Hey Everyone!

Just a reminder that THIS Saturday, February 26th 2011, is the Bread Bake at church. This is a mandatory event for all mission trip participants. We will be baking bread to sell the next morning at church as a fundraiser for the mission trip. This is a wonderful opportunity for the youth and the adults to get to know each other better for the mission trip this year. We will be learning more about the area where we are traveling, playing games, baking bread, and of course having lots of fun! It starts at 6:30 p.m. and will go until after church on sunday.

Youth, please remember that the Covenant rules apply to the bread bake--- this means no cell phones, drugs, alcohol, ect.

We look forward to seeing everyone at the bread bake! If you have any questions, please feel free to email myself or Lee or contact me on Facebook.

Clara Dockter

Silent Auction Happening Now!

The silent auction is starting soon. This has typically been our greatest fundraiser; last year we raised close to $,5000. All youth who are attending the mission trip are required to donate at least one thing to the auction. If you need ideas, please call me or email me.(donovans4@usfamily.net) In addition to donations of time for services such as babysitting, lawn mowing, snow shoveling, etc, as well as baked goods and other food items, please consider making a themed basket for donation. Elizabeth Simmer shared some great ideas at the youth group meeting on February 13, and we have lists with lots of other ideas. Please talk to Elizabeth or me.

Youth donations are due to me no later than Sunday, March 13. You can email me with your donation information (donovans4@usfamily.net) or print off the donation form, fill it out, and leave it in my mailbox at church.

We will take donations from church members March 6 , 13, and 20. Bidding starts on March 20 and we will take bids for 4 Sundays, March 20, 27, April 3, and April 10. The 10th is the final day for bidding. We will need youth to help post bids on those 4 Sundays. Please watch for a sign up sheet at youth events.

Thanks,

Laura Donovan

Announcement!!!!

Only four of our youth mission families have turned in coffee sales – we really need everyone to encourage their family and friends to enjoy this great coffee.  We have been successful with our sales at church, but we were not planning on that replacing last year’s individual sales.  We aren’t even to 50% of what we raised last year through the coffee sales.

With that; I am guessing that a deadline will help focus our attention and efforts.

I will take the last orders on February 28^th for delivery the following Sunday.

If you are struggling with the best way to get orders to me – you can put them in my box in the church office; email them to me at tbell@wellingtonmgt.com; fax them to me at 651-292-0072 or drop them in our mailbox at 2237 Sargent Avenue. 

Let’s get our family, neighbors and friends caffeinated now!

Tanya/Maggie

Welcome to Peace Coffee Sales!

The order form (in the side panel on the right) is to be used for selling to your personal network of family and friends.  An important note is the wholesale cost of the coffee will increase February 1, so we will make less money from each sale after that date.  Start selling now!!!!  If you can turn in your order forms as you sell, I will place orders every week. 

 

The form is pretty straight forward - the only tricky part is when someone wants coffee ground - please be careful to note that order and charge for it.  I have to pay for the coffee upon pick up, so I would ask that you collect for the coffee when you take the order to minimize the risk of coming up short.  I suggest that you e-mail your order form to tbell@wellingtonmgt.com or give them to me or Lee at church.  We will deliver your order at the following Sunday's church service or youth group.  If you will not be there, you will need to get in touch with us to make arrangements for delivery.  I will want the money collected at the time of delivering your order (or before if possible).  Checks should be made out to MPUC.

 

Tanya/Lee

Schedule for Coffee Sales

Hello Everyone!

Thank you for coming to the meeting tonight at church and bringing your forms! The youth should have signed up to sell coffee one sunday and here is the schedule:

1-16-11

-Sari Olson

-Lian Simmer

-Edmund Catlin

1-23-11 ** PLEASE NOTE: this sunday we are selling at 10:25 because of the all church mtg

-Lily Brown

-Ellie Powell

-Aidan Coleman

2-6-11

-Rose Lundy

-Gianna Williams

2-13-11

-Hannah Frawley

-Kelsea W

-Vanessa Samuelson

2-20-11

-Lily Schafer

-Claire Donovan

-Maddy Frawley

2-27-11

-Julia Schafer

-Lydia Nelson

-Will Fischer

3-6-11

-Charlie Platt

-Jack Nelson

-Hannah Park

3-13-11

-Claire Romey

-Henry Bushnell

Thank you in advance for coming and selling coffee! See Maddie if you have questions regarding the coffee sales.

-Clara Dockter

Rescheduled Meeting this week, ALL FORMs, check, and an engaging Guest. 5-7 on Sunday

Hello All

Just a reminder of this Sunday's meeting at 5 pm, for all youth participants on the June 2011 trip and their parents. In preparation for the meeting, please see the forms that should be filled out located over on the right hand side of this blog. PLEASE BRING THEM COMPLETED TO THE MEETING. Also, we expect to collect a deposit check for $75, made out to MPUC, which will all go toward the deposit required at DOOR.

