Hi folks this is John Stauffer, so the first night we stayed at the First United Methodist Church, in Independence Missouri. This church was available by a friend of Pat Campbell’s - his name was Bryson Lillie. The hospitality that was given to us was so appreciated. Many of us had couches to sleep on, and Bryson was very kind to meet us at 11:30pm. After we arrived Bryson informed us of where we would be staying. We had the use of a shower which for at least the girls, was a welcome treat. As he was explaining this to us he mentioned that a youth group had stayed there several months prior and that they had broken something of the church (a copier). It hit home a lot with our group because we have offered our church for a couple of groups and I know if something we made or bought for the church would mean a lot to the people of the church, and disrespecting another church whether intentional or not is not something that we would be so quickly to allow another church group to stay so quickly. For most of us we had a great night sleep. For the boys of the youth group they stayed up all night too excited to sleep as they were ready to get back on the road again. Bryson also provided us with breakfast. We had coffee and cereal and fresh fruit and last but not least was doughnuts from Krispy Kreme. The church we stayed at, FUMC, was established in late 1800”s so lots of history involved and it was beautiful. It was much appreciated for driving over 600 miles the first day we needed the good nights sleep. On the second day, we traveled from Independence MS all the way through to Louisville, KY and stayed at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church.
Hey, everybody! Russ Stewart here… just like John said, we sure have appreciated the kind of hospitality we are receiving on this loooonnnggg journey! After making it to Louisville (Andrew Wayland and Russ watched movies the whole way), we used the GPS system to find St. Paul’s UMC. A quick point about GPS (Global Positioning System) . . . it is awesome!! We would not have been able to find our way around so quickly. Lynne Ellerbrock brought her GPS, and Pat Campbell brought hers… one for each van! We have them nicknamed…Bertha and Wilma more on that later. Anyway, we made it to St. Paul’s, and our jaws dropped when we saw the SIZE of the church! We met Larry, who very graciously showed us where we would be staying! Apparently, a tragic drunk-driving accident occurred several years ago, and the whole family life section of the church was built in memorial to the young lady who died in that accident! The new section has a large athletic facility on the upper level, and a very nice youth “parlor” downstairs, along with a kitchen and an awesome space set aside for fellowship! Also classrooms, and plenty of comfy furniture. Me, Pastor Mike and John Stauffer stayed in the purple classroom with the tv! I’m sure we’ve got pictures… check them out and see this awesome place! The stayover was fun, fun, fun! Larry directed us to “Wicks”, an excellent pizza place where we stuffed ourselves full of pizza and spaghetti… and caught the Olympics on the tv’s around the room. Then we went back to the church and had a very competitive basketball game! Several of us ended up walking away with a limp…. Great game guys… as it turns out, Kendall is quite the defensive maniac!
A quick shower, and then bedtime about 12:30am… then up again at 7:00am… keep in mind folks… in Denver time, that’s 5am!
John again…We woke up early this morning which for some of us was 6:30-7am, all of the guys and a couple of the girls stayed up til 2pm playing basketball at the church’s indoor gym. So we did not get a lot of sleep. And the early wakeup call was hard for some. We made it to Starbucks for coffee and something to eat, we then made it back to the church for a wonderful contemporary service. The sermon we got to listen to was just great and stayed with me all day. It was about anger and how we should deal with it in Gods eye. I used it a couple of times with a few things that came up during our busy day to Red Bird Mission in Beverly Ky. As we had a check in time of between 3-5pm we decided to check out a couple of tourist things that Louisville had to offer. The first site was Churchill Downs, where the Kentucky Derby horse race is ran in May. This year’s race was won by a Horse named Big Brown. We had a great time checking out the track and learning about the history of horse racing. We still had some time so we decided to check out the Louisville Slugger Company. For the guys of the mission we thoroughly enjoyed the experience of seeing some of baseball’s most famous names and signatures and the bats that were used while they played the game.
Russ here again! Just to let you all know, we ARE collecting items and souvenirs from these places that we are visiting! We have souvenirs from Churchill Downs and the Louisville Slugger company… I won’t tell you what they are now, but rest assured that some of you will think they are awesome! Hope you are buying stock…! After the tours, we took off to try and find the original Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant! I drove this time… scary huh? And it turns out that we did not go to KFC, because it was too far out of the way. Maybe on Wednesday! As we got close to our destination, it started to rain, and rain hard! It rained all the way up until it was time to exit our vans and register at Redbird Mission . . . !
(John again) we made it here! I tried sleeping from lunch to here but unfortunately for me the van I was in wanted to talk instead of let me sleep, but at least I was able to let my brain relax from the stresses of driving so many long miles. Another blessing was that Rev. Michael and Russ were the 2 driving during the Monsoon rain we got. They did a great job of keeping us so safe and sound. Once we got here we received our information packets and got fed again. Then we joined for a quick sermon tonight where Russ and Rev. Michael led the music portion felt like we were in Good Shepherd having service there, Russ picked out the music we sang so we were very familiar with the choice of songs. Then we were introduced with the Pastor’s husband Craig. (he calls himself the Pastor’s wife). He spoke eloquently about things we should look forward to as we stay here and do GOD’s work. We finished with last minute instructions about the mission and how things work around here. Craig informed us that we could see snakes and for sure ticks here. I’m looking so forward to what lies ahead for us this week! We are the biggest group here which is really awesome, we are looking forward to starting this thing tomorrow morning. We get to see the job site and get the ball rolling with building the extra room and flooring for the kitchen. Were told it should not rain tomorrow but of course we will see!!!! So with all that said we are going to bed to get a good nights sleep for tomorrow’s big day.
Goodnight Good Shepherd from Russ and John.
More Pictures -
http://picasaweb.google.com/patc303/RedbirdMissionTrip02
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