C.I.N.C.I.N.N.A.T.I.-Cincinnati!

Ok, first-Has anyone seen Babes in Toyland recently? I have not. It's been about a decade or more. But this week, I learned the Cincinnati Song from that movie! There's a Cincinnati Song! Here are the words I learned: C-I-N-C-I-N-N-A-T-I Cincinnati! The best town in O-H-I-O Ohio, USA.

At first it was just Cincy but since Cincy was so Nati, they called it Cincinnati so they say!

The girls are pretty pretty in this crazy little city.

The fellas are the fiestiest I've seen!

...And that's all I learned. It was in my head all week and it was awesome.

Also, I decided that I needed to document everything this week. So the pictures are just random from the week. Exhibit A & B.

Another thing right off the bat. Sad times. John's grandfather passed away on Wednesday. So, he decided that he would need to go home for the funeral. We had no idea how that would happen in a timely fashion and he was stressing out looking for bus tickets and stuff. Then he talked to his sister and was like, John, where are your groups from this week? One of them was from Wisconsin, about an hour where he's from. Thank you, Jesus. So, he hitched a ride home with them on Friday morning. The funeral is Monday and he'll be back Tuesday morning...how, we're not quite sure yet. We'll be without a very important part of our team for the first 30 hours of the week, which is a big deal. And we found out a lady from YW is coming to observe our site. She's coming Sunday and leaving Tuesday morning-the exact time span we'll be without John. Prayer for this situation:

-For John's family.

-For a way to get back by Tuesday morning.

-For our team as we're one man down.
-Dependence on Jesus for strength and not ourselves.

-We'll have our biggest group next week too. Ratio without John-3:76. Ha!
This week was good. We had our biggest group yet of 71 and next week we'll have 76. A lot. We only have 2 more weeks with kids coming. That is so crazy. We had some rainy days this week, but it worked out fine.
I spent a lot of time at my favorite ministry, C.H.U.M., Churches United in Ministry. It's a food shelf and so our work is spent sorting, stocking, and weighing food donations. There is the Funky Food Shelf for random things, such as canned Alligator, canned Gefilte fish (Rush Hour anyone?), an edible shot glass, Mixed Vegetable Jello. It feeds the organizational, compartmentalization freak in me. :-) Steve is an older guy that works there and so it's always good to talk to him. I love that there's always work to be done and that you feel like you're making a difference. Plus, it's cool to see the kids go in on Monday, overwhelmed and to go in on Thursday and they're experts on where everything goes.
Fact about Kirstie: Of all the ministries we go to, the ones that I prefer to not go to are the nursing homes. There's just something about them that make me really sad. I think it's the fact that I see these people and I know that they've had this life full of ups and downs, love and heartbreak, happiness and joy and now they're oftentimes limited to a room or a building. One of the nursing homes we go to is St. Benedictine. It's a really great facility. They have beautiful gardens and activities for the residents, such as Bingo, Polka dancing, a beauty shop and balloon volleyball. I went on Thursday and the students who are there all week always do a song or two for the Protestant church service. The residents love the students. Then I sat through the church service and the scripture was the Loaves and Fishes story. The chaplain talked about how we have a mindset of scarcity sometimes as the disciples did in this story, where we focus on what we don't have. The challenge was to focus on what we do have. I looked around the room and realized that I had that mindset while viewing nursing homes. All I saw was that they no longer had the life that they once did, that they were now confined to a building and many times cannot function on their own. But what they do have is a community who loves each other and who still believes that Jesus loves them even in the state they're in. During the Lord's Prayer, one lady grabbed the lady's hand next to her and they just looked at each other and held on so tight, knowing that their faith and each other will keep them going day by day. There is hope and love in those places, which is hard to see when all I could focus on is what they don't have. A strong challenge for me.
Last weekend was incredible, relaxing and so fun. We went to a cabin in Wisconsin. It belongs to Deb and Jim, who are on the YW board. They are some of the most hospitable, generous people I've ever met. The cabin was beautiful. The Minneapolis Staff went too. We all had a bed to sleep in, there was a hot tub, a boat, and an endless supply of awesome food. I took full advantage of the hot tub when the boys were like, Let's jump in the lake! I thought they were crazy but then about 5 minutes later found myself counting to three and screaming as I jumped in. Immediately following, I booked it back to the hot tub. There was no TV, so it was really fun to relax and just spend time with everyone, having great conversations. We lounged around, read, played Nerts and Spades, and went out on the boat all afternoon. The boys tubed, waterskiied, and attempted to wakeboard. I love boats, so I just sat in the front as we spun around the lake as the boys tried to get up on the wakeboard. Fine with me. One afternoon, I picked up Beloved by Toni Morrison and read half of it. I read it in high school and loved it, but caught so much more this time. I needed some magical realism in my life.

