Video from Team Effort

Here is the video that Team Effort put together for us at the end of our trip:

   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kg8xZlHQ-6o

Make That 5:00

Gulf Freeway traffic heading south is pretty good. We're passing airport. It's looking like it will be closer to 5:00.

See You Soon

We're passing downtown. 5:15 looks like a pretty good guess. See you soon!

Updated Arrival Time

Traffic is moving faster than expected!  At this point, it looks like we'll be pulling into Gloria Dei around 5:15!

I'll post another update when we get into Houston. See you soon!

Lunch Stop

We just finished lunch south of Dallas. Depending on how the traffic looks ahead of us, we're still looking at being home by 6:00. I'll give you another update by 3:00 when we'll have a feel for the traffic situation.

What We've Done

This week has been jam-packed with lots of exciting experiences. Here's a summary of our activities that you can use to ask your Mission Tripper for their stories. 

Saturday, June 18

- Started with devotion and prayer
- A long bus day filled with making new friends 
- Played bus game where we had to learn something new about everyone 
- Spent night at Hillside Christian Church in Amarillo
  - Had fun in cool game room
  - Devotions with team

Sunday, June 19

- Another long bus ride making more friends
- Watched Navajo movie on bus
- Toured Petrified Forest National Park
  - Rode through Painted Desert
  - Visited pueblo ruins & petroglyphs from 1250 AD
  - Saw lots of petrified logs
  - Group photo in front of largest petrified log
- Stopped at Walmart to get essential junk for week
  - Voiced thanks to Friendship club for $5 gift and prayer support
- Arrived at camp and settled into very cramped bunk rooms
- First great nightly worship service
  - Good worship songs led by Gabe (Team Effort worship leader)
  - Great testimony by Mallory (Team Effort leader)
  - Devotions with team

Monday, June 20

- Workday 1
  - Teams grouped into four work-sites:
     - Team F to complete painting home of elderly Navajo 
     - Teams A & E to build deck & paint at Navajo home
     - Teams C & D to work on foundation for church basketball court
     - Teams B & G to sheetrock, mud & paint at camp
  - Work-sites opened with devotions 
- Excursion to Little Painted Desert
  - Saw beautiful view and climbed down into it
  - Lots of war wounds from sliding down sand "mountains"
- Another fantastic worship service and team devotions

Tuesday, June 21

- Workday 2
  - Team F moved to site where home burned down and started clearing remnants
  - Other teams continued at their sites 
- Excursion of hike up nearby mountain
  - Climbed through cave at top of mountain
  - Great views of valleys and mountains
  - A dozen of group walked 3+ miles back to camp
- Another fantastic worship service and team devotions

Wednesday, June 22

- Impromptu excursion to little window rock
  - 3/4 of group rose at 4:30 to go climb another nearby mountain
  - Led by a local Navajo teenager (Cordell) 
  - Steep rocky climb led to small window rock
  - Real slow descent due to loose rocks
- Workday 3
  - Now highly skilled teams continued at their sites
- Visited by Navajo women selling their hand-made jewelry
- Q&A Session with Pastor Mike about Navajo life
  - Heard Pastor Mike's interesting testimony
- Another fantastic worship service and team devotions

- Evryome walked out to the road for some star-gazing with laser-pointed instruction by Robert

Thursday, June 23

- Final Workday
  - Teams worked to bring sites to finish points
  - Finished early (noon instead of 2:30)
- Final trip to Walmart for junk to carry through weekend
  - More thanks to Friendship Club for additional $10 gifts, cards and prayers
- Excursion to Clear Creek in Winslow
  - Screams from jumping into cold spring-fed water
  - Thrills from jumping off of 20-ft cliffs
- Another fantastic worship service and team devotions
  - Heard second half of Mallory's testimony 
  - Impactful time by cross where we turned our sins and concerns to Jesus 
- Packed to get ready to leave

Friday, June 24

- Cleaned camp and loaded bus
- Rode to Grand Canyon
  - Had picnic lunch when we arrived 
  - Divided into four groups based on desired activities:
     - Long hike down and up canyon wall
     - Short hike down and up canyon, then bike along rim
     - Bike along rim, then short hike down and up canyon
     - Ride shuttle bus various stops along canyon rim
  - Saw short movie at Visitor's Center
- Rode to National Geographic show house
  - Ate dinner and saw Condor Show
  - Watched Imax show on Grand Canyon
- Rode to hotel in Flagstaff

