SM Mission Teams Training Overnight

Dates: June 3rd-4th
Begins at 6:30pm on Friday
Ends at 2pm on Saturday

What to bring: toiletries, sleeping bag, pillow, athletic clothes/shoes for Saturday, and any forms and money that are due.


Snacks Friday Night, Breakfast and Lunch Saturday will be provided.

Nicaragua Training Mtg #2 Recap

Below is the information from our second team training meeting. Please note that at the end of the checklist is our flight information. Because there are 3 flights TO Nicaragua and 2 flights HOME from Nicaragua, people need to arrive at the Chapel at different times. Please make sure you understand exactly when you/your child needs to meet at Chapel for departure.

Also, if you would like a Word document of any of these forms/this information send to you, simply email Alexis at akincaid@wcchapel.org, and she will be happy to help.


Nicaragua Mission Team
May 17th Checklist

 Blog: http://wccstudentministriesmissiontrips.blogspot.com/

□ Subscribe to updates via text messaging:
o Parents: Text “nicaparent” to 41411
o Students: Text “nicastudent” to 41411

 Support Letters
o Turn support money into Alexis as it comes in.
o Write thank you notes to the people who send you monetary support immediately.

 Passport
o Bring a copy of your passport by the overnight on June 3rd

 Forms – MUST be turned in by the overnight on June 3rd
o ORPHANetwork form
o Notarized WCC Parental Consent form

 Travel Plans – let your parents know!
o We have three separate flights TO Nicaragua, and two separate flights HOME.
o Please see the back side of this page for flight details and information on when you need to arrive at the Chapel for departure.

 Donations
o If you have donations, bring them to our final team meeting on June 14th. We will post a list of needs from Casa on the blog. Please bring only quality donations and store them at your house until our final meeting.


Team overnight begins on June 3rd at 6:30pm and goes until June 4th at 2pm. Meet at the Chapel. Bring a sleeping bag, toiletries, and athletic clothes/shoes. Please eat dinner beforehand. Breakfast & lunch provided.

Final team meeting is June 14th from 6:30-8:30 pm in the SM Worship Room. This is our packing meeting, so bring donations to this meeting.



FLIGHT INFORMATION

DEPARTURES: (all flights depart from Dulles Airport)

Flight 1: Craig’s Senior Boys & Paige/Sarah-Graham’s Senior Girls (TACA, 20 seats)
**Meet at the Chapel at 11:30pm on Monday, June 20th!

(TACA 591) 21June depart Washington Dulles 4:57am & arrive San Salvador 7:37am
(TACA 396) 21June depart San Salvador 8:42am & arrive Managua 9:37am


Flight 2: All Sophomore Girls, All Juniors, Abby’s Senior Girls (American, 64 seats):
**Meet at Chapel at 5:30am on Tuesday, June 21st

(AA1321) 21JUN depart Washington Dulles (IAD) at 11:25am & arrive MIA 2:05pm
(AA985) 21JUN depart MIA at 6:30pm & arrive MGA 7:00pm


Flight 3: All Sophomore Boys (TACA, 26 seats):
**Meet at Chapel at 9:30am on Tuesday, June 21st

(TACA583) 21JUN depart Washington Dulles 3:50pm & arrive San Salvador 6:30pm
(TACA 315) 21JUN depart San Salvador 7:35pm & arrive Managua 8:30pm



RETURNS: (all flights arrive at Dulles Airport)

Flight 1: Sophomore Boys, Senior Boys, & Paige/SG’s Senior Girls (TACA, 46 seats)

(TACA 397) 30JUN depart Managua 5:30pm and arrive San Salvador 6:20pm
(TACA 590) 30JUN depart San Salvador 7:34pm & arrive Washington Dulles 1:53am on JUL1

**We expect to return to the Chapel around 5/5:30am on Friday, July 1st


Flight 2: All Sophomore Girls, All Juniors, Abby’s Senior Girls (American, 64 seats):

(AA970) 30JUN depart MGA at 1:00pm and arrive MIA 5:40pm
(AA850) 30JUN depart MIA at 8:50pm and arrive IAD (Dulles) at 11:20p

**We expect to return to the Chapel around 2:30/3am on Friday, July 1st



SMALL GROUP DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Genesis 12:1-9

You have no idea where you are going

Discussion Questions
1. Where do you think you’re going?
2. What reasons do you have for going? How did the reason of blessing challenge or confirm your reasons for going?
3. What are 2 key relationships you have on this trip?
4. What else are you taking with you?
5. What do you need to leave behind?
6. What is the function of the altars Abram builds?
7. What strategies can you employ to practice altar building when you are in Nicaragua?

