Over spring break, Iowa State Cru went on a trip to Florida. Being on Cru staff, I was placed in charge of planning and leading this trip for the Iowa State Cru students. I love traveling, so I was pretty thrilled to have the opportunity to plan and lead a trip! It was a great time, and I learned a ton about leadership.
We stayed in Panama City Beach, FL and did hurricane relief work (from Hurricane Michael that hit last October). We went through an organization called GAiN. They are a branch of Cru that focuses on doing humanitarian missions work. GAiN partnered with a St. Andrew Baptist Church in Panama City, FL, who themselves had partnered with the city in helping with Operation Clean Sweep. Basically, GAiN provided people and tools for the church to be able to clean up the streets that they told the city they'd help clean up.
Though GAiN had a lot of our trip planned out, I got to lead a group of students as a spring break planning team. I made some discussions, communicated with GAiN, and lead the team in making most of the "fun" discussions - like where to eat and evening activities.
We rented mini vans, left Friday night, and drove through the night to Florida! For most of the drive it was dark out and it went pretty fast. By the time we got to Alabama, it was morning. I was surprised by how pretty Alabama was! I didn't expect so many trees and rolling hills.
We wanted to go to a Waffle House Saturday morning for a breakfast stop, but the one we went to didn't have space for us. So, we went to IHOP.
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| ^^Left front to right front: Flavia, Cole, Max, Kaleb, and Sam.^^ |
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| ^^Left front to right front: Ellie, Chidiebere, Daryl, Molly, Eric, and Kate.^^ |
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| ^^Left front to right front: Nathan, Tori, Emily, me, and Marie.^^ |
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| ^^Left front to right front: Lydia, Tori, Melanie, Stephanie, and Nyamal.^^ |
There were 21 of us that went down from Iowa State! I am so amazed and thankful that God brought this many people to sign up! There were four of us staff, a volunteer from Bridges, a lady who attends the Bridges meeting, and then 15 students!
We arrived in PCB Saturday afternoon. GAiN set up all the housing for us, which took off a major part of the planning on my part. We stayed at the Edgewater Beach Resort. It was super nice - totally would recommend the place! We stayed in villas (condos). There were six people per villa. After we got to the resort, we went to Walmart to get groceries for the week.
On Sunday morning we went to church at St. Andrew Baptist Church.
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| ^^The ladies, minus one.^^ |
After church, some of us went to get donuts at Thomas' Donut & Snack Shop. I HIGHLY recommend this place if you are in PCB. It was in a cute little area, right on the beach, and had delicious donuts (so many to choose from... they all looked/smelled so good!).
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| ^^Me, Melanie, Nyamal, and Kate.^^ |
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| ^^These are two of my Bible study girls. I am so glad they came on the trip! I love how they are into photography!^^ |
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| ^^This is Tori. She comes to the DMACC Bible study I co-lead and I disciple her older sister. I am so glad she came on the trip. It was SO much fun getting to hang out with her and get to know her more!^^ |
On Sunday afternoon, we had an orientation with GAiN and all the students there from other schools. On Sunday night, a group of us went out to eat. Then we had a campus time. We had a few campus times throughout the week where we did some evangelism trainings, sharing on how our week is going and what we are learning, and worship. By the time we got back to the resort after each work day, it was well after 4:00. If we were doing anything else in the evening, there really wasn't much time left to relax or have campus times. But, we squeezed in a few campus times.
On Monday, we started our hurricane relief work. We worked Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. We had to drive at 15 minutes from our resort to the church, which was our "home base" for doing the relief work. It was crazy how different it was after crossing the bridge from Panama City Beach into Panama City, there was so much more hurricane damage.
Each group of about ten people got assigned a few streets to clean up. Our job was to go up and down the streets - cleaning up trash and branches/sticks - and making piles for the city to pick up. We also went to the doors of homes to see if anyone needed help with more specific yard work and to try to get into conversations with them.
Throughout the week, my group didn't have any major projects to work on. We did get to talk with some people - hearing their stories. Wow! There was a variety of stories I heard about peoples lives and how they have been impacted by the storm. One thing I learned was about how powerful it can be to step out in faith and just ask someone if you can pray for them!
