Summer Fun & Service: Duluth Mission Trip

Upsidedown Kingdom: Expect the Unexpected Let’s overturn the ordinary and exceed expectations, hope for what is coming, and be part of what is here!

Twenty-two Mount Olivet junior high school students and adults will travel to Duluth in July to work with our host organization, YouthWorks. Participants will serve at a variety of service sites, participate in urban learning experiences, and dwell and worship together. YouthWorks spends many months connecting in the community to insure that our missionaries are meeting true needs and will be making an impact, while also having the chance to connect with one another in safe environments. Possible service sites include local food shelves,clothing distribution centers, soup kitchens, summer children/youth programs, and elderly care facilities.

Some of MO past participants’ favorite activities have been:

• Connecting with local children and youth
• Prepping, serving and “cleaning up” meals
• Experiencing the diversity of the local community through cultural presentations and shared meals
• End the of week foot washing

How can those of us staying at home continue to support and encourage the Mission Trip participants?

The wonderful financial support from the MO community, through MissionStock, Lenten Suppers and the Flower Sale Fundraiser is greatly appreciated! Beyond that, participants ask for prayers. Notes of encouragement are welcome as well. Mission trips are emotionally and physically exhausting, and it is nice to be reminded that people are prayerfully supporting participants.

To support Mount Olivet’s Duluth Mission Trip participants, please contact Summer.      [ Summer · santhony@moply.org ]

Summer Fun and Service: Denver Mission Trip

Interrupted: Let the Holy Spirit Change Lives Have you ever wondered what going on a Mission Trip would be like?

Thirty-six Mount Olivet high school students and adults will travel to Denver in July to work with our host organization, Center for Student Missions (CSM). Participants will serve at a variety of sites, participate in urban learning experiences, and dwell and worship together. CSM partners with local organizations year round, ensuring that our missionaries will participate in service work that will positively impact both them and the community. Possible service sites include Denver Rescue Mission, Urban Peak, Bridge Project, Denver Urban Gardens. Through these experiences, CSM is asking participants to allow God to interrupt their lives.

Some of MO past participants’ favorite activities have been:

• Prayer tours
• Urban Plunge/Poverty Simulation: Youth and adult leaders in small groups are sent into a specific part of the city with a small amount of money and a map. Together they must figure out how to feed themselves with the set amount of money and get back to the home site.
• Meet-a-Need: Small groups spread out in the community with a small amount of money to meet the need of someone they encounter. It’s an exercise in crossing boundaries, being resourceful, and lovingly and bravely connecting in community.
• Dinners at local, authentic, ethnic restaurants.

How can those of us staying at home continue to support and encourage the Mission Trip participants?

The wonderful financial support from the MO community, through MissionStock, Lenten Suppers and the Flower Sale Fundraiser is greatly appreciated! Beyond that, participants ask for prayers. Notes of encouragement are welcome as well. Mission trips are emotionally and physically exhausting, and it is nice to be reminded that people are prayerfully supporting participants.

To support Mount Olivet’s Denver Mission Trip participants, please contact Summer.

[ Summer · santhony@moply.org ]

Summer Fun: Camp Noah

Camp Noah is a locally hosted week-long event for elementary-age children whose communities have been impacted by disaster. Camp Noah provides a safe, caring and fun environment where children build resiliency skills within the familiarity of their own communities, using a proven curriculum designed to help children process their disaster and/or trauma experience through creative activities and play. Mount Olivet's team is going to Cloquet, MN June 21-26! As you may recall, the Duluth area experienced massive flooding in 2012—and the effects still linger. Since then, Camp Noah has been bringing hope, healing and wholeness to the affected communities, and it’s finally Cloquet’s turn. Two churches in this community on the St. Louis River and the edge of the Fond du Lac Indian Reservation are eager to host our team and the Camp Noah program.

Because of the location, participant costs and the number of days have been greatly reduced. The cost will now be $260 for the program fee, background check, mandatory training, uniform t-shirt, and transportation, plus six evening meals at your own expense. Lodging and two meals a day are provided, and stays in host homes (as well as at one of the churches) will be available. Carpools will be arranged, and participants will depart the Twin Cities at noon on Sunday, June 21 and return home around 8 p.m. on Friday, June 26. Some scholarships are available to help offset costs.

Camp Noah is a respected and effective model of trauma response in a day camp format. This is a unique opportunity to receive training and experience in the type of environment MCLC hopes to become. Volunteers in this adult-staffed camp must be at least 18 years old, discreet, energetic, caring and work well with children. Online training (five to six hours) and at least two of three two-hour group sessions are mandatory before departure. Volunteers will serve as small-group leaders and assistants, as well as actors/puppeteers.

