Samstrument

A video of a work-site performance of Sam playing the Samstrument has been posted at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkjsuWJh4Gw

Worksite Video

Kurtys of Team Effort created a video using the pictures he took of us at our work-site. To view or download this video, click on the link below. The file is 100MB large so be patient - it's worth it. You may need QuickTime software (can download free from Apple).

http://biblestoriesforadults.com/2009GDLCTMTWorksiteVideo.m4v

Return Trip Updates

Saturday, 12:20 pm

We've sighted our first Whataburger. We're now in Texas. Still looking at arriving around 2:00.

Saturday, 10:30 am

We've just left our breakfast stop at the rest area in the Atchafalaya River Basin (swamp). We should arrive around 2:00 - just as planned.

Saturday, 7:45 am

It's 7:45 Houston time and we've just changed drivers in Slidell (east of Baton Rouge). Our current ETA is 1:00-2:00.


Friday, 11:00 pm (Tampa time)

We are on the road heading back to Houston. I'll provide you with our estimated arrival time tomorrow.

Friday at Busch Gardens

Today was our fun day as we spent the day at Busch Gardens. Everyone was ready for lots of roller coasters and Busch Gardens has them.

We hit some slow traffic on the way to the park, but we drove directly there. It started raining on the way (40% chance today) and it was raining when we arrived around 10:30.

We picked a central meeting spot in Timbuktu and set check-in times of 12:00 (lunch ticket), 3:00 (drink money), 5:00 (dinner ticket) and 8:00 (leave). Jr Highers had to have an adult in their group and Sr Highers had to have at least three in their group. All but one of the groups ended up having at least one adult.

Some of the groups took off to jump on roller coasters while others went in a store to buy rain ponchos. As groups moved through the park, we kept running into each other and teams would join for a while and re-split.

The consensus was that the roller coaster with the vertical drops was the best. Votes were split on whether the next best was the wooden coaster or one of the two loop-filled metal rail coasters. All agreed that all were great.

Rain popped up at various times throughout the day - sometimes with thunder and lightning. When that happened, the rides would shut down and we'd have to wait for things to clear by eating or watching a show or ... The positive sides of this weather were that it was relatively cool and that the lines were short.

Right at our 5:00 meeting time, lightning flashed and everything was shut down. Some groups headed to eat while others took the downtime to walk to rides on the other end of the park.

The group I was with took the latter approach. We got stalled as we walked by a juggler performing in an open theater by the walkway. As he finished his act, thunder struck again. Realizing that the rides would stay down for a while after that last strike, we decided to eat dinner in the adjacent pavilion. As soon as we walked into the pavilion the skies opened and it started pouring very heavily.

This heavy rain continued for a couple of hours while our group and a couple of others were stranded in the pavilion. The other groups were stranded at other places throughout the park and we connected via adult cell phones.

To pass the time, I encouraged the seniors to put on a performance of their goofy bus songs for everyone in the pavilion. They were happy to do so and gave a 6-song set.

When the rain finally stopped, it was right at 8:00 - our final meeting time. All of the groups headed to meet at the exit - some dry, some wet. We went to the waiting buses that were parked under a full rainbow.

When we arrived at the college, we went in our dorms and showered for the bus ride home. While everyone finished pcking and cleaning the rooms, Chris, Molly, Ryan and Andrew took "Right Shoe" (Bus 1) to Walmart to buy breakfast for tomorrow morning and ice for our drink chests.

When they returned, Lonnie led us in prayer and we loaded the buses and took off at 11:00.

Parent Phone Numbers for Text Updates Needed Again

I'm afraid I misplaced the list of parent phone numbers for those who want to receive a text message with an estimated arrival time as we get closer tomorrow. If you would like to receive an update text message, please text me with your number to 713-202-2808.

Stories from Tampa Workday 4

Today was our last day at the work-site. We worked until mid-day and then headed to a Tampa beach in the afternoon. Here are some of our stories:

Breakfast - Breakfast was held at the dorm this morning, so we got to sleep in an extra hour since we didn't need to travel to the church where the ladies served us in past days. Everyone was thrilled for the extra time.

