Youth Groups - 2005

Youth Service Trip to San Antonio, Texas, June 11-18, 2005

We Junior and Senior High students had a wonderful service trip to San Antonio in June.  Our major fund raiser was a Mexican Fiesta & Silent Auction which was held Saturday night April 9.  We served a delicious meal of beef tacos, chicken or cheese enchiladas, tamales, salsa and chips, refried beans and Spanish rice. 

A variety of goods and services were auctioned off, including:

• Stargazing at the UI Observatory,
• Taiji lessons
• Geek Squad
• Fingernail painting party
• Day trips
• Custom jewelry
• Gift baskets
• Family caricature
• Event photographed

A daily journal of our trip begins below. We hope you enjoy it and the associated photos.

Day One—The Journey Begins

Brought to you by Emily Ward

Well, after 655.9 miles, we have made it. Not to San Antonio, no. But we did make it to Texarkana, Texas! The greatest place on earth! The Texas license plates are plentiful as well as the Waffle Houses.

            We left at approximately 8’o’clock this morning, after almost having to go drag Jeff out of bed, and hit the highway. The LaDainian Tomlinson and Ricky Williams Bobble Heads took their places on the dashboard and we were off. (Later, Tracy had to turn the Bobbles away because “they were staring at her”…) The fun was about to begin.

            I have to admit, for the first hour or two, I was snoozing in the back with David. Super exciting things might have taken place without my knowledge. Jessica or Nathan might have thrown a party, and I would have no idea. They deny everything, but I’m a little suspicious. Later, once we woke up, David distributed the snack bags. The middle school boys thoroughly enjoyed the Pop Rocks, the candy with “Real Popping Action!” and “Entertainment for Your Whole Mouth!” Sam dropped his in his water bottle, then drank it, saying it tasted like “really good, sugary and pulpy orange juice.” Strange.

            The boys also played Travel Scrabble for a number of hours. The first word over three letters happened to be WEED, which Sam insisted on saying referred to dandelions. They then played a hard core round of the Alphabet Game with Dad and Tracy. We’ll just say that Tracy lost, despite the fact that she “saw Jesus” and got the J first. Sounds fishy to me…

            In the back, Jess, Katelyn, David, and I had a grand time playing weird word games, such as “I, No, Yes,” “Truths and Lies,” “Buzz,” “The Question Game,” “Bottecelli,” and “Hinky Pinky.” Hinky Pinky is a game where you have to come up with a definition that describes two 2-syllable words that rhyme. For example, a fat ape is a chunky monkey. Our favorites include David’s unhealthy heart (plumper pumper) and Nathan’s high banker (stoner loaner). I have a feeling that this game will go on most of the week.

            We stopped for lunch at a park at the conjunction of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. Tracy had gotten sandwiches from Avanti’s in Bloomington where she picked up the van yesterday. We all munched and continued to think of more Hinky Pinkys until it was time, once again, to hit the road. The afternoon went by more quickly for me, for some reason. However, during the afternoon, we stopped at a gas station next to a Dairy Queen, and as we were all excitedly running across the parking lot towards Blizzards, a gas station employee informed us it was closed. It was a bit of a let down, to say the least.

            We pulled into the Hampton Inn around 7:30 and were excited to see the Pizza Inn was right next door. We hopped over, and all enjoyed the pizza buffet, including taco pizza, jalapeno pizza (which made Dad’s eye water A LOT), and chocolate chip pizza. We all had fun listening to our waiter’s accent, and his five ya’lls in one sentence. I then  realized that, to all of the people in this restaurant, it was us that had the accent. The fun of the first day is finally over, and we only have 450 miles to go!

Day Two

     The Ad for the Mexican Fiesta and Silent Auction --

San Antonio, here we come!

Please remember the members of our Service Trip Team, as we travel to, serve with, and learn from the people of San Antonio.  Participants are:

• Jessica Bush
• David Burns
• Katelyn Hoffman
• Sam Mate
• Jeff Offenbecher
• Nathan Smith
• Emily Ward

Adults are Tom Ward and Tracy Heilman.