GO & SERVE 2011 MISSION TRIP 

Show Me Lord How To Serve

Go & Serve Blog

Friday

Note to Participant Families:  The vans are leaving at approximately 10:00 a.m. Saturday and are expected to arrive at Knox around 5:00 p.m.  If there is any significant change to this, it will be posted here.

Thursday

Thursday morning I visited Teams Two and Seven at CardV, which works with victims of rape and domestic violence.  Both teams had worked together to repaint CardV’s offices, refurnish the large deck they had behind their counseling center, and to build an impressively long sidewalk between their offices and counseling center.  When Card V’s office staff was asked if there was anything else we could do for them, they told Teams Two and Seven that it would be amazing if they could turn one large room into three rooms.  So, they got to work constructing walls and are creating two offices inside the large room.  Thursday afternoon I visited Team Six, which is working with Head Start.  Head Start is a government funded program that provides underprivileged families with a daycare center for their children and also educates parents about better parenting skills.  Team Six had been busy most of the week working on landscaping outside and making the space much more beautiful and welcoming.  They also gutted a room that was in disrepair and were in the process of putting up new dry wall.  Team Three finished their work repainting and putting in new cabinets at the Haven House and moved on to their secondary project.  Their secondary project is building a deck for Ellie and her three dogs: Penny, Britches, and Bandit.  Ellie’s front door is five feet off the ground and so Team Three is providing her with a small front porch and a safer way out the front door.  A highlight of my time with Team Three was going through the local McDonalds drive-thru to get everyone drinks in a fifteen passenger van with twelve orders.

 Thursday night we were visited by the First Presbyterian Church of Fulton, who brought us watermelon and cantaloupe as a late night snack.  It was beautiful to connect with another group of local Christians who wanted to help support us.  The Freshmen led worship talking about the choice between Peace and Unrest.  They did a great job talking about their own experiences of transitioning from unrest to peace.  That night there was a little less running around because everyone is starting to tire out, but we all slept well on Thursday night.  We will have one more post for Friday that will be put up “soon.”  God bless.

Pastor Robert

Wednesday

Wednesday was a good ole Central Missouri day. The temperature was beautiful in the morning and then it got pretty hot around 2:30 in the afternoon. I visited Teams Four and Nine at Covenant Point Presbyterian Camp in the morning and early afternoon. Team Four is reroofing one of the camp’s cabins. As you can imagine, it was a bit toasty on top of the roof all day, but the team was in great spirits and had started putting shingles up on both sides of the roof by the end of the day. Team Nine has an interesting job. They are clearing out all of the shrubbery on the dam that creates the camps large pond. The roots of the plants make the dam weaker, so they are chain sawing, weed whacking, and using every kind of plant removal tactic you can think up. Another half of the team is working on a trail that use to go all the way around the large pond but is now overgrown. They also are using every tactic under the sun to clear the path. Team Nine’s job is difficult, but they were doing awesome work while I was there. Team Twelve is still working on renovating the Ecumenical Community Center that the local Methodist church is wanting to renovate. They had completed tearing down the walls and ceiling upstairs and were now working on pulling down the ceiling downstairs. It was quite entertaining to see eleven chimney sweep faces when I showed up, but I quickly learned how they got so dirty.

Wednesday night Pastor Clinton arrived and we had four project managers join us from different worksites for dinner. Dinner was out on the quad and the weather was magnificent after a hot day. The Sophomores led us in worship discussing the choice between Faith or Doubt. They responded to our Scripture reading by saying that it is important for us to think critically and ask questions about our faith because that is how our faith grows stronger. There were no sprinklers Wednesday night, but the youth stayed out until 10:45 throwing footballs, bag toss bags, and Frisbees. As I went to bed it was hard to believe that Go & Serve was over half way over. I’m happy to report that everyone is in good spirits and safe and sound. I’ll write more tomorrow. God bless.

Pastor Robert
 

Tuesday

On Tuesday morning, the youth were moving more slowly with most making it all the way to breakfast without “officially” waking up.  However, once everyone had eaten it seemed like everyone was ready for a good day. 

