Joplin Relief Mission Opportunities

Hey all - Our August team leaves this Thursday for Joplin, MO, to help with clean-up and rebuilding of this community. Please be in prayer for them as they travel and then put into action being the hope of Jesus Christ as God has called us to be.

Interested in serving as well? COS has committed to sending a team on extended weekend missions (Th-Sun) monthly for two years. Dates are set now through December.

August 18-21 (Th-Sun)
Sept. 15-18 (Th-Sun)
Oct. 13 - 16 (Th-Sun)
Nov. 10-13 (Th-Sun)
Dec. 8 -11 (Th-Sun)

Contact Donna Weaver (weaver-donna@att.net), Missions Leader, to sign-up or comment here and we'll get you the detail.

Updates will be here on the Missions Blog so keep checking back and leaving notes for our team in the field.  They appreciate them!

The end of a perfect week

How perfect? Well first it appears a cold front went through Sedalia today. ;)

But even better was to see how each middle schooler changed as the week went on. Some were even moved to share their thoughts during our worship service.

The last morning arrived quicker than I thought could be possible. We had worked so hard on the Chapel that we divided into two team for the morning to help more families in Sedalia. Here we are outside the chapel discussing job assignments.

Some were sent to cleaning.

Some worked hard to finish the last of the painting.

At lunch we gathered together to eat lunch and share our devotion. Today one of our youth stepped up and led the devotion and study. We were asked questions about where we have seen God working the past couple days and how our lives and relationships have changed here in Sedalia.

After the painting and cleaning we set the sanctuary back up for church.

Here is the entire happy and proud group.

If you wonder what is in the middle of the group - we try to bring back a memento from our time on mission to remind us of friends and the joy of serving others.

For fun we all went swimming. The pool had a great water slide that all the youth enjoyed--(wink)

Because of the early start of the school year we had to say an early goodbye to our sixth graders and high school freshman.

Speaking of saying goodbye-

We also had to say good bye to a new friend. The son of the pastor of the chapel we worked at joined our group for work, worship, meals- heck, he was just one of us. Tears were shed as we all hugged goodbye

I was wrong

It could get hotter - and this was after it cooled down some.

So to refresh your memory, we are doing some painting....


Lots of painting......

...mostly on the walls?

... and cleaning...

Did I mention how big the sanctuary was?

And outside we did some concrete repair

Remember those poor concrete form holders from yesterday. Well I did not want you to think that we just left them out to roast in the sun.

We found some shade...

And rotated several youths....

Everyone was encouraged to take breaks.

It has been said that volunteering to go on a mission trip is alot like riding a roller coaster.

So we throw up our hands -

Wheeeee

WooHoo!

We were visitited by a local reporter. Watch for us in the Sedalia Democrat!

Some of us were able to go to a nearby church to help with their summer lunch program.

At lunch, we celebrated a special day!

And later that afternoon, cooled down with some ice cream and cold drinks.

Working in Sedalia

Monday morning came early and bright and hot, so very, very hot.

But when we got our job assignment, we were set to help at Taylor Chapel. An air conditioned church!!

Our first task- Paint the sanctuary! This is a huge job, but we tackled with lots of energy.

And we even looked good while doing it.

Some of the work was outside though. See those girls sitting down, they are not just relaxing in the sun, they are holding the forms for the concrete repair. A hot, hot job, but they did it with a smile on their face.




Some of the sancuary needed some deep cleanining. Did I mention that the church is over 100 years old?

After showers and dinner, we had a spirited game of Name it, Dance It, Sing it. Let me tell you the newly created song, "I like Big Bibles" has got to be heard to be believed.

The congregation is making us lunch tommorrow.

Speaking of tommorow, it is supposed to be hotter still but I am not sure how that can be possible.

Sorry, that is all the time I have to upload pictures. I am typing this after lights out - shhhhh.

We have arrived

Twenty one Middle Schoolers and Six adult leaders and a predicted 100 degree days.

Woohooo Sedalia- We are ready for you!

One Week Finished

We worked the last three days in the field. To stay productive with the heat, we managed to motivate each other to get up at 5am each day. We were out in the field by 6:30 and stayed until noon each day. Luckily, we had a good breeze going most of the time.

When we left Thursday, we had two huge piles of debris piled up. The cows had sneaked their way back into the cleared pastures and were munching and mooing their merry way.

A farm dog befriended us in "his field" on the last day. "Bratwurst" followed us around as we worked, and kept us entertained.

In the late afternoons and evenings, we ventured out onto the streets of Joplin to explore, take pictures, talk to the locals, and listen to their stories. This was by far, the most touching part of our trip. While we were out one evening going through a neighborhood, we ran across a couple that had driven in and parked next to us. We shared stories with them and found out they used to live in the home across the street for 30 years (it was no longer there). All they had left were the memories. They were obviously very disturbed by this. They told us that a young mother and her son had lost their life a hundred yards down the street.

They went on and told us how the community had come together in the days after the tornado, and how people had helped each other. Sharing food, water, and helping out in any way possible. The woman was a retired nurse. Right after the tornado, a call for medically trained people went out. She worked several days in a temporary triage area that had been set up for the victims. They were very grateful for all the volunteers that had helped out. They thanked us for coming in and helping out too.

There will be more opportunities to help in Joplin!! Church of the Shepherd will be sending groups for weekend trip and full week trips in the next few months.

Do you want to help?

Another Day and Twenty Dollars

We are working in a hayfield about a mile east of town today. It was at the end of the tornados path, where a lot of debris fell down in the fields. We found a lot of fiberglass insulation and shingles throughout the pasture. (Good work for the cows...) We also found several personal items mixed in to make it interesting. Pictures, game pieces, a twenty dollar bill, old checks.

We drove 3 miles through the path of the tornado on the way out of town. There were excavators, bulldozers,and dump trucks everywhere.

In much of the areas, they were pretty much pulling down any structure that was still left standing. Unbelievable the amount of devastation.

An elderly lady whose home at ground zero, 2 blocks east of the high school showed up at church asking if anyone could go with her to her house because looters have previously been there before.

She is currently living with her son, has gone furniture shopping with her daughter, because she has already bought a house in Webb City.

It backs up to a graveyard, and she can't wait to live with her quiet neighbors. Ha! Ha!

This is the bathtub where she stayed during the tornado.

Her house is extensively damaged.