Praying before we left church
Eating breakfast at the airport before we boarded the plane.
We flew Jet Blue Airline
They are all sleeping ....
.... JUST KIDDING!
The crew, grabbing a picture after getting our subway "T" passes and getting ready to lug our luggage across town.
Hostel International Boston - our housing for the week
Hannah, Katie and I roomed together.
Chinatown was just around the corner. Our first adventure once we got settled into our room was to get some Bubble Tea. Ryan had Taro, which had a vanilla flavor and I had strawberry.
North End Boston - first night on the town.
Pauli's Lobsta Roll - Hot and buttered is the way to go!
Paula Revere's House
Stopped by Mike's Pastry to see what all the fuss was about
Boston Creme Puff, Limoncello, Choc Chip and Key Lime Cannoli - I am disappointed to say that neither Ryan nor I cared for Mike's cannolis. We did have some cannolis later on in the week that we thought were better.
Out of our selection the Boston Creme Puff was the best!
Paul Revere Statue & Old North Church steeple
Green Dragon Tavern served as the headquarters for the American Revolution. This tavern was frequented by Samuel Adams, Paul Revere, John Hancock, Samuel Peck and other notable Mason's, "North-End men," and Revolutionaries.
Ryan had to have the oldest American made beer in one of the oldest Taverns in the USA. (We later found out that this was not the original building and Ryan was crushed)
Bell in Hand Tavern. Opened in 1795 and is the oldest operating tavern in Boston.
Union Oyster House - One of America's Oldest Restaurants. Fun Fact - J.F.K proposed to Jackie Onasis in a booth here.
Quincy Market - one of the most impressive large-scale market halls built in the 19th century. Quincy Market was named after Josiah Quincy, the mayor of Boston from 1823-1828 and the man responsible for organizing the construction of this market.
Old State building, completed in 1713, housed the Massachusetts Assembly and the Council Chamber. Many of the meetings and events that let to the American Revolution were held here. There is a circle of cobblestones in front of this building that marks the location of where the Boston Massacre took place.
Tuesday started out with a Trolley tour of the city. It was a hop on hop off tour. We had seen many of the sights already but it was nice to get to sit and ride around listening to the trolley driver talk about the history of the town.
Battle of Bunker Hill Monument and Memorial. The Battle of Bunker Hill was important because it boosted the confidence of the American militia and convinced the British that the war would not be as easily won as they first thought. Though the British won the battle, they incurred much heavier losses than the Americans. Due to the heat inside the monument we were unable to climb to the top.
Listening to the Park Ranger tell the story of the battle and its importance in history.
USS Constitution, also known as Old Ironsides, is a wooden hulled, three masted heavy frigate of the United States Navy named by President George Washington after the United States Constitution. It is the world's oldest commissioned naval vessel still afloat.
There was lots of construction being done on the ship as we were there. We were told that she has 7 scheduled sails this year and they are constantly repairing to keep it in working condition. The ship has over 30 masts. It took them 3 hours to hang one mast for her journey on July 4th. I loved looking at and imagining what it would have been like during that time!
Lunch at Quincy Market - I had a cheesesteak sandwich and Ryan found a place that had Fish & Chips
Unfortunately, we were not prepared for the rain. We actually thought we were going to have time before the rain came to come back to the Hostel and grab our rain jackets but .... Flash Flood Warnings came out around 2-3pm and we walked to Primark to grab a rain jacket. While we were shopping at Primark we noticed it had stopped raining so we put the jackets back up. As we started walking back to the Hostel it started raining again.
We made it back to the Hostel, dried off, grabbed our rain jackets and made our way to find the building where we were meeting the rest of the Hub Church group.
Jake (in the red) chasing after the Silver line bus that wouldn't pick us up
We met at LaunchLearn for our Serve Southie meeting. They had Regina's Pizzeria, salad and some amazing brownies for us to eat!
Day 3 in Boston- up early to make our way to M Street Park for our prayer walk.
THEY HAD COFFEE!!!!
Charlie giving us the history of South Boston aka Southie to give us a better understanding why we were there and our purpose.
Our awesome group
Our job the week of ServeSouthie, partnering under the Hub Church, was to help out the Paraclete. The Paraclete is a after school program for kids in the South Boston community. Paraclete means "advocate" or "helper". In Christianity the term paraclete most commonly refers to the Holy Spirit. It's a Greek word meaning "to console or comfort, one who encourages or uplifts." This building, which once housed Nuns who taught students that attended school next door, was built in 1926. This building is 4 stories tall with a fifth floor solarium. Two stories house the teacher/volunteers while the other 2 stories are classrooms. Legend has it that the building has one ghost, Sister Katherine. The Chapel, located on the second floor, was featured in the movie "The Verdict"
Allison, the program director/principal and Hasan, one of Paraclete's full time teachers, were there to greet us as we arrived. Jonathon, far left, was our Hub Church missional family connection.
The kids drew a picture welcoming us to Paraclete
Katie, Hannah and I tackled painting the staff kitchenette.
Before
After
The guys working on the shed
Ryan spent all his time cooking in the kitchen
Fried bananas and honeydew melon for the kids snack
Jake showing off his skills
Wrapping up Day 1 of Paraclete
While we were walking to find The Barking Crab, where we planned on eating dinner, we came across this beautiful mural
Gorgeous sailboats!!!!