Saturday, June 25

- Said goodbye to those leaving us in Flagstaff

- A long bus day enjoying friends and napping
- Devotions on bus after lunch 
- Spent night at Hillside Christian Church in Amarillo
  - Had fun in game room until after midnight

Sunday, June 26

- Woke early and boarded bus at 6 am

   - Plan to get home around 6 pm

   - Will get Affirmation Cards that others wrote to us

Headed Home

It's 6 am in Amarillo and we are on the bus headed home. After an evening of playing Four-Square, Basketball, Pool, Guitar Hero, Cards, etc until after midnight, everyone got up, re-packed and loaded back on the bus in time for us to leave at 6!

Given this earlier start, our current guess of our arrival time is 6 pm. Keep checking this blog for updates throughout the day.

It's 8:00 Saturday night an we just finished our dinners in Amarillo and are headed to Hillside Christian Church where we'll spend the night.

Now in Texas!

It's now 5;40 Texas time and we just crossed the border into Texas! Everyone cheered.

In New Mexico

We crossed into New Mexico around 9:15 (10:15 New Mexico time). We hope reach Amarillo by 9:00 Texas time.

Most of the bus is starting to wake up after a 2-3 hour nap. Still pretty quiet, but probably not for too long.

On the Road Again

It's 7 am in Arizona and we're on the bus headed to Texas. Nine of our group is headed to Phoenix in the van to catch a flight in order to head out again to scout camp tomorrow morning. We're not sure what to do with the extra seats on the bus.

Everyone was pretty excited to take a warm shower in the hotel room where we could step out onto a clean floor instead of dirt. On top of that, we actually had bedding that wasn't coated with dirt.

It will be nice to get back to a little humidity. It will be strange not having chapped lips and dry, bloody noses.

Despite looking forward to home and it's comforts, we all are sad to leave our home on the reservation this past week. We're already looking forward to next year's trip.

One final word from Cindy:

Last night at the hotel, many enjoyed the down time. Ryan couldn't figure out why he kept seeing red when showering the next day: "oh yeah, the girls painted my nails last night."

Many fun stories to share, hopefully you'll get to hear them soon. Thanks for letting me share just a small piece of our week. Blessings

Blogger Replacement

As a result of hogging two seats on the bus while Dave and Kurt had to share seats, Cindy is being relieved of her blogging privileges. I will provide you with blog posts from this point forward.

It just so happens that Cindy is leaving us in Flagstaff and joining her family on a vacation to Colorado. We appreciate her work during the past week keeping you informed - with a lot less phone typos than you will get from me.

Let me reiterate Cindy's comment that there is a good chance that we will get home 2-3 hours ahead of our original plan. We're going to try to leave Amarillo by 6:00 Sunday morning in order to hit lighter Dallas-Houston traffic. Watch this blog regularly Sunday afternoon for updates.

The Grand Canyon trip was amazing! We had two groups take a three mile bike with a two mile hike, or a 3 1/2 mile hike round trip and a bus tour/ trip. Everyone had fun doing their selection.

For dinner we went to the IMAX theater, a wild condor show and some shopping. A funny quote of the day was "I'd rather watch a comedy than a Grand Canyon movie."

We are now heading to our hotel in Flagstaff for our first clean shower in a week. Tomorrow we begin our long drive home. We anticipate arriving early on Sunday. Possibly as early as 6pm. Keep an eye on the blog for updates.

Just left the church and now we are heading to our next big adventure.

We are packing up our gear, waiting for the bus to arrive to take us to the Grand Canyon. What a wonderful way to end this amazing trip!

Well, hopefully this will post to the blog. It has been an amazing week with lots of laughter and friendships. We closed our time here with an amazing evening worship.

Tomorrow we'll be heading to the Grand Canyon. Whoo hoo!

Today we went to Clear Creek watering hole after our half day of work. It was crystal clear water with cliffs to jump off. Everyone had an amazing time! We are refreshed and ready for our last evening at Cedar Springs. Tomorrow we pack up and head to the Grand Canyon. Please continue to keep us in your prayers for safety.

