St. Louis Project Pics

Today, I rode around with Bob to some of the ministry sites and I remembered to take some pictures.  One of our reasons for this trip was to First Baptist Church, Ferguson, MO, where we would be lodging some students this year if they had not been damaged by a tornado on Good Friday this year.  We have used their facility to house students for about 10 years and just love their staff.  So we really wanted to stop by and say hello and see how they were doing.  Ken Bouas is the property manager and he showed us around.  All of their educational space was either damaged by wind or rain.  The only place undamaged was their sanctuary and fellowship hall. 

They have already had some windows replaced, but so far the estimated damage is 2 million dollars, which their insurance will pay.  Praise God!

They had to move their offices to the fellowship hall, so where we had always eaten our meals, we saw this:

We sure miss being there this year, but look forward to being back there next year to a practically new building.

There are a couple of parks near this church where we have always done VBS's and FBC, Ferguson has always provided followup to the children who attend. 

And this one is at another park.

These are three of our interns who went with the youth groups everyday to their site.

How's this for contentment in the middle of 70 children and 25 teenagers and the heat?  This is one of the children of the FBC, Arlington's Youth Pastor.

We also visited another ministry site at a church that has allowed us to bring students in  for several years .



Sorry these are so blurry.  I took them with my phone.  Well, two more days and we start over again in Kansas City.  I can't wait to hear how many children and adults were reached this week.

Donna

Mission Trip Time

WARNING!  This might possibly be a very long post with very few pictures.

Well, that said....here goes........ 

I am right now in my room in our lodging site in St. Louis, Missouri.  I have been by myself all afternoon and that is why there is a multitude of new postings on my blog.

You already know that I work for a para-church organization called Global Encounter Ministries.  GEM was founded in 1991 by Bob Caldwell (then it was called The Bob Caldwell Evangelistic Association.)  Bob, under the leadership of the Holy Spirit, began in 1992 to take Jr. High and High School students to Houston, Texas for a week of missions training.  In the early years, he went for  four weeks in July.  We would offer Week 1, Week 2, Week 3 and Week 4 to youth pastors and they would let us know which week they wanted to bring their students for a week of VBS in a ministry site that Bob had arranged for them and they lodged on an air mattress on the floor of a church.

About the only thing that has changed in the past 20 years is that we have everyone come for one week and we usually have more than one city.  This year, we have about 240 people in St. Louis this week and will have about 120 in Kansas City next week.

I started helping with this mission trip project in 1995 when I was our Pastor's Secretary at Springhill Baptist Church.  Bob Caldwell and his wife, Joy, had joined our church after Bob preached a revival for us.  On the last night of the revival, after he had preached, they joined.  I think that really is pretty unique.  Anyway it was the start of a relationship with them that I cherish.  We have experienced so many things together over the years...ups and downs that I feel like our bond is more family than work-related.

Since Bob didn't have an office or secretary, our Pastor, Bob's best friend, offered my assistance.  I knew nothing about mission trips or what I was doing, but I typed up what Bob needed, took phone calls, etc.  I also helped with his India mission trips.  Our Youth Pastor began taking our youth on this mission trip and it became a vital missions endeavor in our church.

In 2000, after I went through two surgeries in  two weeks and was recovering at home, I began to feel an urging inside me to just work part-time.  I had one grandchild and another on the way and wanted more time to be with them.  Plus, our church was growing so fast and Bob's ministry was growing and expanding that I really felt like it was too much for me to keep up with.  I turned in my resignation to our Pastor and he suggested that I pray about being Bob's Ministry Assistant....It would be part-time and I could work at home. Hmmm, it just might work.

Gary and I did some remodeling on our house in April, 2000 and set up an office where the dining room used to be....the Global Encounter Ministries office.  Bob was still an evangelist and on the road most of the time, so we communicated by phone and email.  Over the next few years the Houston Project expanded to include St. Louis, Kansas City and Denver.  The India mission trip was every other year at the end of December through the middle of January.  As the summer trips grew,  the Corpus Christi Spring Break Mission Trip for college students was discontinued.  We offered an opportunity for college students to be a summer intern for the Project and spend the months of June and July helping prepare for the mission trip weeks.

This year we only have one lodging site.  We feed the students their meals here and they sleep here.  We have a worship service each evening with a speaker and band.  This year's band is "The Chad Lister Band" from North Carolina.  Next week in Kansas City, we will lodge and feed the students at one church and worship at another church.

They are doing VBS in 7 locations in St. Louis....churches, parks, and a mobile home park....and doing an incredible job.  I got to visit 3 sites yesterday and loved seeing our students loving on those children, teaching them Bible stories and songs, and feeding them a lunch.  Then, after VBS, they spend an hour or so walking around the neighborhood inviting children to come and sharing Jesus whenever they get the chance.

Well, I didn't tell you what I do here.  My job is to make sure the bills get paid and the cooks get money to buy groceries to feed the students, and keep us on budget, etc. etc.  However, I was challenged by my 10 year old grandaughter, Bailey,  that just because I am not at a ministry site, teaching children about Jesus, doesn't mean that I cannot talk about Him to those I come in contact with. 

Today is Tuesday and that is the day that we allow the youth groups to have the afternoon and evening off.   They do VBS in the morning, but then are free to go to Six Flags, or a ballgame or City Museum or whatever fun thing they decide to do.  They have to be back by 10 pm, though. After a weekend of training and two days of VBS, we feel like it is good to allow them time to relax and get refreshed and ready to finish strong.