We finally made it to the Barking Crab and was told it was going to be a 2 hour wait. We decided to go to Legal Seafood "just around the corner" instead.
Jake pulls directions up on his phone and we follow him. We walk and walk and walk and walk until we get to the Commuter rail. Something didn't seem right about it but we continued to follow him.
After realizing we are going the complete opposite direction we should have been going, we hopped off the Commuter rail and called an Uber.
In the two hours it took us to make it to Legal Seafood we could have just waited and ate at Barking Crab. Oh well, we wouldn't have this funny story to tell!
Thanks for the selfie Jake!
Beginning of Day 2 at Paraclete started out with making Banana Pudding for the kids snack that afternoon.
While Katie and I made the pudding Ryan worked on the grill for the cookout for lunch
Jake playing Jenga with the kids while we patiently waited for the food to be done
Finally time to eat!!!!
Insert Lion King theme song here...
Hasan thanking all of us for our hard work
Ended Day 2 by making sandwiches for the kids field trip to the zoo the next day
View of the city from the 5th floor Solarium of Paraclete
When we finished up at Paraclete we walked to Sullivans to grab something to eat before setting up community movie night on the beach.
Taking in all the sights while on the walk
Getting movie night set up. Hannah and I handed out magnifying glasses to the kids as they came in
The greeting committee
Such a good turn out! Hub said it exceeded their expectations and was the largest movie night they have had since they started.
Others worked on getting popcorn boxes ready and handing out popcorn to everyone
Day 3 of Paraclete project started out with COFFEE!!!!
Kids waiting to go to the Zoo for a field trip. During the summer, when school is out, they spend their time traveling around the city on field trips and have a couple hours of homework a day. They are fed lunch and snack there during the summer. When school is in, they come to Paraclete after school where they are able to work on homework, be tutored if needed and are fed dinner there. Most kids are there until 8pm when their parents get off of work.
While the kids were at the zoo we went to Powers Apartments, where Serve Southie first started, to cook hamburgers and hotdogs for the residents there.
This is "Shorty" When Ryan first saw him and heard him talk he knew he was going to sit and have a talk with him. He had lots of stories to tell!
Ryan made the kids peach cobbler for snack that day. It was safe to say that Ryan and his cooking became a big hit at Paraclete. Majority of these kids, if not all of them, had never had banana pudding or peach cobbler. It was a treat to see them try new things and love it!
Some of our crew patiently waiting and enjoying some peach cobbler too!
Bittersweet goodbyes! There are some super smart kids at Paraclete and I see big things ahead in their future! Until next time friends!
Dinner was Jakes choice, Pho. Yuck! Not my favorite but at least I gave it a try.
Heading out to movie night #2 on the beach, Jurassic Park.
We talked about getting Southie shirts all week. We walked a long way to get to them after we were given wrong directions! Might as well take a picture in them!
Ryan and I
Jake & Katie
The Mullins sisters!
The girls!
While everyone else was cleaning up, Jake and Ryan were shooting some hoops - typical scenario for these two!
Saturday we had the whole day to tour the city. We chose to tour Fenway Park. Unfortunately, there wasn't a game but we did get to hear the Foo Fighters do their sound check for the Summer Concert Series.
World Series 2013 Championship ring. Every full time employee at that time received one.
Made entirely out of Legos!
Fenway Park, home of The Green Monster
Since we were unable to tour the locker room due to the setting up of the concert, they brought the World Series Trophies up for us to see.
They have a rooftop garden. Different parts throughout the park use these veggies. Whats left gets donated to local charities.
Babe Ruth in the Hall of Fame
Just hanging out in the press box checking out what we could see of the Green Monster
After Fenway we were hungry so we stopped by Walburgers to grab something to eat! I love the Walburg's!
Meeting again and LaunchLearn for our celebratory going away dinner catered by Chipotle. We reflected on the things we did and conversations we had during our week there.
Sunday morning we got up and made our way to the Aloft Hotel for Hub Church service. It was raining and we figured it would be easier to just take the bus route.
Pastors from each church that participated in Serve Southie giving a little interview/testimony of our week in Boston.
Charlie Dunn, lead pastor of Hub Church. Such a fun and awesome guy!
After church we made our way to the Italian part of Boston to get some "real" Italian food from Ristorante Lucia. It was AMAZING!!!!
He can never take a serious picture.
I had lobster ravioli - OMG!
I can't remember the name of what Ryan had but it was a recommendation from our server.
Our flight back was delayed an hour and there was some action on the plane that came in before our flight. There were police in the airport waiting and on the tarmac as well. It ended up being 2 ladies come out via police escort so who knows what happened! We made it back to Manchester around 930-1000 and picked up the boys from Nana and Papas house. I couldn't stand to be away from them another night!!!! When we got home I gave them their Red Sox shirts we brought back for them. They loved them!
I wasn't sure what to expect of a "mission trip" but it ended up being better than I expected. It's all about being present and showing Gods love for others. Its all about being prepared to have those conversations about God and what being a Christian means to you. I came home with an understanding of where my spiritual life is and where it isn't. I have a LOT of learning and growing to do. Hopefully I am able to go back again next year to see the growth of Paraclete and Hub Church. Ryan and I made some new friends that will never be forgotten both in Boston and within the group we went with. God is good all the time!
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