DETROIT 2015

Hey all, The EDGE youth group is getting ready for another mission trip adventure...this time we are heading to Detroit MI. Sixty of us will be heading out on Sunday morning (6-7-15) and will spend the week doing construction projects and service ministry projects. Plus we will have a little bit of fun while we are there as well! Follow the blog for updates and a few pictures throughout the week! Steve

Friday

Everyone had a fun time on our day off!  Some went to a ropes course and zip line park, some went to a water park, and others went sightseeing. Everyone came back with some great stories!

The best part of the day came after we all got back to the church though. First we loaded in the vans and went to all of the construction sites to check out the finished product and to pray a blessing for the house and family. All of the homeowners joined us and we're very thankful and blessed by our work and the time that we spent with them. 

Then after a dinner of awesome leftovers and chicken quesadillas, we shared our thoughts about the entire week. Beautiful words were spoken and a few tears were shed. We have completed another incredible mission trip. We have once again showed what the EDGE and their awesome "chaperones" are capable of. I am proud of our group and blessed to be a part of them. I really enjoy being included in their lives. Whether I am watching them playing sports or music or even graduate, and especially working on a mission trip, I am incredibly proud and impressed by what they are capable of doing. 

PARENTS: THANKS FOR SHARING YOUR KIDS WITH ME!!

I only have pics of the sightseeing group today, so you will have to wait for the video to see more pics and video. 

Last work day

I stopped saying things like "wow, these kids really surprised me this week" or "I can't believe how hard everybody worked" because after 11 summers of mission trips with The EDGE, I expect it!  However....Wow, these kids really surprised me!  And, man did they all work hard!!!

Jobs completed, memories have been made, relationships have been formed, and people have been blessed!

After our final workday we celebrated by heading downtown to the Riverfront Park and listened to some music, had some food truck cuisine and checked out Broadway St.  It sure is nice having such great adults to help corral all the teens!

Everyone should plan on joining us on our mission trip Sunday to hear some reports and watch the video - Sunday, June 29th at 9:30 am. 

Happy birthday Ali!  I only made it known to a few hundred people on Broadway street that it was Ali's 16th Birthday! 

Hump Daaayyy

After 3 full days of ministry projects, and construction projects (actually, it's all ministry projects!) we still love each other!  Cause that's what families do!

All construction projects will be completed tomorrow...that's awesome!  God directed us to Shirley's house yesterday and that massive yard project continued today....and will continue tomorrow as well. A big group of us went to the Second Harvest Food Bank today and scooped, bagged (bags that we labeled), weighed (better be EXACTLY 2 1/2lbs if you are at Heather Halverson's scale), boxed (into boxes we put together) and stacked  over 1500 bags of pasta in just a couple of hours. 

Anyway.....our scripture (Colossians 3:12-17) is really hitting home this week. Tonight we talked about verse 16. What are we teaching?  What are we learning?  How are we teaching and learning?  We heard some great examples tonight!  

Just a pic or two for your viewing pleasure:

One big box of noodles!

Shirley's back yard...part of it anyway-after some extensive clean up

Hard at work

Tuesday

It's lights out time in Nashville and it's the first chance I had to share anything about the day. I guess I would rather sit around and talk or play cards than type on my phone or laptop.... But here is the recap of Tuesday:  lots of awesome stories from the teens and adults about us intersecting with God and our Scripture (Colossians 3:12-17) nuff said! Yeah, yeah, the projects are all going well and the construction will all be completed... but that isn't the only reason we go on these trips. We go on these trips to see God in us,  in others, in our circumstances, etc. and we are seeing Him work in many different ways. 

Hopefully a couple of the teens will share a blog post tomorrow night!

Here are a few pics from a few of our projects today. 

Leonard...

Sammie S.  Lexi B. (Marrita "spotting") &  Ali D. 

Shirley with the girls. 

Devotions

Nashville - Monday

We all made it safe and sound yesterday afternoon. Some of the men went yo check out the construction jobs and the rest of us got the sleeping rooms figured out and set up. Pizza, devotions, bed 

The morning routine included packing up all of our stuff (mattresses, luggage, etc) and storing them in a Uhaul truck all day. 

The gym and classrooms we are in is host to about 80 low income kids for a day camp program. Several of our kids and adults served the program by playing with the kids and shopping for & cooking them an awesome lunch. For the kids this is their main (possibly only) meal of the day.  Others from our group helped in their food pantry and also in the pre-school program. 

The construction crews were extremely busy today. We are in charge of shopping for all of the materials needed on the job. We have some pretty involved construction jobs this year: total bathroom gut (floor & joists included); another bathroom & kitchen floor repair; a wheelchair ramp; a carport thingamabob; & some painting starting tomorrow. 

Hey, guess who showed up today?  Keith and Marrita!!!!  They couldn't stay away!  (That and I begged them to come!). Keith's knowledge has already saved one job and he will be looking at a different one in the morning. 

God is definitely here and active with our group! We are studying Colossians 3:12-17 and talking about how those words are applying to our lives this week. 

No, not everything has gone exactly according to my plan or what I thought we would be doing, etc....but it sure is a good thing that it's going according to Gods plan!  It's through adversity that we grow, and just like any mission trip...we seem to grow a lot!

We'll I'm sure I will grow a little more tomorrow!  But in the meantime here are a couple of pics for ya

Is Bob really working?  We'll, you decide!

Possibly faking it!

Jessica Wohlwend: birthday girl!

NASHVILLE

61 teens and adults will be heading out Sunday morning for our EDGE mission trip to Nashville, TN. We will be working in food pantry's, Meals on Wheels, kids program, and various construction projects. Please keep us in your prayers. We will try to keep the blog updated throughout the week so you can track our progress. So sign on each day to see what we did! Steve