In addition to forms and such, we were able to reschedule a visit by Armando Comacho, the president of Neighborhood House in St. Paul, a 110-year-old social services agency located in the Paul and Sheila Wellstone Center on the West Side. Neighborhood House is likely the kind of group we will serve in Denver, and you all will want to hear Armando talk about his mission.

Finally, please recall that each family should bring a meal for themselves as well as a little bit extra, Feeding the 5000 style, for families or participants who did not quite get the word or forgot. We want all to be fed.

Thanks. See you Sunday

Snow Emergency Declared, Mission Trip Meeting Canceled

We will try to reschedule the meeting scheduled for today, December 12, for our first opportunity in January, likely January 9

Time to get Committed: Reminder of Meeting This Sunday, 12-12.

Hello All

This Sunday's meeting at 5 pm is for all youth participants on the June 2011 trip and their parents. In preparation for the meeting, please see the forms that should be filled out located over on the right hand side of this blog. PLEASE BRING THEM COMPLETED TO THE MEETING. Also, we expect to collect a deposit check for $75, which will all go toward the deposit required at DOOR.

In addition to forms and such, we will be joined by Armando Comacho, the president of Neighborhood House in St. Paul, a 110-year-old social services agency located in the Paul and Sheila Wellstone Center on the West Side. Neighborhood House is very representative of the groups we will serve in Denver in the summer, and you all will want to hear Armando talk about his mission.

Finally, the post card did not say it but each family should bring a meal for themselves as well as a little bit extra, Feeding the 5000 style, for families or participants who did not quite get the word or forgot. We want all to be fed.

Thanks. See you Sunday

Mission Trip Youth to be Peacemakers at the October 17 Lunch and Learn

Dear 2010 Mission Trip Parents, Participants and Interested Adults,

The AZ mission trip youth have been invited by the Peacemakers to be guest speakers at the October 17 Lunch & Learn right after church in the Plymouth Room. The Peacemakers will be hosting this event, providing food and beverages. In addition, because the Peacemakers really value the insights of the youth, they would like to pay a $125 honorarium (like they would for guest speakers) to the youth to be put towards the 2011 mission trip. 

The Peacemakers would like the youth to specifically address 1. ways that our church can be more responsive to the needs of immigrants in our midst, and 2. what could or should we be doing to promote justice here in our own community? Two of the youth, Maddie S. and Charlie, have volunteered to lead this presentation. If you are a 2010 mission trip participant, please come to support Maddie and Charlie, and to add to the conversation with your own ideas. Looking forward to seeing you there! 

Peace,

Lauren Baske Davis

Adult Ed Discussion on the Web

A few of the youth volunteered to provide the adult education session last Sunday with a discussion of the mission trip this past summer. It was well attended, quite informative and well received. Jim J. was kind enough to videotape the session and you can see highlights of the discussion on the web at:  Church Video Web Site

Events update -- things are moving

Reminders:

Youth Mission Trip Service, THIS SUNDAY. Meet at 9.30.

Mission Trip update at Youth Fellowship, 5 - 7 pm.

Thanks

Updating Page for 2011 Mission Trip

Page being updated for 2011 Mission Trip.

Good morning,
Yesterday we went to the border near Sausabe, a small desert town west of Nogales. We picked up Holy Trash along the wall and into the desert. The wall here is tall iron pipes about 3" diameter and about 4" apart. You can see through the wall to Mexico. We drove down a sandy dirt track, stopped, walked and picked up holy trash for a while and then drove farther east to do it again. My car stopped at a dirt hill and got out. There stuck halfway through the fence was a dead deer. It had gotten its head through and gotten stuck--half in Mexico, half in the US. For me that was the definition of the wall--a place where things get stuck and movement can't happen.

I wanted to share with all the parents comments from the Border Links staff. Several have stopped me to tell me how much they have been amazed by our group--how engaged, passionate and insightful they are. They also appreciated how much the youth knew about the issues and how much they wanted to learn more. I agree! Listening to them and talking with them about everything we have seen and done has been a highlight of my week.
Marsha

The Complete Package

The Wall will not be forgotten,
The Shackles will not be forgotten,
The Immigrants will not be forgotten,
The Helicopters will not be forgotten.

However, today I found the Hope. We are the hope. We are the ones who wake up at 5:00 am to walk the desert looking for Holy Trash. We are the ones who have the ability to change the way things are. This may be the simplistic part about this trip. That we can help--in any way and for however long.

Clara

P.S. Natasha-- you would be proud, I channeled my inner Natasha during my wrestling match. Love you mucho!

We have experienced so much that we can't blog fast enough.

