Showing posts with label Missions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Missions. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 17, 2013
Wednesday, September 11, 2013
Monday, August 26, 2013
Rejection Is Like Chicken
Wondering what in the world that title means? Well, you'll have to check out my latest post on the England Edition to find out!
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| I never use stock photos, but it's a picture of a chicken. Wearing shoes. It was too perfect to pass up. |
Monday, August 19, 2013
Monday, August 12, 2013
England Edition
Time for some changes folks! I now have a second blog, A Tale of Two Feet: England Edition, where from here on out I'll be blogging about all things England/Globalscope/Canvas related! I encourage you to go ahead and subscribe to that blog as well, but I'll be linking to the new blog for a while so you won't miss out on anything. Head on over and check it out!
Tuesday, June 18, 2013
Launch
When we arrived at the CMF office Monday we met the other two recruits at Launch, Megan and Michelle. They're sisters are going to be leaving in October to serve in Tanzania for a year. After introductions and getting excited about our legit magnetic name tags, we jumped right into things.
We had a presentation about CMF, prayer time with all of the CMF staff, and then another presentation about support raising before lunch. Lunch was really fun because half of the staff joined us and I sat at a table with a few of them. It gave me a chance to start really getting to know the whole CMF team, not just the few I'll be in closest contact with. After lunch we all had several one-on-one meetings with the key people that will be helping us through the process of getting on the field. So we had meeting with our specific area directors, finance and support raising people, the communication and media team etc. We also had our picture taken for our personal media materials and missionary page on the CMF website. Then we had one last presentation for the day, about building relationships with churches. Then the four of us recruits, plus Donna and Shannon, the Director of Mobilization, had dinner together at the office before we headed back to the hotel for the night. Erica and I worked on our presentations for the next day, and then spent some time with Megan and Michelle before finally calling it a day.
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| The wall of CMF missionaries - I'll be up there soon! |
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| The Cook Center - where we spent most of our time at Launch. |
Tuesday morning we talked through some of the different personality and spiritual gifts tests we had taken before we came to Launch, and then it was on to the presentations. We had had to create a 10-minute presentation, as if we were talking to church or organization about partnering with us in ministry. We had to do it in front of the other recruits as well as small group of the staff. They gave us feedback and advice, and the whole thing was video-taped so we could watch it later. It was a little nerve-racking, but very helpful. The other three girls did theirs before lunch, and I lucked out and got to go after. And at lunch on Tuesday the other half of the staff came and ate with us. After my presentation we each had another one-on-one meeting, and we also had to do these interviews where they asked us all sorts of questions about why we wanted to serving with CMF, when we felt called to missions, what we were most excited about, what skills we would be bringing to the table etc. It was kind of intimidating, with the bright spotlights and camera, but they'll edit and piece it all together into one cohesive video clip, and it will eventually be on my missionary page. After that we finished things up with a time of prayer, with the other girls and Shannon and Donna. Then we went out to eat before I had to be dropped off back at the bus station.
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| Erica, Donna, me, Michelle, Shannon, and Megan |
That little summary doesn't make it sound as busy and information-overload as it really was. It was an exhausting two days! But they were so good. I left feeling encouraged, excited, and capable. Whether I would be working closely with them or not, I sensed that the whole staff was excited about us, and "for us." It made me want to go home, start support raising immediately, and get to England as soon as possible!
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| I noticed this on a huge calendar in the hall shortly before we left. |
Saturday, June 8, 2013
Starting the Journey
Back when I first announced that I was going to be moving to England I said that I would be back with more more posts about how all of this came about and more information about what things would be like there, and I'm finally doing that....
Last spring I was reading through the book of Hebrews with the girls that I was discipling. When we got to chapter 11, the faith chapter, I asked the girls "What in your life is requiring you to really step out and live by faith right now?" After asking that question and having that conversation a few times, I asked myself the same thing. I knew that what I was doing - raising support and working in full-time ministry - required faith. I certainly didn't believe I was doing all of those things in my own power, but I also didn't feel like I was stepping out and trusting the Lord for much. I realized that I had to a place where I was comfortable and safe. And I didn't like that. So I began praying that the Lord would stretch me and show me how he wanted to trust in him more. I prayed that for months.
