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"Glad I decided to come on the mission trip.  I had a great time.  Grew closer to the people I didn't know so well and the people I did know."

"It was a great week.  Really changed my perspective on life.  Made me realize how much more involved I want to be with the youth."

"I had an amazing week growing spiritually with myself and our group."

"I truly believe I am a different person from this past week."

"In the last week I have 1.  Fallen on my face at St. Augustine 2.  Run into a glass door 3.  Fallen on my face and scraped myself"

"What GREAT feedback I have received from everyone you came in contact with last week your group was fantastic, hard working, and a pleasure to have on our campuses." -CRM

Take one look on Twitter and you will see just how much of an impact the mission trip down to Jacksonville had on all of us!  The experiences we had at the worksites and with one another will last not only in our memories, but also in the way we live well beyond this single week.  We had the opportunity to learn more about ourselves, God, and each other and those things will stick with us the rest of our lives.  A week spent over 8 hours away from home allowed all of us to find a new perspective on life and realize the things that are truly important, and even gave us the opportunity to find or rediscover our passions.  I am so thankful for that week in Jacksonville, it helped remind me that following Jesus is not just a trend, but a long journey.  So may we remember our awesome experience and stay the course on our walk with God here in Gastonia!

Are You Ready For A Miracle?! - Friday Recap

Typically, Friday is a difficult day because everyone is tired.  But Maggie and Jake began the day by focusing on our only real purpose which is to get outside the box and point to Jesus!

It felt good to be a part of significant agencies and ministries in Jacksonville.

The fence project is complete at City Rescue Mission (CRM).  This work team did not stop until 6:00 p.m. on Friday evening.  They denied themselves of group showers, packing and dinner to persevere and finish the project.

The garden group at CRM completed seed planting by 1:00 p.m., in time to teach the students in the Recovery Program how to continue to nurture and care for the garden.  Before wrapping up for the day, some of the garden team members helped finish the Fence Project.

The "lunch bunch" crew at CRM cooked up a delightful meal for the residents.  They were able to serve the students restaurant style and then joined them for their meal.

A small group traveled to the CRM thrift store where they sorted and organized the warehouse.

Over at BEAM they wrapped up the week of preparation for the Back to School Bash on August 10th.  7,000 articles of clothing are sorted, sized and hung for 1,100 children to shop.  Before leaving the agency, we said a prayer in advance of this annual event held in the Jacksonville Beach community.

Friday was field trip day at Sanctuary on 8th for the students who earned enough participation points.  Julie and Luke led our youth to a nearby island to spend the day with the children.

Showering, packing and cleaning occupied the next several hours, followed by dinner and our closing celebration.

Work teams debriefed the talents that were turned into miracles during the week.  Counselors were given their annual Paper Plate Awards.

The eagerly anticipated slide show, capably edited and produced by Anne, was enjoyed by all.  We also received a really neat new tshirt that captured our Live2Give mindset.

During our closing worship, the names of those who touched our lives, were lifted up in prayer and brought to the altar.

SIGNificant - Thursday Recap

It was an early morning. Well earlier than usual. Garrett's morning glow topic was about doing something because you know it's right rather than because you want something else to see you doing it. Then we headed out and went our separate ways. We had four different worksites which included World Relief/BEAM, Clara White Mission/Mulch spreading, City Rescue Mission, and Sanctuary on 8th.  We slowly all came back to MUMC after freshening up at the local Y. Right before dinner we hand our third Annual Freshman Wrestling Competition which includes one round of trash-talking and two rounds of on air mattresses knee-wrestling. The winner was never determined. Then we had a scrumptious meal of spaghetti and meat sauce with a side salad and garlic bread. After dinner began the emotional devotion dedicated to the graduates. We discussed in our work groups about the signs from God which we saw throughout our day at our different worksites and them furthered with how we showed our love a our worksites in return. To thank the worksites, we decorated a ceiling tile that symbolized the different ministries. Then the graduates told their significant events or moments during their time with the youth group including mission trips. After that the passage about Jesus washing the feet of his disciples was read and Becky explained the meaning behind it and why it is so important that Jesus washed their feet. Then the counselors washed the graduates' feet, the graduates washed the rising seniors' feet, the rising seniors washed the rising juniors' feet and so on and so forth. There was a lot of hugging, crying, congratulating, and goodbye-ing. After everyone settled down Becky gave out the graduates' gifts. They were crosses made by abused women and every cross had a number. The graduates will take this number and go on the website and tell about how they got their cross. When the time comes, they can give away their cross and let the next person share how they get it on the website. You can track your cross and its experiences this way. Then Becky proceeded to give Luke Christy and Jimbo their crosses and they each shared a part of their lives. By this time it was 11:30 and we hadn't have done our quiet time nor work groups for Friday. We did a short devotion which we journaled about how we were going to be brave when returned back to our lives or going to college. The song we heard was Brave by Sarah Bareilles. We also talked about always pointing to Jesus and how "serving others isn't about showing who you are but showing who God is". We ended with a prayer from Skittles around 12 and the girls finished the night with their tradition of Girl's Night. 

