Sunday and reflection

Sunday at Naz has been one of our traditions since the get go. The congregation at Naz has been supportive of our ministry in many ways. We feel like we are going home every time we come back to play for these worship services. Mike and I are especially grateful to see our families again and have them around for our final hurrah.
We worshiped with the congregation for the second and third performances. Everything went well. When we were done with the services, we packed up, debriefed and headed out for lunch.

Reflection:

The end is always difficult.

One of the key words for this past week has been "revitalization". Our tour through Chicago and Wisconsin is our spring break. I say it is my vacation. It renews my spirit and inspires me to be a better person. I like to remember that life is not about what we accomplish in our jobs or status, but rather the relationships we make and how much we help others along the journey.

This week has emphasized to the group how homelessness is still a problem all over our country and the world. We served at several homeless shelters and with Feed My Starving Children. I am glad that we were reminded that we are all one pink slip, one bad event, one foreclosure, one eviction, or one mishap from being homeless, hungry, or worse.

I hope our group made some difference. I hope that we didn't just help feed some children or help a homeless shelter operate for one more day, but that we helped feed souls. One meal will fill one person for a few hours, but feeding one soul can last for a long time and it can grow and spread to others. I hope that we spread God's word through our music. I hope that we inspired some children to lead positive lives and help others in thier community. I hope we revitalized. I hope we revitalized others as much as we were revitalized. I hope that all of this will overflow, because with God involved, it can't be contained.

We owe a great amount of gratetude to several people and groups that helped us along our way. Here is a list of people I would like to thank. I hope I don't forget anyone, if I do, please let me know and I will add you to the list

Mike Jensen - for being my counterpart in this adventure and for leading and inspiring all of us
Jared and Dani - for countless hours of planning, calling, estimating, filling out forms, and everything else you did to get this week on its feet
Libby Johnson - for putting up with the 16 of us for five days in her house, with all our messes, cooking mishaps, etc. We also thank you for the many groceries and deliciuos food and lastly for being our mom while we were on the road. It was nice to come back to a smiling face each night.
Joe and his family, Staci's family, and Chris's family - for hosting us; giving us a place to sleep and food to keep us going.
All of our contacts for working out the logistics to give us a venue to play at and opening your doors to our ministry.
All of the family, friends, and congregations that donated money to help us raise the funds for this trip.
The service trip board for all their help in organizing the trips.
Lastly a large thank you to all of the students on the trip for making this experience more special than I can express. These guys give up thier spring break to go out and serve others. They are talented and have great hearts for humanity. I am proud to be part of this group and proud of all of you - Thanks!

Mike mentioned during our debriefing time on Sunday that words can't always express what God does on this trip. This is so very true. I have often been at a loss for words on what this trip means to me and those involved.

I hope to give more insight to our trip by throwing in some pictures and some media to the blog and u-tube, so stay tuned for some more things to come. We are also looking into the possibility of producing another CD this year. Let me know if you are interested in one and I will put you on the list.

Lastly, I realized that I never gave a list of the 16 of us that currently make up Hope Overflow. So here are the names of the people who I have enjoyed traveing with for the last week. Thank you all for a fantastic break!
-Hans

Dani Johnson - vocals
Alexis Spain - vocals
Meghann Bauman - vocals
Kate Glenny - vocals
Mike Jensen - vocals/acoust. guitar
Justin Krogman - vocals/acoust. guitar
Chris Roberts - elect. guitar
Kevin Schnieder - elect. guitar
Sarah "Grethchen" Jorgenson - bass
Trevor Carolan - keyboard/piano/aux. percussion
Staci Speer - keyboard/piano/aux. percussion
Alec Amosson - synth
Laura Mackey - violin/trombone
Jared Robb - viola
Ried Keller - drums
Hans Pregler - sound engineer