LAST THOUGHTS...

We had our closing program with our homeowners tonight, and our team presented our week to the others through a pretty funny skit.  The plan is to try and leave in the morning by 6:30 am, which gets us home between 4:30 and 5:30 pm.  We will have the kids call with a precise time of arrival.  Once again, thanks for all your prayer and support for our youth and youth missions.  We had our final meeting as a team tonight when each member shares what God has been doing in their life this week, which is always a highlight for me.  But, I will let a couple of the kids wrap things up...

This has been an amazing mission trip. It has effected everyone physically and spiritually. Thank you so much for your prayers and please continue to pray for all of the kids and families we got to meet on this trip. Going into this mission trip I was kind of thinking that we were going to be reaching out to a ton of people during our VBS. It was the total opposite. We never got more than five kids at  VBS and I think that it helped me a lot, just to experience how to share the gospel with three or four kids and actually get to know them, rather than sharing the gospel and never getting to know the kids. Thank you for all of your support and prayers!

--Payton.W

Thank you for your prayers. The Lord has truly blessed us with you at home, and your ability to give both materially and non-materially. One last prayer, for safe travels and attentiveness for the drivers. Praise God for such any effective missions trip. 

--Chase M.

Today was an eventful day, with finishing VBS and work, and celebrations to come. VBS was fun. We had a record of 5 kids, and the 6 year old boy who got hurt came back and was feeling great! Kickball was awesome, and the little ones stole the bases like they owned them. The house looked 10 times better that it did before we got there! Work was hot and hard but we worked through and finished the skirting, roof and the cleaning. The roof was interesting because we had to rake a lot of debris off of it. After that, we went shopping and picked up some souvenirs (and some of us, ice cream). This was a great week and all of us are praising our Heavenly Father for a healthy, (mostly) non-injury, and ministry, week. Pray for safe travels home and have a great weekend!

-Chase M.

Today we went to Mingo Falls and swam in the river. The river was pretty fun. We saw some ducks and geese. The only downsides were that the water was probably about 55 degrees, and if you wanted to float down the river, it was so shallow that you hit your butt on every rock possible.

Mingo Falls was beautiful. We had a long debate about whether or not water came falling from the top of the falls or the bottom. The hike up was incredibly long and was almost all uphill, but all in all, we had a fun evening.

We also hit a roadblock on our way to the river. A female elk was on the side of the road and every time we passed it, all the guys would scream, "Finger Lickin' Good!"

                                           --Aaron B.

Today on our wonderful Cherokee mission trip we started our day with an amazing breakfast. The breakfast consisted of French toast, sausage, and grits. Then we went to VBS, which I am sure you have already heard of. Although the day had started off normally, something happened that I want all of you seeing this to pray for. A little boy around the age of seven was being push on the swings and he fell off. When he fell off the swing he hit his head and he started bleeding from his scalp. Although we brought his father from the apartments nearby, his father did not seem to have the desire of getting medical attention from a hospital. This is why I want you all to pray so he can heal and not suffer from any longterm damage. After VBS we went to our homeowner's house and we finished up the rest of the scrubbing on the sides of the house. Mr. Bruder and I also finished with the skirting two twenty foot sections of the trailer and one forty foot section of the trailer, not in one day of course. Pastor Brett, Aaron and Chase also almost got a forty foot section finished.  While we were finishing up, Chase got to use a push lawnmower type of tool with threads of plastic to chop up some poison ivy that was left over from Monday. Our homeowner also spent a lot more time talking with our team today.  She even served us watermelon and pop!  Now I will mention some extra activities that we will be doing after dinner. The first thing I need to mention is that we have started sort of a dictionary of all the words and phrases that Brooklyn says in the van.  Our next activity after dinner is going swimming in the river. Then we are going to a place called Mingo Falls.

--Jackson

A SAMPLING OF OUR WHITEWATER RAFTING EXPERIENCE!

WHITE WATER RAFTING!!!

                     

Ok, so today, just to clarify, has been a blast. We started the day off with VBS and I was kind of surprised to see 1 more child come today. So everyday at VBS so far 1 more child has shown up. The first day there was 2, then 3, and today 4.

