Mission & Service
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The
days and nights are definitely cooling off. This time of year, while we
enjoy the change of colors and chilliness of evenings we're reminded that this
change is one that brings much less joy for God’s children who live without
the security of a home, in this country and around the globe. So we offer
you a prayer and invite you join us in praying it:
Prayer
for the Homeless, Migrants and Refugees
Compassionate God, make
your loving presence felt to the homeless refugees, torn from home, family and
everything familiar. Warm, especially, the hearts of the young, the old, and the
most vulnerable among them. Help them know that you accompany them as you
accompanied Jesus, Mary, and Joseph in their exile to Egypt. Lead refugees to a
new home and a new hope, as you led the Holy Family to their new home in
Nazareth. Open our hearts to receive them as our sisters and brothers in whose
face we see your son, Jesus.
God of the poor, God of love, you made us all your children; we praise You and
thank You. Full us with a sense of justice. Help us in your work, to take the
side of the homeless, the struggling, the lowly, to defend the newcomer, to
welcome the stranger. Help us now to befriend the friendless, protect the weak
children, and work for the rights of all. Lord, on our journey home, bring us
together in peace, in justice, and in love, through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Humane Borders -
College Mission Trip 2007
5/11/07-5/19/07
Each day's entry is added to the bottom of the journal...
scroll down for the new news. :)
If you would like to learn more about Humane Boarders, here
is their website: www.humaneboarders.org
Sunday, May 13th 11:30am
Somewhere on Interstate 25 between
Albuquerque
and
Tucson
Goal of journal writing:
to express throughout the trip what we are feeling and experiencing in
part to help us process the trip and to help you be with us along the way. We
appreciate your checking in on us… keep us and all of those from whom we are
learning and to whom we are serving in your prayers.
Greetings from the road!
We hope all is well for you… all is certainly good with
the seven of us. Tom, Jessi,
Elizabeth, Kelly, Erica, Dane and I have faired well through the first 1,117
miles of the trip.
We ended up getting a little later start from
Columbia
than what we had hoped, but were still fairing well by pulling out of our
parking lot at 7:00pm. After driving
straight through the night, we pulled into
Albuquerque
around 9am local time. We saw on
the internet during our planning meeting that
Albuquerque
has the world’s longest continuous cable car and knew that we wanted to check
it out if we had the chance. Conveniently,
the first thing we came to as we approached the town from the north east side
was the tram!
With great expectations we enjoyed the national park where the ride was
based and made our way up the mountain. It
was around 10,000 feet which is obviously a drastic change of altitude and
climate. One of our clan took a bit
of issue with the altitude, but recovered quickly.
Many a picture was snapped of the dry, shrub covered landscape and we
will post pictures later today when we have the opportunity to spend more time
on this type of thing. ;)
We tried to organize a night of rest in a local Disciple
church, but ended up lodging in the Sleep Inn thanks to an anonymous donor.
;) It was nice to be able to
go and shower after our drive and local explorations.
We also took an afternoon nap before splitting up into two groups for the
Albuquerque
night life. One of our groups
(Dane, Tom and Jessi) enjoyed an evening with the Isotopes – their town’s
minor league baseball team. The
group had a great time with 12,000 other adoring fans.
They raved of the super stadium and gorgeous evening at the ball field.
Unfortunately, the Isotopes lost the game 8-7 to the Tacoma Rainiers.
Kelly, Elizabeth, Erica and I went to “
Old
Town
” and ate at a quaint, local Mexican restaurant.
“Church Street Café” was just want we had hoped for and then we
enjoyed the streets of
Old
Town
. Earlier in the day a local
Albuquerque-ian told us we needed to experience the shop of the “Candy
Lady”. Unfortunately that shop and
many others closed at 6pm on Saturday evening and we weren’t able to peruse
them all. As a lovely alternative,
we listened to a tri of Mexican musicians in the town courtyard’s gazebo and
shopped in the few sores that were open late.
Back at the
Inn
, all of us pretty much crashed after figuring out our Sunday schedule.
It was nice to wake up refreshed and with a hot breakfast waiting for us
in the hotel. We are pretty spoiled
to date… but know that our work is coming…
This morning we chose to attend Monte Vista Christian Church (Disciples of
Christ) (www.montevista.org). We
thought their 8:15am worship service sounded interesting with “interactive
preaching”. It was not
disappointing – their people made us feel extremely welcome and the service
was super. Bob, one of their
ministers was a great preacher and the interactive aspect of it all was cool.
