High School Mission Trip Blog

Posted by: Joy Smith/Chase Henderson
Monday night we went to the Van Buren outreach.  We ministered to the homeless, fed the homeless, we did praise and worship, and also participated in a cross walk. During the crosswalk we would handout bags with a pillow, a bible, some basic hygiene items, and other miscellaneous things. After the cross walk Lucien, Chase, Rachel, Catie, and I met a homeless man named Ken who had drawn thousands of pictures and had given them out to children who he had seen throughout his life.  The sad part was when I asked him if he had any children of his own, he responded by telling me that he knew he had children but wasn't at all involved in their lives and didn't even know how old they were. It broke my heart see that this man clearly cared for children, but had missed out on being part of his own children's lives. Ken was a kind and gentle man who at first I was scared to approach, after spending about twenty minutes talking to him it almost brought me to tears when I had to say goodbye. After we finished talking with Ken we all prayed for him and he gave us pictures of different animals.
During the last missions trip meeting Mrs. Barnhill handed each of us a name of someone else going on the trip. This was your blessing buddy, During the trip most people would get their buddy something like their favorite candy or drink. For example my blessing buddy got me four Starbucks drinks. On the last night in Arizona we reveled out blessing buddy and we would give them words or encouragement and tell them what we like about them.

. . . that was written last night, and with wifi difficulty, it wasn't able to be posted. Suffice to say it was a wonderful trip! Come to the mission trip chapel tomorrow and hear all about it! Mrs. Barnhill

Posted by: Lauren Grant, Sarahann Rios, and Rachel Taylo.
Wow, it's been a long time since we blogged, because we've been on the go!
On Saturday all of the girls woke up at 5:45 and joined the women disciples to march around the Dream Center chanting and singing. The boys luckily got to sleep in! we split up into three groups. Some of us went to a women's rescue project, where women on the streets were brought into the Dream Center, served breakfast, and made salvation bracelets. Some of us went to the Glenrosa outreach where we went door knocking and handed out flyers inviting less wealthy families, or











homeless people to join us at a park where we served free meals and a church service where our wonderful praise and worship team sang. A few of the boys headed over to the VA and shared special fellowship time with them. In the afternoon some of the Spanish-speaking students made their way to the children's outreach at the trailer park because the children there only knew how to speak language. When the students came back, they were all touched by these kid's stories and happiness they brought into the world. At 4:00 p.m. a group of us went over to Ocatillo Children's Outreach and had a blast! We all got in a huge water gun fight with the kids and a few adults even joined in! After the fun and games, we put on another church service for the kids and taught them a bible lesson. Ocatillo was a very poor area and the students loved to see how they lived and show them that someone was there for them and that God loves them. Later that night the students and a few disciples had fun completing amusing tasks during a scavenger hunt. Some of these tasks included things like dance with a stranger, or pray with a man in a red hat. After that, our whole class headed out to evangelize. While we were talking to people we met, a group of us brought one man to Christ, and another group helped a man join the Dream Center's program.
     On Sunday morning, we attended a church service here at the Dream Center and a couple of our students helped with the youth and children's service. I think we can all say it was an amazing experience. The man who we had helped the night before even showed up to the service and found us to thank us again. In the afternoon our class went to another outreach at Chicken Park. The park was beautiful and while we were there, free meals were served and another great service was put on. A group of us brought another man to the decision he was going to join the program at the Dream Center! Excited to hike again, we headed off to North Mountain Park in Phoenix.  The long trek up this mountain was definitely worth the view! We all made our way to the top! After a long hike in the sun we headed out to dinner at a Mexican restaurant where we snarfed down our meals.
     Today, the boys woke up at 4:30 a/m/ to attend an intense workout with the male disciples. The girls woke up and prepared to talk with and help homeless women make salvation bracelets! All of us drove over to St. Mary's food bank and helped put over 9,000 packages of chips into bags, and over 541 bags of produce and dry foods. At 4:00 p.m. the group will eat dinner and then head out to Van Buren Outreach where we will again serve meals to the homeless and those in need. I guess you could say we have had a busy week so far! All of us feel blessed to have these rare opportunities and meet unique people !