WY13 Mission Trip Recap #6 - final

I've given a little time for the emotions of our Wyoming trip to die down and for me to be able to really see and think about what I came away with from the WY13 trip. Bruce said it Sunday night and I happen to agree, sometimes we come back from these trips on an emotional high and need some time to rest and reflect on what God truly did in our lives. While the emotions are beautiful, sometimes they are provoked by lack of sleep, poverty, desperation..so after time, what really remains may look totally different than what we feel as we are pulling out of the parking lot of the mission church for the last time.

So after begin back for 8 days, I'm a little more ready to share how God worked in my own life.

I was reminded of the difficulties of small, rural American churches. The work that it takes when one couple is doing most of the work. This impacted both Bruce and I and we've shared many conversations about the memories we personally have of how difficult it is when you carry the load alone. It's given me a more clear look at how to encourage those who do much of the ministry alone, while growing a congregation in obedience to the service of the Lord.

I was reminded of how beautiful the body of Christ can be when we are working, encouraging, loving and genuinely caring for one another. While of course someone had to take charge of the trip, there was such a sweet humbleness of servanthood that drifted from the construction team to the ministry team. Men worked hard in the rain and hail, women scrubbed toilets, teenagers moved chairs and moved more chairs, kids dug up cactus. There were no "I'm too good for that" jobs. Everyone pitched in and did what they could or what was needed.

I was reminded how important humility is in the body of Christ. As we served each other and ultimately, the Lord, I was so blessed to watch and participate in the activities of the week. It's not about who is doing what...it's about doing what needs to be done for the furtherance of the gospel of Christ. It's not about who has power or control, it's about serving the least of these, the last, the forgotten and the tired. It's about tearing away the pride we can so easily wear and humbly walking beside someone, listening to them, not yourself. It's about doing things a different way than you're used to and it being OK. It's about being perfectly OK with not understanding a culture...but learning from someone who does. It's about being moldable, bendable, teachable.....so we can be more affective in a community.

So...there you have it. WY13 is a wrap...but the lessons learned there will be etched in my heart forever.

WY13 Mission Trip Recap #5

As is the style of most mission trips, a day of site seeing is usually scheduled in for the crew to enjoy. We didn't get a full day, but managed to squeeze in 2 half day trips.

The first was to downtown Cheyenne (see previous days recap for those pictures). The other day was to Vedauwoo, beautiful rock formations that displayed God's handiwork at it's best

Breathtaking...the views...the creativity of our God.

WY13 Mission Trip Recap #4

The great part about taking a large group on a mission trip is the amount of work and ministry you can get done with all the people pitching in and helping. That's exactly what happened. About 6 of our men made up a construction team. They built shelving in FBC's storage unit, built and stained a communion table and offering box, installed doors at the parsonage, fixed some plumbing issues, repaired sheetrock,  framed whiteboards and more. Unfortunately most of that happened during VBS and I didn't get pictures.

However, after VBS the rest of us joined in the work. We cleaned out flower beds, replanted and mulched the flowerbed around the sign. We created a flower bed on the side of the building and cleaned up along the buildings. Our most difficult chore was digging up tiny cactus that were all over the back couple of acres of land. Truly...after working several hours we had only made a small dent in this chore. But, progress is progress, right?

We also helped by wiping down doors and molding and cleaning all the windows in the church. 

Helping do these chores was a blessing to me. It helped me remember the hard work it takes to start and pastor a smaller church. Chances are that Wyoming will not ever boast a huge mega-church due to the population being so spread out. So, there are pastors all over the state that are doing it all by themselves, or are working with just a few faithful workers. Tommy and Jharee are two of the most faithful servants of God who are doing so much of the work alone. Song leading, piano playing, bulletin typing, Sunday School teaching, pastoring, budgeting, cleaning, visiting, yard work, nursery....with just a handful of helpers it was a blessing to encourage and partner with them to get some of these bigger projects completed.

WY13 Mission Trip Recap #3

Over the course of our week at Faith Baptist we had the opportunity to share with over 80 children during VBS. The church had chosen Truassic Park (spin off of Jurassic Park) as their theme for the week. Three of our team members played the main roles through puppets and skit characters. Todd, Stephanie and Jeremy made their characters come alive and did an awesome job talking about dinosaurs, creation, the flood, scientific methods and Jesus. Who knew we were among such talent! 8 Children came to know Christ through the message that was shared.

"Doc", our favorite scientist!

These guys (and gal) spent many hours tweaking
the script so that it fit our schedule.
They did a great job!

Here they are in action. Dr. Deceit, Becky and Doc

Two different afternoons we had a little sightseeing time. On Monday we were able to go into downtown Cheyenne and tour the old shops, the square and the first ever Wrangler store. Here's a sneak peak into what that looked like:

Beautiful old brick buildings and streets

Tucker and Jackson in front of a big boot that has the names
of every governor that Cheyenne has had.

"Equality for Women" statue

Tucker getting his cowboy on!

Oldest Theater

Original Wrangler store

And well.....I'm not sure there are words for this...
JD, Bruce and Manual
Oh My!

WY13 Mission Trip Recap #2

As soon as we got to Faith Baptist, Cheyenne, we were welcomed by several church members, who would become like family to us before the week was over. Tommy and Jharee Miller have been at FBC for three years. They have a huge heart for their community and were already diligently preparing for the week of VBS, the carnival and the youth rally that we would be assisting them with throughout the week. 

As soon as we arrived we began stuffing over
2000 door hanger bags to distribute in the community.

The guys set up this great big tent that
housed small groups, all our meals and the carnival.

And maybe best of all, we were experiencing low 80's for the highs!
Sweet!

The first full day was spent at the church for services and in the afternoon all of us hit the road and distributed over 2000 door hangers. While we were out we had to take a break because of the hail and wind storm, but it quickly passed and we we out pounding the pavement for the afternoon. After the evening services we divided up responsibilities for the week and readied the building for the week's VBS. Things were looking good!

WY13 Mission Trip Recap #1

Mission Trip Team WY13

When God puts together a team, he doesn't make mistakes. On August 3, 2013 when our WY13 team came together, there were various ages...ranging from 11 months to 70+, different abilities..ranging from unable to walk to fit teenagers, different talents...a chef, a pianist, a preacher, a housewife, a photographer, a carpenter, a college professor, students. Differences..coming together for the purpose of connecting, growing and serving at Faith Baptist Church. 35 different people who used their ordinary gifts to make an extraordinary difference.

Teamwork is only teamwork when everyone recognizes the value of each member of the team. I saw this over and over again. As our team worked with the Faith Baptist Team in Wyoming, a beautiful bond was formed that created a stronger team. It was truly one of the greatest pictures of unity I have ever witnessed. I'm thankful to have seen it!

First Family Mission Trip

I was especially thankful for this opportunity to do this trip with my family. The kids were involved in helping with the bus ministry, digging cactus up...lots and lots of cactus, setting up and tearing down, cleaning, helping with Baby Owen, helping dad with the games for VBS and best of all making new friends. This will be a trip they will never forget. I'm so thankful that God worked in their hearts too.

I'll be blogging and posting pics of the mission trip all week. Come back tomorrow for more!