Friday came and it was time to head back to VA. One group left early to head through Charlotte, NC so that Stacy could get home for her sister's 18th birthday, so after 7am we were down to 12 team members. Janet headed out back to Clemson after packing up and the rest of us finished packing to head out. Janice's car decided to tour downtown Georgetown before getting on the road to Richmond, while the rest of us drove up 95 in Richard's truck and the Monster, stopping at the Carolina Outlets for lunch and to walk around before getting to Richmond. Annalisa's parents had offered to make dinner for the team at their home just outside of Richmond so we all ended up there for a yummy dinner of meatloaf and mashed potatoes. Janice and her crew are from Richmond so that was their final destination, while Richard, Stan, Rebecca, Tyler, Emily and myself headed back to Harrisonburg after dinner. We all got home safe and I'm sure that everyone slept well on Friday night.
Overall it was a great trip, full of getting to know each other and some of the Georgetown community, leaving an imprint on two houses as they become more safe, warm and dry, lots of laughter and plenty of time to grow in our relationships with God. Thank you for following our blog as we travelled to be God's hands and feet in South Carolina.
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Rain, rain, go away, but thanks for the meanings
Today we woke up to discover it was not raining like we had expected and a Wesley alumnae, Janet, had joined us for the day (she's a grad student at Clemson and drove down to see us). We had a fabulous breakfast downstairs made by Kathy and Janice, yummy pancakes and bacon and eggs before heading out to our respective sites. At Sandra's house we began to set everything up to start work, finishing the front siding and the right side soffit, plus cutting out the windows on the left side. However, mother nature had a different plan. It hadn't been 20 minutes before a few rain drops started to fall, and then the skies opened, rained cats and dogs and the giants upstairs decided to move their furniture and take some pictures. We were in a huge thunderstorm and had to call off the day's work. Our group headed back to the church while the other group stayed at Gladys' house for a bit longer to finish some inside work.
Back at the church Kathy had found jobs for us to do including cleaning and organizing the kitchen pantry, cleaning the shower trailer, mopping the fellowship hall, vacuuming the sanctuary and organizing an office. We all spilt up and worked hard for about 2-3 hours before stopping for a lunch aimed at cleaning out the fridge. Right before lunch the group from Gladys' house returned and after lunch we finished our work and hung out for a bit. Gladys' group had been working on getting a smoke detector and CO2 detector installed in her house so they went off to make sure that got done. The rest of us left the church and drove out to Pawley Island to see the beach. It was still raining, but not pouring so we stopped and ran out onto the beach, some braver souls taking off shoes and getting their feet wet. We collected shells before returning to the car and taking the long way to drive up to Garden City because we had 2 hours before our dinner reservation. We stopped at a bunch of little shops along the way, the famous hammock maker from Pawley Island and made it to Sara J's Seafood Restaurant. Dinner involved lots of seafood, 17 people at one table, lots of laughter, a birthday song for Richard before we headed back to Georgetown.
Back at the church we had devotion about relationships and focusing on the troubles of following Jesus and what we had to give up to be here. Stan read from Matthew 8:18-22 to discuss following Christ and our trip. The rain today was a good reminder for us to remember that we are just a small part in the big picture that God has for us, so it's ok that we didn't get to finish the siding or put in the windows. God will send another group to finish his work at Sandra's house. However, even if we are just a little part of the big picture, we have made a difference here and touched people's lives, as much as they have touched our lives.
Right now, some people are packing and getting ready for bed, Emily and Janet are watching the Clemson basketball game, people are hanging out, Amanda and Cody are having an ice war complete with hiding behind doors and throwing cups of ice at each other, and a group is going to play Hoopla. Apparently Amanda hates the sound of people eating bananas, cause for an ice war. Overall, I would say it's been a great trip.
Blessings!
