And they are here...

Everyone made it to Casa Hogar safely, arriving at about 7:30 pm this evening. This busy travel day inlcuded:

* A 5:30 AM flight where the youth and their rides had to arrive at the aeropuerto at 3:30

* A tight connection in Houston

* A six hour bus ride that felt more like 26 hours

* A hearty welcome from the kids we will be living in community with and a great dinner.

We promise to have more interesting and entertaining posts throughout the rest of the week. All of the events listed above have all of us tuckered out...

Senior High Youth Missions Trip to Casa Hogar Orphanage, Mexico

And They Are Off . . . to the Casa Hogar Orphanage in Mexico. 6 Leaders and 11 Youth met at the Salt Lake International Airport at 3:30 this morning to begin their day long journey to Mexico. After flying to Houston and on to Monterey, Mexico, they will then travel 5 hours by bus before reaching their final destination.


Our thanks to Barb, our wonderful youth leader for organizing the majority of the trip.


The travelers seemed more awake and enthusiastic than the parents who accompanied them to the airport!!

Good Luck to our CUMC ambassadors as they do God's work during the next few days.

2008--June 13-16, Pinecliff Jr High Camp/Service Project/Mission Trip

The first half of this camp was spent with Jr High Youth from other churches around Utah learning about how to be good to our planet God created, planting trees and making new friends. Starting June 15th, Father's Day, as the other campers went home, our 14 Jr High youth invited our families up to camp to begin our service project / mission work at Pinecliff painting cabins and the Chapel, clearing brush around the cabins and along the path by the creek and getting the fire pit ready for camping season.

Pinecliff means to me . . . .

Anna: It's great to be up there working together!

Boaz: It helps the environment.

Jake: It feels good to be helping others.

Desiree: I'm excited because when like people you know who are younger you can tell them what you did and they can do it every year afterwards and it's fun because you get to be with your friends helping others.

Catherine: It makes me feel good because I know I'm helping Pinecliff. It's fun too especially because you get to be with all your friends and stuff. Pinecliff also helps bicyclists as they stop and get cold water from us. We're their first stopping point in a long bike ride!! We're able to talk to them about what we're doing. Some of them thought we were crazy to up here working for free, but we told them we were working for God and that's what we wanted to do!!
Jon: It's fun . . . if only the gnats would leave me alone!!!

Jack: When you come up here, it's like work, but when you're with friends it's almost like its not work!

AJ: I'm cool! I just killed a wasp who was chasing Haley and Cari! It Feels good doing God's work and now Haley and Cari can do more of God's work too without being afraid!

Haley: I'm like, afraid of wasps . . . but it feels good to be doing God's work!!

Cari: We did this last year and it was real fun! It feels good to be helping Pinecliff again this year! This is child labor, but it's God's work, so it's okay!

Eric: It's great to see so many kids really understanding how important it is to take care of the earth.

Alec: It was interesting to learn about the Earth. It feels good to be doing this service project.

More . . . .

Jennie: It's fun working for God!

Anonymous: It feels good doing God's work . . . but it still gets boring at times. . . .

Lydia: It's cool to be working at Pinecliff. It makes you feel good that you're doing something for someone else.


Tristan: It's hard, but good doing God's work here at Pinecliff.

Bruce: I have enjoyed helping the Jr. High youth with their service project. They've been working really hard.

Karen: I think it's great! It's nice to do it and help other people who will be coming up later in the summer. This is our first time up here.


Steve (caretaker at Pinecliff): We LOVE all this help!

Karl: It's cool -- Gets me off the couch!

Gina: I'm grateful to have the chance to help in such a beautiful environment!

Pam: It's fun seeing these kids working hard. I love preparing food because then I get to eat it too!

Terry: I've never painted on Father's Day before. It's beautiful up here!


Barb--Director of Youth Ministry @ Christ UMC: Another great Pinecliff Service Project/Mission Trip!! Our Youth are learning each year just what it's like to be Christ's hands and feet doing his work!! We can't wait to come back next year!! A lot of the youth want to make next year's project last longer!!!! Peace and blessings be with each of you this summer!!!


After doing "God's work" we had a Youth vs Parents kickball game and because it was Father's Day we proudly announced the parents won the game that day, but there will be a rematch in the future!

Then we sat in a large circle with several generations who were there and each of us shared something special about our dad, grandpa, uncle or another important male role model in our life and thanked God for them. It was a special time of sharing! Later we had a BBQ and a devotional led by the youth entitled, "Let's Talk: How to Improve Communication with Parents".

With over 40 youth, parents and grandparents attending, this proved to be a valuable lesson for us all! The evening ended with s'mores by the campfire. The next day the 20 youth and adults remaining continued doing various service projects until returning home late that afternoon. It was a fun and worthwhile project which we'll continue next year, the majority of the youth would like to spend even more days working up at Pinecliff next year! Doing God's work is CONTAGIOUS!!! THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO HELPED MAKE THIS YEARS PROJECT SUCH A GREAT SUCCESS!!

COMING SOON
MONTANA MISSION TRIP
JULY 11, 2008 - JULY 19, 2008