Then one day last summer I checked my mailbox and had a newsletter from CMF, which wasn't unusual. I had two friends that I was supporting at the time who were serving with CMF in Spain, so I received mail from CMF often. I opened it up and was flipping through it when I saw a picture of a friend that I went to Milligan with. I remember thinking "Hey, I know her! She's in the CMF newsletter; that's kinda cool." The article was about a new Globalscope campus ministry they were starting in Scotland, and Meredith was apart of that team. It all sounded really neat, and since Meredith lives in Johnson City I messaged her and asked if she wanted to catch up. I was excited for her and wanted to hear more about what she would be doing. That was the extent of my intentions for that meeting.
So we got coffee and she told me all about Scotland, the team she would be working with, and what they were hoping the ministry there where would be like. Meredith had also spent a year in Indonesia with CMF and she told me all about that and what her experience working with CMF was like. And the more she talked the more interested I became. When we left I knew I wanted to learn more. So that night I got online and read everything available about Globalscope. I asked myself the hypothetical question, "If I wanted to go do something like this, where would I want to go?" A few of the Globalscope ministries are in South American countries, and I just know that my heart isn't there. There was Germany, Thailand, and Uruguay, but I didn't really want to have to learn another language. That left England. It wasn't just that that was the only one left; I really did feel that I could like it there. It was probably naive or even shallow, because I had never been to Europe, let alone England, and most of what I knew about it was from the media, but something just felt right. I really felt like I could see myself there, and I filled out a basic, preliminary application.
A week or so later someone emailed me, thanked me for my interest in Globalscope, and asked if I wanted to talk with her to learn more, which I did. So I talked with a lady named Shannon for a while one day. Everything she told me about serving with CMF and the ministry in England sounded appealing and like something I would enjoy. So then I had a conversation with the director of Globalscope to learn more about the nitty-gritty and logistics of things. I was still interested after that conversation so I set up a time to Skype with the team leader in England. We Skyped for about an hour, and the more we talked and the more I learned about the ministry there, called Canvas, and life in Birmingham, the more excited I became. By the time we were done talking I knew that this was something that I seriously wanted to pray about and consider doing. Thankfully there was very little pressure from CMF. They said they would go ahead and send me the application, but to just take my time praying about it and filling out the application.
The large application packet arrived right at the start of the school year and I knew it would have to wait until we got through the first few weeks of ministry here. So I tucked it away in my bookshelf and honestly forgot all about it at times. In mid September I pulled it back out, read over everything again, and just didn't know anymore. I spent about a month praying about and really not knowing what to do. It still sounded like an incredible opportunity, but now I was in the swing of things with The Well, and I loved The Well! That's what made that time so hard. I wanted to go, but I didn't want to leave. I would spend a weekend thinking all about it and would feel pretty certain that I would apply, and then I would have an incredible night of small group on Sunday night and would think, "I can't leave this!" I was so torn!
I was continuing to pray for guidance, and in October began to hear the Lord speaking to me very clearly. The first, and probably most affirming, thing that helped me see that this might be right next-step for me was the way my dad responded when I told my family I was thinking about moving. We were all home one weekend and I just told them everything I've said up to this point here. When I was finished talking it seemed like no one spoke for the longest time, and then my dad started to. Now I knew my parents weren't going to tell me no, but I was expecting my dad to say something to the effect of, "Let's look into it, and think about and pray about it." But he didn't. Instead he said, "Well, I think you need to go and do it." I was shocked; this was not my father, he just doesn't say things like that. He went on to say that recently during his own personal time with the Lord he felt that the Lord was preparing him for the fact that He had bigger plans for me. Coming from my dad, that was huge, and something that I could just not deny.