• We've experienced heat so intense that we couldn't stay outside for an hour without someone passing out, yet we know people have walked through this inferno for DAYS.
• We have seen that no matter how militant and unwelcoming and racist our culture may be, the people of Nogales rushed to our rescue when we collapsed in the sun.
• We watched people efficiently "processed" in groups for deportation--with intentional, individual attention given to assuring that they understand their situation--yet we have seen that their attorneys may not even know their name and they are given 20 seconds for their personal case.
  
• We have met people in Tucson who founded the Sanctuary Movement, people who are passionate about the rights of the oppressed, people who have met weekly for over ten years to remember those migrants who died crossing.
• We talked with men and women who are homeless or illegally in the US, who enjoyed sharing their persona of needing a new pair of glasses but being too blind, too debilitated by hepatitis C, l stories of sleeping outside for 13 years in the same "safe" place, of working for unions, of being too debilitated by Hep C, cirrhosis and blindness to find a new pair of glasses.
• We walked the desert in the places they walked, filling the water tanks and picking up the empty water bottles--and went back to all the water we could possibly ever want, without thinking.

And we learned:

• That it's a good thing to recognize racism--to understand white privilege and -- yes -- to feel some guilt for the luck of the draw that makes us members of that privileged group. Because we did nothing to deserve it and we feel guilty for being treated so "special."
• We learned that there are many symbols of racism-- the laws passed to enable local police to stop people because of the color of their skin; the casual wave-through by Border Guards who look only at our white faces.
• We learned that people of passion can risk everything to support the rights of oppressed people--and that those people can be our role models, defeating our cynicism and hopelessness about systemic change.
• We learned that we can create moments of sanctuary for people by being there when they are in need, ministering to their most basic needs for survival and safety, their needs for self-esteem and belonging by sharing with them, listening, caring. witnessing their pain.

It's only part of the story, but if this were the whole story, it would be more than enough to justify our church's support, our hard work, and our time. There is growth in experiences and in learning from experiences. And perhaps...just perhaps...it will also lead to actions that make us act on what we have seen and thought. We owe it to the migrants, the Sanctuary people, Border Links, Humane Borders, Cross Street Ministries--and to ourselves!

Here's to continuing the work!
Marge

I feel as though my last blog posting was a little negative, so I want to end the night by saying that tonight, we experienced what was (for me at least) the most powerful part of the trip. We went to a vigil that takes place every Thursday night, and has been for the last ten years. It is in honor of all those whose lives have been lost crossing the desert, and those who continue to be forced to cross. Seeing all of the people there, from teenagers to seniors, who are so completely devoted to the cause was unbelievable. There's still hope, you know?

Molly

PS: Still sending love.

Crosses along the road

Hi everyone, this is sari again!
We went on our second water run today- out to the middle of the desert. It took us about 40 minutes of highway driving and then at least two hours total of off-road driving. maybe more. Too bad the Chevy Suburbans do not have 4-wheel drive.
Susanna is a great driver and our car had lots of fun joking and laughing during the ride. We took lots of pictures and told lots of stories and even tried opening the window and poking our heads out a few times without getting hit by prickly branches. It was one long roller coaster ride, but if a truck carrying huge tanks of water can barrel at that speed through the rocky dips and ruts, then we should be able to keep up too.
As we neared the water stations, we began to see some signs of life- remnants of a camp fire, empty water bottles and dusted over backpacks. It was a sad sight. Some of the water tanks were empty, some were still full, some were full of bullet holes. But we went about our work and only got a few minor cactus pokes;
"I touched the cactus and it poked me!" -maddie
It was fun to get caught up in conversations in the car, but one could not help but notice the stark white crosses along the sides of the roads. Some with flowers, some with sayings. There were few, but the car always seemed to get a little quieter when passing by one. Sometimes, one gets so captivated by the beauty of the landscape and the comfort of friends that they do not realize what loss of life still lingers; the crosses are small reminders.
So we give thanks for the life we have and our privileges, we give thanks for our knowledge even though sometimes it seems more of a burden, we give thanks for our ability to help others, and we continue about our mission. And we pray a lot. We pray for people crossing the desert, we pray for those who are living in fear of deportation, and we pray for the sullen faces of the migrants shackled in the court room.
We bring no weapons to the desert (on our missions) ; we bring life, we bring water, we bring love. And hope.
So pray for us and we'll be home soon, but small reminders will remain when we return- our own crosses along the road.
all my love,
Sari

6 O'Clock and All is well

We know this is prime blog reading time in St. Paul. Almost all are visiting the Dinkytown of Tucson, to buy...something. Norm and I just came back from laying in essential supplies -- 10 gallons of water, two family sized bags of Doritos, and items for breakfast and lunch. Today we all went way into the desert with Humane Borders, and tomorrow we all head out early for a day of picking up sacred migrant trash. This is stuff that gets left behind by the migrants working their way back toward the Tucson area after crossing west of Sasabe, Sonora, where the wall stops. While in the desert you always think of one thing: How can anybody survive this trip?

