Slovakia Service Learning Trip 2019

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Slovakia Service Learning Trip 2019 October 28, 2018 

Welcome & Prayer

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Introductions o 21 Youth (Name, Grade, Favorite Halloween Costume) o Parents (Name, your child/ren, what are you excited/nervous for) o 7 Leaders (Name, connection to RLC, why Slovakia?) o We have a total of 28 participants now going to Slovakia

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Trip Details & Reminders o February 24 Meeting reschedule?  EVERYONE (even those who already responded via email), Please respond to the Doodle Poll within a week to help determine if we can reschedule the meeting. o Extended Travel  Up to 7 people can extend their travel. Let me know if this option is of interest for you and your family. I will get you in contact with our Travel agent, Nancy Olker.

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To-Do List o Pay $200 Deposit (TONIGHT)  To pay online, you will need to log-in to rlcweb.myshelby.org with the account that was used to apply. Then, click on “Registrations” -> My Registrations, -> and then pay. o Participants: Watch video & explore CCE (November 18) o Immunizations (By trip) o Health Forms (December 2) o Bio & Picture (January 22) – See “To-Do List” for more information o Passport: Due in February (give it 6 weeks of processing)

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Finances o Worksheet (Due by Nov. 15) – Document is below. o Fundraising Opportunities  Gift Card; Garage Sale; Letter Writing; Others o Tax-Deductible Gifts  Any money given directly to a participant for the trip is NOT taxdeductible.

Mission: Love God. Love your Neighbor.

Vision: A community united by grace.

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Any donation given to the church where the church gets to determine how to use those funds IS tax-deductible.  Questions about this should be directed to Michael Jordan Following our trip, all participants will receive a letter from church indicating what amount of money went towards mission work. You can use this information if you itemize your taxes.

Questions?

Next Meeting: November 18 @ 6 PM (Just Participants)

Mission: Love God. Love your Neighbor.

Vision: A community united by grace.

Slovakia Financing Worksheet NAME: ______________________________

TOTAL Trip Cost

$3,200

Personal Finance: This includes financing directly from parents and any amount the participant will pay out of their own out of pocket. Parents will pay: $_________ -$ Participant will pay: $_________ Enter the total of those two in the blue box Fundraise: This is how much you plan to fundraise on your own. RLC Gift Card Rebates: $_________ RLC Garage Sale (~$100): $_________ -$ Letters to Family/Friends: $_________ Other Sources: $_________ Enter the total of these four categories in the green box Scholarship: Subtract the amounts in the blue & green boxes from the TOTAL Trip Cost. $ Enter this total in the purple box. Explanation: Please use the back of this sheet to better describe your scholarship need, if any, and your fundraising goals. Remember, you are already accepted to attend this trip. We want to support you as best as possible, which is why we’re using this financing worksheet sheet.

Due by November 18

October Meeting To Do List: 

Pay $200 Deposit (Due on October 28): o You can pay this online (rlcweb.myshelby.org)  Click on Registrations then My Registrations in the top right.  Log-in, and then select Make Payment underneath the trip and name of the child you wish to pay for.  Enter $200 in the “Amount” field. Check the box next to “Deposit - $200”  Complete the remaining payment information and click Make Payment o If you do not want to pay online, you will need to physically bring in payment to the RLC Main Office. Checks can be made out to “Roseville Lutheran Church” with “Slovakia 2019 – Child’s Name” in the memo line.

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Participants (before November 18) o Watch the “Adventure of Faith” video (https://vimeo.com/35035503) o Explore the CCE website: http://www.cce.sk/

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Immunizations: https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/destinations/traveler/none/slovakia o We will not be working around bats (so Rabies vaccine is not necessary).

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Health Form: Available online under the application portal (rlcweb.myshelby.org)

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Bio & Picture: o ~ 300 words about who you are, past trips you’ve been on, why you’re excited to go to Slovakia this summer. o Picture should be of just you. o See 3 examples below.

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Passport: o Passports will be checked and copied at our February meeting o Start the application process soon! Can take up to six weeks to get your passport o https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/apply-renew-passport/how-toapply.html o Your passport must still be valid through January 2020.

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Finance Worksheet (Due November 18) o Start Fundraising!

