Chicago

Our first team from Atlanta, Georgia has truly been a blessing. The work projects assigned were completed in a timely manner, with one group even finishing an extra painting project at Circle Urban Ministries. On our last night together, we enjoyed a worship service followed by an activity of encouragement in which we all anonymously wrote something positive about each other member. This seemed an appropriate way to send them off to the return portion of their week-long road trip.

Before the team left on Wednesday, we were fortunate enough to spend a day downtown relaxing with them and getting to know many of them on a higher level. We were able to go to the top of the Willis Tower (formerly known as the Sears Tower), eat Dues Pizza, visit Navy Pier, and go window shopping briefly. We had many great experiences, including meeting a boisterous waitress named Shaun who used her notepad to write down some Bible verses relayed from one of our team members so that she could study them later and running what seemed like a mini marathon through downtown Chicago in efforts to catch our train. We became quite fond of each person from Mt. Pisgah Church, and were sad to see them go, but we have high hopes for each of them in their spiritual journeys.

Team Chicago

June 2010

Experience Mission is offering summer 2011 mission trips to Chicago. Learn more at www.experiencemission.org or by calling the Office at (360) 554-8060.

“Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other.” -Romans 12:9-10

Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church Group

Week one of work in Atlanta has officially begun. Throughout the week the large group from Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church in Houston, Texas has been running kid camps, digging trenches, and navigating the highways of south Atlanta with one goal—to build real relationships.

The students of Memorial Drive’s youth group are no strangers to hard work. Many of the students have served on mission trips both domestically and internationally, so the team came ready for a week of physically demanding work. Although they have tackled several tough, meaningful projects—painting and digging an irrigation trench at the Initiative for Affordable Housing’s newest worksite, most of their Atlanta projects have been an exercise in developing relationships.

Trevor, a summer intern at Memorial Drive, spent Monday morning playing Bingo and chatting with an elderly man at Hapeville Care Home. Although the conversation seemed difficult and forced at first, Trevor was persistent—he wanted to be a real friend to the wheelchair bound man with a fading memory. He succeeded.
One of the adult leaders, Mary, said that she was impacted by the kids at the Kroc Day Camp because of the way they responded to a Bible lesson. The kids seemed genuinely interested in the skit and story that the team presented—grasping pieces of truth from the simple Bible message. When the afternoon ended, the team was sent off with a round of hugs from the campers. Another success.

Despite the successes of the team, they admit that doing relational ministry is difficult because you don’t always get to see the results. In fact, sometimes it might feel like you’re failing. Unlike a building or painting project, you don’t always get to see the difference you’ve made in the life of another person. You might walk away from a kids’ camp or a nursing home wondering if you made a lasting impact. But one thing the EM staff and Memorial Drive team has learned this week is that building relationships is rewarding work. At the end of the day, loving people and reflecting Christ into their lives is what matters most.

Atlanta, GA

Heather D. Moline

June 2010

Note: Experience Mission is sending out many more great trips to Atlanta and many more great communities throughout the summer of 2011! Check out our website for more information at www.experiencemission.org.

Chicago Skyline

Chicago Team Picture

The windy city greeted us harshly our second day here with 80 mph winds. Having now been appropriately acquainted, we have also become somewhat oriented with the area. Blue Island took us by surprise, being a very separate city from Chicago, as well as a friendly and welcoming neighborhood.

The first day of our work trips has led to bonding, stories, a workout, and many a paint stain. We have been openly accepted by all of the communities in which we are working and relationships look promising. People are eager to help and to inform us about the areas where we are located as well as about their own personal stories. From Stephen the friendly Menard’s paint expert to Von the seeming life expert, we are anything but short of outside support.
Rain and storms have tried to slow us down, our group has been perseverant. Significant work has been: raising the enormous tent at Circle Urban Ministries for their annual Harvest Fest, painting for H.O.M.E., and gardening/cleaning as well as activities with the children at Blue Island Salvation Army. Much more is to come in the next day of work!

The evenings have been full of worship and devotions, basketball, Frisbee, ping pong, Bang!, and Quelf. Dull moments are scarce with this “Dream Team” from Atlanta, but every activity has been enjoyable. We’ve learned new games, including Foot tag and Ninja, and have participated in such daily activities as Awkward Day and Dramatic Comment Day.  We now look forward to Sarcastic Tuesday! Mount Pisgah has had much to offer us since their arrival, and we are already dreading their departure in two days.

Experience Mission is offering summer 2011 mission trips to Chicago. Learn more at www.experiencemission.org or by calling the Office at (360) 554-8060.

