Hey Everyone - We are so excited about going to Southern Christian Children's Home in Morrilton, Arkansas.  Here are the details you have been looking for.  After you read all of this, let us know if you have any questions, or you can talk to us on Sunday at Bible classes or worship. 

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Departure Info:

We will meet at 9:00am on Monday, July 11. When you arrive, we will load supplies and load luggage and then head out.  If you want a backpack or pillow in the bus with you, make sure you keep it in a place where you can get to it. 

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Super hot weather and bus trips...

Okay, so our bus did pretty good on the trip to Missouri (HS) and the trip to Oklahoma (MS)...but it wasn't no stinkin 105+ outside on those trips.  Buses are not like cars, and the a/c systems are different.  There is more space to cool and sometimes the bus a/c units have a hard time keeping up.  Even though our bus held cool temps inside even when it was 100 outside, but we don't know how it will do on a 105+ degree day, so...

   1) If you have a hand-held fan, you might want to bring it.

   2) If you have one of those hand-held fans with a water sprayer on it, or if you have a separate water sprayer, you might want it.

   3) If you have a good water bottle in which you can put ice-water, you might want to bring it.

   4)  If you want to bring a beach towel or blanket or something to keep between you and the leather seats, you might like it.

   5) Anything else you can think of to help keep you cool if it's warm inside the bus is great.

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Things to know about Southern Christian Home:

We will be doing some work projects and also spending time with their residents. For our work, you will need some clothes which can get dirty and at least one set of clothes which you can paint in.  If you have a pair of work gloves, you might want to bring those too.  Our three work days are Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Thursday is only a half-work day...so you don't need tons of work clothes.

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Dress Code:

Because the children's home deals with children from a wide variety of backgrounds, they have a dress code which they ask all people on their campus (including visiting groups like ours) to abide by.  These guidelines are directly from them and need to be followed Tuesday thru Friday.  Sorry if you don't like it. 

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• Shorts should cover more skin on the thighs than skin showing. We ask that if anyone has leggings or yoga type pants, they should be worn with longer shirts. 

• Shirts should provide adequate coverage at the neckline and through the armholes. This includes shirts that expose the chest when bending, reaching, or leaning. We ask that tank tops with the whole sides cut out not be worn. 

• Undergarments should not be visible at any time. 

• No alcoholic messaging or profanity should be on any clothes or shoes.

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Packing List:

• Clothes for each day

          Keep in mind:
           clothes for traveling on Monday and Friday;
           clothes when spending time with students Tues-Thurs;
            clothes for work projects Tues-Thurs;
            one set of clothes that can get wet during water games

Please do not wear any expensive name brand clothing when we are with their students.  This is not a super strict rule, we just don't want to come in as a bunch of people who have fancy-type clothes when many of the students we will work with don't have much of anything to their name except what the children's home has given them.  So, just use good judgment.  It's impossible to avoid all name brands - we recognize that - and small nike or adidas or other name brands are fine...again - not a super strict rule.  Youth group shirts and school shirts and other clothing w/o expensive name brands are great.  Your "more" shirt (you can still get one on Sunday or Monday if you need to) is great.  Expensive name brands can be worn during work projects without any problems.) 

• Enough socks and underwears to make it through the week

• Swimsuit

• Shoes to work in and shoes to wear when spending time with their students

• Clothes/pajamas to sleep in

• Toiletries

• Towel (at least 1)

• Sleeping bag and pillow

• Guys: we need probably 4 people to bring an air mattress or cot to sleep on.  If anyone would like to do this, let us know. We may talk to everyone on Sunday to make sure we have enough cots/air mattresses.  (Girls, you do not need to bring a cot or air mattress.)

• If you have any prescription medication which needs to be taken while on this trip, please have it in a ziplock bag with instructions and turn it in on Monday morning.  Over the counter medication is okay to have in your own bag. 

• Bible - for those who went to HS Week, bring the study Bible you received on the trip. Also bring your song book.

• Pen

• Water-bottle

• Plastic washable cup to use at meals - nothing fancy...one you would get at a sporting event concession stand or anything similar is fine.

