Friday, June 7 - Our Last Day and Some Final Thoughts

We made it home safely around 1:30 this afternoon.  The vehicles have been unloaded and returned.  There are some pretty tired folks who are probably enjoying resting in a bed tonight and not on an air mattress!  Here are some thoughts and comments on our travel day and the week from the mission team members:

We packed up pretty quickly and headed out at a good time.  I slept most of the time but we stopped at DQ for ice cream. - Caleb

We packed up in the morning, set out, stopping at a gas station then at a Dairy Queen.  I got Cheetos and an Oreo Blizzard.  It was great. - Zack

We packed up and left.  After a while, we stopped at a gas station, got back into the cars and left.  We then stopped at DQ. - Corbin

Headed home, had a snack at St. Joe and smooth ride back.  So great to be home after the hard work and fellowship. - A Team Member

This mission trip has been very special due to personal connections made at The Old Poor Farm and delivering beds to families.  It was great to have direct connections to the recipients. - A Team Member

This week was such a fun week!  My favorite part was seeing all the kitties at The Old Poor Farm and all the animals at the Zoo.  (I'm an animal lover.)  People should definitely come on the trip because you feel amazing knowing you made an impact. - Cora

I always love mission trips and this one was no different.  We served and worked hard during the day (which was always rewarding) and laughed and played with each other in the evenings.  I encourage all to come on a mission trip because you do good and have a blast! - Anna

This was a great couple of days helping people and enjoying friendship and worship with members of Leawood Methodist! - Bruce

This week was beyond amazing!  The friendships, the fun, and the memories will be cherished forever, so please consider being a part of a Mission Trip team.  You will be blessed as well as being a blessing! - Ruth

I'm so grateful to have been able to go on this year's mission trip (my 4th with LUMC!).  Each year it seems we start with a group of acquaintances and throughout the course of the week, the Holy Spirit swirls us around and transforms us into a team of friends who are able to accomplish much more than we imagined possible.  This year was certainly no exception!  At The Old Poor Farm, and at Sleep in Heavenly Peace, we met wonderful people who are working hard to create God's Kingdom here on earth, and it was a joy to play a part of the story by building a gazebo and building beds.  This distilled week of service is a blessing to me in many ways, but especially it is a needed reminder to look for ways to serve throughout the year.  It is also a reminder to look for where the Holy Spirit is at work building relationships - like the ones we fostered throughout the week!  You are the best, Team!!  - Melanie

What a week!  Mission Trip Week is one of the best weeks of the year for me and the most exhausting!  It is a good kind of exhaustion - from hard work, fun times, growing in faith, some late nights (we didn't always hit the lights out time), and getting closer to other team members.  Each trip has similarities to the other trips - schedules, small groups within the team serving each other, even some standard meals.  Each trip is also unique due to the varying locations, the changing make up of the group, and unexpected challenges, usually small.  This week, we had to set up tables to eat in the gym a couple of times because a group was having a meeting in the area we usually used for meals.  It was fun to watch the interaction between our team and those groups.  Watching the team grow closer to each other and grow in their faith over the course of the trip is so rewarding.  The added advantage to going on multiple trips is seeing the growth in team members from year to year.  We have four new members in the veteran Leawood UMC Mission Trip group.  Watching a team member master a task or step in the process and then teach it to another team member was so wonderful.  Age didn't matter - youth teaching youth, adult teaching youth, or youth teaching adult.  I saw it all.  It was a privilege to represent Leawood UMC as we went out to be the hands and feet of Christ.  I encourage you to ask team members questions about the week, especially if you have thought about coming on a trip.  I'm not sure where we will be going next year, but I know that we will serve God's people to the best of our abilities. - Barbara

(Sorry for some generic posts - I forgot to remind people to sign their notes and couldn't always identify the handwriting.  I missed getting a few for a variety of reasons.  Entirely the editor's fault.)