-Maggie Long and Meredith Love

Holding Down the Fort - Wednesday Recap

FUMC Youth "holding down the fort" in Jacksonville, FL!

Holy Ground - Tuesday Recap

Garrett lead morning glow, where he provided a lesson where he reminded us that it’s never about us, its always about God. Our work teams were divided to various agencies through out the city.

            At BEAM we sorted through clothes and hangars to prepare for the annual Back to School event.  BEAM’s volunteer director said “ We want to hang a total of 10,000 clothes for this event”, so we went to work.

            Another group arrived at Sanctuary on 8^th where 45 eager children greeted us.  To start the morning off right we asked the children how they felt today to create positive energy.  That translated to a successful day of a basketball camp, healthy snack station, music and dance. We had a wonderful time with the children and then loaded our bus to depart for our second mission if the day. At Second Harvest Food Bank, we sorted two palettes of donated items and then we packed 80 plus family meal boxes.

            We returned to city rescue mission to continue work on the fence project and garden. We made our first trip to the thrift shop where we helped the clothes director sort and hang clothes in the right place. The director said “Every piece of clothing you touch feeds one homeless person, rather it’s sold in the front or out the back.”

            The showers felt so good after a long day of working.  Thank you to the parents and the work team who prepared tacos tonight. Also a big thanks to BEAM who gave us fresh vegetables for dinner!

            The freshman were introduced to their first mission trip game of barnacle. Also in our work teams we talked about the barnacles we experienced through out the day and the fresh waters that renewed us. Luke used a video a to explain the importance of listening to God in the silence. And then we spent time in personal reflection, journaling and prayer. Tonight we are hopeful that God will give us rest.                

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest”

 –Matthew 11:28

Blog by: Jacob Hord, Olivia Devine & Chelsea Vale

   

Are You Ready for a Miracle? - Monday Recap

We were awoken early this morning in order to be at breakfast at 7 a.m.! Sarah 
Towner and Meredith Love started our day off right with a morning glow devotion 
that discussed miracles. We listened to the song Are You Ready For A Miracle to 
help us remember miracles can happen whenever and wherever! Then we loaded up 
the buses and headed our separate ways for a day of work.

The group that headed to BEAM, beaches emergency assistance ministry, left MUMC 
at 8:15. The people who work there gave us a tour of the garden, their pantry, 
and the offices. We then rode about 10 minutes to the warehouse we worked for 
most of the day. We had to go to a church that gave clothing racks to load a 
truck. Back at the warehouse we unloaded them had to go back for a second trip. 
As we unloaded the second truck-full it started to pour rain! After everything 
was unloaded we started to assemble the clothing racks for the next 4 hours. We 
finished 30 minutes early so we took a detour to the beach for 20 minutes. It 
was a great way to relax and refresh after a long and hot day. 

