Arkansas: The Final Full Day

Greetings! Today, we technically survived "The Village." Creepy, isn't it? Anywho, after our yummy breakfast, we had to do some chores around the village like taking care of the animals (including goats, chickens, and rabbits) doing dishes, and picked up trash. After our lunch (which was awesome!!!! compared to yesterday because we didn't cook it) we went to our High Challenge, and rock climbed and did the "flying squirrel." Then, we went to Sonic where we got some ice cream and drinks. That was about it, nothing else but packing tonight for us! Well, thanks for reading.

This blog was brought to you by Team A - Katie, Cameron, Ryan, Jacob, and Heidi.

God Bless!

Arkansas: Night of Terror!

Greetings! we are group C. By far, the coolest group ever. The members of our team include: Carly, Erin, Colby, Carter, and Megan.

Well, yesterday morning we played games that helped us build trust in each other and "community." We had a delicious breakfast consisting of pancakes and bacon (that was from the ranch). Next, we learned a lot about GDP (Gross something something) and about population distribution. Then the night began.

In the "lottery," we had four pregnant mothers, Erin, Heidi, Mallory, and..... Carter :) We thought that was funny too. The babies were represented by water balloons that could not be popped. If they were popped, the entire family had to spend 30 minutes in mourning for the baby. Next, we distributed in to our family groups:

Thailand ( garden and elevated sleeping quarters) - Carter, Denver, Ben, Jacob, Walker, and Mandy
Zambia (vegetables and fire wood)- Colby, Mallory, Katie, and Randall
Guatemala (controlled water and richest) - Heidi, Madi, Ryan and Kendra
Urban Slums (less fortunate of all)- Megan, Erin, Carly, Cameron, Terri, and Weston

It was a very interesting night. First, Thailand was stealing the food from the other families and left the Slums with nothing. Then, after a series of agreements and bargains, all the families gathered around the Slums to eat dinner. (we had to do a lot of walking). We put all of our food together to make stew, cornbread, eggs, and rice (yuck!!!) For the rest of the night, before bed, the pregnant mothers and pregnant father gave birth.

Only two survived - Carter's "Jacob Jr." and Erin's "Xavier."

Sleeping was the worst part. Guatemala was the only place that had any type of bedding. Zambia had to sleep on concrete floors while the Slums and Thailand had wooden floors. (We'll show you pictures later). The next morning, the Slums were in charge of making another fire and cook breakfast for the other families. We had oatmeal and raisins.

Well, that's about it for now. We will post you in about five minutes from another group! Adios!

Awesome Team See.

Arkansas: We Finally Arrive

We woke up at 8:45 at the Grand Country Inn. We loaded up on the bus and went to McDonalds for breakfast. Then on our way to the Heifer Ranch, we stopped along the Buffalo River and played outside. We had our devotion, and then got on the bus again. For lunch, we went to Taco Bell and Denver and Weston had hot sauce race!! Technically, Denver won because he took a drink last. Finally, around 5:00, we made it to the Heifer Ranch in Perryville! There wasn't a lot on the way except a few small towns. We were introduced to Melissa and Becca who were very polite. Today, they are going to give us a tour and orientate us with the ranch. Going back to yesterday, the boys were playing with the football, the frisbee, and the dodge ball, but we lost all three of them in fifteen minutes. The girls did something very interesting: they slept within the same bunk, even thuogh we had plenty of beds... Well, that's about it for us:

Today's blog was brought to you by: Group B - Madi, Mallory, Ben "Jammin," Walker, and Denver

Thanks everyone for reading and checking up on us wonerful children!

God Bless!

Middle School: Arkansas!

Greetings! Well, the title can be a little misleading. We are actually just in Branson, taking an overnight pit stop. At 6:00 am, we left for our journey to the Heifer Ranch. On our way, we stopped in Marionville, MO at the Ozarks Methodist Manor, which is a very nice nursing home for residents of a nursing home. 

( I realize that's redundant, but stimulates the point)

 Anywho, after we washed chairs and tables, helped a guy sort through his papers, cleaned stairs, and played BINGO, we came to Branson, where we swam all evening until around 9:30ish? Tomorrow we are heading to our final destination which is..... You guessed it! the Heifer Ranch! Well, that's it for me and just like last time, we are going to have small groups writing in the blog instead of just me. I hope that's okay.... haha.