Christina
Back at the church Kathy had found jobs for us to do including cleaning and organizing the kitchen pantry, cleaning the shower trailer, mopping the fellowship hall, vacuuming the sanctuary and organizing an office. We all spilt up and worked hard for about 2-3 hours before stopping for a lunch aimed at cleaning out the fridge. Right before lunch the group from Gladys' house returned and after lunch we finished our work and hung out for a bit. Gladys' group had been working on getting a smoke detector and CO2 detector installed in her house so they went off to make sure that got done. The rest of us left the church and drove out to Pawley Island to see the beach. It was still raining, but not pouring so we stopped and ran out onto the beach, some braver souls taking off shoes and getting their feet wet. We collected shells before returning to the car and taking the long way to drive up to Garden City because we had 2 hours before our dinner reservation. We stopped at a bunch of little shops along the way, the famous hammock maker from Pawley Island and made it to Sara J's Seafood Restaurant. Dinner involved lots of seafood, 17 people at one table, lots of laughter, a birthday song for Richard before we headed back to Georgetown.
Back at the church we had devotion about relationships and focusing on the troubles of following Jesus and what we had to give up to be here. Stan read from Matthew 8:18-22 to discuss following Christ and our trip. The rain today was a good reminder for us to remember that we are just a small part in the big picture that God has for us, so it's ok that we didn't get to finish the siding or put in the windows. God will send another group to finish his work at Sandra's house. However, even if we are just a little part of the big picture, we have made a difference here and touched people's lives, as much as they have touched our lives.
Right now, some people are packing and getting ready for bed, Emily and Janet are watching the Clemson basketball game, people are hanging out, Amanda and Cody are having an ice war complete with hiding behind doors and throwing cups of ice at each other, and a group is going to play Hoopla. Apparently Amanda hates the sound of people eating bananas, cause for an ice war. Overall, I would say it's been a great trip.
Blessings!
Christina
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
House #2
Today a small group of us went to a different house to do some plumbing! The house is a double-wide trailer in a nearby neighborhood right next to the paper mill. The home belongs to a woman and her high school-aged daughter. When we got there, the short list of tasks we'd been asked to accomplish, doubled! We were going to be decking and partially remodeling both bathrooms--toilets, showers, and vanities.
We began our work in the master bathroom. The old shower needed to be removed and the flooring beneath needed to be replaced. The toilets and the water heater needed to be taken out as well. There was a lot of multi-tasking going on--some of us began ripping out the shower, while Stan and the other contractor, Sean, worked on the hot water heater. Matt, Cody, and I really had no idea what we were doing at first. Thankfully Stan saved us in time--I nearly ripped out the section of shower that was still connected to the water pipes--yikes!! At this point, all 5 of us came together to assemble the new fiberglass shower and install it. The bathroom really seemed to be coming together and we weren't even halfway done! Cody and Matt removed the old toilets and assembled the new one which wound up in Gladys' bathroom. This, although seemingly simple to us, made Gladys very excited because of her mobility problems. This also allowed the toilet that was previously in the master bathroom to be placed in the second bathroom which had a non-functional toilet. In some of our downtime, we even re-nailed some of the crown molding throughout her house. Cody worked hard on putting a new vanity in the second bathroom while we were replacing the rest of the shower.
When her daughter got home from school, Matt and I got ready to put their brand new mailbox up. We had to assemble the mailbox, dig a post hole, and mix concrete. Once it was finally in place, Gladys and her daughter were ecstatic and even commented that they had the nicest mailbox in the neighborhood :-) They now had something to officially mark a little corner of Georgetown as their home.
Two special angels who didn't want their names mentioned, were gracious enough to make a list of food and household needs for this family and purchase those items along with several other items. Gladys was overwhelmed by the offer and even more overwhelmed when she saw the trunk load of items that they had purchased for them. Many things hadn't even been on her list and were added as gestures of love. 0:-)
Although the tasks seemed to keep multiplying, God worked alongside each of us to get as much accomplished as possible.
We each took away new knowledge from today's building and repairs. All of us learned new skills, including some plumbing basics, using skillz saws, and other minor construction skills. Through the day we also spent time with Gladys and got to know more about her and her family. They were so appreciative of the work we had done, yet we feel like we only scratched the surface. There's so much more to be done and we wish we could see the project through. The one main thing this trip has taught us, however, is that we are one small part of the big picture and that God has plans for all of us no matter how big or small and that He will provide!
Gladys and her daughter's positive attitudes as well as that of our fearless construction leader, Sean (who JUST got over the Swine Flu), kept us on task and made us realize who we were really working for. The house was filled with non-stop laughter the entire day! Gladys' faith is immensely strong-she even commented that she took care of her ailing parents when they needed assistance and that she believes that God will take care of her in return. She said that every time she has needed something, He has come through for her. We all need to remember that every time things get overwhelming, to look back on our experiences with Gladys and know that God will not give us more than we can handle.
