January 6, 2012 by MarkH.

Sorry that this will be a bit out of order, last night’s post will appear later when finished!

The YOAM Winter trips last work day for the 2012 trip is also Epiphany!  We had the appropriate King Cake (two actually) this morning and a reading of hte King Cake tradition, as well as prayer and morning devotion.  John Ernest got one of the pieces of cake with the baby in it!  Have A GREAT year John!

The “tradition” of getting each other between the crews continues (sans Paul Behrens) Crew C attacked Crew D during their lunch time yesterday and this morning Crew D found their Van gift wrapped!

This is not the first year for these shenanigans, and since the only loss has been a box of saran wrap…we love it!

Please continue to pray for the work we are doing and for our continued safety as we are here being the hands and feet of our God!

Mark

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January 7, 2011 by MarkH.

Today is…FRIDAY?  can’t be!  we just got here, despite cooking for 30 for a week, it seems to me we have just gotten started, yet we are almost done.  Work crews are out for  the last half day of work…this is the hardest day because so many see goals that are not met, expectations that will be left unfulfilled, and LOTS more work yet to be done.  We naturally come to the conclusion we can fix what has happened down here, if only we can finish that extra room, the last mudding that needs to be done, the last taping of  corners and gaps, if we can just…!  And now its personal - we know the people whose home we are working on, they have fed us Jambalaya, Turkey neck soup and cornbread (YES HOMEMADE!), worked along side us…slept and worshiped with us (we love you Jim!)…and hugged and shared the worksite and stories with us.

So its personal that we cannot meet their entire need or even what we thought we should meet.  But God has told us there will always be need, there will always be more in need, and so we will be good servants and do what we can and praise God that we can be servants, we can be His hands and His feet, and His drywallers, His spacklers, His chefs, His comforters, and His witnessers… so it is on this Friday that it is we who are thankful, it is we who are grateful, it is we who are humbled by Him!

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January 5, 2011 by MarkH.

My kids constantly kid me because my northern NJ accent leads me to pronounce Wednesday as Windesday…well that is just part of the fun, everyone a little different from one another, yet all God’s servants.

Last night’s blog has been pre-empted by…a very early morning rip-roaring Thunderstorm…that dumped lots of rain on us, and a prediction of rain off and on all day, as well. So a quick deision and some recalculating and some, CAN YOU SAY THE MOST IMPORTANT WORD ON A MISSION TRIP, flexibility and we are working a full day today and will be putting off the New Orleans visit until Friday (that day I say apparently correctly..whatever correctly is…) and so we, the dinner crew, will be shopping for Jambalaya  ingredients and planing a dinner for tonight instead of taking a break while we go into New Orleans to eat dinner..such is the mission experience…gotta love it! Everyone is starting to feel the pressure of the amount of work to be done, as well as beginning to revel in the experience.  This is truly God’s work, and we are all changed and re-made anew though it!  We are thankful for so many back home that have given of their time and finances so that we can be the hands and feet of God.  We pray for continued safe passage and work here, and for the presence of God to continue to be made known to us through our relationships within and outside our group.

Even as the Food crew, we experience these relationships - every time we go to a store, people ask about what we are doing (wearing past trips t-shirts helps!) and we have an opportunity to Monday as we were shopping for food we were approached by “Brother James” at the McDonalds, who gave us his hand drawn scripture crossword puzzles he uses as discussion starters. He explained that his pastor and he were selling Satsumi oranges ( a local species…), rutabagas, firewood and home made panut brittle (made by Sunday School kids) on the road lading up to the WalMart, and we should stop by.  We did and Pastor Russel Crowe III (yep..for real)  was a very open friendly man who told us about his ministry in Picayune Mississppi only 20 minutes away…

How God chose this spot and this message for us (me) I don’t know…but we were in His presence and enjoyed the brief fellowship it brought.  Well, it is morning, the crews are off to their work sites for a FULL day of work and we need to get groceries and plan dinner…Praise God through whom all blessings flow…Amen!

