Sunday, July 24

We did a lot and saw of amazing things yesterday: we saw the statue of liberty, a ferris wheel inside a store, played games on a metro... but what really made an impact on me yesterday happened before we even got on the train to leave Newark. 
Yesterday morning we were all down in the basement playing cards (it's maybe 10 degrees cooler down there, and even though it smells bad, it's worth it) when Mike came down and told us that the church needed help with the worship team.  Of course Tin Tin looked at me, and being the doer of the two of us she grabbed my hand and up the stairs to the sanctuary we went. 
There was a man on the piano, a man with a guitar, and a woman at the mic.  Eric, the guy with the guitar, told me and Tin Tin that we could choose what we wanted to sing, seeing as we may not know all the tunes.  We chose a couple and it was rehersal time.  Tin Tin and I started at the same mic, being a little out of our comfort zone, but that was soon changed and we ended up on either side of Sherry, the other singer.  Sherry had a little difficulty with the notes... she may have been a little tone deaf in fact.  That made it difficult, we sang louder to try and hear each other... but it made us nervous.
Next thing we knew there was a congregation in front of us, and the guitar and piano were being played.  It was rough at spots, sometimes we didn't know where to come in, sometimes we didin't hit the right notes, but I found myself thinking that it wasn't about how well I could sing, but praising God.  Sherry was not bringing any less glory to God when she sang than I, even though she told the congregation we were singing "No one likes you" (instead of no one like you) and she only sang every couple words.
Love,
Maggie VW

An Eye-opening experience

 Today was are first full day on our mission trip.  After being up for a while we went to church, which was just a matter of steps away from where we were standing.   Singing familar songs it reminded me of back home except the unusual "ahems" mixed into thre.   Showing that no matter where we live, what color we are and what are economic structure is, we are united by a common theme, love for Jesus Christ.  After that we headed to New York by subway. (This was written by David Hartwell).

We had a little bit of an issue with the blog tonight, so I (Kristin) am going to finish this one up, so I apologize that this is not more from the kids. I will try to have them repost tomorrow. So after the church service, we headed to NYC! It was a warm day, with lots of water drinking, but it was a phenomenal day! We did a lot of subway riding from place to place and here is group picture waiting for one of the trains.

Hanging out on the subway

We took the Staten Island Ferry from Manhatten to Staten Island, and then back to Manhatten to get a good view of the Statue of Liberty and also of Manhatten and the surrounding islands. It gave us a very different perspective of NYC from the water!

             

One of our goals was to go to the NBC Observation Deck! We weren't able to go up until 8:00, but that actually ended up being okay because we were able to see the lights of Manhatten then!

The view was absolutely stunning and breath-taking! Breath-taking especially for those who are afraid of heights (which would be me!) This was a well-worth it goal! By the way, Mike Klunder deserves all the credit for our day - he was the one who planned it and guided it!

We had to walk back to the subway station, which led us through Times Square again! But this time it was at night! Seeing the lights of Times Square was AMAZING! It felt like it was morning because it was so bright! Times Square is not a place for those who do not like crowds - it was so crazy when we were trying to walk back! Plus, we were very tired! If you asked the kids if they had fun, they would look exhausted and worn out, but I think tomorrow it will sink in with everything that we did!

Before we went to NYC, we had to grab some lunch. Dan and Mike headed to Domino's and we thought about going to a park to eat, but we thought our cars would be cooler with the air conditioning while we waited for the pizza. We decided to just eat it on this sidewalk - yeah we got a few weird looks, but I suppose I would stare too!

Before church we had a little bit of free time, so the game of choice was Kemps. As you can see, even us spectators loved that game!

Here's a picture of the Staten Island Ferry that we took!