Their chapel was unique and wonderful to worship within.
One of their saints of the church, a retired ordained Disciple minister,
just happened to be sitting behind our group and she knows some of our friends
in
Columbia
! Gene Moore and she worked together
for a year in
Iowa
and she was trained at a conference by Parker Rossman!
She also served on the NBA board with Broadway Christian’s Kim Ryan.
Isn’t it a small world? After
chatting with our new friend for awhile, we explored their big sanctuary which
was amazing; quite unique. Check out
the pictures on their web site and perhaps you can get a feel from those we’ve
shared here.
After worship we returned to
Old
Town
to visit the Candy Lady’s store which turned out to be a very small Candy
Factory (which I think is one of
Columbia
’s neatest downtown storesJ).
After a quick stop at a boutique, we jumped in the van and it from here
that we write.
Thanks be to God for First Christian’s dedication to the other… we are
anxious to get to Tucson and expectant of a transformational experience through
the opportunity to be a part of God’s ministry of life’s essential human
needs at the boarder.
w/love and thanks for facilitating this trip – amy kay and friends
Journal 2
Monday, May 14 at 8:07pm local time
I am in our room of the church while the group is outside
washing and cleaning out trucks. J
Many miles and hours have passed since our last journal entry and I will
attempt in these moments to fill in our happenings while dwelling on those that
hold the most significance (to me anyway;).
Dominos supplied our hot supper last night because we had the forethought
to call ahead and have it waiting for us when we pulled through a random town
between White Sands and
Tucson
. Without spilling and delay we
drove on until we met Sue here at First Christian of Tucson at 9:15ish pm.
The regular Sunday had probably been long for Sue as she is the wife of
the minister and also director of Humane Borders, but she met us with a smile
and gave us a quick tour of the church with specific and succinct instructions
for this morning. She,
unfortunately, had to take her husband, Robin, to the airport at 4am this
morning… yikes. Aside 1:
Robin travels a bunch to speak with people about border issues.
He received his Ph.D. from Texas Tech in ’98 and his major focus was
centered on border issues. He
didn’t work here yet, but was called in ’99.
Interestingly, they didn’t have a border ministry yet because at that
point they didn’t need one. It
came soon enough in 2000 when a Quaker friend and a few others met and chatted
about the growing need for something to be done for the migrant workers who were
dieing in the desert… this sounds a little like how the NBA began.
Anyway, by word of mouth and email they informally invited people to the
meeting and 90 people showed up! Obviously
this was on a lot of people’s minds and they knew who to look to for
guidance… the minister of First Christian (DOC) – Dr. Robin Hoover.
He has since spent half of his time with Humane Borders and half
pasturing/preaching/property renovator/etc. for the church.
We get to use all of the facilities at FCC while we lodge here and a full
kitchen is a part of the deal. Last
night Dane and I ran to the store to stock up for breakfast and lunch throughout
the week and the group settled into our large and comfortable classroom.
All the doors of the church (even interior) have locks, so we feel more
than secure in this entire building. After
cleaning up and readying for today, we slept hard through the night although
some decided that the once coveted cots might not be such a great idea.
;) Tonight we’ll see how
many join Dane and me on the carpeted floor.
During the 6am hour we rose and were ready to go having prayed and suntan
lotioned up by 7am. There was a bit
of miscommunication about our joining the watering group this morning, but Sue
soon cleared things up and we met Gary, Sister Betty and Sister Adline for one
of the four water runs. The nuns
were visiting from
Minnesota
as part of a conference about undocumented workers.
As part of it they chose to ride along to help them understand the issues
better. We,
of course, were doing essentially the same thing.
A water run consists of replenishing the water supply at various parts of
the desert. By doing this, the
ministry hopes to “take death out of the immigration equation”.
We missed the filling of the first two stops, but joined in for the third
and forth. Unfortunately, someone
vandalized the first stop by pulling the spigot and letting all of the 50-55
gallons of water run out. Gary and
the sisters had to fill them completely again and then test the water quality at
the second stop and top those off. Approximately
25 gallons were gone which is a normal day’s drinking apparently.
