The Adventures of HUMC in Cincinnati, Ohio
As I write this, I have been home only for a couple hours from yet again another amazing mission trip with my church. I feel extremely fatigued from staying up writing everyone notes this morning/last night. I unpacked my luggage, put my clothes down the laundry chute to be washed, and I have come here to unpack my own emotions and describe what went in this past week and how much it meant to me. I was skeptical at first about how well this mission trip would go since it was not only our first time serving in Cincinnati, but additionally it was our first mission trip with Maria. I'll give you a day by day breakdown of the week. Below is the daily schedule as well.
July 10th, 2016
This was the day that we left the church for Ohio. I woke up early, got dressed, and my whole family made sure we had all of our carry-ons to take with us to church. We attended the 8:30 service, where the church congregation invited us up to kneel at the altars to pray over us. This was my first of many God sightings from this week, because we literally filled them up. We had that many people. Due to always helping in the nursery, I had not been to an actual church service in months, so it was nice to be able to hear Pastor Chris and Enrique speak before departing. Once the service concluded, we gathered our belongings, took a group picture, then we were off the races! I was in the van along with Laurel, Jacob, Meg, Keri, Aedan, Hallie, Jessica, and Lara. Jacob handled our music situation on the ride down there, and time seemed to pass pretty quickly through our endless jam sessions and Mafia games. One of the most interesting things to happen as we were on the road was the hood of a car flew off right next to the van! It was actually kind of horrifying, but the individuals in the vehicle we'rent even phased by it. The first food stop of the trip was you were given the choice between Burger King and Wendy's. Naturally I chose Wendy's, the busiest one. Maria said to try to be done eating after twenty minutes, but that was a joke. I don't know why it took so long; there was a lot of us regardless.
We get to the church we're sleeping at, and I believe we are actually the second group there. I dragged my heavy suitcase up the stairs with the help of a YouthWorks leader, and she showed me where the girls would be sleeping. Well, my first observation is that the floor is already packed with air mattresses. I didn't realize how many other people would be there! My first instinct was to go where it was less crowded, so I went to the side room that was empty that connected to the larger room. And guess what? It had no AC. (Don't worry, that didn't last long.) Anyway, Laurel, Hallie, Meg, Mrs. Maggie, and Mrs. Lesley joined me in that tiny room. It was a tight squeeze for sure. Not much happened activity-wise that night except for them introducing everyone to the phrase "COWS EAT PEACHES". It's an acronym for all the rules we were supposed to follow throughout the trip, but it became more of a running joke than anything else. Bucket of Doom still happened (thankfully) and it was 10/10.
July 11th, 2016
Very quickly I remembered I am not a morning person. I woke up with a semi-deflated air mattress and few hours of true sleep. In general, the whole week the meal prep and clean-up crews rotated based on work site, and during each meal you had to try to incorporate a presentation to go with the food, just to make that clear. During breakfast we packed our sack lunches for the work site simultaneously. Breakfast that morning (and every morning) always included cereal. Around 70 of us split up into our select groups for specific work locations, including about six or more kids and two adults. My work site was the YMCA where my team would be working with the kids enjoying summer camp there. I was skeptical about how enjoyable it would be; it didn't take me long to warm up to the kids. I got put with the oldest group along with Aedan, and almost instantly they approaches us asking to play air hockey with them or throw a ball around. They were an active group, doing everything from swimming, reading, playing on the playground, and much more. I'm not gonna lie, I did lose sight of my group at one point. While I was having such a great time interacting with them in the pool, I accidentally followed another group out of the changing room thinking it was them. You just have to go with the flow when stuff like that happens, so that's what I did. I met up with another set of kids who walked a couple blocks away to make salsa in a local community garden. We made it back to the YMCA and I spotted my group once more. Long story short, I accidentally skipped lunch that day and didn't get to eat until we made it back to the church we were staying at.