Find one of our upcoming youth mission trips.

Internation Mission Trip: After being here in Costa Rica for about three weeks, the reality of being here all summer started to set in and the days seemed to get long, but our spirits were brightened when our next team from western Pennsylvania arrived.  The group came with great attitudes and ready to work.  Once everyone arrived at the work sites they realized that with the cultural difference, work was going to move much slower than expected.  For us in America, we are used to getting things done in a time effective manner, but here, all of the teams are finding that the work moves much slower.  After realizing the cultural difference, they decided to embrace it instead of fight it.  They immediately spent more time getting to know the people they were working with and serving alongside as well as sharing their lives with them.  Western Pennsylvania was not only a blessing for this community on the Bri Bri reservation, but also a blessing for our summer staff as well.  Their great attitudes lifted our spirits, while Jacob and Alex brought constant laughs. 

This group came down ready to serve in any way possible and ready to serve anyone.  They were even able to financially bless us as summer Staff after Yon’s tennis shoes were stolen.  He desperately needed a new pair of shoes and they wanted to treat us to dinner so they left us money for him to get new shoes and for us to watch a movie and get dinner.  We had money left over so we wanted to pass on the blessing to someone else.  We were able to help Retano, a taxi driver from last year, who lost his leg to diabetes.  He is in the process of getting a prosthetic leg, but is short on funds.  God was able to bless Retano though the western Pennsylvania group with money to go towards his new leg.  Many lives were touched this week.  Even though there are bumps in the road sometimes, God is providing down here and doing amazing things.

Team Costa Rica

*Do you want to go on a mission trip? Check out www.experiencemission.org to view our communities for Summer 2010.

Youth Mission Trips: I can’t imagine a better week. We had two short term mission trip teams this week- Voyagers Bible Church from Irvine, CA and First Presbyterian Church from Ashland, OR. They worked so incredibly hard and from the minute they stepped off the busses they were serving everyone they met.

All of the girls from the CA group had determined before-hand not to wear or bring any makeup at all. What beauties they were too! They also wrote PHIL. 4:12 on their arms (“Do everything without complaining or arguing.”) And that’s just what they did! Even at meals, each person would ask someone “May I serve you?”, and they would go down the line together, each making the other’s plate, just as an act of service and a good way to get a chance to talk together. The Lord taught each student so much and I was amazed at the growth that happened as each of them shared with me what God had taught them through a new culture, new people, hard work, and lots of laughs.

The Lord displayed His divine pursuit this week as well. On Wednesday night as we sat in on the Navajo service, the Lord impressed on my heart to share my testimony with the group this week. So Friday night, while we were out having worship at the base of Shiprock, looking out across the plains, I shared my story, hoping it would be used by the Lord. That night, one of the girls came to me in tears, telling me that she shares a very similar story and she didn’t know how to escape from a bad upbringing and the traps of the world. I was able to encourage her in the Word and share with her more about the freedom in Christ. She experienced such a breakthrough and relief!! Praise the Lord for divine appointments and relationships!

-Navajo Nation staff

*Note: Experience Mission offers Christian mission trips to groups of youth, college, and adult. Interested in finding out more about the Navajo Nation? Check out our website at www.ExperienceMission.org for more information and to sign up for Summer 2010 trips.

Short term Mission Trips: The restoration project in Pearlington has become a national affair. With the four year anniversary of Katrina making land coming up in August, Pearlington is still in need of volunteer efforts to completely recover. In the last two weeks, youth mission trip teams from California, Chicago and Houston have come to Pearlington to play a part in the rebuilding effort following Hurricane Katrina. The groups have made significant progress on houses for four deserving families in the community, including an elderly woman who looks to move into her finished home in three weeks.

The mission trip teams have been working hard on insulating the walls, installing hardwood flooring, tiling the bathrooms and getting the electrical outlets up and running. In the two weeks that teams have been over at the O’Neal house, the site has been transformed from an empty house that had just been walled in, into a beautiful home that is a couple weeks of touchup work away from being completed.

Every week, Ms. O’Neal, a vivacious 76 year old woman who doesn’t look a day over 50, stops buy to offer her encouragement to the teams and tell them how inspirational they are for the community. On Friday the 19th, Ms. O’Neal and her fiancée cooked up 30 pounds of turkey necks, an enormous pot of sausage as well as corn on the cob for lunch for the mission trip team from Chicago. We ate and laughed and talked about the future of Pearlington and the importance of a continued rebuilding effort. Ms O’Neal had to fight legislation for nearly three years before her plans for a house were finally approved and properly funded. After partnering with community member Glenn Locklin and Experience Mission, her dreams are finally coming to fruition. She told us that “without people like y’all, we wouldn’t ever have our homes back.”

