What's up everybody? We've got something new to put on the Youth Calender. The Refuge is going to be heading to the Art - Music - Justice Tour. As a group, The Refuge will be heading down to Remington's Entertainment Complex on Republic Rd. on September 28th. This will be taking place of our normal Sunday Night Live on September 28th. The event will start with some Wendy's for dinner @ 5:00pm, and then we'll walk over to Remington's for the concert that starts at 6:00pm. The entire night will only cost each student $20, which includes dinner and the concert. Parents should drop off and pick up the students at Remington's. Schweitzer will not be providing transportation to and from the concert.
The Art - Music - Justice Tour is a unique concert opportunity to add to the beauty of God, seek justice for those which do not have justice, and to give God praise! Critically-acclaimed singer-songwriter Sara Groves has gathered a group of fellow-acclaimed artists and friends Brandon Heath, Derek Webb, and Sandra McCracken to benefit both the International Justice Mission and Food For the Hungry. The International Justice Mission (www.IJM.org) is a human rights agency that secures justice for victims of slavery, sexual exploitation and other forms of violent oppression. Food for the Hungry (www.FH.org) works in more than 26 developing countries providing disaster and emergency relief, and implementing sustainable development programs to transform communities physically and spiritually.
Visit: http://www.myspace.com/artmusicjustice for more info.
Well parents and friends, Day 7 is here, and is almost gone. Which means we will be home in no time. The problem is... I don't think any of the youth want to leave, and neither do I. When I first asked the youth at the beginning of the trip, "What are you on this mission trip for?", I got answers like... "I'm here for a tan," or "To meet new friends," or "Because my parents made me come." I re-asked the question tonight during our Church Time and the responses were anything but the previous answers. Students are realizing how bad people have it, as well as what it takes to bring joy and happiness to someone's life.
Like I said, today was our last day at our homes. Two of the three work sites are still not finished due to the extensive damage done to the houses, but one of the houses actually did get done, and early. The students at Site #2 got done at lunch time today, and got to go back to the churches early and take long, warm showers and nap before everyone else got back. There will be more crews in the next couple of months coming back to these homes to finish what we have started.
Tonight, as I am writing this, the students are having some free time. They are either watching "Night at the Museum" or playing cards or board games in the church. After the free time, we are going to attend our last worship service. Then we go back to our churches and clean up, pack up, and sleep. Because tomorrow morning, we are to be at breakfast around 6am, so we can be on the road by 8am. If all goes according to plan, we will be back in Springfield around 11 or 12pm. We will have your students call you with their cell phones if plans change.
I hope everyone is doing well and staying safe back in Springfield. We have heard that there have been some enormous storms in Springfield recently. We are all praying for your safety as you are praying for ours as well! God Bless!
-Tim Smith
Like I said, today was our last day at our homes. Two of the three work sites are still not finished due to the extensive damage done to the houses, but one of the houses actually did get done, and early. The students at Site #2 got done at lunch time today, and got to go back to the churches early and take long, warm showers and nap before everyone else got back. There will be more crews in the next couple of months coming back to these homes to finish what we have started.
Tonight, as I am writing this, the students are having some free time. They are either watching "Night at the Museum" or playing cards or board games in the church. After the free time, we are going to attend our last worship service. Then we go back to our churches and clean up, pack up, and sleep. Because tomorrow morning, we are to be at breakfast around 6am, so we can be on the road by 8am. If all goes according to plan, we will be back in Springfield around 11 or 12pm. We will have your students call you with their cell phones if plans change.
I hope everyone is doing well and staying safe back in Springfield. We have heard that there have been some enormous storms in Springfield recently. We are all praying for your safety as you are praying for ours as well! God Bless!
-Tim Smith
Hey parents and friends! I'm back with more news. We have one more work day left, tomorrow, and everyone is doing very well. There are two groups which will easily finish their homes tomorrow, and one group which will be cutting it close. There have been many ceiling tiles stapled into place, many walls torn out by hammers, more dry-wall put up than any youth has ever done, and more fellowship than we all know what to do with.
At one of the work sites which some of the older youth are at, the family that was originally living in the home that is being worked on has brought other family members over to meet the work team (The Schweitzer Youth) and has brought them some goodies. The goodies are called "Cool Cups." There are a type of snow cone which a woman makes out of her own home. So this particular work site got the privledge to go to her home and get some treats.
Another work site is working along side of the resident of the home. The man, Charles, is looking over his sister's house actually, but is working along side the youth all day long. The team at Charles home didn't have a power screw driver, so Charles took it upon himself to find his own among his house and took the task of pulling out screws all over his home to give the youth a break.
At the third and last site, the home owner has asked us how long we will be around tomorrow (our last work day) so they could do something "special" for us. I can't wait! To say the least, we are being treated in ways that we weren't expecting. The people of Beaumont, TX are some of the nicest around.
Like I said, our last day of work is tomorrow. There is a lot to still be done. Dry wall to lay, walls to rip out, tiles to put in place, windows to install, etc. Therefore, I'm going to leave Kyrstal's Burger Joint and go back to the church where I'm actually supposed to be asleep at. Have a good night everyone! God Bless!
- Tim Smith
Things to Pray For:
- The homes get finished by tomorrow
- The fellowship among the youth continues to grow
- The home owners will see Christ through our actions and words
- Safety among the work sites
What's up parents and friends!? How is everyone doing? We are doing wonderful in the hot, humid, and sometimes rainy Beaumont! Our first full day of work is now under our belts, and there are no injuries to report. Sorry I couldn't write you all anything last night, but the two churches we are staying at do not have any internet I can connect to. So therefore... yes... I might be breaking a rule right now to write to you all after our lights are supposed to be out. I am currently sitting in a Kyrstal burger joint parking lot using their internet.
