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Mission Trip Reports Trip Reports Home
Melbourne FL,
Youth Group
| Trip Dates: | 7/12/2008 to 7/18/2008 |
| Age Group: | Jr. and Sr. high school students |
| Status: | Completed |
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| Reports for Melbourne FL Trip |
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End of Trip Reflections from Melbourne, Florida
9
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7/18/2008
By: Melbourne Mission Team
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Living Word Church- Columbus, Ohio
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Today is the last day of our trip. The group is getting ready to leave right now. Here are the reflections from the participants who didn't write earlier.
Andrew Allton: This trip has truly been a life changing experience. The Spirit was able to lead me and work through me to serve others. It was a great mission trip and I was able to see God work in many ways. Praise the Lord!
Courtney: I really feel this week has been a huge eye opener for not only me, but all of us. It's hard to choose one specific moment that was my favorite, because everything we did I really felt God was with us. He really touched me, cleansed me, and healed me and I thank him for that.
Danielle: I was really blessed by what God has done this week . He opened my heart up so I would let him fill me with joy and happiness. Through the week I could tell that every person we touched was blessed and happy to see that Gods people will take their time to come and help them. So I just thank God for everything he has done for me the group and the people we helped. Thank God for healing everyone. I had lots of fun and wish i could stay.
Maddy: This trip changed my life. I was so blessed by everyone we met and I know we touched their lives as well. This trip has made me a different and better person. God has done some amazing things in my life and I hope he will continue them...even back in Ohio. I will take everything I have done and learned and cherish it for the rest of my life.
Judi: This trip was absolutely amazing. For me, the best part was going to the Master's Workshop. The kids there were so sweet. At first, hardly any of them would open up to us, but by the end of our time there i couldn't get them to stop talking. I also think that we had a great leader and it was a blessing to have him as our leader.
Aaron: this was my first mission trip ever and it was a great experience for me. there a few parts that i really like about the trip. One was helping the ladies at Genesis House. We weeded the yard and that was fun. Another was when we feed the homeless and we saw a manatee and fished off the pier. We had a great project leader in Jeff and meeting him and getting to know him was great.
Toby Toban: The most fun thing this week was watching Pastor John and Andrew running like a little girl. The Master Workshop was the funniest place to be because you got to hang out and play with the little kids.
Morgan: I believe that this trip was truly life changing. my favorite part was going to Master's Workshop. We helped with VBS and it was so much fun. All the kids made a connection with us and we made a huge impact in their lives. I will miss them all dearly, but at least I know that we have planted the seed of Christ in their lives. =)
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Asking the Lord and Dealing with Disappointment
8
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7/17/2008
By: Jeff Goins, Project Leader
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At AIM, we encourage our mission trip participants to "ask the Lord." For short, we call it doing an "ATL." My team is doing that right now. I was a little nervous how they'd take to it, and what crazy thoughts might pop into their heads while they were praying.
Nonetheless, we quieted our hearts and minds and inquired as to what the Holy Spirit wanted to do through the group. I asked anyone who felt God was speaking to them to raise their hands. Instantly, three hands shot up all with the same impression: "I feel like we're supposed to go to the soup kitchen."
After some more prayer, we got some other confirmation, and the group was clearly divided into two groups - one that felt led to do a prayer walk by the beach and another one that wanted to help out at the local soup kitchen for the afternoon.
So, I prayed for them, dropped them off at their ministry locations, and empowered them with this: "This is your mission trip; if something fails, figure it out."
Some of their prayers led them to a disappointing situation: God didn't come through how they thought he would. One participant, Andrew, stumbled upon a profound truth. He expected to minister on a busy street with lots of needy people to help, and instead, he ended up in a quiet, peaceful Floridian neighborhood.
He sensed God telling him that this is what it will be like to go back to society in a few days - normal, un-exciting, but no less in need. The truth of Andrew's revelation hit me, as it did all of the group. Going on mission trips can be a great catalyst for change in a person's life, but eventually we all go back to the world of ordinary, where it's just as important to ask the impossible of God as it is to find him in the ordinary.
This group has been a source of inspiration for me this whole week.
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God Stopped the Rain
7
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7/15/2008
By: Jeff Goins, Project Leader
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It rains in Florida. A lot. I mean, a LOT.
The first two days I spent here in Melbourne were beautiful and sunny. People were out on the beach, jogging along the road, and riding their bicycles all around town. It was the picturesque vacation spot. I was deceived.
Ever since the team from Living Word Church arrived, it has been overcast and rainy. Saturday night, we had a terrible storm that made me worry about some of the outdoor ministry activities we had planned for the week.
Sunday morning, we went to First United Methodist Church. As we sang "Come Now is the Time to Worship," the sun beamed through the stained glass windows. Yet, once the service was over, and we stepped outside, it started to rain. The downpour continued through lunch, and I checked weather.com to see that there were "isolated severe thunderstorms" scheduled for every hour until bed time.
