Final Video

We put a little video together last night for our final session to help us remember and celebrate what we did this week. We are sharing it here too and hoping that you enjoy this quick overview of our trip.

Final day in Idaho

Allisyn Edmonds

Today was our last full day in Idaho. We chose to end a hard working week by going to Roaring Springs Water Park. It was a lot of fun because it was super hot outside. My favorite ride was the family raft ride because you can almost flip over if you get enough weight! I think everybody had fun but there are some people that got pretty burnt waiting in line. My favorite part of the day, however, was delivering baskets of supplies and toys that we had purchased to the families on the ranch. It gave me joy to see the surprise and shock on the kids faces as we gave them their gifts. I hope that God will continue to bless their families. I had enjoyed connecting with each of the families on the ranch and hope that even after we leave that they will continue to seek God’s love.

Brett Carter

Today was the day that we went to the water park. We had a lot of fun. The water was cold, the day was hot, and we got sun burnt even though we applied sun screen.

Hey!! This is Kathleen Hartwig.

So my day started out in a very hectic manner. Someone woke me up for breakfast about two minutes before I had to be downstairs and ready for the day. After finishing breakfast, everyone got on the bus and we all left to the water park. The park people opened the park 15 minutes early, just for us. I rode the “family rafting” ride first with Andrea, Laura, and Hillary. I definitely screamed my lungs out all the way through. It was great. We spent the rest of the day soaking up a lot of water and way too much sun. I have a beautiful dark red sunburn on my back and shoulders to prove it. After getting back to the ranch, completely exhausted, we ate dinner and started main session. Today we pieced together the puzzle and read our bag of encouragement cards. I really enjoyed reading the nice things that people noticed about me throughout the week. I had a great day overall, but I am really, really excited to sleep in my own bed instead of on the very, very hard floor.

Hey there everyone! This is Julia Hoffmann! Today was an awesome day thought I must say I enjoyed working here at the ranch the days that we did. I was woken up at 7:58 this morning which was about 2 minutes before morning devotions and breakfast, so daylight found me dressing the fastest I probably ever have in my life and racing down the stairs trying to be on time. And I made it! After the inspiring devotions and a really good breakfast we all piled into the bus and made our way to the Roaring Springs water park. They let us into the park 15 minutes early which was awesome and they even gave us two 50 dollar umbrellas for free which I think was a work of God. I spent pretty much the whole day at the park with my mom, Ellisa, Diana, and Emily. We went down every ride including the Avalanche, the Lazy River and the ride we like to call, “The Toilet Bowl.” It was fun while it lasted but Ellisa and I ended up quitting early to go play cards with some of the other students. Several of us got really bad sun burns even thought we used waterproof spf 45-50 sunscreen and put it on 3 times, including me. I’m sure we will survive though J. Once we got back to the camp, we split up into six teams and distributed the baskets we made up for the families. The family my group took a basket to unfortunately was not home so im not sure how were going to get it to them but well probably figure it out. We then had a really good dinner of Costco pizza and salad. They also had us take partners and walk around the ranch with a list of questions and about our trip and it was really cool to talk to and become friends with someone I hadn’t interacted with much before. Then we did worship and had an awesome lesson by Hillary about faithfulness that really hit some of us pretty hard. And now, I must say goodbye because its 11:02 and I should probably go to bed! Thank you for reading, it has been really fun writing this message. Bye!

Work Day #4

Robert Hazleton:

Today our group finished building the horse stalls. Mainly what we did today was put up fences around the whole area. It seemed like our group did not have that much to do considering it was our last day of working. Our group consisted of Ryan, Nolan, Abi, Justin, Katie Brim, Emily, Kirby, and me. There was a lot of wiring fences to posts and still some more rocks to be picked/raked up. After that was all done we had to move five different tires into each stall. One of them was a few inches past my head, which took all of us including Jeff and Cindy Turner just to lift it up. After that we were all done and it was lunch time. Then after yet another delicious meal, our group went out to finish the rest of the car washing with the other groups. After washing all of the houses cars inside and out, our work day was over. We are looking forward to an amazing day at the “Roaring Springs Water Park” tomorrow.

