THANKSGIVING

Today is Thanksgiving Day. We give thanks for all the blessings in our lives. Praise God. Especially for God's mercy am I grateful. Even though we are so far from perfect, God has mercy and loves us nevertheless. God's love is patient and kind. God's love never ends.

Mission Accomplished

All are back safe and sound. They arrived in Orofino 6:15 pm last night. We have missed them! There will be so much they have to share with us. God bless.

Diversity

Pastor Matthew reported that Friday they were up at 6:15 am, packed, cleaned up the church and turned in evaluations of their week-long mission experience. Altogether there had been 40 people (including the adults) from 3 different churches. In addition to our youth from ELCA Ascension Lutheran Church, there were Youth from an ELCA Lutheran church in Bellingham, Washington and a Catholic church group from Bloomington, Minnesota. The sponsoring church gave them breakfast, they said their good-byes, and by 8:30 they were on their way to do some final sight-seeing.

They went to Pier 39 where there were tons of shops and a variety of street performers. There were magic tricks and card tricks, a lady singing jazz who was really good, and two performers were silver from head to toe. Even their faces were painted silver. They had a boombox playing music and they did a robot-like dance. At times they would stand perfectly still and not even seem human. Sights also included 10-12 sea lions.

Another sight was Haight-Ashbury where "the hippie thing is still in full swing". This is "the 40th Anniversary of the '67 Summer of Love" so pastor explained about that. There were lots of really great shops, including second-hand shops with great funky clothes. Jesse found a bright orange blazer. From then on he was easy to spot in a crowd.

Lunch was at "In and Out Burger", followed by more sight-seeing. They did go to Fisherman's Wharf. It was cold and windy. There was a mist coming off the water. They went to Castro - a street and area in San Francisco populated by gays and lesbians. "There was a lot of diversity," Pastor said. There were guys holding hands. The residents of that area were proud of their culture. They also got crabby toward tourists who stared.

In their travels they came across people who liked to dress in dark clothes and wear a lot of leather. Many had tattoos and wild hair - some spiked and some in unusual colors.

After a full day of seeing sights in San Francisco, they crossed the Bay Bridge and headed to Berkley. They spent the night at the Lutheran Church of the Cross, which is an interesting church that operates a homeless shelter for teenage runaways. The next morning they noticed some scary-looking street toughened men outside washing cars. Eventually some of the youth approached them and found out that they were in a program called "Options" which helps drug addicts break away from a life of drug use.

They were near Reno when Pastor called in this information yesterday afternoon. They were headed to Winnemucca and a nice motel where they could "lounge by the pool".

Another Good Day

Keela Sykes told about a fun day that began with the children in Kid's Club. They sang songs with them, did crafts, played games outside, and had lunch. "They love us," Keela said, "It will be hard to leave them because they are so loving." There were about 30 kids ages 3 to 7. After lunch they went to the Food Bank where they boxed corn (ears of corn - on the cob, not canned corn), and then crated them. Then they moved on to plums and peaches. They were really happy because they were getting done early and could be the first ones in the showers, but....their luck did not hold! To be more precise, it was the boxes did not hold. As they were moving the boxes of discarded fruit to the curb ...the side ripped out. And mushy plums and peaches went all over... and they got covered in peach juice! Showers were needed more than ever now.

They had spaghetti for dinner and then went to a beach that is about 2 miles from the church. It was cold and there was a little fog. The waves were rolling in. There were some who were crazy and jumped in and swam anyway. When they got out they were freezing! "We found sand dollars and sea shells on the beach. It was really pretty and we had so much fun."

Tomorrow after breakfast they will clean and straighten up before heading out to tour San Francisco one last time.

The Feeding of the 1,500

Imagine giving a barbecue with 1,500 guests...wow! Jessica G. said that this morning they walked around the city handing out fliers to people ...telling them "free food" and inviting them to the barbecue. Then they went back to the homeless shelter and did some decorating. Pastor said it is a community cook out and people with all kinds of different backgrounds came. There was one man there who brought his guitar and played. Pastor thought it quite likely he was an old rocker who possibly had played in a rock band in his younger days. He spoke to one man who had recently gotten off drugs and was trying to get his life back together.

"My heart goes out to them," Jessica said. "I've had such amazing conversations, and I have respect for them. For many of them, the street people are the only family they have." It was with heart-felt emotion that Jessica said, "You really know God's here." She also commented that God has really blessed us.

To Live With and For Others

According to Yo George, they were divided into two groups, with one group staying at the church, and the other group going to the Food Bank. The group at the church included Keela Sykes, Trevor Bansemer, Pastor Matthew, Mindy Montambo, Becca Pence, and Jessica Roboloth. They assisted with Kid's Club, helping with activities and playing games with very young kids. By today, the second day, they felt they were really bonding with the children. The other group included Jesse Faler, Tasha Pence, Jessica Gasaway, and Nicole Montambo. Yesterday this group put 16,000 pounds of pinto beans into bags! Altogether they put enough rice and beans into bags to feed 15,000 people. Amazing! Today they worked in assembly, putting canned food and cereal into boxes that will be distributed to the elderly and other needy people. They were so productive that they almost made it into the Food Bank Hall of Fame - they packaged over 10 tons of food! Another activity they were in was at the St. Joseph Catholic charities homeless shelter. This shelter is for families who are trying to get back on their feet, and the adults are working or seeking employment. The shelter is kind of run down and their help was clearly needed. Among other things they vacuumed and swept floors. Yo said they are really looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow - they have been getting up very early every morning.