DC - Day Five

It's been a trying trip. It probably doesn't quite measure up to the trials that the Guatemala team experienced, but it's rough just the same. With that being said, let's start with some levity. The lady who more or less runs the "restaurant" (as she calls it) at SOME (So Others Might Eat) has a habit of dancing with her volunteers. Nathan promised to dance with her before the day let out, so just before we left, here's what we got:




Fantastic, right! SOME was a great place to serve. It is basically a soup kitchen - but don't say that to Michelle; it's her restaurant - that serves several hundred meals a day in breakfast and lunch shifts. And boy, do they have it figured out! each person comes through a line, gets their food, then sits at the next available open seat - no looking around to find a seat off by yourself. The volunteers each have a specific responsibility: placing napkins, forks, and cups in just the right place; dishes; filling water cups; pouring coffee; cleaning off tables and chairs; dishes; etc. It was an impressive thing to watch! Michelle had great things to say about our group and how hard they served...except for me. She just got on me for showing up later than everyone else. I didn't mind though. As long as people appreciate what our kids are doing, they can say what they want about me. Besides, she was just messing with me anyway...I think. Seriously, our students worked their tails off, especially Nathan doing dishes (Jason said he was a beast!)

While at SOME, between shifts, Jared Ritter wrote this poem:

Change to Believe In

S.O.M.E.
A chance to make a difference for all to see.
No matter the struggle, no matter how long the task may last.
We are here to change lives, forgiving others and moving on from the past.
Meal after meal we will serve under one name,
Blessing others, as they leave better than they came.
We ask upon the Lord, to watch over us until our goal is complete,
As we change the world, so others might eat.

Wow! That's all I can say...


After serving and eating lunch there, we went on our Urban Plunge. Basically what this is is an experiential learning experience. Students are broken up into smaller groups with an adult and given a set of instructions for an advanced scavenger hunt, for lack of a better description. The object is to put ourselves in the shoes of a homeless individual so we know a little bit what it feels like. We were each given $2.00 with the explanation that this is money we made panhandling earlier in the day. We were told a specific area to go to and how to get there: by foot, bus, or Metro. When there, we had to do some research, including what churches were in the area, where a homeless person could find food, healthcare, or a place to stay, and so on. We also, with our combined $8.00, had to buy a pair of socks for a homeless individual (and give them to him/her), and had to buy food for us and some to share with a homeless person. We ended up buying socks at a consignment store (and giving them to a homeless lady) and three Lunchables from CVS, two of which we shared with a homeless guy we ran across named Rick. We had a good conversation with him while we ate with him. He told us that he had been homeless for eight years, and the reason was because he simply drank too much. He spent the majority of his days in a park, unless it rained overnight; then he slept under a bank drive-thru overhang. We also talked sports with him (he watched the games through the front window of a bar in the area). It was enjoyable to talk to him, but also very sad. And to think that there are thousands of them all over DC is sobering. One of the other groups ran across a guy who lost his Bible, so after we were done with our Plunge, they went back and tried to give them Barry's Bible (he gave it to them to give to the guy) but they didn't find him. So they left it at the church he said he attended. We have a great group of students on this trip with huge hearts! You should be proud of them if one of them is your kid!


Last night we debriefed as one big group at Ebenezer's Coffeehouse. It was a lot of fun to be in that environment! I shared with the group about the story behind the Coffeehouse and the Church that it housed (see earlier post). During the debrief, Sydnei said something that got me a little fired up. She said something about being "just a kid." I took the opportunity to speak out against the idea that just because they are young that they can't do something great for God in this world. Please back me up on this. If your kid wants to do something big - or even little - for God, give them whatever support you can to make it a reality. They need it from their parents and other adults in their lives. God has done amazing things in the past through young people and can do even more through our young people. Let's give them the backing to make it happen!


Earlier today, I spent time at Food & Friends, an organization that provides food for very ill people, including HIV/AIDS patients. Many of us spent time packing food, while others delivered. As always, we worked hard and got the job done in spectacular fashion.

Ken has had a rough week. You may have heard that he got his vehicle broken into and his wallet stolen. We called Budget and they told us to exchange the vehicle because whoever broke into it had some sort of scrambling device that screwed up the remote locks. Ken took the vehicle to the airport and accidentally was sitting in a restricted area. A cop pulled up behind him and asked for his ID, which he didn't have because his wallet had been stolen. So they frisked him, cuffed him, and put him in the back of the cop car, where he sat for 45 minutes. His arm was falling asleep, so he laid down in the back seat and thought, "I hate this city!" They then took him inside the airport where they have a holding cell, where he sat for another 45 minutes until they got the results from his fingerprints back. Needless to say it was not what he was expecting when he agreed to take a bunch of high school students to our nation's capital. But he has been a champ throughout!