As part of tonight's devotion, we focused on Galatians 6:7-10. It's about doing good for others because you want to and because it's part of God's plan. It encourages us to be real with people and to not make good works a routine, but to make them something that comes from the heart.
Submitted by Jenna Nelson
We began our work in the master bathroom. The old shower needed to be removed and the flooring beneath needed to be replaced. The toilets and the water heater needed to be taken out as well. There was a lot of multi-tasking going on--some of us began ripping out the shower, while Stan and the other contractor, Sean, worked on the hot water heater. Matt, Cody, and I really had no idea what we were doing at first. Thankfully Stan saved us in time--I nearly ripped out the section of shower that was still connected to the water pipes--yikes!! At this point, all 5 of us came together to assemble the new fiberglass shower and install it. The bathroom really seemed to be coming together and we weren't even halfway done! Cody and Matt removed the old toilets and assembled the new one which wound up in Gladys' bathroom. This, although seemingly simple to us, made Gladys very excited because of her mobility problems. This also allowed the toilet that was previously in the master bathroom to be placed in the second bathroom which had a non-functional toilet. In some of our downtime, we even re-nailed some of the crown molding throughout her house. Cody worked hard on putting a new vanity in the second bathroom while we were replacing the rest of the shower.
When her daughter got home from school, Matt and I got ready to put their brand new mailbox up. We had to assemble the mailbox, dig a post hole, and mix concrete. Once it was finally in place, Gladys and her daughter were ecstatic and even commented that they had the nicest mailbox in the neighborhood :-) They now had something to officially mark a little corner of Georgetown as their home.
Two special angels who didn't want their names mentioned, were gracious enough to make a list of food and household needs for this family and purchase those items along with several other items. Gladys was overwhelmed by the offer and even more overwhelmed when she saw the trunk load of items that they had purchased for them. Many things hadn't even been on her list and were added as gestures of love. 0:-)
Although the tasks seemed to keep multiplying, God worked alongside each of us to get as much accomplished as possible.
We each took away new knowledge from today's building and repairs. All of us learned new skills, including some plumbing basics, using skillz saws, and other minor construction skills. Through the day we also spent time with Gladys and got to know more about her and her family. They were so appreciative of the work we had done, yet we feel like we only scratched the surface. There's so much more to be done and we wish we could see the project through. The one main thing this trip has taught us, however, is that we are one small part of the big picture and that God has plans for all of us no matter how big or small and that He will provide!
Gladys and her daughter's positive attitudes as well as that of our fearless construction leader, Sean (who JUST got over the Swine Flu), kept us on task and made us realize who we were really working for. The house was filled with non-stop laughter the entire day! Gladys' faith is immensely strong-she even commented that she took care of her ailing parents when they needed assistance and that she believes that God will take care of her in return. She said that every time she has needed something, He has come through for her. We all need to remember that every time things get overwhelming, to look back on our experiences with Gladys and know that God will not give us more than we can handle.
As part of tonight's devotion, we focused on Galatians 6:7-10. It's about doing good for others because you want to and because it's part of God's plan. It encourages us to be real with people and to not make good works a routine, but to make them something that comes from the heart.
Submitted by Jenna Nelson
Building Relationships
In one of our Devotions this week, we spoke about how everyone has a different gift. Whether it is climbing extremely high ladders and nailing in shingles, or encouraging those roofing people to put on sun screen, we all have something that we can contribute. Today we all brought our gifts to the table and used them to glorify God. I formed a mini team with Christina and Emily and we were able to work together and put up almost all of the siding on the front of the house! Christina measured all the pieces and handed them to Emily and I, who were on ladders nailing them to the walls. The process became easy and smooth, to the point where we we singing and enjoying the beautiful weather. We were lucky enough that the rain held off until we we done for the day. It has just amazed me that during this week I have bonded with people I had never met before we started planning this trip. I really appreciate how we have built relationships with each other, with our home owners, and even with the highly energetic children down the street. I have begun to realize how all of these relationships make all the difference in so many lives and how in the long run, relationships are the foundation to building communities and homes. Sandra, the homeowner whose home we are working on, has been nothing, but grateful. I love how even if we have completed a miniscule amount she is always thankful and praising God for bringing her family and our Spring Break Team together. I can't even imagine what her past has been like but I have truly enjoyed getting to know her and he beautiful daughter, Shia!