And over the next several weeks there continued to be things that spoke to me and I knew the Lord was answering my prayers for clarity. One Friday night in October I opened up my Explicit Gospel workbook to prepare for teaching the lesson that Sunday, and of all the lessons, which one was mine to lead? The one about heralding the Gospel. Of course. One of the first things Matt Chandler said in the video was was, "Paul doesn't ask Timothy if he has the gift of evangelism, he tells him to do the work of an evangelist." This really hit me hard. One of the things I was nervous about with Canvas was having to share about my faith with unbelievers. That probably sounds weird coming from someone who is pursuing missions. But I spent most of time in ministry with students who were believers, and going deeper with them. I was more comfortable with that than "evangelistic" conversations. It was a challenge, to know that we are called to that, but it was also comforting in a way. It was like there was freedom in knowing I was called to do something, regardless of whether or not it was my strongest gift. I might not think I'm great at it, but I can be obedient. Another thing from that lesson that encouraged me to go was the line, "God is wisdom, and God is power, and that's how men are saved. Our job is simply to herald [the Gospel]." Again, God is just asking me to be obedient, the rest is up to him.
As soon as the fall semester was over, we had to find another Bible study to do with our students in the spring. We were thinking about doing the Radical study by David Platt, and in order to quickly do a preview of the study, each staff member got a copy of one week's lesson that we were supposed to work on over the break. So in early December I sat down to work on my week's lesson. And what was it about? Going and preaching the gospel and being a disciple maker. I knew the Lord was telling me something and when the video started, it didn't take long before I was crying. So many things were hitting home, and I almost felt like I was hearing "Go. Go. Go. Go. Go." The two main points from that lesson that really spoke to me were, "The essence of being a disciple is being a disciple maker," and "We are the children of God and we are not in a position to express opinions, we are in a position to obey orders."
Those were just a few of the main ways that I heard the Lord speaking to me, but they were definitely not the only ones. Wednesday night messages at The Well, conversations with friends, and time in the Word all helped me decide that I was going to do it. Or at least apply . So over the Christmas break I worked on the application, which was quite intense. I had to take three different psychological evaluations, and by the time I was done with those, I was pretty sure I was crazy! I mailed off the huge application in January, and then a few weeks later I had two Skype interviews. On February 8th the selection committee at CMF reviewed all of my application and the results of my interviews, and then the following week they called me and told me they wanted me to join the Globalscope team. I was soooo excited!
I told the rest of our staff right away, and some close friends that weren't really connected to The Well, but that was it for a while. I wanted to be able to tell all of our ministry team students at one time, so they wouldn't be finding out through the grapevine, and the opportunity to do that wouldn't present itself for a while. So I ended up having to keep this whole thing a secret for almost two months! It was so hard to just act normal and not give it away, but I managed. The week before I was going to tell all of the students at once, I did talk with a few of the girls I am closest to and told them. Those were really fun conversations and resulted in squeals, tears, and a few "shut up!"s. The students were all sad to see me go, but really excited as well, which was so encouraging!
The rest of the semester proceeded as normal as far as The Well goes, and then about a month ago everything changed. I got rid of a bunch of stuff, I had my last day at the office, I packed up almost all of the rest my stuff and sent it off to my parents, I moved out of my apartment, moved in with another family, started a new job...it has been crazy to say the least. And overwhelming and scary and stressful. But this is all a part of the journey and I am learning a lot! Early tomorrow morning I head to Indianapolis for Launch, which is Globalscope orientation. I am really excited to finally meet some of the people from the CMF office that have been helping me through this process, and I'll get to meet one of the girls that I'll be serving with in England next year! I can't wait to share more with you next week!
Last spring I was reading through the book of Hebrews with the girls that I was discipling. When we got to chapter 11, the faith chapter, I asked the girls "What in your life is requiring you to really step out and live by faith right now?" After asking that question and having that conversation a few times, I asked myself the same thing. I knew that what I was doing - raising support and working in full-time ministry - required faith. I certainly didn't believe I was doing all of those things in my own power, but I also didn't feel like I was stepping out and trusting the Lord for much. I realized that I had to a place where I was comfortable and safe. And I didn't like that. So I began praying that the Lord would stretch me and show me how he wanted to trust in him more. I prayed that for months.