                  After VBS we went back to our cabins and changed into our bathing suits to get ready for whitewater rafting. After the short drive to NOC (the white water rafting place) we went to an informational meeting about safety on the raft. After the informational meeting we were driven on a bus filled with random people up to the rafting start point. The ride started of pretty easy, but I was in the front where all the 52 degree water splashed up onto me. After a little bit of mild rapids, there was a 6' ft  drop into a 6' ft wave. Since I was in the front left, I took most of the blow of that drop. On that drop, while underwater my shoulders flew down out of the raft and I had to pull myself up back onto the raft by myself and then I hit the surface and flew back into the boat falling on my head. That was really the only big drop at the beginning that I myself almost fell out of the raft at, but in the very beginning there was a thing called a rock spin where you hit a rock at an angle in which you would spin fully around then fly off the rock.  We did that but we had the right side lift really far into the air. On the rock spin Payton (who was sitting next to me on the right side) flew straight into me almost knocking me out. Those were most of the really fun parts in the beginning other than the 7 turn rapid where the left side turned around and paddled that way so we spun really fast and spun around while moving forward 7 times. After that the only really fun one was the last one called Nantahela Falls where there was a 4 foot dip next to a 3 foot dip. After that one the rafting ride was over and we all got out of the raft and had dinner at a BBQ place. I had a GIGANTIC pile of nachos covered in salsa, onions, tomatoes, black olives, and jalepenos.

Now, we are heading out to an outdoor drama called Unto These Hills.

                                                                                                                         

-Smallz (Cameron)

Hi, it's Brooklyn and Payton. After dinner tonight, we went shopping in downtown Cherokee. While we were shopping, we stopped at a couple stores to look around and take pictures. My picture was me wearing 4 hats, and posing with Pappy the mechanical fortune teller (Brooklyn). My picture was next to a giant bear (Payton). After we got done shopping and eating ice-cream, we were all hanging out by a fountain by the ice-cream store. While we were talking, Cameron decided that he was going to put his feet in the water. Before we could stop him, Cameron plunged into the water. He ended up getting soaked and he had to ride in the front of the car.😂

This has been a really fun trip so far, and we don't want it to end ;)

Getting ready for morning worship!!!

2nd DAY OF MINISTRY...

At VBS today we had three kids. Jarvis (7 years old), Ericka (10 years old), and Tsalagi (6 years old).  They are staying with their father for the summer, and going back to the Cherokee tribe in Oklahoma to their mother for the winter.  At VBS, we played kickball, did a craft, ate lunch, and some of us acted out a skit on Zacheaus.  By the way, Tsalagi is the Cherokee word for "Cherokee!"

            At our homeowner’s house, we worked more on scrubbing the house and putting on new skirting. The house is almost all clean; we just have a little section on the back of the house that we need to do still. The skirting is about half done and then we will just have to clean all of the twigs off the roof and any other jobs she has us do.

Jennifer B.

THINGS YOU MAY NOT KNOW...

Here is a list of things I've discovered so far that you may not know about the kids...
(in no particular order)

1.  Cameron--can do a killer Pterodactyl call

2.  Payton--REALLY likes candy

3.  Brooklyn--likes to start campground-wide water fights

4.  Jennifer--bees are attracted to her

5.  Zoe--has a weird affinity for chickens

6.  Aaron--has once taken a class titled "Nincompoop Science"

7.  Noah--could live on a diet of Twizzlers

8.  Chase--laughs like a hysterical schoolgirl

9.  Jackson--reads HVAC textbooks for pleasure reading (seriously!)

SERVING IN PAINTTOWN...

Today was the first day of VBS and work. We made it through VBS and went straight back to camp to put on new clothes. Once at the job site we received three jobs, cleaning out brush, scrubbing the outside of the house, and placing new skirting around the bottom of the house. This house is lived in by a Cherokee Indian Elder and her children and grandchildren.
The brush clearing took off at full steam and we finished the small clearing in about an hour. The cleaning of the house took a little longer--we got half of the house done. The skirting was very hard work and we barely got anywhere. With only one side of the house done and three more to go it was painstaking. We are intending to put our full attention on finishing cleaning and the skirting tomorrow, and possibly raking debris off of the roof.
We hope that we are going to get great weather and that no one gets hurt. We may be able to finish all the jobs associated with the house in three days! Keep us in your prayers!

-Chase M.

