Mission Trip

What a daily schedule looked like:

6:30: The team that was cooking breakfast started cooking

7:00: Eat breakfast

7:30: Devotions

8:15: Go out to vans for circle up

8:30ish: Set up sports camp

9-12: Sports camp

12-12:30:Debriefing the camp

12:30-1: Lunch

1:15ish-5:work projects

5:30: Cooking team started cooking dinner

6:30: eat dinner

8:00: Team time. (Due to various cooking issues, and other random stuff, team time wasn't always at this time)

10:30: (We were back in our rooms by this time, but we never went to bed until after 11.)

What team time looked like:

There were several things we did during team time.

Beads

Evaluation

Devotions

Beads: This was our time to encourage each other. There were several different types of beads, Red for leader ship, White for servitude, green for compassion, and blue for risk taking.

If you thought a certain person had taken risks, been compassionate, been a good leader, or had been a good servant, you would give them a bead and explain why you wanted to give them one.

Evaluation: We would evaluate the day during this time. (Not the sports camp) We would say things we did good during the day, (Like being on time, ETC) and then say things we DIDN't do good during the day. (Being Late, ETC) we would choose our top 3 things that didn't go well, and then work on “Action Steps” Which were steps we would take the next day to make sure we didn't make the same mistakes the next day.

Devotions: We would read through the passage we read during the morning. Each person would read 1 or 2 verses. Then we would discuss our thoughts of the passage and how we could apply it.

What the sports camp looked like:

We would arrive at the church around 8:40, set up for the sports camp, which involved putting up cones and setting up balls and water, and then we would start checking in kids. We would split the kids into groups by grade, and then after the kids had all been dropped off, they would go into a room and sing songs, and they would have a lesson. Then, we would all go and break up into games on the field. The games would be stuff like Dodgeball, Baseball, Variations of Tag, and A large group game at the end. We would spend about 20-30 minutes at each game. Throughout the sports camp, we would ask the kids what they thought of the lesson. At the end, they would go back to a big room and sing more songs. Then, the parents would pick them up!

What Work Projects we did:

Day 1: We cleaned up trash, cleaned up a bus stop, and did landscape stuff, (Putting tarp down, weeding, moving rocks)

Day 2: We did more landscape stuff, and I went with someone to check keys at the place we were staying at. (Checking keys for rooms to see if they worked)

Day 3: We did more landscaping stuff and trash picking up.

Day 4: We started painting a parsonage and helping out fix up a woman's house

Day 5: See day 4

Day 6: We worked 9-12 at a church doing landscape stuff

Day 8: See day 4

Day 9: See day 4, only this day we finished fixing up her house and we finished painting.

What debriefing looked like:

Day 1:

Woke up at 5:15 to go to the airport.

When I got to the airport, most of my team was already there.

When all my team got there, we prayed together as a team, and went through security, checked our bags, and got on the plane! The plane ride was about 2 hours long, and we flew into denver airport. When we got to the airport, we got our bags, and we had to wait 2 hours for our vans to pick us up. It took yet another 2 hours to drive to the place we were staying. When we finally got to the place we were staying, we quickly unpacked all of our stuff and went shopping for groceries. Too our surprise, we were 200$ under budget for groceries! After we finished with that, we went back to the place we were staying, and unloaded the groceries and started making supper. After supper, we went over the schedule for the next 10 days and talked about devotions and team time. We then unpacked, and went to bed.

Day's 2-5

On these days, we would do the sports camp in the morning, and in the afternoon, we would do work projects. These days were really awesome. The sports camp was awesome, and on the last day, 2 of the kids in my group accepted Jesus! These were the days that we had our normal schedule on.

Days 6 and 7

On day 6, we worked half of a day at a church. Moving rocks, Weeding, and Cleaning up the amphitheater there. We worked there from 9-12, then we ate lunch at the amphitheater, then we went back to the place we were staying. We swam for a few hours, then we went out to dinner, did team time, and went to bed!

On day 7, we went to church in the morning, and then, came back to the place we were staying, we did a deep clean of the entire cabins, and then we went on a scenic drive. Then, we came home, ate supper, did team time, and went to bed!

Days 8 and 9

See work projects

Day 10

We went to bed around 11PM, got up at 3:15, and left for the airport at 4. We got to the airport around 6, and our flight left at 8:45. 2 hours later, we were back in the 100 degree weather of Houston!

Event:

On the last day of the sports camp, there were these two ladies who were really grateful for what we did at the sports camp. They really appreciated us playing with the kids, caring about them, and just talking to them. So they decided to give us lunch that day. Our leaders told us they were getting us stuff from subway, which everyone thought would just be chips and a sandwhich. But none of us knew what they had planned! Here's a picture of what they brought:

We were SO surprised! None of us could believe it! It was hard to believe that doing something as little as a sports camp for 30 or so kids could have such an impact on someone!

During this trip, my team studied Joshua. What I think God taught me during this trip, was to be a better servant, and to be strong and courageous. By studying Joshua, God showed me these things. I'm really glad to be home but I also really miss the work, my team, and the nice weather. Thank you so much for supporting me through this journey and I hope to do it again next year!

PS, A week after we left, the place we were staying at in colorado got 14 inches of snow!