Geist Christian Youth Mission Trips

Parents and Youth of Geist Christian Church,

The Youth Ministry Team and I have been praying and hoping that this year’s summer mission trips would continue as planned. Over the past month, we have listened for guidance from the Church, been in close contact with our mission sites, as well as the governors of Kentucky, Tennessee, and Indiana. We know this has not been an easy past few months. Many of you have missed important milestones like prom, regional or state athletic accolades, the lead in a musical or play, and the chance of a traditional graduation surrounded by your friends and family. We know it has not been easy to stay healthy at home, as you find new ways to connect with your friends and do school. It is not fair, and it pains me to add one more change to your summer schedule. At this point, we are moving away from traditional mission trips this summer, as we explore new and creative ways to serve the least, the last, and the lost. Even as states begin to open back up, we have concerns surrounding your safety and the safety of those whom we will serve. This decision was made in partnership with the organizations we had planned to work with this summer. They, too, agree the best way we can help is to stay closer to home. I am sorry, and at this time, it’s ok to not be ok. It’s ok to be frustrated. It’s ok to be sad. It’s ok to be angry. The season we find ourselves in is unprecedented, but the feelings that we are experiencing are not unique.

Throughout scripture, we are introduced to people of faith who struggled with their own season of disappointment, frustration, and pain. They lamented to God, asking “Why now? Why us?” Any good lament has to bring our pain and frustration, feelings many of you have at this time. And, just like those who have gone before us, we may lift those feelings to God, who hears our current struggles. However, a good lament has two parts. Although it may begin with an anger toward God, it ends with a declaration of hope. Even though things are not as we had expected or wanted them to be, God will see us through…At some point, we have to find our hope. We must transition from an anger toward God to a hope in God.

As we move throughout this season, I pray we will begin to find hope in God. Those feelings of anger and disappointment are not going away today, tomorrow, or even next week. I, too, find myself sitting with loss as I try to process a summer that will look drastically different than the one I hoped and planned for. And yet, I know God continues to journey with me as I slowly begin to make my way from anger into hope. I encourage each of you to keep an open mind and heart as we look for new ways God may be calling us to serve in 2020.

 

Kyle

Dear Youth and Parents,

I am excited to begin the sign-up process for this year’s Jr. High and High School Mission Trips. These trips will be an important part of their faith formation, which allows them to connect to God and each other in new and dynamic ways. In 2020, we have three mission opportunities that will help your child identify and address the needs of those whom Jesus called “the least of these.” I hope you will prayerfully consider having your child attend one of these life-changing experiences.

For our Senior High youth, we have two exciting options from which to choose for them to serve and grow their faith.

• Our first option is Hazard, KY from June 14-June 19, 2020. During our time in Hazard, our Senior High youth will participate in the Housing Development Alliance. The HDA is an organization that believes that safe, decent, and affordable housing is a fundamental human right. The HDA is an equal opportunity housing provider, which works with a variety of homeowners, including, but not limited to, young working couples with children, single parents, persons with disabilities, and elderly persons. During our week, we will volunteer on various phases of construction, from shingling to digging footer drains, framing floors and walls to painting or landscaping. We hope that this week-long program will create an environment that will encourage youth to probe deeper into their faith and how they can help in a community that is so close to home. Cost: $450, RSVP April 12.
• Our second option is Memphis, TN from June 28-July 3, 2020. During our time in Memphis, our Senior High youth will participate in a Disciples of Christ mission experience called Disciples Summer Mission. Disciples Summer Mission is a ministry designed to connect young people to other Disciples of Christ congregations and to the city of Memphis as they learn about their faith and grow in service. During our week, they will create opportunities for us to help the people in the city through a variety of mission experiences. Our actions will be complemented with moments of prayer and reflection, as we explore how God is changing lives and transforming hearts. Disciples Summer Mission motivates people to act in constructive, appropriate and loving ways both now and in the future, challenging individuals to consider ministry and service as an essential daily part of living out their faith. Cost: $450, RSVP April 12.

Our Jr. High students will have one mission trip opportunity to serve and grow their faith.

• Our Jr. High mission trip is July 11-17, 2020. We will join forces to participate in a Presbyterian-affiliated mission experience called Mission Immersion, an urban ministry designed to educate and challenge participants to reach out to the “least of these” by exposing them to the plight of lower-income and individuals experiencing homelessness in Lexington, KY. Through a variety of social ministries, youth will use their gifts and strengths as they engage and bring about change to those in the city. This urban mission experience will motivate people to act in constructive, appropriate, and loving ways, both now and in the future, challenging individuals to consider ministry and service an essential daily part of living out their faith. Cost: $350, RSVP April 12.