HS NYC Mission Trip Meeting #1 Recap

Thanks to everyone who showed up! We had a great turn out, this trip is going to be the largest HS domestic trip we have taken!

If you have ANY questions please email (cblocher@wcchapel.org), or call (941-1225) Craig Blocher.

Below is the information and forms that we went over and handed out during the last meeting (5/11)

Links to all of the resources from the meeting:

PowerPoint of the meeting

CSM Pre-Trip Leader Handout

Meeting #1 Checklist

Small Group Questions & Teaching Passage

Our next meeting is the missions overnight June 3rd-4th (6:30 in the SM worship room)

Our final meeting is June 15th in Woodward Hall (6:30-8:30)
     (Final Payment Deadline)

MS North Carolina Training Meeting #1 Recap

Thanks to everyone for committing to coming out to the first training meeting.  Meeting with everyone got me even more excited about what God is going to do on this trip.

Below is all the information that we went over at the meeting as well as the forms we handed out and the teaching and training that we went over with the students during the last hour.

Please feel free to contact Luke Kincaid with any questions by phone at 941-1572 or email at lkincaid@wcchapel.org

Links to forms and Resources from the Meeting:

Contents of Folder:

May 11th Checklist

ReCreation Experience Forms - My wife Alexis is a notary here if you need form notarized

Packing List

Reading for Students

Other Forms and Resources:

Curriculum from Small Groups - This would be great to go over with your child to review with them

WCC Parental Consent Form - My wife Alexis is a notary here if you need form notarized

Parent Meeting Powerpoint

Important Dates & Deadlines:

Next Meeting: June 3rd-June 4th (Mission Teams Overnight begins at 6:30pm in SM Worship Room)
         Forms and Final Payment Due

Final Meeting: June 15th (6:30-8:30 pm in Ross Hall)

HS Nicaragua Training Mtg #1 Recap

Great first meeting, everyone! Thank you to all the parents who made it out. If anyone has any questions about the information you received, or about anything else trip-related, please feel free to contact me (Alexis) at any time: akincaid@wcchapel.org; 757-941-1241 (office); 919-260-0719 (cell).

Below is the information we passed out at the meeting. At every meeting, students will receive a checklist. This checklist will have updated information about what forms are due, training requirements, travel information, etc. Please look over your checklists or check the blog after each meeting.


Nicaragua Mission Team

April 26th Checklist

□ Blog: http://wccstudentministriesmissiontrips.blogspot.com/
o We will post all training information, as well as trip updates, here.


□ Subscribe to updates via text messaging:
o Parents: Text “nicaparent” to 41411
o Students: Text “nicastudent” to 41411


□ Support Letters
o Turn in your support letters (in addressed, stamped envelopes, w/ self-addressed, stamped envelopes enclosed) by Sun, May 8
o Support Letter Instructions are included in your folders. If you did not receive a folder, please contact Alexis to either stop by the SM office and pick one up, or to have her email you the support letter instructions.


□ Passport
o If you don’t have a passport, begin the application process IMMEDIATELY to ensure that you receive it by June 21st!
o Here are some helpful websites to assist you with the application process:
 http://travel.state.gov/passport/passport_1738.html
 http://www.usps.com/passport/
o If you already have a passport, check the date to make sure that it does not expire on or before July 2011


□ Forms: bring your completed forms to our second Nicaragua Team Meeting

o ORPHANetwork Release Form - this form was in the folder passed out at the meeting. If you did not receive a folder, please contact Alexis to either stop by the SM office and pick one up, or to have her email you the document.

o WCC Parental Consent Form – this form must be notarized (Please check with Alexis if you need your form notarized or want to see if you have a current form on file for the 2010-2011 school year. If you turned in a Parental Consent Form for this year’s ski trip or CBA Day, you do not need another one. Parental Consent Forms from last year’s mission trips are no longer current.)
o Copy of your passport


Next Team Meeting: Tuesday, May 17th from 6:30-8:30pm in the Main Foyer

Only one full day left :(

T-minus 36 hours left in Nicaragua.  Today we had a packed day, we started by doing some work around Casa Bernabe, where we are staying.  We split into three groups and split up around the orphanage compound.  One group took all of the donations that we had checked onto our airplane in trash bags, sorted and hung everything for the kids.  The second group went to the kitchen of the orphanage took down, painted and replaced all of the ceiling tiles. The third group ‘renovated’ a bunch of school desks.  Replacing and broken slats and painting the frames (using gasoline to remove the paint from their hands).  The orphanage is a huge production, housing, feeding, teaching, and discipling the 65 kids that call Casa Bernabe their home.  It was great helping in a small way in that process.

