Mission Trip 2

Yay! I got back from my mission trip on July 24. It was really cool. I was working at a nursing home and it almost made me cry to see all these people who need help turning on their TV! (I don't know how I would survive!!)


Anyways, I met this really nice deaf lady named Alma. I wanted to bring her home with me! I kept on having to write down things on a dry erase board so she could read it!

Another thing I learned was that old people can be really mean. I know that once you get old you start to go crazy and stuff, but I think they could have appreciated the fact that I was trying to help them. I went to go help a lady play bingo but another lady at the table shouted at me, "Just leave her alone!" Geez. Everyone in the room turned to look at us (at least, those that heard or those that could turn around in their wheelchairs.).

The last night was really sad. The counselors washed your the group leaders feet and the group leaders washed your feet. It was supposed to be like the Last Supper, when Jesus washed his disciples feet. The youth director for my church, Renee, washed mine. They washed your feet in the warm water (which felt really good after swimming in cold Lake Superior) and then said a prayer. A counselor was playing sad music in the background on her acoustic.

Everyone got up once they were done crying and ready to go to bed. I was the last one in the quiet gym, along with Renee, another kid's mom, and the church pastor. I stared at the lamp burning in the corner, and I silently prayed a short sentence, over and over again.

I promise to do better, Jesus. I promise.




~Kim~

P.S. We didn't end up staying in a hotel. We slept in a 140-year-old prebysterian church that leaked sand on our heads. Yes, that's right. Sand.

Mission Trip

Ok, so I leave for a mission trip this Sunday to Duluth, Minnesota, and I can already tell things are going to get BAD. First of all, I'm gonna be in a van for 6 hours with 11 people, and the church van is only supposed to hold 7 people. Second, I have to get up at 8:00 in the morning. That's still considered the middle of the night for me.



So last week we got commisioned for the trip. It was basically just where the pastors said a blessing during the early church service at 7:30 outside. That means the grass was still dewey, and I was wearing sandals. Wow, that was cold. Anyways, after the commisioning (if that's a word.) the high schoolers left for Kansas City. They were doing this thing called Iraqi Children where they sent school supplies to Iraq. To send off the high schoolers, everybody honked the horns in their cars. (If you're wondering why I was outside to get commisioned and everyone was in their cars, it's because there is a church service you can go to at my church where you can just park your cars in the church parking lot and turn on your radios to a station, while the pastors are doing the sermon on the stage next to the parking lot.) I just really hope we don't get honked at while the middle school mission trip leaves.



While we're in Duluth, I think we're going to do stuff like work at homeless shelters (since 15.5% of the population lives below the poverty level), work at thrift stores, work at elderly centers, and volunteer at children's programs. Here's the daily schedule below.

Breakfast- 7:00- 8:00
Devotions- 8- 8:30
Depart for Ministry Sites- 9
Shower/Dinner Prep Time- 3:30- 5:30
Dinner- 5:30- 6:30
Evening Activity (like visiting the Maritime Museum and Canal Park, the World of Wheels, and spending an evening at Park Point)- 6:30- 8:30
Evening Programming- 9- 10
Prepare for Bed/Lights Out- 11- 11:15

Oh yeah, did I mention we're going to stay in a hotel??? I don't know what the hotel is yet, but I hope it's really cool.

Okay, well I'm going to go, because I need to pack. Bye!

~Kim~

P.S. If you want to do a mission trip like this, talk to your pastor or youth director and go to www.youthworks.com

Wow

Wow. It's been forever since I got on this thing! There are SOOOO many injuries I need to tell you about. I also need to tell you about some of the, well, dumb things I've done. Stupid blondeness. (Is that a word?). Okay, I'm just gonna make a list. I'm sorry if you get carpotunnel or something from scrolling down so much.

1. After mowing the lawn earlier this week, I tried putting the mower back in the garage, but our sunroom is getting redone (that's another story) and the wood for it took up like half of the garage. Therefore, I had to squeeze the lawn mower in between the wood and van. After doing that, I came out the way I pushed the mower in and saw my new paint job- scratched paint all the way down to the metal, costing my family about, oh I don't know, $2,000? I told my mom (who wasn't very happy with me) that I was going for racing stripes. That didn't really help the matter.
2. The same day as the lawn mower incident, I was playing Guitar Hero: World Tour when my mom called me over into the kitchen. (After the earlier incident, I figured she was going to cut my leg off with a knife or something.) I was walking over there when the strap holding the guitar controller came undone from the controller! (gasp here.) The controller hit the floor and BOOM! I cost my family another $1,000.

Now at this point, you may be thinking something like, "oh no! Poor Kim!" or, "I feel bad for her so I'm sending her money to pay back to her parents!" or, "Dummy." I don't blame you, especially those of you who are thinking the second one. But there is one thing that causes me to be so uncoordinated and blonde. And that thing is GENETICS. Do you really think that all this is my fault? That I'm just too blind to see that this isn't my parents fault? Well you're thinking wrong. Now as you continue reading, remember to blame my parents and NOT ME.

1. I was playing Clue with my family the other night and I wasn't paying attention because I was so tired. My mom asked, "Kim, do you have ballroom, Miss Scarlet, or rope?" I was so tired so I just said, "yeah, mom. I have rope." For those of you who don't get it, I just told everyone I had rope, giving them an advantage.
2. I was playing Guitar Hero: World Tour when my dad called me. I turned around and the guitar hero controller slammed right into the TV, denting it. Again, I owe my parents another $1,000.

So those four are pretty much the worst things that have happened to me since October. And I probably left out, scratch that, did leave out a lot of stuff since I have the memory span of a chocolate chip cookie. Speaking of which... see ya later!

P.S. I wasn't kidding about that sending money thing.