For many, this will be their first mission experience, so I encourage parents to email me at kyle.brown@geistchristian.org or call me at 859-396-9179 with any questions you have prior to the meeting.

I am excited about these opportunities to serve, and I look forward to watching your children grow in their faith, as they learn who God is calling them to be and how best to serve this world.

Sincerely,

Kyle Brown

 

 

ABCs of Mission Trip 3 by Jeff Crague

A is for attitude…amazing, positive, and caring

B is for bug spray…a necessity during our work on farms and in gardens

C is for Cinderella…we saw a wonderful production at the Muny in Forest Park

D is for donuts…Kyle brought some from Worlds’s Fair Donuts

E is for emergency room…we had a slight scare, but fortunately everything is okay

F is for foosball…we had fun playing human foosball with our new friends in the community

G is for go…always on the go!

H is for heat…and humidity!

I is for Italian food…who knew that Kyle was such a great chef…he showed some of the youth some good cooking methods

J is for Jackson…both of them

K is for Kyle…Pastor Kyle does an awesome job!

L is for laughter…the youth spent a lot of time in laughter and fellowship on this trip

M is for Mia…we celebrated her birthday on the trip

N is for nice…which describes all of the youth and all of our new friends that we made

O is for odd…food combinations tried by Kyle…like a vanilla Oreo with hot sauce and bread and butter pickle (and it’s really not half bad)

P is for Pappy’s BBQ…voted the best BBQ in the Lou and a great treat on Wednesday

Q is for quantity…mass quantities of food were consumed

R is for rest…which is well deserved after this trip

S is for St. Louis…the site of our mission work this week

T is for Ted Drewes…a St. Louis icon known for its frozen custard

U is for unique…which describes the opportunity that the youth have on mission trips and all of their personalities

V is for victory…winning at card games was a source of pride during the trip

W is for weeds…large quantities of weeds were pulled this week

X is for xtra…a theme for some on this trip

Y is for youth…the youth are a great group and do extraordinary things!

Z is for zoo…no trip to St. Louis is complete without a visit

This was my first mission trip and we did lots of service, but today was our last day so we got a break. We went to the City Museum this morning and I think it was a really neat experience. We climbed through tunnels, up ladders, and through caves. We also slid down some pretty cool slides. I think I made a lot of neat new friendships with people from GCC and others, and I made existing friendships even stronger.

-Mia Schiesser

Deep Thursday was our last day of service for STL 19. Thursday is DEEP into the week. Our jokes are DEEPER, our service moves DEEPER into the community, our bonds are DEEPER, our care is DEEPER.

Thursday was leg day, every day is leg day! 🤣 Lauren has a knack for dramatically overexerting herself then sheepishly looking for approval to be done…keep working, but thanks for the material for our resident impersonator Matthew. 🤣 Mía got a bug bite on her butt that made her butt uneven…we didn’t see, it but that must have been an impressive bug! 🤣 Kyle announced to us that he must be pregnant – that explains the ridiculously absurd and unusual cravings he’s eaten this week often involving pickles, hot sauce, and sweets. 🤣 This and so much more led to DEEP belly laughs, but maybe you had to be there!

Our final day of service started on an urban farm where we were thankful the mercury in the thermometer fell a bit DEEPER and we had a little reprieve from the scorching heat advisory. It was simply summertime hot. The urban farms give refugees and immigrants opportunities to farm -connecting them with the earth and their home cultures of Eastern Africa and South Central America, and the ability to grow food that can’t be found in stores. The cost of urban farming is astounding so the organization requires funding from DEEP pockets in order to remediate contaminated city soil. The lot we worked had a 3-4 foot DEEP layers of wood-chips as the first step of the remediation process. Pulling weeds from wood chips can be easier than dry, hard soil; but, the roots run DEEP and can be entangled in old tree roots and sticks. There was a large patch of grass that took massive team work with about 15 of us working together to untangle and pull out the roots all the while the experience was entangling our lives with each other more and more and helping our youth grow DEEPER.

We also served at a senior living center playing a cheerful word game, word puzzle, and sing a long. I know that sounds like a slow, boring afternoon – we thought so too. But, we dug down DEEP and went in with a smile. The youth paired up with residents and sat sometimes on their laps, sometimes an arm around them. They came up with cheerful words, made words out of the letters in the word beautiful, and sang songs together from the 1920’s Singin in the Rain, to the Beatles Love Me Do, to the rap I Love My Mom (my new favorite song), and Taylor Swift’s newest, Me! We took a little break to welcome home and congratulate the newly crowned 98 year old Miss Senior Missouri. Aside from having fun, conversations and connection happened bringing a pure DEEP joy that was visible in the change of expressions & body language and the challenge of saying good-byes and getting the residents to their 4:30 dinner and our youth to the bus. They returned to the bus having touch lived and been touched. They left behind joy and their necklaces marking God’s love DEEP at work in STL.