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April 10, 2010 by MarkH.

The day started out with waking up to a massive saran wrapping of all the vans, due to Crew B’s revenge for a water balloon prank yesterday, except Crew B didn’t know whose car was whose so… they wrapped em all.

IN fact throughout the course of the week there were a few pranks pulled.  First, there was a classic water balloon ambush.   The best was a set up where Crew C attacked Crew B with super-soakers under the guise of getting together for a group photo. It was a complete and total success. Crew B was soaked.  Booyah! Granted Crew B did get their revenge by throwing stink bombs in Crew C’s car.  But even with all the pranks, a lot of work was accomplished.

Today was the last day of work.  Some crews had more work to finish up the jobs than others and it was obvious that by the end of each crew had worked strenuously.  Everyone was very tired but satisfied with what they had accomplished for the week. One crew even dropped people off back at the church, then went back to the worksite just so they could get a little bit of extra time to work and help the homeowner that much more.  They ended up not getting back until after dinner had already started.  Now that’s dedication.

As a final ceremony to kind of wrap up the trip in a sense, we held the final thanksgiving circle, where everyone gathers together in one group after having been in two separate thanksgiving circles all week. All shared what they are thankful for and what was best about the week.  Some people shared things that were short and to the point, but others were moved to share long and often and sentimental feelings about the week, relationships and how amazing God has been in our midst.  It is a moving and sentimental time and there were even a few tears of joy shed.  The Holy Spirit was definitely present.  Most people spoke about their crew and stories from the week, EVERYONE loved their own crew;  naturally everyone is biased, and many shared how much work they accomplished throughout the week.  The thanksgiving circle is a chance for everyone to share, and reflect upon their own experiences.

To top off the night, during late night free time there was a milk chugging competition between Colin Eddy and Adam Weidemann to see who could drink a gallon of milk in an hour.  Adam won, but didn’t finish the gallon. We wonder if it can be done?

The YOAM trip has been a super experience for all, for many this may be the last YOAM trip they are able to come on.  For others this was their first mission experience, and for some it is an ongoing labor of love.  Thanks for reading - pray for the people of NOLA who are still in need of relief, and for our safe return home.

in His service…CREW C

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April 8, 2010 by MarkH.

 ”For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power.” 2 Timothy 1:7

The YOAMers were treated to a late night thunderstorm that brought on cooler weather and a soothing breeze to our Thursday morning. We arrived on the work site today and the roof over our house (which was completed the day before the thunderstorm) was sparkling with some new roof sheen. A Mennonite group had been feverishly working on the roof for the last 2 days and completed the roof with incredible speed. Their work was needed in order to protect all the water sensitive drywall going up inside.

The “gorilla” crew featuring Zathy, Adam, Will, and the Austins hopped out of the car and started hanging drywall before the car had a chance to stop. The combination of laughter, tune-skies (good music), and hard work a huge transformation came over the house. In the matter of a week Crew D and Crew F have transformed the studs and skeleton of a house in distinguishable rooms with insulation and drywall hung. We have built relationships between our two crews and with our homeowner who visited us today. Check out the group picture!

The evening brought a night out at Ryan’s Buffet where we all ate too much of everything, followed by a Thursday night service led by the newly formed (tonight actually) YOAM Praise band, with a message from Zack and Will.  It was a moving awesome message about being  servants.   We were all then privileged to hear from Pat Lee and Eric Labram about their recent trip to Israel, Jerusalem and Bethlehem among other places. Pat surprised us with a gift hand carried from the Holy lands.  It was an awesome moving experience, in which we anointed each other with oil that had been blessed at the Holy Sepulcher  in the Holy Lands , we were annoited with the oil as as servants for God.  One scripture that thought related to our mission is:

“Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.” I Cor. 15:58

Tomorrow holds a lot of work, fun, and growth among this group of Youths on a Mission. God Bless and hello from Slidell from Crew D!

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April 8, 2010 by MarkH.

