Mission trip 2010

This year we took 7 kids and headed to Harlan Kentucky to work with SWAP ( Sharing With Appalachian People) This is an organization that repairs homes in the area. Shepherd of the Lake partnered with Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd from Bloomington and headed down. We left at 6:15 am on Sunday July 25th and made it to Louisville, KY for the first night. We shacked up at a local church and on Monday we headed out and made our way to Natural Bridge State Park. We spent a few hours there, had lunch, and started to meander through the mountains towards Harlan. We rolled into Harlan at about 5pm. Stopped at the local Wal-Mart for a couple of things and headed back up the hill to the SWAP camp.

The camp is at the top of Porcupine Mountain, 3000 ft above Harlan on Little Shepherd Road. The camp was built in 1969 as a logging camp, then it was used as a minimum security prison, then it was taken over by SWAP. The camp consists of 1 boys dorm, 1 girls dorm, a common building and a couple of other supply buildings.

Tuesday through Friday were work days. They looked something like this....

6:30 am - Wake up, pack lunches

7:00 am - Breakfast and clean-up

7:45 am - Morning devotional

8:00 am - Head for work sites

4:00 pm - Leave work site, return to location, shower and clean-up

6:00 pm - Dinner

7:00 pm - Evening session (Mon., Tues. and Fri.)

8:30 pm - Free time

10:30 pm - Lights out

Wednesday after work we headed into Harlan for a service at a local church and a pot luck dinner. Thursday we cut out of work a little early and went over to Martians Fork Lake to swim and have a dinner picnic. Then it was off to the Dairy Hut for some ice cream, or a Dairy Deluxe burger. Then an impromptu "dance party" in an empty parking lot. We parked the vans, kicked the doors open, and cranked up the tunes. The kids were able to burn off some energy.

Friday was our last work day. After busting our butts all week, Friday was met with energy and a we can do it attitude by everyone to try and get things wrapped up so that we could see the fruits of our labor.

Friday night we loaded up vans, cleaned dorms, and the leaders hit the sack at about midnight, only to wake up Saturday at 5:30 am to try and be on the road by 6:15 am.

Saturday was driving. Lots and lots of driving. We pulled into Cedar Falls, IA around 7:00pm. Set up shop at Nazareth Lutheran Church for the night. The leaders dumped the kids off at the local "mall" and then headed to Texas Roadhouse for some ribs and a time to share stories about the week with the other leaders. 10:30 pm we were back at the church. We set up a little candle lit recap in the basement youth area of the church and spent the evening going around the group, talking about the things that stood out and what we'll keep with us for the years to come. This wrapped up at 12:30 am. We sent everyone to bed, the Mark and I had one more thing to take care of. A "gift" if you will for the Good Shepherd kids. We had it with us from KY and we unpacked one of their vans, hid this item, and repacked everything on top of it, so that when they got back and started to unload everything they would find it. 2:00am Mark and I finally made it to "bed" and we were back up at 4:50 am to head out to the grocery store for some breakfast for everyone, gas for the van, and coffee for the leaders. We hit the road at 6:30am and made it back to Shepherd of the Lake during the 9:45 service this morning.

I was completely blown away by the ability of these kids to go into a trip like this not knowing anything about what to expect, and I heard from some of the other leaders that they thought that all of our kids had been on this trip before. They hit the ground running and far exceeded my expectations. I'm proud of all of them and am already looking forward to next years trip.