Monday, March 22, 2010

Home Sweet Home

We are home sweet home! I'm sure all of you picked up some very sleepy kiddos. I know that after yesterday they were pretty exhausted after the whole trip. Here are a few things that we didn't yesterday and only a few pictures to share with you.

We got all packed up yesterday morning and headed to our last breakfast at the Children's Building. After breakfast we met about the excitement and concerns about going to church that morning. Some of them hadn't been around any of the homeless community yet and were a little nervous about how it was all going to go. We had them pair up in groups of people that went to the homeless shelter the night before with someone who was on the prayer drive instead. With partners ready we were out the door!

Church was COLD! We were all wearing every piece of clothing that we had brought. We had arrived around 10:15 in order to hang out with some of the church goers and to help set up their chairs. Service started around 11 AM. They had a choir from Baylor there also who sang and danced. We danced to the music half because of the fun music and half because we couldn't feel our feet and needed to move around. Their service is full of a lot of music and a short sermon by the founder of Mission Waco, Jimmy. After his sermon we took the Lord's supper. It was amazing to see the joy and excitement on the face of these homeless people when they talked and sang about how great our God is!  The kids even asked, "Why are they so happy when they have so little?" It is something that we don't understand. Even during the service one of the homeless men named Patrick took everything he had out of one of this two bags and went into the crowd to give one of his bags away! It is amazing to see someone with nothing still trying to give his stuff away. There were about 200 + people there. We had the homeless community, Baylor students, and other people that call Church Under the Bridge home. Everyone around us was so different from what we are used to. It really was the true meaning of what Church is! Church is not a building, but rather made up of people. And that was their church. In 30 degree weather, under a bridge in Waco, 200 people were showing us what church is! Love it! Here are a few pictures.

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Needless to say...we're tired!

After a long work day yesterday we started of today a little sluggish to say the least. The kids were hardly even moving before we got some breakfast in them. Our day started of with massive storms in Waco. We were literally driving and watch all the electricity in the buildings flashing on and off. We got to take a tour of My Brother's Keeper, which is the name of Mission Waco's Homeless Shelter. We got to walk around and see how these people live. Kathy, our Mission Waco staffer, talked to the kids about a few of the homeless people that they have had come through their shelters. Some of their stories were successful while others had some sad endings. After our tour we went back to the Children's Building to see a presentation from some people that went to Haiti just a week ago. The video was about 40 minutes long and really made a lot of the kids ready to help the Haitian people. After some lunch we got to take a tour of a theater in the area and the World Cup Cafe, which is a small deli/ cafe that Mission Waco runs and also sells fair trade merchandise from all over the world. It was crazy just to see how some people could make such creative things out of ordinary things. There were vases made out of folded old magazine pages, fun finger puppets made out of string to make every animal imaginable, and even hand painted ornaments. After the tours we once again split into 3 groups to do more work projects. One group cleaned out the youth building and computer lab, one cleaned the theater and World Cup Cafe, and another group went to clean the Meyers Center where they hold clinics, GED class, computer class, worship service, breakfasts for the homeless, among many other things on the weekdays. I warn you know that I took some pictures of at least everyone helping and cleaning so now they can't tell you that they can't, because we have picture proof! After dinner we talked about that night's activities. We split the kids into 2 groups according to what they were comfortable with. We had one group go on a prayer walk (ok they were in a van the whole time, but it still counts). They weren't to some of the surrounding building praying for the people there, the workers, and the people they would be helping. It was a great time for the kids to see some of the buildings in our area that look nothing like we are used to in Rockwall. The other group went to the shelter again to go to a chapel service with some of the homeless people that live there. I was with this group and I tell you what- it was one of the best things I've done in my life. The leader of chapel, Eric Harry, asked the kids to be honest and tell the homeless people around them what they thought about homeless people. The kids were so honest and asked them if they all lived in cardboard boxes, or if they tried to get jobs. Some of the people got to share their stories. Wow. The lives these people have had have been hard. We had a lady that was kicked out of her house at 12, someone who was in the navy, and a truck driver. Our kids got to meet some of the 20+ homeless people there. Each one of them was told to meet one person and then after a while we shared with the group the name of the person we met and one interesting thing about them. It was amazing. The kids came away from that event saying that 45 minute chapel was the best part of their trip. Their eyes were opened. We came back to the hotel and did a trip debriefing. We met in one of the rooms with all of our Bibles and talked about what we have learned. We talked about now becoming the hands and the feet of God. We allowed the kids about an hour at the end of the night to eat pizza and swim before heading to their rooms to pack and get ready for church tomorrow. This trip has shed light on a different part of the world that most of the kids and even us adults hadn't seen before.I'm sorry but we didn't take any pictures at the chapel service tonight. Walking around snapping pictures would have ruined the mood of the moment. Here are a few pictures from the day!

