“serving as the heart and hands of Jesus…”

Center for Congregations Grant funding Requirements

2016 pilot program Waycross/ Brown County Indianapolis

St. John’s Episcopal Church Johnson City, TN Body, mind, and spirit

Service Rocky Fork State Park AME Zion Church St. John’s Hospitality NHC Healthcare Salvation Army Thrift Store

Worship Book of Common Prayer St. John’s Episcopal Church Seeger Chapel at Milligan College AME Zion Church

Teambuilding Ropes Course Strange and magical things Struggle leads to strength

Fellowship Music on the Square Pool time Whitewater rafting and zipline course Roan Mountain hike

Testimonies

Owen: I really thought my favorite part was just bonding with everyone at Milligan. I enjoyed our teambuilding activities and making new friends.

Mikaila: I really liked the service project at the nursing home, and I enjoyed meeting new people.

Emma: Mission in the Mountains was very helpful to the surrounding communities and to the youth groups. It gave us a chance to practice what we preached in a real life setting by doing…

God's work. We also built relationships with people that we wouldn't have met had it not been for this mission. Through Mission in the Mountains, we got to see the great outdoors in a new light and help save plant life from an invasive species. By helping…

restore a church in Jonesboro, we helped spread the Word, and to me that meant a lot. This was a really good experience for me that helped me make connections and learn about my own community.

Charlie: I had a great first mission trip, and I am so thankful I got to go on this journey. My favorite part was at the nursing home when just a simple flower could make them so happy. I am thankful

that I got to know some of you better and even made some new friends that I got to know some of you better and even made some new friends. I hope to maybe join the next mission trip.

Caleb: I enjoyed helping people that needed help, for example that old church we cleaned it up a bit. Now it is a little better.

Ian: I really enjoyed meeting the youth from St Ian: I really enjoyed meeting the youth from St. John’s and doing teambuilding activities and serving alongside them. I loved having Compline each night at different places around…

the Milligan College campus the Milligan College campus. Something I hope to do next year is to contribute more musically during worship. I also look forward to having the youth from St. John’s come to serve with us here in Indiana next summer.

Shannon: This year’s mission trip was a huge success and impacted so many different people along the way, including me. One thing that stands out to me the most from this mission trip was…

when both parishes visited a local nursing home and provided each of the patients with a flower. As each of us made our way around the nursing home, the patients touched each of our hearts in a way that I will carry on with me forever.

Matthew: I really enjoyed handing out flowers at the nursing home Matthew: I really enjoyed handing out flowers at the nursing home. It made me feel warm inside to know that even a simple flower can make someone’s day. I also loved meeting new

people in Tennessee and being able to participate in worship with them people in Tennessee and being able to participate in worship with them. This was my first time using the Book of Common Prayer for Morning Prayer and Compline, and it was great to step away from the outreach work to gather together to pray.

Jenny: My favorite part of my experience was getting to know people that are in a different setting, city, state, and history. When I was there and we started to help out a tiny church smaller…

than a house (but loved as a home), I was working and saw people drive by. Sometimes they would roll down their windows and tell us that they are proud and then drove off. The one other favorite was the flowers at the nursing home, when we went there and I saw the people’s…

faces when we gave them a flower - it went from regular to excited in 0.5 seconds! I kept going around and talked to them, and most of them told me about their lives, and I just listened. I was in awe of their lives and families. l was trying my very best to not…

cry because they all were so nice to us and let us say hi and talk to them and give a flower to them. The flowers started to mean something to me - it was that one flower equals a lifetime of love that you must cherish.

Thomas: Mr. Stahly, Liam, one of the kids from the other parish, and I were cleaning out the crawl space under the AME Zion Church. While cleaning the crawl space out, Liam and I started…

to get along really well to get along really well. The next day Liam and I worked a lot in the afternoon to clean the sides of the church with a washcloth – we held the ladder for one another and took turns. I enjoyed the team building aspects and relationship building of this year’s mission trip…

both with Mr. Stahly and Liam because of the service that we accomplished together.

Zoe: Though we did lots of service work throughout our mission trip, one thing that especially stood out to me was cleaning the AME Zion Church. It was one of the most memorable things we did

over our trip because our progress was obviously affecting the community in a positive way. As we were cleaning, people from the community would drive by and thank us for everything we were doing. Seeing how appreciative the people were of

us doing work for the church was an amazing experience. 

Katlyn: I had so much fun on the mission trip to Tennessee, and I hope to go on more with the youth group. I want to thank everyone for being so nice and supportive of me especially since it…

was my first one. I really loved when we went to the nursing homes and gave out flowers to the people there. It made me happy to make them smile and talk with them. Once again, I absolutely loved the mission trip and had so much fun!

Ellen: It was a wonderful opportunity for our youth to get to know youth from another part of the country and to see how they interact as a youth group. It was good that the group had Morning

Prayer, Evening Prayer and Compline, which emphasized the similarities in worship among all Episcopalians which use the same Book of Common Prayer--showing a continuity and emphasizing the comfort one can feel when in a new location just by going to the church there.

The missions were good and diverse, demonstrating to the youth how much need there is for service work right in our own backyard. The tasks also showed how relatively easy it is to find a place that needs help and how capable we each are of helping and making a difference.

The team building/leadership activities that the youth did each night were wonderful. They were well thought-out and were explained to the youth. Discussions after each activity were pertinent and helped youth and adults learn many valuable lessons from the activities.

It was a wonderful experience getting to know the adults as well as the youth from HFEC. Again, it demonstrated our similarities as we are tied together through our faith. I personally grew from the experience and pray that my schedule will allow me to travel…

with our youth group to Indiana during the summer break of 2018.

2018 Plans YMGI funding extended through June 2018 (full exchange program) HFEC funding matched by the Episcopal Diocese of Indianapolis St. John’s youth and leaders travel to Indianapolis Opportunity for HFEC volunteers

? Questions

Closing Prayer Almighty and most merciful God, we remember before you all poor and neglected persons whom it would be easy for us to forget: the homeless and the destitute, the old and the sick, and all who have none to care for them. Help us to heal those who are broken in body or spirit, and to turn their sorrow into joy. Grant this, Father, for the love of your Son, who for our sake became poor, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Book of Common Prayer