herbiehancock

Tonight we attended a dinner prepared by the youth group members of our church for those who had sponsored their mission trip to Mississippi. My younger son was one of the youth team members who went on that trip and helped with tonight's dinner and presentation. After the dinner, they also gave a presentation about the things they did and learned on the trip. They shared many stories about their experiences in Mississippi as well as showed a video of the many projects that they worked on while there. Along with stories of the spiders, snakes, lizards, and rats both dead and alive that they encountered while working there, there were stories of friendships made, problems faced and conquered through teamwork and cooperation, and the joy and sense of accomplishment they felt from being able to help those who were in need. So I am smiling, not only because I didn't have to cook supper tonight, (although that alone is enough to make me smile) but because I enjoyed hearing about...

We went to church this morning very early---6:30 to be exact--- to be there for a send-off for the youth group's mission trip to Pass Christian, Mississippi as part of a hurricane relief program. My younger son, as I posted here last week, is part of that group. He was up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and ready to go with his necessary things packed right on time. (OK, as you can see from this picture below, maybe he wasn't very bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. He still looks very sleepy in this photo. He was up and ready on time though. I thought that was pretty good for a teenager at 6:30 on a Sunday morning.) This is him in the back seat as we are on our way to meet the group at our church. At the church, three vans were loaded with sleeping bags and pillows and duffel bags and the other necessities for the trip. One of the vans was an extended one with extra seating. Necessary papers, phone numbers, and information about the itinerary and such were passed out to both t...

3 Nails 2 Boards 1 Mission My younger son who is 14 (soon to be 15) years old, spent most of yesterday at a workshop where he learned how to put up drywall. He did that because a week from today, he will be traveling to a place called Pass Christian, Mississippi. Pass Christian, Mississippi is marked with a pink balloon with the letter "A" on it on the map below. The location of our home in Ohio is marked with a red star. He is going to Mississippi with his youth group from church on a mission trip there. They are going to an area that was hit by hurricane Katrina in 2005 where homes are still, after all this time, in need of repair from damage done by that storm. He and the others he is going with will be spending an entire week, their spring break time off from school, to volunteer their services to those in need there as part of the hurricane relief team. He is wearing the team T-shirt that was provided to him and the others in his group. This morning in chu...