2016 Mission Trip Info - Bethesda Lutheran Church

MUSIC & July 17-24, 2016
MISSIONS
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Youth hine!
Sons
BETHESDA’S 2016 SUMMER MISSION TRIP
For students currently in grades 8-12
This summer, we’re partnering with Youthworks to
serve in urban missions in Minneapolis, then
traveling to Somerset, Wisconsin for the Sonshine
Festival - an outdoor Christian music festival. At
Sonshine, we’ll enjoy the fun, plan group activities,
and then help tear down and clean up when the
festival ends.
TRIP COST:
$350
What’s included?
The cost of the trip
includes:
• Youthworks fees for:
• meals
• trip costs
• Sonshine fees for:
• tickets
• camping reservation
• Group meals
• Transportation
What’s NOT included?
Fast food in transit
Souvenirs
Additional activities
We’ll have more specifics
to help you plan soon
Fundraising info
Fundraising serves several purposes:
• Builds ownership and investment for individuals on the
mission trip
• Builds our sense of team and helps us get to know each
other as we prepare for serving alongside each other 24-7
• Helps reduce financial burden for individuals and families
• Helps inform the congregation about our trip and develops
partnership with them
Bethesda’s goal is to help fundraise one-third to one-half of
the cost of the mission trip. The rest of the money will need to
come through family contributions, students saving money from
their jobs, or writing letters to ask for financial support.
What fundraising opportunities are there?
The primary fundraising opportunity organized by the Youth
Committee is the gas card program. By selling cards at church or
selling them to family, friends, and neighbors. Students get a
percentage of the face value of the card deposited into their
accounts. There is more information about this program in the
youth newsletter and on the back page of this packet.
We recognize that selling gas cards may not be as effective for
every family. If parents would like to organize other fundraising
opportunities, we invite you to contact with Youth Committee with
your plan. If you’re thinking about it, please keep these things in
mind:
• Approved fundraisers must be available for all trip
participants
• We must limit our major events to not more than one every
4-6 weeks
The key opportunities we know about now are:
• Easter Breakfast on March 27th
• Bethesda’s Spring Picnic at the Fairgrounds on May 14
A Note about Commitment & Finances:
When your application is approved, we and you are
committed to having you on the trip. No payments are
refundable. If for some reason, extreme circumstances
prevent you from coming, you will still be responsible for at
least a portion of the trip costs. After April 1st, every
participant is responsible for the full amount of the trip.
Training is essential
During our mission trip week, we’ll have many different kinds of
opportunities to serve. In Minneapolis, our service could include
serving at a food bank, soup kitchen, homeless shelter, children’s
programming organization, clothing distribution center, elderly
care facility, etc. As we serve at Sonshine, we’ll get to do all kinds
of work as we tear down and pack up stages and booths and
clean up the grounds. We want to be well prepared to serve well,
whatever the opportunities.
In addition to our wide variety of serving opportunities, we also
want to go into the week knowing each other as well as we can.
Because living and working together for a week can be
challenging. The better we understand each other before we leave
the better we’ll do offering grace to one another in the midst of
stressful circumstances, new situations, and an unusual routine
and rhythm to our lives.
To prepare us for all of this, we’ll have a number of required
training events leading up to our mission trip.
Our first team training will be March 13, after church.
Touched Twice is a major event at Bethesda, and we need a lot
of help. There are a number of ways we can help in specific
service areas or even with set up and clean up. Everyone on the
team should plan to be a part of Touched Twice on April 16.
Another big Bethesda event is our Church Picnic at the
Fairgrounds on May 21. The Mission Team will be working to
help make this event a success!
June 13-17 is Vacation Bible School. This is another opportunity
that allows us to care for others, work together, and prepare for
our mission trip in lots of ways. Plan to be a part of VBS. If you
can’t help that week, you can help decorate the week before, help
at the Family Fun Night on the 17th, etc.
There will be 1-3 additional times that we get together, and we’ll
announce those as soon as possible.
KEY DATES
February 15 - Application
+ $60 deposit are due
in the office
March 13 - Team Training
12:15-2pm (lunch
provided)
March 27 - Easter
Breakfast
April 15 - Touched Twice
Training night, 6:30pm
April 16 - Touched Twice,
7:30am-3:30pm
May 15 - Final payment
due
May 21 - Spring Picnic @
the Fairgrounds
(Hoedown)
June 6-10 - Decorating
week for VBS
June 13-17 - VBS
* Team get together
during VBS week;
stay tuned for details
July 17-24 - Music &
Missions!