For dinner the last night we had steak, scalloped potatoes and french bread. Yes, those are t-bones.

I spent a good chunk of time by the lake in the morning. It was so still and so necessary to be still with it. As I sat there, I realized how much God created everything to be like him, particularly water. Check this out. Powerful, calming, constantly moving, transparent, three forms, cleansing. A great reminder that creation had a lot of thought put into it.
Week 7 of 8. We're almost done. I'm starting to get overwhelmed at life when I get back. Life is jam-packed and I'm always doing something here, but it's only one thing that I'm focusing on. When I get back, there will be about 6 or 7 things to focus on, as well as all the details in between. I can do it and I'll do it well, but it'll be an adjustment. And as incredible as it's been here, I'm beginning to miss people a whole lot and cannot wait to get back.

Pray for:

-Continued energy and a mindset of love

-Me to be fully present here and not count away the days

-For the beginning of the week without John + his family

Much love. Miss you all.

But These Go To 11

5 weeks down. Only 3 to go. How is this happening?!

I've decided that I love Duluth. I see why people are born here and then they never leave. Maybe if I was here in winter I'd think differently, but I'm not!
This week was straight up. Nothing too exciting, dramatic, or over-the-top. One night, I was about to dump the prewash bin where the kids wipe out their ranch dressing from the salad and bean juice and stuff and I picked it up too fast and dumped ranch water all down the front of me. It was disgusting, but funny.
The kids were a riot. Our typical week is about 65-70, but this week we only had 40. The thing about this week, even though there were only 40, is that the decibel level was twice that of a larger group. I don't know what was up, maybe it was the pounds of extra snacks they brought and munched on constantly, but they were super loud. Exhibit A. The boys' sleeping room is directly above the girls'. I'm in the gym and I hear this loud thumping at 10:45pm when lights out should be. It sounded like the T Rex was approaching in Jurassic Park. We realize that the boys were all jumping at the same time to create a ceiling-shattering effect for the girls. In response, 25 girls yelled Love Story by Taylor Swift up the stairs. Like yelled. The whole song. For 10 to be the loudest level was not enough--11 would have to do.
I was apprehensive at the beginning of the week of how well they would get it or get involved throughout the week, but Jesus always amazes me at how He affects and changes kids. Jesus is real and still moves, a fact that has been reinforces countless times.
One interesting conversation I had this week was with Mary at Interfaith Care Center. It is a really nice rest home facility. Kara and I stopped in to visit the kids and I ended up chatting with her for a second. She had only been there for a week and her son was coming to visit from Florida later that afternoon. Her husband passed away in 1990. I guess I never realized it, but I've only seen about 8 men total in all of the nursing homes that I have visited this summer. Most are women. She said, "I guess it's good for the men to go first. They just don't know what to do with themselves when their women are gone. They just look so helpless. You never think you'll end up in a rest home. Even though it's lonely, it's a nice place. They have a nice place here." I could tell she was still adjusting. I hadn't really thought of that before. I always think when I visit there that these people have had such full lives and now they are in a completely different stage of life. It made me realize that even though I've seen and experienced so much, there are so many stages and things that I have yet to experience and while I have years to do them, life is so short. A good reminder to love people well and with my whole heart, not just part of it, and give life everything I have while I can.
Switching gears, Minneapolis was a blast last weekend. We crashed with the Minneapolis staff and the St. Paul staff hung out too. We did some sightseeing, Mall of America which had a Chipotle (YESSS), played Nerts (which I'm awesome at from playing in Ethiopia), and went to a Twins game. We stayed at our prayer partner's house, Fun Size Dave, who was with us 2 weeks ago. We went to church the next morning and saw the kids. It's sweet to see them in their element. I think their world's were colliding a little when they saw us and some of them didn't know what to do.
The Twins game was fun. There were signs that read This is Twins Territory and I loved it because I'm a twin! I was like, If only Bri was here. I got a Dome Dog and experienced the Metrodome before it gets replaced by an outdoor stadium. I'm not sure I understand why there will be an outdoor stadium in Minnesota since it snows until May, but that's ok. Some things are meant to be a mystery.



