The group that went to Sanctuary on 8th left MUMC at 8:15. Once we were there, 
we broke off into six different rotations of crafts, music/dance, healthy 
snacks, soccer, games, and t-shirts. The groups were divided between ages and 
gender. We were set up by 9:00 to start the rotations. After every group went 
through the rotations, we had lunch with the kids. When lunch was over, the boys 
headed out to the pool. Girls were planing for the next day at the same time. 
Everyone came back and groups of girls did Zumba. We finished earlier than 
expected and went back to take showers after a long day after a long day! 

The group that headed to Christian Rescue Mission (CRM) were the lucky ones this 
morning because they got to hang out (a.k.a. sleep) until 9 while Jimbo and 
David went to buy tools! Once we boarded up and headed over, we were all ready 
to begin a day of work! The event coordinator, Amy, gave us a tour of the place 
and her colleague Regi told us his story and how he now works at CRM. We walked 
around the facility and she showed us the rooms that the ladies stay in which 
were very impressively decorated! Then we split up into a group of cooks and 
landscapers. The cooks started flipping grilled ham and cheese and cutting 
vegetables. The mean and women came and we served them their meals. During this, 
the landscapers were digging holes in the soggy, muddy ground (while it off and 
on rained). These holes, that actually took all day, are going to be the site of 
a future fence around the garden to block the not-so-pretty view of the trailer 
stored right there. We loaded up and headed to the YMCA for a refreshing shower! 


At the YMCA, many of us showered up. The girls were all PLEASANTLY surprised at 
the luxurious bathrooms. The waiting room had a television and the showers had 
amazing water pressure and warm water! The boys, on the other hand, had the 
typical group showers. Then we all headed back to MUMC and split up on buses for 
Panera or Chick-fil-A (a very hard decision for many). 

We played some fun games before our devotion about not worrying about everything 
and allowing god to help us. Once we journaled and heard a song about not 
worrying, we got a snack and headed up to our rooms to go to sleep.  

Sunday's Sermons, Slides, and Spirituality - Sunday Recap

Hey guys! Day one in Jacksonville was pretty cool! We got up at 7, which was CRAZY for teenagers in the summer! But we went to Sunday School and made up 97% of the attendance for this morning. Then we went to the church service which was quite similar to our services at home. The pastor told the story of Moses and the Burning Bush and also spoke of his call to ministry (it was his first Sunday at Mandarin UMC). After church we split for lunch between yummy and yummy-er burgers! Some of the group went to McDonalds and pretty much everyone else went to Five Guys and Burgers and Fries. Then we began our quest for Adventure Landing Waterpark, not realizing there were two places with the same name. So we got lost. Hours later (just kidding), we found the Waterpark and had a great time on water slides, the Lazy River, and in the Wave Pool. Then we went back to MUMC for showers and pizza. Mandarin's youth group was meeting at the same time and asked us about North Carolinians' love for Chacos. Afterwards, they invited us to join them in various line dances. After showing us up with their awesome moves, we had some free time. When it came time for devotion, we started with an energy buzz game. To help us to remember to stay positive throughout the week, we were given "Energy Buses". We then learned our groups and agencies for tomorrow and played a new "I Never..." game to demonstrate what a confusing task at a worksite could be like. When we were fully prepared for our mission work tomorrow, we changed to a more personal, one-on-one with God devotion. We related back to the reference of Moses and the Burning Bush from the sermon this morning. We focused on verse 5 of Exodus chapter 3, which says "Then the Lord said, 'Don't come any closer! Take off your sandals, because you a standing on holy ground.'" We remembered that Moses had the choice to keep walking or stop, and sometimes you have to stop and stand on the holy ground to listen to God. A lot of us figured we could probably do a little bit more listening and a lot less talking. We now are coming upon our lights-out time, so good night to everyone in Gastonia and beyond. We love you and thank you for supporting us as we represent ourselves, our church, and our community.

Maggie L., Maggie C., Alexis, and Sarah

We've Arrived in Jacksonville!

Group Picture at the Florida Welcome Sign

Getting acquainted activity at one of our stops.

Learning more about each other along the drive.

Getting settled for our week stay at Mandarin UMC!

A little basketball before devotions!

Hoping to have sunlight this week for our projects but regardless hope that we will be a light for the people of Jacksonville this week by sharing God's love!