Hey there... This post is bittersweet because MOVE13 is almost over and today was so FANTASTIC!!
Today was slightly different than the rest because the high school team and the middle school team split to two different places.
First for the high school team. Before lunch, they started at Harmon Glass Building, right next to MC3, cleaning the floors and painting the walls. This building is going to be used for Carpenters Hands. Also, before lunch, half of the high school group worked on a house that has been vacant for years. Zion Chirch bought this house to rent out to one of this missionaries and we were blessed to help them clean it out. I wasn't with that group today but I heard that they got to use a jackhammer and "sledge" apart an old piano. Sounds like a lot of fun to me.
Second for the middle school group. We have had the privliledge to work with the Center for the Homeless. Today's tasks were to separate and tidy up the donation room. The blessing was so many clothes and things were donated that they almost didn't have room for all of it. Another group served lunch to the Veterans and to the residents in e cafeteria. I heard they were able to actually eat lunch with a few of the older ladies and were blessed by the ladies conversation. The third group, which was a big group, worked out on the garden. There was a lot of ground to cover, a lot of weeds to pull, and a few flowers to plant. It was a hot one today but the kids did such an amazing job.
After lunch both the middle and high school groups switched places. High school went to the Center for the Homeless and did the exact same thing the middle school group did, sorting in the donation room and weeding in the garden. There was a ton of work to do there!! The middle school group went to MC3 and worked with Alfreida and Ana Marie in the community garden. Again, a lot of weeds to pull and a lot of vegetables and fruits to plant. We also got to use our creativity and painted and set up a few signs to name the garden "Helping Hands Children's Garden." The coolest part in my opinion is before the work started, we circled up, read a blessing lead by LeRoy King and prayed ove the garden for provision, protection, and unity.
The Community Garden was started a few years ago in order to help the community be able to afford good produce. Alfreida's vision was to bring the community together, serving together, loving one another, and helping fill some tummies. I would say that vision is well on its way, they now have three different gardens and the kids of the community enjoy being a part of something so huge!
Parents, you would be proud of how well your kids did today, and this week...we covered a lot of ground... LITERALLY!
After all the hard work from the past three days, we all went to Hackers to end with some fun and friendly competition. So blessed to be able to use the gifts God gave us to serve our community.
God's Peace,
Huffy
Saturday, June 22, 2013
Friday, June 21, 2013
Friday Recap!
Hello again! We have had another great day here on MOVE13, and what amazing, hard working group of young students you all have! I (Gessica Hufnagle or "Huffy") and the rest of the GSM staff are so blessed to serve with you and your awesome kids!
Today we were blessed to do something no other MOVE trip has ever done. We ALL walked around the city of South Bend praying over the buildings and for the people in, out and around those buildings! As awkward as it can seem laying hands on buildings around lunch time in a city...it's actually pretty amazing what God does in and through all of us.
A few short stories from the prayer walk...
A group of leaders and students were praying for a gas station and they saw a man from inside the building counting them. Not knowing what he was doing they continued to pray hoping he wasn't irritated, which they soon found out he wasn't. He was actually counting to see how many water bottles to bring out. He thanked them and extended his appreciation for praying.
Another group shared they were actually in one of the South Bend Orthopedics buildings and shared with the nurses how they were praying for the people of South Bend. Then nurses asked if they would pray for them. They did of course right then and there!!
And LOTS of other amazing stories (don't forget to ask your students to share with you).
Along with the prayer walk, about half of the entire MOVE13 team blessed the Monroe Circle Community Center (MC3) by cleaning the entire building. I mean, they not only did your typical clean the counters and sweep the floors, but they scrapped gum off of furniture, dusted, cleaned out cabinets, washed walls, painted, and much much more. We were told later that what was accomplished by our wonderful MOVE13 team in a few hours would have actually taken days to do. LeRoy King, GCC staff member who runs point on everything involving MC3, thanked us tremendously and reminded us of how the work done today communicates how loved the people of MC3 are and how grateful they are of the work done.
After cleaning and prayer walking, the entire group had a chance to love on the families, mostly rhe kids, of the MC3 community. There was face paint, sidewalk chalk, crafts and sports which did not take long to rally up the kids, such a blessing to show them they matter to God and to us! The trip to MC3 ended in an ALL-OUT Tickle War!! The kids were on the backs or shoulders of someone from the MOVE13 team and literally ran around for an hour just tickling. It was FANTASTIC! There is nothing quite like the sound of a child laughing, you cannot help but put a smile on your face when you hear. Actually, a group of moms were standing around the outside just watching, one of them called me over and said, "What you and your church do for us is amazing. Thank you, you don't have to do what you do, but you continue to bless us and we love it. Thank you again."