We have a change of plans for our return trip. Instead of staying in Knoxville, TN, we will be spending the night in Wilmore, KY, home of Asbury Theological Seminary, where Rob Mehner, Daniel Taylor, Brett Cheek, and I all received our Masters degrees. The phone number at Asbury is (800) 2-ASBURY, if you need it, but my cell phone number is still probably the best way to get a hold of us.

This may be the last post until we get home. I will upload the remainder of the picture when we get back to Cape. They can be viewed here. Thanks for your continued prayers this week. See you soon!

DC - Day Four

So, out the door of Star COGIC I walk this morning to find half of Team Arlington standing outside their vehicle. They shouted me over and showed me that they had a flat tire. That's great because we haven't had any vehicle troubles yet (snicker-snicker). Barry and a local got it changed and off they went. Barry will be heading to the airport to switch out the vehicle for another one because there is no way I'm driving back to Missouri without a spare.

Yesterday, after my requisite blogging and failed attempts at uploading pictures (I'm trying again right now), I spent time with Team Pentagon, headed up by Team Captains Taylor Quade and Ashley Davie and SIMYs Marcy and Nic. They were serving at A Wider Circle, that has already gotten a couple of mentions in this blog. A Wider Circle, among other things, accepts donations of used furniture and home goods and gives them away to people who need them. While we were there, several U-Haul-type truckloads arrived and Team Pentagon went to work unloading furniture and putting it where it belonged. Also, several people arrived to claim some stuff and our crew would then snap into action to load the furniture they had claimed into their vehicle. It was moments of frantic activity followed by moments of downtime. I learned several things about the group, not the least of which was that Molly is a stellar steam cleaner (she had the job of steam cleaning mattresses to kill the bedbugs). Pentagon worked hard yesterday, and just before we left, the supervisor made it a point to express to me her appreciation for how hard our team worked. I always know that we have good workers, but it's a special joy to hear it from someone else.

After wrapping up there, we headed to our dinner location, Pollo Granjero. We were early to we ducked into a coffee shop called The Potter's House, which is essentially a coffee house church. One of the ladies who is heavily involved - she may be a pastor; I missed the first part of her talk - talked to us for a long while all about the church, it's history, it's worship, and all of the ministries that they have started. It was very interesting stuff, but our crew was really tired so I'm not sure that they got the full effect from the conversation.

After a yummy Salvadoran dinner, we headed to the Lincoln Memorial for debriefing. I got separated from the group and got horribly lost, winding up on the bridge that takes you across to Virginia. After much driving around and finally finding a parking space, I made it to the Memorial...and only beat the rest of the group by about 45 minutes. They also wound up in Virginia, then made it back, then had to take a potty break, then parked entirely too far away. When they did arrive, we had a good debriefing. One concern that was mentioned by a few students was the fact that when they are on these trips, they want to make a change when they get home, whether it be in serving more, or giving more, or being less concerned about their "stuff", but then when they get home, back into their reality, there is no change. Please pray for them, that there is a real change in their hearts and actions when they return to Cape.

Here are a couple of blog-worthy stories from Kim, one of the Team Arlington SIMYs:

• While driving downtown, Cory Hogan thought we were on Embassy Row, where all the embassies are lined in rows on both sides of the street. He saw a building with a lot of palm trees out front and said, "Oh, I wonder if that's for Hawaii!"

