Roots Mission Trip Video 2011

We finally were able to get the video downloaded! We hope this gives you a little more of a glimpse of what our week looked like. Enjoy!

Waiting for the Video...

We are hoping to have the VIDEO up and running soon...it took 303 minutes (no that is not a typo) to upload, now we are just waiting for it to process. We are just as excited to share this video with you, so know that we are in the process of making that happen!

Our Last Day

We finally are able to blog about Friday! In all the chaos of trying to wrap things up, we did not get a chance to blog. It was a pretty typical day of summer camp, taking the kids to the park, and also working. We also spent some time at Hyatt Court with the kids. After that we started to clean up, take showers, eat, debrief, and plan out Sunday's service. It was amazing to hear how God had worked throughout the week, yet also talk about where we struggled. It was hard to believe that we were debriefing already because it seemed as if we had just gotten there. It was neat to hear the different experiences, the different stories, yet realizing that in it all, God was working.

After the summer camp, we typically took the kids to a nearby park. We walked there with the kids, which gave us the opportunity to talk with the kids one on one.

There were over 1700 books donated to the Hawkins school, which is right across the street from the church. Those books had to be categorized and sorted for the upcoming school year and events. A few of us had the joy of going down memory lane and seeing some of the "classics" that we loved growing up, which sorting through them all. It took awhile, but our greatest joy in it all, was seeing the man who was kind of the mastermind behind the whole idea of getting books donated to local schools. He was incredibly overwhelmed and EXCITED! You could see and sense his passion that he has for this project! It's called Book 'Em. We couldn't help but be just as excited!

Chapel time with the kids is always such a joy. The kids get so excited over singing songs, dancing, and just praising God. At the end of chapel, one of the kids prays for lunch. It was beautiful to hear them seriously think about what they are saying and thanking God for His love for them. Talk about a child-like faith!

One of the goals for the summer was to raise money for the people of Japan. Some of the girls decided to make bracelets and sell them in efforts to raise as much money as they can. Joy was able to assist the girls in making their bracelets

One of the work projects on Friday was cleaning out an old and dirty freezer that was given to Safe Haven. I heard it was a little gross inside, but the boys did a GREAT job at cleaning it out!

One issue that the church had was keeping up with the garbage. It was picked up on Mondays, but the church realized that others were "using" their garbage services too, so they were never able to catch up, which means there was always garbage on the ground. It caused quite a stink, but the city was able to come and do one big "sweep" of it all, which the guys had the privilege of helping with!

Here is a view from the church step. The basketball court across the church was often filled with different people playing different sports. It was awesome to see it being used in such a positive way!

Our Roots Mission Trip Team!

We Are Back!

We are back! We arrived SAFELY to church at 6:45pm! We left Newark at about 6:20ish am; bright and early that is. We decided that we all wanted to be back at a decent hour so that we had time to regroup before sharing about our trip tomorrow morning at church. We got up at 5:00am, packed, ate breakfast, said our goodbyes, and prayed; oh, and watched a few more planes go over our heads. It was hard to believe that the week had come to a close. We felt it went by incredibly fast, but as the saying goes, time flies when you're having fun. When we drove into the parking lot, the kids didn't want to get out of the vehicles because they didn't want the trip to end. That is a testimony of what God has done in a week. He gave us experiences that impacted us so deeply. So, come to church tomorrow morning at 9:30am to hear all about our mission trip and how God's mighty hand was at work!

Yesterday I thought I would videotape what we experienced every 5 minutes and sometimes every minute in Newark. THE PLANES. I am going to miss that noise - it is WAY too quiet here in St. Joseph! Here is why:

Our Adventures Last Night

Last night we left the church for a while because there were 2 church services going on, so I had the wonderful idea of going to Carlos Bakery (The Bakery on the show Cake Boss). Although the drive took awhile in the New York traffic we made it to Hoboken, New Jersey after a stressful time with giant vans in small parking garages. The cakes in the window of the bakery were amazing! Especially the one that looked like a flower basket, but to get inside we would have had to wait at least an hour but they said most likely 2 hours... We decided to just get a picture in front of the bakery and then go to Coldstone for some ice cream =) yuummmo!

            After getting our ice cream we went to a park that was right on the Hudson river and there was an amazing view of the New York skyline! Being in New York was awesome but everything was so busy and smelly, so seeing the beauty of New York from the park was great because the it was a really pretty park with lighted railways and it wasn't super crowded and it smelled nice. The bakery and park were right in downtown and it was like a super St. Joe downtown! It was very similar to downtown St. Joe and Holland except a lot bigger. Although I didn't get to meet Buddy from Cake Boss going to Hoboken was awesome! This week has been amazing and I am so sad that my last CRC roots trip is coming to a close.

By: Christina Welch

A Busy Day!

 We apologize that we did not get a chance to do "real" blogging tonight...but we had to leave the church tonight because there were 2 separate church services going on, and we didn't get back until 10 tonight. We are all pretty tired, so we aren't begging someone at this point to blog - we'd probably get shoe thrown at us :).

Here is a little glimpse of today in pictures...

