Day 6: The Wish Project and Immersion

Today put the exclamation point on our trip. We spent the morning and early afternoon at the Wish Project sorting and bagging clothes in preparation for getting them in the hands of those in need followed by an 'Immersion'. Our Immersion was breaking up into two teams and then heading off into Boston Common. Our task was to provide dinner for ourselves and also for someone in need but only having two dollars per person. It was an experience I will truly never forget and seeing how everyone stepped up and let God use them to bless those in need was humbling. Today Chyna will share her experience and Pam will wrap it up:

Chyna: " today was such a powerful day I felt like I really grew into my faith more today finding out more about homeless people and knowing not to take life for granted because tomorrow is not promised. I was very happy that each group was able to feed a homeless person and that really touched my heart and not just mine but everyone else on the team too. When we return home for the drive tomorrow all I will keep thinking about is Jesus amazing love and how he works in mysterious ways God bless all of you, goodnight!"

Pam: "When God laid it on my heart to lead this trip with Rob,I never could have imagined the abundance of blessings that He would bestow. It has been a joy to see how each of the students have grown and shared their faith this week! They have stepped up countless times when it mattered the most and they were placed in the most challenging situations. I don't want to reveal their personal stories but I encourage you to ask them. I am sure they will be happy to share! they have been such a testimony! I promise you they have represented their families,their churches and their school well! I will never forget this week and I will be forever grateful that God saw fit to allow this 4th grade teacher the joy of taking a small part in training up these high schoolers. They are an amazing group of people! I look forward to seeing what God has in store for each of them! (hey guys...did I NAZ it?) ;)"

Day 5: Blankets and Aquatic Life

Today was a half day of service followed by some down time for sight-seeing. Kelly will be our 'lead' girl blogger today as the girls want to do a tag-team effort on today's adventures and we'll let Greg close us out.

Kelly: "this morning we started our day at the Family Nurturing Center. First half of the day we made ' no sew blankets' for little newborn babies. The second half of the day some of us continued to make blankets while others made pamphlets. And we came back to CSM and made our lunches. We started our free night heading to the aquarium. It was a lot of fun. We touched the stingray. It was my first time touching a live stingray. And then we went to the Quincy Markets, which was amazing! We ate really good food and other girls and I went shopping, and also got these silly balloon hats. But the most funny and awesome time was when we were dancing in middle of the walkway. It was hilarious! That was our day. I had really GREAT time. I feel like we are so close now. I'm so thankful to God that I choose this trip and I am here with these awesome people."

Greg: "Today was a beautiful sunny day, by far the nicest day we have had. We started the morning out by serving at the Family Nurturing Center, as we got to put together fleece blankets and packages for family's that have just given birth to a new baby. The packages had a book, a blanket, some reading materials for the parent, a new outfit for the baby and a little toy all to help raise the newborn with the love that they need. As much as I don't enjoy arts and crafts, I truly did enjoy the bonding time with the rest of the team and the opportunity to help the defenseless as they as the enter the world. Today was our free day and we had the chance to go to the aquarium and go to Quincy Markets. At the aquarium we got to see all of God's beautiful creatures and admire Gods craftsmanship. We also got to bond with our team mates, which ironically the boys and girls split up and we were off to see the penguins and fish! After a solid few hours of exploring we went to the market and got lunch where me and Kelly got some amazing sushi and I pigged out on desserts. We had the opportunity to explore the market place and buy our loved ones gifts and whatever we wanted, don't worry mom I got you a magnet. We all eventually made it back to the church and we got to talk about our day and do our devotions, ending the day giving God the glory for such a wonderful day in Boston."

