We are home!

Hello friends,

We are now back home. We arrived at around 7:00pm. We come back weary, but renewed; burdened with story, but joyful to share! What an amazing journey!

Aaron

TTP Picture Blog Part Two

Riane's Random Riot-like Collage of Pictures (part two, recorded from a previous broadcast):

OOOOLALALA.... How pretty is this!!! ( Just for the ppl that don't know, its a sidewalk.) hahaha!!!

Run Aaron run!!!! Look at our beautiful assembly line of cement while trying to fill in the sidewalk.

Ohh i just look gorgeous in my fancy umbrella hat!!!

The Pittsburgh Pirtates Stadium along the Ohio river.

The beautiful River boat cruise we went on on our free night here in Pittsburgh.

TPP Picture Blog

Riane's Random Riot-like collage of Pictures (coming to you live in blog format):

Kelly, Erin, Stacy, and Joyce in a group picture of the Jersey Girls... Hey!!! Take a look at Joyce's facial expression!!!! lol

Stacey, Kelly, Kurt, Me, Abney, Ryan, Erin, and Aden spending our lasts moments at Stacey's house.

Aaron, Aden, Kurt, Me, Ryan, Abney, and Erin finishing up the cement sidewalk on the side of the house.

Joyce, Ryan, and John digging up the dirt nd rock on the side of the house to put in th sidewalk.

The Heinz Stadium in downtown Pittsburgh... Go Steelers!!!!!

The Amazingest Senior High School Girl's Blog Post!!!

These are some pictures from Kali and Breanna. They will talk a bit about their experiences and what they are doing at their work site. Enjoy!

From Breanna:

So far i love Pittsburgh. When i first got here i thought there was going to be alot of gang violence. Then i noticed that its pretty quiet around here and people get along very well. When we got are roommates we were all quiet and didn't talk to each other. Now are room is the chat room. my bed is the service bed. if people don't have service on their phone they walk over to my bed and we start talking and they get service.

When we work at are work sight people get along so well. i met Abby my new friend. we clicked right away. we both LOVE COFFEE!!!!! we are always together at are work sight and have paint fights at time. we have a lot in common and we never run out of stuff to say. i met other people. Sarah is a horse lover and works at a horse stables, warren is amazing and loves music, and mark loves to play football and we play catch all the time together. we have a new game called toss Sarah's phone around. here phone is an indestructible phone.

We had to paint the outside of the house and we made new steps in the front and painted the kitchen and the front room. we still have to put a toilet in and put another coat on the kitchen. are home owner is very nice and he gives us a lot of water and makes sure we get lots of breaks. he tells us to stay inside when its hot out. he cares about us like we are his own children. im having alot of fun and making new friends.

From Kali:

Pittsburgh is a lot of fun. I like it here. I love the town. Its great! We drive around and every time we're in the van going anywhere I'm always with my face pressed against the window and being all excited to see everything.

On day one:

-Got to the project

-Met our homeowner

-And met our roommates

-And our work groups

On day two:

-We started working on the stairs which basically started crumbling whenever you just touched it.

-We started scraping paint off the outside of the house.

-Then we repainted it.

-We painted cement steps.

On day three:

-We scraped more paint and finished painting.

-We started doing interior work

-I was in the entry room.

-We scraped more paint.

-When we scraped paint the entire wall started coming off.

-So, we got a new job to do today!

(Hope you enjoyed, and please come to worship on Sunday, August 8 to hear more from "The Amazingest Senior High School Girls! Check out tomorrow as Riane closes out our work week.)

Busy busy busy, and Homeowner Night!

My apologies for the lack of a post yesterday. We have been keeping very busy with our work, worship, and with forming relationships with so many new faces. Because our youth have been so busy, I have decided to take some time to update everyone on what exactly we have been up to these past two days.

One of the neat things about the Pittsburgh Project is that we get to work with people from around the country. Our group of seven was divided into two groups, where we also work with groups divided in a similar fashion. Breanna and Kali have been working with Kristin in one group. Abney, Kurt, and Riane have been with me at another site. In my group in particular, we are four ELCA Lutherans working with three people from a Presbyterian church in New Jersey, and two young people from a Methodist church from just outside of Washington D.C in Virginia. Praise God for the work the Church can do when it comes together! I will save the details of the actual work we are doing for our youth to share as they do their blogs.