God has been so great to us this week! We (Amanda and I) have broken water pipes, yet God gave us a plumber (Stan) to save the day. We came together we students from Tech to worship and despite our different schools we sang together as one. The wonderful church we are staying at has provided meals for us and open arms. All of these things let me know that God is by our side, no matter what, and we can only learn and follow him by doing the best we can.
Although I am disappointed that we won't see the house finished, I know that everything takes time and that our piece of this great puzzle has really helped transform my life as well as my fellow Wesleyans. Thats what this week is about, transforming ourselves and turning the spotlight inward and learning how to focus on our relationship with God.
Be Blessed!
Morgan
God has been so great to us this week! We (Amanda and I) have broken water pipes, yet God gave us a plumber (Stan) to save the day. We came together we students from Tech to worship and despite our different schools we sang together as one. The wonderful church we are staying at has provided meals for us and open arms. All of these things let me know that God is by our side, no matter what, and we can only learn and follow him by doing the best we can.
Although I am disappointed that we won't see the house finished, I know that everything takes time and that our piece of this great puzzle has really helped transform my life as well as my fellow Wesleyans. Thats what this week is about, transforming ourselves and turning the spotlight inward and learning how to focus on our relationship with God.
Be Blessed!
Morgan
Drivin along in our automobile...
Our route from the Church where we are staying to our main worksite:
View Larger Map
B is the Church, A is the house we're working on
View Larger Map
B is the Church, A is the house we're working on
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Work Day 2
Today we started out a bit later than yesterday after breakfast and a morning devotion by Morgan and Janice, who read from Matthew 6 about doing the work for God and not for our earthly pride benefit. At the work site a group of us worked to finish the roof, which we got done all but the angle, we discovered that our contractor is Kirk, not Kurt, and we continued to pull down the old siding. Once a wall had been cleared of siding we could put on the plywood and the tarvac paper to keep the moisture out before getting started on windows and new siding. Some of the windows got enlarged so we had to get help from Kirk to re-frame the area.
Lunch today was wonderful, provided by the Georgetown Presbyterian Church for us and a group from St. Louis and Ohio working with Habitat here in town. We had pork loin, mashed potatoes, green beans, salad and fabulous desserts. We worked for a bit more in the afternoon, finally starting the siding on one wall of the house (its a small ranch house, probably built in the 60s) and found two old PBR bottles in the walls when we opened them up. Because we were going to meet the Virginia Tech Wesley Missions Team for dinner, we left the site early to get cleaned up and drove down to Mt. Pleasant, almost in Charleston where we met up with them for a spaghetti dinner and worship.
We had some great moments today, lots of laughs and lots of moments with God's presence around us. The homeowner, Sandra is just so full of graciousness and thanks. Amanda got to hear her story more than the rest of us, but we've all heard bits and pieces. She says some days are tough, but she knows that God will provide for her and her family and that helps her get through it. It was amazing to see Allyson and Emily playing with the kids when they got off the bus, racing to certain points and laughing. This evening at worship with Tech we heard from some people about their experience with missions. Emily talked about being able to help, even if people tell us we're too young, and remembering that part of the experience is about meeting people and hearing their stories. Rebecca talked about her experiences and how they've changed her and taught her to live the scripture. Then two Tech students talked, one about his many experiences here in the area and one girl about her experiences in Haiti in January. She was actually there during the earthquake so it was a real gift to hear her speak.
It was a really good but exhausting day, so we're off to bed now. Blessings!
Lunch today was wonderful, provided by the Georgetown Presbyterian Church for us and a group from St. Louis and Ohio working with Habitat here in town. We had pork loin, mashed potatoes, green beans, salad and fabulous desserts. We worked for a bit more in the afternoon, finally starting the siding on one wall of the house (its a small ranch house, probably built in the 60s) and found two old PBR bottles in the walls when we opened them up. Because we were going to meet the Virginia Tech Wesley Missions Team for dinner, we left the site early to get cleaned up and drove down to Mt. Pleasant, almost in Charleston where we met up with them for a spaghetti dinner and worship.
