Final Thoughts on the Week

We made it safely home Friday evening - about 2 hours ahead of schedule.  Of course, we left 2 hours early, so that helped.  Here are final thoughts on the week from everyone, in no particular order.

Molly:  Aw, it's all over!  This trip has been so amazingly "unforgettable"  (ha ha ha).  But, seriously, I have grown so much closer to God this week, and have had so many experiences, and met people I will never forget.  It's been an indescribable time.  Can't wait to see what next year brings.  Now, I can go visit my cat! (Yay!)

Susan:  I am so thankful to have had this opportunity, to be able to meet so many individuals and have a hand in helping someone else's life.  I've learned more about myself this past week, along with John Wesley.  (=  Let's see where the path leads from here!

Alex:  I am grateful for the opportunity to aid others that we were given.  It was an honor and a privilege to represent LUMC at the reservation.  Our mission had a tangible impact on a man's quality of life and provided an opportunity for many lessons to be learned.  This trip was most worthwhile.

Howard:  Final Mission Blog thoughts from the pastor…
Once again I’ve had several core understandings about life and faith reaffirmed.

·        All people are in need of love and grace, no exceptions…no matter their life circumstances (rich, poor, good, bad, weak, strong, popular or unpopular, ethnically different or mainstream)

·       When people of faith work together to care for people they don’t know and move their focus from self to others, they actually learn more about themselves and their faith than they could have imagined

·        God forgives because God loves… the hard part is letting go of your own internal judgment of yourself (a Christian favorite) or others…

·        Traveling, working, eating and playing (especially hacky-sack) together builds community…

All of these things happened on our trip to North Dakota! Thanks be to God!!

Jillian:  On this trip, I have learned so many things I feel like I have a new perspective of things.

Frances:  I am so thankful I had the opportunity to come on this trip.  It was a great experience and I grew closer with so many people through the work we did.  I grew closer with God and learned so many new things.  Thank you to everyone who made this possible.  I hope I am lucky enough to join you next year.

Delane:  We shared the week with an outstanding group of young people from our church.  We had fun, but we also did some intense work.  It was a blessing to see God each day in the faces around us, as well as the beauty of the Spirit Lake land and weather.

Kate:  I'm very thankful I had the opportunity to come again this year and learn how to do a different kind of roof with different scenery and dogs.  On these trips, I learn so many new things and have had so many different experiences.

Elizabeth:  This was an amazing week!  I am so proud of everyone who went on the mission trip.  Everyone was amazed at what great kids we have.  Roofing was an adventure with the rain.  At times I wondered if it would get done but in the end, God prevailed and a man was happy to have a roof that didn't leak.  Later this month, another group will put a deck on his house.  Through our project, our kids learned what it meant to be the body of Christ.  They were all needed and not one skill was more important than another.  Some ripped off shingles some picked them up, while others cut edging.  During our devotion time, we connected back to our Methodist roots and learned about John Wesley's life.  Our group left this week knowing that God is alive and at work in North Dakota and in each of them. 

Barbara:  I get the advantage of writing after reading everyone else's thoughts and with a good night's sleep in my own bed.  :-)  I wish I knew how to portray how rewarding and fun and wonderful these mission trips are so that others would be encouraged to come along.  By my count, this is my 9th youth mission trip.  I'm so grateful that God sent Linda Z to give me the shove in the back to go on the first one and that I signed that "lifetime" contract.  Each year brings different tasks, challenges, lessons, and people.  This year, we met people from North Dakota, of course, but also people from Ohio and Texas.  Each person touched us in different ways.  To me, the trip ended perfectly with the trip back.  We had our final devotion at a rest stop along the way.  As part of it, we all received a rock to keep where we see it everyday to help us remember that each day we have a choice to follow Christ.  We left one on the table at the rest stop - it would be interesting if we could follow it's journey.  Now, it is time to start thinking about heading back to the "corn bread" world on Monday morning.  (Thanks for the van giggles Frances, Kate, Jillian, and Delane.)

Until next year's trip, your mission team is signing off.  Don't forget to ask us about our week.  You might be moved to join us wherever next year takes us.