Lastly, to top off the night, we got to enjoy some MOVE13 team time at Silver Beach and had a cookout. The water was just shy of freezing and the sand was wet but it didn't stop us from diving in head first and having a blast - celebrating what God can do when we all work together as one for His Name.
Until tomorrow...
-Huffy
Today we were blessed to do something no other MOVE trip has ever done. We ALL walked around the city of South Bend praying over the buildings and for the people in, out and around those buildings! As awkward as it can seem laying hands on buildings around lunch time in a city...it's actually pretty amazing what God does in and through all of us.
A few short stories from the prayer walk...
A group of leaders and students were praying for a gas station and they saw a man from inside the building counting them. Not knowing what he was doing they continued to pray hoping he wasn't irritated, which they soon found out he wasn't. He was actually counting to see how many water bottles to bring out. He thanked them and extended his appreciation for praying.
Another group shared they were actually in one of the South Bend Orthopedics buildings and shared with the nurses how they were praying for the people of South Bend. Then nurses asked if they would pray for them. They did of course right then and there!!
And LOTS of other amazing stories (don't forget to ask your students to share with you).
Along with the prayer walk, about half of the entire MOVE13 team blessed the Monroe Circle Community Center (MC3) by cleaning the entire building. I mean, they not only did your typical clean the counters and sweep the floors, but they scrapped gum off of furniture, dusted, cleaned out cabinets, washed walls, painted, and much much more. We were told later that what was accomplished by our wonderful MOVE13 team in a few hours would have actually taken days to do. LeRoy King, GCC staff member who runs point on everything involving MC3, thanked us tremendously and reminded us of how the work done today communicates how loved the people of MC3 are and how grateful they are of the work done.
After cleaning and prayer walking, the entire group had a chance to love on the families, mostly rhe kids, of the MC3 community. There was face paint, sidewalk chalk, crafts and sports which did not take long to rally up the kids, such a blessing to show them they matter to God and to us! The trip to MC3 ended in an ALL-OUT Tickle War!! The kids were on the backs or shoulders of someone from the MOVE13 team and literally ran around for an hour just tickling. It was FANTASTIC! There is nothing quite like the sound of a child laughing, you cannot help but put a smile on your face when you hear. Actually, a group of moms were standing around the outside just watching, one of them called me over and said, "What you and your church do for us is amazing. Thank you, you don't have to do what you do, but you continue to bless us and we love it. Thank you again."
Lastly, to top off the night, we got to enjoy some MOVE13 team time at Silver Beach and had a cookout. The water was just shy of freezing and the sand was wet but it didn't stop us from diving in head first and having a blast - celebrating what God can do when we all work together as one for His Name.
Until tomorrow...
-Huffy
Thursday Recap
Hey everyone, Johnny here and wanted to let you know that MOVE 13 is underway and what a great start we've had! I apologize for the delay in getting a post up, we've had some internet issues.
The team gathered on Wednesday night at the hotel and went through final preparations for the trip and even had a little time leftover for fun in the pool.
Thursday the whole team headed down to Crooked Creek Ranch in Wakarusa. Cindy Shuder owns and operates the ranch that will serve over 400 at-risk and underprivileged children throughout Michiana. Organizations like Center for the Homeless, ADEC and Son City Kids bring groups out for a chance to experience the woods, horses and nature. The Ranch is maintained purely through volunteer efforts and donations so the project list was massive and the team jumped right in!
Groups tackled projects like rebuilding horse pen fences, offloading over 600 bales of hay and lifting them up to the loft of a barn, installing a new volleyball court, mucking horse stalls and lots of woods property management like chainsawing, weed eating and clearing paths.
The students served so well and the leaders led admirably. It was a phenomenal first day and there was some great relaxing together as a team after dinner at the pool, playing cards and just hanging out!
Feel free to leave some comments, we'd love to share your encouragement and prayers with the team!
We'll get a Friday post up tonight and hopefully some pictures as well!
-john keim
The team gathered on Wednesday night at the hotel and went through final preparations for the trip and even had a little time leftover for fun in the pool.