I have to say, the older I get, the harder it is to think about sleeping on an air bed and living out of a suitcase for two weeks, not to mention being gone from my husband and children and grandchildren.  But when I get here and worship with these students, see youth leaders I have known for several years and have become friends with, and enjoy the company of the interns I have worked with for the past two months and some of them for the past few years, I am so thankful that the Lord has allowed me to be a part of this for the past 16 years.

Here's my room.....not too bad, huh?

Above is the bedroom part.....below is the office area...

And apparently this room is used as the quilting room, because this giant quilting rack is in here.

With this warning....

Yikes!  I'm trying to be very careful, but it makes me a little nervous.

Well, I'm going to leave on Thursday morning and go home so that I can wash my clothes and see Gary, before I head off to KC on Friday morning.

I will try to get pics of the students and the sites in KC.

God is so good!!

Happy 50th Anniversary to Don and Janet!

Gary and I received an invitation from his cousin, Janet, to a barbecue at their time share resort in Branson on the last Saturday in June.  They have done this for the last few years, we just have never been able to go, but this year we did not have  conflict in our schedule, so we went.  She had invited family members from her side and Don's side and  several friends.  We didn't know it until we got there that it was their 50th wedding anniversary.

Janet Wallace Gundy is the daughter of Gary's uncle Ralph Wallace and his wife Elnora.  Ralph and Cecil, Gary's dad, were brothers.  Ralph and Elnora both have passed on, as have all of the siblings in that generation of the Wallace family.  I think there were nine kids born to Joseph and Arlie Bly Wallace.  Let's see if I can name them:  Ronald, Josie, Ralph, Cecil, Calvin, Ruby, Genevieve, Marion, well, shoot.  I think there is one more, but I'll have to look it up in the family scrapbook.

Anyway, Ralph and Elnora had three children, Janet, Carol and Glen.  Janet is married to Don Gundy and has two sons, Frank and Gary; Carol is married to Roger Brubeck and has three children, Clint, Dan and Pam;  and Glen was married to Jeanie  and had four children, Brian, Angie, Stacy and Brad.  Glen was electrocuted on his job and died much too young.  So tragic.

There were a couple of cousins there that we had not seen since Gary's dad died.  They had come to visit when he was sick.  And then our niece, Amber, was there and we got some good visiting time with her. 

These are pictures of the cousins that were there......

And their spouses......

 And Amber.....

And the whole clan......

What a sweet time of reunion!

Donna

My Little Pool

I have an addition to our backyard.....a little miniature pool.  Well, that's what I'm calling it, anyway.  We used to have the 15 ft version of this pool, until it sprung a leak that we couldn't fix.  But I saw this little 8 ft. one for $49 and thought maybe it would get us by the rest of the summer.  So here are Jadon, Haven and Jude playing in it.

It took Jude a little while to get in, but once he did...he really liked it.  Of course, I am gone for a couple of weeks and no telling what the water will look like when I get back....Oh well.

Donna

Fireworks Shooting Time!

Heather's birthday was on Sunday, July 3rd, but since that day was rather full with other things going on, I decided to have her birthday dinner on Saturday night.  She always wants a cookout..burgers, hot dogs, etc. with a "flag" birthday cake.  I make a white cake with white frosting and put a square of blueberries in the corner and make the red stripes out of strawberries. We had a houseful, but it was so fun.  Heather's parents and grandmother came, B.J. and Donna, Matt & Lindsay & kids, me and Gary and, of course, Todd and Heather and kids.  Karla wasn't feeling well and had to miss it.  We missed her, too.

I had bought some snakes and smoke bombs and stuff and Matt brought out some things too, so they set off those and some firecrackers.

Then, Sunday night, Kinesis Church met at Todd and Heather's house and we had pizza and set off more fireworks....the nighttime kind that light up the sky.  Such an enjoyable time.

Then.....Monday evening...Cozy and Steve invited us over to watch fireworks with them at their house.  They were having a birthday celebration for Charles, whose birthday is on the 6th.  Matt had prepared a light show extravanganza and it sure was! 

What a wonderful weekend of celebrating birthdays and our country's freedom!! 

".....and the rockets red glare, the bombs bursting in air, gave proof through the night, that our flag was still there."

And I am so thankful it still stands for freedom!

Donna

The Rest of June

How busy the summer gets!!  It seems like one day it is winter and school and the next it is summer and playtime.  We have sure been doing our share of playing, too.  One day, Lindsay met us at the zoo and we rode the train.

I thought the boys would want to sit at the front of the train, but the conductor said that it was pretty loud up there.  We opted to sit at the very back.  Sure didn't bother Ava.

Another fun thing has been swimming at the Willard Aquatics Center.  On Tuesday mornings between 11 and 11:45 am, you can bring your little ones for $1.00 each.  The kids just love it!

One day when Jadon and Haven were in summer school, Lindsay had an appointment in town, so she brought Ava and Cael by.  Jude and Cael sharpened their pool skills.  They have no cue sticks, but it doesn't matter, you can roll those balls without them.

And Miss Ava was posing prettily for the camera...

Our next big summer event is Heather's birthday and the Fourth of July!  Hope I have pictures.

Donna