So, I prayed. Actually, I jumped face-first on my bed, pleading with the Lord to stop the rain. I knew the Lord was leading me to trust him more deeply on this trip, but I was afraid that maybe this time he wouldn't hear me. I mean, he didn't have to stop the rain. I would still love him, still worship him, and still follow him. As a good parent, he's entitled to say "no" once in awhile.
Yet, I still asked, trusting his will to be done. I decided that even if the rain didn't stop that we would still go outside and minister. At 1pm, we stepped outside, and the rain came to a drizzle. As we drove to the park, it stopped altogether, and the sun came out.
That afternoon, we enjoyed two hours at the park, where the Lord spoke to us. One participant had a very powerful encounter with the Holy spirit as she was dealing with some issues of shame and unforgiveness, feeling unprepared for a mission trip. God met her in that place and spoke to her in a very personal way. Other youth shared Bible verses that had popped into their minds from seemingly "out of nowhere" - almost all of them had something to do with God's power or sovereignty.
After some great time of prayer and Bible study, we left the park to go clean up Booker T. Washington neighborhood, where the kids had the opportunity to bless a little boy named Marquell, making him the center of their universe for one afternoon.
I later learned that the whole group was praying for the rain to stop that afternoon, and we were all in awe and wonder at what the Lord had done. He stopped the rain. It was no coincidence. There was nothing on the weather channel or on the minute-by-minute update on the internet that suggested it would relent. Yet, for five solid hours, the sun shone down on us as we ministered outside, learning to trust in God's goodness and respond to his voice.
This is real.
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A Generation of Timothy's
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7/14/2008
By: Tonja Alton, Group Leader
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Living Word Church- Columbus, Ohio
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I am here in Melbourne, Florida with 3 other adult leaders and 10 of the youth from my church. We arrived in Melbourne on Saturday, July 12th and it has been a busy few days. I think my "ah-ha" moment was that very first evening.
It seemed like we had faced a lot of frustrations and difficulties throughout the planning of this trip and really felt that Satan was attacking us and trying to discourage us.
Throughout that day we had been talking by phone with our project leader Jeff and he suggested that we attend a praise and worship service at a local church. We quickly agreed to that.
So once we arrived at our lodging facilities, we said hello to Jeff and he jumped in his car and led us to the church. During the service the worship leader asked us to take a moment and just be silent before God and let Him speak to us.
After the service we all went back to the hotel and met with Jeff formally and then he dismissed the youth so that he could go over the weeks plans with the leaders. During that time Jeff shared that God had spoken to him during the praise and worship and gave him the statement "a generation of Timothy's."
Jeff had no idea that 3 weeks prior to this that our youth had chosen the scripture from I Timothy 4:12 where it talks about not letting anyone look down on you because you are young.
All of us had always known that we were to be here in Melbourne, but God chose to just reinforce that on our first night here.
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little kids can touch you
5
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7/14/2008
By: Jacob Jonathon Keys, Participant
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Living Word Church- Columbus, Ohio
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today me and my youth group went to a daycare/yearlong vbs called "The Master's Workshop". we got there early, so we just hung around for a while and helped Ms. Janet set up chairs for the skit we were doing that day, about the good samaritan, and i was a thief... but anyway, we played around with the kids for a while, and then they started to pour in, and i thought "oh boy, we're gonna have a time here". and we did. we did the skit, which made the kids laugh alot, and then we took them outside for a while and had a three-legged race, in which i got dragged along, my feet torn off, and then we played sharks and minnows, in which i drag some kids along with me in. later on, after we finished, we mingled amongst the kids, and they just wanted love and attention, which we gave to them in abundance. we touched them, and they touched us in return. i just pray that they can grow up in Christ, and strenghten his kingdom, one person at a time.
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Cleaning Booker T. Washington Neighborhood
4
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7/13/2008
By: Matt Boothe, Participant
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The Living Word Church- Columbus, Ohio
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Today our group cleaned a small park in Booker T Washington Neighborhood. When we got to the park playground there were several people outside who just stared at us until we started cleaning. After we started cleaning they all steadily left. It was sad to just see them leave because part of what we wanted to do was to play with kids and get to know them as part of our outreach.
While we were cleaning we found lots of broken beer bottles, glass, cigarette butts, and drug paraphernalia. That was very discomforting because of where it was. It was all around a playground. It was hard to fathom adults drinking, smoking, and doing drugs around young kids. It was hard to grasp how they could be such a negative influence to the children.
After we had been cleaning for about a half an hour a 5 year old boy named Marquell came over to us and we invited him to play whiffle ball with us. He readily accepted and we had a great time teaching him how to play and watching him pick up on it so quickly. After whiffle ball we played tag, hide and seek and football and he seemed to have a really great time.
As we were getting ready to leave we asked Marquell about the man who was on his shirt. There was a picture of a young man of 23 named Matt Pertinella that said he lived from 1978-2001. Marquell said that it was his cousin and told us that he had been shot. He also said that "they" shot his uncle too. It was sad to hear that this young boy had two relatives of his that had been killed.