Weston

it's the end of the Mission Trip

Greetings! The sun came up about 5 a.m. -- as usual on the Spirit Lake Reservation in July. We slept in until about 6:30, finished packing our stuff and loaded the bus, then a final breakfast with Mike, Libby and Michelle at 7:30. We hit the road at 8:30 and took the scenic route to Sioux City, IA.

Before leaving the reservation, we drove through Tokio, ND--so we could say we've been to Tokio--and learned that it is one of the poorest communities on the reservation. We then headed south on 281, a lesser high way. We saw beautiful prairies and rolling hills, and we took a quick detour to Laura Ingalls Wilder's Memorial Society in DeSmet, SD. We didn't take the official tour, but we looked at an old school, a learning center, and of course we stopped in the gift shop. Mr. Nowland was in 7th heaven with all of the surrounding agriculture.

From there, it was 3 hours to our Baymont Inn in Sioux City. We arrived about 8:30, did some swimming in the hotel pool, and ate pizza. The "C" team is preparing our nightly devotions as I write. Devotions will begin at 10:30--which is why I'm blogging instead of students. While my narration is much less entertaining, I'm hoping we'll be in bed before midnight!!

We're planning to leave here by 8:30 in the morning, putting us in Chillicothe about 3:00. We'll call parents when we're close. Thanks for keeping up with our adventures and keeping us in your prayers. We've had a great experience.

The Final Day at Spirit Lake

Greetings! Weston B here... I think Laura is going to fill you guys in on what we did over the past TWO days because we were so "busy." haha. Well, that's it for me, Laura?

July 8th, 2009

Yesterday was very busy, so we have a lot of stuff to cover. We had many jobs to do yesterday. We had group A that continued with drywalling the duplex. The other two groups split between the two jobs of putting a 8 foot window in a 4 foot hole and the other group also worked at the duplex picking up trash outside, which I had to do. There were many things that we picked up in the pile; old wet drywall, various rocks, random boards with nails still in them, and other miscellaneous objects. Lily, Donald, and Mr. Venner drywalled the living room. The dining room was drywalled by Weston, Steve-O, Kelsey D., Mr. Nowland, Kelsey Hinton, and Ariel. Frisbee, the cat that lives by the duplex, is loved by everyone. She was especially loved by Emmy, who then decided to craddle Frisbee and show her to everyone until Frisbee gave Emmy a tick. Emmy then threw Frisbee across the yard and stomped inside. The window crew consisted of: Trent, Madeline, Daniel Riekena, Kevin McCullough, and Dale Thomas. They had quite a challenge with putting a window in that was 2x the size of the original hole. First, they put it in upside down. Then, they took it back out to put it in properly. Corny jokes about shims then followed leaving the other groups wondering what they were talking about.

Something hilarious happened yesterday. Kelsey Duvall is always tired, asleep, or complaining about not getting enough sleep. So on the bus, Kelsey decided to fall asleep. Weston Baker decided to scheme up a plan to get Kelsey awake, which is very hard!!! So he decided to have everyone yell in unison to get her up. When it finally happened, Kelsey jumped very high out of her seat, screamed something which is not known, and then she put the hood over her head and fell back asleep.

That afternoon, we had a great time at Sidewalk Sunday School in the Rolling Hills neighborhood. One of our favorite things was Jayden making his little Chihuahua/Wiener Dog chase Whitney and Weston. It was so hilarious watching this tiny, freakishly shaped dog chase them!

Mike and Libby Flowers held church and talked about how they got involved with missions. Then group B held devotion about listening and everyone went to sleep with more mosquito bites than they could count.

July 9th, 2009

Everyone in the girls cabin tried to make Kelsey jump again in the morning and get it video taped. Regretfully, this operation fell through. Daniel Nowland, me, and Kelsey Hinton got to mow the yard at the "Little Ghost's" house. Mr. Little Ghost is the Spiritual leader of the community, and he is currently in a nursing home. Even though we had some technical difficulties because of the storm that passed through last night, we finally finished her yard with her very pleased. The groups stayed the same as they were yesterday. Team A finally finished sheet rocking the duplex and group C finished putting the window in. Then we took victory pictures!