The third and fourth stops were still full because the migration path
isn’t leading many people through that area at this point.
There is something of a pattern to how people move north that depends on
many things… eventually
Gary
guesses that people will again move through the area of the third and fourth
water stations and they will once again help save lives.
The process of obtaining the permits it takes for Humane Borders to have
these water stops is long and arduous so they keep them all going and continue
to add more stations where they are able. Aside
2: Humane Borders does not lure
people into the country by providing them water in the desert.
They simply do not want people to die because of the lack of water.
They are trying to change laws to help the situation with the workers,
but they are not wanting more people to come across and endanger their lives by
trekking across the inhospitable land that we witnessed today.
I can’t imagine anyone making it across the land we bumped our way
through this morning… it is horrible.
Contrary to what a farm girl from
Kansas
might think, a “coyote” is someone who gets migrants from their homeland to
somewhere north of the border. Migrants
may pay up to $3000 to be safely taken from point A to point B.
There is a lot of complications and layering to all of this, but in a
nutshell, people are being transported for a steep fee and sometimes not getting
much in return. This morning, we
actually saw a truck full of men (and some say they spotted one woman) making
their way past stop 4. It was
Gary
’s first time to see such a thing and only the second time in years of
volunteering each week that he had seen migrants at all.
They didn’t want to be seen by us and hightailed it around some cacti
and down the path.
Gary
couldn’t believe they were moving so late (it was around 10am).
We couldn’t believe what we had seen either.
It was just like the pictures… lots of people squished in a truck.
Amazing…
Gary
called the “roads” we drove on “goat paths” and I would have to agree
with him. I was riding with Gary and
the Sisters while keeping one eyeball on the van behind us because I didn’t
know how Dane was keeping it going at the rather speedy rate with which
Gary
was leading us; however, I got engrossed in a story that Sister Adline was
sharing and lost track of the van.
Gary
noticed that they weren’t moving… and continued to not move for awhile.
I remember jumping out and running to see what was the matter and the
ever calm Tom assured me that there was just something wrong with the wheel
bearing. WHAT?
We were out in the middle of nowhere and even though we had
Gary
’s truck and his experience guiding us along, I had a flash of what it might
feel like to be in the desert… without viable transportation.
I was glad when Dane started driving along again and the rock came out of
the break drum and all was well again… for us.
The fact remains that many are out there right now trying to cross that
area on foot in the dark and probably without enough water.
Without the battle about right or wrong ness of the crossing, the sheer
thought of people out there leaves me without words.
Are we not all brothers and sisters in Christ…
Upon returning to the church we thanked the good folks for
their guidance with the water and enjoyed sandwiches and such for lunch.
We were going to have an hour off and were planning out what to do with
the time when Sue came down and said our plans had changed.
One of the network stations (channel 9) called and wanted to interview
her and one of us about the work we were doing.
They were interested because four people died in the desert this
weekend… the heat is taking its toll already.
Sue wisely thought it best to educate us formally about Humane Borders
through a powerpoint presentation before the news people came… however, they
were early! They caught her mid
presentation and then interviewed her and Tom.
Tom did a lovely job, but we didn’t get to see the news as we were out
and about when it aired. We are
hoping they have it on again at 10pm or on their web site… but know that he
did a good job for us all. J
This afternoon we organized crosses (story another day), learned more of
our tasks and then went to a museum and outdoor garden park place to understand
more about the desert vegetation. It
was like a huge
Shelter
Garden
’s place, but with cacti only. I’ve
never seen so many cacti! It was
beautiful and allowed us to view things by ourselves or with friends at our own
pace. I was ready for some quiet
time and the area was just perfect for a thoughtful stroll.
The group swung by Fry’s grocery store for supper goods and I went to
Sam’s for supplies to take to the border tomorrow and then it was home for
some good hummus, pasta and fellowship. ;)
We enjoyed the night air while we washed the three Humane Borders trucks.
They have another one, but it is in the shop.
This church has two awesome showers and we are currently taking turns
getting cleaned up and ready for Vespers and perhaps a documentary.
What an interesting day it has been… we’ll try to reflect upon it at
Vespers before getting up bright and early to leave at 6:15am for the border.