Also, I'd like to share the joy of Sam's Club with you. We spent $880.14 this week. And then my organizing fix for the week comes with jamming our fridge.

This weekend we were invited to a cabin on the lake in Wisconsin of one of the YW board members. The Minneapolis staff is going and we were like I don't know....we kind've want to stay here and rest. But then we found out that there's a hot tub and there's a bed for each of us and they're making us dinner tonight. OK! We're totally in. We're leaving tonight and coming back before Sunday morning because, lucky me, I get to sing a song at church during the offering. The worship director found out I play guitar and was like You should play! When can we count on you? Never thought I'd do that EVER in my life.
We're doing well as a team. We're not really feeling the lull of routine yet. Every group is so different, which varies the week drastically. It's great to serve alongside brothers and sisters that annoy you sometimes, but at the end of the day, I love them and wouldn't have anyone else.


Pray for:
-Rest this weekend.
-Endurance.
-Choosing to love, even when kids are annoying. :-)

Much love.

Adult Leaders Can Fly

I am sitting in downtown Minneapolis in a coffee shop called Wilde Roast Cafe....Wilde as in Oscar Wilde! The Wilde quote on the menu is "The only thing I cannot resist is temptation." It has art all over the walls, dark wood furniture, creme, tan and plum colored walls, chandiliers and drapes and has an 1800s look. My kind of place. I had a waffle and it was awesome. It makes me want to go read The Importance of Being Earnest that Bri sent me in the mail!
This week was so great. It was our first full week at full capacity with 71, 76 total with our staff and our area director, Katie. The kids were great and we had a lot of fun with them. There was a lot of Uno played and funny interactions. This is Emma. She was so funny. She had a sassy attitude but it was the kind that was funny and not annoying. She is someone I would want to just hang out with. Brooke, she reminded me a lot of you. :-)

While the kids were incredible, this week was one where the adult leaders were a blast and such a blessing to our team. There were 14 of them and we have already sent out an email with all of our contact info so we can keep in touch. On Tuesday night, our staff was surprised and so honored when the leaders told our staff to sit on the floor in the gym. All of the kids and leaders proceeded to gather around us and pray for us. It was such an honor and blessing, and proof that God is moving through us. We had adult leader parties a few nights, and our last night we played Spoons until 1am. All of us were flying across the table to get them and laughing so hard. I guarantee we kept the kids up, who had to be in bed by 11pm....oops. Now for a few stories.

Tom came and it was his first missions trip. He was really quiet at first but then really opened up to us and to the kids as well. He has a knee brace and nerve damage in his left leg. Tom is a firefighter and originally from New York City, but moved to Minnesota early in 2001. His accent is hardcore New York--let's just say that kids paid attention when he said Hey you get ova here! So great. Tom got a call from his mom when 9/11 hit and the phone cut out when the towers fell. He was on call from the fire dept. still and reported within 24 hours when he jumped in his truck and drove straight through for 23 hours to help with search and rescue. He was hesitant to talk about it at first, but you could tell that it was a story that needed to be told, and an incredibly powerful one that people need to hear. I can't imagine the things he saw. While he was in the rubble of the towers, the mercury from the melting metal was exposed and sunk into his leg, causing permanent nerve damage. He said there is a lot of survivors guilt in the people of NYC and he said all of the anxiety is literally just killing these people and causing them to decay slowly and they don't even know it. He hasn't been back, but plans to when the memorial opens in 2011. It was incredible to see him serve with the kids and be a leader for them. As a staff, we believe he was the most impacted leader, and the trip enabled him to be served and honored as a leader in coming alongside the kids. He's been through so much, and we feel like he was empowered and encouraged this week. Thank you Jesus.
Leah and I connected the first day. She goes to Bethel in Minnesota. We have parallel lives. Ready?

