Trip Reflections -- Part Two

APC YOUTH MISSION REFLECTIONS -- THE VIEW FROM BAYTREAT and BEYOND -- PART TWO:

As promised, here are a few more of the kids with their reflections!








KATIE (Doing "YMCA" at The Hangout -- believe me, I tried to find a better picture, but this has to be "the one"!)

It is over (picture five sad faces here). My best moment on this trip would be working and playing with all the kids at Taylor Park. They were so cute and so much fun! I will miss them! I will remember everyone I met on this trip. The people I will remember the most will be Willy and Eddie from L’Arche. I loved coloring and talking to them. They were so kind and so willing to talk and play with us. I have learned from this trip that even when you don’t realize it, you affect everyone you meet. People affect you too, sometimes in the smallest way. I will never forget this. It has been so much fun!!




HANNAH:
My Favorite Moments: Meeting all the kids and the older people at the mission sites.


My Most Memorable Person: A little girl at Taylor Park named Enia because, she was so much fun to hang out with.


What I learned: That everybody has their own story to tell and we don’t all come from the same background.

CONNER S:

My Favorite Moment: Monday morning we served breakfast at Coffee Club - seeing all the happy faces on the people was so heart warming, because we tried to treat them like real people and not insane creepy people that live on the street with torn up clothing. When you treat them good they’ll talk to you and they are really nice people.


My Memorable Person: Willy at L’Arche because when I got there he was the first one to greet me in the community. He was so fun to hang out with. It was kinda hard to understand the way he talked but I caught on and I would play peek-a-boo with him, and when I said Michaela's name he would do kiss noises. I helped him read a book and it was fun.


What I learned: That we should be grateful for what we have. We take things for granted and we don’t realize that some people don’t have any thing and would just be grateful just to have blankets; but some time God will give them a job. God led people to build shelters for homeless people so they can have food, a bed, showers, and friends so they can slowly get back on their feet.

DAKOTA:

My Favorite Moment: Meeting all of the kids at Taylor Park and having them instantly latch on was fun. They were so cute and knew lots of hand games.

My Memorable Person: Sarah from L’Arche was definitely cool. She loved to make jewelry!

What I learned: that everyone has a story, hopes, and dreams, and stereotypes shouldn’t get in the way. No matter how we live, we are all essentially the same, and need to be treated as such.

BRIANNA (Monday Morning at Coffee Club):

Memorable Moment: Taylor Park, when I got to play with all of the kids!


Most Memorable Person: One of the most memorable persons for me was Sarah (from L'Arche) because she was nice, funny, and had a unique personality.


What I learned: On this trip I learned that it is easy to help people out by just noticing that they are there and talking to someone and being a friend.


And so, the adventure continues. The next posting will include the reflections of the remaining youth and some of our trip's Adult Advisors! Stay tuned for more!

RICK

APC Youth Mission -- A Few More Pictures

More Pictures from the APC Mission Team!!

WEDNESDAY EVENING:
Preparing and Hosting Dinner for some of our friends from L'Arche.

Iron Chef Connor M. is in total control of the spaghetti situation! This young man of many talents can stir two pots at one time. Look at his concentration!

Speaking of concentration:

Hannah is in deep concentration as she ladles sauce into the serving dish.

Fuller is on garlic bread detail. We all enjoyed a little bread with our garlic!

Dinner is served! In the foreground is the women the kids refer to
in their blogs as Sarah from L'Arche.


Serving the guests first!

After dinner, we gathered for worship and communion.


THURSDAY MORNING
We learned about the physical environment of the area that includes Mobile Bay
and the Mobile-Tensaw River Delta.


THURSDAY MORNING: 5 Rivers Center
Ali (Alestair, aka "Gator") get friendly with snake.

Sarah and Holly make friends with a rather shy possum.


THURSDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING
Gulf Shores, Alabama

Chillaxin' with Tom!

Dinner at The Hangout -- Hannah loves fried dill pickles! Brianna seems unconvinced!

Michaela and Holly doing the "YMCA" with our friend Ty.
It is truly dinner with a show!


FRIDAY MORNING:
The USS Alabama Memorial

On board the USS Alabama
Fuller has to jump in order to look through the gunsight. Some
of the ladies appear to be amused!

USS Alabama -- Fuller and Gator doing their "Titanic" moment!

Chillaxin' outside the gift shop at the Alabama Memorial

Rick gets in touch with his boyhood idol at Hank Aaron Stadium in Mobile!


Stay tuned -- more pictures and reflections coming on Thursday and Friday!

Don't forget: Youth Mission Sunday at APC
Sunday, July 31
10:00 a.m.

Trip Reflections -- Part One

Greetings!
Now that the sleep deprivation is lessening, we will try to bring you the final reflections of APC's 2011 Youth Mission Team.

It will come to you in small doses, so that we can make the experience last just a little bit longer.

So, great comfortable. Here is the first installment!




Nathan (This picture was taken at Lake Grenada in Mississippi on the second day of the trip.)

Today (Sunday) is our last day of the mission trip. This morning we went to worship at the church we’re staying at in Memphis. It was a lot like the one in Mobile. After that we hit the road. We went to Lambert’s Café for lunch. I would go back there any day. They were throwing rolls at you and they had the best ham I’ve ever had. Now we’re somewhere in Missouri. We’ll be back late tonight. I had a great time here and I hope I can do it again next year.