After we got finished eating lunch, we went to Fort Totten. Fort Totten is a military fort that has been renovated close to its original state. It had many buildings to peek into, and it had many amazing artifacts to look at. We then went "shopping" and tried to find a way into Devil's Heart. (Devil's Heart is a ginormous mound that Native American boys go to for 3 days on their vision quest and then perform a sundance and tell everyone their calling.) A few people decided to embark on the journey up to Devil's Heart. First, we had to get over the barbed wire fence because we couldn't find a road. This was probably illegal, although we did have permission from Mike Flowers. Huge weeds and grass greeted us, and we had to navigate through it without stepping in fresh cow pies. Finally, we got to the base of the heart. It looked a lot harder than it seemed because there wasn't a path. All of the few got up to the peak and were amazed at the view that was before them. We now realize why the boys stayed up there for 3 days, because it was very tiring getting up there. Everyone took pictures and then went down the mound to the bus.

When everyone got back from their adventure, we went back to the camp. We then ate hamburgers and hotdogs, grilled by the brave Daniel Riekena, Daniel Nowland, and Trent Putnam. After dinner, we got treated to music from Skylee (a girl from Sidewalk Sunday School) and her dad, Chad. They performed some traditional Lakota music, and we all participated in a "round" dance. This dance is a social dance used to greet family and friends.

We had our final devotion then started packing. We are sad to be leaving because Libby cooks such good food, but we are all running out of clean clothes. We are on the road tomorrow and will blog from the hotel. (end Laura)

Sorry this is so long, but I wasn't really paying attention. You know how these girls like to talk. Please pray for us on our travels back to you all and I hope you enjoyed reading the blogs everyone's posted.... so far... God Bless!

Weston

Day 3 at the center

Hey, sorry but we were really busy. I'll be sure to have the teams fill you guys in on what's been going on. Goodnight!

Day Dos

Greetings! He hani washsta! (Good day in Lakota)

The second day on the reservation was just as exciting as the first. We woke up this morning to a rain only described as a "lazy" rain. It could not be categorized under a sprinkle rain or even a spitting rain. The rain was very irregular and very cold. That is also something us Chillicotheans have to get used to. We woke up this morning to a very very chilly July day.

Many of us traveled to breakfast in our sweat pants and sweat shirts.

After breakfast, we split off into our "teams". One team went back to their orginal worksite to continue drywalling and completed another wall. They also made a new friend named Frisbee who was a cat that lives in the crawl space beneath the home. The second team went to a new worksite to panel a room. By the end of the day, the entire room was completed except for a trim piece that was not available. It was the home of a chairwoman of the entire reservation. The third and final team stayed on the ministry center grounds and continued their work from the day before. They finished hanging the doors in the chapel and helped the intern (Michelle) prepare for the Sidewalk Sunday School this afternoon.

After lunch, the drywall team and the ministry center team went back to Rolling Hills to play with the kids of that neighborhood. The turnout was a little less today due to the "lazy" rain that continued into the afternoon. Although there weren't as many kids, it was just as eventful and fun. Donald had a boy cry, laugh, and then cry again all the way home, all within 20 seconds. Steve played with the neighborhood dog, Buddy, who somehow tackled Steve-o to the ground. There was plenty of swinging, sliding, crafting, eating, smiling and overall craziness for one day.

The Sidewalk Sunday School (SSS) teams arrived back at camp around 4 and the paneling team arrived around 5. When the paneling team got back to the camp, the girls cabin was silent. Every single girl from the SSS teams were sound asleep. The best part of rainy days are definitely the naps. The boys, however, were still full of energy and an intense game of extreme Jenga was in full swing.

We are being spoiled here by Libby. Tonight she made us brisket, mashed potatoes and baked beans. It was very delicious. After dinner, we were treated to ice cream. While many of us were enjoying our ice cream, Laura Turner had a slight America's Funniest Home Videos moment. In the excitement of chasing Daniel Nowland, she forgot about the obvious screen door. Even though Dale Thomas and Kevin McCullough had spent 30 minutes getting the screen door back on its track this afternoon, Laura's 90 pound body succeeded in completely removing the door in her hurry and taking it across the lawn with her. This resulted in many laughs. Many, many laughs. Which eventually turned into tears. Many, many tears. Dale, once again, placed the obvious screen door back on track.