Sorry for the delayed post but I couldn't find a signal until today. We've almost completed our work day and will be heading to Winslow around noon for lunch.

It always amazes me how hard these students work and care for each other. Many lives have been touched!

I'll try to post a comment this evening after our swim. Tomorrow, Friday will be our trip to the Grand Canyon. Everyone is looking forward to seeing the canyon and exploring the sites.

Another amazing day! Today was the last full working day. Many students wanted to complete as much work as possible. After a full workday we enjoyed relaxing and buying trinkets from the Navajo women.

Evening worship included a Q&A session with Pastor Mike about the Navajo people. So amazing to learn about a new culture. Students then received their letters from home. How comforting to them to know they are loved and missed. After worship one of our students lead us on a stargazing experience. Amazing to see the multitude of stars in the sky. Something we don't get to see in Houston.

We also celebrated a birthday-his fourth time to be on a mission trip on his birthday! Happy Birthday Allen!

This week we've seen God's work all around us. Tomorrow we work half day and then well be driving in to Winslow to a creek for a fun swim and another Walmart run to purchase supplies for the way home. It's amazing to think that our time is almost over in Arizona. Thanks for all your continued prayers.

This morning, many students woke up at 4:30am for a late sunrise hike. At the top Kurt asked if any scriptures came to mind. One student very suddenly replied: Jesus wept.

Now we are all on our last full workday, trying to complete as much of our projects as we possibly can before we depart the day after tomorrow. Tonight the Navajo women will be preparing our evening meal and selling their crafts. So glad there will be shopping involved for those of us that love that sort of thing.

Just in the past two days, many new friendships have developed as well as amazing work to the various projects! Between our hikes and work projects, various pants have developed new ventilation some just became chaps.

One of our students got very friendly with the Pastor's puppy. Did I forget to mention that she's extremely afraid of dogs?

Worship in the evenings have started out with a fun game and then we get to praise our heavenly Father and hear a touching story or video that talks about following God.

The afternoon hike was so successful that many will be getting up at 4:30am for a sunrise hike. Please continue to pray that the work we are doing touches the lives of those around us and helps to strengthens the faith of the participants.

Today two teams went to help a family that lost their home to a fire just a week ago. After only a few hours you could definitely start to see transformation. Others continue to build a deck while a group work on improvements at the church where we are staying. Afternoon plans are a hike up a plateau/butte near the church.

The little painted desert was a fun experience, hiking down the mounds of dirt and getting to see the canyon from a different perspective.
Many "conquered the beast"....

Today's excursion was the painted desert. Many enjoyed the experience, It even "scared the pants off" Robert G. A backpack was peed on by a dog, mr. Koolaid visited a worksite and one worksite got to work along side Navajo children. Painting the boys bathroom was a new experienced

For our young ladies. We are all looking forward to our showers and evening worship.

Yesterday's funny quote of the day as we were touring the petrified forest:

Mr Kurt, we're on a mission trip not here to learn anything!

Today has been an adventure with lots of different painting opportunities and lots of digging. More to come this evening.

A beautiful morning with cows grazing nearby and interesting rock formations surrounding us. Everyone is slowly waking up and getting ready for our first work day. Due to poor Internet and cell service, blog updates will occur as I get a signal. Blessings to all!

Arrived safely at the church on the indian reservation. Had an amazing worship experience and now were getting ready for bed. Tomorrow will be an amazing day with lots of new experiences.

Just finished touring the petrified forest and were amazed at the sights. Just an update regarding the fires; no signs of any smoke or fire as we've traveled into Arizona. Thanks for your prayers! On to Winslow for dinner and the Indian reservation.

We are now in windy Arizona. Everyone is doing great and we even got to watch a movie about the Navajo Codetalkers.

Just had a McFun time at lunch in Albuquerque. We are doing good, having fun playing games on the bus. On to the next part of our long drive to Arizona.

We are all packed up and back on the road. Nice overnight stay in a church in Amarillo. On to Arizona!

We're Here!!! In Amarillo

We arrived safely to Amarillo ahead of schedule and now the students of all ages are enjoying the amazing game room. Here is a few interesting tidbits of our fun journey cross country on the bus.

Road surface temp: 117

Outside temp: 105

With slight breeze: 99 it's all good.