Brad Jr. (Herbert) here – Today was my first day not working in the fields. Bruce recruited me and Brett Carter to help shampoo carpets. I quite enjoyed the task until, after moving the shampooer and furniture, I hurt my lower back. I checked with our talented “doctor/nurse” Bruce and he said it would be best for me to remain lying down. We had a grand total of an hour of work left but for me it felt like forever. As I sat watching Brett (the good man he is) finishing my job for me, I couldn’t help but think, “Why would God let this happen on our last day of work? The day when we were all going to finish our tasks strongly?”

As I was listening for any guidance, God gave me the revelation that this is related to the Body of Christ. Brett was stepping up and helping his Christian brother who was in a time of need. I realized that this is the way that God wants all of us to act and that this is a fruit of the Holy Spirit, kindness. It’s comforting to know that the Body of Christ will always be there to get my back… literally. I would like to thank everyone back home for all of your prayer and support. Without you guys, this really wouldn’t be possible. As a whole, we have reached out to the people of Eagle, Idaho.

P.S. I’m currently watching Mikey get his hair straightened… what happens in Idaho stays in Idaho.

I’m Teresa Martini. Today was our last and busius work day at the Ranch. In the morning I weeded a vegetable garden for the teachers. The weeds were pretty dense and it took a lot of us working hard to clear it. We saw a couple of scary mice and a toad in the weeds. Later that day I washed and detailed cars. The cars were very dirty and each one took a lot of time. After the cleaning the cars a couple of other girls and I help prepare dinner. The youth group invited all of the ranch to dinner so for the cooks to feed an extra 40 people they needed the help. After dinner we spent time spent time with the kids playing with water balloons and face painting. It was a very full but rewarding last day.

Hi all. Day 5 at the ranch and each day is as good as the day before. I am exempt from hard labor as my job is to help feed the laborers. Working with food – a task I thoroughly enjoy. It is as much fun as a chemistry lab and tastes way better. Better yet, I get to make the desserts, a very important task. Friday we had Rice Krispie treats, Saturday was brownies, Monday was chocolate cake and today was my favorite – Cajun Delight. Being a cook on one of these trips makes you very popular!

So how do we deal with all these calories? After a hard day of manual labor we play Capture the Flag, Smash Face, or tag with the ranch kids. Smash Face you are probably thinking? For a church group? Yes, the ranch kids taught us this one. The only thing wrong with the game is the name. It is actually a great game to include everyone in. Tomorrow we will burn off the rest of the sugar and have a great time playing with the ranch kids at the local water park.

Your assistant chef, Liz Hoffmann

Ranch kids playing on the new tennis court

Sorting clothes donated to the ranch

Work Day #3

Hi everyone, its Laura Schaudt. Today in the morning I wore a long-sleeve because even though its summer time in Idaho, it was cold. My group started out weeding a garden for the Stine Family. They are teachers here at the ranch (well actually Mrs. Stine is the principal). The garden took us a long time to weed but it was fun because we had some good conversations with each other. After that it was lunch time and it was delicious like every other meal we’ve had here. Then my group took a trip to Walmart to shop for the families on the ranch. We put all the supplies in a laundry basket and will give them to the families tomorrow at our group barbeque. Hopefully the baskets will really bless the families. Although the day wasn’t filled with too much physical labor for me, I still had a hard day and am tired. And they’re turning the lights out riiiiiiight nowwwwwwwww….so I’m going to bed. Goodnight!

Eyyy this is Leland Holden… so today I did some work and stuff like I cut down this tree and pressure washed this house and played capture the flag and whatnot it was pretty cool I guess.. yaaaaaaay.. Later ha

Today was pretty laid back for a work day. My group worked on finishing up the barn that we moved on Saturday. This is Abi Penner, by the way. We mixed and poured the concrete to secure the building, and basically just tidied up a little bit. The majority of my day was spent raking rocks. In a horse pasture. With lots of horse poop. It was pretty fun actually, and not very demanding. It was great because the mindlessness of the task allowed for connecting with people, people that I might not have talked too much otherwise. This whole trip has been that way for me. God is definitely good.

