BYF Rock Island Trip Report to the Congregation   8/12/07

BYFers on the trip included:  Emma, Lucy, Kristina, Kenna, Kelly, Jack, Jillian, Jordan, Tom, Wendi, Courtney, Luke, Phoenix, Taylor; Adults:  Rod, Roxanne, Jan, Jim, Steve

   Friday, August 3^rd

We gathered in the church parking lot for a 6:30 a.m. departure. Our trip to Lansing, Iowa, was longer than expected because of road work and detours and 4 stops along the way!! When we arrived to board the houseboats we received a two-hour instruction session from River Jack, the guy with the cross earring. We learned about driving, anchoring, reading maps and general survival on the Mississippi River. We had quick PBJ lunch and then the two houseboats were on their way to our island destination. After about two hours on the river, which included dancing and sun bathing on the roof of one boat, we anchored on a small beach of Twin Island. It didn't take long for almost all of us to use the slide off the top deck and down into the river. We went feet first and head first and it was really fun! With Emma leading the kitchen crew, our main dinner dish was chicken sandwiches. Mr. Stipe and Taylor built a bonfire on the beach. We made s'mores and there was lots of good chatter. Before lights out at 11 p.m., we had our first session of Roses and Thorns and mine were............

Saturday

   For those lucky enough to wake up early, we saw a beautiful pink sunrise. There is a saying, “Sky pink in the morning, sailors' warning. Sky pink at night, sailors' delight” and it was true! It started raining and it never really stopped for the whole time we were on the boats but we had fun anyway. Wendy made us pancakes that morning and then we went to Lock #8 about an hour north of where we had stayed. We found out that it is so cool. Water is pumped in or out depending on which direction you travel through the lock.  A million gallons of water per minute go in or out. After nine minutes and 9 million gallons of water we rose or dropped 9 feet! It was really fast. The lock master in his yellow jacket was awesome. He told us how to pull up to the wall and hold the ropes of the boats so we wouldn't float around and bump into other boats in the lock. We got through and drove around a little and then went back south through the lock in the rain to our special island.

All of us took turns driving the boats....it's really tricky to keep them from zig-zagging! It was a little scary when we met barges on the river. They are huge! After lunch one boat stayed with Mr. Stipe in charge. Some people swam, got really cold and helped Phoenix get rid of the leach on her foot. (You'll need to ask her if you'd like more information on that).The others went with the D's back to the houseboat docks to buy groceries and pick up Roxanne. After a dinner of pasta and great garlic bread we sat down for a movie, “Conversations with God”. This is a true story of a man who regained faith after losing his job and being homeless. He began to talk with God and recorded all of the conversations and then wrote a book. The book was published and he received 1.5 million dollars for it! This dramatically changed his life and  many others. My Roses and Thorns  were..............

   Sunday

   Taylor was our chef for breakfast. Pancakes again!! How about that? (We had a really BIG bag of mix that lasted the whole week. It was enough to make 220 4 inch pancakes!) We pulled up our anchors and headed south for a morning cruise. Everyone had a chance to pilot the boats again and there was a little zig-zag on the way! Kenna's and Emma's kitchen produced grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch. We saw this funky old boat called a stern wheeler. We also watched coal being removed from barges and transferred to a power plant. Mr. Stipe gave us a little lesson on how that happens. Finally we headed back to the dock after cleaning the boats and then unloaded everything. We stopped at a town named McGregor and had ice cream at a famous parlor called “Sadie's” and then drove south to Rock Island with a little side trip to the “Field of Dreams” which was made famous by a movie several years ago. In the meantime, Pastor Schuette, Kristina, Jack, Tom and Luke were driving to meet us. They arrived first and took a driving tour of Davenport and Bettendorf  before going to the parsonage to make dinner for all of us. We matched up at about 7:00 and had  hamburgers and hot dogs. It tasted so good! Emmy Odeane took Kenna to get a chicken dinner and we finally realized that this Emmy's  hometown! Too bad the DVD player in the parsonage was not working. No movie...we only had Roses and Thorns. Wendy's were........Tom's were......

   Monday

  Yeahhhhh!!!  No pancakes for breakfast......cereal, fruit and juice. Charles and Jeff, from Project NOW, met us at church at 8:30 to guide us to the work site. It needed lots of work. There were two upstairs apartments in an old building in great need of cleaning, painting and all kinds of repairs. It was hot and very steamy. We were lucky to have fans. We organized into teams and began to work. We broke for lunch at 11:30 and headed back to the parsonage to eat our PBJs in our air conditioning. It was AWESOME to be cool for awhile. At 12:30 we headed back to work and stayed until 3:30. Dinner was tacos and Kristina and Rod were our master chefs. After dinner we headed to a local water park called Whitewater Rapids. We raced down water slides with inner tubes (Darn that little kid hitting on me!) It felt so good to be cool! We headed back to our home for the week and watched a short DVD on how you become a disciple. We had an interesting conversation about it and then played “Catch Phrase”and went to bed at about 11:00. My Roses and Thorns were.......