We started off our day working at the job site, until around twelve. Then we got the opportunity to go to the French Quarter in New Orleans. We learned about the culture and way of life of the people of NOLA (New Orleans LousianA). The trip was a chance to nap and get lost..okay so we missed a few turns at first…But once we arrived, we split into separate groups and explored the French Quarter. For dinner, each group went to a local restaurant and embraced the good New Orleans cuisine…Crawdads, shrimp, Gumbo…and more.

This is the Saint Louis Cathedral on Decatur Street

in the French Quarter

There were many local artists around Jackson square and great galleries in the French Quarter. The cross above was found at a local gallery - it represents the type of expressive art that the New Orleans people tend to create. This cross is made out of scrap tools.  Everyone had a great afternoon in NOLA and made a few purchases, enjoyed the local culture, and ate of the diversity of foods available.

One member of our work “crew” that is hard to get a glimpse of is Kyle…above Mr. Mark happened to catch a glimpse of Kyle taking a picture of Meagan and Colin by the Mississippi River.  Good night…signed some wandering yutes

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April 7, 2010 by MarkH.

Tuesday- Our morning started off bright and early, contrary to Mosey Monday. The breakfast bell rang at 8 o’clock, and a pack of hungry workers came running. We vigorously ate, hoping to get to our worksites for our first full day of work.

Crews conquered the various tasks of dry walling, insulating, painting, tiling, cleaning and dumpster diving, and arrived back at home base tired and sore.

Showers were viscously fought over between youth and adults because all were smelly and drenched in sweat. But it was all worth it for a night of fun!

After showers, crews gathered in the John Wesley Recreation building, which served as YOAM’s dining hall.The excitement filled the room as we all lined up for George Dohner’s delectable Jambalaya.

We also celebrated John Stapleton’s (aka Papa John’s) birthday with a rounding chorus of Happy Birthday and a gigantic birthday cake, covered from corner to corner with 51 candles.

            As free time rolled around, the different groups piled into cars to visit the hot spots around town, which consist of Wal-Mart and Sonic. We wrapped up the night with our daily Thanksgiving circle and shared the things we were thankful for throughout the day. Until tomorrow…From Slidell!

-a group of very tired youth.

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April 6, 2010 by MarkH.

Oh, Mosey Mondays. What seemed to be a sluggish transition from logistics in the morning into the mid-afternoon of the work day actually turned out to be quite inspiring through faith and various construction projects on each of our respective homes. Many of us were visited today by the enthusiastic homeowners who were overjoyed with the sight of us beginning our day, even if we were just laying the plans down before the actual work was initiated.

With a handful of mistakes and re-do’s, we waited patiently for God’s will to guide us in our efforts with these projects, hoping that the Bible verse we personally choose would hold true. “Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us. Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other” (Romans 12:12:3-5)

And just as we had so earnestly hoped for – God provided. By the time Susan and Dave had fleshed out the details at our worksites, we were humming along at full speed. Our work crew had really come together as one. We had figured out what exactly we needed to complete throughout this week and what tools to use for those jobs.

Falling right back into line, we progressed throughout our day swimmingly and worked right past the time in which we needed to close up shop and head back to Aldersgate UMC. Ready to work bright and early tomorrow at that too! We all savored the showers and AC as soon as we got back and proceeded to ready ourselves for a Tex-Mex fiesta!

As we assume our usual nightly activities, we caravanned to Wal-Mart and Sonic respectively and purchased various assorted items at Wal-Mart as well as deliciously-nourishing slushie’s along the way. We ended our evening with a P.M. devotion, tired and ready for another day’s work early tomorrow morning.

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May 6, 2007 by Larry Resch.

Welcome to the Glen Mar United Methodist Church mission blog.  God depends on all of us to be servants in the world. Our families and our community depend on the gifts that we willingly share outside the walls of the church. We understand that while some ministry necessarily takes place within the church building, most ministry is shared outside the walls of the church.

This blog will hopefully provide you with some information about the various mission opportunities at Glen Mar and also with updates on some of our mission trips outside of our local area.

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