Hi, this is Brad C. It was back to work today and my group was tasked with making a 4’ by 3’ wood box to put various balls and outside toys in to be placed near the basketball court. It was a fun job as we got to use a chop saw to cut some wood and Jeff Turner’s special “left handed” hammer to pound some nails (it worked pretty good even for those of us that are right handed). The box came together nicely and after lunch we were looking for more work to do. In the afternoon we worked on scraping and painting a floor and then pulling a old metal poll, that used to be used for tether ball (we think), out of the ground. The poll turned out to be more work then we expected as it was buried about 3 and a half feet in the ground and secured by two layers of concrete with a dirt layer between and on top. We thought we had it out after the first concrete layer only to find that we were only half done.

We had home made mac and cheese for dinner that was very yummy and in the evening we played a game of capture the flag with the ranch kids. It was a well fought game that ended in a draw when we came in and Matthew gave a lesson on the next fruit of the spirit, kindness. He used several examples from Jesus’ ministry of times when he showed kindness to all sorts of people including those that were out to kill him. One example he gave was the servant of the High Priest who had his ear cut off when he was coming with the mob to take Jesus and kill him. Even when this man was coming to kill him Jesus showed kindness by healing him.

I hope you all are enjoying our blog thus far. We have read some of the comments that have been left to the group and we all have been encouraged by them. I would encourage you all out there reading this to leave us a comment and let us know what you think.

Encouragement

One of the things that our connection team has asked us to do on this trip is to remember the importance of encouraging our Christian brothers and sisters. To help us with this, they have set up a bag for each person on the trip and have some note squares scattered throughout the room .We are writing notes of encouragement to each other throughout the day and putting them in the small bags. At the end of the trip we will each get to take our bag home, full of encouraging things. Can I suggest that you join us in this? Please leave some comments on this page about how our work is encouraging you, share a note of encouragement with a student, or how God is teaching you something. We will read these notes out loud each evening during our teaching session. Or you can email them to us at IdahoRevelation@gmail.com

Thanks!

A Day of Rest

Team with our new shirts

Justin Rouleau

Today we went to Eagle Christian Church. They have a big and very new looking sermon. They do service a little different than what we do, for example they do all there worship at the beginning and most of the songs are get up and jump for joy songs, than they do the juice and bread (I cannot spell it), they do lesson, sang half of a song than continue with the lesson (it was the one in Mark 2 1-12 with a paralyzed mans friend dig a hole in the roof and lower the man in), we sang a little more and then Church was done.

After Church was done we ate lunch. After lunch we went to Boise Bible College, got a tour of it. I think after I go to OSU for four years to be a pharmacist I will go to Boise Bible College.

After that we were going to go to Eagle Island but it started to rain. I never knew it rained in a desert. So we stayed at the ranch and played with the kids and ate dinner. We learned a new game here it is called ‘smash face’ it is where you get in a circle with a volley ball and hit around. After you hit it three times you can spike it at the people in the middle where one person starts on their butt and if the ball hits the ground at any time you go in the middle, except if someone in the middle touches it. If some in the middle caught the ball in air everybody in the middle goes out and who every touched it last is in the middle.

A quick round of smash face

Physics and Labor Team

Sarah Hazelton

Today is Sunday, so this morning… we all washed up, put on our nice clothes, and got ready to visit the Eagle Christian Church. We also got our mission trip t-shirts this morning, and we were eagerly encouraged to wear them to church.

Once we got there, we split up and some of us went to the regular service, while some went to the high school youth group. Allisyn and I sat in youth group with a girl named Allie, and we became friends pretty quickly. After we mingled around and got to know some of the other kids, we sat down for the lesson. The main point of the lesson was about “Who is the greatest”. Jesus told the disciples that none of them were, and pointing to a very young boy, told them to become like that child. We discussed why children represent what God wants us to be like, and I really liked how interactive the pastor made it. After youth group finished… it was about time for lunch.

