Day 3 photos posted

Just finished uploading pictures from day 3, so take a look in the photo gallery by clicking here. Now off to the water park, and home later this evening.

Day 3 recap by guest bloggers

We just wrapped up our third day in Oklahoma City, and I have three guest bloggers to tell you all about it. First up is Madison Gallagher:

Well, today we did a lot of work at the food bank, and got a guided tour of the facilities, and loaded and sorted lots more cans and bread. I noticed how many hamburger buns there were, but why I noticed I cannot tell you. It made me feel good to see all of the cans and bread that we had sorted, but at the same time it made me sad that soooooo many people were in need of those cans and bread. I took lots of videos, so i hope that everyone will enjoy them!

Next, Lindsay Puckett:

Today we went to, in my opinion, the best museum ever! Does April 19th, 1995 ring a bell? Well if not that was the day the Oklahoma City bombing went on. I never knew what exactly happened in the Oklahoma bombing, but today I learned more than I would have in Social Studies. When we first got to the museum I wasn't too interested in going to a museum but once we walked in and got started it was amazing! We got to see videos, hearings, look at pictures, and see some of the objects that made it through the bombing. What got to me while walking through this museum was that there was a day care right in the Federal Building, and 19 of the children who were dropped off by their parents that morning died. Watching the videos and seeing parents freak out trying to find their kids, but then getting news later on that they were gone was heartbreaking. I learned a lot today and surprisingly too much to share. See you when we get back tomorrow.

And last but not least, Jason Cline:

In Oklahoma City today we went to dinner at Earl's Rib Palace. It was one of the best meals of my life. A few people got ribs, but I got the chicken strip dinner. Their curly fries were really good and so were the four huge pieces of chicken. I decided to order dessert, too. I ordered "The" Brownie with ice cream on top. "The" Brownie was two brownies that were 6 - 8 square inches big. Once I had eaten a little over half of my chicken strips, I decided to dig into my massive brownie. It was one of the best desserts I have ever had. I was stuffed at the end of that dinner. After dinner we walked around Oklahoma City for awhile, including walking past the Oklahoma City Redhawks (Rangers AAA baseball team) stadium. While we were having fun, Whitney and Nikolee were busy setting up our worship on the river. It was weirdly peaceful near the highway, but a satisfying place to have our worship for the day. During worship, we had our feet washed. It was a very special moment for me, and probably every other fellow churchmate there.

Thanks to our three bloggers for staying up and sharing, and sorry I haven't posted photos from today. It's late, and breakfast comes early again tomorrow, so hopefully before we head out to the water park I'll be able to post quite a few. Until then, goodnight!

More photos and Steve Midgely facts

First off, I've uploaded more photos from our workday and evening of fun on Monday. Check them out in the photo gallery here.

Second, I wanted to share that our youth have created a game that involves making up "facts" about trip sponsor and Chi Rho boys Sunday school teacher Steve Midgely. Due to Steve's obvious physical prowess, the youth have been trying to best one another with information in the vein of Chuck Norris facts. (If you don't know what I'm talking about, just Google "Chuck Norris facts" and see what you find.) After hearing facts about Steve, we decided to start a contest to see who could create the best fact (as judged by Steve himself). The winner will receive a prize at the end of the trip. Here's a sampling of what we've heard so far:

- When Steve Midgely wants an iPhone, he doesn't go to the Apple Store and buy one. Other people just give him theirs out of fear.

- Steve Midgely won't join the Dark Side. The Dark Side will join Steve Midgely.

- Steve Midgely doesn't go to the doctor. He goes to the mechanic.

- There is no "ctrl" key on Steve Midgely's computer. Steve Midgely is always in control.

- On the 7th day God rested. After that, the earth was Steve Midgely's.

- That car door didn't hit Steve Midgely. Steve Midgely hit that car door.

More to come later. As you can probably tell, it's never boring on this trip. :-)

Day 2 Recap by Jason Cline

We just wrapped up the second day of the trip, and I invited a guest blogger to tell you about what he did today. Here's Jason Cline:

First off we went to breakfast. Volunteers at the church we stayed at serve a free breakfast every day during the week from 6:30 - 7:15. We had great pancakes and sausage. We had a good one hour before we had to go to the Oklahoma City Regional Food Bank. When we got there I was overwhelmed with the amount of cans there were. Our job was to sort and pack all of these cans. There were six categories that we had to sort them in and deliver them to the appropriate station. There were packers at each station. We started at around 9:30 and ended at 3:00 with a few breaks in between. When we were finished the woman in charge told us that we packed over 20,000 pounds of food, equal to 16,000 meals for hungry people in Oklahoma City and the surrounding areas. We came home from the food bank and had one and a half hours to shower and play around before we went to dinner. For dinner we went to Toby Keith's I Love This Bar and Grill. Dinner was by far the best meal of the day (in my opinion). I had a whole "All - American" Cheeseburger served with "freedom fries." I don't know about anyone else, but I was stuffed. After dinner we bowled at Red Pin, then came home and had our routine of worship followed by small groups for thirty minutes. After small groups, time for bed, and another rude awakening by Russ at 6:30 in the morning.

First Day Wrap-up

Hello everyone! I'm currently sitting at Red Cup, a very Austin-esque coffeehouse here in Oklahoma City that has the free wi-fi I need to set up our blog. Here's a recap of what's happened so far:

We left UCC around 2:30 on Sunday afternoon, traveling in two rental vans and the Borders' SUV (filled with luggage). All was going well until we got within a few miles of Gainesville, where a lane closure had traffic slowed to a crawl. We spent about an hour inching along, watching state troopers run down cars that cut across the grass to the access road. As a driver that was helpful, because it kept the youth in my van from continually asking me to do the same thing. "See what happened to that guy? That could be us." Eventually we made it to an exit, took an alternate route to Gainesville, then hopped back on the interstate just past the road construction. After that, it was an uneventful drive through Oklahoma.

We arrived at First Christian Church of Edmond around 7:15 p.m. and unloaded our belongings into our sleeping rooms in the church's family life center. After a quick tour from the church member who greeted us, we had a pizza dinner and then spent some time playing games in the gym together. Our two summer interns, Whitney and Nikolee, planned our evening worship services prior to the trip and put together a curriculum for our small groups. They settled on the theme "Thirsty," and each day will focus on a passage of scripture that centers on water. After gathering for a worship service that included scripture, singing, and communion, our youth and adults split into two small groups to discuss the theme and share their hopes for our time together. Afterward, we settled down for the night at a decent hour.

Our group was up around 6:30 on Monday morning, and after throwing on some clothes we headed over to "Breakfast on Boulevard," a ministry of FCC that feeds people every day in the church basement. The crowd includes college students from down the street, homeless neighbors, families trying to make ends meet, and others who need a good, free meal for one reason or another. We enjoyed pancakes and sausage and shared conversation with several diners from the community before heading back to the family life center. After we finished getting ready for the day, we loaded up and made our way to the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma.

I'll be posting again this evening or tomorrow morning to let you know how our day of work has gone. Feel free to post comments on the blog to let us know you're reading or to pass messages along to folks on the trip! Also, check out the photo gallery by clicking here.