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Pastor's Page |
JOHN ROTHFUSZ, PASTOR - Phone 779-901-0803; email:
Dear Friends in Christ,
Thank you for your support of our youth mission trip to Louisville, Kentucky. Brandon Beverage and I went, alongside Pastor Elise and two girls and a boy from St. John’s Lutheran Church in Mendota. The trip was organized by YouthWorks, and was a great experience.
We left early from worship on Sunday, June 21, and got into the van in the pouring rain. We drove six hours down to Louisville, landing at Beulah Presbyterian Church, which was our home base for the week. The boys and I were assigned a Sunday School classroom to sleep, so we set up air mattresses and were thankful for AC units in the window.
There were about 50 people in the group, representing our group from Illinois, a group from Green Bay, Wisconsin, and a group from Boynton Beach, Florida. We shared meals, community building activities, and worship times each day. We had chores each day preparing and cleaning up meals and living spaces.
The two boys from our group were paired with a group of four girls from Green Bay for our work projects. They were a fun and lively bunch who sought to draw out our quieter boys. But they were all there to work and to meet and learn about the people of Louisville.
We had 4 service days, and a good variety of different ways to serve. The first day we worked with SOS International, sorting donated medical supplies which will be shipped overseas. That afternoon we packed food with Love the Hungry, which sends bags of prepared food overseas, much like Feed My Starving Children.
On Tuesday, we worked to put on a celebration for World Refugee Day. We helped set up, serve food, and clean up as about 300 refugees from many countries around the world came for a festival with food, games, and many booths. It was fascinating to see many people from Africa, Asia, and South America, often in their native dress, having a relaxed meal and day together.
On Wednesday, we worked again with refugees at the Catholic Charities center. They provided English as a Second Language (ESL) classes for refugees. Most of our youth helped in these classes, speaking with refugees in simple sentences. From their stories, they were forming 3 letter words using Scrabble tiles. A couple of the girls and I were sent to the child care to watch the kids while the parents were learning. So I got to spend that day playing with little kids and holding a few babies.
Our final service day was Friday. We were sent to help an older lady with her home. We scraped and painted her front steps, mowed her lawn and cut back brush and bushes. It was a pretty warm day to be outside, but we could see that we made a visible difference.
Pastor Elise and the other half of our Illinois team spent a couple of days working with the homeless in Louisville by serving meals at a soup kitchen. They got to meet and talk with a variety of people and hear their stories.
Louisville is a spread out city, and the roads are not great. So we spent a lot of time on the road each day, driving to our service sites, and also to a YMCA where we were able to shower each afternoon or evening. But despite all the hassles, we felt like we were able to meet interesting people and serve in meaningful ways. God blessed us, and blessed the people of Louisville through this service trip.
Yours in Christ,
Pastor John Rothfusz