Friday, March 19, 2010

We put them to work!

We have just had a long, hard, fun, exhausting, amazing first day! We met down stairs nice and early at 7AM in order to head out to breakfast. We ate at a building that Mission Waco called their Training Center. We had all sorts of goodies for breakfast and then sat down for an introduction to what Mission Waco is by Kathy Wise. She gave a history behind the organization and why they feel like it is important to help the homeless population in Waco. After breakfast we were able to spend 3 hours reading to many different groups of Kindergarteners and 1st graders. It was amazing to see these 4th and 5th graders reading with all of these kids. All of you parents should be so proud! We got so many pictures of them but unfortunately it would take all night to upload all 172 pictures we have just from today! After reading we got to hang out at a park and the Mission Waco's Children's Building that they call the ROCK. We ate all the cheeseburgers our stomachs could take to gain energy for our afternoon activities. The kids were split into 5 groups in order to help out the neighborhood. Here are what the 5 groups did: chipping paint off of the curbs in order for them to be repainted, clearing bricks outside of one of the parks, cleaning the inside and outside of 3 Mission Waco vans, mowing and moving dirt, and scrubbing some of the park equipment. We were all working for hours and thank goodness that God blessed us with a gorgeous day!! We then played a massive game of kick ball while some of the leaders were getting our spaghetti dinner ready. The boys ended up winning the game, but if you ask the girls it is only because we were called into dinner before we were finished. After eating dinner we got to spoil the kids for their hard work and take them to the movies. You should have seen the lady at the food stand when all 30 of us marched up ready for food! The kids are now all tucked into bed, exhausted from their day, and ready to get tomorrow started. Please enjoy some pictures from today!

We made it!

Hello! We are all here and safe! We were having some internet "issues" so I'm sorry for the late update, but now we are up and running. The kids got here around 6:45 and were ready to go! After a quick change we all met at the pool and enjoyed some yummy McAlister's dinner and then a swim. The pool is indoors so we all didn't have to freeze outside. I'm surprised that some other hotel guest actually stayed to swim in there even after entering to the shock of 30 Lake Pointers taking up the pool. After a quick group meeting at 9:00 PM we were off to our rooms to enjoy each other's company before going to bed around 11....ish :) Can't wait to see what tomorrow brings!

-Angela

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Tomorrow is the big day!!

Hey guys!
We had such a good turn out at our last parent meeting. It was great to see so many people there and it gave me chills to see all of you praying with your teams and the kids around the room. I love it! Here are some of the papers if you missed anything. See you here at 4:00 PM tomorrow!!!

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Final Parent Meeting!

Hey guys! Tomorrow is our final parent meeting for Mission Waco. I am so excited that this trip is so close! I can't wait to give you all of the final details and get our hearts ready for this trip. Here are the things that you need to bring with you.

- Lake Pointe Liability/ Medical Form

-Food Profile

-All final payments

 The meeting starts at 6:30 in room C217. See you all then!

-Angela Platt

Monday, February 8, 2010

Chiloso Night and 2nd parent meeting!

Hey guys! We are doing our Mission Waco fundraiser at Chiloso in Rockwall tomorrow, Feb. 9 from 5 PM to 9 PM.

For those of you helping: come prepared with a smile on your face and a happy attitude! We get the joy to help serve your family and friends that are coming to eat at Chiloso. All you have to do is ask people if they need refills, need trash thrown away, or open the door for them. The people eating are going to help donate to help you to go on this trip- so let's show them a great time at Chiloso. When you get there, find either me (Angela) or Elizabeth to sign in so we know what times you were there.

For those of you just eating: In order to help send these kids on their trip, just make sure that you place your receipt in the bucket next to the register. That's it! If you feel like donating more to the fund we will have tip cups placed around for your convenience.

We are having our 2nd parent meeting for our trip on Wednesday, Feb. 10 in room C217. It is going to be a very informative meeting so I hope everyone can come!