Fun bus statistics:

10 people slept on the floor throughout the day

9 students completed a get to know our team mates page created by Kurt

8 students played Apples to Apples

7-we left at 7am and arrived at 7pm.

6 rooms to sleep in at the church in Amarillo

5 cases of snacks and drinks consumed on the bus

4 trips to the bathroom by Ms. Cindy

3 incriminating photos of sleeping friends

2 showers per bathroom

1 Mr. Ryan enjoying his more feminine side wearing a woman's hat & purse

Overall, it was a great trip and lots of friendships were made. Time to wind down and get ready for another long bus trip tomorrow. More to come soon...

Just left our fuel stop in Witchita Falls an hour ahead of schedule. On to Amarillo...

Stopped for lunch Midolophian and heading to Witchia Falls for a fuel break. Doing great on our time. May get ahead of schedule for our arrival in Amarillo.

We are officially on the road! Thanks for all your prayers. More updates to come.

All participants bringing gear should come to Life Center to check in.

After checking in, place all overnight gear on Life Center stage, luggage take to worship center commons.

Tomorrow...all mission trip participants should remember to bring all gear to be loaded under the bus to the Student Center at 7pm.

All participants wishing to bike at the Grand Canyon need to bring the release form tomorrow (Friday) with parent signatures.

Grand Canyon: Please Read!!

We will be arriving at the Grand Canyon around noon to eat lunch if we haven't already eaten on the bus and start dividing into groups. We need you to let us know which option you would like to participate so that we can make those arrangements and reservations now. If you don't let us know you want to ride the bike until next week, they might not have the number of bikes available. So please read through the various options and make your selection now. At least one adult will be part of the various options.

Bike/Hike: Option #1

1-2pm: bike for an hour

2-3pm: Ranger Talk at Visitor Center

3-5pm: Hike

Hike/Bike: Option #2

1-3pm: Hike

3-4pm: Bike

4-5pm: Ranger Talk at Visitor Center

Bus Tour: Option #3

1-5pm: Ride the bus along the Southern Rim, hike and hear the Ranger Talk at the Visitor Center

Hike: Option #4

1-5pm: Hike, hear the Ranger Talk at the Visitor Center

5:30-7pm: Everyone will meet for the following:

National Geographic Center/Dinner/Live Condor Show/IMAX

7pm: Depart for Flagstaff

Here are some links that might help in your decision about the various options.

Click here for info on hiking, shuttle buses and general park information. The hiking section includes valuable hiking tips.

http://www.nps.gov/grca/planyourvisit/index.htm

The IMAX is off-site at the National Geographic Grand Canyon Visitor Center:

http://explorethecanyon.com/

Bright Angel Bicycles is on-site, but an independent business:

http://www.bikegrandcanyon.com/

We do need to know what option you wish to do before Friday June 17th. Please email the GDLC booster club at gdlcboosters@gmail.com.

Thanks and blessings,

Cindy Dube

Count down to our trip! Please keep us in your prayers. Just 7 days until we get on the bus! We drop off bags Friday night, then get on the bus early Saturday morning -June 18.

After a long bus ride, we'll stop for the night in Amarillo before heading the rest of the way to Arizona.

Thanks for your support! Hopefully we'll have some more pictures to post soon.

June 5th Meeting-Important Documents

Final Documents available for those unable to make the Parent meeting Sunday June 5th.

www.biblestoriesforadults.com/10605-ParentMeeting.pdf

www.biblestoriesforadults.com/10605-WhatToBring.pdf

www.biblestoriesforadults.com/10605-TripSchedule.pdf

www.biblestoriesforadults.com/Covenant-NMT11v1.pdf

We will be collecting forms and payments at the beginning of the meeting. The following are due on Sunday:

• Final payment of balance due (if any).
  
• Gloria Dei Student Consent and Release Form (if you have not already turned it in).
  
• Team Effort Permission Slip & Release of Liability - NOTARIZED (if you have not already turned it in).
• Covenant, signed by both the student and parent (if you have not already turned it in).
  
• $5 per person for lunch.

You MUST turn-in your final payment and forms on Sunday. If you will not be at the meeting on Sunday, you MUST make arrangements to turn-in your final payment and forms to Linda Wild before Sunday (do not turn them in to church - they seem to "get lost in the shuffle" and never find their way to Linda!).