After lunch, we had some free time, and we stopped at an awesome park! We eagerly embraced our inner child. We climbed around, ran through water fountains, beat on musical instruments, and played a game of link tag. Then we went on a tour of the Boise Bible College. It seems like an amazing place… and it almost has me thinking about going to a college outside of my state.

We had the whole ranch over tonight for dinner, and we had an amazing time. I got to know a sweet little boy sitting next to me, played tag with bubbles wands, attempted hacky sack, and more. We finished up the day with worship and a lesson from Jim Kirby, and now we’re winding down with some smash face. This has been an amazing trip so far!

Outreach Team

Hey guys, this is Hannah Williams!

I just have to say that I really love this new game “smash-face” that everyone will be talking about later on. Hah.

I also really got a lot out of today’s devotion due to a metaphor the worship team created with a puzzle. This morning, we handed out pieces of a puzzle of which the final design is “hidden”. (Everyone’s kinda already figured it out, but oh, well.) The pieces were mentioned in the morning devotion and we were asked to write down our observations about the pieces themselves. Common observations were that the pieces were each different, and needed to complete the big picture. They were each a specific part of the grand design and valued equally. If one piece were to be missing, the whole picture would be broken and incomplete. They were designed to connect with the other pieces.

After making observations about the puzzle pieces, we were asked how they were comparable to us as believers in Christ. I said that, like the pieces, we are each designed differently, yet when we come together in the name of God, he uses us to create a beautiful image of His grand design. We all bring what we have to offer to the table, give ourselves to Him and he pieces us together to make something of immense value. We are designed for fellowship and connection with others and when one of us doesn’t focus on God’s plan, we lose ourselves to distraction. When we are lost in ourselves, we are like a missing puzzle piece. We leave the grand design incomplete. In order to complete the big picture, we must all give ourselves completely to God.

For me, this metaphor was powerful and I really hope that it hits home with every student here. I also hope that it blessed you while you read this. Thank-you for your prayer, it has been a blast so far. We have worked hard, gotten dirty, shared laughter, and worshiped the God who has touched the hearts of those who live here. Thanks for your prayer and support!

Worship Team

Media Team

Our amazing cooks

Connections Team

A Word from Our Leader

Today is day two, and our students are doing an incredible job. In the last two days we have nearly finished all the projects they set apart for us. The job from here on out will be going over and above what was expected of them. As a youth pastor I could go on about this, but I will simply say that Suburban’s youth are living up to their reputation of being extremely hard working and loving students. They have well on their way aboard the train to awesome town. Our kids are developing so many memories and relationships. It has been such a blessing to watch them at work! As a youth pastor I couldn’t be prouder. We want to encourage you all to keep on praying. I don’t think that God is finished with us here. As things roll on I cannot imagine that we will not have obstacles to navigate. I would encourage you to read over Psalms 1 right now and think of these kids. Pray through our theme verse over them. Ask God to work powerfully in them and through them. We need your prayer! God bless you for keeping up on us!

Work Day #2

Anna Smith:

Today the weather was perfect!!! The clouds shaded the sun and made my group’s job more enjoyable (not like it wasn’t already). My group consisted of a bunch of high school girls and my youth leader’s wife. We made it our priority to stain a deck. We had fun painting it on the deck and ourselves. It was a messy job. But we all had a great time hanging out and getting dirty. Who’s up for workday # Three!!!!!

Ryan Nelson

Day 2 of work and our group has almost finished setting the shelter in the new location. We started the day by measuring out where the shelter would go. After Jeff finished measuring every angle there is (and then some) we began to dig. The ground in Idaho is very rocky and hard to dig. A lot of the rocks were about the size of a big potato and the posthole diggers we used didn’t do much. We found that slamming giant crowbars into the ground loosened the dirt which could then be picked up with the posthole diggers but the crowbars are NOT light and after awhile they get really heavy.

Anyway, after the holes were dug we attached boards to the shelter. At around 11:30 everyone got together to move the barn. It took 32 people to move the barn but we did it. Jeff even had a whip.

