Day 7 Update

We survived! We are going to bed now.

Good night.

Day 6 Update

What a day it was!

We all packed in the vans and headed to Red River Gorge for canoeing and rock jumping.  Brian took us to his Operation Wilderness rock jump area.  You climb to the top of a really big rock and jump about 75 to 80 feet down to the water.  It was a blast with everyone completing at least 1 jump.  Some did as many as 8!  (Actually it was only 18-22 feet)

After the big jump we canoed for about two hours.  (We did paddle about 150 yards upstream to get to the rock)  Lots of splashing and canoe flipping along the way.  The best part was to save yourself from drowning you needed only to stand up.  

With the canoe trip behind us we made our was to Miguel's Pizza down by Natural Bridge.  Don and Donna Tedrick joined us for some yummy pizza and Ale 8 1 soda.

We headed back to the Happy Church around 7:00 and finished some service projects from 7:00pm to 9:30pm.  We don't have many pictures yet to post.  We did not take any cameras on the canoe trip so you will just have to wait for the stories.

Brian, Jess, Grace and Nick Angstadt headed to the airport after the Pizza dinner to welcome the Simmons' home from China with their new addition to the family.  Brian and Nick will return to the Happy Church either late tonight or early tomorrow to help with the final clean-up before the grand opening of the Happy Shack!

For all you coming down, we will see you tomorrow.

Thanks for all your prayers, blog comments and support!

Yours in Christ,

Todd - Deputy Youth Pastor!

Day 5 Update

Hello again from Jackson,

Our final day of VBS may well have been the best day. Just over 50 kids attended. The weather cooperated for lots of fun and games outdoors. We also were able to complete a few of the items on our service project list.

The team really pulled together despite being a little groggy from the late nights. After the VBS we transported about 55 kids to the local "Shoe Show" and had them all pick out new shoes. It was amazing to see the joy on some of these kids faces as they picked out their own "first pair of new shoes". Some of them were still in disbelief as we went to the checkout. On the ride home they were putting on theirs shoes and smiling from ear to ear. They were ao anxious to get home and show mom or dad what they picked out. Sorry for the short post, but we are in a time crunch to get to Natural Bridge for canoeing. We'll add more details later! Have a great day!

Grace Mease

Day 4 Update

Hello Lads & Lasses,

We have survived a VERY full day of ministry here in Jackson, KY!  Besides putting on a VBS in the afternoons, our team has been waking up early and doing service projects around the church.  We began chipping the paint from a section of the Happy Shack porch yesterday.  Today we began priming the area.  It was as successful as Jr. Highers armed with paintbrushes can be! Honestly, they worked hard and did a great job.  Following the VBS, we were feeling a little stressed about how much painting still needed to be done on the porch.  So, the students opted to work into the night.  We concluded a full day of work at 9pm and debriefed the day until 10!  We will be feeling the brunt of that in the morning.  Todd suggested we give them the option of Orange Juice or Mountain Dew to drink with breakfast.  

The VBS was incredible today.  Kids must have really enjoyed it yesterday because they brought friends.  Today, we ministered to about 50 kids.  Too many more and we won't have enough crafts to cover them!  Pastor Mike was excited because some of the children coming out are first timers.  That news blessed our team.  We are praying that they might come to know Jesus through our ministry or the continued ministry of the Happy Church.  Please join us in this prayer.  

Tomorrow, we will conclude our VBS and hopefully put the final touches on our paint project.  It is our goal to have the Happy Shack looking spic and span for the grand opening on Saturday.  By the way, any of you coming for that???  It's at 1pm on saturday.  Anyone is free to come and find a place to crash for the night and join us for church on Sunday.  

Well, please pray for our team tomorrow.  It is usually the day where the 'novelty' of serving and working with children wears off a bit.  Please pray that the group gives generously of themselves no matter what they gain back.  On that note, I also want to let you know that the group, for the most part, is really having a high degree of team unity.  You never know what you are going to get when you have 16 teens on a trip for 8 days.  This group is doing an outstanding job of including one another and protecting the team unity.  It has been a blessing!  

Okay, good night.  Looking forward to seeing you all soon.  

Serving Him,

Todd & Brian Hinners ;-)

Day Three Update

Hello friends and family,

Thanks for following along with our blog.  We would love your feedback on how you like this as a communication tool for the future.  I know many on our team have really appreciated the opportunity to look online and see people's responses to our posts.  So, please keep encouraging the team.  

Today was the first day of our 'pirate land' VBS.  I wish it was a day you could have all experienced.  We have to admit that we had our doubts about how many kids would show up for our VBS (especially considering the blistering heat today).  Much to our surprise, we pulled into the trailer parks with the vans and one honk of the horn brought the kids running!  Some vans had to load up twice.  All in all, our team ministered to about 40 kids from the Jackson area today.  It was a joy to see everyone in 'pirate garb' loving on kids.  The entire team pitched in and it was definitely a beautiful day of ministry.  Our team is quickly learning how the culture here affects EVERYTHING these children do.  Teaching the Bible, leading in games, doing crafts, playing music...these things translate differently to kids who come from such dismal backgrounds.  The learning curve for our Hope Church students is incredible.  They quickly begin inheriting grace, love, compassion, and other works of the Spirit of God.  They literally bloom before your eyes.  It's quite surreal.  I think most of our adult leaders would agree that 'debriefing' at night is always the highlight of the day.  The reflections our students make are moving, inspiring, and encouraging.  

Well, we appreciate your prayers.  There is much more we could say.  But, the hour is late and I can hear the guys jumping around upstairs.  They won't go to sleep until we make them :-).  Who raised these boys anways!?  ;-)  

From Jackson,

Brian & Todd Mease

Wanna Watch us?

You can watch our opening show at 12:30 tuesday, wednesday, and thursday. at www.stickam.com/hopestudentmissions08 and again at about 2:30 email austin@hinnersfamily.com if this doesn't work. :-)

Making friends...

Caroline Ewing with new friends Mercedes and Dezeray helped pass out VBS flyers to local trailer parks along with the rest of the Happy Project team.  Rain hardly put a damper on the effort to invite as many kids as possible.

The Happy Church is also hosting a horseshoe social evening tonight for adults.  We have three official horseshoe pits and are hoping to see about 15-20 local adults for some fun and games.

So far today was spent putting the finishing touches on the VBS sets and getting ready for the kids tomorrow.  It has cooled off a little today with a storm blowing through so it looks like we will also enjoy a campfire tonight.