The church camp that where we are staying and working, the Christian Conference Center, has been building and painting chairs all summer as part of their summer camp theme, “building more chair at the table” Today we painted a chair to represent our group and Geist Christian Church. We made it a minion and added pickles (in honor of the HUGE jar of pickles bought at the beginning of the week) and our names on the back. We sealed the other chairs to make them waterproof. Then we helped clean the Chi Rho villages. We swept cabins, put curtains on rods, hung up tarps, and set windows up for rods to get hung up. Later some of us dug/worked on a trench while the others helped clean off the trails. We cooked dinner ourselves outside in one of the villages. We grilled hamburgers and then had dinner with the camp interns. After that we went to the lake and Sam ~attempted~ to play some of the games, but ultimately failed. We ended the day with devotional.

This morning we pulled weeds on the camp’s putt putt course; many bruises were formed from the monstrous weeds. After that we tore down an old shed in the back of a full time employee’s home and deconstructed the screened-in patio to prep it to be re-screened. We broke for lunch (corn dogs and jello, a fan favorite) and headed back to finish our demo project. To get the shed down we had to attach it to the ATV and dragged it out of its corner, and in riveting turn of events the shed came down with little issues. During the tear down we were discarding some trash and discovered a small chipmunk living inside an old gutter. We ended with some ice cream and volleyball in the pool. Our day didn’t go by without a few injuries from rusty nails and dehydration, but we all made it out okay in the end. After dinner we had an exciting round of bowling and headed back for our evening devotion. In our devotional we discussed and visualized the importance of community and nature and how it is all connected to our faiths. To end the night we had a late night snack of pickles, with a few anti-pickle remarks.

Our first day working started off strong with a good breakfast provided by the camp. After breakfast we got together and talked through our morning devotional before we got down and dirty for the day. The work day started off at 9am at the infamous black hole; moving old paint, wood scraps, brick, and metal. Clearing space out and making the camp grounds look nicer and removing unwanted junk that they didn’t need. And after lunch we headed back into the woods to clean up and get the cabins ready for camps happening in the coming weeks. One group stayed at the cabins to hang up curtains and prep the cabin windows. The other group took trips in the back of the camp’s pickup truck to grab mattresses and chairs that needed to be moved to the cabins. The group got mattress surf down some stairs… because it was obviously the most efficient way to get the mattresses down. While working all day we saw an assortment of bugs and animals including: spiders, beetles, wasps, mice, baby mice, a bat, frog, and deer. So you could say it was an eventful day of work. To end our day of work we went to see Minions: Rise of Gru and then came back to eat dinner and go swimming in the lake. We were cut short with our time in the lake due to roaring winds from the incoming storm. Our night was spent in the storm shelter playing cards and doing our nightly devotion rapping up the day.

On Monday we started the drive around 9 am. Three hours into the drive we stopped at Culver’s and got some lunch. After that we played a game for the rest of the ride down to the camp. We all joined a playlist group on Spotify, in this game we all had to add a song to the playlist that fit into a category that was chosen by someone on the bus. We spent the majority of the rest of the ride singing songs and adding them to the playlist. When we got to Newton we went to the store and split up in groups to buy food for dinner. We also bought a foam football that we have used a-lot so far! We got to the cabin and started to make dinner. After we ate we all got to play games. We played volleyball and corn hole. Lindsey and Jackson fished while Nick and Lauren beat everyone in corn hole. After we played games at the cabin we went down to play putt putt. After putt putt we had devotion and communion. We ended the night playing clue and then went to sleep!

Hey y’all, I’m Hailey and I just graduated from Mt. Vernon High School so this is my last mission trip as a youth! Our last day of service here in Fort Worth, Texas started out with us going to the Water Garden for some interesting sight seeing and to talk about the things we could possibly do to continue our work her back at home. Then we headed over to help the folks at DRC Solutions distribute food to the residents in their apartments. There we met some very nice people and some even came back just to chitchat with us! After that we went back to the Refugees Services of Texas’ clubhouse to throw a party for the neighborhood kids. Next we ventured over to Neighborhood Needs to help out DeWitt in the Neighborhood Needs Community Garden. Then we ended our day with Fuzzy’s Tacos and devotion at the Modern Art Museum. An overall packed day but it feels good to be done, looking forward to our fun day tomorrow and all that it brings! And as Crystal would say, “have a good day, make good choices!”