VBS - Jill's VBS team finished their VBS leadership yesterday, so they joined the work-site teams today. They were a great addition.

Fail Nails - Andrew's team took over the wheelchair ramp project from Casey's team yesterday. They quickly found out why Casey's team took 12 nails to get one in a few days ago (see past blog story). The nails we were given to use for decking boards are 12-penny ring-shank nails (so
they won't back out). These nails are thinner than other 12-penny nails and bend very easily. Once they bend, they should be removed and replaced with a new nail or you'll end up with a broken nail.

Luke and Chris developed a marketing strategy for these nails and gave them the name: "Fail Nails. You'll fail every time! Buy them, they stink! Guaranteed 2 of 20 work!"

The 16-penny ring-shank nails we used for attaching 2x6es were more stout. Luke and Chris called them the Chuck Norris nails.

Food Pantry - More students rotated through helping organize the Food Pantry. During his stint, Nicholas found a box of Cracker Jacks that had expired in 1986.

Concrete Man - Cary's team spent much of their time building a deck extension behind the camp director's home. This extension involved 20 posts and Cary personally mixed and poured the concrete for all 20 holes.

Green Lattice - Stephen's team finished the job of replacing the solid siding over the crawl space of the camp director's home with lattice to provide cooling air flow. The lattices were primed and painted hunter green and look great under the tan house.

Storage Building Painting - Ryan's and Casey's teams united into a single large team to focus on painting the storage buildings that the other teams had primed. Since they were combined from Teams D and F, they called themselves Team DF (pronounced "df"). After many of Team VBS joined them today, they changed their name to Team DFVBS (pronounced "dfvbs").

Shade Structure - Matthew's Team was so intent on finishing the new roof on the shade structure that neither Matthew nor Stephen would come down from the roof when lunch was served.

Lunch - The Good Shepherd Mission cooked and served us a great lunch today of Arroz con pollo, frijoles ala charra, green bean and asparagus veggies, and shredded chicken. Many said it was the best meal of the week.

Bus Ride to the Beach - In multi-bus situations like ours, the senior driver has the prerogative of being the lead driver. Both of our drivers are senior drivers, but Gracie is more senior than Sterling, and she decided that she would be the lead driver. We learned early on and have seen repeated confirmation that Gracie has trouble with directions. Strange turns and paths have evoked strange reactions from Sterling, but he obediently followed even though he knew the route was incorrect.

We thought we had seen confused directions earlier this week and even moreso on our trip to the park last night, but today's trip to the beach set a completely new standard. We ended up getting a tour of downtown Clearwater (and a few other places) as the 30 mile trip from Eckerd College (in St Petersburg) to Palm Pavilion (on Clearwater beach) took nearly 90 minutes.

Sterling eventually had enough when Gracie turned off the straight route onto a side street at a furniture store on the way back this evening. He continued on the correct route and got Bus 2 ("Left Shoe") back to the dorms much sooner.

We've already mapped out the route for tomorrow's trip to Busch Gardens (only two roads) so we can guide Gracie.

Clearwater Beach - The beach we went to today was a Gulf beach on Clearwater Beach island. Its long and wide white sand was very similar to what we're used to in South Padre. The waves were not as strong (too weak for body surfing) since the wind is more of a cross-breeze here. We were told that today's wave action was some of the strongest they see. Overall, the beach was beautiful, the water was warm but much cooler than the bay beach we went to on Monday, and everyone enjoyed the hour we were there.

We then ate at the Palm Pavilion restaurant where we shared a pasta buffet that Cindy had arranged in advance. Another great meal that all enjoyed. After dinner we walked down to a beach shop to give some a chance to burn some more money.

Friendship Club Cards - On the bus ride home we distributed cards to each student giving them thanks and well-wishes from the Friendship Club. They were pleased to see that the cards also included $5 for them to use as they please tomorrow at Busch Gardens. Everyone appreciates the Friendship Club's support and prayers.