Then one day last summer I checked my mailbox and had a newsletter from CMF, which wasn't unusual. I had two friends that I was supporting at the time who were serving with CMF in Spain, so I received mail from CMF often. I opened it up and was flipping through it when I saw a picture of a friend that I went to Milligan with. I remember thinking "Hey, I know her! She's in the CMF newsletter; that's kinda cool." The article was about a new Globalscope campus ministry they were starting in Scotland, and Meredith was apart of that team. It all sounded really neat, and since Meredith lives in Johnson City I messaged her and asked if she wanted to catch up. I was excited for her and wanted to hear more about what she would be doing. That was the extent of my intentions for that meeting.
So we got coffee and she told me all about Scotland, the team she would be working with, and what they were hoping the ministry there where would be like. Meredith had also spent a year in Indonesia with CMF and she told me all about that and what her experience working with CMF was like. And the more she talked the more interested I became. When we left I knew I wanted to learn more. So that night I got online and read everything available about Globalscope. I asked myself the hypothetical question, "If I wanted to go do something like this, where would I want to go?" A few of the Globalscope ministries are in South American countries, and I just know that my heart isn't there. There was Germany, Thailand, and Uruguay, but I didn't really want to have to learn another language. That left England. It wasn't just that that was the only one left; I really did feel that I could like it there. It was probably naive or even shallow, because I had never been to Europe, let alone England, and most of what I knew about it was from the media, but something just felt right. I really felt like I could see myself there, and I filled out a basic, preliminary application.
A week or so later someone emailed me, thanked me for my interest in Globalscope, and asked if I wanted to talk with her to learn more, which I did. So I talked with a lady named Shannon for a while one day. Everything she told me about serving with CMF and the ministry in England sounded appealing and like something I would enjoy. So then I had a conversation with the director of Globalscope to learn more about the nitty-gritty and logistics of things. I was still interested after that conversation so I set up a time to Skype with the team leader in England. We Skyped for about an hour, and the more we talked and the more I learned about the ministry there, called Canvas, and life in Birmingham, the more excited I became. By the time we were done talking I knew that this was something that I seriously wanted to pray about and consider doing. Thankfully there was very little pressure from CMF. They said they would go ahead and send me the application, but to just take my time praying about it and filling out the application.
The large application packet arrived right at the start of the school year and I knew it would have to wait until we got through the first few weeks of ministry here. So I tucked it away in my bookshelf and honestly forgot all about it at times. In mid September I pulled it back out, read over everything again, and just didn't know anymore. I spent about a month praying about and really not knowing what to do. It still sounded like an incredible opportunity, but now I was in the swing of things with The Well, and I loved The Well! That's what made that time so hard. I wanted to go, but I didn't want to leave. I would spend a weekend thinking all about it and would feel pretty certain that I would apply, and then I would have an incredible night of small group on Sunday night and would think, "I can't leave this!" I was so torn!
I was continuing to pray for guidance, and in October began to hear the Lord speaking to me very clearly. The first, and probably most affirming, thing that helped me see that this might be right next-step for me was the way my dad responded when I told my family I was thinking about moving. We were all home one weekend and I just told them everything I've said up to this point here. When I was finished talking it seemed like no one spoke for the longest time, and then my dad started to. Now I knew my parents weren't going to tell me no, but I was expecting my dad to say something to the effect of, "Let's look into it, and think about and pray about it." But he didn't. Instead he said, "Well, I think you need to go and do it." I was shocked; this was not my father, he just doesn't say things like that. He went on to say that recently during his own personal time with the Lord he felt that the Lord was preparing him for the fact that He had bigger plans for me. Coming from my dad, that was huge, and something that I could just not deny.
