So this year, LSF decided to go someplace a little warmer than in previous years. Our destination was Camp Lonestar, a Lutheran camp, in La Grange, Texas. As usual, the first day was pretty short as we crammed into a 15-passenger van and another van that held about 5 people and pretty much all of our stuff. After a nice ride to Kansas City, on the Missouri side, we stayed the night at an alums house where we had our first Bible Study and spent the rest of the night playing Boxers and Briefs. For this week, each Bible Study revolved around a different letter of the word ‘service.’ So Friday night was ‘S.’

The next morning, we left at an extremely early 7:30am after we had a great breakfast cooked by our host. This was a long day. We drove the entire 11 to 12 hours from KC to La Grange with a few pit stops, a very cold and windy lunch in Oklahoma, some more pit stops with a nice dinner in Texas at Schlotzky’s Deli. We finally pulled into Camp Lonestar around 9:00 that night where we found out that the Alphabet Game (people shout out different letters of the alphabet in order and no two people can say the letter at the same time) is nearly impossible to legitimately win. After our orientation, we all crashed in our cabins.

On Sunday, we had breakfast, they had really good food there, and then we got started on our jobs for the week. Most people went to a water run-off area and basically deforested that area by taking down the trees, vines, thorns, and basically anything else that was there and stacked them for later in the week. Needless to say, this was tough work. The rest of the people got to dig 8 holes for 30-gallon trees. Think about the movie Holes, and that was basically what it felt like, size and everything. After some holes had been dug and some land cleared, we all had dinner. The prayers were one of the most fun things we did. We would sing a prayer to a popular song, such as Stairway to Heaven and the Superman theme song! That night we had our second Bible Study on ‘E,’ watched The Office, and played some games.

Monday, after another great breakfast, then we all went out onto the Lake where some explored and some managed to somehow flip themselves over. Since it was supposed to rain, which it ended up doing really hard, we went and played some team-building games. We even built a monster! After lunch we had the rest of the day off, so we watched movies, slept, read, made the always important Wal-Mart run and had a good time. That night, we had the third Bible Study about ‘R’ and played Quelf, a really weird game, we’ll leave it at that. Other than that, we sang songs including the animal song and the pasta song.

On Tuesday, everyone cleared land. We cleared paths and the main area people started clearing on Sunday. Camp Lonestar provided some much wanted snacks that day and through the rest of the week. That night, we ate dinner, had another B.S. on ‘V,’ this time it was at a bonfire on the camp! We then went back to our cabins and played some more games, including a marathon round of the classic Couch Game.

On Wednesday, most people were still clearing the land, though some others started to chop wood with some hydraulic splitters. This was an interesting job since one of the splitters worked well, while the other one didn’t work as well, and some of the logs were rotted through. Oh yeah, this whole time, we had to deal with fire ants, which are not fun creatures. That night, we once again had another awesome Bible Study on ‘I.’

Thursday some still cleared the land, others split wood and the rest finally planted the trees. Of course, thanks to the rain on Monday, some of the holes were flooded, though they were eventually planted, all 11 (they’d bought more trees). By this time, the clearers were finishing the lopping and dopping of trees, so they started to mulch it all up and spread in on some of the playground areas. That night, we had our Bible Study on ‘C.’ As happened last year, the guys got the girls some presents. This time it was fuzzy pictures, ‘cause all girls like fuzzy pictures, and we let them use our showers since theirs only shot out cold water.

Friday, the land was mostly cleared so it was all about mulching, the planted trees were being finished and wood was being chopped. Of course, with all the wood chopped, something had to be done with it, so we built a fort. That’s right, Fort Huskee. That night, we had a final bonfire and a final Bible Study on ‘E,’ and started packing up and left for Oklahoma City. We ended up eating dinner at Old Chicago Pizza and spent the night at Good Shepard Lutheran Church in Oklahoma City.

The next day, we drove the rest of the way back to beloved Kirksville. Overall, this trip was a blast! We grew in our fellowship with each other and, of course, our faith.

This previous spring, Lutheran Student Fellowship decided to go the one direction we have not traveled to in recent years. The north. In fact, we went to Chicago, Illinois, the home of deep-dish pizzas, sausages and for the week, a group of students from Truman State.

