Reflections from the IOWAY team at Faith Lutheran Church
Adam Nahnsen
Derek Rothe
Kristina Reeve
Claudia Perez-Garcia
Tracy Stetzel
Our first week included a lot of manual labor, mostly cleaning for the Manna House. The Manna House is a neighborhood food bank based at the church. We helped Laurence Jones, an amazing and hard working member of Faith Lutheran Church, with cleaning Sunday School rooms, moving furniture, and putting together shelving units for Manna House. Two mornings of the first week we spent canvassing neighborhoods near the church to invite children to VBS which would be held the following week.
We also spent time preparing for VBS by making name tags for students and preparing craft materials and student folders. Our VBS duties were registering students, teaching lessons, and assisting with crafts. We were happy when the number of students at VBS increased from 22 the first night to an average of 35 the remainder of the week. We soon learned that most of our new students were either homeless or living in a shelter and that they had been brought to VBS by a shelter worker, Miss Lynn. She shared that not only were the children excited about VBS, but about receiving a meal. One little boy told us he lives in a hotel lobby. Miss Lynn was very grateful to the church for providing a safe and loving place for these children, where they could forget about some of their cares for a few hours and just be kids having fun and learning about Jesus.
We enjoyed working with Lesley Davis on crafts and office projects and appreciated the support of Paster Schleef and Deaconess Lynda Schleef during the entire two weeks. It was great to work with many of the youth from Faith during VBS and canvassing.
The VBS children did a presentation at church on Sunday morning. The kids sang out joyously with original music by David Dunson. We had 4 year old and 10 year old soloists! The children received beanie baby toys from the IOWAY group along with VBS certificates. Faith also has a unique tradition of including a baton/drill routine in the VBS program. Since there were so many children, time was short for teaching them the routine, so our team learned it from Lawrence. Performing the routine was truly a new experience for us!
Our team was blessed to have been a part of the Faith Lutheran Church family and the IOWAY team for two weeks. As a leader I could see the teens increasing willingness to try new things, their ability to work as a team and their openness to new friendships and experiences. They grew in Christian understanding and compassion for others by seeing poverty and need first hand, and grew in their faith as they shared their hearts and hands in service to their Lord.
Reflections from IOWAY team at St. Phillips Lutheran Church
Paul Nahnsen
April Logemann
Shelby Seil
Kim Peterson
Our group got to have mulitple experiences with many of churches. We saw how many of the churches functioned and the enviornment they were in. This was really great because we got to meet a ton of wonderful people. Our group got to do everything from canvassing, mulching, painting, and teaching.
The VBS we taught was very unique. We taught all ages from Pre-K to 90+. One family even had four generations in attendance. At the end of our VBS, we were able to hand out 20 backpacks full of school supplies and beanie babies to the kids. It was so great to see the reactions of the kids and the excitement on the parent’s faces. Through this experience we not only helped the kids grow in their faith but they also helped us grow in ours.
-The Phillips Group♥
Reflections from IOWAY team at St. Paul Lutheran Church
Amanda Ballou
Jessica Overturf
Michael Rothe
Kenny Headley
Lee Overturf
Words cannot even begin to describe how much we love the St. Paul Lutheran Church family. The people are over extra ordinary. We were welcomed with open arms. We clearly felt when we graced the doors of this church that the Holy Spirit works through everyone here. They put others needs before themselves. They make the church feel like home. We have made lifetime Christian friends. The work project was challenging at times but in the end so rewarding. The playground was raked, tilled, landscaped, tarp laid and 3,000 pounds of mulch was shoveled and smoothed. We painted two long walls with a mural of scripture verses in a fun, happy preschool setting. The choir at St. Paul is fabulous. Thanks to Pastor Williams and staff for running errands to get supplies. A special thanks to Alyce and the kitchen staff becaues the meals were delicious. Thanks, Raphael for your hospitality, kindness and friendship. You are a treasure! Thanks to everyone for their love. Our team was so moved by this experience! All Our Love Always!
Reflections from the IOWAY team at Christ Lutheran Church
Jessi Hawthorne
Mac Juergensen
Angela Jolly
Adam Medick
Lynette Heetland
At Christ Lutheran we started the first week with canvassing. We canvassed with various members of the church. We started in the morning and would then spend time setting up and preparing for VBS in the afternoon.
For VBS we had 22 kids! Mac’s favorite thing about VBS was the fact that “we had a great turn out and all the kids were well behaved and wanted to be there.” During VBS the children got to do many things! Adam enjoyed “teaching the kids about Jesus and helping them put together their crafts.” Angela’s highlights for the week was “getting to know the kids, and was excited about how eager the kids were to learn and…yeah.” Lynette, our fearless leader’s fondest memories were “having an all ready prepared delicious breakfast, seeing Angela’s smiling face in her rearview mirror and watching her disco dance everyday. Having Joe, the leader at Christ, be so organized and efficient. Also getting to know the amazing high school youth and singing songs.”