We had some great moments today, lots of laughs and lots of moments with God's presence around us. The homeowner, Sandra is just so full of graciousness and thanks. Amanda got to hear her story more than the rest of us, but we've all heard bits and pieces. She says some days are tough, but she knows that God will provide for her and her family and that helps her get through it. It was amazing to see Allyson and Emily playing with the kids when they got off the bus, racing to certain points and laughing. This evening at worship with Tech we heard from some people about their experience with missions. Emily talked about being able to help, even if people tell us we're too young, and remembering that part of the experience is about meeting people and hearing their stories. Rebecca talked about her experiences and how they've changed her and taught her to live the scripture. Then two Tech students talked, one about his many experiences here in the area and one girl about her experiences in Haiti in January. She was actually there during the earthquake so it was a real gift to hear her speak.
It was a really good but exhausting day, so we're off to bed now. Blessings!
Monday, March 8, 2010
Let's Get to Work!
So today was day one of work and it was an all together good first day. We all worked on the same house but we worked on several different projects. Some of us worked on a project where the task was to take the old siding off of the house. Although this seemed like an easy task the boards were tightly secured to the house and took some real muscle to pull off. This project also had a few mis haps, but what would a Wesley mission trip be without Amanda and Morgan busting a water pipe and flooding the back yard and Richard cutting through the phone wire? The other project was to do some roofing which turned out to be a rather hot job. But everyone at home can rest assured that none of us fell off the roof and I even came down even though I really didn't want to.
This afternoon we got to meet and talk to the home owner while we finished out the above project. Sandra has lived in South Carolina her entire life and has lived in her current home for sixteen years. After loosing her daughter in the fall of 2004 she is currently taking care of her granddaughter who is in the first grade.
The Community where the house is located is full of children, and it was great to see the joy that they have for life as they ran off the bus today.
I know that tomorrow will be another productive day full of joy and God.
~Emily
This afternoon we got to meet and talk to the home owner while we finished out the above project. Sandra has lived in South Carolina her entire life and has lived in her current home for sixteen years. After loosing her daughter in the fall of 2004 she is currently taking care of her granddaughter who is in the first grade.
The Community where the house is located is full of children, and it was great to see the joy that they have for life as they ran off the bus today.
I know that tomorrow will be another productive day full of joy and God.
~Emily
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Charleston
I'll give the details here of what we did, and then get other people to post on their impressions. This morning (Sunday) most of us got up around 7:30, got dressed, had some breakfast downstairs, met some new friends of the Georgetown Presbyterian Church community and then met upstairs for a devotion. Morgan and Jenna read from Numbers 11:4-6 so we could discuss the Israelites being dissatisfied with what God had given them to remind us to be grateful for what we have. Especially when we start working on houses tomorrow.
We headed out at 9am for Charleston, about an hour drive south on Route 17. Getting to Charleston there's a bunch of commercial areas before you reach the bridge to actually get to the city. It's a beautiful bridge and you can see Fort Sumpter from it along with the shipyards. I was surprised at how low the city was, there were no major skyscrapers, not like you would see in a city in the north. We parked down off Bay Street and visited the City Market, walking around the stalls looking at all the items the vendors were selling. Meeting up at 1pm we went to lunch as a group, the first restaurant wouldn't see us within a reasonable time so we ended up at Wild Wings. After lunch we wanted to walk up to the Fort Sumpter tours (you have to take a boat over) but realized half way up that we had missed the last boat. So one group went down the peninsula and one group went up to the Charleston Museum. The first group went explored, just wandering around the city. They found an amazing unitarian universalist church with a cool cemetery that was connected to the Lutheran Church. They also found the inn where Brent and Natalie will be spending their honeymoon. Rumors are circulating that people got in the future bed, but I feel that is unlikely. We all met back up around 6:30 to eat at Bubba Gump's Shrimp Co., a seafood restaurant with the Forest Gump theme. Good food was had by all and Kathy bought chocolate and caramel covered rice krispy treats, which were a treat. Our server played some Forest Gump trivia with us, and we (Amanda's table) tricked him into thinking it was Kathy's birthday. She got an ice cream sundae and it was announced that it was her 21st birthday again. We headed back to Georgetown, took a little detour north and finally got back to the church. Annalisa and Allyson led the devotion tonight talking about recognizing the gifts in yourself and others.