I spent Tuesday visiting the far away sites that I had not gotten to on Monday.   Team Eight was busy working on building a back porch/walkway for an amazing 88-year-old woman named Margaret; her back door is about five feet off the ground.  They also added handrails to her front porch, repainted it, and were getting ready to put down porch carpet for her.  Team Eleven finished their first project of the week, which was clearing out Frank’s shed and building him a new one by midday Tuesday and in the afternoon they moved on to Bob’s basement.  Bob’s basement was full of things that had been damaged by a flood and so Team Eight was helping to clear the extremely large basement out.  Team One had made significant progress by the end of Tuesday, especially for a group whose job is to build a sleeping platform eight feet in the air because it is in a flood plain.  They had almost finished the decking at the eight-foot level as Tuesday’s workday came to a close. 

We all returned to Westminster, showered, and prepared for dinner.  The Juniors led us in worship discussing the choice between Hope or Fear.  They brought some cool insight into how some of their great fears had turned into their hopes.  How parents having to work far away from home made them realize how much they truly loved and cared about their family.  The night closed off with games in the quad.  Right before bed, the quad sprinklers came on and before the adults knew what was going on most of the youth were soaked.  I’m looking forward to see how Rise and Shine is Wednesday morning.  Everyone is working very hard.  I’ll write more tomorrow.  God bless.

Pastor Robert

Sunday/Monday

Hello Knox!  The 139 members of the 2011 Go & Serve all arrived safely in Fulton, MO at Westminster College around 7 PM Sunday night.  We had an opening worship service, which served as the official kick-off of Go & Serve 2011.  Our topic this year is choices.  It was unique to kick off the week on Pentecost Sunday, which was a beautiful coincidence. 

On Monday, rise and shine was quite easy for everyone.  It was sprinkling slightly as we all departed Westminster to our work sites.  There were heavy rains for four of our work sites, while the other eight were left without rain.  This included heavy rains for Team One whose project is to build a deck eight feet in the air for a Disciples of Christ church camp, but that did not deter them and they were able to work most of the afternoon.  Team Twelve (and Team Four because of rain) started their work overhauling a property owned by a local Methodist Church, which they want to renovate into a usable space for ministry again.  They had an interesting shoot that shot debris into a large dumpster below.  Team Three began their project of repainting and installing cabinets at the Haven House in Fulton, where families are able to come and live for two to three months to recover and get back on their feet during difficult times.  Teams Two and Seven were both working at CARDV, which is an organization that helps people who have suffered from violence.  Team Two was helping to repaint the offices and had made a lot of progress just on Monday; and Team Seven was working hard on a backyard deck that is in disrepair, hoping to bring it back up to par.  Team Five is helping to repaint the Clothes Cupboard, which is a thrift store-ish store.  All the clothes had been removed and Team Five is repainting the entire interior and exterior (that is not brick).  They had also completed a lot of cocking by the end of Monday.  Team Ten is working for Services for Independent Living this week, for whom they are building several walkway ramps.  The team was in good spirits when I visited, with some just having learned some new skills and others helping in measuring everything out for the first walkway.

Each night of Go & Serve, a different grade helps plan and lead worship, beginning with the Seniors.  The 15 Seniors worship service on Monday night dealt with the choice of Love or Hate.  They did a good job articulating the easiness of hate and the difficulty of love, offering a challenge to the rest of us Go & Servers.  Some people were dropping like flies before bedtime, while others seemed to have an unlimited amount of energy.  I’m looking forward to see what Tuesday has in store for us.

Pastor Robert 

Show Me Lord How To Serve

This year the Go & Serve team (our high school students and the adults who serve with them) is not doing disaster relief nor building houses; this year we are rolling our sleeves up to help those who have been hard hit by our crippled economy. We have been called to serve people in the heart of America in Central Missouri. The area faces many economic challenges. We will be serving in four different communities: Fulton, Mexico, Columbia and Jefferson City. Some of our designated projects include building handicap accessible ramps, designing and building raised garden beds as part of a community effort for sustainability, rehabbing a homeless shelter… the list goes on and on. We want our Knox community to know we are determined, enthusiastic and ready to be the hands and feet to represent our church as we strive to improve the lives of others. We humbly ask for your prayers and your financial support. Because of His example… we will serve.  To learn more about Go & Serve, contact Rev. Robert Thomas Quiring. 

The 2011 Steering Committee: Derek Dusenberry, Jane Gilkes, Tim Hermann, Bill Hilton, Carol Hilton, Janet Hyde, Dave Kendryna, Ginger Ovens, Bob Pierce, Dee Dee Porter, Rudi Tanck, Pat Van Blaricom, Dan Iverson and Diane Noreen.

Key Go & Serve Dates