Closing Worship - Tonight's worship service was the closing ceremony for the week. We watched a video, sang praise songs, heard a message and watched a drama about how Jesus taught us to serve others as He did. Afterwards we were escorted by torches outside where we divided into our worksite teams and washed each others' feet. The teams prayed together and talked a bit about the week.

Stories from Tampa Workday 3

Another busy day for Gloria Dei being Christ in Tampa.  Here are some of the stories from the trenches:

Another Sick One  -  Last night after I finished posting yesterday's blog, I went out to the communal bathroom and heard some unappealing sounds coming from the second floor.  I went up to investigate and found Tanner in that restroom being sick.  He didn't feel better this morning so his mom, Mary Ellen, stayed behind with him as the rest of us left for the day.  He was fine when we returned and the guess is that he had too much of something from Walmart yesterday.

Power of Prayer  -  The theme for our trip is "Pray continuously."  (1 Thessalonians 5:17)  Here is a story from Erin that shows this theme in action:

Tuesday night Megan, Jessica, Katie and I pushed the beds together and ended up staying up.  When we all became tired we decided to pray for energy in the morning.  This small prayer became a very long one because all of us felt called to just let it all out.  We started praying for everything we needed help with in our lives.  We all could feel the Holy Spirit there with us and the relationships becoming stronger with all 5 of us.

I prayed for my sister, Kristin, to look like Bob the tomato.  I was just playing and when I got on the bus Wednesday morning Kristin was wearing red and green.  She really did look like a tomato.  I laughed when I saw God has a sense of humor.  It's true!

The rest of the day things we prayed for were changing.  We all feel awesome.  I feel like everything is lifted off my shoulders.  We are starting a prayer group at our houses when we get back to Houston.

None of us can wait to see what God does with us.  We all gave ourselves to Him together.  We are working together to help each other in our walks with Jesus.

VBS Story from Tuesday  -  Today our VBS team went to Walmart to pick up supplies for the kids.  Among the many treasures was colorful hair glitter spray which we did not have enough of.  At first they were very apprehensive because "calor en tu pelo" did not seem "muy bonita".  However, after one girl had her hair done, all the kids were lining up.  In the end, Madisen and Jenna were actually covered in green and pink sparkly paint which would not come off.

VBS Story from Today  -  Our face painting stuff was accidentally thrown away, so Madisen crawled into the dumpster to retrieve them while Jenna swatted the flies that were buzzing like crazy.

News Flash  -  Ellen proclaimed:  "I learned that I can live without electronics".  She was playing cards at the time.

Serving the Servant  -  Some of our team commented that this trip didn't seem as important because we were working at a mission instead of building homes for people who didn't have houses (as we do in Mexico).  While leading a devotion on one of the buses this morning, Ryan pointed out that we are serving the servant.  The work we are doing will help those who serve this community with Christ every day.

Lunch  -  Since we figured that we shouldn't expect lunch to arrive before 1:00-1:30, we brought lots of extra snacks and planned to have the teams take a snack break at 11:30 to energize them for the next hour or two before lunch arrives.  Within 5-10 minutes of taking this break today, I was told that we weren't having the normal Subway sandwiches because the church breakfast ladies wanted to cook tostadas for us.  Lunch would be delivered within 15-30 minutes.

It turned out that while the lunch van arrived not long after our snack break, it needed to be plated and then a last minute run was needed to get some more tostada shells.  We had the students eat first (ladies first) so they could be recharged and get back to work.  The adults ended up eating around the normal time after the tostada shells arrived.

Affirmation Card Battle  -  I believe I mentioned before that everyone is writing affirmation cards that mention things they appreciate about others on the trip.  These cards will be distributed to the individuals on our bus ride home Saturday morning.

It turns out that a fierce competition has built between the two buses to see which bus turns in the most cards.  (I might have something to do with stoking the flames of this competition.)