Thursday the whole team headed down to Crooked Creek Ranch in Wakarusa. Cindy Shuder owns and operates the ranch that will serve over 400 at-risk and underprivileged children throughout Michiana. Organizations like Center for the Homeless, ADEC and Son City Kids bring groups out for a chance to experience the woods, horses and nature. The Ranch is maintained purely through volunteer efforts and donations so the project list was massive and the team jumped right in!
Groups tackled projects like rebuilding horse pen fences, offloading over 600 bales of hay and lifting them up to the loft of a barn, installing a new volleyball court, mucking horse stalls and lots of woods property management like chainsawing, weed eating and clearing paths.
The students served so well and the leaders led admirably. It was a phenomenal first day and there was some great relaxing together as a team after dinner at the pool, playing cards and just hanging out!
Feel free to leave some comments, we'd love to share your encouragement and prayers with the team!
We'll get a Friday post up tonight and hopefully some pictures as well!
-john keim
Saturday, June 23, 2012
Today our team had the opportunity to serve at Center for the Homeless in South Bend. Maribeth Roncz heads up the center and did a wonderful job leading us there. We started our day with a tour of the new Veteran's Center, which many of the students helped build on the MOVE trip last year! It was really neat for them to see the finished project that they worked SO HARD on. The Veteran's Center houses 24 homeless veteran's at a time. Did you know that South Bend is the FIRST city in the whole country to open up a center specifically for homeless vets?! How cool is that!
During the morning, the team divided into different groups and did all kinds of hard work around the center. We weeded the garden and planted beautiful marigolds, did laundry, cleaned and organized the food pantry, helped served lunch to the residents, and sorted a variety of donations.
After lunch, we got the privilege of hearing from a former resident at the center and a current vet living at the vet's center. Laura shared with us about how she used to be an alcoholic and addict. As she touched our hearts with her compelling story, we learned about her recent successes, how she has overcome alcoholism and her addictions, and now finds peace and strength in God. She recently moved out of the center into her own apartment, has a job, is doing very well, and absolutely loves her life and the people she has met along the way that she calls her "blessings in disguise."
We also got to hear from Don, a current resident who is about to move out on his own as well within the next few weeks. It was amazing to see Jesus in him as he shared with us his story, his successes, and how he overcame abuse as a younger child (among many other things). I think he really opened up our eyes and made us take a step back to realize just how much we might take for granted every day, such as family and friends.
The team spent the rest of the afternoon throwing an ice cream party for the residents! We got to spend some time with them, hear their stories, and play some games. What an amazing day we had!!
We ended our day with a little team fun night at Hackers!!! We're finishing off our trip tomorrow by attending the 11:30 church service together at GCC! Our students are rock stars, and God is so good!!!
Blessings :)
During the morning, the team divided into different groups and did all kinds of hard work around the center. We weeded the garden and planted beautiful marigolds, did laundry, cleaned and organized the food pantry, helped served lunch to the residents, and sorted a variety of donations.
After lunch, we got the privilege of hearing from a former resident at the center and a current vet living at the vet's center. Laura shared with us about how she used to be an alcoholic and addict. As she touched our hearts with her compelling story, we learned about her recent successes, how she has overcome alcoholism and her addictions, and now finds peace and strength in God. She recently moved out of the center into her own apartment, has a job, is doing very well, and absolutely loves her life and the people she has met along the way that she calls her "blessings in disguise."
We also got to hear from Don, a current resident who is about to move out on his own as well within the next few weeks. It was amazing to see Jesus in him as he shared with us his story, his successes, and how he overcame abuse as a younger child (among many other things). I think he really opened up our eyes and made us take a step back to realize just how much we might take for granted every day, such as family and friends.
The team spent the rest of the afternoon throwing an ice cream party for the residents! We got to spend some time with them, hear their stories, and play some games. What an amazing day we had!!
We ended our day with a little team fun night at Hackers!!! We're finishing off our trip tomorrow by attending the 11:30 church service together at GCC! Our students are rock stars, and God is so good!!!
Blessings :)
Friday, June 22, 2012
Today the team went to serve at Monroe Circle Community Center (MC3). LeRoy King and Lavon Kil led us as we helped clean and detail clean the entire facility that serves families of all ages, offers meals, GED programs, kids programs, and MUCH MORE! It was really cool to be able to see immediate results when going from seeing something that is completely dirty to seeing something that is completely clean. Such as a chair...with crumbs on the seat...sticky messes on the frames...all clean and shiny after one of our students got a hold of it...that might be used to seat a member of MC3 during their weekly gathering.
