Welcome Home Potluck - Sunday @ 12:30!

The Welcome Home Potluck is tomorrow, Sunday, July 19th at 12:30 pm in the MPR at First EPC!

Please join us for the potluck lunch to help welcome back the team! It will prove to be a great time of food and fellowship, and an opportunity to hear from students about their experiences throughout the week.

Per each family, please bring a main dish, feeding 8-10 people, as well as another item as directed below...

Last names beginning with...

A-G: A salad (green, fruit, pasta, potato, etc.)

H-P: A side item (bread/rolls, veggies, chips, etc.)

Q-Z: A dessert (cookies, brownies, cake, pie, etc.)

(Lemonade will be provided as a beverage.)

If you have any questions about the potluck, please email Jessica Van Vleet at jvanvleet@fepc.org or Brandon at bhuffman@fepc.org.

See you there!

Back in the USA

We are in Bellingham having lunch at Whatcom Falls. We all made it across the border without any problems and plan to be back at the church at 3pm.

Arrival Time Information...

The plan for Saturday is as follows:

Wake up is at 8:30 a.m., breakfast at 9 a.m. and we're planning to pull out of Trinity Western at 10 a.m. We're hoping to be at Whatcom Falls in Bellingham around 11:15-11:30 for about an hour of lunch and time for the group to swim, and back on the road by 1 p.m. with an arrival at the church at 3 p.m.

We'll have students call when we're in Bellevue, to let family know how close we are.

Friday Night Recap...

It's bedtime now in Vancouver, a little after 1 a.m. Several students stayed up to enjoy the last night of the trip, but today was a much more low-key, albeit, busy day compared to the rest of the week.

Team Purple spent the morning and Team Teal the afternoon working at Crossroads Ministry at Grandview Calvary Baptist Church, setting up for their rummage sale for Crossroads on Saturday, moving a good deal of stuff from the house to the side of the church.

Team Green worked the morning, and Team Orange the afternoon at three houses that are a part of Nieu Communities, the missions organization that our primary contact, Deric Moen, works with, doing various yardwork projects, runs to the transfer station, and other tasks around the houses.

All teams were done in the afternoon, and we headed back to Trinity Western to have a BBQ and a laid-back evening.

Team Green did their devotional for the week, which included a skit, and skits for the other three teams, including a memorable performance by Zach B that will be talked about for years to come.

The four teams had an extended Family Time, then we all congregated for some sharing from the students on the impact of the week's experience, final thoughts from Jake and Brandon, and closed it out with a couple of songs. The rest of the evening was free time.

We're tired and ready to come home. See you all on Saturday afternoon!!

Friday Evening Update...

We'll have a much more detailed blog tonight after Family Time and Devotions, but wanted to pass along this e-mail we got from the assistant director at the Salvation Army...

"Thanks for coming out. We get a lot of mission teams and youth groups coming down to serve with us and I heard great reports from your group. Their attitudes where great and heart for serving the poor inspiring. Some of your students have met Ricky at re:cre8, and Ricky had nothing but good things to say about 'em."

Thought you all would enjoy that!

Check back later for more.

Thursday Night Update...

What a day.

To say the Urban Plunge, which consisted of Water & A Loonie and Dinner with the Locals, was a hit, would be an understatement.

Just about every student said today was the highlight of their week.

Quick recap: Each leader was given a group of four students. Each student and leader was given a bottle of water and a loonie (a Canadian dollar) and sent out into the Downtown Eastside from 12 p.m.- 5 p.m. Each was given three tasks: 1) To go to the Carnegie Center and spend 30 minutes talking to people inside, meeting them, playing cards or games, but to immerse themselves with others at the Carnegie Center (which is a prominent spot in the Downtown Eastside for the locals. 2) To find out all of the different available services to the locals, if they needed shelter, meals or assistance. 3) To talk to one person each, and find out their story.

Our goal was to give them some perspective on what it would be like to spend every waking hour on the streets, with little money, and little to do. Some said they got bored after a while, some didn't like all of the walking, but all recognized that was part of the life so many experienced. With only a buck to their name, every team but one, pooled together their money to maximize their funds in order to eat. Some bought produce from a market, and ate fruit and vegetables for lunch. Others went to the dollar store and had ramen noodles or fig newtons. Others went and had BBQ pork and bread.

But the biggest draw was just the opportunities each had to spend time talking with the locals, share their faith and just have the opportunity to speak and hear their stories.

When 5 p.m. hit, each student returned to our original meeting point and made three PB&J sandwiches, one for themselves, and two for some of the locals, and passed out almost 150 sandwiches, 120 granola bars and 70 bottles of water to the locals, some even giving up their own sandwiches. (Don't worry, everyone had some kind of dinner when it was all said and done).

At Group Family Time, most of the students excitedly shared their "stories" that heard. It was an intense day, a long day, one that required walking for the majority of the day, on a relatively warm Vancouver day. But one that really seemed to impact the students, and draw rave reviews.

Team Orange started things off with an excellent devotional, and got folks ready to roll. Tomorrow, it's Team Green's turn to give it a go.

Friday will be more chill than Thursday, with Team Purple and Team Green working at Crossroads Ministry for their Rummage Scale, and with Nieu Communities doing yardwork in the morning, then Team Teal and Team Orange doing the same thing in the afternoon. Our work day (and work week), will conclude at 5 p.m., and we'll return to Trinity Western to have a BBQ, Devotionals, Extended Family Time and Extended Worship, before putting the wraps on the week.

Please pray for strength for each of the students to be able to go whole-hearted on their final day of work and ministry in Vancouver.

Thursday Morning Update...

Today we'll be doing an Urban Plunge and "Dinner with the Locals."  It will be an intense day that will really stretch the students, but we fully expect them to respond like they have all week - excellently.  

We're excited to hear the reports tonight of the Urban Plunge and Dinner.  

Please pray for continued boldness from the students and strength to get what will be a taxing day.