For an afternoon snack there was no need to dig DEEP at 7-11 as we enjoyed the free slushies!

For dinner we joined the other work group at a homeless shelter and filled our bellies down DEEP with spaghetti and ice cream. We were under the rule of 5 year old King Patrick who informed us that Jesus was coming back as Sidney!

No STL visit is complete without visiting the iconic Gateway Arch that rises up from DEEP in the ground to 630 feet in the sky. We enjoyed the views from below only after we drove circles around downtown getting blocked by flood walls due to the DEEP waters of the Mississippi and walked here, there, and everywhere in search of the bathrooms. We wised up and had the drivers get the buses and pick us up so Robbie didn’t have to crutch a mile back. The kids frolicked in the water fountain as the sun set on the day and our mission trip. The colors lit up the sky much the same as our youth lit up STL and all those we served this week.

Our last evening in AMEN house closed with our devotion on Ephesians 4:2. It was amazing to hear how DEEPLY the youth have grown as they shared where they saw God on the move this week learning, serving, growing, and setting the world on fire with our love.

In the 21st century of highly competitive everything and technology in every room and every hand, it’s not often we get to truly PLAY. To cap off the week and leave any bits of remaining energy in STL, we spent the morning at The City Museum. We dug DEEP into our early childhood years to climb, explore, seek, scoot, slide, slither, crawl, twist, turn, and bend our way through whatever the next turn threw our way. There is no map. Much like life, you may have an “idea” of where you are going but you do not know the exact route. There is not a direct route. But, it’s a whole lot more fun if you accept the adventure by embracing and enjoying each new thing you encounter along the way. The morning will leave some DEEP bruises but also some DEEP memories from the smiles and accomplishments of going down the 10 story slide and making it up to the airplane wings.

Their love for God is DEEP

Their care for each other was DEEP

The joy they shared was DEEP

The service came from DEEP within

The memories run DEEP

The connections are DEEP

GCC should be be DEEPLY proud, I know I am.

Thank you

parents for sharing your youth,

youth for sharing your time,

friends for following along.

Tonight my sleep will surely be DEEP!

Since this was my first mission trip I didn’t know know what to expect, but I’m so glad I came. Today our group visited an urban farm and helped weed/clean up an empty lot. This lot is going to be used in the future for immigrants and refugees so they can continue some of the culture that they once had.

After then working on the farm, the group I was in went to an assisted living home. There we played games with the residents and then had a dance party/sing along with them. It then became aware to us that one of the residents had be crowned Ms. Missouri at the Senior Beauty Pageant.

We then ended our day by going to Karen’s House and eating dinner there with the residents there. For the last thing of the the day we visited the Gateway Arch. We took pictures there and watched the sunset.

~Ella Sinn

🎈🎉Celebrate Good Times,

Come On! Let’s Celebrate! 🎉🎈

🕶Kyle & The Gang have much to celebrate in STL today on this momentous occasion marking the twelfth year of the birth of Mia Jeannine Schiesser. 1️⃣2️⃣🤱🏼

🎸⏰We celebrated morning wake up with The Beatles speaker meticulously placed under the Birthday girl’s bed…you say it’s your birthday, Mia?

🍩 We celebrated breakfast with a flaming World’s Fair donut, song, balloons, and streamers.

🏠We celebrated an organization that provides support and long term (2 year) transitional housing for victims of domestic violence. Our mad cleaning skills and HGTV Hillary & JoAnne transformed a couple apartments, now ready for their next clients.

🦵We celebrated news from the doctor that one of our own, who was injured in a wheelbarrow accident at an urban farm, suffered only a bad bruise, no break or tear.

💬💔We celebrated a safe place for brave discussions as we delved into prejudice, racism, and the history of the Delmar Divide.

🐖🍝We celebrated STL BBQ visiting the famous Pappy’s. They have a quick and efficient process to serve the long lines in the picnic like dining area. Man there are a lot of smokers! And, Kyle celebrated the birthday girl that doesn’t like BBQ by bringing her spaghetti!

🎭We celebrated the Arts at the historic Muny theater in Forest Park and celebrated with Cinderella that because… (we are) building up impossible hopes….things are happining everyday, It’s possible!

⚡️💨We celebrated the safety provided by our super power storm shield as severe thunderstorms blew over and around us (much like Detroit) allowing us to enjoy the performance with only a drop!

🍺 I celebrated (surviving) day 3 with an ice cold cider! Actually, that didn’t happen, but wouldn’t it have been nice? Maybe in my dreams tonight…

😒😬😴As expected, we are weak, weary, and grumpy after day 3; yet we have served much, learned much, loved much, and have so much to celebrate as we rest up for our final day of service!