-Small Christian schools-Juniors-2 years as RA/PA-Started dating our bfs in early May-Middle name Marie-Education majors (she's ele. edu.)-Student teaching in the fall-Hate wearing shoes-Glasses/contacts-The list goes on.

We had great conversations throughout the week and hung out whenever possible. We formed an alliance during the rowdy game of spoons the last night and stayed in for quite a while. She and I are in very similar life situations and it was incredibly encouraging to voice a concern or uncertainty and to have someone know exactly what's up. I think I made a lifetime friend. :-)

Grant was an incredible leader. He is from South Africa and so I loved talking about how my best friend was getting back within the week. His sense of God is so personal and big and reminded me a lot of the people in Ethiopia. God is simple, but He's everything. He was great and gave me some guitar lessons on how to play bar and suspended chords. I'll be working on that.

A powerful part of the week was footwashing. We do a footwashing ceremony on Thursday nights. We read from John 13 and highlight that Jesus served his disciples by sinking to a low position and washing their feet, and then he calls us to do the same. The kids do odd and dirty jobs all week and serve some of the outcasts of society. To emphasize that they have done as Jesus commands by serving well is really cool. It is such a humbling experience to have your feet washed and then be prayed for. The staff wash the adult leaders' feet and then the adults wash their kids' feet. Up until this point, we've framed it and then stepped out and watched the groups during this time, staying close to make sure that we're accessible if they need anything. It's usually a very intimate and emotional time, so we let the groups share it among their own. But this week, we felt very much a part of it. Bryce was one of the participants this week. He's a pastor's kid and one of seven. This kid gets it. He was always serving, always loving, always asking if we needed anything or help and didn't complain once. Kara and I were sitting in our usual spot against the matted wall of the opposite side of the gym and were praying together. We open our eyes and see the shadowy outline of a boy coming toward us. It was Bryce with a footwashing basin and a towel draped over his shoulder. I started crying immediately. He knelt in front of us and washed our feet, and then we prayed with him. What a gesture of service and humility. Then later, Grant came to me and washed my feet. His prayer was so sincere and so powerful. He prayed that I would keep playing and singing and be bold in praising God with that gift. He prayed for wisdom and patience in the days ahead. He prayed for joy and endurance through the summer and through life. He prayed for God to guide my feet down His path, that there will be trouble and rough roads which He promises, but that He will always guide me and always be there. That was special for me, because my life verse is John 16:33-In this world you will have trouble. But take heart--I have overcome the world. I felt at that moment how the disciples must have felt--knowing that there was so much life ahead and so much going on, but that in that moment, I was being honored, humbled, and served by Jesus, except in my case, it was a servant of Jesus in Grant.

This weekend we are in Minneapolis. We went to the Mall of America last night and we'll be going to a Twins game tonight. Last night we stayed at the Minneapolis site with the Minn. staff and the St. Paul staff. We played Nerts until 1am. So fun to hang out with those guys again. I'll post pictures next week.

We're over halfway done. I fly home a month from today. That is crazy. 4/8 weeks done.

Our day by the pier was a beautiful one this week. God continues to show us the sweetness of the city of Duluth. The bridge went up as we were leaving and all of these sailboats came in. Awesome.

We're doing well as a team and thank God for how blessed we are to get along so well.

Continue to pray for energy, joy and rest.

Much love.

And the Rockets' Red Glare!

We attempted to do laundry yesterday, but it slipped our minds that it was a holiday. So here we are. Just thought I'd add some sweet pics from the 4th of July!

Yay Fun Dip!

:-)

Never Say Never

Yesterday was the first sunny Friday we've had, so Kara and I went and laid in the sun. Glorious. That is how I completely relax, I discovered. This week we had 64 people total. Big week. It turned out to be a great. Eric began the week asking the adult leaders why they were here and what they wanted to see happen this week. All agreed that they wanted to serve and see God change lives. Mission accomplished. Beginning with that attitude set the tone for the week. The adult leaders and the participants were so much fun. Super artsy, too, I might add--we went through so much paper because they drew little pictures all the time. It was overcast and in the 60s all week and rainy one day, but it was nice to work in cooler weather, especially the crews that were outside. Funny story. We went through the student evaluations on Friday morning and one of the kid's under Site Name, which is Duluth, wrote Physical Labor. Ha! We lost it. Our prayer partner's name is Dave, also known as Fun Size Dave, because another adult leader was King Size Dave. Fun Size is our prayer partner. He worked with YW and then has taken his kids on numerous trips. These men love their job, have great stories, and love junior high kids. God has given them a righteous and incredible passion and they do their job well. I'm sure you can tell which one is which. I cannot believe it's July and it's broken 80 like once. I have a feeling the mild weather will make this summer fly by even more, because I'm like waiting for it to be super hot but by the time it gets super hot, if at all, I'll be leaving!