On Friday, we made sure everything was ready and packed up for our trip. We drove north with only a few minor navigational problems. Thankfully, we arrived Friday night at our new dorm rooms at Concordia – River Forest where most of us fell right asleep, except for those who had to sleep in the basement with the lights constantly on (they had to stay on for safety reasons) for the first few nights.

On Saturday we had our vacation day, which we used to go to the Museum of Science and Industry. One of the highlights of this was going to see the Body Worlds exhibit (the thing with real dead bodies on display) that so happened to be in Chicago while we were there. After the museum, we had free time which we used to walk around the town and look at the sights.

Sunday we went to a local church, which was the same church some LSFers had been a member of way back when. Later on, we finally started on the whole service aspect of the trip by going to a local church/school and painting a staircase among other things.

Monday we started doing the jobs we would have for the rest of the week. We split up into groups and some went to PADS, which is a system of homeless shelters set-up among different churches, while others went to help out with a Habitat for Humanity home. The day at PADS was spent sorting out toiletries, blankets and other goods and setting up shelves to hold those goods. Most of the day at Habitat was spent melting ice with a nice big blowtorch. The melting of ice at Habitat would become the biggest job there every day. We eventually returned to Concordia where we had a Bible study and watched several episodes of ‘The Office’.

The next day was spent at Habitat, we went there the first four days, while the others started their day at PADS and spent the afternoon at St. Matthew’s Soup Kitchen. St. Matthew’s Soup Kitchen is, of course, a soup kitchen for the needy where the LSFers spent their time preparing and serving a meal while chatting up the eaters. More fun Bible studying ensued that night at Concordia followed by Office watching. Also, it should be noted, the meals that week were lovingly prepared by fellow LSFers.

Wednesday there was Habitat or Tabitha House, which provides shelter for homeless women and children. The day at Habitat was spent either watching the security fire outside (it was really cold in Chicago most of that week) or by putting up wall frames and using a nail gun that basically used shotgun cartridges to shoot the nail through the concrete floor! Those at Tabitha house spent their day sorting and folding blankets, shirts and the like. Since Spring Break is during Lent, we went back to the church we attended Sunday for their Lenten service. We also wanted to taste authentic Chicago food, so we went out to eat at a pizzeria called Giordanno’s where we tasted Chicago deep-dish pizza. Some of us were hungry enough to eat about 3 slices, which is quite a feat.

Thursday’s volunteering was the same as Tuesday’s with the exception that it would be our last day. Some went to Habitat; others went to PADS and then to St. Matthew’s Soup Kitchen. That night we went and saw PADS in action by seeing their set-up and helping serve food during the meal portion of the night.

Friday we traveled a bit to our service job, where we picked up some extra help from an LSFers siblings who all live in Chicago. The service was at Feed My Starving Children, which sends prepackaged food to needy families in Africa. This was a fun experience. We went to a fairly large church and used their auditorium for the packing that ended up being set-up assembly line style. Some of us, the guys, had fun with our job and tried packing as quickly as we could, while still being accurate. Needless to say we made the most packets with only our five people. The organization who heads up Feed My Starving Children has several runs throughout the day so people can stay for however long they like, though, we ended up staying for two runs of packing which basically used up our day. We did not mind because it was an enjoyable experience for our last day in Chicago. That night we had a nice home cooked meal at the family house of one of the LSFers where we ended up staying the night.

The next morning we woke up to a home cooked breakfast, packed and left for our beloved home-away-from-home, Kirksville.

The annual LSF Spring Break trips at face value are set-up so that we use our Spring Break to serve others, whether it be painting on an Indian Reservation, cleaning up New Orleans post-Katrina, or doing varying service opportunities around a city and to do so while praising God. However, one of the less realized aspects of the trips is to engage in fellowship with other LSF students. While at school it may be hard to focus one day on God, let alone a week, it is often nice to ‘detox’ and spend a week with friends in a Christian atmosphere while taking time out and having fun during our Spring Break.

