Mission Trip to Denver, Colorado - December 2006
What Did We Do? (Angelie Skalberg)
Denver Mission Trip 2006
Denver Mission Trip 2006
The biggest snow storm of the century for the Denver area was to begin dumping record amounts of snow on Wednesday, December 20th. We were scheduled to leave after school on the 21st. Do we still go? How far will we get if we try? Should we leave Friday instead? These were the questions all day Thursday as we watched the TV closely and called about the road conditions often.
WE MADE IT! In fact, the roads were great! That is, until you got to downtown Denver where the roads hadn’t been plowed and were several feet deep with snow. Praise the Lord we all had 4-wheel drive and high clearance vehicles or we would have been stuck with the rest of the cars still stranded on the streets. At about 11:00pm, 15 of us- 4 guys and 11 ladies/girls, settled into a small basement of a house: a small main kitchen area, guys room, ladies room, and 2 bathrooms. There were 12 bunks in each room, stacked 3 high. If you weren’t in the middle, you were basically on the floor, or hitting your head on the ceiling.
Friday morning, our group split and went 3 different directions. Our girls went with 2 other ladies to help a disabled woman. She had moved into an apartment 2 months ago, but was not able to unpack herself because her arms couldn’t reach into the boxes to get things out. Her arms are only about 6 inches long. The girls did a great job of helping her put her things away. A group of guys with their big trucks, helped load/unload and assemble some pool tables and foosball tables that were donated to the church’s youth group. Without their big trucks (and muscles), the donation was only appreciated, but not able to be realized. God even uses Dodge! Todd, Isaiah, and I, and some others, went to pick up a lady who was stranded and not able to get to her “Heart to Hand Ministry” outreach. After several hours of helping other stranded motorists, we packed gifts for families and went shopping at Wal-Mart to put together 50 boxes of food for families. We took nearly all the turkeys, the last boxes of stuffing, and 50 pies right off the shelves. Several commented on coming home with us! Did I mention the parking lot of the outreach hadn’t been plowed, so our friend tried ramming the snow to clear a path with his Suburban so we could get in and off the street. God even uses Chevy! We all gathered back together late that night, and slept good!
We started Saturday morning visiting some of the other ministries of Open Door Ministries. We went to a home for abused women and their children, another beautiful home for prostitutes coming off the streets, and for drug and alcohol addicts. The residents complete a program that gets them off the streets and into a good job and an understanding of Jesus’ unconditional love. In the afternoon, we split into groups again. The men completed the game tables, and Olivia and Lydia and their group went back to help deliver more gifts to people who couldn’t get out. Todd and I went to help Violet, the disabled lady. Isaiah, Ellie, Pam and June made and decorated over 100 sugar cookies and lots of home-made Christmas cards. That evening, we all headed out with hot chocolate, cookies, cards, hats, gloves and hoodies to the homeless downtown. It was a wonderful opportunity to bless those without so much as warm place to sleep.
Sunday morning we went to the Open Door Fellowship Church. After lunch, we headed to spend the afternoon at a nursing home, handing out more cookies and cards and just visiting with the people. It was a wonderful time to brighten someone’s day. Christmas Eve was spent sharing food and family at the home of Jim and June’s daughter.
Christmas morning we woke early to start cooking. We were serving a free Christmas dinner with all the trimmings for 200 people. Olivia strengthened her muscles mashing potatoes in 3 gallon pots with a little hand masher. Ellie seasoned the turkey and ham, while Lydia helped out a little everywhere. When the people started to come, the girls couldn’t wait to serve: Olivia proudly served her finely mashed potatoes, while Ellie excitedly wore plastic gloves to serve her meat, and Lydia, ambidextrous as she is, served corn with one hand and cranberry relish with the other. After serving about 75 people, and wondering what to do with the leftovers, we called the Denver Rescue Mission. What an answer to their prayers- they had just run out of food and had lots of people still in line. We quickly loaded it up and took it across town. God even uses Pontiac!
With the dishes done, and the sugar cookies finally all eaten, we all split up again to head home. Our Expedition was vibrating in the front end really bad, but we arrived back in Baggs Christmas night.