We saw D-MAUB perform some raps for us and told us about his life. He had made some bad life decisions at young age, but now he's spreading God's words through his music, ministry, and clothing line called Go(o)d Company. Bucket of Doom commenced as normal, as well as Monkey Butt Awards. I had the opportunity to participate and receive both of those things. (For those who don't know- BoD is basically an icebreaker game we play with our youth group and like 3-5 people get picked each night to do it in front of the crowd. Monkey Butt Awards recognize those who did outstanding things at their work site they want others to know about.) My BoD challenge was to propose to someone and make a heartfelt speech beforehand. I would like to inform you that I'm not a very heartfelt person right on the spot, sorry Parker! Quicker than it even seemed possible, it was time to go to bed, and Mrs. Lesley even bought a fan for are room so we don't have to borrow one. Thank goodness. First day of work: complete!
July 12th, 2016
Another morning, another not-so-filling meal of Fruity Pebbles! This was the last day we spent at the YMCA, then we would trade work sites with the people at Happen! Inc. The kids enjoyed braiding my hair, playing Uno, and just chatting with them. One of them even asked if they could call me Polly. You gotta love kids. Mrs. Nicc was the adult YMCA staff leader I was with, and throughout the whole time she was so cheerful and kind to the kids. She brought nail polish for the kids to use and painted their nails. We finished early that day, so we walked around in Cincinnati and got ice cream at Graeter's. And that wasn't the end of walking! We left immediately for the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center to tour the museum. That was truly an eye-opening experience. We often think of slavery as something of the past, and shove it to the back of our minds, but it is still present in the world today. The photography exhibit spoke to me those most, reading about all the specific stories of the victims of slavery from every corner of the earth and age.
There was free time before dinner, so a cluster of us ventured down Hamilton Ave and stopped at the record store a few blocks away. They had so many vinyls it was really insane- wall to wall, two floors! Tuesday's meal was, can you guess? Tacos. The "West End" group, my group, had kitchen clean-up that day. It didn't last very long, though, because we were interrupted by Maria informing us we were once more going to go get ice cream. LOL! Again! It was Graeter's, yet at a different location. I came to the conclusion to skip out on purchasing anything since I had already had enough sugar consumption for that time. I just floated from group to group, chatting and laughing until I noticed a crowd forming around Matt Reynolds and Jimmy. What the heck was happening? Apparently Jimmy had thrown his ice cream at Matt, and so Matt was going to dump somebody else's ice cream on Jimmy. Our youth group sure is something. Nothing else spectacular happened really, however the other churches joined us in singing "sloppy wet kiss" during "How He Loves", which I thought was another God sighting. That song has always had an emotional impact on me, and that didn't change this trip. I even started crying at one point because it's wild to think about how regardless of where we are, who we're with, or what time it is, we will belt that song as if no one is watching; I wouldn't ever change anything about it.
July 13th, 2016
The next place we served at demanded the most manual labor and sweat- sweeping, picking up trash, and pulling weeds on the streets in Cincinnati. The sun made it hard to stay motivated sometimes, so we made occasional stops to regain our strength and breath. Mr. Andrew pitched in and bought us all Powerades at the BP gas station on the side of the rode we were working on to keep us all hydrated as we worked. We probably picked up at least 500 cigarettes. The street was within walking distance of the church, so we ate lunch there. Afterwards, we went across the street to listen to Tommy, the founder of Happen! Inc. tell us about his life and why he does what he does. He made Happen after dropping his on-the-rise advertising company he was a apart of, because he had a heart for helping give children hope like he once needed when he was young. His story was very Forrest Gump-esque, he explained. Tommy led us to a garden a few blocks away where we finished up our work for the day with another part of the YouthWorks peeps, and I pulled weeds with Hunter! With it still being scorching hot, the work didn't last too long. Andrew picked us up in the van and took us back to the church so we wouldn't have to walk.
Our evening activity was going the the levee in Newport, KY to look at the shops and explore the area. We split off and I went with Baker, Hallie, Meg, Keri, Aedan, Laurel, and Jacob. The view was beautiful there with all the skyscrapers, bridges, and the water reflecting it all. A lady in one of the shops told us to go walk across the Purple People bridge, so that's what we spent a majority of the time doing. Baker bought me a Chocolate Frog from Barnes & Noble and all was right in the world, we had to leave shortly following that as it was getting late.
