Last Day

The team's time in St. Louis comes to a close they are going out with a BANG!

As a part of their service project for Friday part of the team stayed at the church worked on some of the cleanup and on the garden lot next to the church.  The other part of the team got the opportunity to help out at the public library by straightening the shelves and shelving books.  It may seem like something easy, but that day the library's shelver had the past couple of days off and it really saved some time for the librarians that were working.

At VBS that night the kids get to see what happens to the pirates and the search for treasure.  It is always great seeing the team members working with the kids and seeing both of them grow in spectacular ways.

It is really great when you see the kids saying goodbye to the team members and telling them that they don't want them to leave.  It shows how much of an impact the team has had on these kids in such a short amount of time.

Covered in Dust

Thursday got off to a great start! The teams went back to Sun Ministries to help with some more housing projects that they needed help with.  One team went to a house that had been squatted in and was filled with trash that they had to clean out.  Here is an account from one of the members that went to that house. 

"We cleaned up a house that people had lived in illegally and pretty much trashed the place.  There was trash everywhere, and not your average trash either.  There were clothes, cigarettes, and stuff everywhere.  It felt like we made a lot of progress.  There were bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.  We cleanup pretty much all of the bedrooms.  The group on the floor below us had the kitchen cleaned up and almost all the rest of the rooms downstairs.  Afterwards we got to have a meal at Sun Ministries and the food was delicious.  It is a cool ministry that takes all of the houses in the area and fixes them up and let missionaries stay there and is an amazing project along with the café."

-Brooke 

The other team had the opportunity to go to a house and complete some demolition on it.  This included moving rubble, tearing down walls, sweeping and many more deconstruction projects.  Let's just say that many of the team members came back covered in plaster dust.  The teams did good work that day and Sun Ministries really appreciated the help. Helping clean up these homes is a great way to help minister to people, even if they are not dealing with the people directly.  It shows that anything you can do will make a difference.

After the teams got back and showered Jubilee Associate Pastor Andy S came and spoke to the team about justice and his life story about how he ended up back in St. Louis.  He had a really good quote saying that "Everything doesn't belong to you, me, or them everything belongs to God."   It made the team think about how they could help out in their own way in their communities and how to try to take this experience back with them.  They were asking questions and getting good insight on how to make this happen.  

VBS was great! The kids got really into the songs with all the actions.  The teams are really getting to know the kids and connect with them.

Climbing like Monkeys

Wednesday morning/afternoon is a time for the teams to have a bit of free time to relax and take a break from all the work they do during the week.  So both teams decided to start the day off at the City Museum.  Both of the teams spent time climbing, sliding, running, and jumping on the various jungle gym contraptions that are housed in the museum, they were all like little monkeys the way they were climbing on everything.

At this point the teams wanted to do different things so they went their separate ways.  Korean Presbyterian Church went to the Science Museum and explore around there. The Oakbrook team explored the St. Louis Arch and got ice cream at Crown Candy.

After the teams got back they went back to work preparing for VBS that night.  The skit people worked on their lines, lesson people looked over their material, craft people got all the supplies ready, and games people made sure everything was ready for the kids when they came.

Once the kids got to VBS they learned the songs and got to find out more about the Pirates of Pizzazz.

"After having our “relaxing” free day seeing the sights of St. Louis, our team felt almost ready to have another night of VBS. It was day two of the week and the kids were going to learn a pretty deep topic: how to forgive others and how to ask Jesus to forgive us. We were worried that we would struggle to help the kids understand the concept of repentance. However, the kids were eager to learn and could understand everything that we talked about. I really believe that the kids are trying to engage and learn." 
-David

Hard work and great rewards

Tuesday was a day filled with activities like working with Sun Ministries and VBS later that night here are what two of our team members have to say about the day.

Today was the first day of VBS at the church. Although we did have miscommunication and frustration, the first day was phenomenal. All the kids were so excited to be there and they treated us like we were rock stars. I am super proud of all the leaders and teachers for being so patient because I had some trouble myself and I know how hard it was. I got to pray with a beautiful 8 year old today and at the end of the night, she said that she learned that Jesus died on the cross for our sins because he loves us. I’m so excited that all the kids are actually learning about the amazing thing that Jesus did for us. God is so amazing and gracious. He used us today to spread the word to all the kids and I think they’re all super excited to come back tomorrow; as am I.    -Kylie

Today was our first day of VBS in St. Louis. I knew it was going to be different but I wasn’t prepared for what we encountered,  with help from the Lord everything went well for the first day. I can’t wait for tomorrow, to see the kids again. The kids were so sweet and like Kylie say “They thought we are Rock stars.” My sister Olivia and another girl in my group talked with a little girl and she shared her story with them that alone showed me how much hurt there is in this part of St. Louis.

-Rachel K.

Block Party Time

Monday got off to a great start for both of the teams.  They worked hard and efficiently to get ready for the Block Party that we were going to have that night.  There were lots of games and prizes for the kids to enjoy, even a bounce house.

In the morning while the teams were setting up and getting prepared we sent out a few of the team members to go prayer walking and hand out flyers about the block party and VBS this week.  It was a really great experience for those who went.  They got to get out in the community and meet and pray with those people they did see.

The block party had a great turnout.  Kids were everywhere dancing, playing games, bouncing in the bounce house, and eating snacks. Hopefully we will see many of these kids during the rest of VBS and will encourage their friends to come also.

 Keep us in your prayers as the week goes on.

Welcome Teams to St. Louis

Another BUMP week begins in St. Louis and we welcome the Korean Presbyterian Church from Minneapolis, MN and Oakbrook Church from Oshkosh, WI to Jubilee Church.

Both of the teams arrived Saturday night and attended the church service the next morning.  The extra time was a great way to mingle and get to know the members of the other team.  Some of the girls from the Oakbrook team taught the KPC team the songs that they were going to do for VBS.  It started to become a competition to see who could have the most energy while learning the moves.  

This will be a great week here in St. Louis and everybody is looking forward to the adventure ahead.