Show and Tell: Mission Trips

Show and Tell, Show and Tell, Show and Tell!!!!

Today’s topic..

Mission Trips and Service Opportunities

This is going to be fun, y’all! I love that Andrea just so happened to pick the topic for TODAY of all days of the year…because our sermon on Sunday was about serving. And we’ve just been introduced to mission trips for 2016 in The Dominican Republic, Honduras, New York City, Los Angeles. And I know I want to go on one of those trips, so i’m just praying about which one right now.

In the summer of 2012 right after I graduated high school, I went on my very first mission trip to New Orleans, Louisiana.

I recapped it a little bit back in July of 2014. For some reason the links to a few of the pictures aren’t working (of course), but there are still some on there. When I signed up for this mission trip I really didn’t know what to expect. I just found myself excited and feeling good about it!

We got there years after Katrina so while there’s always work to be done, there really wasn’t as much as we were all hoping. But we were put in charge of cleaning the yard for a house that the Church we volunteered for owned. This is our youth pastor. He was the best and I owe him so much for pouring into my life at that young age.

We cleared out, moved, stacked, rearranged furniture in school classrooms to be moved for the schools to be cleaned over the summer.

We were able to fellowship and study the Bible with one another.

We painted the girls’ bathroom at one of the elementary schools with Arial from a coloring book. (actually Reeana drew and we painted!)

And the boys’ bathroom with ya know, boy stuff.

And then we were of course able to see the city. We explored all around New Orleans one night. It was fun! Especially when you’re with some of your best friends.

We may or may not have slept while on the job.

But we of course had some fun along the way 🙂

I’ll always remember that mission trip. Like I said, I was with some of my best friends for a week in a city that i’d never been to before, glorifying God’s name. There are few things in life that can top that!!

God calls us to serve the world, the community, our Church, and one another.

 “The greatest among you shall be your servant.” – Matthew 23:11

I love serving my Church. On Sunday mornings this is where you can find me. With my 3 and 4 year olds 🙂

Wednesday nights you’ll probably find me with my freshman girls at youth group.

I co-taught 3rd and 4th grade boys at my old Church on Wednesday nights with Reeana’s dad. Half of these boys were pastor’s kids too 🙂

As for our community…my volleyball team in high school participated in Operation Christmas Child, which my old Church hosted. One Saturday morning we all got together to pack up shoeboxes to send over to the kids in poverty and we had so much. Of course we made it competitive because…we were athletes remember 😉 We broke up into groups, shopped through the dollar store, and packed these boxes while eating some BBQ. It was so much fun! My team rocked 🙂

These are some of my favorite memories.

Now, I know many of you have ministries through your own Church that you are a part of, but we just had one that i’m really considering. One Child Matters is a ministry where you pay $40 every month to sponsor a child until they graduate the program. Your $40 goes to pay for health needs, spiritual needs (Bibles, etc.), education needs, and a community for the child to meet others. You’ll write letters back and forth with your  kiddo. It is a commitment, i’m right there with you. I’m praying about this and maybe you should too?? Our Church is sponsoring kids from the Dominican and Honduras where we might be able to go see them on one of the above mission trips.

OH, don’t forget that you can still sign up for the Online Bible Study!!!

Now I can’t wait to go through and look at yours! And just in case you missed any of my previous Show and Tell Tuesday posts:

A Day In The Life
Halloween Costumes
My First Job
The 5 people you’d invite to dinner
Where I was on 9/11
Who I was in High School
My Back to School Traditions
My Home
My Beauty Routine
My Yard
When I Grow Up
Favorite Party I’ve Hosted
How I Got My Name
My Favorite Vacation
My Favorite Room In Our House
How (2 of my favorite couples) Met Each Other
My Groundhog Day
My Organization Tips and Tricks
My New Year’s Resolutions

VBS Week Flashback

This week during the summer is one of the best weeks of the year. It was VBS week!!!!

Not only is it the one of the best weeks of the year it is one of the most exhausting weeks of the year. Our group had about 18 kiddos ranging from Pre-K to 5th grade for us 2 volunteers. The Pre-Kers are easy and sweet as can be, but the 5th graders like to be difficult and sassy, just as they should. Check out these crazy boys…oh did I mention they LOVE to take selfies? Welcome to the 21st century.

With more selfies (and a lovely photo bomb from moi).

And more goofiness.

Each early morning the volunteers got there around 8, and the kids started showing up around 8:30. Towards the end of the week they began bringing posters that lit up, balloons, streamers, colored clothes, bandanas, all kinds of fun stuff. The kids were all split into different teams. We were the yellow team so one of our kids dyed his hair yellow and made a poster this morning. Isn’t he just so sweet?

Every day after our beginning intro and singing we went to four stations…Bible adventure, Games, Snack, and Imagination Station. These are some of the cute girls and boys with me at snacks, which i’ll have to say is probably one of their favorite stations.

We learned through weird animals that….

• Even though you’re different, Jesus Loves You.
• Even when you don’t understand, Jesus Loves You.
• Even when you do wrong, Jesus Loves You.
• Even when you are afraid, Jesus Loves You.

These kids were oh SO FUN! They were always wanting to learn (even if they don’t admit it), most of them give you hugs ALL the time which makes you smile, and even though they like to talk and be kids they were pretty well behaved. I guess my buddy Alicia (AH-LEECE-E-AH) (she gets mad when you mispronounce it, I learned that this week:) ) just got lucky.

Alicia was an awesome partner and i’m glad I got to know her this week. She also wants to go to OU, Boomer!! Now check out our awesome crew, yellow 4:

Thank you Jesus for a fun-filled week with fun-filled kiddos! If you have not volunteered at VBS before, I highly recommend it. You never know what you will learn along with the kids you’re mentoring. I miss it and I am looking forward to VBS this coming summer 🙂

P.S. I recently signed up for the Susan G. Komen race for the cure, if you feel inclined to donate my fundraising goal is $100. Follow this link http://northtexas.info-komen.org/site/TR?px=19280923&fr_id=4135&pg=personal and make your donation 🙂