July 14th, 2016
This was the last day of work we had. We spent a short time harvesting and weighing food from the garden, shoveling compost, and we brought the food to the CAIN House next to the church for them to use for the community. A great moment was when we went back to the Y to shower, my children I had been with previously recognized me, hugged me, and asked me if I would be joining them to go swimming. I wanted to say yes. Rain was forecasted for the area, leaving us in charge of setting up for the cookout they anticipated on having outside and bringing it into the church. We moved tables, chairs, etc. to guarantee all those who would show up would have somewhere to sit, That's really all we did on the 14th that was manual labor except for prepping the food for the cookout and serving it to all. My job was making the salad by mixing the different two types of green-y leaf things that it had to contain, and making sure the parts were bite size. Serving-wise, I put some of the toppings on those who wanted salads and passed their bowl off to Aedan who put the dressing on it. Keri relieved me of my duty in order to allow me to eat my own dinner and talk to others. Despite the rain, the turnout was tremendous. Not every seat was filled, but you could tell the room was filled with joy, happiness, and youth connecting with the Cincinnati natives. Brent would be throwing the football to one of the kids, or teaching them how to "whip", Morgan had one she carried around in her arms for the longest time. Two kids chased each other in circles around the room multiple times, What really caught my eye was these little girls with plastic bags filled with bows in them at the end of one of the tables. They were selling them! Of course my heart melted when I saw these small children selling the bows that they had made, and then I learned even more about them and couldn't help but feel my heart break for them. Numerous family members on their dad's side of the family had happened just within the past year, and the grandmother was taking care of the children until their mom could get a permanent job and home during their time of grieving. She said that her and her granddaughters sell the bows to help make ends meet, and they had virtually no money left after the last payment the grandmother made on the house they lived in. All of the youth groups who were there pitched in and made it possible for these girls to raise over 90$ just by being there that one night during the cookout. When someone asked what they would do with the money, one of them responded, "We're gonna buy more supplies!" I really saw God in these little girls, and their never-ending smiles, despite all the troubles they had and continue to go through daily. Each bow was only 50 cents-- I bought 6.
The most memorable part of the trip came at the end of our last night of the trip, and it was during worship when our church group got together. We sat in a circle outside of the church, and the leaders were instructed to wash our feet like God did. Many of us laid down on the pavement to stare up at the sky, maybe to contemplate or relax, before the process began. As I stared up at the sky, I saw a single star among the clouds, and it reminded me that my mom was probably watching over me this whole week as I served the Lord, and I hope she was and is proud of me. In the past, I've normally got letters from my parents, or been able to contact my dad or someone throughout the week, but this is the first time I didn't get to. That's when I broke down and lost, and the feet washing hadn't even started yet! Adults made their rounds to each youth who removed their shoes, and prayed over them. Tears started to flow from more people. Maria stood up and explained one of her church traditions that she had with her old youth group, and that was to go around the circle and everyone explain their favorite memories or stories from the week. The responses we got from that were surprisingly plentiful. Normally when we do things like that, most people won't speak up or they'll just pass the opportunity. Not that night. So many people poured out their feelings and made themselves vulnerable. God moved in all of us, and to hear each person share what this week had done for them made me realize how special HUMC Youth is. Jimmy even spoke up about wanting to pursue being a youth minister like Maria. I was a mess, and that's one of those moments I'll replay in my mind for a long time and not ever be able to comprehend how the world just seemed to pause.
July 15th, 2016
Surprisingly, on the last day it was the easiest to wake up! All of the YouthWorks ladies blared music that I was into to make packing up more enjoyable and we didn't feel like going back to sleep, either! We ate "breakfast" by a grab-and-go table where you could get a poptart or whatever you wanted, packed the vans with our stuff, and did The Interlude prior to our departure. The ride home consisted of multiple jam sessions to everything from Johnny Cash to One Direction, and Mrs. Maggie didn't allow any of us to sleep. We attempted to play Mafia, but too often we got distracted by other things. Lunch was a gourmet meal at McDonald's, and we FILLED the place! There was a Subway next door that others went to in addition. Our van raced Matt and Baker's back to the church to see who would arrive first... we came in third. We cleaned out the vans, moved our luggage to the right car, and that's really it.