Tomorrow’s job: administer
first aid at the border and then go to a town meeting about an increase in
Border Patrol surveillance. (?)
We’ll have to tell you about it soon…
Sorry I’ve been so wordy. There
was just so much that went on today that was unique and separate from everything
else!
I’ve heard a number of people say that calling home is tough because we
are two hours different than you all. When
we are at the church, it is too late to call and when we are out and about
during the day, we rarely get reception. We
are thinking of you though and thanks for thinking of us!!
w/love – amy kay and friends
Tuesday, May 15th
10:00PM (Midnight in
Columbia
)
The War Against Those Made Poor
Greetings from Tuscon!
The news today is brought to you by Ms. Jessi Klockow.
I expressed such extreme affinity for the work we did today that I was
asked to depict my experiences and thoughts here in this day’s journal.
Today we rose at approximately 5:15 to prepare for our 6:15 departure to
Nogales
, a small town on the Mexico-side of the border.
Our destination was a small first aid station about a stone’s throw
away from the USA-Mexico border where we distributed water, food, and basic
first aid care to migrant workers just sent back to
Mexico
. These workers were from the
Yucatan
,
Chiapas
,
Obregon
,
Honduras
,
Chihuahua
, Jalisco, and many other places in
Central America
. We worked with a group called
“The Good Samaritans” (“Los Samaritanos”) who were a conglomeration of
UCCers, Presbytarians, and others that called themselves “nothings.”
They were evidently experienced in treating blistered feet and tending to
the typical needs of these returning migrants.
Written on their vehicle was, “Humanitarian Aid is Never a Crime.”
I love this line. It makes so
much sense to me. There was another
group at the station, No More Deaths, who combat the growing number of migrants
dying in the cruel desert.
A new bus load of people came and we started filling up cups of water and
lemonade. Some handed out bread and
others dipped up cups of soup. We
also had a few toothbrushes on hand and toothpaste that they could use to brush
their teeth. After these people
gradually moved on, we would have anywhere from a 30-45 minute wait for the next
bus load which gave us an opportunity to interact with the people.
There were so many interesting people that came through the station, but I
will just share a few of their stories. One
man we met, Jaime, has a nine year old son named William.
They were trying to make it back to
Phoenix
to get William medical care. William’s
mother was infected with chicken pox while pregnant him, which caused
developmental problems. His father
is hoping to go to the
United States
to get William’s jaw worked on so he can speak.
At eleven years old, he can only make simple noises and he is still in
diapers. William’s mother now
suffers from cancer and the family has waited three months to be able to go back
into the
United States
. When taken from the children's
hospital in Phoenix
, the family was not even allowed to take a wheelchair with them.
As we said good bye to William, he showed affection for us as we had for
him through the whimpers he made as we walked away.
We will hold a special place in our hearts for their family and pray for
them often.
I also befriended a young man named Ángel who had walked
for six days in the desert. He was
26 years old and he unfortunately was not the youngest one there.
There was one young man there only 15 years old.
Having seen the desert conditions and stood in the hot, blistering sun
for just an hour, I cannot fathom what it must be like to be walking in that for
six days. I am told by Sue Goodman,
the coordinator of Humane Borders, that when it gets up to 95ºF, you see
another death just about every day in the papers.
There were many people who came through the aid station.
We were told that the numbers of people can vary from 400 to over 1000
every day. In the 6 ½ hours that we
were there, around five bus loads of 30-50 migrants per load arrived to drink
water, rest, and have their wounds tended to.
I thought I knew what a blister was, but soon found out that I had no
idea. These people who walk for days
in the desert come back and have blisters three inches in diameter on their
feet. Some have multiple blisters,
some blisters are infected. When
these blisters develop in the desert and they can no longer walk, their group
will oftentimes leave them behind and they sometimes die.
Between the blisters, venomous snakes and insects, the cacti, the heat
and the lack of water, survival is a struggle.
I was extremely excited that I could communicate somewhat with these
people, as I know a little Spanish. The
more time I spend here in this area of the
United States
, the more I find I am interested in the controversies surrounding border issues
as well as in the struggles of the Hispanic peoples.
I want to continue my education about the topic.