One funny story, we were looking for Mike K. - he had gone off and tried to figure out our next step after the ferry. Well, while we were waiting in line to get onto the ferry, we wondered how Mike would find us. Alex made the point that we kind of stick out. A woman next to us just started laughing as she looked up as us tall giants :). I forget her exact words, but they were something along the lines of - how could he miss you guys? We were definitely a minority when it came to height. There we a huge crowd of people, then a pocket of REALLY tall people. It was rather hilarious - just picture it in your head.

Again, I apologize for the lack of Roots postings here, but we will try to have them repost tomorrow. Hope this just gives you a little glimpse of our day today!

Travel Day

So today was the day that is what is most dreaded in my mind.  Not knowing where i was going and having 12 hours to think about it.  I set my alarm for 3:57 which means i would wake up at 4:10ish, because who really wakes up with their alarm if it's set for a time 5 hours after you went to bed??  Once i had woken up and we had gotten to the church, with a few bumps in the road, and a group picture that i hardly remember we were off on the road.

 When we left, i thought that the rain had finished and we were just going to deal with a little drizzle.  That wasn't the case at all!  It was a down pour!  For me it is hard to sleep in cars, but with the rain i didn't even want to.  From the walky-talkies I heard drivers saying that they had been hydroplaning (there were thankfully no incidents) but just when it was getting to an unbearable point it suddenly let up.

 In each car there is a different story of how the spent their time: one car stayed up for a long time watching movies and talking and then fell asleep at 7, another car (my car) slept till 7, and the third car played Indian poker with animal crackers.  But once we were all up and ready to sensibly interact with other people the cars had contests to see who knew the most history and random trivia.  Dan is really good so im thinking that his car won.  After a while the decision was made that the kids should switch cars so that they could spend time with other people doing different things and I was lucky enough to be in the car with the poker people :).  Seeing as I know hardly anything about poker we started off with Indian poker (a game where you put the card on your forehead without looking and betting to see if you had the highest car.)  I dont think i folded once and apparently it worked because i became the happy owner of the 80 anilmal crackers we had been using.  then we played Texas holdem ( think that is what its called) and not folding doesn't work out very well in that game.  but before i knew it we were at the church unpacking.

 After our dinner of hot dogs we went out for a tour of the neighborhood.  It is so suprising what a difference a block makes!  From a poor looking neighborhood to a pretty nice neighborhood is all it takes.  Jon Rudd said that the difference signified the hope that is the the community.

 Once the tour was done the and we had talking about the plans for tomorrow the boys decided to play hockey in their bedroom, even though it is crazy hot here!  You can't really see it but they are dripping sweat.

 But now everything is calmed down and bed are being made.  I should probably go help my sister in the preparation so good night.

Love,
               Laura Van Winkle

Well we made it here and are beginning to settle in after a long but fun car ride.  The ride included dvds,chatting over the walkie talkies and even a few rounds of animal cracker poker on the fold out bed in the back of the van.  After a good meal and a tour of the neighborhood we had a group meeting on what to expect in the next few days. Myself, alex, david, mike, daniel,and matt set up a make-shift hockey field in one of the large rooms using equipment we found in the basement.  The winning team got to take their showers first and my team lost so i'm sitting here hot and sweaty writing this blog instead of taking a nice cold shower.  We are excited for the rest of the week and continue to check the blog for daily updates.  -Mark

Tomorrow! Tomorrow!

Tomorrow is the big day! I'm sure you can all think of what a day before vacation looks like - filled with all those last minute details, tying up loose ends, and getting everything just right so that the day you leave, you aren't forgetting anything. That is exactly what it's like leaving for a mission trip too! So many things to remember and what seems like many things to do, but it always all ends up coming together with plenty time to spare (typically). It excites us to think the kids are packing, thinking about what to bring, because we know it is all in preparing their hearts for the next week. There may be some anxious thoughts, worries, and fear of the unknowns, but someone has already gone before us - Jesus Christ. So as we finish up all the loose ends today in preparation for tomorrow, may we remember why we are going, who we are serving, and who's footsteps we are following.