At this point we only had half the holes we needed so we started to dig again. Somehow Abi always seemed to have the hardest hole whether it was the rockiest or the one that had to be the deepest she had the hardest hole to dig. Now that we finished the hole we had everyone pick the shed up and place it in the hole. It was pretty cool to see everyone move the whole shed.

Tomorrow we will be visiting a church in town and going to Eagle Island with the kids on the ranch. Keep praying for us.

Brandon Admire:

Today was off the hook crazy… during work time my group finished what was left to do on the basketball court. Yesterday we put up back boards, painted lines for the court, and dug holes. Today we finished up the back boards, and dug the holes the rest of the way and put in posts for tennis net! When it was all set and done we “tested” it with a few of the ranch kids and played an intense game of PIG. THEN we moved a barn. That’s right. A barn. It was epic on a grand scale (see video). But that wasn’t the crazy part. The crazy part was when we hung out with the ranch kids and played a game called face-smash. The game not only has an excellent name, but also combines the best of volley ball and dodge ball. It consists of bumping the ball three times and then smashing it at the people in the middle, and you get in the middle by messing up during the bumping process. It was intense. And violent. And O so much fun… the best way to describe it is off the hook crazy. And in the whole day of craziness no one has been seriously injured yet! So pray for our continued protection from harm’s way! :-D

Hey! yo people this is Joel Dodson,

Today at the ranch our group was finishing up a fence that we dug out of the ground and set it up somewhere else so the animals don’t get out. But the hard part I think that I got out of it was putting the barb-wire from the old fence that we tore down and put up with the other fence. The last thing that I did today was taking down two really big fence posts that we had to dig out of the ground. But what really got me so far on this trip was Steve’s POWERFUL message on joy. But the funny thing that Steve got us going with his message was a slide show of the 20 WORST album covers. Now tomorrow we get to go to church at eagle Christian and take a tour of Boise Bible College.

Work Day #1

Nolan Bartlow: Our whole group formed 3-4 smaller groups, and we worked to help maintain the ranch for about 6 hours. I was involved in group which had a goal of moving a large horse shed from one spot to another. We did a ton of digging along with some work with pickaxes and hammers. I never thought digging could be so much fun. The Bible says that God will bless those with serving hearts. So far, on this trip, God has blessed us with a time of fun and laughter. Who says the work of God can’t be enjoyable? Not me.

Digging up the old shed

Michael Duncan: What me and my team did was we cut a barb wire fence, rolled up the wire on a 2 by 4 and pulled out the posts. We worked for 5-6 hours. It was fun because we got to work for the ranch, showing God’s grace and watch the horses as they walked through the fields. I’m having fun with everything so far and I’m looking forward to the things about to come up………..oh and CHECK FOR TICKS… haha

Taking down the old fence

Andrea Bartlow: Today was the first day that we got to work at the Ranch. Our group worked on a basketball court. We worked to improve the court and replace the Hoops. Along with Emilie Kessi, I taped the outside lines so that we could paint the court. After it was all set out we painted it. It ended up looking really well and it was a huge success. Our group is almost finished with the project in only one day! It felt really cool to be able to help replace and rebuild something for the people who live here.

Basketball court at the beginning of the day

Hanging a new backboard

Painting new key lines

Allysa Barr: Today was our first workday on the ranch and for the ministry team it was a full one. We started out by meeting the families, getting to know them and what we could do to help them out. We took a tour of the ranch and began working. First we cleared a bed of rocks for a flower bed for the Abbotts, after that our group headed over to the Piper house to weed the garden and hang out with some of the kids. The best part came next when we wrangled goats! This entails chasing and tackling these goats and then dragging them around by their horns and this went on for at least half and hour. After that all that was left was to plant the flowers in the flower bed we had cleared earlier that day.

Cameron - need I say more?

