Missions accomplished Returned from missions These young adults from

Shannon Rundell, left, and Molly Brooks, right,

meet a student in Puebla, Mexico, early this summer.

Cody Tubbs looks through photos taken on a recent missions trip to Puebla, Mexico.

Renae Wenger and Steve Greene reminisce about their summer missions trip to Ceiba, Puerto Rico with their youth group from Topeka Bible Church.

Amanda Haas and Josh Mabry talk about a recent missions trip they attended with their youth group from Countryside United Methodist Church.

The Topeka Bible Church Youth Group poses for a picture during missions trip in Puerto Rico.

Lindsey and Whitney Bledsoe discuss friendships they built while on a missions trip earlier this summer.

Lindsey Bledsoe, Heather Sinning and Whitney Bledsoe enjoy free time

in Vermont. The girls went to Johnson, Vt., on a missions trip

through Wanamaker Woods Church of the Nazarene.

Photographs by Tom Allen/The Capital-Journal and submitted

M

By Tom Allen

The Capital-Journal

Most people are aware of full-time missionaries sponsored by local churches, but some area churches also sponsored youths for short- term missions projects this summer.

Nineteen-year-old twin sisters Lindsey and Whitney Bledsoe traveled to Johnson, Vt., as part of a 14-person group in June. The trip was a missions project supported by Wanamaker Woods Church of the Nazarene.

While in Vermont, the twins worked at Fields of Harvest, a high school for troubled boys operated through the Nazarene church.

The school, which teaches boys ages 13 through 17, got its name from John 4:35 in the Bible. It involves the boys in a family environment to change their lives through love.

"I went in with prejudgments," Lindsey Bledsoe said. "Everyone was just happy to have help to fix up the school. It was a great experience."

The women, who spent two weeks painting and doing electrical wiring in an under-construction gymnasium, said they are planning to return to the school in December on personal trip to visit and do more work.

"I really learned to see other people through God's eyes rather than my own," Whitney Bledsoe said.

College students Cody Tubbs and Shannon Rundell, both 20, from Town and Country United Methodist Church, traveled to Puebla, Mexico, with their Campus Crusades group at Kansas State University.

The focus of the trip was to work with students from K-State, the University of Nebraska and the University of Colorado to establish a Campus Crusade group and to share the Bible with students at Benemerita Autonoma de Puebla College in Puebla.

"It was a great experience. It was my first experience out of the United States. The people there were very welcoming," Tubbs said. "People wanted to know why we traveled so far to share God."

The hardest thing for both students while in the mission field were cultural differences.

"I really enjoyed the experience, but it was hard to adjust to a different culture," Rundell said. She said the biggest difference was the language barrier.

Tubbs said he is planning a return trip to Puebla on a stint --- a short-term international missions trip. Rundell said that she has no current plans but would be willing to go again "in a heartbeat."

Countryside United Methodist Church sent students on a missions trip to the St. Paul- Minneapolis area from May 31 to June 8.

Among those who traveled on the missions trip were 17-year-old Amanda Haas and 15-year-old Josh Mabry.

Upon arrival in the area, students worked during the day in two groups.

"Half of us went to the inner-city working at a day care center and worked with Peace Polls, a group asking people what peace was to them," Haas said. "The other half stayed at a United Methodist Church campground and helped build a dock and a worship center."

The students learned more than they were prepared for on this trip and said it was great to experience mission work.

"I felt like I got so much more than I gave," Mabry said. "I got more than I expected from a mission trip to help others."

Both students said they got a good idea of what it really means to serve others and are planning a trip to Seattle next summer for missions work.

A group of students from Topeka Bible Church traveled to Ceiba, Puerto Rico, in early July for an eight-day summer missions trip to have a vacation Bible school at Grace Bible Church, a church for American military personnel stationed in San Juan and local Puerto Rican residents.

Renae Wenger, 16, and Steve Greene, 20, were among the students traveling with the group.

The trip began on July 6 with the group canvassing the area around the church to let residents know about the Bible school. The result was an unexpected surprise with 20 children on the first day and 44 by the end of the week.

"Grace Bible Church thought the number of kids was amazing," Greene said. "The Sunday before we came, there were only five kids in church."

To be allowed to travel on the trip, students were required to raise their own support, which the youth group accomplished through fund-raising events.

Students were also required to attend 75 percent of the youth meetings prior to the trip. This was to prepare the students for the mission field.

"The events were designed to get us spiritually ready to give our hearts and become servants," Wenger said.

In addition to the vacation Bible school, students worked painted the church and removed brush that had been growing on the property.

Greene said the youth group has local outreach ministries in the works and has plans for a missions project for next summer.

Tom Allen can be reached at 295-1195 or tallen@cjonline.com

See MISSIONS, page 4E

Mission: 'I felt like I got so much more than I gave'

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