 

Optional things:

• Snacks

• Money for snacks/drinks on the way to/from Arkansas

• Games for the bus ride (and to play with some of their students)

• Bug spray (we'll probably have some you can use)

• Sunscreen (we'll probably have some you can use)

• Camera (other than on your phone)

• backpack or fanny-pack we can take on a hike

• work gloves

• small fan for the bus

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Cell Phones:

If you would like to bring your cell phone to Arkansas, we will provide an envelope for you on Monday when we check in, and your phone will be placed in our phone box. We do not plan to pass out cell phones except maybe one time during the week. You are welcome to use Monty's phone at any time during the trip to call your parents if you need to. We're not trying to keep you from your parents...just trying to help us all be engaged in the trip and not on our phones all the time.  We're also working with students who - unless there is a special circumstance - do not have a phone of their own and probably never have had one. 

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Other Electronic Devices:

The following things are not allowed on this trip: earbuds, iPads/tablets, video gaming devices, televisions, cars, blenders, refrigerators, hot water heaters, drones, droids, electric lawnmowers, vacuum cleaners, computers.

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Other things not to bring:

weapons/knives of any kind; anything illegal; any kind of alcohol, tobacco or drugs, or e-cigarettes; anything intended to play a joke on anyone

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Money for Meals:

You will not need any money for meals on this trip.  Everything is covered with your registration fee.

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Our Return:

We plan to arrive back in College Station sometime on Friday night, July 15.  It may be a late night arrival - at least 10pm or later.  We will keep parents informed via email and we will try to provide a link to see our real-time location. 

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Here are some additional things to know:

• The bus needs some cleaning.  Usually we do this, but with 3 weeks of summer camps in June, plus Paint-O-Rama, we need some help.  If you can come this Sunday night (7/10) at 6:00pm to help clean the bus, please let us know.  Inside, outside, windows, floors, etc.  Bring some cleaning supplies or windex/paper towels if you want to.  We will update this page when students let us know they can come.  So far we have 6 students who have let us know they can come.  We should be done by 7:00pm.  There is no Intersection this Sunday night.

• Girls will be staying in one house on the children's home property.  Guys will be in a different house on the property.

• We will be cooking most all of our meals.  Some of the meals we cook will be meals we eat with the residents and staff at SCH.  We will need everyone's help when it comes to cooking and cleaning up.

• Some of our work projects include: cleaning/organizing in some of their buildings; doing some work at their farm; some painting; sanding and wood work...those are what we know of so far

• We will work on Tuesday and Wednesday during the day, and spend time with the students on campus during the evening.  We will also work a little on Thursday morning.  We will spend Thursday afternoon and evening, along with Friday morning, with their student and not working on service projects.  This plan may change, but that's the current plan. 

• Remember that this is a service trip. It's not about you. We want you to be ready to work, ready to serve, and ready to sacrifice. It's going to be a great trip and a lot of fun, but if you're thinking it will be an, "I'll sit back and let everyone else do the work so that I don't have to" kind of trip...well, it's not that kind of trip.  Come with a servant's heart!

• This is not a trip to help you find a boyfriend or girlfriend.  So, be friends with everyone.  Don't be looking for love.  Enjoy the time we get to serve others, build friendships, and share God's love with others. 

• Some of the things we mentioned on the website when you signed up have changed.  We did not have any pre-trip meetings.  There is no scripture memorization.  If you're worried about anything else you read on the website, don't worry.  By the time we learned things from the children's home, and with the super busy youth calendar in June, there was not enough time to do any pre-trip meetings.  It's not a problem.  God's got this and we'll do our best to follow His lead throughout this whole trip. 

• Be flexible.  Be tough.  Be optimistic.  This trip has a lot of things which may change or which we will have to figure out as we go...so be ready for unexpected things which may come up during the trip. 

• We'd like to ask you to be praying about this trip.  If you have not already been doing so, pray about the work we'll do, your involvement with this trip, what God wants to teach you on this trip, how you can serve others in big ways, and for everything we do to be a part of God's will. 

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If you have any other questions, please let us know.  Again, so glad you're able to go with us to Morrillton!