NE Youth 2010 Mission Trip: Tuesday, Day 3

Despite the slow and lazy start this morning, we quickly (sort of) began to build up energy for what lay ahead. The first team to hit the ground running was the day's kitchen teeam. With 5 dozen eggs with ham to scramble and hash browns to stir up, there was no time to waste. The rest of the teams sat sleepily waiting in the parish hall for when they could dig in. Once the food was served the conversation moved from I'm tired to the daily tasks. The service project team made plans as they knew they would be painting more than scraping; the fellowship team was working on some new games to play with the kids outdoors; and the VBS team discussed the crafts they would be helping the kids with; and everyone wondered if the crowd would be bigger and which kids would return.

After breakfast it didn't take us long to pack up and go. Everyone was anxious to get to the reservation. Once there, and everything was set up for the day, there was a little time before we left to pick up the kids. Keith and Greg found they did not have enough paint brushes as the paint team and many others wanted to make their mark on the church (and each other). But when the kids arrived, most of the paint brushes were set aside and the kids became our focus. It was another wonderful day working and playing with the kids. What made this day even more special is that we already knew one another and the new kids that showed up could see how much fun we were having and that helped make the day more special for them too. Something our teams thought really cool was the fact that today almost every kid participated in the singing we do after lunch. With the help of Hope and Sarah, the kids have learned a silly song that really gets them pumped up and is perfect just before beginning the day's activities.

By the end of our day, it was ssad to see the kids go hime. There were even a few kids who made such a connection with some of our team members that they didn't want to go home. But knowing we would see each other again on Wednesday helped a lot. Once the clean up in the parish hall was done, we sat ther looking across the street at the church. We are all amazed at how far the paint team had gotten and how good it looked. The bell tower was impressive and the fresh coat of white and red paint on the church made a real difference. As Crystal was putting the finishing touches of the bright red paint on the front doors, we couls see that the church was no longer looking sleepy, but was ready with renewed energy to take on the world.

We can't wait until we see it when it is finished. Weather permitting we should get close to finishing on Wednesday. All we have to do is figure out how to safely complete the front face peak. Several ideas floated around from hangng team members upside down by their feet to throwing paint in balloons to give it a more modern look. Since we have a few kids who like to climb (we've had to chase them out of the trees in front of St. John's) we even throught we might let them climb some of the trees near the church and hang from a branch or two. You'll just have to check in tomorrow to see what the winning idea was.

Back at St. John's, the team hit the pool to cool off and we had another adult member arrive from western Nebraska. Everyone was hungry at dinner and then they were off exploring the town and even found a neighbor who let them play on the family's trampoline. We once again gathered at the end of the day for Bible study and Compline. With all the fresh air and the sound of a passing storm, I think this is another night during which the team will get a good night's sleep.