After we left the first aid station, we walked around Tubac which has
several neat stores carrying sculptures, paintings, carvings, rugs, and other
works of art. We ate at a restaurant
there and proceeded to Arivaca to sit in on a town meeting with the border
patrol. It was a very heated meeting
based on the town’s displeasure of the nearby installment of a tower with a
security cameras and radar. This
tower was the only one the Border Patrol planned on planting near a town.
The town’s comments were mainly divided into two points.
They were concerned about their right to privacy and did not want the
cameras looking at them on their property or doing their daily activities.
The other argument was one of economics.
People said that they didn’t know even if the towers would be effective
and complained about the cost of a project they weren’t even sure would work.
They wanted to know why the money wasn’t being spent to help correct
the immigration problem from the inside out.
They said if you eliminate a need to come to the
United States
in search of work, you eliminate the number of illegal immigrants and the whole
problem. One woman spoke up and said
we are fighting a “war against those made poor.”
It was interesting to see the different perspectives of the town members
and also to hear the defense of the Border Patrol.
This was an important meeting so there were four active video cameras
taping the event and about ten members of the Border Patrol present.
I’m not really sure anything was accomplished at this meeting because
the decision has already been made to put up the tower.
Maybe, though, they understand a little better the concerns of the
people. The meeting concluded at
8:00PM.
After the meeting, we returned to the church and decided to wash the water
trucks. We vacuumed, washed the
inside windows, and scrubbed the outside of the trucks.
With all of us working, we got the three trucks washed in about an hour.
Totally exhausted, we came back inside and got ready for bed and another
day of work. Tomorrow we have plans
of picking up migrant trash with local highschoolers and watching documentaries
about the immigration controversy. Until
then be safe and happy.
Journal #4 – Wednesday
with words from Dane...
Today was another fulfilling day here in
Tucson
, although our day was not as physically tiring.
We started off at 8:00 this morning by meeting Jay, an intern with Humane
Boarders and a recent graduate of the
University
of
Arizona
(master’s degree in Urban Planning). Jay
lead us to
Edge
Charter
High School
in Sahuarita where a group of young adults had volunteered to help Human
Boarders pick up trash in an area east of town.
Jay had scouted the area previous to our arrival in order to find a spot
where the migrants had either camped for the night or stopped to change clothes.
The spot was located underneath a cool railroad bridge with a very scenic
view. Our group traversed down a
cliff and into a fairly wooded creek bed and found a couple very distinct camp
trash spots. The two locations were
littered with water bottles, random bits of clothes, food wrappers, etc.
We picked up the refuse carefully (using trash pickers) because of the
thorny brush and the possibility of desert wildlife, mainly rattlesnakes.
The circular path that we walked lead us back up a cliff to return to the
vehicle parking area where we enjoyed lunch with our new found friends.
We felt very good about the six or so huge trash bags that we filled, but
upon hearing about some of the experiences of Sue, we soon realized that the
amount of trash we found was fairly small. She
related to us after returning to FCC Tucson that she has seen campsites that
contained as much trash as the eye could see.
Side note: We saw a very rare
thing in
Arizona
: a creek with water running through
it.
Our next task was not very physically tasking, but incredibly educational
and emotionally draining. As part of
group trips at Humane Borders, volunteers are encouraged to watch documentaries
and other bits of media about current border issues.
The first documentary we watched after returning was called “Crossing
Arizona.” The film won the best
documentary at a recent Sundance Film Festival.
The directors did a wonderful job intertwining local and national angles
on the immigration controversy as well as covering all sides of the issue.
For example, Mike Wilson was featured in many parts of the documentary.
He is a Tohono O’odham Native American that provides water for migrants
heading north even though his tribe is vehemently opposed to his actions.
The documentary then might shift to the very alternative view of the
Arizona Minutemen. This group, some
armed and some unarmed, sit and patrol the border in order to be a physical
deterrent to migrants crossing.
Our second documentary of the afternoon was entitled “The Invisible
Mexicans.” This film focused on
the migrants of
San Diego
County
that live in
Deer
Canyon
on the outskirts of one of the most lucrative real estate markets in the
country. The director and cameraman
followed several people living in the rough, brutal terrain.
Migrants experienced their ramshackle homes behind destroyed and the
constant threat of eviction notices. In
addition, they had to deal with poor water supplies, endless walks to seek daily
employment, and the presence of rattlesnakes in their shacks.