We are having tons of fun, making lots of memories, and working hard as ususal. We all have plenty of stories to bring back home already and its only Tuesday. Don't miss us too much :)

Love,

The A-Team (aka the plumbers, the drywallers and Madeline)

Ah, North Dakota...

Greetings friends! Weston here, at Spirit Lake Ministry Center. We arrived yesterday, but I'll start on the day we left.

6:00 AM and we left the sweet town of Chillicothe and ventured to Sioux Falls in South Dakota (not the final destination). We went to an incredible water park, (forgot the name) but I didn't swim because the water was around -100,000 degrees. (just kidding, but it was really really cold). There were many things we could do other than swim or go on the slides. They had batting cages, go-karts, putt putt golf (had two holes-in-one), and sand volleyball. I am pretty sure that every one of us had a "funderful" time. Later that night, we went to sleep at a Days Inn where Steve, Trent, and I had some good "manversations."

The next morning, we all went to church, that was a football toss away from the hotel. Next, we took the final leg of the trip to the wonderfully amazing North Dakota, where our friends, the Flowers' put us up here in the Ministry Center. It's located on a Dakota Indian reservation.

There are three important rules here:
1.Be flexible
2. Be flexible
3. If you can't follow rules 1&2, take two steps back and be flexible.

TODAY! (I know, but we didn't have internet for awhile. Sorry for the slacking)

Madeline, Daniel, Steve, and I took a run this morning and I found the landscape to be captivating. I showered up and went to my worksite. We split up into 3 work groups. One group was supposed to be plumbing, but the lady was not there to let them in! So they came along with my group, and helped lay drywall and do some lawn work. Say what? The final group stayed on the reservation and worked at the ministry center. Say what? (sorry, a group of us just got a high score on Say What?) After lunch, two groups went to a playground and helped with Sidewalk Sunday School. (I'll explain later). Tonight, we had a devotion and sang a couple songs then hiked to a burial mound where they say a chief and his horse are buried. Oh! Look at the time! It's almost 10 o'clock, and I'm spent (tired).

WARNING! On this mission trip, I'm not going to be the only one posting. Instead, we are trying a new system where each team will be able to post something on this blog. I know, it's a little disppointing, but it's only fair to everyone else haha... Except Dr. Dale???

Saturday (n): The last day we are in DC

Greetings again! Today's the last day for being in the good ol' District of Columbia. (Washington D.C.) We started off by going to the National Archives as soon as we could. It was pretty sweet because the gang skipped the entire line and snuck in through the exit. Amazing? Yeah, I thought so too. I figured a security guard would stop us, but luckily he just ignored us walk past him. After we finished at the Archives, we got lunch again at Union Station at a place called, Pizzeria Uno, which was pretty tasty. The sad part is coming up next, grab some tissues. We had to say goodbye to Josh after lunch as he went back to Columbia, poor Josh... 

I bought a book! It's called, "World War Z." I'm glad I finally found a book that I might be able to read, except there are big words like, I'm not sure off the top of my head, but there are some pretty long words in there. 

We left Union Station, and rode the Old Town Trolley again to the Air and Space Museum, as well as the Castle Smithsonian. (Air and Space is a Smithsonian also.... Just thought you should know) Then, we got ice cream at Ben and Jerry's inside of the Old Post Office Pavilion and rode to the top of the tower and saw DC in its wholeness from what we could see. 

WAIT ONE MINUTE, I FORGOT TO TELL YOU SOMETHING IMPORTANT

During the journey at the Pavilion, Kim, Alison, John, and I noticed this squirrel. He was a cute little booger just minding his own business kinda checking us out. Thankfull

y, a security guard nearby gave us a couple of peanuts to give the squirrel. WE ACTUALLY FED A SQUIRREL! I know, but please contain yourself as I continue. I thought I would try and pet the squirrel which turned out to be a good idea because he didn't bite me! Ok, I have to stop talking about that because people are looking at me in an odd fashion due to my jumping around talking about this squirrel that I named, Chip Chip (Chip for short). 

Well, we ate ate the Irish Pub which was the hotel's restaurant which served some crazy good pasta. It was probably the best meal on the trip in my opinion. Then for the rest of the night, we just chilled around Chinatown saying our goodbyes to our favorite places.

We are about to embark on our way home on the airplane, so I shall see you all soon as we get back to Chillville today. Bonjour!