• Arlington's pickiest eater, Corey Robertson, has really branched out this week. He has tried every ethnic food we've eaten and he especially liked the Vietnamese food. From a guy who has never eaten steak or pork chops (but he's trying one tonight) he wins the "most improved in eating" award. Alex Ellis wins the "most exotic food eaten" award because she ate a quail egg in her Vietnamese soup without gagging or choking. Way to go, Arlington!
• During our morning devotional on Wednesday, we had talked about being tired and how it could affect how we minister to or treat others. Rachel Diamond shared about how, in Luke 21, Jesus was telling his disciples that the woman who had very little to give but gave all she had gave more to God than the rich man who gave more money. She compared that to us being tired but giving all that we had to serve God well and how that we would be giving more than serving when we are well-rested and serving out of our own "wealth" or strength. Serving and loving others while exhausted requires a greater sacrifice. It was a great reminder to us about how we are to serve and she really encouraged all of us. We have great student leaders on this trip.
• (This story also come from Team Arlington, but came from Barry) While they were driving yesterday, they were on Pennsylvania Avenue and they noticed a huge, white house. They started discussing that, "Hey, I think that's the White House," and were getting excited about it. Their CSM host, Shaina, finally spoke up and said, "Guys, I hate to break it to you, but that's not the White House." They pressed on. Some time later, Barry turned to her and whispered, "When are you going to tell them the truth?" She confessed, "Guys, that was the White House." It was a perfect scam, and the youth were non-too-thrilled that they had been got.

I'll be heading to SOME (So Others May Eat) here in a little bit to hang our with Team Watergate (a.k.a. The Scandal, according to Jenn Lipe) and doing the Urban Plunge with them (more details on that tomorrow), Then tonight, it's on to Ebenezer's Coffeehouse for our debrief. I am still working on housing for us in Lexington on our trip back. If neither of my options comes through, we'll be staying at our originally-planned location in Knoxville, TN. Thanks for your continued prayers...

BTW, don't be looking for any new pictures until we get back. I am having issues with Flickr Uploader. I'll try to get that remedied when we get back home. Sorry for those of you who are visual learners...

One final thing: Houston Below wasn't too thrilled when he found out I posted the video of him doing Young MC's 'Bust a Move.' So when he gets home, make sure you mention how much you loved his rapping ability.

UPDATE: Just received these three notes via text message from Jenn, Team Watergate:

• Today, Nathan was our super washer in the SOME kitchen! He was speedy, had suds a flyin', and Dave wants him to stay and work full time (Thursday).
• 80-yr-old Bennie worked as hard as the group did, clipping the hedges alongside us as we overhauled her yard (Tuesday).
• Jared almost clotheslined a guy on a moped trying to take a picture of the Washington DC architecture. (Wednesday)

DC - Day Three

We are officially at hump day here in DC, and things are moving along well. I wouldn't say everything was perfect, but that hasn't really affected our group's motivation and willingness to be the hands and feet of Jesus in this city.

Yesterday, I had the privilege of hanging out with Team Arlington, headed up by Barry, Kim and Lisa as SIMYs, and Team Captains Corey and Rachel. I got to their morning site pretty close to the time they were planning on wrapping up. They went to Community Christian Homes and were expecting to hang out with senior citizens. Instead, they did yardwork. This group provides home cleaning and yardwork for seniors who want to continue to live in their homes, so our crew got to go clean the yard of one such house. They did fantastic work! Let's just say Cody was a beast, breaking a set of limb cutters with his sheer strength, and no blade of grass was without fear with him around, including the ones on the hillside. And who knew that Riley had the guns she has, going after every possible limb that needed cutting. The group made the yard look great! And Kim used her meal money to buy flowers for the lady's planter in front. It is a privilege to hang out with such cool kids and adults!

In the afternoon, we went to ROJA. After a long drive and getting turned around several times, we finally arrived. We were split up into two groups as they had two locations. This organization provides after-school tutoring and homework help for the kids who live in their particular apartment complex. Our crew helped tutor the kids in spelling and math, among other things. Then, it was play time! We went outside and played dodgeball, kickball, freeze tag, frisbee, badminton, and anything else they wanted. Unfortunately, our youth really don't like to play that much (sarcasm alert!). We all had a blast! Before leaving, the director of the organization sat our youth down and asked them their input about getting kids to read. It was neat to be able to see someone value our kids opinion so much as to ask them for input. And they had good things to say.

After all that, we went to dinner at the Old City Cafe for falafel. We had our choice of chicken, beef, or plain filafel. The chicken was delicious! Then from there, it was on to the Basilica for our debriefing. CSM is doing a great job of allowing us to see the city without making it feel like we are here just to be tourists. The next two nights we are tentatively scheduled to debrief at the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument, but some of the Team Captains want to debrief at Ebenezer's Coffeehouse, a ministry of the National Community Church which gives all of its proceeds to missions. You can read their story here. What once was a crack house that the church leaders prayed for years for is now being used for God's glory.