Tomorrow is our first day of work. Good Night!
We headed out at 9am for Charleston, about an hour drive south on Route 17. Getting to Charleston there's a bunch of commercial areas before you reach the bridge to actually get to the city. It's a beautiful bridge and you can see Fort Sumpter from it along with the shipyards. I was surprised at how low the city was, there were no major skyscrapers, not like you would see in a city in the north. We parked down off Bay Street and visited the City Market, walking around the stalls looking at all the items the vendors were selling. Meeting up at 1pm we went to lunch as a group, the first restaurant wouldn't see us within a reasonable time so we ended up at Wild Wings. After lunch we wanted to walk up to the Fort Sumpter tours (you have to take a boat over) but realized half way up that we had missed the last boat. So one group went down the peninsula and one group went up to the Charleston Museum. The first group went explored, just wandering around the city. They found an amazing unitarian universalist church with a cool cemetery that was connected to the Lutheran Church. They also found the inn where Brent and Natalie will be spending their honeymoon. Rumors are circulating that people got in the future bed, but I feel that is unlikely. We all met back up around 6:30 to eat at Bubba Gump's Shrimp Co., a seafood restaurant with the Forest Gump theme. Good food was had by all and Kathy bought chocolate and caramel covered rice krispy treats, which were a treat. Our server played some Forest Gump trivia with us, and we (Amanda's table) tricked him into thinking it was Kathy's birthday. She got an ice cream sundae and it was announced that it was her 21st birthday again. We headed back to Georgetown, took a little detour north and finally got back to the church. Annalisa and Allyson led the devotion tonight talking about recognizing the gifts in yourself and others.
Tomorrow is our first day of work. Good Night!
Travelling, a day late
Hi friends,
Sorry for the delay in posting, yesterday was a long day. Feel free to post comments for any member of the team, I'll make sure the comment gets to their respective team member.
Let me introduce the team first. We have 5 adults on the trip, Amanda (our Wesley Campus Minister), Richard, Kathy, Stan and Janice. We have 3 boys, Matt, Tyler and Cody, and 8 girls, Jenna, Stacy, Emily, Allyson, Annalisa, Morgan, Rebecca and me (Christina), for a grand total of 16.
Yesterday (Saturday) we met at the Wesley House around 9am, expecting to head out at 10am, but with a trip to Mr. J's for breakfast and late packing, we got on the road around 10:30. No worries because we're learning to be flexible and were focusing on not starting the trip stressed out. Our first caravan consisted of Kathy driving her car with Emily and Annalisa, Richard driving his truck with Stan, Stacy and Cody, and then me driving the 15 passenger van, named the Monster with Amanda, Tyler, Rebecca, Allyson and Morgan. We stopped in Richmond to pick up Janice driving her van with Matt and Jenna. So from Richmond we had 4 cars heading south. We took 95 south through Virginia, stopping for a yummy late lunch at Five Guys, then further south through North Carolina to arrive in South Carolina.
We decided to stop at the South of the Border rest stop, right inside the border. If you haven't visited you're missing out on colorful buildings in a sketchy setting, lots of large, metal, painted animals and plenty of little souvenirs to buy. We ran around for a bit to take pictures with the animals including a large red hot dog, zebras and giraffes, dinosaurs, and large Pedros. Getting back on the road we stopped for Richard at a Dairy Queen, then jumped on 501 and 17 to get to Georgetown. Finally finding the church, the youth director Bruce was here to meet us and let us in. We unpacked the cars and realized that we had forgotten dinner so we headed to find Subway at 9:30pm. They weren't entirely pleased to see 16 people walk in just before they closed.
Back at the church we had a discussion about focusing on others and why we are hear. It took a while to settle down, but we weren't sure about internet connection here at the church. Luckily we do have internet! So with an exhausting day, we headed to bed. Another post will cover today.
-Christina
Sorry for the delay in posting, yesterday was a long day. Feel free to post comments for any member of the team, I'll make sure the comment gets to their respective team member.
