will updates soon

We have been SOOOOO busy and ended up getting back late to the hotel last night after going to the worship service @ Bella Vista Christian Church. Will update tonight!

Monday, July 6

Today was our first day for Crocodile Dock VBS. At first, it seemed like we might only have 10-20 children, but that soon changed and we probably ended up with over 40 on the first day! They are planning on giving out flyers in the neighborhood to draw in even more children so who knows how many we will end up serving this week!

Our youth are just amazing, already getting to know the youth and having fun. Our theme for the day is "God is with us." This was very evident in the words that were spoken, the laughter and smiles on children's faces, the songs that were sung and the leadership of our youth and adults!

Our AMAZING intern, Whitney, shared that a little girl named Stephanie said to her today that she was already so sad that we would be leaving soon. Whitney tried to reassure you that we'd be there all week, but the young girl just said, "I know, but it makes me sad that you will have to leave!" Precious!

It's been a good day.

Sunday, July 5

After loading the vans and trailer, we took some time to pray together with parents and church members before beginning our journey. Before leaving Richard, our pastor, asked me what # mission trip this was for me (Kristin). It is my 6th trip to Brownsville and my 18th mission trip.

The Brownsville Trip, though, holds a special place in my heart because of the relationships that have been built throughout the years. One of the girls who is about 15 years old here at Bella Vista Christian Church was an infant during one of our first visits. Other children we have seen grow up these last 5-6 years that we have been back. It truly is a special relationship.

Our journey from Waco to Brownsville was pretty uneventful, we have a great traveling group. I posted often to www.twitter.com/cccwaco.


Upon arriving, we ate dinner at an incredible Mexican "fast food" resturant called Taco Palenque . After stuffing ourselves, we met the Pastor and a few members of the church (our dear friend, Albert and his daughters Maritza and Stephanie) to set up all of the VBS decorations and get our supplies ready.

Our youth really have this VBS thing down....in just a few moments we were ready to go.

Back to the hotel to rest after a very, very long day.
We made it! After a LONG day of driving (see www.twitter.com/cccwaco), we arrived in Brownsville, Texas!

2009 Mission Trip Blog

Hey, friends of C3 Youth!

11 youth and 6 adults will be leaving on Sunday, July 5 for our Mission Trip to Brownsville, Texas. We will be leading a Vacation Bible School week for Bella Vista Christian Church. This is a relationship that was started between our two churches during the summer of 1993! It's always exciting to be able to go back and reconnect with this congregation!

Each day during our trip, we will post a blog update for you to read. PLEASE comment! Ask us questions, give your opinions on our activities! It will be a great way for us to ALL experience the mission trip this year!

FYI

You can click on the photos to see them larger.

Day 6: Palmer Waystation & Houston Food Bank

Our last day of mission work started EARLY and our group did a great job of getting out of bed and out the door...in the van by 6:30AM! We arrived at Palmer Episcopal Church across the street from Rice University. This church has been serving breakfast to the working poor and homeless for the last 17 years. They have a beautiful outdoor courtyard where they serve the breakfast and the guests can sit and experience "sanctuary" in this space. We got to be there on a special day as Fridays are PANCAKE DAY! Our group served pancakes to probably 200-300 people......then we got to have some! Quote of the day: Briana, "I wish this wasn't just a week, but a month long trip."

At 10:30 we arrived back at housing.....having already served for 4 hours! So....we got a much earned nap until lunch! I am pretty sure that all 14 of us got a bit of a nap...the girls all slept until lunch at 12:15!

After refueling with lunch at housing, we headed out to the Houston Food Bank where we sorted a room full of donated items from, I think, CVS. I have to brag on the group a little because it's the end of the week, the last mission site, and it's a place where we are working with things and not people......so I thought we might lose some focus .....I was wrong! This group works hard---and works to the end!

Dinner was at my favorite place....the Reggae Hut...EVERYONE (including Stephanie) pretty much cleared their plate of their jamaican food!


We did our debriefing of the day/week at a new downtown park called Discovery Green. It's an environmentally friendly park in the heart of downtown. It was great to get to hear everyone share their memories of the week, reminisce on the funny moments (and there were SO MANY!) and affirm one another in the work they did throughout the week.


Get ready, church family....this group is ready to lead the congregation in getting out in the community more and serving more in the Waco area.....we love that all of you have gotten to "be here" with us this week and look forward to continuing the story TOGETHER.