Josh's Last Full Day

Greetings! Today was yet another good day indeed. We started this morning by going to Ford's Theatre. You know, the place where Lincoln was shot? Yeah, that place. We listened to a presentation a park ranger gave about the assassination. After that, we all traveled on the Old Town Trolley, a tour trolley that takes you to many places. Like Missouri! (just kidding) Seriously though, we saw places like the FDR Memorial and the Lincoln Memorial before we ate lunch at QDoba. It's a place where hungry people go to fill themselves up with burritos and such. 

After lunch, the team hopped back on the trolley and headed to Arlington. John, Josh, and I all went walking around the cemetery and saw JFK's (John F. Kennedy's) eternal flame, which was really moving. But perhaps my favorite part was seeing the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and scoping out the exchanging of the guard. I was moved to see all of that happen that even I was at a loss for words. (no one saw that coming) After we came back from Arlington, we rode a different trolley from the same company around to a different part of the city and saw places like Georgetown, the National Cathedral, and went by all the embassies and theaters. 

For dinner, we went to a Chinese place. Yuck! (obviously I'm not a fan of Chinese) We took about half an hour to make a decision on where we were going to eat, but thankfully we ended up on a consensus. An interesting event happened while we were eating. I ordered a Kung Pao chikcen, and John ordered a General Tso's chicken. We decided to ordered the most interesting sounding entrees. Knowing my luck, everybody's food looked pretty good except for mine. I tried it and I was correct by assuming it was not tasty. So John, the nice guy he is, traded plates with me and his wasn't as bad as mine. After thinking I lost some "man-points," I was dared to eat this pepper that Melissa said that's used for making pepper spray. I ate it. And let me tell you, it was as hot as a beach on the sun with some lava being poured down your throat. Kendra said I earned an extreme, 1,000 man points! Very nice! 

Well, I'm sorry this one isn't very comical/interesting. Well, maybe it was!? You should probably post some comments..... Bye!

Thursday's probably gone when you have read this

Greetings! Today was a wonderous day! (I think I made that up. Wonderous. It kinda has a neat sound to it).  8:20, DC time. We wake up and hit the Metro (we travel) to the seminar. That part is not important. 

However, when we arrived, we discussed some strategies on how to discuss topics that are important to Missouri. Our lineup goes as follows; Josh introduced us, Melissa talked about helping small family farms, Alison discussed healthcare as a human right, John mentioned some topics concerning education, and I did a follow up/closing. When I say "follow up," sometimes people get confused that I say "fruit roll up." But I'm not. The reason we had this lineup is so that we could effectively present these problems to Kit Bond! (he's a senator). Well, we got there and discussed these issues, which was incredible to....... Josh.... (one of Kit's staff. Not Mr. Bond himself, or Josh, that's in our group). Still, it was cool beans to present our ideas and concerns to a political power.

After our power outing at the Senate's office, we ended our seminar and had to say "bye bye bye" to Susan and Int. Kara. (Int. stands for "Intern"). Awesome! Hmmmm.... Then, we came back to the room and we pretty much just took naps and watched a movie befor

e we

 went to this hippie place, Busboys and Poets, that has a lot of vegetarian food that Josh likes so much.

John, Josh, and yours truly saw some of  Vice President Biden's secret service at Burger King! The girls were being girls and went back to the room while we men got some iced coffee. We even saw where the Vice President was... It was okay, nothing spectacular. 

Well, time for me to hit the hay and make like a mouse and sleep!

Yours truly,

Westin. Just kidding!!! It's "Weston"

Wed-Nes-Day: Very Important, kind of.

Greetings, friends! Okay, the first thing I have to mention is that I have now met four other interns. Kara, Brittany, Katie, and Simeon! I'm pretty stoked that there are more interns here other than me! Maybe it's not that exciting? I don't know.

 Well, today we had yet another seminar, even though this was just our second one. Today we heard three stories of people who were homeless. Every individual story was powerful in a different way. It makes me feel fortunate for what I have and how blessed we are back in Chillicothe. Then, this lady talked to us about HIV/AIDS. I found it interesting how easy it is to prevent the spread. Next, we talked about Bread for the World. Honestly, I almost fell asleep, but the girls were very passionate about the cause and had many good points. At lunch time, we ate out on the steps to the Supreme Court building. 