Overall, it was a wonderful trip that showed me new perspectives, new ideas, and new friends. I'm thankful I got the opportunity to go and I hope wherever God takes HUMC next, we will welcome them with open arms just like we did to Marks and Cincinnati. (P.S. I started writing this last night, hence the beginning.)
July 10th, 2016
This was the day that we left the church for Ohio. I woke up early, got dressed, and my whole family made sure we had all of our carry-ons to take with us to church. We attended the 8:30 service, where the church congregation invited us up to kneel at the altars to pray over us. This was my first of many God sightings from this week, because we literally filled them up. We had that many people. Due to always helping in the nursery, I had not been to an actual church service in months, so it was nice to be able to hear Pastor Chris and Enrique speak before departing. Once the service concluded, we gathered our belongings, took a group picture, then we were off the races! I was in the van along with Laurel, Jacob, Meg, Keri, Aedan, Hallie, Jessica, and Lara. Jacob handled our music situation on the ride down there, and time seemed to pass pretty quickly through our endless jam sessions and Mafia games. One of the most interesting things to happen as we were on the road was the hood of a car flew off right next to the van! It was actually kind of horrifying, but the individuals in the vehicle we'rent even phased by it. The first food stop of the trip was you were given the choice between Burger King and Wendy's. Naturally I chose Wendy's, the busiest one. Maria said to try to be done eating after twenty minutes, but that was a joke. I don't know why it took so long; there was a lot of us regardless.
We get to the church we're sleeping at, and I believe we are actually the second group there. I dragged my heavy suitcase up the stairs with the help of a YouthWorks leader, and she showed me where the girls would be sleeping. Well, my first observation is that the floor is already packed with air mattresses. I didn't realize how many other people would be there! My first instinct was to go where it was less crowded, so I went to the side room that was empty that connected to the larger room. And guess what? It had no AC. (Don't worry, that didn't last long.) Anyway, Laurel, Hallie, Meg, Mrs. Maggie, and Mrs. Lesley joined me in that tiny room. It was a tight squeeze for sure. Not much happened activity-wise that night except for them introducing everyone to the phrase "COWS EAT PEACHES". It's an acronym for all the rules we were supposed to follow throughout the trip, but it became more of a running joke than anything else. Bucket of Doom still happened (thankfully) and it was 10/10.
July 11th, 2016
Very quickly I remembered I am not a morning person. I woke up with a semi-deflated air mattress and few hours of true sleep. In general, the whole week the meal prep and clean-up crews rotated based on work site, and during each meal you had to try to incorporate a presentation to go with the food, just to make that clear. During breakfast we packed our sack lunches for the work site simultaneously. Breakfast that morning (and every morning) always included cereal. Around 70 of us split up into our select groups for specific work locations, including about six or more kids and two adults. My work site was the YMCA where my team would be working with the kids enjoying summer camp there. I was skeptical about how enjoyable it would be; it didn't take me long to warm up to the kids. I got put with the oldest group along with Aedan, and almost instantly they approaches us asking to play air hockey with them or throw a ball around. They were an active group, doing everything from swimming, reading, playing on the playground, and much more. I'm not gonna lie, I did lose sight of my group at one point. While I was having such a great time interacting with them in the pool, I accidentally followed another group out of the changing room thinking it was them. You just have to go with the flow when stuff like that happens, so that's what I did. I met up with another set of kids who walked a couple blocks away to make salsa in a local community garden. We made it back to the YMCA and I spotted my group once more. Long story short, I accidentally skipped lunch that day and didn't get to eat until we made it back to the church we were staying at.
We saw D-MAUB perform some raps for us and told us about his life. He had made some bad life decisions at young age, but now he's spreading God's words through his music, ministry, and clothing line called Go(o)d Company. Bucket of Doom commenced as normal, as well as Monkey Butt Awards. I had the opportunity to participate and receive both of those things. (For those who don't know- BoD is basically an icebreaker game we play with our youth group and like 3-5 people get picked each night to do it in front of the crowd. Monkey Butt Awards recognize those who did outstanding things at their work site they want others to know about.) My BoD challenge was to propose to someone and make a heartfelt speech beforehand. I would like to inform you that I'm not a very heartfelt person right on the spot, sorry Parker! Quicker than it even seemed possible, it was time to go to bed, and Mrs. Lesley even bought a fan for are room so we don't have to borrow one. Thank goodness. First day of work: complete!