Team Watergate experienced some difficulties yesterday. They showed up at their afternoon site and were told that they were going to clean the houses of three senior citizens. They were excited and fired up to serve and split up into three teams. However, when two of the groups showed up at their location, the people weren't home. They were disappointed and came back to our housing site. Rather than doing nothing, they used their time to clean bathrooms and other areas of the church we are staying at. And Cory and Riley have cleaned the common area each of the last two nights before bed just because. Just before I went to bed last night, one of the CSM hosts approached me and asked, "Fitz, can we keep your kids here the entire summer? They are great! I don't want them to leave." That's the caliber of kids we have. They are a joy to work with!

Now I am off to work with Team Pentagon at A Wider Circle, a warehouse of some sort. More updates tomorrow...

P.S. Sorry for the lack of photo updates today. They wouldn't upload, for some reason. I will try and work it out tomorrow, but I may not be able to upload photos until we return. We'll see...

And now, for your listening enjoyment:

DC - Day Two

Tired. I think that's the word that best described our team yesterday. We were wiped out from driving for two days, and then driving some more for our prayer tour. Then, a full day of serving made us a pretty wiped out crew. This, combined with more driving and much getting lost and walking, contributed to some frustration within our ranks. However, once our crews got to their work sites, the mindset of everyone changed and we were reminded why we were there: to serve. And serve we did!


I tried to catch up with Team Smithsonian at their morning site, the DC Central Kitchen, an organization that provides meals for the homeless. I didn't make it - it took longer to upload pictures than I was hoping (if it keeps up that way, I may have to wait until we get back to upload all the pictures) - but they worked hard cutting all sorts of vegetables to get ready for the meals. They will have very sore arms today due to the numbers of carrots they grated. They ate lunch there and had time to kill until their next site, so they went to the Air & Space Smithsonian to walk around a bit...except that they parked so far away that they didn't have much time to do that. I drove around for a long time waiting for them to be done, then went with them to Children of Mine, a ministry to children. The woman who started it is an incredible lady. Her husband was murdered by teenagers, and instead of being bitter and vengeful, decided instead to minister to kids to keep it from happening to someone else. We cleaned a bit, and then played with kids a lot! Several of the crew were outside doing acrobatics with the kids - one little guy did back flips off of every piece of the playground - while others of us stayed inside and tutored or played school. I was the problem student, dang it! We had a blast!


From there, we went to dinner at Pollo Granjero for some Salvadoran food: beans and rice, fried plantains, and pupusa, a pastry-type thing with sausage and cheese inside. Yum! Then we met with all of the other groups at the Jefferson Memorial to debrief as a large group. Our group is really too large to debrief together, but it was cool to hear from each team what they did and experienced. Then, back to the housing, and sleep. We slept hard!

Other groups had good days as well, doing things like playing with kiddos, sorting toys, doing yardwork, and moving over 100 mattresses. You would be proud of your kids (if you are one of their parents, I mean)! They are great servants! And Mrs. Robertson, you would be especially proud of your son because he actually ate the Vietnamese food last night. WOO-HOO!!!


Here is a report from Kim, one of the Team Arlington SIMYs:

Team Arlington went to A Wider Circle, an organization whose mission is "to help people lift themselves out of poverty." We served in their warehouse moving and sorting through furniture and other household goods and then helping the clients load everything in their vehicles. Our students served with enthusiasm and cheerful hearts the entire time! We were complimented over and over about what hard-working volunteers they were. The staff expressed how grateful they were that we were there, especially around 3:00pm when several trucks showed up and we helped unload 128+ mattresses and box springs. Had we not been there it would have taken them hours to unload what we did in less than 30 minutes! Our students learned first-hand what God said in Proverbs, "The generous prosper and are satisfied; those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed." After A Wider Circle we did the Eden Center Plunge which took us to the Vietnamese center of the eastern part of the US in Falls Church, VA. There we interacted with the local people, learned a little about Vietnam and ate Vietnamese food - Yummy!! BTW getting around in DC is quite a trick - keep praying for safety while driving, especially for the DC drivers while we're here. :-)

Thanks for all your prayers! Don't forget to check out the pictures - more were uploaded today.

DC - Day One

I finally have some access to be able to upload some pictures and give y'all an update. It has been an interesting trip, to say the least. But we are here and have hit the ground running.