Deer Canyon has long been the home to migrants in this region, in fact
the hidden catholic chapel, built by the migrants themselves (with a
congregation of 100 on Sundays), was in use approximately 20 years before
being destroyed only recently. The
image that was very challenging and difficult to swallow was the sprawling,
beautiful homes being constructed juxtaposed with the plastic sheeting living
quarters of the migrants seeking any type of work in order to send money home.
The weekly Humane Borders meeting started at 5:30 this evening.
We met Mike Wilson, star of “Crossing Arizona,” and were able to tell
our experiences to the supporters of the project.
We were amazed by the amount of media coverage that Humane Borders
receives. On Tuesday, Sue spent some
time with a reporter from Le Monde, a French newspaper.
We also got to see Thomas Yonker in his television debut.
Sue brought the tape from Monday’s KGUN story at the HB offices in
which Tom was interviewed. The
meeting lasted about 90 minutes and discussed a range of topics.
We talked about the water runs from the past week, some struggles with
vandals, other volunteer opportunities, and updates on various meetings.
We learned a ton more about border issues at the dinner table with Sue.
We had a great home style meal of chicken nuggets, peas, corn, fruit, and
salad. We peppered Sue with
follow-up questions from the meeting as well as new questions that popped into
our minds. We drank in all the
information.
Finally, our day ended with a very moving vespers service lead by Jess,
Erica, and Amy Kay. Good singing,
great atmosphere (in the courtyard of the church under a palm tree – we
encircled a candlelit table centered by a cross), and moving words ended our
heavy, informative day. What a
great, frustrating, moving, draining, interesting, heartbreaking, and
challenging experience we are having!
Yakima College Mission Trip 2006
Unfortunately, the church’s lap top didn’t make the
trip as well as our group… it is out of commission and the staff of the
Yakama Mission
have graciously allowed me to use one of their computers to record a short
journal of our experiences. Already
we are so grateful for their hospitality…
Monday, May 15:
Our group of nine left on Sunday, May 14th at
12:10pm
for the west. We stopped to use the
rest room and refill as needed and had a good supper in
Ogallala
,
Nebraska
with my sister and her family. After
some excellent hamburgers and a quick brush of the teach (for some of us, the
only brush in the trip), we headed out for a night of driving.
We were thankful for those who were able to stay up to drive and talk
with the driver while others of us enjoyed some snoozes.
Breakfast at McDonalds was good before a day of driving the last leg of
the trip into the Yakama Nation. David
was here to greet us as were Belinda and Jill who had just come back themselves
from a three week trip to
Guatemala
. (They went to learn Spanish at a
language institute.) Our
happy-to-be-out-of-the-van group had a brief orientation and then went about the
business of settling in for the week. We
had a good spaghetti dinner, a short discussion time and a good night’s rest.
Did I mention that we took showers as well?
;) They were much needed and
felt GREAT.
Three of our group members aren’t feeling the best, but after a good night’s
sleep and some quality time out of the van, they are much better.
Thankfully.
This morning our leaders of the day (Dane and Kelly) organized our scrambled
egg, thick (really thick) bacon and bread breakfast which started us out well.
We organized our stuff that had been downstairs to the upstairs part of
the
Log
Church
where we will be cleaning today. Belinda
greeted us at
8:00am
and our day officially began!
Thanks for thinking of us and for checking in on our journey.
More later from the pacific
north west
…
Tuesday morning
Belinda gave us directions to their farm and our entire clan headed out to meet
David and Jill in the
Bell
’s shed for some initial orientation. They
gave us the heads up about their community’s cougar (no kidding) and what we
need to keep an eye on. Stand big
and don’t run seem to be rather important to remember – in case of bear,
scream too. We then watched a clip
from the movie The Matrix and learned about all a handshake can say about a
person or a people. We walked the 40
acre farm and were reminded of who we are from our stories – our ancient
stories. David told us about Pahto
and we thought of our ancestral stories. Jill
told us about how interconnected we are and illustrated the likeness of our hand
to the cracks in the ground. Perhaps
some of us will read more about it from the lady that Jill beautifully borrowed
the story from. ;)
On to the serving part of our learning and serving trip for the day –
Elizabeth, Alisha and John stayed at the farm and learned how to work with the
irrigation system. I’m sure they
did other things, but because it was three days ago, I can’t remember what
they did! This is the danger of not
being able to journal each day. I’m
actually working on Jill’s computer on Thursday evening at
9:30pm
because she was nice enough to share her
office
key and computer with me. Our lap
top is officially out of commission. Ugh.