For more information, contact Lisa Hansen at nodakeric@aol.com.

Summer Service and Fun: Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

Msasani Lutheran Church · July 29 - August 11 Msasani Lutheran Church, part of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tanzania based in Dar es Salam, has been operating since the early seventies in a community of about 300,000 people, the majority of whom live in very poor conditions. As is the case in many parts of Tanzania, the number of orphans, widows, widowers and unemployed has increased greatly, resulting mainly from the AIDS pandemic and general poverty of the people who are victims or who give care to dying relatives. In its efforts to spread the Word of God and serve the community, Msasani Lutheran Church feels that helping people to lead an improved life is an important calling. As such, the Church continuously looks for ways to help the needy. Mount Olivet first connected with Msasani in 2001, formalized our partnership in 2002, and has tithed our Capital Fund to support their efforts ever since. The two churches regularly exchange visits to solidify and strengthen our bonds, and this summer it’s MO’s turn to travel to Tanzania to connect with our Tanzanian brothers and sisters.

Highlights of our visit will include:

• Tour ancient sites, such as Bagamoyo, a 15th century slave-trading port
• Visit ministries of Msasani, helping widows and orphans, the elderly and ill. They also have started about 50 rural congregations.
• Participate in a health fair. Each MO participant will be paired with someone from Msasani.
• Optional National Parks visit to view animals.
• Possible overnight to Zanzibar, the "Spice Island," and historic trading port.
• Stay with a host family - experience Tanzanian culture first hand!

Contact Kirsten Kessel, DM, for more information. [ Kirsten · kkessel@moply.org ]

Habitat for Humanity in Nicaragua 2015

 The Mount Olivet Habitat Team and Friends working in Masachapa, Nicaragua in March, building a new home for Flora.

connecting [in] communities

2015 Mission Trip Opportunities Mount Olivet community members understand themselves to be instruments of God’s grace and work in the world. We are doing God’s work in the world when we reach out to those who don’t have a decent place to live or enough food to eat. Mount Olivet is offering opportunities for those in middle school and older to bechurch in the summer of 2015, serving those in need around the world.

-Duluth MN -Denver CO -Nicaragua: Thrivent Builds with Habitat for Humanity -Dar es Salaam, Tanzania -Camp Noah

Observations from previous mission trip participants:

I met several members from Msasani Lutheran Church when they visited Mount Olivet. Everyone seemed so “filled with the Spirit” and God-centered. I was immediately drawn to them and wanted to see how these people lived and how they could be so filled with joy! I expected to find people and places to rescue and save when we got there. What I found was a church looking for partners - not looking to be rescued.

On our last night in Tanzania, we wanted to say something memorable to our gracious, God-loving hosts to let them know what the experience meant to us. I have forgotten all the words said that night—except I remember very vividly when my son Brett the microphone and said, somewhat awkwardly but with true conviction, “If all the people in the world were like the people of Tanzania—it would be perfect!”

- Sam Riemensnider, Dar es Salaam, December 2011

I found this trip to be educational and impactful - the compassion, friendliness, generosity, and attitudes of the people we met and lived with during our time in Africa were impressive. It was definitely the trip of a lifetime!

-Bruce Finley, Dar es Salaam, December 2011 

I was at a Salvation Army day camp. There were kids who (lived) along the roughest street in Nashville. There was prostitution,drugs, lots of violence…unimaginable for us here. It was hard to say goodbye to the girls that I met and got to know so well. We talked about thunderstorms, and dogs, and the abuse they faced in their homes and saw around them. When I’m on a mission trip, I’m pretty worry free, in the moment, relaxing, focused on helping others, and being in touch with my faith. It's an amazing experience I only get to feel once every year."

-Andy Dickmeyer, Nashville, July 2014

Even something that you do that seems small and insignificant to you, can really make an impact on other people’s lives. We asked (a homeless gentleman) if he would want to share our lunch with us… That was the single best decision I made on this trip because we talked for about two-and-a-half hours about everything, from his life story to ours.

-Thomas Dickovich, Nashville, July 2014

I'm not accustomed to dealing with young children - they scream a lot and they're sticky - but I love them. But still I had a lot of anxiety (about going to Camp Noah). A couple weeks before I left, the anxiety just disappeared,and I just had this vision of smiling and happy children. And you know, that’s exactly how it unfolded.

-Scott Linge, Camp Noah, Lyons CO July 2014