Mission Trip Wrap-Up from Lisa Perez, Youth Minister

On Friday, 12 teenagers and 6 adults returned from Wichita Falls after a week of service, learning, prayer and worship, fellowship, and living in community. We had a great time! Here's what our service itinerary looked like:

Monday: Wichita Falls Humane Society (morning); Wichita Falls Area Food Bank Warehouse (afternoon)
Tuesday: Food Bank Mobile Distribution at Legacy Church (morning); Habitat for Humanity (afternoon)
Wednesday: Habitat for Humanity (morning)
Thursday: Faith Mission 
Friday: Meals on Wheels (before heading back to Austin!)
Check out our St. Alban's Instagram account to see short summary videos of each experience.

We walked dogs, cleaned cat rooms, cleaned and sorted donated food items to prepare them for distribution, visited with neighbors as we walked their food to their vehicles, completed the interior paint (two coats!) of the entire Habitat for Humanity house, served lunch to the community and worked in resale stores that generate funding for Faith Mission, checked in Meals on Wheels volunteers and drove three routes. Our youth worked HARD and I am so proud of their endurance and good spirits.

Each night our program time focused on 1) What does it mean to be a Christian? and 2) Now how do we do that in the world? We used Bishop Curry's The Way of Love practices (Pray, Learn, Turn, Bless, Worship, and Go) to guide us as well as our focus verse, Micah 6:8. We also sang hymns and praise music as well as prayed compline each evening. One of our favorite new Mission Trip songs was "Canticle of the Turning," which you might remember from Rev. Peggy's installation service.

We also had a lot of fun! We played games outside (kickball!), groups games, spent one afternoon at a local small water park, and were generally silly. There was a lot of laughter!

Big THANK YOU to our awesome adults: Susan Tennison, Dave and Susan Saxon, Rev. Peggy, and Children's Minister Alex. They give so much of themselves to the youth (and to me!) - it's a true gift.

I am so grateful for the generosity of this parish family. Your financial gifts and prayers make this transformative opportunity possible! And your support shows our children and youth that they are valued. Thank you!