last day

Hey parents!!! Oh my goodness, I cant believe we're leaving already! This week has flown by so fast! I just wanted to say thank you on the behalf of the youth group to the church for making this AMAZING trip possible! None of what has happened would have happened with out your help. Before I continue, I also wanted to say a special thank you to the other churches and their youth groups! Once again, none of what has happened would have happened with out them!

Yesterday was an almost normal workday. Team Love returned to Project Open Hand where we had the almost imponderable joy of sorting out rotten bell peppers and oranges, crating eggs, and bagging potatoes, but the bell peppers and the oranges smelled ATROCIOUS! All I really want to say is: Mom, no oranges or bell peppers for the next week please! The only thing that helped was knowing that we were doing God's will and spreading his love. After that we went to the food bank, which was HUGE by the way, where we got to make 8oz bags of Special K Cereal. I personally enjoyed that because I was dog tired and the bagging required minimal to no thought what so ever! Team Security went to 'Meals that Heal' and walked around San Francisco where they met and prayed for two devout homeless people. During their prayer they attracted and possibly converted two other homeless people, which is amazing considering they were working in the Tenderloin, which is one of the worst neighborhoods in San Francisco.

Well, something amazing happened yesterday, besides the conversions and the bell peppers. The Youth Works Staff taught about servant hood during worship that night, and to put weight onto their words they washed the youth leaders' feet, who in turn washed ours. Before the Youth Works Staff was even done washing feet, most of us were crying, me included! Gods love had filled the room and our bodies until we were almost bursting with this amazing, undescribable JOY! I can't describe it, it's a feeling that will never be written down. The Bible lists all of the rewards that faith can give you, but it never attempts to describe the feeling that we expirienced and I think I understand why!

                                So, signing off for the last time is the San Francisco Mission Trip Blog:
                                                   Olivia Spencer


                                              "God bless us, every one."

airport

At the airport. It was foggy, cold and misty all day, perfect for the mood. Everyone is tired, emotionally wrung out, sad to leave, and ready to get home today. More to come from Olivia
Dan

Last Night in SF

What an AMAZING night!! I seriously have never cried so much in my life. There was so much Love going on tonight and you could just feel God's pressence all around and within everyone. I feel so blessed to have gone on this trip again and have an entirely different experience. As it was our last night, we had the tradional washing of the feet and learning that we are here to serve and not to be served. The youth work leaders went around and washed our leaders feet and then our leaders came and washed our feet. Before we were even done, pretty much everyone had broken down crying and praying to our lord. There were tears of joy, peace, hurt, praise, and comfort. Over this week we have grown close with many of the people from the youth groups from Colorado and Kansas. We were all crying and hugging and praising together and glorifying our Lord. I have never felt so much peace and love in one place before and it was truely amazing and a work of God! He brought us all together and our youth group has become like a family! I am seriously going to miss everyone I have met here, but I'm also glad to be going home and seeing my Family and friends and sharing my experience with them and my new even deeper love of God! Thank you to everyone who has helped us getting here to San Francisco and for praying for us. It truely has been an Awesome experience and I wouldn't take it back for all the money in the world! God Bless You All and Good Night ! :)
~ Emily Andersen

Jackie and I feel so blessed and privileged to have spent this week with our youth. They are so enthusiastic and fired up to serve God! Our faith walk has grown thanks to them and the people we have encountered this week.
Thank you, parents, for raising such great kids. The future of the LCMS and CLC is in great hands.
                                                                   Dan & Jackie

                                                         Wednesday night devotion

                                            Thursday at Project open Hand (we lost Hunter)

Working at the food bank on Thursday

Wednesday

Greetings from San Francisco,
Today we volunteered at Project Open Hand, a non-profit organization which provides meals and groceries to people with critical medical illnesses. Some of us assembled bags of trail mix, and the rest of us bagged calamari steaks and potatoes. Project Open Hand provided a delicious lunch, and snacks throughout the day. After volunteering, we went to Mt. Davidson to see the giant cross at the summit. Following this, we took showers at the pool, then returned to the church for a delicious alfredo pasta dinner. After dinner, we enjoyed an awe-inspiring fashion show displaying Youth Enterprises T-Shirts, courtesy of the adult leaders and the YouthWorks staff. Our youth group is feeling very close, and we discussed ways we could get together after returning from this mission trip.
Chris and Allen R.

