WHY GOD CHOOSE ME

God choose me for this mission because this is what i love to do. Just seeing the faces of people we have helped when we are finished just puts joy in my heart.

Hannah Williams

WHY GOD CHOOSE ME

I think that God chose me for Mission to Michigan because he wanted me
to concentrate more on my spiritual life. Also, I think that He
wanted me to connect more with the people in our youth group that I
hadn't really connected with before, so that I would feel more
comfortable with our youth group.

God chose me so that I could share Him with the people at the Baldwin Center by doing all sorts of projects and hosting a day camp for the kids in the area.

Rebecca Oden

God chose me to go on this mission to remind me how to balance Him in my life. I kind of got off track with the start of a job and the end of school so He chose me because I needed to re-center my faith.

Also with the events in my life over the last couple of months, God showed me through the people we met on the trip that we shouldn’t give up on our faith. God won’t give up on you and He will always find ways to help you through it.

God chose me to be on this mission because He knew I could work hard and give it my all for a Christian community that needs it. He chose me to use my own two hands to spread His Word and love through the talents He has given me. He chose me to help Detroit, but they helped me, too.
Abbey Horne

Why God Chose Me

The Mission to Michigan was my second mission trip. I had looked forward to it all summer, but never guessed it would be such an amazing and spiritually awakening experience. I tried to go in to the week with an open mind and open heart. I made sure to step out of my comfort zone and let myself experience new things and new people.

Most of all, I tried to go where God led me. This meant scraping wallpaper in a hot house all day. This meant staying awake with my mom for three hours in the early morning while she drove and everyone else slept. This meant playing with the children in the day camp. As a group, this meant making a change at the Baldwin Center.

God chose me for this mission trip so that I could do all this and more. God chose me because it was such an important experience for me. I have never felt so close with a group of people. Our foot-washing devotion was so touching that I felt like a new person. God chose me because it was a chance for me to Live Out Loud. It was a chance for me to do something that would help others. It was a chance for me to be a better person. God chose me for the mission trip to Pontiac, Michigan for many reasons. Because he chose me, I had the chance to be closer with my youth group and with God.

Megan Mallonee

DAY EIGHT

Hi Richard! Hi John! Hi Don! Hi Jeff! Hi Charlie! Boy were we glad to see our relief drivers! Several of the Dads; Richard Blackburn (Ben), John O'Neill (Hannah), Don Buckner (Abigail), Jeff Horne (Abbey and Maggie), and Charlie Greene (Becky and Catherine) drove up to Parkersburg WV on Friday night to relieve our tired counselors/drivers for the trip home. We made a quick pit stop, changed drivers and settled back in for some more rest.

After a refueling stop (vehicles and bodies) in Princeton WV we hunkered down for the last leg of return trip to beautiful, hot Gastonia and FUMC. We certainly were glad to be headed SOUTH, north bound I-77 was backed up for 5 to 10 miles in two spots in Virginia. Of course some of us (tired adults) used this to catch up on sleep. We arrived safely back in FUMC parking lot at 6 pm, 14 1/2 hour trip.

We would like to thank God, our parents, our counselors, our leaders (Becky and Jim) and our church for supporting and allowing us to have this wonderful experience.

DAY SEVEN

Friday was spent wrapping up the projects at the Baldwin Center. The
playground team spread 15 lbs of mulch, the brick patio was completed,
the entire house was stripped of wallpaper, Food for Hope bags were
packed to deliver to senior citizens, the daycampers had a beach party
complete with Sundrop slushies, tee shirts and school supplies to take
home. The clothes closet office and reception area is near completion.

It was the first really hot day and it poured the rain for nearly an
hour. As we packed to leave many staff, parents, clients, and children
commented on how hard we worked, how focused we were, how friendly and
mature our sr hi youth were. We know we left our footprints and they too
made an impression on our hearts.

We showered and arrived back at the Baldwin Center to Mid's funnell cakes! For supper, we invaded Sonic - can you imagine 40 people placing orders in the outdoor speaker! After celebrating our counselors, seniors and Fabulous Fran, we closed with
journaling and prayer. We asked the same question the last night that
we began with, "why do you think God chose you for this mission trip". In
the weeks ahead, I hope some of the youth will share their answers. The grand finale of the eveing was the sllide show presentation. We wish to thank Richard Abernethy for his diligence in producing this essay of photos which captured our mission to Michigan. The last frame posed the question 'What kind of world do you want?'. Which leaves each of us to ponder how we continue to serve and live out our faith every day. After a trip to IHOP and rest for the drivers, we got on the road at 3:30am to head home.

Night,Night.
--beckygreene

Mission Trip 2010: Pontiac, Michigan-DAY 6

EDITOR'S NOTE:

Correction from team "Gold Digger" and playground worksite. No bobcat was brought in to finish off the job. A song was created at the site that said, "We want bobcat!" because their had been talk of bringing one to get the last "big polls" because the staff thought that would be impossible. However, FUMC surprised them and manually dug 3 feet and lifted concrete cinder blocks from the dug hole by using a rope. They worked as a team and played tug-a-war with the concrete until it was pulled out.