July 12th, 2016
Another morning, another not-so-filling meal of Fruity Pebbles! This was the last day we spent at the YMCA, then we would trade work sites with the people at Happen! Inc. The kids enjoyed braiding my hair, playing Uno, and just chatting with them. One of them even asked if they could call me Polly. You gotta love kids. Mrs. Nicc was the adult YMCA staff leader I was with, and throughout the whole time she was so cheerful and kind to the kids. She brought nail polish for the kids to use and painted their nails. We finished early that day, so we walked around in Cincinnati and got ice cream at Graeter's. And that wasn't the end of walking! We left immediately for the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center to tour the museum. That was truly an eye-opening experience. We often think of slavery as something of the past, and shove it to the back of our minds, but it is still present in the world today. The photography exhibit spoke to me those most, reading about all the specific stories of the victims of slavery from every corner of the earth and age.
There was free time before dinner, so a cluster of us ventured down Hamilton Ave and stopped at the record store a few blocks away. They had so many vinyls it was really insane- wall to wall, two floors! Tuesday's meal was, can you guess? Tacos. The "West End" group, my group, had kitchen clean-up that day. It didn't last very long, though, because we were interrupted by Maria informing us we were once more going to go get ice cream. LOL! Again! It was Graeter's, yet at a different location. I came to the conclusion to skip out on purchasing anything since I had already had enough sugar consumption for that time. I just floated from group to group, chatting and laughing until I noticed a crowd forming around Matt Reynolds and Jimmy. What the heck was happening? Apparently Jimmy had thrown his ice cream at Matt, and so Matt was going to dump somebody else's ice cream on Jimmy. Our youth group sure is something. Nothing else spectacular happened really, however the other churches joined us in singing "sloppy wet kiss" during "How He Loves", which I thought was another God sighting. That song has always had an emotional impact on me, and that didn't change this trip. I even started crying at one point because it's wild to think about how regardless of where we are, who we're with, or what time it is, we will belt that song as if no one is watching; I wouldn't ever change anything about it.
July 13th, 2016
The next place we served at demanded the most manual labor and sweat- sweeping, picking up trash, and pulling weeds on the streets in Cincinnati. The sun made it hard to stay motivated sometimes, so we made occasional stops to regain our strength and breath. Mr. Andrew pitched in and bought us all Powerades at the BP gas station on the side of the rode we were working on to keep us all hydrated as we worked. We probably picked up at least 500 cigarettes. The street was within walking distance of the church, so we ate lunch there. Afterwards, we went across the street to listen to Tommy, the founder of Happen! Inc. tell us about his life and why he does what he does. He made Happen after dropping his on-the-rise advertising company he was a apart of, because he had a heart for helping give children hope like he once needed when he was young. His story was very Forrest Gump-esque, he explained. Tommy led us to a garden a few blocks away where we finished up our work for the day with another part of the YouthWorks peeps, and I pulled weeds with Hunter! With it still being scorching hot, the work didn't last too long. Andrew picked us up in the van and took us back to the church so we wouldn't have to walk.
Our evening activity was going the the levee in Newport, KY to look at the shops and explore the area. We split off and I went with Baker, Hallie, Meg, Keri, Aedan, Laurel, and Jacob. The view was beautiful there with all the skyscrapers, bridges, and the water reflecting it all. A lady in one of the shops told us to go walk across the Purple People bridge, so that's what we spent a majority of the time doing. Baker bought me a Chocolate Frog from Barnes & Noble and all was right in the world, we had to leave shortly following that as it was getting late.