I hope I wasn't judged for eating on the steps!!!!! 

John, Josh and I played frisbee on a patch of grass, which was very entertaining before our last speaker. The last guy talked to us about men being allies to women. We talked about rape and how men can prevent rape, and how certain things affect women, whether or not it hurt women (not particularly rape... other things too). This presentation was by far my favorite so far, and the most interesting. 

We traveled to Union Station and ate at a place called Thunder Grill. Not bad, had a Native American feel to it. Oh! which reminds me- I guess the restaurant we ate at earlier this week was called "PotBelly's" according to Alison. Well, I'm off to devotion. 

Keep it cool!

So, yesterday was Memorial Day...

Greetings! Welcome to Tuesday's blog! Today we traveled along to our seminar! We even got to sleep in again... About 8:00 (d.c. time) I was being sarcastic if you couldn't guess.... About sleeping in... Susan and Kara are the seminar leader people, even though Kara is an intern. Kinda like me! We talked forever, and she made us feel like dirt. Susan that is. However, she made up for it because it ended up being a joke, so it's all good. We also listened to this guy who talked about the U.S. Federal Budget. It was actually not as boring as you'd expect. After we ate lunch in Union Station, we took a tour with the Reverend named Jim around Duke Ellington's neighborhood where we learned a lot about inner city culture. He reminded us that we should not stereotype people/areas just because of their location. 

Perhaps the most interesting part to our trip was going to Ben's Chili Bowl. Bill Cosby's favorite place? (I think that's debatable). It reminded me of Armour Chili, that we used to get in Hy-Vee... I miss that stuff. Then we went grocery shopping and had a devotion (where we're at right now)...  

Well, we're getting tired, so I'll talk to you tomorrow!

P.S. PLEASE COMMENT TO THESE POST-ITS! (Kendra wanted me to say something of that respect).

MONDAY MONDAY MONDAY

Greetings friends! I know it's Tuesday, but I must tell you what we did Monday. I apologize for the late arrival... Anyways (jk, it's only "anyway")... We got to sleep in which was nice, well... until 10:20ish? 

We ended up going to the Holocaust museum. It was amazing. The museum had these little booklets with stories of Jews who were involved with the Holocaust. It really touched me to read about this individual that not everybody will ever know about. It makes the experience extremely personal. My favorite part of the museum was the collection of shoes. Each shoe in this gigantic pile was original from the collection of shoes the Nazis seized. Another exciting part of the museum, some of us ran in to Trenton, MO's high school band! I'm not really sure how I noticed, except the kid I played tennis against....I won...

 

We noticed the Memorial Day Parade going on at Constitution, a street, and the best part was that we saw Lieutenant Dan from Forrest Gump!!! After that, we

 ate at this place called Pot Bellies. It was good. Not as good as Quizno's, but it was still very delic

ious. I mean good. Then some of us went to Ben and Jerry's and got some ice cream before going back to the Natural History Museum. I SCREAM FOR ICE CREAM! At the Natural History Museum, we 

watched Night At the Museum 2. It was a nice movie. Everything a family would enjoy! :) ...I didn't put a nose on that face!

Well, I think it's about time to tell you about Tuesday! Adios!

Day 2 (Sunday) ---D.C.

Greetings again! If you didn't catch the hint, we're staying in Chinatown! It's crazy how much diversity is here. Kind of a culture shock... Anyway, today we went to Asbury United Methodist Church. When we arrived, we helped serve and feed around 100 homeless people in the church's fellowship hall! It was very amazing to see how everyone interacted with the homeless and we all did a wonderful job helping. After that, we attended worship with Asbury's congregation. It was really neat because it was a fresh blend of very traditional church, with a LOT of singing. Honestly, I'm not very surprised since it was an African-American church.

 Oh, Melissa's feeling much better! 

Anywho, the church service threw us all off since we didn't get out until close to 1:00. After the service, we ate at Fudruckers (sp) and it was delicious. After we ate, John and I saw a Red Bull car and some ladies handed us some free Red Bull! Very Nice!!! 

Later, we journeyed to the Museum of American History until dinner time. I really had trouble getting in to the museum, just because not much interested me.... Except the C-3PO costume from Star Wars. Here's some random letters... AQRTCZHJ

Well, it's about time to hit the hay... Have a wonderful day!!!

