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!!