The morning was kicked off with Morning Glow from Abigail and Lauren. They talked about our "holy ground." In early years Jesus had church tent meetings, so the church community moved from place to place. This was significant because this is a reminder of how we should still live out our faith in every circumstance, even though we have sanctuaries to worship. On this trip we were encouraged to be hands and feet of God by the work we are doing at The Baldwin Center. Even though we are only here for one week, our impact and examples of our Christian faith will be left on Pontiac for many years to come.

At our work sites today we symbolically left our mark as a reminder of our devotion this morning. Many of us taped crosses to our sites to constantly remind us of our faith. We had many worksites today that were examples of Holy Ground.

At the playground site much progress was made. A total of TEN poles were dug and at the conclusion of the day, the removal of the playground set was complete. It was a satisfactory for those involved, as well as others who had been a part of the process earlier in the week or those who had heard or witnessed the progress. What an awesome accomplishment, especially on something that seemed impossible on Monday.

The relocation of the fence was quite successful today. The entire fence was moved and assembled in the new location except for one rotten panel that will need to be replaced. They anticipate completing this project tomorrow. The relocation will be beneficial to the Center in the winter months when the snow is extremely high and needs to be cleared from the parking lot.

Since the fence project on required a few extra hands, the others first assigned to this project created their own project. Abbey Horne, Lauren Long and Catherine Greene decided that a brick patio would be a nice touch to the freshly painted shed our group painted earlier in the week. They tirelessly cleared grass, framed the patio and toiled the soil. Next they added tons of sand and began to set the bricks. Even after passing up their ice cream surprise, the tedious project was not completed at the end of the day. Lauren and Abbey were determined to finish what they started though, and requested to finish it on Friday. The boys at this site, Clay and Sam, trimmed a TON of trees to beautify this site.

The wallpapering group made substantial progress at the house on Thursday. All the wallpaper was removed from the bottom level and the stairs. Much was removed from the upper level of the house and they anticipate completing the project by the end of the week. The group took great pride in their tasks and even created an additional project that will be finished on Friday. The decided to remodel a bathroom in the house. To begin this project, they removed hardware from bathroom appliances and also began removing tile. They look forward to completing this on Friday.

The Clothes Closet group continued demolition in one room of the place. They knocked out all of the dry wall and replaced a majority of it with new dry wall. This was a labor intensive project and required much time and effort. Although they felt like much wasn't accomplished yesterday, we can promise that this group was extremely successful, complete with plaster in their eyes. At the end of the day they wanted to do more, so they applied sheet rock compound to the walls, which will be finished tomorrow. Erin Ingle would like EVERYONE to know that she used a SAWSALL to chop PLENTY of wood, with proof in her sore wrist.


Another group helped a new member of The Baldwin Center staff decorate her office. This new fundraising director started her job the day we arrived, so we immediately had a special bond with her. This group painted her new office Carolina blue. The woman was more than thrilled with the paint and exclaimed she felt right at home. They also helped her unload her supplies and set-up her new place. After this job was completed, Brittany Helm and Hannah Williams helped pack and organize non-perishable food for elderly adults in the community.

Another wonderful day was had by the children that attended Camp Sunshine. They learned through a variety of activities that they were all a creation of God and molded into the beautiful children they are. The children and youth also enjoyed another sing along, complete with Little Sally Walker, Cha Cha Slide and Beach Beattitudes.

After another successful and enjoyable day of work, we were excited for showers. After we were refreshed, we split into groups to enjoy a delicious meal of Panera or Wendys. The short dinner time allowed for a meaningful and moving evening devotions that evoked much emotion from our entire group.

Continuing with the theme of Morning Glow, we were reminded that Surely the Presence of the Lord is in ANYPLACE where we mark as "holy ground" as we serve our Lord. Jim reiterated these sentiments by sharing a story from the book, "Same Kind of Different as Me". Through illustrations in this book we became aware that people from all walks of life can walk beside us in our Christian journey. Our leadership team symbolically showed us of our journey this week through an inspiring and deeply meaningful footwashing. This was a tradition that dates back to the days of Jesus, as He washed the feet of those He served. We learned through scripture that the washing of the feet were not by chance but by a conscious decision by Jesus. Those He served in the time traveled mainly by foot, so this was the dirtiest part of their body. The footwashing not only cleansed their feet but also washed away their sins, negative thoughts, concerns, etc. Once their feet were washed they were cleansed both literally and spiritually. This tradition that we continued during devotions evoked so many emotions and were extremely memorable since our feet were washed by our graduated seniors and rising seniors. Again, we closed this time with journal and prayer time using our prayer beads. We closed in a circle and holding hands. Our group has grown closer together because of this trip, and our group is extremely grateful to have others in our group who can hold their hand and cleanse their spirits by simply being a member of this unique and special group. We feel very fortunate and privileged to be a part of such a special group where we all feel loved and accepted, and most importantly share our love for God. As a symbol of our love for one another, we joined hands and closed in prayer.

Continuing with our moving devotions the guys and girls spent time apart separately and enjoyed the bonding experience. Again, it was another great and full day in Michigan.