Leawood UMC Mission Trip 2024

  The morning started with breakfast at the church and then we headed out for second breakfast.   In honor of National Swedish Day (and Gene), we went to Olsen Bake Shop for donuts.   Then off to the Henry Doorly Zoo.   Some of the group had been there before but it was the first time for quite few of us.   We benefited from Tyler’s expertise and were able to cover quite a bit of the zoo in the time we were there.    Highlights included sea lions, butterflies (Gene and Barbara had butterflies land on them), giraffes (some of us even fed them), baby elephants, jellyfish, okapi, meerkats, many varieties of beetles, wallabies, walking through jungle and desert environments.   And, no trip to the zoo would be complete without a trip to Glacier Bay splash pad.   The breeze even made it suitably cold.   IT WAS FUN!!!!!!! Avoiding highway slowdowns, we took a more circuitous route back to our home for the week.   Tonight’s dinner was a...

  We started off this morning with some farm fresh eggs! We got them yesterday at the Old Poor Farm. We then headed out to Sleep in Heavenly Peace. This organization helps provide beds to youth in and around Omaha. In the last six years they have made 2800 beds! We started off an assembly line that started off with us making the guide for all of the drilling. They then drilled the holes with the drill press. This was then passed along to the sanding station who were very thorough to make sure that no hands and feet got splinters. Some of the people were very excited to learn new skills and some absolutely hated it (maybe just disliked it). This was then passed onto the assembling team who used a jig to put the lumber into the right spot to mark where the holes should go. Bolts were then added to attach everything together to form headboards and footboards. In an amazing feat Corbin managed to lift 14 of these frames over his head several times to go through the last step, the stain...

 Today began with another breakfast of champions!  Stepping up to introduce the meal in Gordon Ramsey style  was Master Chef Caleb Cuthbertson, it included: delectable cereals, scrumptious yogurts, divine eggs & sensational salsas.  And of course the adults are ever grateful for the opportunity to begin our days with a variety of options  from the Keurig machine  every morning for a strong start to the day! Following breakfast we returned to The Old Poor Farm and finished the Gazebo! W e were happy to bring this project to a successful completion.   The finishing details included; rain guttering, ridge caps & cupola.    We then carried Cathy’s new picnic tables down the steep hill to their new home in the cool shade overlooking the beautiful Nebraska cornfield and blue sky horizon that seemed to stretch on forever.   As we wrapped up we noticed the  pheasants were slipping into their safe harbors inside the barn and we le...

Today was our first work day so we bolted out of the church to head to The Old Poor Farm. After a brief history of the property, we gazed upon our task for the day.  There were lots of metal parts to move down to the orchard so we could begin construction of a metal gazebo.  We were grateful for the red pickup. After a brief explanation, we had a grip on the work - no vise grip, just a good idea of where we were heading.   We wrenched the plastic off the parts and laid them out to begin following the instructions.  Many hands make light work and the gazebo started to take shape.  Ladders were held, bolts were added, and no one fell.  Kathy and Tammy commented on how the timing of our visit was perfect - a good group size to thread all the parts together.  We have a little bit to finish the gazebo in the morning.  We go to see a wide variety of animals - peacocks, goats, cats, dogs, ponies, an alpaca, chickens, ducks, a three legged calf,...

      After a delicious Bar-B-Q at church, we split like a banana and hit the rocky road. We drove for around 3 hours and only made 1 pit stop! Surprising for a crew of 5 teenagers and 8 adults! When we arrived we got a tour of the church we are staying at called "St Andrew United Methodist Church." Also when we entered the gym we saw some soft serves from the volleyball game happening. Then we unloaded all of our stuff from the vans and sent it down in the elevator. We had some free time where we chilled and ate some berry delicious pizza from a local shop.  Barb and Pam went to the grocery store to get some food for the week while most of the kids played card games (It was a berry intense game of Spoons).      We then split back into our groups to head downtown and check out the famous Ted and Wally's ice cream parlor. With Tyler as our guide, we were lead down the swirling path. After a long wait, we all ate our ice cream.   We broke into ...

The time is quickly approaching for our 2024 mission trip.  There will be 15 of us traveling to Omaha, NE to work with The Old Poor Farm, an animal shelter, and Sleep in Heavenly Peace, an organization that builds and delivers beds to children and families in need.  Of course, there will be some fun evening activities, a trip to the Zoo on our free day, and the opportunity to serve each other.  We hope you will follow our adventures as we head out from Leawood on 6/2/24 and return on 6/7/24. Your prayers for our travels, work, and spiritual growth are greatly appreciated. Barbara