This is the hottest week of the year in Tucson, and the temp in the dungeon (Norm, Tom, Charlie and Jack with me) never gets below 85 degrees. It was 88 at 8 am in downtown Tucson and was 105 when we were in the desert before lunch. For our trip out tomorrow we are leaving early, with a 5:15 AM wakeup. This will cut into the adult coffee time, unless we set alarms for 4 AM. Much as Norm and I enjoy each other's company along with Marsha and Susanne et al, we have agreed that ain't happening.

I want to report that we are all well. Some of the younger youth are really stepping up and getting comfortable with responsibility. Some of the veterans started out feeling that there was not enough direct service -- so much classroom. Today, they are all utterly engaged. Trust me, lives are being changed.

We have had a few of the usual challenges. A bump, a scrape, a little outburst of crabbiness here and there. Youth forgetting to show for a work detail. The dorms are mini garbage houses. And, oh yeah, we had a face plant. But these issues are trivial in light of what we are facing and learning and feeling as we see God's children in shackles and imaging them out there, in the desert. And what should we as disciples do about this?

Your adult team is fine. We ain't as young as we used to be but there is a lot of fight left in us. And we, youth and adults, have so much more to tell you all when we arrive back in St. Paul. That's when the work needs to continue.

Lee (with Norm as Editor)

I cannot believe how many appalling things I have seen on this trip. Life-saving water stations are shot or knifed on a regular basis. Cultural studies have been banned in Arizona schools, and charter schools that provide minority students a safe-place to be well-educated have been shut down. Towns have been split in half by walls that are designed to keep Mexicans from even seeing the lifestyles that we enjoy. Desperate people, from the sexually abused to the unimaginably poor are forced to trek through the deserts that our youth group couldn't last for half an hour in.

I know that these aren't easily solved problems, and that there's more than one side to every issue. But there is no reason to dehumanize people or to effectively kill them. Because that is what I have seen people doing every single day here. Our current system is a death sentence for thousands of people, and nobody can argue differently.

Among the things that really gets me is the fact that the United States is responsible for SO many of the problems that drive people to come here illegally. We have created instability in nations around the World for decades, but nowhere is this more visible than in South America. From U.S.-backed wars to economic agreements that ruin life for millions (hem hem, NAFTA), our country is responsible for incredible amounts of devastation. I think that it's just about time that we as an entire country realized this, and found ways to make amends for what we have done and continue to do.

Anyways, this trip is going pretty well. I'm hot. But who isn't? The food has also improved substantially from the Subway and gross ham sandwiches. Big ups to Susannah and whoever decided to make egg salad.

Chris, Connie, Kelly, I miss you and love you all muchisimo.
MC

After two wonderful entries written by Maddie and Caroline, I just wanted to add my own bit to the powerful day that we had yesterday. Sorry if it's long!

As we were standing and looking at the wall art in Nogales, Mexico, I became a witness to something that I didn't think that I was going to witness on this trip. I saw 4 trucks with 4 "Policia" each in them. Now I am fine with seeing police but the thing was, these Police were not the run of the mill police. THESE guys had loaded machine guns complete with bullet-prof FACE MASKS and full body armor. As these police were driving down the street, I finally realized how real the issue of immigration is and how complex it is. These police were here because of the drug cartels in Nogales. For those of you who don't know, Nogales is currently in a turf war between the different drug cartels. And the drug cartels are assassinating the Policia. Which is why they are in Nogales.

The border area is a war-zone. Now it's a low level one, but it's a war zone. For the past two nights, I have seen border patrol helicopters fly over Tucson with search lights looking/following immigrants. I have seen Border Patrol not even care what I am up to because I am white. I have been though many Border Patrol checkpoints MILES from the border. I have seen so much racism and hatred and tension between Americans and Mexicans. I have seen loaded machine guns 10 feet from my face. I feel like I am in a war-zone and I am scared. No joke. I didn't realize that there is a low-level war zone in my country's own back yard. I am so mad that I didn't realize this until yesterday when I went to Mexico. And then I started to think that if every politician/person went to the Border and SAW what I saw yesterday, this issue of immigration will better solved and solved faster. It makes me SO MAD that I can't see a clear answer to immigration and I have decided that I want to work on this issue even more and I want to help find a way to fix this.

This morning we went on water runs with Humane Borders. This was AMAZING and I couldn't image the immigrants being able to cross the desert without water. As Karl from Humane Borders said--"When I found out that people were dying in my backyard, I knew I had to do something about it". And this is what I found out yesterday as I was standing in the 100 degree heat in Mexico by a wall that is causing so many deaths.

-Clara

P.S. Hey Hey fam and love you-- I am so thankful that I was able to grow up in a household without violence and with a great sense of security. I am so happy for that.