God even uses Ford!
What a good time as we let God even use us!
Thank you for your prayers,
The biggest snow storm of the century for the Denver area was to begin dumping record amounts of snow on Wednesday, December 20th. We were scheduled to leave after school on the 21st. Do we still go? How far will we get if we try? Should we leave Friday instead? These were the questions all day Thursday as we watched the TV closely and called about the road conditions often.
WE MADE IT! In fact, the roads were great! That is, until you got to downtown Denver where the roads hadn’t been plowed and were several feet deep with snow. Praise the Lord we all had 4-wheel drive and high clearance vehicles or we would have been stuck with the rest of the cars still stranded on the streets. At about 11:00pm, 15 of us- 4 guys and 11 ladies/girls, settled into a small basement of a house: a small main kitchen area, guys room, ladies room, and 2 bathrooms. There were 12 bunks in each room, stacked 3 high. If you weren’t in the middle, you were basically on the floor, or hitting your head on the ceiling.
Friday morning, our group split and went 3 different directions. Our girls went with 2 other ladies to help a disabled woman. She had moved into an apartment 2 months ago, but was not able to unpack herself because her arms couldn’t reach into the boxes to get things out. Her arms are only about 6 inches long. The girls did a great job of helping her put her things away. A group of guys with their big trucks, helped load/unload and assemble some pool tables and foosball tables that were donated to the church’s youth group. Without their big trucks (and muscles), the donation was only appreciated, but not able to be realized. God even uses Dodge! Todd, Isaiah, and I, and some others, went to pick up a lady who was stranded and not able to get to her “Heart to Hand Ministry” outreach. After several hours of helping other stranded motorists, we packed gifts for families and went shopping at Wal-Mart to put together 50 boxes of food for families. We took nearly all the turkeys, the last boxes of stuffing, and 50 pies right off the shelves. Several commented on coming home with us! Did I mention the parking lot of the outreach hadn’t been plowed, so our friend tried ramming the snow to clear a path with his Suburban so we could get in and off the street. God even uses Chevy! We all gathered back together late that night, and slept good!
We started Saturday morning visiting some of the other ministries of Open Door Ministries. We went to a home for abused women and their children, another beautiful home for prostitutes coming off the streets, and for drug and alcohol addicts. The residents complete a program that gets them off the streets and into a good job and an understanding of Jesus’ unconditional love. In the afternoon, we split into groups again. The men completed the game tables, and Olivia and Lydia and their group went back to help deliver more gifts to people who couldn’t get out. Todd and I went to help Violet, the disabled lady. Isaiah, Ellie, Pam and June made and decorated over 100 sugar cookies and lots of home-made Christmas cards. That evening, we all headed out with hot chocolate, cookies, cards, hats, gloves and hoodies to the homeless downtown. It was a wonderful opportunity to bless those without so much as warm place to sleep.
Sunday morning we went to the Open Door Fellowship Church. After lunch, we headed to spend the afternoon at a nursing home, handing out more cookies and cards and just visiting with the people. It was a wonderful time to brighten someone’s day. Christmas Eve was spent sharing food and family at the home of Jim and June’s daughter.
Christmas morning we woke early to start cooking. We were serving a free Christmas dinner with all the trimmings for 200 people. Olivia strengthened her muscles mashing potatoes in 3 gallon pots with a little hand masher. Ellie seasoned the turkey and ham, while Lydia helped out a little everywhere. When the people started to come, the girls couldn’t wait to serve: Olivia proudly served her finely mashed potatoes, while Ellie excitedly wore plastic gloves to serve her meat, and Lydia, ambidextrous as she is, served corn with one hand and cranberry relish with the other. After serving about 75 people, and wondering what to do with the leftovers, we called the Denver Rescue Mission. What an answer to their prayers- they had just run out of food and had lots of people still in line. We quickly loaded it up and took it across town. God even uses Pontiac!
With the dishes done, and the sugar cookies finally all eaten, we all split up again to head home. Our Expedition was vibrating in the front end really bad, but we arrived back in Baggs Christmas night.
God even uses Ford!
What a good time as we let God even use us!
Thank you for your prayers,