We are home!

Oh how sweet the Oregon air is.  It just feels like, well it feels like home.

Mount Hood looked beautiful on our flight home.

Oregon is one green state, at least the west side, and a river or two runs through it :-)

After some challenges at JFK airport, we made it through security with tickets in hand. Whewww, traveling with a party of 21.  By the way, did you know that you can't carry 3 full water bottles in your carry-on luggage through security?  Apparently, they frown on that.  Oh well at least it added some excitement to our trip.

Rolling Hills Community Church High School Mission to New York 2013

Good Bye New York.  All of us saying good bye to our Forward Edge hosts at JFK airport.

The plane ride was a little like musical chairs at 39,000 ft.  The students knew the trip was ending and wanted to spend as much time as they could with everyone on the team.  I sat by 5 different students and I never changed seats.

Mt. Hood close-up.

Rob said that he will be glad to not be counting every time we prepare to leave a spot.  It usually went a little like this.  "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6...Has anyone seen #6, where is #6?  Oh, there they are under that end table.  Okay let's start over, has anyone seen Dennis?  Dennis! :-)

We have arrived in Portland!

Now let the reunions begin.  I love this part of the trip.  Joyful reunions.  This is what I think heaven will look like.  Well, without the luggage and security guards.  Hmmm, maybe the angels will look like security guards to us.  The day will come when you and I will meet our maker and when we do, if we have accepted Jesus as our savior, we will meet with our fellow believers, the prophets, the saints, and our Lord.  The pictures below capture a sweet homecoming, just a taste of what we have to look forward to.

Welcome home Liam!

A lot of smiles.

It's good to see you John!

Collin and Mom, with Tatum, Liam, Halston, Chuck,

Jonathan and Liam, FRESHMAN POWER!

On returning I was asked, "Has your participation in this mission deepened your relationship with God?".  Yes it has.  Because I was God's hands and feet to the people in New York.  Obviously to the families that I directly helped, but also to the people in the airports and the people in New York that I met in passing or spoke to briefly.  They also saw God working through me as I shared that we gave up a week of our lives to help strangers 3,000 miles away from home.  Why?  Because Jesus gave so much to us, by living his life and dying on the cross for our sins.  We are overflowing with gratefulness,  and want to share the love He gave to us.  

So the mission trip has made me more aware that I am always a representative of Christ;  at work, on a mission, eating a restaurant, wherever I am, and that stirs a desire in me to know Him better.

Friday Is Wrap-up Day

It can't be over yet, but it almost is.  Today was a hard day, a tearful day, and a day where the whole team felt like family.

Additionally, I feel like God has been extending the daylight of everyday, like he did for , it can't be a regular 24 hour day.

Breakfast was BACON, BACON and eggs.  I repeat BACON was served for breakfast.  What a great start to any day :-) 




 After breakfast we made our sack lunches and our teams headed two different directions.  Team 1 was headed to a house of a lady that needed furniture moved.  It doesn't sound like much, but it was tremendous for the lady.  She wore a back brace and her 83 year old mother lived with her and she needed things moved around in her home.  She shared very emotional stories of how Sandy negatively affected her family, and how they are still recovering emotionally from the hurricane.  She was so thankful for their help that the kids were overwhelmed.  Also she wouldn't let them leave until she made tuna fish sandwiches for everyone.  She also mentioned that after Sandy all the sand on the beach was gone.  It is hard to imagine how quickly things in your life that you count on, or things that you are used to can suddenly change.

This Bob "Da Builder" he was our Forward Edge Field Coordinator, which means he is the guy that builds relationships with the local disaster relief organizations and coordinates where the incoming mission groups will help.  He is so good at his job, we always felt taken care of and that we had an ear to the ground about where the need was, and how people in need were doing.  Here he is acting in one of his many other roles, "Gopher Guy".  Thank you Bob!

Team 1 was sent back to the house that we were sheet-rocking and as we walked into the garage I told them to finish strong.  They did just that.  You, our supporters can be proud of your students, their hearts were right, they were the hands and feet of Jesus to the people of Long Island and Long Beach.

Regina with Dennis and "the crew".

Regina with Steve and "the crew".

Regina was teary eyed and so very thankful that she wanted to give each of us a hug.  I told her that her basement was built with love, and she said that she felt it, and that she would never forget what we did for her.  We want to reflect the love that Jesus showed us by dying on the cross for our sins.  This week the whole team did that.  Thank you students!

For a treat, a couple of leaders bought Italian Water-Ice for the team at Ralph's Famous Italian Ices.  Super good summer treat.