Bus 1 (aka "Right Shoe" - a name developed by the great wisdom of our senior boys: Casey, Ryan and Andrew) won the contest yesterday by a significant margin.  They even bought more index cards during their early visit to Walmart yesterday to get VBS supplies.  I showed those on Bus 2 (aka "Left Shoe") how badly they had been beat and the race was on.

I was ready with many more cards for both buses today and the competition took off.  I gave updates during every bus ride and hundreds of cards were turned in.  Bus 2 won by a huge margin.  The buses are tied and we'll see who wins tomorrow.

It seems my tactic to get more affirmation cards to encourage each other worked, but now I have lots of time ahead to separate these cards into individuals' envelopes.  My roommate Dave will even moreso regret his room assignment when he gets roped into helping with this task.

Pre-Worship Game  -  Tonight's game that was held before worship involved a representative from each church who would consider whether some strange and obscure state law was really a law or not.  Gloria Dei was well represented by Sam who handily beat out all challengers.

Small Group Time  -  During our small group time tonight everyone received letters from home.  These are encouraging letters that parents had written and secretly turned in before the trip.  Everyone was thrilled to get their letters.

Tomorrow's Plans  -  Tomorrow is our last day on the worksite.  We'll work until lunch and are being blessed by a lunch that will be given and served to us by Teresa, the Mission Director.  We'll then return to our dorms and change for an afternoon at the beach.  This time it will be a Gulf beach.  We're hoping the water will be cooler, the waves more existent, the seaweed less prevalent and the water bottom less sea-urchined than the bay beach we went to yesterday.

Stories from Tampa Workday 2

Sorry you haven't seen any blog entries today. I left my cell phone on the bus last night and had to retrieve and charge it this morning - so I didn't have it with me to blog throughout the day like I did yesterday. I do have a few stories to tell you:

Room Keys - We were given two keys for each dorm room and told that there is a $45 charge for each lost key (I guess to rekey the locks). We gave each student room one of their keys so we'd have an extra to open a locked door in case they leave a key inside - as students will do. But, we gave the adults both keys to their rooms since they are more responsible.

At 3:15 this morning, Molly and Barbara (adults) made a joint trip to the communal restroom and returned to find their door locked closed and neither with a key. They woke up another adult in order to try their key but it didn't work (different room). They eventually made a call to campus security to get their door unlocked so they could go back to bed.

Samstrument - Sam created a new instrument with discarded worksite scraps during a down time and became the world's best player of that instrument. We videoed his performance of "Mary Had a Little Lamb" and plan to post it when we return. As Sam explains:

It all started with just hammering nails into wood because I was bored, but somehow I decided to drive the nails in at different lengths so that they made different sounds.

Daycare - The Mission where we are working has a day care ministry. Kaitlyn and Amy spent this morning helping in the day care. Amy said she started helping kids across the monkey bars. Such a long line formed that Kaitlyn had to come help.

Food Bank - Tuesdays are one of the days that the mission's food bank is open. A continuous stream of people flowed in all morning to pick up food and get other help. Some of our servants helped with the Food Bank during this time. Others (Molly, Stephanie, Lauren, Kate and Allison) then worked in the Food Bank in the afternoon after it was closed to help organize things to make it easier to manage.

Worksite Teams - You can download a list of who is on what worksite team from:

http://www.4shared.com/file/113784789/28816657/TampaWorkTeams.html

Painting Teams - Two of the three teams who had cleaned mildew off of buildings yesterday (Andrew's and Matthew's) worked to prime four buildings in preparation for painting. It was very hot, the brushes were stiff and the primer got thick - all making for tough work. These crews are ready to shift to construction tomorrow.

The other painting team (Cary's) got divided between various tasks, with some starting on a porch extension project. That team will continue with that project tomorrow.

Construction Teams - The other three teams continued their construction projects for a second day. Ryan's team continued to strip the old roof off of a lean-to shade. After cutting the rafters, the roof eventually came down and they were able to start putting up new rafters. Ryan's team will paint tomorrow while Matthew's team will complete the roof rebuild.