And over the next several weeks there continued to be things that spoke to me and I knew the Lord was answering my prayers for clarity. One Friday night in October I opened up my Explicit Gospel workbook to prepare for teaching the lesson that Sunday, and of all the lessons, which one was mine to lead? The one about heralding the Gospel. Of course. One of the first things Matt Chandler said in the video was was, "Paul doesn't ask Timothy if he has the gift of evangelism, he tells him to do the work of an evangelist." This really hit me hard. One of the things I was nervous about with Canvas was having to share about my faith with unbelievers. That probably sounds weird coming from someone who is pursuing missions. But I spent most of time in ministry with students who were believers, and going deeper with them. I was more comfortable with that than "evangelistic" conversations. It was a challenge, to know that we are called to that, but it was also comforting in a way. It was like there was freedom in knowing I was called to do something, regardless of whether or not it was my strongest gift. I might not think I'm great at it, but I can be obedient. Another thing from that lesson that encouraged me to go was the line, "God is wisdom, and God is power, and that's how men are saved. Our job is simply to herald [the Gospel]." Again, God is just asking me to be obedient, the rest is up to him.
As soon as the fall semester was over, we had to find another Bible study to do with our students in the spring. We were thinking about doing the Radical study by David Platt, and in order to quickly do a preview of the study, each staff member got a copy of one week's lesson that we were supposed to work on over the break. So in early December I sat down to work on my week's lesson. And what was it about? Going and preaching the gospel and being a disciple maker. I knew the Lord was telling me something and when the video started, it didn't take long before I was crying. So many things were hitting home, and I almost felt like I was hearing "Go. Go. Go. Go. Go." The two main points from that lesson that really spoke to me were, "The essence of being a disciple is being a disciple maker," and "We are the children of God and we are not in a position to express opinions, we are in a position to obey orders."
Those were just a few of the main ways that I heard the Lord speaking to me, but they were definitely not the only ones. Wednesday night messages at The Well, conversations with friends, and time in the Word all helped me decide that I was going to do it. Or at least apply . So over the Christmas break I worked on the application, which was quite intense. I had to take three different psychological evaluations, and by the time I was done with those, I was pretty sure I was crazy! I mailed off the huge application in January, and then a few weeks later I had two Skype interviews. On February 8th the selection committee at CMF reviewed all of my application and the results of my interviews, and then the following week they called me and told me they wanted me to join the Globalscope team. I was soooo excited!
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| The morning I sent off my application! |
I told the rest of our staff right away, and some close friends that weren't really connected to The Well, but that was it for a while. I wanted to be able to tell all of our ministry team students at one time, so they wouldn't be finding out through the grapevine, and the opportunity to do that wouldn't present itself for a while. So I ended up having to keep this whole thing a secret for almost two months! It was so hard to just act normal and not give it away, but I managed. The week before I was going to tell all of the students at once, I did talk with a few of the girls I am closest to and told them. Those were really fun conversations and resulted in squeals, tears, and a few "shut up!"s. The students were all sad to see me go, but really excited as well, which was so encouraging!
The rest of the semester proceeded as normal as far as The Well goes, and then about a month ago everything changed. I got rid of a bunch of stuff, I had my last day at the office, I packed up almost all of the rest my stuff and sent it off to my parents, I moved out of my apartment, moved in with another family, started a new job...it has been crazy to say the least. And overwhelming and scary and stressful. But this is all a part of the journey and I am learning a lot! Early tomorrow morning I head to Indianapolis for Launch, which is Globalscope orientation. I am really excited to finally meet some of the people from the CMF office that have been helping me through this process, and I'll get to meet one of the girls that I'll be serving with in England next year! I can't wait to share more with you next week!
Monday, May 27, 2013
The Story of God
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Serving on Saturday
Saturday morning six students and I headed out to Doe River Gorge. Doe River is a local camp and retreat center, and is a great ministry partner of ours. The mission team wanted to do one last service project before the semester was over, so we headed out there to help them get ready for summer camp. We spent the morning spreading mulch, and I was quite sore on Sunday morning! It was worth it though, because we got to be a blessing to Doe River and had a fun time working together.