Like I said before, there have been no injuries to report. Today, we were split up into three different homes. Wayne and Dawn are in charge of a group which is in charge of dry-walling an entire home, as well as some other chores. Darryll and Kris Kaatz are in charge of another group which is in charge of putting up ceiling tiles around an entire home. Myself, Julianne, and Angela are in charge of the last group which are in charge of putting up ceiling tiles. But before our group can put up any ceiling tiles, we have to demo (knock down walls) an entire room of moldy drywall. All in all, it has been a very good day at each work site. There has been no complaining, no heat exhaustion, and no fighting within groups. Everyone is still getting along with everyone.
Tomorrow, the crew "gets" to get up at 4:30 in the morning in order to eat breakfast, do a morning devotional, and get to our work site by 7am. Aren't you all glad you aren't on this trip right now? Just kidding. Once everyone actually roles out of their sleeping bags, they are wide awake and ready to work which is a huge blessing. Also, tomorrow, we are going to the beach after our work day. We end our work day at 3pm and head to the beach to play in the Gulf as well as eat a dinner provided by a church there on the beach. It should be a blast.
I probably need to get going because the employees in Krystal keep looking out their windows and watching me in Wayne Thompson's car. If I can't blog to you tomorrow, you know why. Either... I can't skip out on lights out at the church, or Krystal has kicked me out of their parking lot. God Bless everyone!
- Tim Smith
Things to Pray For:
- Safety at the beach and work sites
- fellowship among Schweitzer Youth as well as other youth here serving
- Some youth which are going through some family struggles back in Missouri could really use some prayers
- The staff putting on the Mission Trip
- For the families we are working for... that God may open up opportunities for us to share our faith in one way or another before the week ends
My mother always told me that, "No news was good news." So I want to tell all of you out there reading this that we have no bad news to give you. Only good news!
Today, we started the day off relatively early in the morning... 6:30am to be exact for breakfast. We then walked across the street to the Methodist church which the choir and puppets were involved with. The choir sang at both the 8:30 and 10:30 services and did wonderful. The choir sang one song at the 8:30 service, and three songs at the 10:30 service. The puppets put on a show at 9:30 for anyone from the age of 5 - 18. They also did a wonderful job. Another highlight of the morning was in the 8:30 service. The youth group from the Methodist church here in Bossier City is about to head out on a mission trip of their own. So the church had their own youth group and our youth group come to the front while the congregation laid hands upon us in order to pray for our trips together. The church also supplied us with a wonderful lunch as well. Lets just say that the churches down here in Bossier City really know how to treat their guests.
After helping with morning worship, the entire group headed off to the Louisiana Boardwalk. This consisted of an alligator feeding at the Bass Pro Shop, an array of stores for the group to look at, an arcade, a trolley car, a beautiful seen over looking the river that runs through the city, and our wonderful eatery... Joe's Crab Shack! The students had a blast on their free day.
We then came back to the hotel and had fun in the sun. The fun basically consisted of swimming in the pool, trying to drown Julianne, Angela, and Tim, and playing the old game, 4-Square. I'm not exactly sure how this game became so popular on this trip, but I have now found a new game to play with the youth after Sunday Night Live this next semester!
The group couldn't be better. Everyone, and I mean everyone, is getting along with each other no matter the age difference or gender. Everyone is laughing, learning, and loving on each other, and it is some of the best fellowship I've seen out of these youth since I've been around Schweitzer.
Well I better get going to bed, because we have another drive ahead of us in the morning to Beaumont, TX where we'll start working on our project homes.
Things to pray about:
- The health of the students as we enter into more humid and warm weather in Texas
- The ability to share our faith to those that are in need, wherever they may be
- The continued fellowship and spiritual growth of our students as the trip continues
Well parents... Day 1 has come to an end, and was a successful one at that.
Our
bus ride was loud, but fun of course. The ride consisted of listening
to music through the bus speakers, watching movies, playing games like
Trouble, Catch Phrase, and cards, and singing bus songs which everyone
seemed to know. There wasn't a lot of time for sleep on the bus. I
think everyone was too excited.
Once
we got to Bossier City, we went across the street for some dinner at
Wendy's, and then came back to the hotel for our evening devotional.
Incase you are wondering, we are discussing John 17:20-23. We are
hoping the youth and adults as well will learn how to unite as One body
in Christ and help serve those in need here in Bossier City and in
Beaumont, TX.
Free time was not forgotten
about though. And the youth weren't going to let me forget about it
either. The Days Inn has an outdoor pool which the youth spotted from
the highway on our way in. From around 8pm until 10pm, the youth
played around in the pool, dunked each other, tried to dunk me, and had
some well deserved fellowship.
Overall,
Day 1 has been a success. I will get back to you all tomorrow night
with another update of our adventures here in Bossier City! Goodnight
and God Bless!
-Tim Smith
Picture 1: Evening Devotional
Continue reading Day 1 in Bossier City, LA.
Parents & Youth-
We are excited about the journey we are about to embark on together to Beaumont, TX to assist in Hurricane Rita relief. I had recently told the parents in a meeting that I would email them every night to let them know how things are going. Instead, we have created this Blog so that the parents and anyone that wants to can read about our Mission Trip. Check back every day in order to hear about our efforts in Beaumont and to see pictures from each day. God Bless!
- Tim Smith
We are excited about the journey we are about to embark on together to Beaumont, TX to assist in Hurricane Rita relief. I had recently told the parents in a meeting that I would email them every night to let them know how things are going. Instead, we have created this Blog so that the parents and anyone that wants to can read about our Mission Trip. Check back every day in order to hear about our efforts in Beaumont and to see pictures from each day. God Bless!
- Tim Smith
This is the new blog! Check back soon...