July 14th, 2016
This was the last day of work we had. We spent a short time harvesting and weighing food from the garden, shoveling compost, and we brought the food to the CAIN House next to the church for them to use for the community. A great moment was when we went back to the Y to shower, my children I had been with previously recognized me, hugged me, and asked me if I would be joining them to go swimming. I wanted to say yes. Rain was forecasted for the area, leaving us in charge of setting up for the cookout they anticipated on having outside and bringing it into the church. We moved tables, chairs, etc. to guarantee all those who would show up would have somewhere to sit, That's really all we did on the 14th that was manual labor except for prepping the food for the cookout and serving it to all. My job was making the salad by mixing the different two types of green-y leaf things that it had to contain, and making sure the parts were bite size. Serving-wise, I put some of the toppings on those who wanted salads and passed their bowl off to Aedan who put the dressing on it. Keri relieved me of my duty in order to allow me to eat my own dinner and talk to others. Despite the rain, the turnout was tremendous. Not every seat was filled, but you could tell the room was filled with joy, happiness, and youth connecting with the Cincinnati natives. Brent would be throwing the football to one of the kids, or teaching them how to "whip", Morgan had one she carried around in her arms for the longest time. Two kids chased each other in circles around the room multiple times, What really caught my eye was these little girls with plastic bags filled with bows in them at the end of one of the tables. They were selling them! Of course my heart melted when I saw these small children selling the bows that they had made, and then I learned even more about them and couldn't help but feel my heart break for them. Numerous family members on their dad's side of the family had happened just within the past year, and the grandmother was taking care of the children until their mom could get a permanent job and home during their time of grieving. She said that her and her granddaughters sell the bows to help make ends meet, and they had virtually no money left after the last payment the grandmother made on the house they lived in. All of the youth groups who were there pitched in and made it possible for these girls to raise over 90$ just by being there that one night during the cookout. When someone asked what they would do with the money, one of them responded, "We're gonna buy more supplies!" I really saw God in these little girls, and their never-ending smiles, despite all the troubles they had and continue to go through daily. Each bow was only 50 cents-- I bought 6.
The most memorable part of the trip came at the end of our last night of the trip, and it was during worship when our church group got together. We sat in a circle outside of the church, and the leaders were instructed to wash our feet like God did. Many of us laid down on the pavement to stare up at the sky, maybe to contemplate or relax, before the process began. As I stared up at the sky, I saw a single star among the clouds, and it reminded me that my mom was probably watching over me this whole week as I served the Lord, and I hope she was and is proud of me. In the past, I've normally got letters from my parents, or been able to contact my dad or someone throughout the week, but this is the first time I didn't get to. That's when I broke down and lost, and the feet washing hadn't even started yet! Adults made their rounds to each youth who removed their shoes, and prayed over them. Tears started to flow from more people. Maria stood up and explained one of her church traditions that she had with her old youth group, and that was to go around the circle and everyone explain their favorite memories or stories from the week. The responses we got from that were surprisingly plentiful. Normally when we do things like that, most people won't speak up or they'll just pass the opportunity. Not that night. So many people poured out their feelings and made themselves vulnerable. God moved in all of us, and to hear each person share what this week had done for them made me realize how special HUMC Youth is. Jimmy even spoke up about wanting to pursue being a youth minister like Maria. I was a mess, and that's one of those moments I'll replay in my mind for a long time and not ever be able to comprehend how the world just seemed to pause.
July 15th, 2016
Surprisingly, on the last day it was the easiest to wake up! All of the YouthWorks ladies blared music that I was into to make packing up more enjoyable and we didn't feel like going back to sleep, either! We ate "breakfast" by a grab-and-go table where you could get a poptart or whatever you wanted, packed the vans with our stuff, and did The Interlude prior to our departure. The ride home consisted of multiple jam sessions to everything from Johnny Cash to One Direction, and Mrs. Maggie didn't allow any of us to sleep. We attempted to play Mafia, but too often we got distracted by other things. Lunch was a gourmet meal at McDonald's, and we FILLED the place! There was a Subway next door that others went to in addition. Our van raced Matt and Baker's back to the church to see who would arrive first... we came in third. We cleaned out the vans, moved our luggage to the right car, and that's really it.
Overall, it was a wonderful trip that showed me new perspectives, new ideas, and new friends. I'm thankful I got the opportunity to go and I hope wherever God takes HUMC next, we will welcome them with open arms just like we did to Marks and Cincinnati. (P.S. I started writing this last night, hence the beginning.)
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