Getting Here

In case you haven't heard, we had a bit of difficulty with our vehicles. When Jane and JT and several volunteers showed up at Budget to pick up our eight 12-passenger vans (five for DC and three for Milwaukee), they had exactly NONE of them. Awesome. After much finagling, they supplied us with eight SUV's for the DC trip which the volunteers brought back with them, and Budget also dropped off three 12-passenger vans for the Milwaukee team to use. They also agreed to pay for all of our gas, tolls, and parking for the trip for our troubles. I would prefer to have the 12s, but what can you do.

The trip itself wasn't exactly smooth either. Terry Ann's vehicle lost power twice. The car was still running, but nothing would happen when she pressed on the gas. So twice she had to pull over on the highway, and wait, and then try again. We called Budget from the road and told them we wanted them to bring us a new vehicle to I-64. They said they could, but we could wait anywhere from 90 minutes to 2 hours. So we chose to go to the Louisville Airport instead. We explained our situation to them, and they hooked us up with a new SUV...which wasn't going to fit our people and luggage. In the meantime, they took our other vehicle with all of our stuff in it. They weren't going to upgrade us to a larger vehicle because they said all of their large SUVs were not one-way rentals. I told them they needed to do something. They mentioned a minivan, which everyone agreed would fit our people and stuff, so off we went...after and hour and a half setback.

Huntington, WV

We spent the night in the gymnasium of the Twenty-Sixth St. Baptist Church in Huntington, WV. This is the town probably best known for two things: Marshall University and the Naked Chef, Jamie Oliver. The church was so hospitable to us, as they were so excited to start using their gym for something like this. Some of the ladies in the church made all of our people small goodie bags to take with us, including a bottle of water, tissues, candy, gum, and crackers. It was really sweet! We got on the road again at 7:20am the next morning after a not so great night's sleep.

DC

After a beautiful drive through the mountains of West Virginia and Maryland, we made it to our site a little before 4:00pm. The people of the church we are staying at were still meeting from their morning services - a little different than La Croix. The girls are staying on the third floor of this old church building, right down the hall from the "kitchen" and the showers (two showers for the girls - one for the guys); the guys are staying on the first floor (so we are getting our exercise going up and down the stairs). After a few minutes of hang time, it was off to dinner.

We ate dinner at Addis Ababa, an Ethiopian restaurant. This is one of my favorite parts of CSM trips - the students get to experience many different cultures in one week just by eating dinner at various ethnic restaurants. Dinner consisted of a platter of various things that we scooped up with this spongy bread and ate - no utensils or plates. Many of our crew walked away hungry because they were a little unsure, but I left stuffed. It was delicious! From there, we left for our prayer tour, which started at the National Cathedral (which, unfortunately, we couldn't go inside). This is also usually a highlight of CSM trips because you really get to learn about the city and the cultures and problems within it. However, the prayer tour was less-than effective this time around because they tried to keep us together in one big group, which was basically impossible. Eight vehicles in DC - yeah, not so much. Not to mention the fact that we were exhausted and sick of being in cars for the past two days solid. We followed Kristy's vehicle, and she had a host who was trying to give us the tour over the speakerphone, but we couldn't hear her well at all. So, although the prayer tour wasn't great for the prayer and learning aspect, one thing was true: we laughed an awful lot. Kenny is a very funny man, and we were slaphappy. When we finally hit the beds, we crashed hard.

This morning, our crews are at the sites doing various project. One team even left at 5:30am to serve breakfast at a shelter. More power to them! And now, I'm going to head off to join Kristy and Ken's group to pack some food and do some cleaning for an after school program. Before I go, please pray for a couple of things:

• Energy: Like I said, we are extremely tired, and it's only day one. This is making some of us a little raw.
• Jason and Jenn: They are going through a difficult time right now. Pray for comfort for them.

Thanks! More updates to come soon...like, tomorrow...

Made it to Huntington

I realized on the way here that we made a change in our gameplan that wasn't communicated. Instead of spending this first night in Knoxville, TN, we are in Huntington, WV at the 26th St. Baptist Church. We finally got here after a long, trying trip which I will detail later when I am not typing on my iPhone (think vehicle issues). We have 7 hours to go tomorrow, so continued prayers for travel would be appreciated. Good night for now...

Unplugging

15 more minutes in the office. Then a day off before heading to Washington DC with 43 senior high students and 10 other adults. I hope I'm ready. There are a lot of loose ends that need to be tied up before embarking on a venture like this. I think I'm good, though. Time will tell. T-minus 41:15 hours and counting 'til departure...