Laughter, love & fun in Indy

my roomies 🙂

group shot in front of the indianpolis children’s museum

everybody got a page so we could leave encouraging notes during the week

putting away shopping carts at Walmart

the second funeral we had for a dead bird (this one was in a hospital parking garage)

I was raking by the road and pulled up the old white lines

Another bird funeral… there were prayers, stories & songs…

Each mission trip I’ve been on just gets better and better! The one this past week with our teens to Indianapolis was fantastic.

My Favorite Moments:

1. Visiting a nursing home and playing Bingo with the residents.

2. Teens are hilarious. When there are 30 of them, we’re laughing all the time.

3. Picking up a mom & daughter, giving them food, taking them with us while we paid for the meal of someone behind us at the Arby’s drive-through and then taking them home.

4. Giving encouarging notes to people all over town (through car windows at a stop light, in neighborhoods, on the street, at Walmart, etc.)

5. Playing piano during evening worship

6. A teen pulling me aside and asking, “Jenny, it’s easy for me to talk to God but how do I listen to God?”

7. Medal ceremony: everyone took a turn in the middle of the circle while we showered them with compliments and encouragement.

8. I used a push mower to cut 4 foot tall grass by a road for a lady who was getting fined because it was so high.

9. Faith 5: Every night each room shared their highs and lows, a Scripture, how it applied to their day, prayed and blessed each other. My room loved blessing each other!

10. One of my very favorite moments was at lunch on Wednesday. We all met at a park and played games after lunch. I challenged them to do a group pyramid. That failed after the third row got on. Then we did a pyramid where they laid on each other’s backs. I’ve never laughed so hard in my life! They were hilarious. 🙂

11. Some of the girls asked me why I hang out with teens. I said it’s because when I look at them, all I see is unlimited potential of what they could do through God in life. And my job is to help them identify that and pull it out of them. Then watch God work.

We asked them to write how the week went for them. Here are a couple…

Norene: I feel I have changed so much. God has so much to show me now that I’m listening. This trip has been amazing. I just don’t want it to end. I never realized how I was blocking God out. I know now that I need to stop avoiding the truth.

Alisha: This week was one of the most uplifting weeks I’ve ever had. I have never smiled & laughed so much in 4 days. I’m leaving this place with a closer connection with God and many new friends. Now, after this amazing experience, I’m going to encourage people ot help others not as fortunate as them because just seeing the smiling faces on the faces of people who before you met them were not even considering cracking the slightest smile. I know God has pulled me in this week and is calling me to serve more often now. All over, this is one of the best weeks of my LIFE!

Kirsten: I absolutely loved this trip. I have changed so much from this week. I have realized how much I can make a holy, godly change in the world. I also know now God is calling there are people everywhere that need God’s help.

Sean: I really like that we all helped people, and tried our very best.

amen.