When Andrew, another member of our group, and I went to throw away the trash we had gathered Marquell rode up to us on his bike and asked us where we were going. We told him that we were going back to where we were staying. He gave it little thought before he asked if he could come with us. It broke all our hearts to hear him ask to come with us. It really hit us then just how much he loved spending time with us.
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The Team Arrives to Melbourne, FL
3
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7/12/2008
By: Jeff Goins, Project Leader
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I just got off the phone with Pastor John from Living Word Church, and he informed me that the group is just a few minutes away. We'll be checking the youth and sponsors into their rooms, getting to know each other, and then going over to a worship concert later this evening.
We'll be eating a late supper after the concert, have a brief orientation seminar, and I'll let the group know what we'll be doing tomorrow.
Although the weather has been very sunny the past two days, it has rained most of the afternoon, and the weather right now calls for thunderstorms all of next week.
While much of the group's planned ministry is indoors, rain would stifle some of our outreach opportunities and could weigh down the team's morale. Pray that God would have mercy and let the clouds pass away, bringing sunshine so that we could meet many more people outdoors and share Christ with them. Also, pray that we would be flexible and bold enough to not let our circumstances determine how we will serve God.
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What are we doing in Melbourne?
2
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7/12/2008
By: Jeff Goins, Project Leader
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In case you're just tuning in here, I'm in Florida for the next seven days. I spent last night and this afternoon visiting the local ministries with which we'll be working in Melbourne next week.
The group arrives tomorrow. We'll do some orientation on Saturday, training on Sunday, and begin ministering in these areas, trusting that this will just be the context in which the Holy Spirit will move and challenge us to do what he wants to do here. Here are some, not all, of the places where we'll be serving and what we'll be doing:
Genesis House
Genesis House shelters adult mothers with children, who are homeless or in transition. Some of these residents are also pregnant. These residents stay fairly short-term while they arrange more permanent living arrangements or make educational plans for themselves.
We'll be doing some service projects around the different houses, including painting a porch.
Master's Workshop
The Master’s Workshop is a local non-profit corporation dedicated toward providing a safe, loving and caring environment for at-risk children. The Master’s Workshop focuses on helping the children develop into whole individuals, using basic Biblical principles.
The Master’s Workshop came about out of a recognized need to provide a place for children to come instead of roaming the neighborhood, unsupervised sometimes after dark. The program reaches culturally diverse, at-risk youth (ages 3 to teens) in the Melbourne/Palm Bay area. After school activities include homework help, tutoring, music, computer use, arts & crafts, and nutritional awareness. A meal is served to the children each afternoon.
We'll be doing VBS, serving food, and sharing love with the children.
Booker T. Washington Neighborhood
Booker T. was the first black neighborhood in Eau Gallie - once known as a thriving community where pickup baseball games took place on empty lots, Sundays were for impromptu picnics, and children played freely in the small playground on the corner of Masterson and Southland. But over the years, drugs, addiction and alcoholism took root.
We'll be doing a community clean-up, starting with the park in the middle of the neighborhood, and engage those around us. We'll bring some sports equipment in case a game starts up.
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Getting Things Started in Melbourne
1
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7/10/2008
By: Jeff Goins, Project Leader
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Although the group from Columbus, Ohio doesn't actually arrive until Saturday, I'm in Melbourne already, doing some final setup work to make sure all of our ministries are reading to go once the team is on site.
It's almost 8:00pm on the East Coast, and I'm beat. Starting with spilling coffee all over myself in my new car while my wife was driving me to the airport, this has been a long day.
My luggage somehow didn't end up in the same location, which was a nice welcome to sunny Florida. It felt like it took forever to get my rental car and figure out which flight my wayward backpack decided to take instead of the one I was on. Needless to say, I was glad to get out of the airport two hours after my plane landed.
I checked into a motel for the night, visited two ministry locations, and just now ate for the first time in 12 hours. No wonder my body hates me.
Amidst all the chaos, it could have been easy to give into a negative attitude. Yet, I didn't get mad or frustrated at all today; in fact, I had peace, despite the growling of my stomach and ache of my bones.
My peace came not from myself, but from something that's been ringing in my mind all day. I heard the still, small voice of God last night, as I was fretting over some of the logistics of this trip (like where we were going to stay). In the middle of my worrying, God invaded my thoughts and led me to Psalm 127, which begins like this:
"Unless the LORD builds the house,
its builders labor in vain.
Unless the LORD watches over the city,
the watchmen stand guard in vain."
That stopped me dead in my tracks and cut through me like a knife. I'm already learning on this trip that as we make plans in life, if the plans we make are not from God, the effort will fail.
I believe that God is teaching me something about submitting to his sovereignty this week, and I pray that he does that for the whole group. In fact, my prayer for the next eight days is: "Lord, please let us not labor in vain. Reveal to us what you're building, so that we can join you." Maybe you who are reading at home can echo that prayer with me.
Tomorrow, I'll go check out the rest of the ministry sites and hopefully take a few pictures for you to see Melbourne.
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| Participants |
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| Groups: |
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The Living Word, OH (John Brainard)
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