Lutheran Student Fellowship set out on our Spring Break Mission Trip this past year with a specific purpose in mind: to help clean up some of the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana earlier that year. What we didn’t know was that our efforts would go far beyond fixing some of the physical problems. Along with mucking out homes, we provided hurricane survivors with a renewed hope during a frustrating time and were able to create new friendships and memories with one another in the process.       

After raising support through a variety of fundraisers, including babysitting nights, a spaghetti dinner, and generous donations from family, friends, and church members, an ambitious group of 26 LSFers packed up loads of old clothes, peanut butter, and favorite CDs in preparation for the long road trip and work week ahead. We stopped at Rachel’s house in St. Louis for a giant sleepover that included free Dairy Queen blizzards and a rousing game of Apples to Apples. Rachel and her parents provided a filling breakfast bright and early on Saturday morning and off we went en route to New Orleans. The day was filled with cheesy car games, frisbee tossing at rest stops, and mile after mile of highway. Long after it was dark, we pulled into ‘Camp Hope’: our home for the week.

Our living conditions paled in comparison to the luxurious hotels that many of our friends were staying in for their spring break, but no one minded. We stayed in giant tents, one for the boys and one for the girls, which were furnished with army cots and giant heaters to keep us warm at night. The dining hall, another giant tent, was only a few steps away and we enjoyed many hearty meals cooked by awesome volunteers each morning and evening.

LSF was split into three smaller groups who set out each day to their various sites. Our goal at each of the sites was similar: to get a house from its current disaster state down to its studs so that it could be bulldozed or rebuilt. What was all entailed in this process? Taking out every last thing in the house (whether it was clothing, toys, movies, moldy food, or a gall bladder!), ripping out the carpet, breaking down the drywall, removing every single rusty nail, and finally bleaching every last piece of wood. While the task was overwhelming, LSFers worked together to complete the job. In many cases, the homeowners were there, providing encouragement, sharing their Hurricane Katrina stories, and sometimes even working alongside of us. We returned to ‘Camp Hope’ each night exhausted and hungry, but full of inspiring stories and a desire to wake up the next morning eager to do more work.

By the end of the week, our groups had finished more than three job sites and were proud of our accomplishments. Despite long hours of hard work each day, we found plenty of time for fun during the week. Highlights included two trips into the city of New Orleans for exploring and fresh seafood, intense games of Blokkus after dinner, late nights filled with talking and snacks, and meaningful times of devotion and praise & worship. We headed back to Kirksville the following Saturday with sore muscles and plenty of gnat bites, but also with deeper friendships with our fellow LSfers and a newfound respect for those who endured Hurricane Katrina.

Every year, LSF travels on a mission trip over midterm break in the spring. This past spring, over 20 LSF members came along on a trip that, in the end, took us across Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Texas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas as we journeyed to and from our mission at the Navajo reservation in Ganado, Arizona. The goal of any LSF mission trip is to further Christian ministry through needed service and to strengthen the faiths and relationships of those who choose to spend their midterm break on the trip. Historically, the spring break trip has been an especially pivotal experience for freshman, bringing them closer to God and the people of the campus ministry of LSF! Below is a brief summary of this past year’s spring break trip.

Day 1 (Friday)

We travelled from campus to a Lutheran church in the Kansas City, Missouri area. We had our first Bible study that night, had some group building time, and settled in to rest up for our long journey ahead.

Day 2 (Saturday)

On the second day, we woke up ready for a long day of driving. We made our way across Kansas and a portion of Colorado. We had a picnic lunch in the parking lot of a gas station, and posed for a picture in front of the ‘Welcome to Colorado’ sign. We later stopped at the Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs, Colorado and climbed around on the rocks and watched the sun set over the mountains. After dusk, we made our way to Pueblo, Colorado to a generous congregation who took us in for the night. We had our nightly Bible study, based on humbling ourselves and preparing our hearts and minds to serving others. We took turns washing eachothers feet, sang some songs and divided up into prayer partners. Since their were no showers available, some took turns washing eachothers hair in the kitchen sink…another fun, but humbling experience!