I FINALLY bought The Fray's new album last week and have learned most of the words by listening to the cd over and over again in the car and in my free time. The song Never Say Never has become a favorite of mine and Kara's. One day we had to drive about an hour and a half total around town to visit ministry sites and we listened to the song 8 times. Not joking. It's become our theme song of the summer. Eric hates The Fray, but watch us care!

Kara and I had our first fight. It turned out to be really funny, though. John came through the kitched right after and we told him we had our first fight and he was like, Really? That's awesome! I want to hear about it! Kara and John had their first fight like 2 weeks ago, so we were all waiting for this one. So here's what happened. Thursdays are crazy dinner night because it's grill out plus leftovers. We have hamburgers, hot dogs, fruit, pasta, pizza. Everything compiled from the week. I would consider myself a generally laid back person, but I have especially discovered this summer that I am a straight up Control Freak when it comes to certain things. Exhibit A: I have a certain way of setting up the salad bar every night and I'm good at it and it looks good. So on Thursdays, John grills, I do salad bar and Kara does the rest. For some reason, we were just stepping on each other's toes and the kitchen was so stressful. We were snapping at each other and it just was not working. As soon as all the kids left, we were like Ok. What just happened? We both realized we are control freaks in the kitchen and we can't be in there at the same time. And we both don't like to leave things stewing so we just had to come out and deal with it. Things were said like Well you did this! Which I would respond with Well if you would just let me do my job it would be fine! All ended well, we ended up laughing and hugging and it was all good.

God has a funny way of teaching us basic lessons. I have found that I am having to learn, on different levels, the same lessons and principles that I am emphasizing to the kids in my talks every week. My Monday night talk is about Fame and how we like to control how we're seen and we want people to see the best of us. The main point of the message is that You are good enough exactly as you are because Jesus says so--You've always been good enough. That is something that I've had to accept personally. I read a verse in Thessalonians this week that said something to the effect of God does not call us to be perfect, but rather to be holy. I get perfection and holiness confused way too often. I get so concerned with being as perfect and impressive as a I can in hopes that I will be impressive as a follower of Christ. But, as I had to write out multiple times this week to jam it into my brain--I am human. I will mess up. I wll disappoint. And that's ok. I am human. To me, weakness is failure and failure is weakness. But as a human, I am weak and I will fail. And by accepting that, it acknowledges that I need Jesus, who is ultimate strength and ultimate victory. I think one of my insecurities is rejection and so somehow it's ingrained in me to be perfect. But the fact is that I am a control freak sometimes, especially when it comes to being in the kitchen or that I like to be the one who organizes the fridge after we go grocery shopping because I do it a certain way and it looks nice, even if it comes off as annoying or domineering. I am super organized and think months in advance, so much so that I know where I'm going for Thanksgiving and Christmas already. And it doesn't matter if that's weird or annoying to other people because that's who I am and how I roll. But my family and friends still love me, the staff still loves me, and Jesus still wants me to be like Him, follow Him, and do His work on earth among all of my shortcomings and imperfections. There's always something to be learning...

As much as I miss everyone and my girls, I needed to get away and get distance to reevaluate my life. I realize how much pressure I put on myself at Taylor and even in my family, and it's been nice to take a step back and look at the source of that and give it back to Jesus. Refocus, if you will. :-)

This week we'll have 75 total. That's 13 boxes of Mac and Cheese instead of 10. It's one of our bigger groups. 3 weeks down. 5 to go. It's going to fly by.
Pray for:
-Energy and patience.

-Love for the kids in the short time that they're with us.

-The boldness and courage to be weak.

Much love.