Tuesday

Hello from San Francisco :),
     Today we worked at our second location. Part of the group (everyone except for us and Kaylin because we are apparently too young to work with the kids.) went to work with the kids at the Boys and Girls Club. They apparently had a blast. We worked with the "Meals That Heal" and the Salvation Army. One guy that worked there was really nice and commented on our beautiful color creations that we made with Shampoo. Yes, shampoo. We delivered meals to the people that couldn't get food for themselves or were physically not able to do so. The man that helped us deliver meals, said that we might be the only people they see ever which was really sad :( . We saw the Union Square and City Hall and they were really big. We walked, and walked, and walked. We just walked a lot. While we were walking we saw a homeless man with a cape on running around in circles, mumbling to himself incoherantly and a nice businessman walked by us and said, "That's Our Mayor!" We went to the beach later on. It was FREEZING! And one extremely intelligent boy dove into the water. (no name mentioned because we will get in trouble). Then we went into the well- known showers. We then finally got back to the church. We had Taco Tuesday and then had CLUB, which had a skit that happens with each CLUB meeting. It consisted of Eggs, Fainting, and Filming. We then got together in our church group. We talked about God. We had lots of laughs. Lots and lots of laughs. Well, we have a long, early day tomorrow, so we better get back to our cramped little room that's full of snores and where we have to wake up to a number of musical alarm clocks.

~ <3
Maggie :) and Sarah :)

Monday

          Today one of our groups went to the food bank. Our group though went to the tenderloin      Boys and Girls club to pretty much play with the kids. We began our service to the community by connecting to the future of the San Franciscan society or the youth coloring and various games could be played from the classic game of Ms. Pac-Man to the present games of the Wii and Ps3. As Lunch arrived we able to go outside and spend a little recreation time with the children. After the fun of Zombie Tag we entered a more relaxing environment of reading with the battle of Boys vs. Girls (book report contest). After this we constructed 3D Art with popsicle sticks allowing the children to express their imagination. Sadly our day with the children was quickly over and we had to leave our new young friends.

        Our after event consisted of a walk over The Golden Gate Bridge. God blessed us with a breath of wind to blow away the constant San Fran Fog which revealed the towering span of the bridge. A truely beautiful sight of the bay of San Francisco. After this we went to our luxury shower at the Balboa Pool which consisted of several showerheads all turning on at once with a handle that resembles a urinal in the Mens Restroom.

       All and all a truley wonderful experience that inspired us and we're exuberated for the next three days.

                                             Allen Middlebrook & Hunter Johnson

spending time with the kids

                                                                      at the Bridge

We were formed into crews (teams) this AM. I am with 9 of our kids and Jackie is with 3 of our girls and 2 girls from another LCMS church from Colorado. My crew went to the boys and girls club in the Tenderloin which was really an eye opener; we realized how blessed we all are. Jackie’s crew went to the food bank and, with other volunteers, processed 45,000 pounds of vegetables. They were super tired.

 Our youth are doing great, they are very positive in spite of some hardships, like the showers and lack of sleep, and they are really growing in their faith. Jackie and I are very proud of them.

Dan

    

Sunday

"when life knocks you on your knees you're in the perfect position to pray." This is a quote that we came across at Calvery Lutheran Church this morning. It really stuck with us. THe community at the church was very welcoming and curious about our trip. We were happy to share our story with them. After church we packed up and went to the city where we saw many people sharing their talents with the public. Now we're here at Temple Baptist church and have had the oppourtunitity to meet other youth groups and share our stories. We've had a long day and its time for us to go to bed. We have an early day tomorrow which will bless us with many new stories to tell. God bless and sweet dreams to our families and friends at home.

-haley and emily(:

                                                      Playing 4 Square at Youthworks

The kids are doing great. There is another LCMS youth group here from Colorado Springs. Looking forward to our 1st day of service tomorrow.
Dan & Jackie

Day One

Today we flew into Oakland California on an airplane. :) There was some turbulence. It was very bumpy. We proceeded to claim our bags where Haley had trouble opening her suitcase handle. We got a 12 seated creeper van, with no air conditioning where we held most of our luggage. We also got a Ford Expedition that was very squished. After we checked into the hotel and the girls took a walk to Target and Jamba Juice while the guys went to the gym, most of us went into the jacuzzi, where we received extremely small dish towels to dry ourselves. Then we met up at six and walked to an Italian resaurant for dinner and came back to the hotel with ice cream and had a devotion. We started with a prayer then went on to discuss our history. Maggie had an idea that was later dismissed. We then ended with a prayer. And disbanded. Now everyone knows about Kaylin's rabbit that died from being licked by her dog and had a heart attack :( which apparantly is very funny. This trip has been a learning experience.

                                        -Jenni and Kaylin

can't wait

Only 4 days until we leave. Hope you are as excited as Jackie and I. Happy 4th. Dan

The 2012 San Francisco Blog is  up and running.  The group will leave on Saturday, July 7th and return on Friday, July 13th.  Follow this Blog as they group will be updating nightly about all their work in San Fran.