2017 San Diego Short-Term Mission Trip

Cierra Today, we woke up in Matt’s house (Joni’s Brother). All the girls got ready to go swimming. Ada went into the dog cage and pretended to be sleeping there all night. I ate cereal, while some others had a breakfast sandwich.  The boys got there around 10:00 A.M. We  got ready for swimming. Swimming was one of the most entertaining things to do today. We got time to hang out with our group at the swimming pool. Everyone was pushing each other into the pool when we least expected it. I think I got pushed the most. I should be more aware of my surroundings.  Then we got ready to go to San Diego. As usual we had to stop at a gas station for someone to pee. Then Tim went to buy a drink but the drink was expired. He got mad and ran back into the station to get another drink. Poor Tim he doesn’t have any luck when buying things. So we went to San Diego while both of our cars were racing to get there. My car got there first! YAY! We met so...

"My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me." John 10:27 This is the passage from our worship service at Mariners Church in Irvine last night (which according to Wikipedia is the 2nd largest megachurch in California). As sheep of the Good Shepherd, do we know his voice? Do we listen for it or are we always the ones talking? Do we listen, and then follow, and then listen, and then follow him? After the sermon, we were given a space of time to listen to God. It was soul-healing to have a time to breathe, after the busyness and stress of a long day in the car together. To me, God spoke words of love and encouragement: Dear Joni. Come here and rest. I know it has been stressful for you lately, and you've been extending yourself to take care of others. I'm proud of you. I love you. Come and rest, dear one.  After church, we drove to my brother's place, to find M & B distracted on the doorstep. "I'm so sorry, Joni! This has nev...

Federico We split up into two groups; each group taking a van. Joni drove the van that I (Federico) was in. We played a couple games such as mafia, twenty questions, and alphabet groceries. Then we went to a rest area in the middle of San Joaquin Valley. We ate lunch there for a forty-five minutes and continued after that. Our next stop was near Bakersfield. We took gas there and bought stuff. Then we went to Irvine and went to worship in a church. We ate dinner from food trucks, and now we are at Joni’s brother’s house. We are all safe and sound. No one is sick yet and everyone has not vomit or got very carsick in the ride. Please pray for us! Dexter Today, when we ate dinner from food trucks at Mariner’s Church, the worker at Salt n Pepper SCAMMED Tim and I when we paid for our food. The total was supposed to be around $18 and they took a whole $20. They claimed that they charged tax, which was apparently $2. After that, Joni attempted to buy regular fries which was $6 a...

Here's an excerpt from our mission team training book: "Life in a big city keeps moving. It's always morphing into something different, which can make serving in the city difficult... Because urban areas are such diverse environments, it's not hard to feel flooded with all the sensory influences. The sights, sounds and smells of the city can easily overwhelm the most seasoned traveler. Population densities are much higher in the city, so there are more people, more shops, more cars... more everything. As we serve in urban areas, we may encounter cultural and ethnic diversity, various levels of poverty and the challenges that come from a lot of people living in a small area. But we will also experience how this blend creates unique pockets of community within the larger city. Because of this abundance of factors, we'll find that the stereotypes we've held about people -- or certain kinds of people -- may not hold true. Let's join together and con...

What would you do if you couldn't use your hands or eyes? Performing simple tasks would suddenly become much more difficult. Imagine trying to get to work without hands or eyes. Imagine trying to make yourself a sandwich. Or what if instead your lost your voice. Imagine trying to communicate to someone who is blind, but you yourself have no voice. These are some of the challenges our team faced during training this week when asked to do a simple task: Pick out some broccoli at Costco and make your way back to your shopping cart (which you left in another aisle). Oh, but here's the catch: One person is blindfolded. Only one person in the team can use her hands. And only one person can talk. Suddenly, everything becomes harder. Tim (voiceless), Cierra (blind) and Hannah (arm-less) attempt to find their way back to their cart  Slowly, we are learning about the value of teamwork. It's hard when we don't know each other well. It's even harder when we don't...

Our mission trip is in 24 days! The True Story During our last team meeting, we discussed what our time will be like in San Diego. What will be the same? What will be different? Sure, we will miss having our own bedrooms or eating the food we are comfortable with or our family or... WIFI! But we are looking forward to the new situations that God will put us in. One of these new situations may be meeting and talking with people that we aren't comfortable with. Maybe someone from a different cultural background or age range. Maybe someone with life experiences that we cannot relate to (being homeless or being poor or being discriminated against). But looking at and judging people based on their appearance or putting a label on them isn't helpful and if we do it, we will miss the encounter that God has for us. Just like people probably didn't believe Mary and Joseph when they said they would be parenting the son of God, we often make snap judgments about people ...