve at Haley’s House, a small soup kitchen in an urban area of Boston. There we cleaned the kitchen and the area outside, but we also had the opportunity to talk with some of the people that were visiting there this morning. One of these people was named Pablo. He was a very aggressive guy, but a lot of fun to talk to. As we were talking to him, he really opened up to Taylor (Rung) and I about his childhood and some of the difficulties he had, which provided us with an awesome opportunity to tell him that he deserved better than what he received before in his life, and that it was never too late to do better for himself, and change the way he once was. We told him that to God, he was just as important and special as everyone else in this world, and it was really neat just to see how much he appreciated what we said, even though he had a hard time understanding the idea that he wasn’t any less important than the rest of us. I felt this was a blessing from God where we could really get up-close-and-personal with someone, and plant seeds in his life.
Overall, today was awesome, and this whole experience is truly life changing!
 
Today our projects included a whole lot of weeding (even in the pouring rain), a car wash (after the sun returned), two Vacation Bible Schools and a few homeless shelters.  It was so encouraging to hear the students' reports on the day and how they saw God working.  It is also great to watch them work through some difficult projects in less than ideal circumstances and maintain a positive attitude. 
 
Things are changing.  Eyes are opening.  God is moving!  Here is how you can pray for us tomorrow:
 
• Sincerity in conversations and serving. 
• Unity within our team.
• Relationships to be built at the Vacation Bible Schools. 
 
Thanks for praying and for checking the blog!  Here are some photos from the day:
 
 
Weeding at Pilgrim Church
 
 
Digging out old railroad ties at Pilgrim Church                            
 
 
Weeding at the urban farm                                                      
 
Playing games at the VBS
 
Car wash promo                                              
 
 
Cars lining up 
 
RInsing 
 

Washing 
 
 
Drying 
 
 
 
 
Sunday, July 13
 
Hello friends and family!  Today was our first day spent as whole team and boy are we a large team! We have gotten our share of funny looks and comments as we trek through the streets of Boston and onto the T (Subway).  These students are making a statement simply by being here and that has opened the door for conversations with many people to talk about why we are here.  Sometimes ministry is easier than we think it can be!
 
The day started early for some as we began spreading throughout Boston to attend all different types of churches.  We were represented in a spanish church, several international fellowships, a handful of African-American Baptist churches and a variety of other denominational churches.  It was a great exposure for the students to see new and different ways of running a church service and more so, worshipping the Lord.   Almost every group was publicly recognized  and welcomed as visitors and some were even asked to participate  in portions of the service. The consistent feedback from their experience has been on how welcome each congregation made them feel.  Our hope is that they would not forget the love that was shown to them but bring it home to The Chapel where many others can also feel welcomed and noticed.  
 
Beginning tomorrow we will be running a kids club at two separate parks here in Dorchester.  So, today after lunch we set out as a group to being spreading the word that we're here and ready to love on some kids.  The students were anxious to connect with the people of Boston so they boldly walked through neighborhoods, knocked on doors and passed out fliers in the heat of the day. 
 
The evening was spent at Boston Commons exploring the area and working off some more energy with frisbees and soccer balls in the park.  Then back to the corner church for some worship and final preparations for tomorrow.
 
Tomorrow morning we begin the varied projects and these students are more than ready.  We've explored the city and now we're ready to serve the city.  Here is how you can pray for us on Monday:
 
• For a greater awareness in our studens to the physical, emotional and spiritual needs all around them.
• For boldness to serve people as Jesus would serve them: unconditionally and wholeheartedly.
• For continued safety as we travel throughout the city.
• For wisdom and endurance for our leaders as they walk through this experience with the students and teach them things from how to read a bus map to actively looking for needs around them. 
 
We're doing great!  We're ready to serve!  Thanks for checking the blog!
 
 - Laurelyn
 
Here are some pictures from Sunday -
  
Ariel view of Boston 
  
             
Riding the T (Subway) 
 
 
Exploring the city of Boston 
 
 
Preparing dinner 
 
 
 
Team meeting with Major Sue Dunnigan
 

 
Saturday, July 12
11:45 pm
We ended up with a late night tonight as we got everyone in and fed and had our first team meeting in Boston.  It was exciting to have everyone all together.  Tomorrow morning people are getting up and headed in all different directions with their small groups to a whole variety of churches throughout Boston.  Unfortunately we haven't had time yet to sort out pictures, so we'll have to try and get some up tomorrow instead. 
 
8:10 pm
Another brief update that group Camel has arrived safely.  We're all now here at the Jubilee House getting ready to have a late dinner and then a team meeting.  We'll try and get some more details and a few pictures up later tonight.  Thanks for praying!
 
 
3:19 pm
A brief mid-day update that the Saturday morning team, Team Bronto(saurus), has arrived safely and is all settled in.  Groups that are here today are helping get things ready for the week (grocery shopping, running errands, setting up rooms, etc) and then spending some time this afternoon exploring the city with their small group leaders.  We'll update again later tonight...
 
Friday, July 11
 
Joel here, from Team Aardvark.  We've arrived safely and everyone's settling down for a good night's rest.  Not a whole lot else to update you on at the moment, but wanted you to know we made it in safe.
 
jdh
 
 
Boston (8th Grade)
July 11-19
 
Packing notes:
*Only 1 checked bag & 1 carry-on per person.  Please leave space for group items & donations.
*Donations needed can be found by clicking here.
*Click here for the packing list.
*Cradles to Crayons release waiver
 
8th grade blog address:
 
Remaining Deposit:
Due Date:  Sunday, June 8
Amount:  $245 (trip total is $295)
 
Trip Training Dates:
May 30-31 (6:00 pm to  10:00 am)(GC)
      -if you missed this overnighter, here's the World Awareness Quiz
 
Mandatory Parents Meeting (both trips)
Sunday, June 8 (AC), 7:30-8:30 pm
 
*July 11-12 (10:00 am) (GC)
 
*Clarification - Our transportation for Boston departs in waves beginning on June 11.  We will be starting in the AM as a team to spend time preparing together.  We will all be in Boston together by the evening of the 12th.  We will return in 3 waves as well.  More details to come at the parent meeting on June 8. 

 

 

 
 
 
 
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