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| ^^Tori and I fixed a fence... with a stick! Ha. Also, the park behind us used to be so dense you couldn't see through it. Much of the city wasn't even recognizable after the storm.^^ |
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| ^^We picked up A LOT of sticks and hauled them around in wheel barrows.^^ |
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| ^^My team, Sweetbay Wetlands. Ready to concur the streets!^^ |
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| ^^There are so many pretty flowers in the southern parts of the U.S.^^ |
On each of the workdays, Mercy Chefs, provided lunch for us. They are a ministry group that provide food during disaster relief. We'd go back to the church for a lunch break.
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| ^^My team. Picture taken by Daryl, so he is missing from the picture.^^ |
On Monday night, we had Women's Appreciation. So, the men made us ladies dinner and then we played games together. They made us grilled cheese and tomato soup, and had little smokies as an appetizer. They all wore matching shirts - the t-shirts GAiN gave us. It was pretty cute.
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| ^^Lydia loves Culver's. I guess Culver's has just become one of those things that you do with Lydia. Even in Florida, we went to Culver's.^^ |
On Tuesday, we had a campus time. Stephanie and Kate went over how to share the Knowing God Personally booklet. We also had worship.
After our campus time, we went out for ice cream to Pink Pelican. It's a must when in PCB. I loved how the whole group ended up going!
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| ^^The lady at Pink Pelican wanted to take our picture to put on their Facebook page! I bet it was a bit overwhelming having so many people want ice cream at the same time. But, I think she liked it!^^ |
Wednesday was our day off from doing hurricane relief work. A few of us from my villa got up early (which we really did every day, but this day we didn't have to), to watch to sunrise down at the beach. There were building in the direction of the sunrise, so we couldn't watch the actual sunrise, but we got to see all the pretty colors over the gulf. It was SO pretty. That night, we also got to watch the sunset. Both were so pretty, but also so different. It was so cool getting to see the differences in the colors of the sky and ocean, and seeing the differences in the ocean on the same day but at different times. God is such a good artist and creator!
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| ^^Emily, Stephanie, me, and Tori watching the sunrise.^^ |
The days we were in Florida were actually a bit chilly. In the morning, I definitely wanted a sweatshirt. Most afternoons warmed up. It was warm enough to be on the beach (but not the water for me) Wednesday afternoon.
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| ^^There was this coffee shop down the road. A group of us went to it - it was kind of an interesting place.^^ |
A few of us got pizza for lunch on Wednesday. We went to Nick's Slice of Brooklyn Pizzeria and Bar. I'd definitely go there again! I really liked the pizza and garlic knots.
Wednesday was just kind of a free day. Some of us went to a thrift store, we ate, we hung out at the beach, relaxed, and then later in the afternoon, we went sharing on the beach. We all took the step of faith to go out on the beach to share our faith. We approached people using a survey and tried to get into spiritual conversations, with the hopes to share the gospel. I think each group had some good conversations!
After sharing, we went out for a campus dinner. We went to Barefoot on the Beach. It was pretty much just an American bar and grill. But, I really like the atmosphere. There was live music, we sat outside (it was cold out - should have brought a sweatshirt), and it was right on the beach. So, when we were waiting for our food to come, we went down to the beach to watch the sunset!
Thursday, was back to work doing hurricane relief work. In the afternoon, a few of us from my group got to help a lady do some gardening work! I miss being able to garden.
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Thursday night we had Men's Appreciation. Us ladies made the men breakfast for dinner. We had worship again on Thursday night! Then some of us went swimming in one of heated pools at the resort.
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| ^^On the trip there were two Emily M's and two Tori S's! So, we made a Tori sandwich (me, Tori, Tori, Emily) with a side of Coleslaw (there was a Cole on the trip)! |
Though some of the work we were doing was a bit mundane, we had fun while we were doing it!
Friday was our last day. It ended with someone from the community providing pizza for all of us! There were 55 pizzas ordered!
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| ^^This is the group I wasn't in from Iowa State. They are missing one girl because she was sick.^^ |
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| ^^All of us minus one.^^ |
Friday night included a debriefing time with GAiN. And then, more ice cream!
Saturday morning was the day we left for home. Before we left, a group of us went to Thomas' Donut Shop! I got a breakfast sandwich and donut for the road!
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| ^^Tori eating Southern gas station food!^^ |
One of my favorite parts of the trip was just seeing all the relationships form and and grow from our Iowa State group. We had a lot of students (newer students to Cru!) who didn't really know each other well. With spending a week together, there is lots of time to get to know one another better (maybe even too much time).
I have never really cared about going to Florida. I've been there before, but it's always been one of the last places I've desired to go to. But, after this trip, I'd definitely be excited about going back. I like Florida and the beach way more than I thought I would!