We are leaving tomorrow at 5:00am! As Dan puts it, it is not "5:00 you get here, it's 5:00 we are rolling out of the parking lot." So we all need to be there at 4:30 to finish packing the vehicles. Tonight we are having a "packing party" at 8:30 to pack the trailer so that we don't have to worry about that in the morning. It is about a 13 hour drive (Google says 11-12, but with 3 vehicles and 19 people, it tends to take a little longer). We are hoping to arrive there by 6:00pm, in time for supper!

The weather? We've been asked about that a few times only because people know what it's like here in Michigan! It is supposed to be 102 on Saturday, but only in the high-80s to low-90s for the rest of the week! Can you believe we are saying "only"? As you all know, that is a cooldown! And in the city, it is very warm because there isn't much air flowage! The church we are staying at is not air conditioned, so fans will definitely be our friends! BUT... we can praise God for the "cooler" temps!

Thank you for all of your prayers, thoughts, and encouragement! We are extremely excited and cannot wait to see what God has in store for us in Newark! Please pray for safe travels tomorrow and energy for the drive. We will keep you posted throughout the week about what we are doing, where we see God working, and hopefully post many pictures as well! So stay tuned!

Only A Few Days Away!

Only 3 days away! Last night we had the official "parents meeting" to cover all the basics of the trip, and boy does that bring excitement! It brings so much joy to see the kids AND parents excited! This is the first time we will be going back to the same place, so it is interesting to have a mix of those who have been there and those who have not. Here is a picture of Trinity Reformed Church - our home for the week and also the location of the summer camp.

Random picture, but Newark is such a neat city! When you are living in it, you don't get to see this view:

 

We also want to THANK YOU for your donations of school supplies! We can't tell you how much they use these items and also give these items away. So if you wonder if it was or is worth donating or if they are going to be used, we will be the first to tell you YES! You can still donate school supplies, up until Friday night. So thank you again, for your generosity!

Please continue to pray for our group as the final preparations are being put together. There seem to be a lot of them, but often those final preparations can't be taken care of until a few days before. Also pray that all our preparations are in line with what GOD wants us to be doing. That is our first desire!

 Thank you for walking this journey with us!

Donations for Newark!

Remember to check out some of those "Back To School" sales (already)!!! We are in need of school supplies and old backpacks (or new) to take with us for the kids in Newark! We had asked Safe Haven what they were in need of and school supplies are definitely #1 on the list. We know it's only July, but we would really like to take these items with us so that we do not have to ship them out. If you can think back to last year, we had sent out 11 boxes of school supplies and clothes! They were overwhelmed with our church's generosity! So THANK YOU for considering this opportunity again! If you have any questions, please contact Dan or Kristin Sterk.

ONE more week until we leave...

P.S. Staples has a Back to School sale going on that I know of...and I'm sure there are plenty more!

Welcome To Our Blog!

Welcome to our Roots Mission Trip Blog! We thought it would be helpful to create a blog that includes our preparations leading up to our mission trip, but also use this as a way to keep everyone back home informed and in touch with what we are doing once there. This summer we are heading back to Newark, New Jersey! We leave Saturday July 23 (EARLY in the morning :)) and arrive home late Saturday, July 30. Newark also happens to be where we went on our last mission trip in 2010! We are extremely excited to head back there! (We have posted the blog link to last year's trip on the sidebar). Here is a list of all those going...please keep us in your prayers as we prepare our hearts for this trip:

Leaders:

Dan Sterk

Kristin Sterk

Mike Klunder

Kim Klunder

Joy Welch

Roots Kids:

Anna Zylema

Sarah Hartwell

Maggie Van Winkle

Laura Van Winkle

Christina Welch

Laura O'Connor

Kaytlynn Toering

David Hartwell

Michael Welch

Alex Klunder

Daniel Mead

Schuyler DeVries

Matthew Van Winkle

Mark Wolf