After lunch we headed to a soccer tournament with all of the college groups (us, UVA, Virginia Tech, and James Madison), The kids from ‘Casa’, Nueva Vida, and another orphanage. We had four fields set up and played college groups against the kids and kids against kids, they had a blast.  Most of the kids, even the 8 year olds, were more skilled at ‘futbol’ than most of us.  I think the kids loved showing up some of us gringos.

 

Following is a story that illustrates the heart of the Nicaraguan people, told by one of our team members.

When you talk to someone about Nicaragua, its almost cliché; it seems like all everyone says is “the people there are so loving, they are just different,” or “Nicaraguans are so amazing are they are so different,” but for someone who has not been here that answer is certainly less than satisfactory if you ask me. What exactly does that mean?  Well, today I got yet another taste of that “difference,” and I think perhaps, in a small way, it can help show what people mean by this.  First, it’s important to know that the extent of my Spanish knowledge barely goes beyond “Hola.” So when I say that any and all communication that occurred between me and the ladies that serve us breakfast every morning was limited to smiles and “Gracias,” I mean it.  This morning however, I managed to sleep through the morning madness of everyone else getting up for breakfast and it was not until we were ready to leave for our first activity of the day that one of my friends noticed my absence and came to awake me. I promptly got up, and I realized almost immediately I had missed breakfast; I accepted my state hunger and headed over to the rancho.  When I got there, however I was greeted by Mary Carter (shout out to her two loving parents, wonderful sister Brittany, and lucky boyfriend John) and a plate full of delicious food.  When I moved to thank her however, I was informed that it was not her, nor any of my fellow teammates who had noticed that I was gone, but rather the ladies who serve us every morning and at every meal. Not knowing so much as my name, they noticed, amongst the 60 people they serve every morning (between us and the UVA students staying at Casa Bernabe), that I was not there. They asked everyone where the tall, dirty kid who doesn’t shower was, and made sure that someone saved food for me to eat.  I personally, couldn’t tell you everyone who is on our trip, and I not only speak the same language as them, but also have spent everyday of the past week with them, not just meals.  These ladies however, cared so much for me and my well being that they not only noticed I was missing but made sure I had a chance to eat. And yet, I was not surprised.  This is the fourth time I’ve come to Nicaragua and it didn’t take more than a few days the first time I was here for me to realize that Nicaraguans are no ordinary people.  The love that they exert on a regular basis has led me to expect nothing less.  And so, it was a great start to a great day, and it was just one of the infinite ways that Nicaraguans have blessed me and continue to bless me so much more, than I, despite my best efforts, can bless them.

Thanks to the two best parents in the world, Jim and Leslie Knicely, who helped me get here this year in so many more ways than one, including helping me pack in the 20 minutes I had before leaving, -- you guys better be reading, I love you.

-Ricky

Happy Ash Wednesday from Nicaragua!  This morning we headed back to Nueva Vida to help the church/feeding center we had been going to the last couple days with a work project.  We helped them remove their current barbed wire fence, and dig a ditch for the foundation of the new cement block wall.  The Sun was out in full force (documented by some of the team’s sun tans) but we got a lot of fence taken down and dirt moved.

We then split into three groups to serve three of the feeding centers in the Nueva Vida area.  All of the feeding centers have the same process.  The kids sit at tables with their plates and cups that they bring.  We then went around and collected their plates and cups by table and took them to the kitchen.  After we got them back we would return them to their owners filled with rice and beans with a little meat.  The kids would help us and each other out to make sure that everyone got to eat.  One member of the team made the observation that it seemed more like a large family sitting down to eat together, than any school cafeteria we might have experienced in elementary school.  None of the kids begged for their tables to be the first ones, they waited patiently as the rest of their ‘family’ was served.  Following lunch we had time to play with the kids that we have been building relationships with though out the week.

We loaded up with some of the kids from Nueva Vida and headed to a ‘talent show’ with the group from Virginia Tech.  The event was fun and the kids seemed to have a great time, there were dance acts and singing acts, and other assorted talents.  The act that just made the event was a little girl from Nueva Vida.  She went up there in a white dress and ribbons tied to her wrists and danced to a worship song.  None of us could understand the words but that didn’t matter at all.  It was absolutely the most beautiful picture of worship.  The whole room was mesmerized.  That little girl showed us all what it means to worship God with all your heart, in such pure and true way.