   Tuesday

   Guess what we had for breakfast? Right! Pancakes. Phoenix was our master chef and  Taylor kicked in with some scrambled eggs. We headed to work at about 8:30. We were all pretty confident about the job ahead of us at this point....mostly painting and cleaning windows and junk removal. Lunch was left-over tacos with other things added. Back at work we taped and worked to paint every wall in the two apartments as well as the stairway up to the apartments. We also painted all of the doors. Kristina, Lucy and Jordan took on one of the kitchens and did all of  the cabinets in one afternoon.. Roxanne took Jillian to the doctor to make sure she didn't have strep throat...we really wanted her to be able to stay with us rather than go home and it worked out that she did! She was happy and so were we! Lots of junk had been left on the back porch.....mostly acoustical tile and old carpet. We filled two dumpsters and still had more to go! We smashed up old toilets that were too heavy to carry down in one piece. After dinner we went to play miniature golf and then had a local favorite, Whitey's ice cream. Mr. Stipe left with Jack, Jordan and Luke to get them home in time for team try-outs. They were chased home but a big rain storm with lots of lightning. The rest of us went back to watch another short DVD. We had another really good conversation about it.  Luke's Roses and Thorns were........Jack's Roses and Thorns were...........

   Wednesday

   Kenna and Tom worked on breakfast......you got it! Pancakes and eggs. We started to feel the pinch of one bathroom for such a big group that was often so sweaty but we figured it out. Some of us used a funky bathroom in the basement. We decided to bring our music to the work site and it made a huge difference. It kept us happy. We went to a little local Mexican restaurant for lunch. We ate them out of house and home...they ran out of steak and chicken for the tacos and burritos but we had plenty to eat. It gave us a chance to support a local business and get a little of the local flavor. We tried some Mexican drinks that we had never had before.

We returned to work and Pastor Steve took Kristina back to practice her flute for an hour. She has a recital coming up and needs to get ready. The executive director of Project NOW came to personally thank Kelly for the big donation that she raised through her piano recital. It was over $750. She said that had never happened before. Nice job Kelly!!

 The afternoon was the most productive yet. Music made a huge difference. The girls began to dance and made up dances too.

We went to Emmy Odean's church and had pizza dinner with their youth group from First Congregational Church in Moline. Then we went to play ultimate frisbee in the rain. It was interesting seeing some of us run around in dresses with shorts underneath but we did well. It was also difficult because it was raining pretty hard and we were barefoot and it was slippery. Emma had a goal and Pastor Steve had two!  It was a close match. We had ice cream with the other group at Whitey's again while we were soaking wet. We had a good time talking with the other group. My Roses and Thorns were.................

Thursday

   Emma and Courtney began to make breakfast. Emma decided to be festive and made French toast. This day was the hardest day of work because we were scrambling to finish. Some of us had lunch meat wraps and some had grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch. We were refreshed and returned to work. We were all really working hard and got really hot and sweaty. There was still a lot to do. Charles brought us more paint for the hallway and looked at the apartments. He told us that we needed to paint the two bathrooms which weren't originally going to be painted so we really had to get going. We got it all done and danced because we were so happy to get everything done. Mrs. Lockerbie came and saw what we had worked on before she took Kelly home to go on their vacation and Tom so he could go to an American Cancer Society event. After having an extra-long afternoon of work, we went back to have a wonderful dinner that some members at the church had made for us. This was the best meal because we had ham loaves, green beans, sliced tomatoes, corn on the cob, deviled eggs and ice cream with strawberries. After that we played “Catch Phrase” and worked on this script that we have shared with you. We watched another DVD and discussed it. Then Pastor Steve left to drive home to prepare for Mr. Hemberger's  funeral on Saturday. My Roses and Thorns for the day were...........

  Friday

   We had spent the week driving back and forth past the campus of Augustana College in Rock Island but had never stopped.  The girls wanted to see it so we decided to see if we could schedule a visit for the group and it worked out. We arrived for an 8:45 a.m. tour. It was a learning experience for everyone. Jillian especially loved it since they offer the majors she is interested in. We returned to clean the parsonage and load the vehicles. We stopped for lunch at McDonald's, not our first choice but really our only choice and then drove home. Most of us at least dozed as we returned, first through very green farmland and then finally west suburban Chicago.

   We had a very busy week, as you can probably tell. We worked hard, were hot and sometimes slept a little on the floor. We helped others, we had fun, we learned and we created memories. The thing we did NOT do was complain. This group was fantastic!

We thank the Bethel congregation which always stands behind the projects of BYF. Your support means so much to all of us. Jim and I would especially like to thank Pastor Steve for spending the week with us. It's great for the kids to have the opportunity to spend extended time with him. We also want to acknowledge Roxanne and Rod.  They have obviously used vacation time to be with us and to help others. In thanks, we have copies of  the first volume of “Conversations with God” for each of them. Without help from volunteers such as these, trips like this could not happen. Their gift of time and interest in youth is huge. We encourage all of you to look at the photos that are on the undercroft windows.  This is just a sampling of what we did during the week. A complete set of photos in CD form will be available to anyone who would like a copy. Ask Pastor Steve or Jim or me and we will see that you get a copy.  If you think that what our young people have done is valuable, please tell them so. Encourage them to continue to participate in BYF or any other organization that works to help others. Encourage them to have hearts and minds that are open to the needs of others. The power of love is tremendous..........Thanks.........