Casey's team finished adding spindles to the porch railing they've been working on and made great progress laying out and concreting in some of the posts for a wheelchair ramp. Casey's team will paint tomorrow while Andrew's team continues building the wheelchair ramp.

Stephen's team ripped off siding around the crawl space under the mission director's home and worked to prepare lattice that will replace that siding to permit airflow to cool under the home. This lattice preparation included priming, painting and cutting to size. Since this team is already doing both construction and painting, they will continue with this project.

Lunch - It has become clear that we shouldn't expect lunch to arrive before 1:00-1:30. That's been tough since the heat pretty well de-energizes people by 11:30-12:00. We lose about an hour of productivity until we can get lunches into people and they are re-energized to dive back into work. Tomorrow we're bringing lots of snacks and plan to have everyone eat something at 11:30 to keep them energized until lunch arrives later.

Bus Rides - Now that we understand our schedule, we start our morning bus ride with a devotion led by one of our student work-site leaders. We then take some time to write some affirmation cards for others on the trip that they will get on the way home.

On the way back from the work-site, we stopped at a Walmart to get some essentials - as well as plenty of non-essentials. These non-essentials somehow charged up those on Bus 2 so that we had all sorts of singing and dancing in the aisle - led by Ryan and Casey. All the boys got involved, plus a few girls. There were many crazy songs about being the chicken and blind jellyfish falling off a rock and ....

Free Time - When we got back to the dorms, a bunch of us ran in, changed into our swimsuits and walked to the campus pool (a very long way according to Lauren). The water wasn't as hot as yesterday's beach water, but it wasn't anything near what one might call cool or refreshing. But, it was better than no water and it helped paint come off of many bodies.

Another group played Ultimate Frisbee in the field behind our dorms. This became so intense that they kept playing a good 20-30 minutes after our pizza dinner started being served.

Worship - As we walked into worship we each grabbed a random shell and read the name of an animal (monkey, seal, rooster, bear, donkey). When everyone was in, we were all to group together with the rest of our herd by only making the animal noises. And noises there were.

After worship we gathered into our worksite teams and discussed how the day went. We each identified the day's highlight, lowlight, team superstar and how we saw God at work. We returned to the dorm and got ice cream sandwiches before heading off to bed.

Noisy Tonight - There is a very strange sound outside our window as I write this blog tonight (it's 12:00). I think it's called rain and thunder, but I'm not sure because I haven't seen or heard that in a very long time. Here's praying that this rain dries up before tomorrow morning so we don't have a mud mess awaiting us.

I'm sure I've missed lots of stories, but it was a productive day and no one got hurt or dehydrated. Tomorrow will be another great day for God's servants in Tampa.

Monday Evening at the Beach

We headed to Fort De Soto Park at 4:45 after our first day of work to spend some time on the beach before dinner.

Everyone was surprised when they put their feet in the water and found it to be very warm - even warmer then Galveston water in late August. They were then surprised to find that it remained less than knee-deep quite a ways out. Then they learned that the dark patches of color in the water were fields of seaweed rather than deeper areas.

When people started questioning whether we really want to spend Thursday afternoon on a Tampa beach, we realized that this beach is on Tampa Bay. The beach we will visit on Thursday afternoon will be on the Gulf side and should be different.

Everyone walked around in the shallow waters for a while, finding hermit crabs (Nicholas) and sand dollars (Kristin). People started coming in to shore when a couple of people stepped on sea urchins and got some spines in their feet (Jessica and Haleigh). Out first aid kits came in handy as Chris and Dave searched and removed the spines (4 from Jessica and 10 from Haleigh).

We then joined the rest of the groups in a hamburger dinner that the Team Effort staff had prepared. After dinner and some free time, we held our nightly worship in the beach pavilion. We started worship early (7:00) since we had to be out of the park before sundown.

