Welcome to Alabama Rachael and friends! I hope they have a great and productive mission trip. The weather this week should be great.

Good for her! Hope they have a successful trip.

And it’s snowing like crazy here!!

No rain in the forecast, YET! Sun is shining.

I'm a University of Alabama graduate, way back when!

What is a mission trip and why does Alabama need one?

They are a group of church kids along with chaperones going to help with the tornado cleanup.

Thanks for the reply. I didn't put 2 and 2 together wrt Alabama and the help required in cleaning up after the tornado. The need for help must be great after so much devastation.

Alabama has tornadoes a lot. Recently, just south of me Lee County, at least 23 people were killed due to a tornado.

Thursday for most of the evening, we had no regular tv due to tornado watches and warnings being covered.

I'll bet that Rachael is heading to one of the communities so hard hit by tornadoes in recent days. Earlier this month, one small town was terribly hard hit, leaving 23 dead in a wave of destruction.

That's just a guess.

Roll Tide! I was raised in Tuscaloosa!

Roll Tide! I was raised in Greenvill, Al.

I think it is going to be a real eye opener for her. This is all new for the entire group. The pastor has met with them on several accasions about what to expect and what they will be doing once they get there. Her heart is certainly in the right place for this.

susie, what is their mission? I just guessed that it might be tornado cleanup but certainly don't know.

Yes, it is the tornato clean up.

Their help will be greatly appreciated. The people who live in these tragic circumstances will benefit not only from helping hands but from their smiles and hugs.

I think it is wonderful these mission trips are conducted in the good old USA. Not that people all over the world don’t need help, but it is so expensive to travel overseas, and often we forget how much help is truly needed in our own backyards. Many people from Alabama have worked in disaster relief missions in Louisiana, Texas, Florida and other states in years past. It’s nice to hear others are helping people in our state in a time of need.

A group of teens I know about helped clean and repair some damaged homes, handed out food, water and cleaning supplies, and did other cleanup jobs, supervised by adults.

Mission trips, here, are, generally,church sponsored. Small groups, adult and teens who offer support for whatever is needed: emotional, physical, etc. Hurricanes, tornadoes, floods.

Have a friend who has a place in a village in Ecuador, where daughter lives permanently. She takes small mission groups yearly. Mighty special person.

susie53_gw, know your granddaughter will come home blessed by her trip. Happy for her.

susie, the weather is beautiful here! Hope your granddaughter is having a great visit.

Great!! She sent me a few pictures last evening.. she is loving this. It is going to be a real learning experience for her. She says she is diffently going to do this again.

Roll Tide!

-Another ‘Bama grad