Ms. O’Neal has been an inspiration for the Experience Mission staff in Pearlington, and her incredible attitude is a driving force for every group that comes to her house. We are excited to finish her house soon, and look forward to seeing how God uses her testimony as an example of hope for the community.

*Note: Check out our website at www.ExperienceMission.org for information about upcoming Summer 2010 mission trips.

Rural West Virginia: At the beginning of last week, we traveled to a community in West Virginia that had recently suffered a flood.  There we found out about a woman named Edna whose house had survived the flood but sustained a lot of damage.  She is a mom who works and goes to school.  We decided to take on the project and help her rebuild her house during our upcoming mission trips.  In the process of this, we met her mother, Dot.  Dot was always there during the day helping the team while Edna worked.  I had the opportunity to take a break from helping at the Timothy Jones house and painting the Lions Club caboose to visit the site one day.  While I was there I talked with Dot for just a moment.  She is such an awesome lady!  So many of the students on the trip saw Jesus in her every day.  I told her how they shared their “Joy, Junk and Jesus” moments from their day every night.  They said that whenever they needed something she was right there ready to help out.  When I told Dot why they saw Jesus in her she smiled and told me what a blessing our presence there had been.  She said that FEMA had called the day before and offered Edna a trailer but she was able to turn it down because she had “some wonderful missionaries sent to rebuild my house.”  It is amazing to see how a group of kids from Atlanta came to Gary, West Virignia and were able to help Edna and how she in turn was able to give the FEMA trailer to someone else who needed it more than she did.  We are looking forward to meeting more and more people like Dot and Edna as the summer moves along and we execute more mission trips.
-Crystal, Trip Coordinator, Gary, West Virginia 09

Note: Experience Mission works in rural locations like West Virginia, but they also work in urban locations and international communities. Check out all of the places we’re serving this year and the new communities we will be in next summer as well; all at www.experiencemission.org.

Short term Mission Trips:

Mid week fix for everyone.

The first mission trip team arrived Monday, we have done so many crazy and God-filled things it has been amazing. We have been helping out with kids at the Root Cellar, painting decks for the people that are living in public housing, and volunteering at Preble Street, where we have helped serve the homeless breakfast. 

The current youth mission trip team is made up of only 13 people, the Maker’s dozen, and we have stretched them really thin. We have had very little downtime for them to recover, so please pray for strength for them as well as Cori, Laurie, and I.

Laurie has been under the weather so we need her to get better soon.

Thank you for your prayers. Pray that we lean not on our own understanding, but on our Heavenly Father’s.

Portland team

PS. The reason this is so short is because my computer was locked in an office during the time I had planned to write this. Another great example of God forcing us to change plans for some other good!

Find an urban mission trip in Portland or another city in the US: www.ExperienceMission.org Summer 2010 trips posted soon!

Navajo Mission Trips: The youth mission trip team from Mountain View Presbyterian Church in Scottsdale, Arizona has been here for three days now, and the 30 middle schoolers are some of the hardest workers I’ve ever seen! Yesterday, we were able to split into four groups and work on John Watson’s house, a home in Kayenta, a graffitied water tower, and some odd jobs at the church. My team went to Mr. John’s house and we had a blast. We painted the entire exterior of the house and got to spend some good time with John and even made friends with a few of his cows! He invited us to eat our lunch inside with him, and the kids really enjoyed it. At the water tower, the group was able to cover the graffiti and worked on painting a beautiful mural of a sunset with some Navajo artwork. The group in Kayenta painted some rooms in a family’s home and got to share some time with the family as well. At the church, a hardworking group built some new picnic tables and then dug a trench to lay a water line close to the outdoor kitchen where we cook! No more hauling water! Praise the Lord! Today, the entire group is in Tuba City de-tagging many of the city buildings and spending time with some of the Navajo that have come out to work with us. We had lunch in the gorgeous park and everyone was running around playing games as well. It has been an incredible couple of days and I can’t wait to see what else will happen this weekend! The rumor is that we are going out to the canyon tonight- what an adventure!

Blessings and love,
Laura Marie and the Navajo Experience Mission Team

Note: Experience Mission will soon be offering Summer 2010 mission trips on the Navajo Reservation. If you’d like to join a short term mission trip with EM, visit us at our website www.experiencemission.org