Nashville Missions Wrap

The blogging has been quite slow lately due to being in Nashville for our 2008 summer mission trip. My responsibilities for the week consisted of

1. Leading our team along with fellow youth leader Jodi Stende
2. Organizing the transportation via charter buses for 14 churches from North and South Dakota (3 buses and 166 students and leaders). Practicing patience with bus drivers who sometimes get cranky and sometimes just need a smoke.
   
3. Teaching a breakout session comprised of students from Fargo, ND, Calgary, AB, Canada, and Madison, SD.
4. Staying alive and not sweating to death.
5. Refraining from asking people if Pro Wrestling and NASCAR are real sports.
6. Keeping an eye on one of our boys who kept leaving messages for Cari Underwood via her publisist.

We were able to stay at Vanderbilt University for the week and I must say it is the most beautiful college campus that I had ever been on. Interestingly enough Vandy is a part of the SEC conference and compete against the likes of U of Tennessee, Kentucky, and Florida in athletics despite their enrollment of a little more than 6,000 students.

Our missions project for the week was to serve an organization named Monroe Harding. Monroe Harding is an organization that aids in the developing of 16-19 year old boys that have been troubled by various issues relating to the law or abuse. The organiztion teaches the boys life skills and teaches them as many pursue their GED. We served them by painting, cleaning, doing yard work, cutting branches, dethawing freezers, and making a wood-chip walking path for the boys. We didn't get to interact with the boys individually, but our kids had to trust that what we did everyday God would take and use for His glory sake.

The last interesting nugget from the trip was the frustration surrounding our buses. I'll just post the pictures, but this provided a 2 hour delay waiting for a wrecker that took place in St Josephs, Missouri at 4 a.m. while everyone was sleeping on their respective buses. Result = Not fun, but trusting the Lord to work things together for good for those who love Him.










This kind of reminds me of when I wrecked a swather while working for Hermansdale Farms of Brinsmade, ND at age 16.