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| Me with Ivy and Will, the Mission Team student leaders. |
Thursday, April 4, 2013
New Boots and A Big Announcement
I mentioned in a post last week that I had gotten new rain boots and you would it hear more about them later. Well, it's later! A few months ago I wrote about how I needed a new pair of boots and I was debating on whether I should get another cheap pair to make it through the season or go ahead and invest in a good pair. I actually ended up doing neither of those things. I just decided to save money all together and make do with the old boots I had. I super glued the broken buckle back together and made sure not to step in puddles that were deep enough to get inside the leak.
Now the "good pair" of boots I had my eye on were a pair of Hunter rain boots, and I was pretty sure I wanted them in yellow. Well one night about a month ago I was at home reading when there was a knock on the door. I went and opened it and there was no one there, but there was a UPS truck driving away and that's when I noticed the big package. My mom sends me packages fairly often, so receiving one isn't totally out of the ordinary, but this was much larger than what she normally sends. I had no idea what it could be or who it was from, and then I noticed on the mailing label that it was sent from Hunter Boots. I grabbed a knife, cut all the packing tape, opened up the big brown box, and there inside of it was a beautiful, shiny black Hunter boot box! I was almost giddy as I opened it up and saw the even more beautiful and shiny yellow rain boots that I wanted!
I had a hunch that my sister had gotten them for me, because she had recently asked me a bunch of questions about what kind of new boots I wanted and when I planned on getting them. I gave her a call and sure enough, they were from her! She asked if I had seen the message she had included when she ordered them, so I dug around a little more in the box and found this envelope, which if you ask me, is pretty nice for a pair of rain boots ordered online. And inside the envelope was this message...
The big announcement is...I'm not just going to England, I'm moving to England!!! At some point next year, probably/hopefully January, I will be moving to Birmingham, England, for at least a year! I am going to be serving with Christian Missionary Fellowship International (CMF) through their Globalscope program, which focuses on international campus ministry. The ministry there is called Canvas and serves students attending The University of Birmingham. In many ways it reminds me a lot of The Well. They have weekly services with worship and teaching, a leadership team of students, weekly Bible studies, fun social events, service opportunities, and even weekly meals together! I don't know the specifics of what I'll be doing, other than just doing life with these students, with the intention of helping them come to know Jesus and grow in their relationship with Him - which is what I'm doing now!
In order for me to pursue this opportunity like I need to, this semester will be my last on staff with The Well. That is definitely a bittersweet realization. I am excited to go, but it doesn't mean I won't miss what I'm leaving behind. I know the Lord has called me to go though - so I'm going! In the months ahead there will be more posts about the whole process of getting to this point, what life after The Well will look like, more about the ministry of Canvas, and about my future new home in Birmingham! But for now I just wanted to go ahead and get this on the blog. I can't wait to see all the things these feet are going to experience in the months ahead!
Now the "good pair" of boots I had my eye on were a pair of Hunter rain boots, and I was pretty sure I wanted them in yellow. Well one night about a month ago I was at home reading when there was a knock on the door. I went and opened it and there was no one there, but there was a UPS truck driving away and that's when I noticed the big package. My mom sends me packages fairly often, so receiving one isn't totally out of the ordinary, but this was much larger than what she normally sends. I had no idea what it could be or who it was from, and then I noticed on the mailing label that it was sent from Hunter Boots. I grabbed a knife, cut all the packing tape, opened up the big brown box, and there inside of it was a beautiful, shiny black Hunter boot box! I was almost giddy as I opened it up and saw the even more beautiful and shiny yellow rain boots that I wanted!
I had a hunch that my sister had gotten them for me, because she had recently asked me a bunch of questions about what kind of new boots I wanted and when I planned on getting them. I gave her a call and sure enough, they were from her! She asked if I had seen the message she had included when she ordered them, so I dug around a little more in the box and found this envelope, which if you ask me, is pretty nice for a pair of rain boots ordered online. And inside the envelope was this message...