Day 4: Farming and Free Throws

Lots of exercise and physical activity was going on as our team continued to serve in the Boston community. Today we'll hear from Matt and Noelle. Buckle up everyone, here they go:

Matt: "We started out at The Food Project, there we worked on the farm there in the town of Lynn. We got there and met the two employees there for the day, their names were Robin and Norris. We started working in the field after playing a warm up game to get to know the company, I started working with a hula-hoe. They are used to rip weeds out of beds. We stayed for two and a half hours working on the farm cleaning up weeds or turning over trash compost. After that we went back to Eagle's nest for the third and last time. It was sad but also wonderful because I was able to build a relationship with Jamari, he's in fourth grade, every day we went there we played basketball together, he was so energetic and fun. Today when he was finished with his homework he started running at me calling me to play basketball with him downstairs. At the end when we were taking pictures and saying good bye I never wanted to let him down, I wanted to carry him all the way home. Then we went out to eat at a Somalian restaurant."

Noelle: "Alright, so you are officially reading the words of one of the laziest and grumpiest people since 1836. With that in mind, you can probably picture me getting up at 5:45 a.m. after minimal sleep surrounded by a bunch of snoring people. It's safe to say I wasn't the most chipper of characters this morning. But, I didn't come to Boston to be an extremely pleasant morning person....I came to serve. So at The Food Project, there was a ton of physical labor involved *ick*. But during that time of talking to all my fellow team members and the other volunteers, I felt God saying "Noelle....gurl.....you need to put yourself away." AKA I needed to get over myself real quick. Being a grump doesn't show the love of Christ! Everyone was tired but they all found a way to still shine with His love, which was challenging to me and so beautiful to watch in all of them! So after that put me in my place, I was really able to enjoy the company of all my homies and all the new people we were meeting, as well as the little boys we work with at The Eagles' Nest, which made that the best way to say goodbye to them after our third and final day there. And the cherry on top was some bangin' din-din at a Somalian restaurant. All in all a gorgeous day full of blessings from the Lord, can't wait to see what else He does in our group! Alright, ya'll stay golden my precious little cream puffs! (; "

Rob: "Dear Parents, guardians, family members and supporters. Pam and I have been continually amazed and blessed by your kids. In more moments than we can count, we've seen them be challenged and then rise to the occasion and express God's love, mercy and acceptance to those they are serving. I just wanted you to know, as a fellow parent, that the seeds you have planted for all these years have taken root and are in full bloom. Thank you for giving Pam and I the opportunity to witness it."

Day 3 in Beantown

While everyone is maintaining a fantastic attitude and working with a servant's heart, our sleep schedule has been a bit challenging. I'm really proud of everyone and how they are handling it but as you see in the first few pictures below some of us have a more difficult time with the 5:45am wakeup than others.

On to the events and perspectives of the day. Tonight we have Eric and Merri sharing their experiences with you. Take it away Eric:

Eric: "Today we played an epic game of basketball and knockout (which I really have no idea how to play) with the boys at Eagle's Nest Learning Center. We had dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant which still had Christmas lights up. The reason for that I do not know. Tomorrow we are going back to Eagle's Nest and working on a farm."

Merri: "Good day to you all good folk! Today was a great day spent up here in Boston. After a very NON restful night of sleep, we started off our day by going to "Community Servings", where we were assigned many jobs to help send food to people with incurable diseases. After that we came back to the church to have a quick lunch and take a power nap. Then we returned again to Eagles Nest Learning Center where we all had a great time with our new friends there. As our day began to come to an end, we ate at a Vietnamese restaurant where we all enjoyed some delicious noodles! We ended our day here with a group debrief; many things were talked about but one thing that I was reminded of was that I am not a random creation. My personality and quirks were all designed by God, the creator of all things, for a beautiful divine reason. "You made my whole being; you formed me in my mothers body. I praise you because you made me in an amazing and wonderful way. What you have done is wonderful, I know this very well. You saw my bones being formed as I took shape in my mothers body. When I was put together there, you saw my body as it was formed. All the days planned for me were written in your book before I was one day old." Psalm 139:13-16. PeAcE aNd BlEsSiNgS"

New Experiences and New Friends

Our first full day in Boston gave us some amazing experiences. Today I'll let two 'guest bloggers' tell the story. First up is Juliana:

Juliana: "Although it was only our first day out on the job I already felt really moved. Coming into this trip I felt like I was very distant with God and sorta in a way lost, but after meeting new people today especially a girl named Sam who talked about her story of being a recovering 6 month sober drug addict it has opened my eyes to God's grace more than she'll ever know. Seeing how much she just wanted to change her life made me really see the Holy Spirit working through her even if she hasn't realized it yet. She has changed me and has tied almost all the loose ends in my relationship with God through her experience. I can't wait to keep seeing how God will work through out this week."