Traveling to Idaho - Part 2

Welcome! This is Cameron Tate, an incoming junior in the high school youth group. I have taken the time from the gruesome and awesome physical labor work that we are doing here in order to in brief share some key tidbits about our ride to Idaho, which took place yesterday. Waking up at the ungodly hour of 5:00am, I could already feel (in my own, lethargic, morning attitude) that God was all about ready to move in us, there was a certain unattainable yet strangely palpable feeling in the air. Upon arriving Suburban, we assembled after greeting one another and shared in prayer so that we may get headed off on our way in the right way. After hastily getting settled in the modes transportation (one being Anna Belle, our beloved bus, driven by my personal hero and mentor, John Admire; while the other being the Suburban van, which despite the confusing title, is not a suburban after all) and taking a head count, we pushed off for the golden lands that awaited us.

Fellowship ensued naturally, as we all found comfort and common interests in our brothers and sisters in Christ. Tender moments, encouragement, and hilarity were shared by all, so was the restlessness of sitting for several hours on end and the hot sun’s heat bearing down on us. Needless to say, the few rest stops we received were warmly welcomed.

When we reached the destination, many were sad to see that the wonderful time that was spent on the bus had come to an end, but all became quickly filled with anticipation as realization descended on their minds that exciting adventures and enduring friendships and memories were about to be built. Besides all this, the water cooler had spilt in the bus, so the floor was thusly drenched… this was not Nolan E. Bartlow’s fault AT ALL.

The young tots were eager to explore, but first a greeting message was eloquently delivered by our host, Jeff Turner. Accommodations for the entire group had been prepared for us, and a good old-fashioned delivery line was amassed so that all of the bags, sleeping bags, pillows, and other such amenities were brought into the dwelling place. Everything was moved into the gender assigned rooms… and then everything was taken out and moved into different rooms when the female’s room was discovered to have a slight infestation of insects. I myself am no fan of such creatures, but the young men valiantly sacrificed in order to please the ladies. Such gentlemen we are.

Hilary Bylund delivered a short message on love, as the theme of the week for lessons is the fruit of the spirit. We also communed in musical worship, and another form of worship by writing down the things that God has blessed us with and posting it on the wall. The connection team introduced a system by which we could be encouraged this week of everyone having a paper bag which others could write notes of Truth and confidence may be distributed by their peers.

After the long day of travel and fun, we recognized (a.k.a. Jamey informed us) that rest was necessary and lights-out was soon to come. So final preparations for slumber were taken, and we assumed our positions on the floor (or for those who are well equipped, a cot or air mattress) and closed our eyes and rested our heads knowing that an even more exciting day of servitude and devotion was soon to begin with the morning.

That is about all the time I have, I’m sure my work group is missing me, I’m a pretty good painter. Thank you all for reading this, supporting us, and praying for us; God’s work is being done!

With love, in Him.

Cameron

Traveling to Idaho - Part 1

Hello! This Emilie Kessi, I volunteered for writing this and I have no clue what it was. Wow this is my first blog. Yesterday we left the church, I rode in the van with Lisse and a bunch of guys. The ride up was great, we played card games while Brad and Cameron sang to us. I got to know a lot about people. We had great conversations with each other. One of the times that we stopped to get some dinner we went to k-mart to get some bubbles, then we went a blew bubbles in the parking lot. We arrived at the ranch, unpacked and had a great lesson taught by Hillary, the topic was about love. I can’t wait for what is to come!

TTFN,

Your pal, Ems

The Media team got auctioned off to collect hay bails from fields and load them into trucks to be taken to the barn, which they then unloaded into the loft. I couldn't help with this because of my extreme allergies, so I helped out around the house and took pictures of the rest of the team working. They really worked hard and did an amazing job! The work of true servants :)

~ Lisse

Idaho Physical Labor Team

The physical labor team is planning a variety of projects to work on while we are at the children’s ranch. We will be having the majority of the youth going on the trip participating in these projects. After talking with Jeff Turner from the ranch, the needs we are going to meet include………….. moving a horse shelter, moving fencing and brush for a bridal park, and repainting the outer basketball court. By doing this, we are hoping to improve and make the environment for these kids more pleasant and functional.

~ Sarah Hazelton for the Physical Labor Team