High School Mission Trip Blog

Posted by: Erika

It is with very mixed emotions that I make this last post. The Juniors are back in the Eastern Standard Time Zone, and better yet, Boca Raton! Today has been strictly a traveling day, beginning at 8:30 PST this morning and ending just now, close to midnight EST. Luckily, most of us never accustomed to the time change, so it should be easy to get back on Eastern Standard Time. We left our hotel in Flagstaff around 8:30 this morning and drove almost three hours back to Phoenix. We returned the rental cars and got a lift to the airport from the rental company, then checked in ourselves and our baggage and headed to the gate. Our first flight from Phoenix to our connection in Atlanta was about three hours in length and landed us back in EST, fast forwarding us ahead three hours. We had a very short connection, during which we got lunch from the vast array of restaurants offered by the Atlanta airport, Chik Fil A being the favorite. Our final flight from Atlanta to Ft. Lauderdale was almost two hours, comparably shorter than the previous one. We picked up our luggage at the baggage claim, then Mr. Jobst picked us up in the school bus and took us back to BRCS. It is very bittersweet to be back home. On one hand, it will be nice to get back to our own beds and our families. But at the same time, we will miss our friends made at the Dream Center and the raw majesty of God's Creation in the beautiful Arizona landscape. This was a truly blessed trip, and we thank God for the opportunity to touch people's lives and have ours touched by them.

Posted by: Katie and Erika

With the mission part of the trip over, today was all play and no work. We woke up and enjoyed the complimentary continental breakfast served by the La Quinta we’re staying at, then commenced the journey to the Grand Canyon. The drive was about two hours in length, but the time flew by with the help of music, movies, and beautiful scenery. Once inside the Grand Canyon National Park, we went to the visitor’s center and watched a short documentary about the canyon. We completed our tourist agenda by then going to an overlook of the canyon, one of many views we got of the magnificent landmark. We shifted our position about the canyon for access to Bright Angel trail, a path down to the floor of the canyon. Grand Canyon is one mile deep, vertically. However, because of zigzagging back and forth to reach the bottom, the trail is quite a bit longer and takes around eight hours to complete. It was also littered with ice, mud, and mule droppings, so the few who went the furthest still decided to turn back early. After hiking, we stopped at the canyon gift shop, then went on to Desert View, home of the Watchtower. The Watchtower was exactly that- a large tower, though now used primarily as a gift shop and mini museum for Native American artifacts. Our last stop along the Grand Canyon was another overlook. It offered a splendidly different view of the canyon, along with a bit of the Colorado River. We left the Grand Canyon, our memory cards teeming with rocks, and stopped at a giant curio shop filled with all sorts of trinkets, Indian jewelry and weapons, toys, and everything else an Arizona gift shop may have. From there we began the long drive back to Flagstaff, where we ate dinner at Chili’s and complimentary birthday desserts were given to Caleb and Hope. Our wonderful mission trip is coming to a close, but we are all ready to be back home. Thank you so much for your prayers, and please pray for traveling mercies for us tomorrow as we make the long trek back to Florida.

Posted By: Hope and Erika





Saturday, March 24
Saturday, we were up bright and early for a prayer march around the Dream Center! The guys and girls split up and carried a cross around the center praying and chanting. After that, we did even more walking! We had the opportunity to do an outreach called Glen Rosa, which was the name of the street the outreach was on. Our class walked about a mile to Glen Rosa Avenue carrying crosses and standing on the street corners singing and waving. We walked with one of the pastors from Church on the Street, Pastor Jesse, a man very fired up for the Lord. While we were standing on one of the street corners, a gentleman was getting ready to cross the street on his bike and Pastor Jesse just walked up to him and said, “Hey man, how are you? Can we pray for you?” and started praying for him right then and there. He was just so passionate about the Lord and so bold about his faith. When we reached the park, the worship team played some songs while the rest of us were entertaining the kids or helping serve food! When we got back to our hotel, we had a little down time before we headed out to another outreach, Ocotillo. It was Hope’s birthday that day, so the class surprised her with cupcakes! Ocotillo is a small apartment complex in a dangerous area. About 20 kids or so came to an opening in the parking lot for food, face painting, skits and songs. Seeing these kids really broke our hearts. They were at the age range from 4-16. Most of us have grown up hearing the Gospel and about Jesus and learning from the Bible our whole lives, and these kids were hearing it for the first time, and some didn’t even understand what was going on. You could tell that these kids wanted love and affection, and that’s what we were there to do. There was a girl there who was turning 17 three days later, and she was getting ready to have a baby. This outreach really had a special affect because it enforced the fact of how blessed we are for growing up the way we did and for the opportunities that we have. Later that night we had the Rescue Project. The Rescue Project is an outreach that ministers to those involved with sex-trafficking. We were split up into groups and piled into vans and hit the road. We handed out roses to the prostitutes on the street with a card attached with a number to call if they needed help. It was rather intimidating at first, but our group was really excited. We told the girls that they are beautiful and that they are made in the image of God and that if they wanted or needed help, they could get it. It was crazy to see these women out on the streets. It was real. You hear the statistics about human trafficking, but actually seeing it is another thing. We were out late doing this, but it was such a blessing and worth it. God is really working in the lives of us here at the Dream Center!