The  boys noticed the Water Line mark on this house and stopped to talk to the owner.  That is where the water settled for a while after a surge which was about a foot or two higher.  Unbelievable.

This is a beautiful bathroom.  I say this because this was one tricky wall.  Great job guys.  I hope she likes green :-)  Before there were no walls.

Pack it up, time to go.

We have left more than just these footprints on new pavement on Long Island, we left footprints on the hearts of everyone we interacted with.

After our busy work day was finished it was time for worship and devotion.

Christine was very proud of the work her team did at the church...See the very nicely mudded walls behind her?  They weren't there two days ago.

Worship lead by Calli and Andrew.  Great job to all the worship leaders this week, you help keep us in the right spirit.

More worship.

The chipmunks...ask your student to explain :-)

One of the team members received some bad news from home, and the whole team surrounded with love, with hugs, and with support.  It was good to see how we remembered that this mission trip was about relationships more than about 2x4s and drywall.  Good job team.

Until tomorrow, I will leave you with this song from our very own "Chipmunk Choir".

Wait a minute. It's already Thursday?

[This is Thursday's blog post.  For some reason it didn't publish until Friday.]

Today the students began to notice that our week is coming to an end.  They so badly want to finish our projects.  Some of them asked if we can work late tomorrow to get as much done as possible.  I love their enthusiasm.  I have it too, I want to accomplish as much as possible for the family that I am helping.

I have shown you that we have been busy on this mission trip.  We have accomplished a lot on the multiple sites that we have worked at.  But we have also invested into people.  We have shown them love.  We have shown them that they are not forgotten.  We have shown them that someone wants to hear their story.

Today during our lunch break Dennis, our team lead, wanted to take our team to the beach to eat our sack lunches (which we make ourselves every morning :-)  The walk to the beach was all of two blocks.  We are working on Long Beach after all.  But when we got to the end of the neighborhood there was a blue stand that looked like a lemonade stand, and in the stand was a security officer who wouldn't let us on the beach without a pass.  So I asked how much a beach day pass cost, he said they are $10 and you have to go about 2 blocks to buy the passes.  I said, "Looks like we aren't going to the beach today :-("  I wanted you to know, the kids were great, there was no complaining, or whining.  They are focused on why we are here, we are here to help people physically, emotionally, and spiritually.  And your kids are doing all three, amazingly!
Physically - We are fixing houses and churches.  Today both teams were building walls and putting up drywall (one team in a house, the other team at a church).
Spiritually -We prayed for the people of Long Island and Long Beach.  We helped with the Rock the Block event, and we met with the new believers at the alter call.  And we are praying for all of you, our loved ones.
Emotionally - We have talked to a lot of people on the street and listened to their stories about Hurricane Sandy.  Just asking someone, "were you here during Sandy?", "What did you do?" has led to some very eye-opening discussions.  And every time after the people have shared their stories with us, their countenance has changed.  I am sure that your students would love to share their specific experiences with you.  They want you to ask them :-)

The bottom line for today is, that we as leaders want to thank you for sending this team of missionaries.

I want to share some new photos with you from the week so far.

God bless you,
-Steven Cook

Jeff and Kris, our Forward Edge Hosts at Robert Moses beach.

Andrew and Christian practicing before they lead worship tonight.

Liam catching pass after we returned to our host church

Gator and Jaspar boarding up Halston

Team work!  Dennis, Jaspar, Halston, Andrew, and Gator

Nathan and Dennis working on the worlds most complicated closet.  Ask either of them about the experience :-)

James and Jonathan putting the ceiling up.  They were a great team.

This room was completely finished by students!

This is the end of progress Thursday, almost done dry-walling!

We are all looking forward to meeting up later tomorrow at one jobsite and working together

There are a lot of pictures of the other team, and I will *try* to get that camera and upload those picture.

Rock The Block

Today was a change of pace.  Big surprise, I know.  

We served our host church, Freedom Chapel, in Amityville, NY.  After a great pancake breakfast, provided by Andrew, Nathan, and Christian we went over to the church's unfinished basement to work.

Andrew, Nathan, and Christian making pancakes and sausage for breakfast.

This is Freedom Chapels basement, which will be called "Wilkerson Hall" when it is finished, in honor of David Wilkerson, founder of Teen Challenge, Times Square Church, and author of The Cross and The Switchblade.  David Wilkerson was Pastor Jimmy Jack's mentor.  in the picture are Jeff, our Forward Edge International mission host, and Bob and Giovanni from Freedom Chapel.