Next up is Nick:

Nick: "Captain Nico here sharing some words about our Boston trip thus far! Besides the icy wonderland we slept in our first night (the room was a tad chilly), conditions with everything else such as weather, plans, and health are going surprisingly smooth! Our half day yesterday consisted of unpacking the luggage as various cats and dogs (rain, actually) poured down upon us, a Jamaican dinner including rice and chicken, and a powerful prayer tour that gave us all some insight on the beautiful city Christ has set out for us to be worked through for the good of His kingdom! The 5:45 wake up shot me out of my bed, but was soon ransomed by the most satisfying and rejuvenating shower of my existence. Can't exactly pinpoint it, but the YMCA showers filled a portion within my heart that was feeling cold and empty. Pretty much, that shower was something to remember. Moving on. (Editor's note: the shower situation that morning is a running inside joke among the members of the team which we'll be happy to share when we return.) We served in the kitchen at Boston Rescue Mission and then at Eagle's Nest, a godly learning center for young boys! The kitchen was soooo much fun because of the unity within our team, the awesome people we got to serve with, and the attitude Christ equipped us with. Jay, our kitchen leader, was a total bro to say the least. We loved the man. He showed us all that we needed to know and helped us with everything! And the Eagle's Nest after-school program was AWESOME! We worked with a few little guys that were truly a blessing to our team through their energy and gratitude towards us being there! We played Basketball (my team with my buddies Jamari and Jaquan totally won...), made arts and crafts, and helped the guys with their homework. It was truly amazing! And we get to go back a few more times! Through all of this, many of our team members were able to point out different prospectives on how The Spirit was at work in our group. It is so beautiful to see God's arrangement, and we don't even know the half of it! We all seem greatly excited to continue on with this mission God has for us, and we pray that He will center us, shape us, fill us, and use us on this trip! Thank you all for the prayers! WE NEED THEM. Alright, the ship is sinking, and so are your eyes as you realize the massive paragraph you just read and wonder why Nick DiFazio has so many unnecessary rants that don't lead anywhere. Pray for my mom, she lives with this... Captain N outttttt. See you on the shore young creations. Stay beautiful."

Rob: My thoughts exactly :)

Keeping up with who is keeping up to date

One of the cool things about the blogs for our various mission teams is to see where some of the page views are coming from.  Obviously, there will be a lot from the Philadelphia region and views from the where the other teams are.  But we also have the following:

Northern Ireland blog - 4 from Costa Rica, 2 from Czech Republic, 30 from Germany.

Boston blog - 3 from Germany

Philadelphia blog - 2 from Germany, 1 from Mexico

Jamaica blog - 37 from Germany

So visitors? Thanks for checking in.  Would love to hear from you.

Jack Savidge, TKCS missions coordinator

We've arrived!

Hi everyone! Rob here with a quick travel day/day one update. We were truly blessed on the trip up as we had smooth sailing and very little traffic (you always hit a little crossing into NYC). I was amazed, considering half our team is in drama, how quiet everyone was on the trip up. Lots of power napping going on as the miles clicked by.

We arrived at the church just as a intense downpour was commencing which made unloading the van a more damp experience than we were anticipating. After a brief orientation we went out to dinner at a Jamaican restaurant called Taste of Eden were we feasted on jerk chicken, rice and some tropical beverages that we where disappointed to learn we're bottled in Canada :)

Following dinner we went on a prayer tour of the city which took us from some of the more in-need areas and then to Cambridge were we drove through the campuses of MIT and Harvard. As we drove through each part of the city and surrounding areas we stopped several times to pray for those who are suffering. It gave me such joy to hear the heart felt prayers of each team member as they lifted up citizens of Boston up to The Lord.

We have a great day planned for tomorrow, please keep us all in prayer as The Lord leads you.