* Additional training events
and mission team get
togethers will be
announced soon with
no less than 2 week
notice.
TENTATIVE SCHEDULE
Sunday, July 17
2:30pm - Meet at Bethesda to load and depart
5:00pm - Arrive at housing site
6:15pm - Dinner
7:15-8:30pm - Orientation
8:45-9:30pm - Large Group Gathering
9:30-10:30pm - Youth Group Time
11:15pm - Lights out
Monday & Tuesday, July 18-19
6:45am - Breakfast Crew in kitchen
7:00am - Wake up
7:15-7:45am - Breakfast
7:45-8:15am - Breakfast/Building cleanup
8:25-8:50am - Devotions9:00am - Gather and
depart to service sites
3:30pm - Depart service sites
3:30-5:30pm - Showers, snack, etc.
5:30-6:30pm - Dinner & cleanup
6:30-8:45pm - Evening activity & snack
8:45-9:30pm - Large Group Gathering
9:30-10:30pm - Youth Group Time
11:15pm - Lights out
Wednesday, July 20
6:30-7:30am - Wake up, load vehicles, eat
7:30-11:30am - Building cleanup and depart
to festival grounds
Wednesday - Saturday, July 20-23
Sonshine Festival
Saturday - Sunday, July 23-24
Shifts to cleanup festival grounds
3:00pm - Arrive back at Bethesda
Youthworks 2016 THEME:
FIRST LOVE
WE WERE UNABLE TO LOVE: UNABLE TO LOVE GOD. UNABLE TO LOVE OTHERS.
BUT GOD LOVED US ANYWAY. NOT WITH A FLIMSY, ONLY-­‐WHEN-­‐IT’S-­‐CONVENIENT, ONCE-­‐IN-­‐A-­‐WHILE KIND OF LOVE. BUT WITH A DEEP, ALL-­‐OF-­‐THE-­‐TIME, FOR-­‐ALL-­‐OF-­‐
TIME KIND OF LOVE. A LOVE THAT TAKES ROOT AND GIVES LIFE. A LOVE THAT FILLS US, CHANGES US, FLOWS FROM US INTO THE WORLD.
AND SO, WE ARE ABLE TO LOVE: ABLE TO LOVE GOD. ABLE TO LOVE OTHERS.
WE LOVE BECAUSE GOD FIRST LOVED US.
FAQ ON USING
GAS/GROCERY
CARDS
Can I designate which student Can we add other vendors
to apply the funds to?
(like Woodman’s)?
Absolutely—any student from
grade 6—grade 12 can get
money applied to their account.
If there are vendors you would
like to see, we are more than
happy to see if we can
incorporate them into our
Who sells the cards?
program. We have limited funds
Students and parents from 6-12 for purchasing cards for our
grade. Each shift needs
inventory, but as our
When can I buy Gas/ Grocery to have one adult
program grows, we hope
and one student to
Cards?
to increase options.
People pay face
work the shift.
Currently, Woodman’s
value for the card,
Every Wed. 5:30pm– 6:15pm in
Any money that
program requires too
so they have the same
the Fellowship Hall
is undesignated
large an order for us.
buying power as
Every Sunday 10:00—10:30am
(not applied to a
But
we will see if we
shopping with cash.
& 11:45am—12:00pm—outside
partic- ular
can eventually include
The stores share
the Youth Room.
student) during
their profit with
their store in our
Where can I use the cards?
that month will be
us.
program.
divided
between
Mega and Kwik Trip gas station
Can I sell cards outside
those students that
and convenience stores and
of Bethesda?
Gordy’s gas station and grocery worked.
store.
How can I sign up for a shift? Absolutely! We can get you a
form to use to collect orders.
How much goes back to the
You can sign up at the link
Your “customers” will need to
below
students?
pre-pay for their cards. You’ll
bring in the order form and the
Kwik Trip and Gordy’s each give http://vols.pt/3XC1GM
money, get the cards, and then
5% to the students and Mega/
Can I use a credit card to
distribute them.
Holiday 10%
purchase cards?
What if I have additional
If I buy a card how does that
At this time, we can only accept questions?
work?
cash or check payments. We do
not want the credit card fees to Contact Tina Vall at
If you buy a $50.00 Mega/
715-271-1291 or
Holiday card—you get a $50.00 reduce our fundraising margin.
[email protected]
But we continue to investigate
g/c and $5.00 will be put on a
additional options.
student’s account (10%). Kwik
Trip and Gordy’s would be
$2.50. (5%)