Some of the kids went outside to trim hedges. Okay they forgot to mention that some of the hedges were 20 ft tall.

Dennis having fun with a chain saw :-)

John hedge trimming

Which reminds me, the kids are really enjoying working, and we have been working hard all week.  One of the boys was sharing that he was really enjoying the work this week, and that this was not a usual feeling for him towards work.  Several other boys chimed in with the same feeling,  it just felt good to do work for the Lord.  And they didn't expect anything in return for their work.  That conversation was a highlight for me, and I told them that now, they really understood what the verses in Colossians 3:23-24 mean.

Colossians 3:23-24

New International Version (NIV)

²³ Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, ²⁴ since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.

We should work for our dad and mom like we are working for the Lord.  We should work for our employers as if we were working for the Lord.  [Author's Note:  That may be hitting a little too close to home for me ;-) ]  Yes, even the adult leaders are learning on this mission trip.

While we were talking about working for the Lord one of the boys mentioned, that he may have found his future career.  He thinks he would like to be a missionary.  So yes, as you can see this mission trip is affecting us and changing us to be more like Jesus.  And I thought we came to help the people of Long Island.

While Dennis and John were working outside, the rest of us were cleaning up the church basement.

The church basement before cleanup

The church basement after cleanup!

The team worked together amazingly well.  We had two, three, and sometimes four projects going on simultaneously all in the basement and the kids were great.  I think we looked like ants.  We had a path for each project and kids were carrying chairs across the basement, another group was moving trimwork across the basement, another group was carrying trash and construction scraps outside to the dumpster.  All paths intersected and there were no collisions, just happy cooperative workers.  God is good.

Malea's strong!

I think this is Colin and Halston.

Luke and James moving chairs

Luke, Madelyn, Tatum, and James are so happy to be done moving chairs.

Halston, Madelyn, Luke, and Gator hauling scrap sheetrock upstairs to the dumpster.

Kris is our mission hostess, with Forward Edge, with her husband Jeff.  We really would be lost without their excellent leadership, and friendship.

It's a long walk to the dumpster.

Madison and Malea carrying scrap to the dumpster

Calli, Luke, and Jeff

Liam has his hands full!

After lunch we helped setup chairs for the Rock the Block event at the church.  Rock the Block was started by Pastor Jimmy 10 years ago, as a community outreach event, with hip-hop, singing, dance, drama and of course testimony (because Jesus love you and he has a plan for your life, that is better than your plan for your life, somebody say 'Amen').  One thing that is special about these events is that Freedom Chapel takes these events into the worst neighborhoods in New York, and now to some of the worst neighborhoods around the world.

Before Rock the Block setup.

After Rock the Block setup.

After the chairs were all setup it was time for some canvassing.  The team split up into 6 teams and we went out into the local neighborhoods to invite people to the Rock the Block event, and to tell them that Jesus loves them and he has a plan for their lives.

In the picture below you can see one of the homes we went to.  But Long Island neighborhoods were interesting because on the same street you would have this immaculately manicured home right next to a house that with boarded up windows, an eviction/condemnation notice on the front door, with people living inside.  Please ask your students about their canvassing experience.

Calli, Madison, Tatum, and I inviting a family to the Rock the Block event.

 

Luke, Halston, Dennis, and Kris making Pulled Pork for dinner, Yum.

Time for downtime, Farkle and cards

Praying with Pastor Jose before the event.

We then went out canvassing one more time before the event. 

And then we went to Rock the Block and had a great time.  We were asked to help with the alter call, and it was an honor to pray with people that gave their life to Christ for the first time ever!  God is good, all the time.

One of the performers, Sheena  Lee, was so much fun.  She has a beautiful voice and she had fun with our group.

The whole place was hopping to Sheena's song H2O!

In addition to hearing Sheena Lee, above in the picture with me and Jonathan, we heard about how Jesus dramatically changed lives through Teen Challenge.  We heard testimonys from a former gang leader from Detroit, and a young lady who has had victory over her addictions.  The young lady touched my heart deeply, and brought tears to my eyes, as she described her father who had saved her and her sister from abandonment by adopting them when they were very young.  He saved her, he loved her, and he pointed her to god.  She didn't appreciate him until he wasn't there for her any longer.  That was a perfect testimony for me to hear because later I prayed with a man and then a young boy who each  responded to the alter call and asked Jesus to be their saviors.  After I prayed with them I told them, "Welcome to the family, now we have the same adoptive father, and he will never leave you.  He will always love you and he has a plan for your life."