Mission trip 2011: The work

Last week I accompanied nine high school students from First Lutheran (along with their pastor) on a mission trip to Milwaukee. It was a huge relief that it was organized by YouthWorks, so all of the logistics of housing, ministry sites, meals, and evening activities were arranged for us. They did a great job with everything.

We were split into work groups, so I worked with five of our youth and four from a church in Illinois. We weeded three gardens at the Family House, a facility of several houses that have been converted into a nursing home.








We also cleaned out some cluttered storage rooms for them and even got to play Bingo with some of the residents.




My group also worked at the Gingerbread Land (as did the rest of the First Lutheran group). Gingerbread Land is a block of homes owned by a woman who makes them available to folks who need them.





We cleared pews out of the worship space in the church on the block.





We also did a lot more weeding. The group had fun painting these doors with scripture verses they chose themselves.








We also painted this play equipment, and I think you can tell they had fun even with the more mundane work.








At the end of the week, they got to go to St. Ann's, a facility providing child and adult daycare, and play games with some of the folks there. They had a great time doing that too. But they also understood that their service made a difference, even when they were doing things like weeding and painting that weren't glamorous or dramatic.

The kids worked hard for much of the day, but of course no mission trip is all work. Stay tuned for some highlights of their play time!