Half of the group continued to work - one group finished painting a staircase at the "church house" where many of the people who work at the church stay.

 Gaby was a tad tired today - we were on our lunch break and she just wanted to sleep

 Two peas in a pod!

 David matching up against one of the kids - I have no idea who won this one, but I can about guess!

 The other half of the work team had to clean a freezer out - I heard it was NASTY!

 Working on the staircase

 Yup, you guessed it, more planes in Newark!

 Since we had to leave the church tonight, we headed to Hoboken, where the Carlos' Bake Shop is - aka, the Cake Boss. We didn't realize it would give us such an amazing view of NYC! A drive that we were told would take us 5 minutes, took us a hour - we should've known!

 We finally arrived at the Bake Shop! It was about a hour and half wait, so we did not get in - we only had a hour before it closed. So, we decided to head to the river. It was neat to see where the Cake Boss takes place though!

 "Window shopping" at the Cake Boss

 Even though we weren't able to go into the Bake Shop, it was WELL worth our trip because of THIS VIEW. It was absolutely breath-taking. Yes that sounds cheesy, but it really was. To see all of NYC lit up at night, was absolutely amazing. We all could've sat there and just watched the boats, the planes, and just life going on in NYC. We heard umpteen times "this is sooooo cool" - you know then that it was a well worth it trip!

 The Hudson River separated us from the big city and the lights took over the sky!

Again we apologize for the lack of blogging today, but we didn't realize we would be gone this late. We are hoping to have someone blog in the morning. Thank you for your continued prayers! We all can't believe tomorrow is our last day here! The week has absolutely flown by. It is very sad to think that we will be leaving on Saturday, but we know God calls us back to be "missionaries" at home too.

Our little journey..

Ok so I have never blogged before so I am going to try my best at this.These days are definitely flying by. I can't believe its Wednesday already, but I guess that's what you get when you are having fun. Today was my first work day and I didn't know what to expect. After being with the kids for the past two days I really didn't want to leave them. The group that I was in was divided into two smaller groups, one to go to a school and help clean up there, and the other was to paint some stairs in the interns house. I was in the painting group. I have to say that I learned more about myself and the others in my group during our time painting; it was serouisly the most amazing experience. We would ask questions and then we would have discussions about our answers. I'm not much of a talker (as my family knows) but I actually talked and had fun. We worked till 12:00 and had lunch. After that we lost a member of our group, she went to play in the park while the rest of us went back to work. At around 3 we finished one coat and went back to the church and then went to the park to play with the kids. Those kids are a bundle of energy, all they wanted to do was play with (and sometimes on) you.  Going back to our discussions I realized that I truly love and miss my family right now. During this time I have seen so many things that remind me of them and it makes me think that these children that we play with need our love too. That is only the short version of my day.. :)

Please continue to pray for us,

~Sarah Hartwell

I also have never done blogging either so Sarah and I are on the same page right now. Today was the first day I worked with the kids at the church. I could not believe how much energy they had and how tiring playing with them is. The kids summer camp is divided into three age groups: Jesus Jammers being the youngest, Grace Grabbers being the middle group, and Word Warriors being the oldest. I along with Kristin and Mike were with the Word Warriors. At first it was hard to try and fit in with the kids because it was our first day working with them. We played dodgeball and then did worship with them and I finally realized that we are not that different. The girls and I had a fun time making bracelets and I really got a chance to get to know them and what a different enviroment they live in. After lunch, we played a massive game of hide-and-go-seek with all of the kids at camp. We were paired into groups with two kids. I hid with Kristin's group and I really connected with the two girls we had. Both Brenda and Cynthia really changed my perspective on this whole experience and really made the day fun and engaging. I truly thank God for putting them in my life. Soon after the kids left, I went down to Hyatt Court and played with them at the park. Several of the kids at the camp live at Hyatt. When I first got there, I was bombarded with kids. They absolutely love hugs and piggy-back rides. They truly need and deserve all the love they can get!! :) Eventually, some of the girls began playing with our hair and styled it in so many different ways! The younger boys love to play basketball and its great to see them interacting with us. I can't believe how attached I am becoming to them and it's God's work to be putting them into my heart. Also, I am amazed we are halfway through our trip and sad that we have to leave this wonderful house of God. I miss everyone in our church family so much and I am so thankful for the continuous prayers. I love you Mom, Dad and Ryan too!!!!

God Bless!!!

-Kaytlynn :) 

The girls love our hair because it is so incredibly different than their's! They even wanted to play with Dan's hair!

 Christina being mauled by the kids!

 Anna attempting to hoola-hoop together with the kids

 Alex chillin' with the boys

 Sarah getting her hair "done"

 The kids LOVE getting piggy back rides! Also, here is a glimpse of the Hyatt Court projects in the back. They are in the process of taking this one down - as you can see, it is pretty run down!

 Here is a view of the garbage and debris from taking it down, but also this is a common scene. Michael loved playing football with the kids!

 Adorable!

 Kim showing us her skills!

 Hanging out at Hyatt Court

 Now this takes some talent :)!