Jessi’s experiences were very touching, “This being my third year I was a little prepared for how everything worked. I was so excited when I was canvassing and saw kids I knew. I was also so excited when I had so many returning students that recognized me. It was also amazing that the kids knew who Jesus was. I had many amazing experiences.”
Overall, we think that Christ VBS ROCKED! As a group we were also excited when parents brought more than just their own kids.
It was exciting to see how much all the kid’s faith grew and we will keep all of them in our prayers. Lynette added, “P.S our group was AWESOME! They did a wonderful job with all the kids.”
Reflections from the IOWAY team at Hope Lutheran Church
Julie Lesko
Olivia Lesko
Siera Whitlock
T.J. Rarrat
Katie Petzenhauser
Alma Perez-Garcia
Abby Peterson
Our two weeks at Hope Memorial Lutheran Church were a wonderful experience. The first week was a week of growth for us all. We started every day wiith devotions given by our VBS leader, Jason Hashaway. Jason taught us the importance of having Christ real in our life, not to believe because its what we’ve always done, or because our parents believe, but because Christ is alive in our life. The Bible verses given to us were explained so well. We could understand Christ’s message to us and how to apply the verses to our lives.
The second week was the VBS. The turnout was so great. We had many more than we expected. After welcoming nearly 60 children to VBS, we spent the mornings teaching our lessons of ‘Christ, our Solid Rock’. Each class moved from the lesson to snack and recess, to music and to crafts. The members of Hope were great. We were so blessed to work with such a wonderful group of Christians. Everyone worked very hard to make the VBS a success and genuinely cared about all the children.
We also learned a lot that week. We learned not to judge someone from the neighborhood they came from but to get to know who they are. We also had to learn patience. Some of the children needed much love and attention while we taught others how bad names and put downs are hurtful. Yet, we always loved them and looked for the best in everyone. We were all surprised how close we felt to the VBS children and to those who we worked with at Hope Memorial.
Adam Nahnsen
Derek Rothe
Kristina Reeve
Claudia Perez-Garcia
Tracy Stetzel
Our first week included a lot of manual labor, mostly cleaning for the Manna House. The Manna House is a neighborhood food bank based at the church. We helped Laurence Jones, an amazing and hard working member of Faith Lutheran Church, with cleaning Sunday School rooms, moving furniture, and putting together shelving units for Manna House. Two mornings of the first week we spent canvassing neighborhoods near the church to invite children to VBS which would be held the following week.
We also spent time preparing for VBS by making name tags for students and preparing craft materials and student folders. Our VBS duties were registering students, teaching lessons, and assisting with crafts. We were happy when the number of students at VBS increased from 22 the first night to an average of 35 the remainder of the week. We soon learned that most of our new students were either homeless or living in a shelter and that they had been brought to VBS by a shelter worker, Miss Lynn. She shared that not only were the children excited about VBS, but about receiving a meal. One little boy told us he lives in a hotel lobby. Miss Lynn was very grateful to the church for providing a safe and loving place for these children, where they could forget about some of their cares for a few hours and just be kids having fun and learning about Jesus.
We enjoyed working with Lesley Davis on crafts and office projects and appreciated the support of Paster Schleef and Deaconess Lynda Schleef during the entire two weeks. It was great to work with many of the youth from Faith during VBS and canvassing.
The VBS children did a presentation at church on Sunday morning. The kids sang out joyously with original music by David Dunson. We had 4 year old and 10 year old soloists! The children received beanie baby toys from the IOWAY group along with VBS certificates. Faith also has a unique tradition of including a baton/drill routine in the VBS program. Since there were so many children, time was short for teaching them the routine, so our team learned it from Lawrence. Performing the routine was truly a new experience for us!
Our team was blessed to have been a part of the Faith Lutheran Church family and the IOWAY team for two weeks. As a leader I could see the teens increasing willingness to try new things, their ability to work as a team and their openness to new friendships and experiences. They grew in Christian understanding and compassion for others by seeing poverty and need first hand, and grew in their faith as they shared their hearts and hands in service to their Lord.
Reflections from IOWAY team at St. Phillips Lutheran Church
Paul Nahnsen
April Logemann
Shelby Seil
Kim Peterson
Our group got to have mulitple experiences with many of churches. We saw how many of the churches functioned and the enviornment they were in. This was really great because we got to meet a ton of wonderful people. Our group got to do everything from canvassing, mulching, painting, and teaching.