Day 3 (Sunday)

On Sunday, we attended church and sang a few praise songs with our hosts in Pueblo, Colorado. This congregation was fairly small and our presence literally doubled their attendance for this particular day! After the service, the congregation showed an even greater degree of generosity by taking a collection for our mission trip, raising over a hundred dollars for our cause. We cannot thank them enough for their hospitality. Much of the rest of the day was spent travelling to Flagstaff, Arizona, driving through just about every form of weather imaginable while driving through New Mexico. We started in the morning with a dusting of snow on the ground, which continued for part of the day. Nicknames were given to many of the students on the trip that day via the walkie talkies in each vehicle. It later rained on and off and then cleared so we could see the beautiful rock formations and mountains on the sides of the highway. We experienced a wide sampling of God’s creation and some tumbleweeds too! We arrived in Flagstaff that night, after having problems with power outages at gas stations, and were welcomed at Peace Lutheran Church, by Steve Watkins, the man that we would be helping at the Navajo Reservation for the week. We ate dinner, some went for a walk around the surrounding neighborhood, and got settled for a busy day ahead! Praise to God for our safe travels through the weather we encountered!

Day 4 (Monday)

We woke up Monday to over 8 inches of snow on the ground! Though we soon discovered that this is a common occurrence Flagstaff, few expected more snow in one Arizona night than we normally receive all winter in Kirksville. We were supposed to travel to the Navajo reservation with our host missionary on this day, but the roads made this impossible. Instead, the morning was spent shovelling the church parking lot, playing and reading with the kids at the preschool, helping the congregation with their driveways, and helping the occassional motorist stuck on a slippery road surface. Later, we took a walk up the snow (and unfortunately for Rachel and Jon R., cactus) covered mountain at the foot of which Flagstaff is built. We also spent the afternoon coloring, playing games, and napping! An eye-opening lecture was given by our guest missionary on the Navajo people and the mission work being done at the reservation. We made a delicious spaghetti dinner and then went to the home of a couple who are also missionaries to the Navajo people and listened to many stories and about the history of their mission and ministry. We had our nightly Bible study and celebrated a birthday with cake and singing and prayer partners. Went to bed looking forward to the day ahead in which we would get to travel to the Navajo Reservation after the roads were cleared of the snow.

Day 5 (Tuesday)

We finally arrived at our mission destination, Glory Temple, on Tuesday, travelling 2 hours from Flagstaff to Ganado. After lunch, we immediately set to work on the church in Ganado, scraping paint off the outside face of the building, pulling up broken tiles, replacing an aging wheelchair ramp, and cleaning and painting in the fellowship hall. With as many people as we had, work proceeded fairly quickly despite the loss of the previous day to snow. Later in the day, we were generously invited to the home of a Christian Navajo family who prepared traditional Navajo food for our entire hungry group. We were able to sing songs for them, talk with them and play with their children. After dinner, we went back to work for a few more hours on the church. After a long day of work, many were hungry again, so hotdogs and an ‘indoor’ s’mores dessert were made, to fill our hungry tummies! God’s plan for our lives was discussed at our evening Bible study. We had already experienced that OUR plans hadn’t gone as WE had originally planned for our trip, but GOD had other plans for us, and we got to experience different things and meet and help other people through the changes and were grateful for that. Before bed…it was the long awaited shower time! After 4 days without showering, we were very thankful that the church at the reservation had showers:) Some of the students were so eager to get work done they stayed up half of the night painting and cleaning in the fellowship hall. Thanks God for our experiences!

Day 6 (Wednesday)

Work continued on the church early Wednesday as we scrambled to finish the projects we had started before we had to depart to return to our previous host in Flagstaff. Again demonstrating extraordinary hospitality, the same family invited us to lunch at their home less than a mile from the church. In the early evening we returned to Flagstaff, holding a Bible study and sleeping well yet again.

Day 7 (Thursday)

On Thursday morning, we split the group in two. One group spent the morning working at a food pantry, and the other sang songs and visited at a nursing home in Flagstaff. Around lunch time, we left Flagstaff heading east towards Texas and our host for the evening.

Day 8 (Friday)

Our final day was spent travelling north through the remainder of Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Missouri back home to Kirksville, Missouri. Over the past week, we had experienced different parts of the country, a culture who is just now beginning to embrace the message of Jesus Christ, unexpected changes of plan, and strengthened or newly formed relationships with our friends in the Lutheran Student Fellowship.