You should be REALLY proud of these students, because they not only cleaned, but went above and beyond to leave the place spectacular. It is amazing to see this team giving their all and serving with excellence, because that is exactly what God deserves!!!
In the afternoon, we got to spend a few hours hanging out with the kids in the community. We played soccer, threw footballs and frisbees, and LOTS of face painting (be sure check out all the pictures on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram).
After working and playing so hard all day, our team took a fun trip to Warren Dunes! We had an awesome cookout with hot dogs and s'mores, did our team debrief on the beach behind a beautiful sunset, and spent some quality time hanging out together!
What an awesome day! Tomorrow is too good to waste today, so we're all headed to bed to rest up for another work day. Goodnight for now!
You should be REALLY proud of these students, because they not only cleaned, but went above and beyond to leave the place spectacular. It is amazing to see this team giving their all and serving with excellence, because that is exactly what God deserves!!!
In the afternoon, we got to spend a few hours hanging out with the kids in the community. We played soccer, threw footballs and frisbees, and LOTS of face painting (be sure check out all the pictures on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram).
After working and playing so hard all day, our team took a fun trip to Warren Dunes! We had an awesome cookout with hot dogs and s'mores, did our team debrief on the beach behind a beautiful sunset, and spent some quality time hanging out together!
What an awesome day! Tomorrow is too good to waste today, so we're all headed to bed to rest up for another work day. Goodnight for now!
The MOVE team kicked off our first work day yesterday at Crooked Creek Ranch. We got to hear from Cindy Sandine, who owns and runs the Ranch. She shared her story with us about how the Ranch came to be, and told us about some of the different people that her and her team help and serve there. Our team got to hear Cindy's heart and passion behind everything she does, including teaching children from Son City Kids how to ride horses! God has blessed Cindy with such a compassionate heart, and we were honored to help serve her and her team at the Ranch yesterday.
Some of us spent hours picking up stones in the arenas so that the horses won't get bruised and be unable to be ridden.
Some of us built a mounting deck to get up onto the horses.
Some of us cleaned horse stalls and filled their stalls with hay at mealtimes.
Some of us power-washed decks and furniture.
Some of us cleaned the hair of the saddle mats.
Some of us got down and dirty and raked horse poop!
If I know one thing, our team worked HARD!!! Parents, your kids are doing awesome and Cindy and her team were so blessed and thankful for the time we spent there!
What a GREAT start to our trip...and it's only just begun! Don't forget to leave comments...we'll read them to the team during our debrief time :)
Some of us spent hours picking up stones in the arenas so that the horses won't get bruised and be unable to be ridden.
Some of us built a mounting deck to get up onto the horses.
Some of us cleaned horse stalls and filled their stalls with hay at mealtimes.
Some of us power-washed decks and furniture.
Some of us cleaned the hair of the saddle mats.
Some of us got down and dirty and raked horse poop!
If I know one thing, our team worked HARD!!! Parents, your kids are doing awesome and Cindy and her team were so blessed and thankful for the time we spent there!
What a GREAT start to our trip...and it's only just begun! Don't forget to leave comments...we'll read them to the team during our debrief time :)
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
MOVE 2012 is underway! The first GSM mission trip of the summer starts right here in our own community! We've got 42 students and adult leaders who are ready to make a difference over the next 4 days as we serve locally at great organizations like Crooked Creek Ranch, Monroe Circle Community Center and Center for the Homeless!
The team is prepared, they've been getting ready for this experience for the last 4 months.
The team is excited, many have worked and saved and raised support.
The team is well led, there is a phenomenal team of adults who have taken vacation, made plans and are here leading these students as they engage the work ahead.
We're in for a great couple days, so come along on the journey with us! Check back here daily for updates on the team's day as well as photos and feel free to leave a comment! The team loves hearing from the friends and family supporting them!
You can also follow along during the day with little snippets by following us on Twitter (@gsmlive), Instragram (gsmlive) or on Facebook (Granger Student Ministries).
The team is prepared, they've been getting ready for this experience for the last 4 months.
The team is excited, many have worked and saved and raised support.
The team is well led, there is a phenomenal team of adults who have taken vacation, made plans and are here leading these students as they engage the work ahead.
We're in for a great couple days, so come along on the journey with us! Check back here daily for updates on the team's day as well as photos and feel free to leave a comment! The team loves hearing from the friends and family supporting them!
You can also follow along during the day with little snippets by following us on Twitter (@gsmlive), Instragram (gsmlive) or on Facebook (Granger Student Ministries).
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)