Sunday, March 25
Though the Rescue Project was an amazing and blessed experience, it provided for a very late night. Thankfully, we were able to sleep in and still be in time for church at 10:30 PST. The pastor taught about bouncing back from sin and horrible circumstances, even when you think all hope is lost. He was very enigmatic and enthusiastic about his message, and we would like more preachers in Florida to be like him! After church, we ate lunch and changed quickly to go to Chicken Park, where we served hot dogs, passed out Resurrection Eggs, sang worship songs, and performed a skit. At the end of our time there, the pastor who spoke called up anyone who wanted to pray or become saved, and many of the attendees of the outreach went up. It was an amazing time. Once we were done at Chicken Park, we made our way to South Mountain, where we split up into groups and hiked a few different trails. The effect of following up God’s spirit moving in the community of Phoenix with immersion in His Creation was awe-inspiring. After hiking, we ate dinner at a local Mexican restaurant, then returned to the Dream Center, yet again entirely spent but entirely amazed by the Lord.




Monday, March 26
Monday morning we split up into three groups: the worship team, the rest of the guys, and the rest of the girls. We all woke up early, but the men woke the earliest to join the male disciples for a rigorous work out. Next the worship team went to My Father’s House again, serving the homeless physical and spiritual food. Not long after, the rest of the women joined the female disciples for breakfast and their Bible study and made salvation bracelets with several colored beads to symbolize different aspects of the Resurrection. We joined up again to pack up our things and clean up our rooms at the Dream Center. After a quick goodbye and prayer, we split up into vehicle groups and began the two hour journey to Flagstaff. We stopped in Sedona along the way to eat lunch at Wildflower Bread Company (which is Arizona’s version of Panera Bread) and hike at Cathedral Rock. The rest of the way to Flagstaff brought us through winding mountain roads with beautiful cliffs and trees on both sides. We stopped for a while at a nice little park- and had a snowball fight. By the end, almost everyone’s hands were numb, but it was well worth it. Once in Flagstaff, we checked into our hotel and hung out for a little while before a pizza dinner arrived. We had devotions (during which eyes were very droopy), then went out to a nearby Coldstone Creamery for ice cream, even though the temperature is at least 50˚F, probably lower. We are now back in our hotel, and tomorrow we’re headed for the Grand Canyon!

Posted by: Erika

The second day of the Junior mission trip began with another early start (though later than the day before). We left the Dream Center around 6:15 PST for My Father’s House, a homeless outreach run by Church on the Street. We served many men and women breakfast while the worship team sang and Mr. Shiver preached a short message. We returned to the Dream Center for some free time, during which skits and music were practiced, some students and Mrs. Stemper made a trip to Costco, and we went on a short tour of the Dream Center. For meals, there are two shifts: men and women. The genders are separated to avoid any temptation the disciples may encounter. After lunch, we headed over to St. Mary’s Food Bank, internationally recognized as the first food bank in the world. There we sorted donated food for packages that the food bank gives to those in need. We sorted enough food for almost 4,000 meals! During our brief introduction to the food bank, we learned that one in four children in Arizona doesn’t know where their next meal is going to come from. We also learned that in Arizona, one in every five families and one in every seven senior citizens also is nutritionally unstable. These statistics only enforce our yearning to make a difference in this community. We returned to the Dream Center for some more free time before dinner, and some of us dashed to Walmart for a few things. After dinner, there was some more free time before “Friday Fun Night,” which consisted of the praise team leading the disciples in many worship songs, Mrs. Stemper sharing some things about BRCS, a couple of testimonies, and a skit put on by Jackie and Erika. We had devotions, then returned to our rooms, anxious for sleep. Thank you for keeping us in your prayers!

Posted by: Erika

The 11th grade mission trip began today with a very early start. The juniors dutifully rose in the wee hours of the morn to arrive at BRCS at 4:30 AM for a 4:45 departure for Ft. Lauderdale Airport. Yawning and garbed in the most comfortable yet publically acceptable clothes available, we headed out to meet our 7:45 AM departure. Mrs. Lake was kind enough to rise with us and drive the bus back to school after we’d unloaded ourselves and our luggage. Once in the airport, we wandered around in search of breakfast until it was boarding time. Our first flight went from Ft. Lauderdale to Detroit, Michigan, where we ate lunch during our layover. Our flight from Detroit landed us in Phoenix, Arizona. After claiming our baggage, we headed to Papago Park, where we hiked around the unique Arizona beauty of large red rock formations. After the park, we trekked through Phoenix rush hour traffic to the Dream Center, where we will be spending most of our time here in Arizona. We were given a short orientation where we learned what the Dream Center does and just how desperately Phoenix needs its generous efforts. After orientation, we rushed to dinner, ravenous. Our dinner at Wendy’s was followed by a trip to a large Mexican supermarket for whatever anyone needed. Exhausted, we returned to the Dream Center, where everyone will (hopefully) get a good night’s rest, and have no trouble adjusting to the three-hour time difference.