The VBS we taught was very unique. We taught all ages from Pre-K to 90+. One family even had four generations in attendance. At the end of our VBS, we were able to hand out 20 backpacks full of school supplies and beanie babies to the kids. It was so great to see the reactions of the kids and the excitement on the parent’s faces. Through this experience we not only helped the kids grow in their faith but they also helped us grow in ours.
-The Phillips Group♥
Reflections from IOWAY team at St. Paul Lutheran Church
Amanda Ballou
Jessica Overturf
Michael Rothe
Kenny Headley
Lee Overturf
Words cannot even begin to describe how much we love the St. Paul Lutheran Church family. The people are over extra ordinary. We were welcomed with open arms. We clearly felt when we graced the doors of this church that the Holy Spirit works through everyone here. They put others needs before themselves. They make the church feel like home. We have made lifetime Christian friends. The work project was challenging at times but in the end so rewarding. The playground was raked, tilled, landscaped, tarp laid and 3,000 pounds of mulch was shoveled and smoothed. We painted two long walls with a mural of scripture verses in a fun, happy preschool setting. The choir at St. Paul is fabulous. Thanks to Pastor Williams and staff for running errands to get supplies. A special thanks to Alyce and the kitchen staff becaues the meals were delicious. Thanks, Raphael for your hospitality, kindness and friendship. You are a treasure! Thanks to everyone for their love. Our team was so moved by this experience! All Our Love Always!
Reflections from the IOWAY team at Christ Lutheran Church
Jessi Hawthorne
Mac Juergensen
Angela Jolly
Adam Medick
Lynette Heetland
At Christ Lutheran we started the first week with canvassing. We canvassed with various members of the church. We started in the morning and would then spend time setting up and preparing for VBS in the afternoon.
For VBS we had 22 kids! Mac’s favorite thing about VBS was the fact that “we had a great turn out and all the kids were well behaved and wanted to be there.” During VBS the children got to do many things! Adam enjoyed “teaching the kids about Jesus and helping them put together their crafts.” Angela’s highlights for the week was “getting to know the kids, and was excited about how eager the kids were to learn and…yeah.” Lynette, our fearless leader’s fondest memories were “having an all ready prepared delicious breakfast, seeing Angela’s smiling face in her rearview mirror and watching her disco dance everyday. Having Joe, the leader at Christ, be so organized and efficient. Also getting to know the amazing high school youth and singing songs.”
Jessi’s experiences were very touching, “This being my third year I was a little prepared for how everything worked. I was so excited when I was canvassing and saw kids I knew. I was also so excited when I had so many returning students that recognized me. It was also amazing that the kids knew who Jesus was. I had many amazing experiences.”
Overall, we think that Christ VBS ROCKED! As a group we were also excited when parents brought more than just their own kids.
It was exciting to see how much all the kid’s faith grew and we will keep all of them in our prayers. Lynette added, “P.S our group was AWESOME! They did a wonderful job with all the kids.”
Reflections from the IOWAY team at Hope Lutheran Church
Julie Lesko
Olivia Lesko
Siera Whitlock
T.J. Rarrat
Katie Petzenhauser
Alma Perez-Garcia
Abby Peterson
Our two weeks at Hope Memorial Lutheran Church were a wonderful experience. The first week was a week of growth for us all. We started every day wiith devotions given by our VBS leader, Jason Hashaway. Jason taught us the importance of having Christ real in our life, not to believe because its what we’ve always done, or because our parents believe, but because Christ is alive in our life. The Bible verses given to us were explained so well. We could understand Christ’s message to us and how to apply the verses to our lives.
The second week was the VBS. The turnout was so great. We had many more than we expected. After welcoming nearly 60 children to VBS, we spent the mornings teaching our lessons of ‘Christ, our Solid Rock’. Each class moved from the lesson to snack and recess, to music and to crafts. The members of Hope were great. We were so blessed to work with such a wonderful group of Christians. Everyone worked very hard to make the VBS a success and genuinely cared about all the children.
We also learned a lot that week. We learned not to judge someone from the neighborhood they came from but to get to know who they are. We also had to learn patience. Some of the children needed much love and attention while we taught others how bad names and put downs are hurtful. Yet, we always loved them and looked for the best in everyone. We were all surprised how close we felt to the VBS children and to those who we worked with at Hope Memorial.
Wow! I'm sure I speak for all the people of Iowa District West in affirming that God was working through each of you to make Him known. What a blessing you were - and how much you were blessed! May God now bless each of you as you share the story with the people of IDW and beyond that many more may not only go on IOWAY trips but do the same sharing of Christ in their own communities. thanks for sharing and thanks, Ellie, for all you do! Pastor Gerken
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