Each group works with a homeowner who is experiencing some form of financial despair in fixing up their home to meet city and state standards. Many of these people are either elderly or disabled individuals. In working with these homeowners, we not only serve them, but we grow to have a deeply spiritual relationship and friendship. It will certainly be hard for all of us to leave our homeowners at the end of the week.

This leads us to tonight! Tonight was a special night, as each group had the honor of inviting their homeowner to dinner and worship at the Pittsburgh Project site. This is a great opportunity to "get out" of the house for a night for these special guests, as we uplift their presence and the new friendships we have formed. What an amazing experience to not only serve those in need, but to befriend and worship with them as well!

Thank you for reading, and keep posted as our youth continue to tell their stories!

God's Peace!

Aaron

No new update...

No new posts last night due to internet issues and lack of time. We will keep you updated with two new posts today. As always, thanks for keeping up with our wonderful young people as they grow in faith and serve God through serving others.

The Work Begins...

Hey. It's Abney here typing from Pittsburgh Project. Well today was a tiring and fun experience. We went to our homeowner Stacey's house, and painted her fence. As you can see in the picture. We really got a chance to connect with her and our group. It was really amazing. In the picture to the right is Aiden and Riane. Aiden's from a church in Virgina, and it really shows how we all got to know each other. On the bottom you can see we loved taking pictures, sadly I was targeted. -.- Well we still have Dinner and hopefully after that naptime, im exhausted especially since I didn't get a nap yesterday because of Kurtis the Seat Stealer >.<

We're here!

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Before we left

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Panoramic from the Incline observation deck

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Kali and Abney pointing at a big circle

Kurt here, Aaron is trying to get each of us to write a blog for the site, so I'm getting mine done first☺.

So, after a long, long 9-hour trip, we finally made it. Along the way, we had a few discrepancies, among them a bottle of Mountain Dew, sleeping arrangements (I had to get the floor), and working the GPS. Eventually, we worked most of them out, and arrived here safely and relatively happy (except maybe Abney, because she claims I "stole" her seat while we were driving around town...☺).

Pittsburgh, Here We Come!

...and we are on our way! Our mission trip group will be departing from St. John's Lutheran Church in Peru, IL tonight at around 7:30pm. We hope to arrive in the city by morning where we will enjoy a quick breakfast, attend a local church for worship, emerge ourselves in the city a little bit, and finally check-in to The Pittsburgh Project where we will find out what work awaits us for the week. Pray for safe travels!

Commissioned and ready to go out...

Hello friends, family, and fans,

We are nearing our departing time for Pittsburgh! I am anxiously awaiting what I hope and pray will be an amazing week in working to further the Kingdom of God! We are set to leave on Saturday, July 24 and will be returning very early in the morning on Sunday, August 1. While we are away, we will be posting pictures and reflections about our time working with The Pittsburgh Project.

Many have asked me over the past few months (and more so in the past few weeks as we prepare to depart) what are we going to be doing in Pittsburgh? Simply put, we will be working with an organization called The Pittsburgh Project. Throughout the week we will be rebuilding and fixing-up homes for elderly or disabled persons in the inner-city. All the while we will be forming bonds with other youth groups around the nation and participating in discipleship-building worship services and devotions. But The Pittsburgh Project is so much more than that! With a twenty-plus year track-record, TPP (The Pittsburgh Project) has taken on the entire city as its mission. I invite you to check out their website: http://www.pittsburghproject.org to learn more about this wonderful non-profit organization.

That being said, keep posted for more updates throughout our week-long adventure in serving as God's hands in this grand creation. Please keep Abney, Breanna, Kali, Kristin (parent), Kurt, and Riane in your prayers as we prepare for the work ahead of us.

Thank you and God's peace!

Aaron Shoppa, Director of Youth and Children's Ministries

Mission Trip Preparation

(Above and Middle) Youth preparing for the mission trip through the Spaghetti Supper fundraising. Thank you to all who helped out in our fundraising by eating food, lending a helping hand, or providing a simple word of encouragement.

(Below) Youth preparing both heart and mind for mission in the inner-city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania through a lesson on privilege. Who can build the taller marshmallow tower! Yes, this is one of those lessons where you get to eat your work!