BACKYARD BIBLE CLUB

Hello ,
This morning we went to Bird Town Community Center. While at the center we cleaned and did a
backyard bible club. The team did a fantastic job cleaning the center preparing for the backyard bible club. Everyone worked together well and got the task done. At the club we only had two kids today from the same family. We were blessed to have a mom and grandma of the children joined us today as well.  The team surrounded them with love and support. It is amazing the team let her son win each and every game and race we did. We all cheered him on. The 17 month old was adorable. Becca (the MTW intern), myself and Stacie and a few of the girls played with the 17 month old and each took turns chatting with the mom and grandma. This mom is a very young single mom who is 19 years old named Sonia.  She brought her two young children with her.  Her oldest child is three and half years old and her middle child is the 17 month old.  We had a wonderful opportunity to talk with her. We found out she also has a one month old that she doesn't have custody of.  And we also found out all three of her children have different fathers and her young baby is living with the baby father's mom. I sensed this mom was worn out and  tired.  I asked how we could pray for her and she mentioned how hard it is raising her two young children on her own. She also mentioned she is trying to find work but it is also very difficult for her find employment at this time.  She went on to say she really misses her baby but knows its for her best as her hands are already overflowing with her other young children.  I am very thankful she came. God brought her to us for a reason.  As a mom of a young four-year old and two teenagers with a very supportive husband and father, it really made me look at what I take for granted as "normal".  I can't imagine what she goes through day to day. My hard days of parenting are nothing compared to hers. She has no support or help and no money to support her kids. I have full hands on support and I don't have to worry how I'm feeding my kids at night. Please pray for Sonia and her young kids. Think back when you were nineteen and  just imagine walking in her shoes!  We are expecting more children tomorrow as the grandma is planning to bring some more grandkids tomorrow.

with love Kim with lots of help from Noah

Hello guys!  Tonight we heard the head of the Native American Ministry from MTW (Mission to the World) and he helped us to get prepared for tomorrow's work and ministry.  We also cleaned the lower bathroom which is the "best job" to do here at Cherokee camp.  Today was a great day...

...and goodbye!


Noah B.

"Knock, Knock!"

You knock at the door three times, you see through the tiny window beside it that someone is coming to answer it.  You wait in anticipation to hear the "ca-click" of the nob turning. This is the traditional door to door technique is supposedly successful (I guess we will find out tomorrow). Today we walked door to door handing out pamphlets advertising our VBS we will be working on through this week. I will be giving a quick over view of my experience handing out these pamphlets, starting with our first area which was a more permanent trailer park, in other words. We split into groups so some were more successful than we were. 3 out of 10 houses opened the door to us.  The other 7 houses we left pamphlets on the door. We continued down the road to a much more wealthy neighborhood. This short trip was especially trying to some of us who are less comfortable talking to strangers.  The people who answered were from a 20-year old man covered with tattoos to a woman with a 3-year old girl peeking out from behind the door. I have to say this was one of the most refreshing Sundays I've had in a long time, starting with fresh air and to finish with the beautiful mountain sunset. Amen!

Zoe (tell my chickens I miss them!)

CHURCH OBSERVATIONS

 So for today we went to church today at Cherokee Baptist Church. On the way there it started pouring! The pastor there talked about how we need to share the gospel with other people to warn them like the watchman did in Ezekiel 33:1-9.  Also during the service we sang Amazing Grace in both English and in Cherokee which was a cool experience.  There was going to be a baptism in the river since it was really close to the church, which would've been a cool experience, but when it started raining the river became too high and strong for that to happen, so they called it off. During the service there was a grandma playing the piano that had a little bit of help from her two grandkids who just played random notes while she was leading the hymns! We got to have a lot of "fun" running through the rain, and getting soaked getting to the van and into our cabins! This already has been really fun--even though it's only our first full day!

Payton W.

TRAVEL THOUGHTS...

Today we started our journey to Cherokee, North Carolina. We traveled the highways through the mountains, stopped to take a couple of breaks, and even drove through a couple of tunnels through the mountains. We saw a couple of "sights", most of them were beautiful. As you can see in the photo, Cameron got the chance to be a "ruff rider" at one of our rest stops.

We met a couple of interesting people. A fellow we met was from Firestone Park in Akron. He was a believer, and was interested in what we were doing. He was on his way to an island off of Savannah, Georgia. We talked to him for a couple of minutes and we went on our way.

Aaron B.

WE MADE IT!!!

After 10 hours in a 15-passenger van...we made it!!! Time for dinner and orientation.

OFF WE GO!!!

We left Harvest at 6:45 am this morning and just crossed into Virginia and stopped for lunch at 12:30 pm!  (Not pictured:  Stacie and Chase Marquis who will join us in Cherokee tomorrow)  Thanks for praying for safety!

WELCOME!

Thanks for visiting Harvest Presbyterian Church's middle school mission trip blog! We are exciting not only to serve God through serving the Cherokee people, but also to share the experience with you. Please visit us daily for updates and prayer requests. Also, we would love to hear from you! Feel free to add any comments to individuals or to the whole team!