Anyway, thank goodness Dane came with me and is helping me remember
everything! Each day here holds a
lot…
The rest of the group came back to the
Mission
and cleaned the front bunk house. It
hadn’t been done through the winter because they don’t have work groups come
in the cold months. We are obviously
their first group and have spent a good amount of time readying things for the
summer happenings.
After a few hours of work, the groups met in Toppenish at the
Cultural
Center
. We toured and learned many things
about Natives from the interesting displays and writings.
Kathleen hadn’t been feeling well and after a trip to the Emergency
Room while the group was in the museum, we learned that she would be fine with a
little medication to smooth the road. In
an effort to get the prescription filled, Jill, Kathleen and I got to see a
lovely downtown in Toppenish. It had
a western theme to it and Jill says that many of the towns have themes.
Interesting! Loud country
music was piped into the downtown area…
The rest of the group came back to the
Mission
to watch “Brown Eyes, Blue Eyes” and then we all met up at
Ft.
Simcoe
for some competitive wiffle ball and a BBQ.
It was a grand evening in a beautiful area of the Reservation. We
learned that the Natives used to winter in these grounds because of the natural
spring that runs on the edge of what is now the park area.
Unfortunately, part of the history of the land is that it was taken by
the military so that a watchful eye could be kept on the Natives.
This trip has been full of painful realizations about our history… and
the hardest part is thinking about how injustice is still among us today.
David said that we have to know our stories to know who we are.
It is not an easy thing to sort through all of this and we can only hope
that we can continue discerning who we are from the eye opening experiences of
this trip when we return home. Certainly
one week isn’t enough time here to have enough perspective to even know the
questions to ask… let alone come up with any answers.
We need to continue learning (and serving) when we return home!
We returned home to the
Mission
for some Home Run Derby and basketball with some local young adults after which
we finally showered for the day. The
facilities here are lovely for a trip like ours.
There are two showers for each gender which is perfect for a group of our
size. We can all get through pretty
quickly. We had a reflection time at
10:00pm
and then all conked out for the night. It
was a good night’s rest for most of us. The
students slept in the basement of the
Mission
on their mattresses, John slept in his own little room beside the students and
Dane and I slept upstairs in the actual bunk area.
We are all happy!
Wednesday
Breakfast (pancakes and cereal) hit the spot and we were
ready to tour the grounds around the
Mission
with David and Jill at
8:00am
. We started at the old
Mission
site that the tribe now owns because we had to sell it off for financial
reasons some time ago. David urged
us all to never loose sight of a vision and purpose that is appropriate for the
day. Apparently the
Mission
got stuck in their vision and didn’t adapt to the changing times.
Ahhhh… we must go have reflections… the group will together finish this
journal on our way home on the old fashioned pen and paper and we’ll update
when we get home next week. It has
been such a bummer to not have the lap top – thanks for hanging with us
anyway.
We look forward to seeing you soon! Call
us on
Amy Kay
’s mobile (808-1980) if you have any concerns or questions.
w/love –
amy kay and friends ;)
********************************************
West Virginia Summer Mission Trip 2005!!
Last message
Here are some pics from today and yesterday. There's a
trailer that we painted the inside of, a drain pipe that some of the group dug,
some pics with the kids at the community center, and some from today at the
mountain top removal place. Everything is going well. We are going to drive to
Lexington tomorrow and stay at the Central Christian Church. We're going to
visit a horse farm also. This will probably be the last email you get from me.
We will probably be home around 6:30 on Sunday. Kara, Kelly & crew
**Thanks, ladies n John! Sorry that it took me a bit to
get these up on the net - our son came home from the hospital and I was a bit
side tracked. :) It is all great to see now though!! For some
reason, the pictures didn't come through in a JPEG format and my computer
doesn't recognize the files. Odd... When Kara comes to work next week,
we'll figure it out and post all the pix.