I will never forget Sarah from L’Arche or Jimmy who I met at Waterfront Rescue Mission. They’re the type of people you can’t easily forget. I will also remember the kids at Taylor Park and all the piggy back rides we gave them. That was my favorite place we worked at. I learned here how to be the kind of person that people can rely on. I will always remember this place and what happened here.

Michaela (This picture of Michaela and Holly was taken at The Hangout in Gulf Shores. They were dancing to YMCA!):

I can’t believe it’s our last day! It feels like we’re on our way to Alabama again. I met so many amazing people who blessed my life in so many ways. If y’all don’t know technically I’m not part of the APC youth group. I was asked by my best friend Holly if my sister, Brianna, and I wanted to go on this mission trip with them. We weren’t sure if we were going to be able to go but we were very blessed and were able to go. I got to know everyone in the youth group and they are all amazing people and I loved being able to share is great experience with them.

One of my favorite moments was at the Hangout. It’s not one of my favorite moments just because we got to dance on chairs and throw napkins in the air! But also it was one of the times where everyone was happy. Living with 15 teenagers for 10 days can be kinda hard, and we didn’t get along the whole time. But at the Hangout we were all happy and we were a family. One of my most memorable people was this little girl named Takiyah from Dumas Wesley. At first she was a little scared to talk to me but we talked about all her boyfriends. By the way she is 9. I invited her to come sit with Holly and I at our table. She was so funny and was just so happy! She also did our hair and made sure it looked perfect and that all the boys would be staring (: She just had this amazing personality and made everyone smileJ I’m so glad I got to meet her.

I learned a lot on this mission trip. One of the big things I learned was that it doesn’t matter how much you have to be close to God. My group went to Bible study one day and we met this man named Fred, who later we saw at Coffee Club and Water Front Rescue Mission. He was very insightful and knew a lot about God and the bible. We got to see different peoples perspectives on how this one passage from the Bible meant different things to them. Holly and I were in awe of how much Fred knew and how wise he was. There was a great spirit in that room and I was very glad they let us be there with them. Over all this was a great experience.

Holly: This has been a great trip. I met a lot of awesome people, did some meaningful things, and made memories I will never forgot. My best moment was working with the kids at Taylor Park. I love being with little kids and showing them love. I always try to teach them something about what’s right and wrong and hope they remember. At Taylor Park there was a girl who was too old to be with my group but yet there she was. She caused me a lot of problems. She was rude and said some things that were truly down-right mean. I tried to talk to her and tell her she doesn’t need to act that way to get what she wants but I didn’t think I got through to her. But then when we got inside she came up to me and said hi. I thought it was quite odd but said hi back anyway. Then she asked if she could buy me a milk. Then we talked about different kinds of milk for a while. I felt like that was her way of apologizing to me. I think I may have taught her something and she definitely taught me something. That’s how I learned that blessings come in odd and unexpected ways. It reminded me that even if you think something or someone is hopeless you shouldn’t give up trying to get through to them. You may bless them and they may bless you. I will never forget her.

(This picture of Ali, Connor H, and Sarah was taken at The Hangout)

Ali: The moment I could never forget would have to be when we went to the actual ocean (Gulf of Mexico) and The Hangout.

The People I’ll never forget are everyone I shared the house with; Sarah and Willy from L'Arche; and Jayden and d.

The thing I learned is probably don’t judge a book by its cover -- homeless people are some of the nicest people I’ve ever met. Thus ends my blogging for now….

Connor: So today is the last day :-( I will always remember my 2^nd mission trip which was very fun. My best moment on the trip was when my group went to Taylor Park and the first thing they said was not hi - it was "can I have a thousand piggy back rides". The most memorable person on this trip to me was Lucy from L’Arche because I and she colored a very colorful picture. The thing I learned on this trip was be who you really are because you are special in your own way and you need to show it. This has been a great trip and I can’t wait until next year.

Sarah: Well, it’s the last day of this mission trip and I must admit I am quite sad about it. But anyways my best memory was at Taylor Park, a children’s day care and activity program. It was when all the kids wanted to either have a piggy back ride or hug me. I felt so needed and love. Sure it hurt my arms giving so much piggy back rides but overall I had such a good time there. My favorite person I met was these two guys from Water Front Rescue Mission. I didn’t quite catch their names though. I liked them because even though they lived in a homeless shelter they were so happy and they were just so fortunate that they could live there. I just felt so happy talking and laughing. Something important I learned is that it doesn’t matter if you aren’t living in a big house, or if you aren’t in their best health everyone is equal and deserves the up most respect and kindness. My 2^nd mission trip was really memorable and very happy.

So there you have it! The first installment of our team's reflections. There will be more coming to you on Thursday and Friday of this week! As well as a few more pictures yet today!

Today is Addy's birthday! She "celebrated" it at The Hangout in Gulf Shores. I promised that I would not post the video ... for a price! Just kidding! Happy Birthday.

Also, today we found out how to go about making reservations at The Rendezvous BBQ in Memphis -- only 3-1/2 days after I sent the e-mail! I am ready for a return trip ... any time!!

Pictures to follow!

RICK