Let me introduce the team first. We have 5 adults on the trip, Amanda (our Wesley Campus Minister), Richard, Kathy, Stan and Janice. We have 3 boys, Matt, Tyler and Cody, and 8 girls, Jenna, Stacy, Emily, Allyson, Annalisa, Morgan, Rebecca and me (Christina), for a grand total of 16.
Yesterday (Saturday) we met at the Wesley House around 9am, expecting to head out at 10am, but with a trip to Mr. J's for breakfast and late packing, we got on the road around 10:30. No worries because we're learning to be flexible and were focusing on not starting the trip stressed out. Our first caravan consisted of Kathy driving her car with Emily and Annalisa, Richard driving his truck with Stan, Stacy and Cody, and then me driving the 15 passenger van, named the Monster with Amanda, Tyler, Rebecca, Allyson and Morgan. We stopped in Richmond to pick up Janice driving her van with Matt and Jenna. So from Richmond we had 4 cars heading south. We took 95 south through Virginia, stopping for a yummy late lunch at Five Guys, then further south through North Carolina to arrive in South Carolina.
We decided to stop at the South of the Border rest stop, right inside the border. If you haven't visited you're missing out on colorful buildings in a sketchy setting, lots of large, metal, painted animals and plenty of little souvenirs to buy. We ran around for a bit to take pictures with the animals including a large red hot dog, zebras and giraffes, dinosaurs, and large Pedros. Getting back on the road we stopped for Richard at a Dairy Queen, then jumped on 501 and 17 to get to Georgetown. Finally finding the church, the youth director Bruce was here to meet us and let us in. We unpacked the cars and realized that we had forgotten dinner so we headed to find Subway at 9:30pm. They weren't entirely pleased to see 16 people walk in just before they closed.
Back at the church we had a discussion about focusing on others and why we are hear. It took a while to settle down, but we weren't sure about internet connection here at the church. Luckily we do have internet! So with an exhausting day, we headed to bed. Another post will cover today.
-Christina
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Home for the week
Hi friends,
We will be staying at Georgetown Presbyterian Church for the week and their website is www.gtpres.org if you wanted to check it out.
Our plan is to meet at 9am on Saturday at Wesley to head out by 10am. We'll be stopping in Richmond to pick up some team members and then heading south. We just found out that we should be helping to fix the siding and re-roofing houses, working with a general contractor in the Georgetown area.
Stay tuned!
We will be staying at Georgetown Presbyterian Church for the week and their website is www.gtpres.org if you wanted to check it out.
Our plan is to meet at 9am on Saturday at Wesley to head out by 10am. We'll be stopping in Richmond to pick up some team members and then heading south. We just found out that we should be helping to fix the siding and re-roofing houses, working with a general contractor in the Georgetown area.
Stay tuned!
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Franciscan Benediction
May God bless you with discomfort at easy answers, half truths, and superficial relationships, so that you may live deep within your heart.
May God bless you with anger at injustice, oppression, and the exploitation of people, so that you may work for justice, freedom and peace.
May God bless you with tears to shed for those who suffer from pain, rejection and starvation, so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and turn their pain into joy.
And may God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you can make a difference in this world, so that you can do what others claim cannot be done.
Covenant Goals
As discussed at tonights meeting, our covenant goals for the trip are:
-RELATIONSHIPS FIRST: be mindful of reaching out to others
-Pray for each other (team members) every day, and for the people who couldn't come with us
-Push yourself to be out of your comfort zone
-Strive to be actually flexible (physically, mentally, spiritually)
"If you want to make God laugh, make plans." -Amanda
-Reflect on why you are here, why you are a member of this team
-Take time to hear others' stories
-"Me first gets to go last" -Kathy
Stacy would like to add: "Sing a lot."
Remember that the greatest gifts you can give are listening, your presence and being non-judgemental.
Welcome
Welcome to the blog for the 2010 Spring Break Missions Team from the Wesley House! We're excited to head down to South Carolina for some warm weather and God's work. Plan is to leave Harrisonburg at 10am on Saturday March 6th, drive to Georgetown where we'll be staying and working, spend a week, and drive back on Saturday March 13th.
Your prayers will be greatly appreciated as our team travels and gets to work. We have also set up a paypal account, thanks to Tyler if you would like to donate.
Thank you for all of your support!
Feel free to leave comments!
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