We headed back to the dorms to clean up and have a little free time before bed. We're up and at 'em again tomorrow morning at 7:00. They say we're having pancakes and sausage.

More on Work Day 1

Here's more about our first day from where I left off on my earlier post:

Our group was divided into the six work teams that we had formed in our preparatory meetings. Teams A, B and C prepped buildings for painting and Teams D, E and F worked on construction projects. The plan was to swap projects tomorrow so everyone would get the chance to do both types of projects. (The real reason was so that half of the people didn't get stuck on painting without the chance to build something.)

When I reminded everyone of this after we finished working, I was met with lots of groans from every team. Everyone wanted to continue what they had started today rather than turning it over to someone else. We then decided to let the teams continue with their projects tomorrow and think about swapping on Wednesday.

Their desire to work on their projects was obvious by the way everyone dove back into work after lunch. They had lost some motivation before lunch arrived at 1:00 (late because they had many sites to deliver to), but regained enthusiasm after they got some nourisment.

One team took turns trying to hammer in a single nail. They even got help from the Team Effort guys and went through 12 nails before getting it in.

Ryan said that he broke a pickax today. That was part of his team's 4-hour job of prying sheets of plywood off a roof before learning that they can just remove and rebuild the roof itself.

After work we reloaded the buses and rode to pick up the VBSers. On the way back to the dorms, a couple of our Sr High leaders led the buses through today's study in our devotion book. (Now that we know how the days go and how long our travels are, we plan to do our devotions on the bus ride to the breakfast church each morning. )

After returning to the dorms, we changed into our suits (a few rinsed off their layers of dirt and sweat) and reloaded the buses. We're going to a beach park to play on the beach and to eat dinner on the beach. We'll then return in time to go to tonight's worship service.

Work Day 1

We had a fun, busy and productive first day.

After leaving the dorms this morning around 7:30 (a few minor crises got the Team effort leaders 30 minutes behind), we took a meandering route on the buses and found the church where they serve us breakfast. The adults were thrilled to see the coffee and the students were thrilled to see the Frosted Flakes and Fruit Loops. The church ladies had cooked up a great breakfast with scrambled eggs, tater tots, beans, biscuits and home-made salsa.

Aftr a leisurely breakfast (they had 200 or so of us to feed), we loaded the buses and headed to the Good Samaritan Migrant Mission.

Our VBS team stayed behind at the church and helped the church conduct a VBS this morning. They then went to a migrant housng community and put on a second VBS. Since there were more helpers at the first VBS than needed, some of our team went to a nearby mission and helped move items in a resale shop.

All six of our work teams have projects at the same Good Samaritan center (help migrants with food, clothing, skills training and advocacy). Some cleaned mildewed buildings (similar humidity as Houston) with bleach water in preparation for painting. Others started construction projects to build a wheelchair ramp, rebuild a shelter and rebuild a shed with rot damage.

I'm writing this as we're gathering to go to the beach, so I'll finish today's report later.

Monday Morning

It's Monday morning and we're on the buses to start our first workday.

Yesterday evening's free time was filled with some exploring by some, showers by others and Ultimate Frisbee by others.

We then gathered at the Pavilion and shared a dinner of pizza with cupcakes to celebrate Jill's birthday. After dinner, Ryan led us in an activity to help us get to know everyone a little bit.

Later we joined all of the other groups in an energetic worship service where we algso got to know the Team Effort leaders. The service was at 9 (instead of the normal 8) since one group was late coming in, so we didn't head back to our rooms until 10:30.

The late night coupled with the full day and last night's bus sleep resulted in sound sleeping for all except for a few. Shelby has a little stomach trouble that started last night and awakened her and a couple of leaders around 4 am. Doyle is staying at the dorms with Shelby today to help her recover.

We're In Our Rooms

After a little meandering through Tampa and St Petersburg a bit, we found a Walmart around 2:45 and made our last minute purchases of essentials.

We then headed over to Eckerd College, unloaded and cleaned the buses, then got into our rooms. We found that some of us get mattresses on bunks while others get mattresses on floors.