Wednesday, May 18
Here's some more pics from today and yesterday
afternoon at the Community Center with the kids. Yes, John is jumping rope!! I
caught him in action. I also included a group pic in front of the house that
we've been working on. The last four pics were taken after we completed our jobs
at the house. We painted the front porch, the side of the house as far up as we
could reach, the back top portion, and we also trimmed the bushes and put in two
flower boxes. We had several people stop by saying how much they appreciated
everything. Yesterday we just played with the kids in the afternoon. I think
there's a few pics from that.
Thanks, Kara and gang! Awesome pix :)
Tuesday, May 17
Today
we've been painting a very old house which is downtown. This house used to be a
funeral home that an African American women ran. The city wants to knock it
down, but it's a big part of the city's history. (I think all that's right!!)
The blue building with the animals on it is the Community Center we are staying
at. This is where half of us are going in the afternoon to play with the kids
and help them with their homework. Alisha and John are playing ball with the
kids in some of the pics. It's definitely been an interesting experience so far.
We toured the house on the inside, and it's very run down and needs a lot of
work. The embalming stuff is still in there, and Jeff (the director) said one
time a college student was there to do some work on the house and found an arm
in the closet. (UGHH!) Anyway, I better run. I have to meet the group back at
the house.
Thanks for the update, Kara and
Crew! We love hearing from you!!
**Kara has taken all of the pictures, so she is the phantom member of the
mission team. ;)
Monday, May 16
No computer was to be had today so the group couldn't send us
pix of what they are up to. They assure us that they will spend some time
in front of the keyboard today. It is really hard to make time to do
things like send pictures when there is stuff to be done for the agency.
Many times the computer is away from the work so it takes more time out of the
helping that the group went to do. Check back in though, they were
confident they would get us the scoop today. It's so cool to actually see
what they are doing and what it looks like where they are. We are proud of
you, team!
Sunday, May 15
Our six brave mission trippers called to say that their trip
is going well... however, with the time change and leaving after worship a tad
later than expected, they will be getting into Charleston... around
1:30/2:00am! What troupers!! John and Nancy are taking turns driving
the trip and snoozing in the back of the van and the girls are occupying
themselves with sleep and other road happenings. They sounded like they
were in good spirits around 10:30pm. Our thoughts are with you guys!!
Helping out at Judy's
Back Room Scripture References - Why Mission?
Psalm 72:12-13
Isaiah 66:13
Psalm 10:17-18
Isaiah 41:17-18
Isaiah 58:6-7
Psalm 90:16-17
Lev 19:34
Micah 6:8
Isaiah 61:1
Jeremiah 31:12-13
Luke 1:46-53
Matthew 25:31-46
2 Corinthians 9:12
1 Corinthians 12:5
Ephesians 6:7-8
Colossians 3:23-24
1 Peter 4:11
From the Apocryphal Books: Ecclesiasticus (of the Wisdom of Jesus son
of Sirach) 7:32
Yakama Mission and Service
Check here for pictures and updates from our group's 2005 trip to the Yakama Christian
Mission.
We traveled to the mission in White Swan, Washington to
work with the Disciple Homeland mission there. We spent four days working
at the Log Church, followed by three days in Yakima, Washington working with Habitat for
Humanity. Check this out for our itinerary, daily journal, and some pix...
College Mission Team 2004
Also, make sure you look at the Yakama Mission
update
page.
Mission and Service Opportunities
The Wardrobe
- The college group is volunteering at the Wardrobe
on the second Saturday of each month. The Wardrobe is located downtown
and sells clothes to those in need. Come for as long as you can anytime
between 9:00am - 11:30am. Contact Amy Kay or Kelly for more information.
:)
Big Brothers Big Sisters- Amachi,
a West African word meaning: "Who knows but what God has brought us through
this child."
Dear Friends of Faith:
As you may know, Big Brothers Big Sisters has started a specific mentoring
program for children of incarcerated parents, or as we call them, Children of
Promise because "Who knows but what God has brought us through this
child." We are always recruiting volunteers for all our programs, but
this program is a little different. While we are blessed in this community to
have many students who volunteer for mentoring, Children of Promise have
special issues and needs, so require a minimum of a one year commitment with a
mature, stable mentor.
If you are interested in working with
Big Brothers Big Sisters you can contact the office. 800 North Providence Suite
(110) 573-874-5677
If you have a mission or service event that you would like added
to this page, please let me know! amykayp@firstchristian.org.
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