Hello! My name is Katie Martin and I am a part of the RLC youth leadership team and a senior at Roseville Area High School. My hobbies include lacrosse and playing the violin. I am also excited to share that next year I will be attending Winona State University to pursue my dream of becoming a nurse practitioner. This summer I am beyond blessed to be able to travel to Slovakia with RLC youth to reconnect with Andrej and Marek while growing in my faith. My favorite place to find God is in nature. It is very easy for me to find peace and solitude and really connect with God when I am in nature and so I am most excited for the mountains in Slovakia and the beyond beautiful nature they have there. This will be my fourth mission trip with RLC. I love helping people on mission trips, but what is even better are the new cultural experiences I am left with and the ones I can bring back into my life every day. My first mission trip was to south side Chicago. We worked in a daycare where many of the kids had difficult home lives and some were even homeless but they all had one thing in common, they were all filled with so much joy. The way these kids took on life everyday with the best attitude showed me that no matter what situation you are in, you can find joy. Mission trips build relationships and can leave you with so many new lessons and outlooks on life and that is why I enjoy them. I am so excited to be able to go on one last high school mission trip before I start my life on my own in college and I hope this will be the best one yet!

Hello! My name is Collin Ethen, and this summer myself and other members of RLC Youth have been blessed with an incredible opportunity to journey to Martin, Slovakia to mentor students, carry out God’s work, create new friends, and rekindle with old ones in June of 2016! For those of you who might be unfamiliar with me, I’m actually a relatively new member to Roseville Lutheran Church. I grew up attending St. Rose of Lima (just down the road), but after bouncing between St. Rose of Lima and RLC for a couple of years, I’ve been a regular here since 2014. Many of my friends were already in the youth group here. After falling in love with the services, congregation and opportunities that are offered, I started to get more involved by attending multiple retreats, the Boundary Waters trip, teaching Sunday School, and being part of the Youth Leadership Team of RLC. As part of our involvement with the church in Martin, Slovakia, my family and I were able to serve as a host for Andrej Vandlik, a youth member of Martin’s church, for 2 weeks. After a month of countless soccer matches, exploring the Twin Cities, and trekking the boundary waters together, I’m very excited to travel to Martin to help serve others and see Andrej again! Currently, I’m a senior at RAHS and am involved in lacrosse, student council and DECA! Next fall, I plan to further my education by majoring in marketing or international business. Being active and social are two of my favorite things to do; I love talking to people, learning about other cultures, traveling when I have the chance, and doing just about anything outdoors. I’m particularly excited to travel to Slovakia to learn more about this hidden gem of a country in central Europe, immerse myself in the culture, explore the landscape, and grow in my faith. Thanks so much for supporting our group on our trip to Slovakia this summer!

Hi! My name is Corrine Schmaedeke and I am a junior at Roseville Area High School. I am so excited for the incredible opportunity to travel to Slovakia with our amazing youth group, and reconnect with Marek and Andrej. I’ve gone on the past two RLC Senior High mission trips; one to Beattyville, Kentucky and most recently to Minneapolis. I had a wonderful experience both times. Kentucky was an especially meaningful trip for me. We were there through Habitat for Humanity, and were working on fixing up a house for a family in the community. Although when we got there, I did much less working and much more playing with the family’s youngest daughter, Shay, and we quickly bonded. We got very close and are still pen pals, and it was such a cool experience to build a relationship with someone I would not have normally gotten to meet, which is one thing I love about mission trips. RLC went to Minneapolis last year through YouthWorks and it was interesting to be on a mission trip less than 15 minutes from my house. We were split into groups and my group got to work with kids from Minneapolis at a place for school age children to go during the summer and learn and play so they do not fall behind in school. I loved playing with the kids and learning about a really cool organization I never knew existed that was so close to home. In the future I would like to go into social work. Trips like this are good experience for a social work career. I get to practice learning how to work with different people and experiencing different cultures as you so often do in social work. I’m so excited to grow in my faith with RLC through traveling to Slovakia. Both the mission trips and getting to spend a week in the Boundary Waters have all helped me grow as a person, in my faith, and my relationship with God. I can think of no better group to share this incredible adventure with.