We now have free time to explore and get cleaned up before we gather and go to the pavilion for an exciting pizza dinner.

We're in Tampa!

We're here! It's 2:00 and we're coming in to Tampa.

We stopped for a leisurely lunch in Ocala. Good thing it was leisurely because 15 of our group went to a Subway where there was only 1 worker - to take orders, make sandwiches, everything. Talk about a patient waiting line.

Good Morning from Northern Florida

We've just returned to the road after a breakfast and leg-stretch stop at a clean rest area a little past Tallahassee (around 2/3rds of the way there). Surprisingly, everyone got a few hours of shut-eye - even the adults whose bodies don't contort for sleep positions in bus seats like our younger travelers' do.

After leaving Gloria Dei last night we drove until Lafayette where we took a break to invade a Truck Stop at 11:30. Many blankets and a few pillows were purchased in preparation for attempts at sleeping on the cold buses. Most of the students stocked up on candy and snacks that would nourish them for the night.

We then stopped again in Slidell at 2:00 to gas up the buses and to change drivers. One of our new drivers is Sterling - a driver we enjoyed last year. Our drivers will be with us all week until they change out again at Slidell on our return trip.

We plan to make another stop soon where adults can get some coffee before the buses turn south. We plan to have lunch in Ocala and then finish our trip to Tampa.

More later.

We're on the Road!

Thanks to all of our parents and the Friendship Club for sending us on our way to Tampa with your prayers and support. After a round of prayers we loaded the buses and hit the road around 7:30. Tampa - here we come!

Mexico Mission Trip - Last Minute Instructions

We are less than 2 weeks away from this year's Tampa Mission Trip. Plans have been made, the servants have been prepared and we are ready for God to work through our team of 70. It's now time to pack and give our last minute instructions.

The important last minute instructions were reviewed with those going on the trip and with parents at yesterday's Servant and Parents' Meetings. If you missed these meetings, you should download the Parents' Meeting materials and listen to the recording of the Parents' Meeting at:

www.biblestoriesforadults.com/90607-ParentMeeting.pdf

www.biblestoriesforadults.com/90607-ParentMeeting.MP3


A summary of some of the key points you need to know include:

1. Everyone is to check-in at the Student Center at 7:00 pm on Saturday, June 20. Stick around to pray with us and send us off.

2. See the meeting materials for a list of what to pack and listen to the recording for clarification and for what not to pack. Everything should fit into a bag that your student can carry.

3. Parents should write an encouraging and affirming letter to their kids that we can surprise them with during the week. Turn your letter in to Cindy Dube over the next couple of weeks or when you show up on Saturday, June 20. Please don't forget. We don't want your student to be the only one without a Parent letter.

4. Send $40-60 spending money with your student. Pack most in their bag but give them some (maybe $10) for their backpack on the bus for a possible Walmart stop before we check into the dorms.

5. Check gdlctmt.blogspot.com for updates on the trip during the week.

6. Emergency Only Contact Info is included on the Parent Meeting handout (see above link).

7. Check gdlctmt.blogspot.com after 12:00 on Saturday, June 27 for our expected arrival time at Gloria Dei (likely around 2:00).

8. Two dates to reserve on your calendar:

Sunday, August 2 - Reunion Party
Friday, August 14 - Friendship Club Presentation


We're counting the days! Please contact Cindy, Lonnie or me if you have any questions before we leave.


Thanks,
Kurt Rosenhagen
kurt@biblestoriesforadults.com

Welcome to the Gloria Dei Tampa Mission Trip Info Center

Welcome to the Gloria Dei Mexico Mission Trip Information Center.

This web-site will be used during our June 20-27 Mission Trip to keep you informed about how God is working through our team. Times of our expected return on Saturday, June 27 will be posted that day as we head home.

Please continue to pray for our team and for the people that God will reach through our ministry.

In Christ,
Kurt Rosenhagen
kurt@biblestoriesforadults.com