The day started off bright and early at 7:00 a.m. Everyone had a delicious breakfast to begin the morning off right. The first activity of the day was right outside at the church’s community garden. We managed to pull some weeds out of the ground, pick some cherries and peas, shoveling some mulch, and cutting some tarp to put on the ground. Right after that, we managed to have some lunch and take a nice break in the air conditioning. After we settled and got cleaned up, we did our second activity of the day with the Refugee Services of Texas. The youth were separated into groups. The first group went out and did some grocery shopping for a refugee family of 13 people. This adventure took them to a Halal Meat Market where they met Hassan, the shop owner, who helped the group get the right cut meat to make the family feel at home. The other group went and delivered gifts for parents who have recently given birth or parents who are expecting. This group got to meet a few babies and some wonderful families After a long day of working, we headed back to the church to have some dinner provided by Sam’s parents. Today was an impactful day for all of us and we hope that tomorrow will be a fun last day working with refugees.

Today we woke up to meet at 7:15 and prepared for our day by watching videos about the places we were going and a video teaching us the differences between empathy and sympathy. Then we headed over to Neighborhood Needs, a local food pantry that provides people with groceries on Tuesdays and Saturdays. We packed carts full of different groceries and then pushed them out to the cars. I (Corinne) got the task of pushing a cart full of toys around to give out to parents and kids, a very fun experience to help parents choose the right toy for their children. We finished up at the food pantry after 3 hours of volunteering and getting to bring food out to people and talk to them. Then we headed over to a great picnic lunch at Clearfork next to the Trinity River in Fort Worth!

Our afternoon focused on a presentation on advocacy. We listened to a representative from Church World Services, Ayesha Hassan, talk about how we can help refugees by using our voices and we put the advocacy into practice. We wrote letters and emails, and even called senators to advocate for the FY23 refugee admissions goal. We were advocating to raise the goal to 200,000 refugees. This evening we ate some delicious brisket and mac n cheese. Following our meal we competed in a bake off. The two teams went to Tom Thumb and bought out supplies. The two dishes made were a naughty brownie and an apple puff pastry. After a tough competition, the judges were at a draw on deciding who won so it was a tie!

The day started off early with a 7am wake up followed by breakfast. Some youth members took advantage of the large stove top grill and cooked up some eggs, while others ate bagels, yogurt, and fruit. The group then traveled to Catholic Charities where they participated in a game simulating poverty for a month. They successfully made it to the end of the month with $76 to spare. Returning to the church for lunch some members once again made good use of the grill cooking up some grilled cheese sandwiches. We then joined a zoom meeting learning more about Week of Compassion, the Disciples of Christ relief, refugee and development mission fund, and the benefits it brings to refugee families. The youth then made TikTok’s on the topic of refugee resettlement. The group finished off the night by eating a fried chicken dinner graciously prepared by our host church, Ridglea Christian Church, and hearing the stories of Fiyori Kidane, a daughter of refugees resettled in Indianapolis and a Fishers High School graduate! It was a great day of connecting and eating some good food.

We said goodbye to our volunteers from Geist Christian Church from Indianapolis this morning. Last night they visited our farmers market and enjoyed Thursday’s on the Triangle! They also hosted a bake-off, which included a mystery ingredient (Little Debbie Oatmeal Cream Pies) introduced 30 minutes in. I was asked to join as their guest judge! They were filled with so much positive energy and excitement all week. You guys were absolute rock stars! You made repairs to someone’s home by installing a new roof, making their home warmer and drier! You installed new flooring and a new porch for someone and made a huge impact in their home. You dug not one but two footers and framed the roof of one of our Gurney’s Bend houses. Your work was inspiring and invaluable. THANK YOU!!! -Rebekah Vermillion, HDA Summer Assistant ❤

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