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| Not quite sure what the N is for... |
The big announcement is...I'm not just going to England, I'm moving to England!!! At some point next year, probably/hopefully January, I will be moving to Birmingham, England, for at least a year! I am going to be serving with Christian Missionary Fellowship International (CMF) through their Globalscope program, which focuses on international campus ministry. The ministry there is called Canvas and serves students attending The University of Birmingham. In many ways it reminds me a lot of The Well. They have weekly services with worship and teaching, a leadership team of students, weekly Bible studies, fun social events, service opportunities, and even weekly meals together! I don't know the specifics of what I'll be doing, other than just doing life with these students, with the intention of helping them come to know Jesus and grow in their relationship with Him - which is what I'm doing now!
In order for me to pursue this opportunity like I need to, this semester will be my last on staff with The Well. That is definitely a bittersweet realization. I am excited to go, but it doesn't mean I won't miss what I'm leaving behind. I know the Lord has called me to go though - so I'm going! In the months ahead there will be more posts about the whole process of getting to this point, what life after The Well will look like, more about the ministry of Canvas, and about my future new home in Birmingham! But for now I just wanted to go ahead and get this on the blog. I can't wait to see all the things these feet are going to experience in the months ahead!
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| It's going to rain a lot there, which is why good boots are a must! |
If you are interested, below are links to both CMF's website, and Canvas' website and facebook page!
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Spring Break '13 - Atlantic City
This year for The Well's spring break mission trip we went to Atlantic City, New Jersey to do relief work from Hurricane Sandy. There were thirty-four students and six adults, and early Friday morning March 8th we loaded a trailer full of luggage, sleeping bags, air mattresses, tools, and food, piled into a van, mini bus, and car and set out! We arrived in Egg Harbor Township late that night, where we would be staying for the week at Greentree Church.
Saturday morning we got right to work! We were split into three teams, and I had ten students on my team. We were the only team that got to work at the same house all week, and that was a huge blessing because it allowed us to form a really good relationship with Mel, who lived at the house with his mother and son. When you first walked into the house you wouldn't have known that anything was wrong, because it looked pretty normal, but after the hurricane there had been two feet of standing water in the downstairs of the house. Everything under the floors and behind the walls was starting to mold, and it would all need to be replaced. The first few hours of work were the most fun I think, because we all got to take crowbars to the walls and tear down all of the drywall. Then we pulled up the linoleum in the living room, hardwood floors in the kitchen, and started tearing up the sub-flooring, which was the most difficult and time consuming thing we did all week.
On Sunday morning we went to church at Greentree, had our lunch there, and then spent the rest of the day and evening in Atlantic City. It was kind of odd to have our "fun day" at the beginning of the trip, but that's just how it worked out this time. It seriously took us about 25 minutes to find somewhere to park our bus and van together, and at one point Seth got out of the van and forgot to put it in park. It started rolling backward, I covered my eyes and sort of quietly screamed, and one of the guys sitting in the first row had to dive into front and slam on the brake with his hands! That was the highlight of the early afternoon. Once we found parking, the first stop for my little group was the boardwalk and beach. It was strange to be walking on the beach in boots, a coat, hat, and gloves!
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| Even though the sun wasn't out, it was still bright, so we're all squinting. In the sand we wrote #atlanticcity2013, which was the hash tag we all used whenever we tweeted about the trip. |
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| Me and Ashlynn, one of the girls from my Class '16 freshman small group. |
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| And Lauren and I. She was in my Class '13 small group, and now she's graduating in May! |
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| In front of us everything was gray. |
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| And behind us everything was quite colorful. |
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After the beach we went into one of the lobby areas of a casino to get some Starbucks, and then to a little mall sort of place where we saw two guys getting arrested for shoplifting. That was the highlight of the middle afternoon. Then we headed for the outlets; we went to J.Crew, Gap, H&M, Fossil, Life is Good, Nike and Famous Footwear and I managed to only buy one thing! A pair of shorts at J.Crew for $25. For dinner we went to Sack 'O Subs, a popular sub shop. I thought my sub was just ok, but my table split orders of regular fries, spicy curly fries, and pizza fries, and they were amazing. Definitely the highlight of the evening.