Weston,

Out!

Hello, Washington!!! (D.C. That is...)

Greetings! Well, today has been pretty interesting even though it's only 2:30 (d.c. time). We left the church at 4:49 this morning, and yes.... It was very hard to wake up. We arrived in D.C. at about 11:00 (d.c. time). Unfortunately, Melissa isn't feeling well, but she is starting to get better already! Anyway, we are heading to Maddame "something's" Wax Museum where we will get to see many popular figures in..... WAX! Well, we're heading out so I will keep you posted tomorrow. Good-Bye! (in Chinese).

The Believers Share Their Possessions

Acts 4:32-35 (New Living Translation)
The Believers Share Their Possessions 32 All the believers were united in heart and mind. And they felt that what they owned was not their own, so they shared everything they had. 33 The apostles testified powerfully to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and God’s great blessing was upon them all. 34 There were no needy people among them, because those who owned land or houses would sell them 35 and bring the money to the apostles to give to those in need.

Wouldn't it be amazing if our society was similar to this one? There were no needy people because the people with land and homes sold them, so that the disciples can share the wealth to the under privlieged. If we all become half as neighborly as the people described in the passage above, I believe we would become much closer and life would become much more simple because we wouldn't have the struggle of the "survival of the fittest."

The Most Important Commandment

Luke 10:25-37 (New Living Translation)
The Most Important Commandment 25 One day an expert in religious law stood up to test Jesus by asking him this question: “Teacher, what should I do to inherit eternal life?”
26 Jesus replied, “What does the law of Moses say? How do you read it?”
27 The man answered, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.’ And, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”[a]
28 “Right!” Jesus told him. “Do this and you will live!”
29 The man wanted to justify his actions, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
Parable of the Good Samaritan 30 Jesus replied with a story: “A Jewish man was traveling on a trip from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he was attacked by bandits. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him up, and left him half dead beside the road.
31 “By chance a priest came along. But when he saw the man lying there, he crossed to the other side of the road and passed him by. 32 A Temple assistant[b] walked over and looked at him lying there, but he also passed by on the other side.
33 “Then a despised Samaritan came along, and when he saw the man, he felt compassion for him. 34 Going over to him, the Samaritan soothed his wounds with olive oil and wine and bandaged them. Then he put the man on his own donkey and took him to an inn, where he took care of him. 35 The next day he handed the innkeeper two silver coins,[c] telling him, ‘Take care of this man. If his bill runs higher than this, I’ll pay you the next time I’m here.’
36 “Now which of these three would you say was a neighbor to the man who was attacked by bandits?” Jesus asked.
37 The man replied, “The one who showed him mercy.”
Then Jesus said, “Yes, now go and do the same.”

The most important commandment.... Love the Lord with all your heart, all your soul, all your strenghth, and all your mind. Or is it "love thy neighbor as yourself? I don't think it's fair to place one at higher importance than the other. Because if you love the Lord with all your heart, loving your neighbor will come along with it. But a man asked, "who's my neighbor?"

This is when we get into the story of the good Samaritan. I find it boggling how a temple assisstant, and a PRIEST could not show compassion for the fallen man. It took a Samaritan to show love for the battered man. Not only did the Samaritan show compassion, but he cared for the man, providing a place to sleep and restore strength. As I read this passage this morning, I got a call to action, that I need to show compassion for those less fortunate than I am. Perhaps we all can benefit if we all become eachother's neighbors.

First Day

I am Weston "the" Baker, youth intern at Chillicothe United Methodist Church. Kendra told me to start a blog, so here it is.

I'll begin by introducing myself. You know my name is Weston Baker (or I hope you got that far into that sentence...). I graduated from Chillicothe High School in Chillicothe, Missouri in 2008. I am currently attending Missouri Western State University and majoring in English education. I am a member here at Chillicothe United Methodist Church, and have been attending regularly since my freshman year in high school. 

I am very excited for the mission trips I will be going on and learning about the youth. Here are some dates that you will be able to keep up on if you wish to follow Christ 4 Life's journey:

May 23-31 - Washington D.C. (college)

July 4-11 - Tokio, North Dakota (high school)

July21-25 - Perryville, Arkansas (middle school)

Have a great day and God Bless!

Weston Baker