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| Lauren got really excited about the revolving doors at the casino and took pictures of everyone going in. |
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| These are the two shoplifters, handcuffed. We were a floor up, looking down. |
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| And here's our whole group. I'm in front making a horrible face. |
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday were more or less the same. Get up, eat breakfast at 7:30, pack a lunch, leave the church by 8:10ish, and go to our work sites. We'd eat lunch there and then return to the church anywhere between 4:00 and 5:30. On Monday my team finished tearing up all the flooring and sub flooring, which involved busting up tile with sledge hammers! We also installed new insulation in the walls and treated all the floor joists for mold.
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| Lunch break! |
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| Alex, Haley, and Debbie. |
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| Ashlynn and Kelcie. |
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| That's mold on the walls, behind where the cabinets, fridge, and stove were. |
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| We had to wait a little while for some more supplies, so we got to play with Mel's son's dog, Bolt. |
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| I actually worked too! |
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| My team! Alex, Martin, Ashlynn, Mason, Lauren, Mel - who's house it was, Ashley, Haley, Tiffany, Debbie, and Kelcie. |
I only had the camera with me on Monday, so I can't show the rest of the progress, but over the next three days we finished tearing up all the flooring, installed insulation in the walls and floors, and laid down new sub flooring. You could also say we installed insulation in the floors several times, because we all kept stepping through it! Until all the sub flooring was down we had make shift walkways, but we still had to do lots of walking back and forth just balancing on the floor joists. The insulation covered the wood up though, and it was easy to miss-step. Thankfully no one was seriously hurt, just some bruises and minor scrapes.
On Tuesday, before we put in new insulation, we all wrote a message to Mel on the floor joists. It was so neat to glance up from working and see students scattered throughout the living room, awkwardly crouched between the wooden slats, writing prayers and Scripture. Even though I knew those messages would most likely never be seen again, I loved knowing that the house would literally be founded on the Truth. Mel wasn't at the house when we did this, and so later we just told him about it. The next day, when he got back from the Dollar Tree, where he works, he had two pieces of poster board and a pack of markers. He told us that since he would never be able to see what we had written, he wanted us all to write it again on the posters, and that he would hang it up to remember us by. It was then that I realized we were doing so much more than just working on his house, we really were touching his heart. I do not think that Mel knows Jesus, but I know he saw Jesus through our students. And for me, that is why this trip was a huge success!
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| *Shout out to Lauren Ray for these photos! |
The church that we stayed at was very nice and accommodating. We had a commercial grade kitchen to prepare all of our meals in, and a gym to eat and hang out in. We slept in classrooms and had plenty of room. There was only one shower for the guys and one shower for the girls though, and they shared the same hot water heater. So needless to say that resulted in long lines for the showers, which were often quick and cold. But we made it work and it really ended up not being a big deal. One night I waited until pretty late to shower, so I could have a somewhat long and hot one. And everything was going according to plan until the lights went out! The bathroom lights were on a motion sensor, and I'd been in the shower long enough that the sensor didn't pick up any movement. Thankfully all I had to do was step out for a moment and they came back on!
It was the church's missions emphasis week that week, and on Wednesday night they had a mutli-cultural dinner. They had little stations set up all around the gym with authentic food from different countries, and we could sample whatever food we wanted. My favorite was the matzo ball soup from Israel and the dish from Poland which had sausage, cheese, and potatoes. It was also a fun night because after three days of wearing work clothes and looking kind of rough, it gave us a reason to "dress up" and feel nice.
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| Lauren curled my hair with one of those curling wands. I need to get me one of those! |
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| All of the ladies of the trip. |
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