Water and the Word

After filling up on an AMAZING breakfast of biscuits and gravy, the gang set off on an adventure to Okatoma Creek to spend the day kayaking and snacking! With one canoe and 25 kayaks, we set down the Creek and made a first stop at a large swimming hole with a rope swing! There were many back and belly-flops, and also some amazing front and back-flips. Cameron managed to sucker Andi into going off one and one time only with his puppy-dog eyes. We interacted with some of the local wildlife, including the people, and fought fiercely with the raging rapids! There were lots of amazing mud fights and a little rain. There were a few scraps and wimps, like Lana being towed by Andi for at least 3.5 miles of our 7 mile trip.

After relaxing for a few minutes and a great pizza dinner, we headed in to church. Pastor Carlos and the members of Ebenezer included us in their fantastic worship service. Steve prayed for us with the fervor of the Spirit and got lots of Amens! (We really were praying with him, not just counting Amens.). Angie and Mandi sang "This is the Day that the Lord has Made." Then Pastor Carlos spoke about "Being a Witness". His illustrations were amazing and reminded us that we are all a witness but we have to choose what kind of witness we want to be. Danny was summoned to the front once again and told how beautiful he is, and then he prayed to close the service.

The ice cream social followed in the fellowship hall! It was a great time of eating and catching up with people that we met last year and meeting new faces. This church family is so good at loving on us and making us a part of their family.

Then we headed back to camp for an early lights out so that we can serve again tomorrow!
Thanks for checking in! Check out pictures and video from our float trip on Andi's facebook page!


Quotes:

"Those kids wear me out. I have to tell them bed time stories and stuff. And I don't know what to say." Will Flynn
"I think I am lactose intolerant, I have to poop now." Lana
"Since we already obviously stick out, I pray that we would be good witnesses in this community." Danny (in his prayer)

Prayer Requests:
1. Energy!
2. Finish the current jobs by lunchtime.
3. More conversations with community members.
4. Great interactions and good times with the Ebenezer at the pot luck dinner and talent show!

A Day Spewing with Excitment

Wow what a day! This was our first full day of serving and it was a hot one. We set out after a great breakfast! We met up at Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church and split up into teams according to our tasks. One group, lead by Deana and Angie, went to a nearby nursing home where they passed out gift bags consisting of toothpaste, toothbrushes, sugar-free candy, and a whole lotta love! They sang, danced, and chatted it up with the elderly yet spectacular residents. For example, one lil' ol' lady, who had no teeth and whose speech was indecipherable, sang like an angel and each word she sang was totally understandable! Clarissa listened to a story from a man who had been married to his wife for 63 years!!! Overall, it was a great morning of ministry to the elderly.

Meanwhile, Danny, Ethan, Collin, and Gus cleaned, cleared and gutted an abandoned house in preparation for restoration and occupation of a new family. They did this in a matter of hours, now the house is ready for Pastor Carlos and his team to renovate the inside.

Steve, Darryl, Sarah P., Erin and Adam completed clearing out AND leveling a backyard they had started the day before. Afterward, they joined Andi and Will's team at Ms. Hildea's house, where they finished scraping and prepping the exterior to be painted. After lunch, the team put in a great effort and almost finished painting the house entirely! Will led the team with his great painting expertise, he started the team off strong with painting tutorials. Will's wisdom lasted for a few minutes but then paint began to fly. Ms. Deana used her chat'um-up skills and got to know Ms. Hildea and her brother. Deana found out that Ms. Hildea is the oldest of nine children and she loves to cook. She told us that she had to learn how to cook to help take care of her family.

THEN, to end our great work day, an angel descended from heaven in the form of a red and yellow ICE CREAM TRUCK!!!! It was hands down the best ice cream we have ever had.

Sadly, on the way back to camp, what appeared to be a unexpected Chinese fire-drill was actually Sarah P. filling the suburban with puke, thus turning it into the "Vomit Comet". Thankfully Sarah felt much better after she "worked everything out". Danny, Andi, and Lana went to wash the nasty out while the rest of the gang went back to camp. The 'burban was professionally shampooed once, and then twice again as Danny spotted some left-over spew.

After everyone had cleaned up there was a DELICIOUS dinner of fried chicken legs, garlic mashed potatoes and sweet M'sippi homestyle rolls with pound cake to top it off. During the group gathering, everyone shared how the projects had gone and the interactions they had with the residents, families and neighbors of the area, which were all uplifting and exciting to hear. DJ Lana then commenced worship via the KIA.

Even after all this, we still managed to make an EPIC trip to WALMART! All of the kids managed to stay in line and not destroy the facility.

Quotes of the Day:

"I think Sarah is gonna vom..." (Erin)
"Are you serious?" (Danny)
*SPLASH* (Sarah)

"You boys aren't from around here are ya?" (Resident to Ethan and Gus)

"I can't take a picture (on my phone) because I don't have a signal!" (Deana)

Prayer Requests:

That...
It won't rain so that we can finish our painting jobs.
Everyone will have energy throughout the day.
The kids would be uncomfortable and engage the locals.

Servin' It Up!

What a great day! We started out our day with pancakes at 7AM, thanks to Danny and his team (they were up at least 45 minutes before most of us)! After breakfast, our whole team had a morning of cross culture training. Everyone was more than willing to participate and we learned more practical ways to learn and serve the cultures that surround us here and at home. It was a great morning of role-playing and Biblical truth. Tim talked about 2 Corinthians and that we are the fragrance of God and how sometimes our fragrance isn’t good because of the way that we choose to act! It was a great picture of how to keep our attitudes in the right place.

After lunch, we headed into town and met Ms. Shirley and Pastor Carlos. After a rousing rendition of “The More We Get Together”, in which everyone sang their first and last name as a solo. Yes, I said everyone! We got our assignments and goals and our teams were off! Danny and Lana’s landscape demolition team tackled an overgrown yard with a small folding saw, pruning scissors, and a few rakes. You would have to see what they were up against to truly appreciate the work that this team put in today. Not only did they not complain, but Ethan and Gus single handedly ripped through a couple of trees, bamboo and brush, while their other team members piled up the rubble. The job that probably should have taken 2 days is almost done! They are going to tame a bush tomorrow and begin painting the outside of the house.

Steve and Deana’s team were down the street demoing an old shed and cleaning up the back yard of their assigned house! They by far have had the most interaction with the local rodent life here in Hattiesburg! They piled metal and trash into a pile taller than me and continued sorting through years of neglected tools and building supplies. They also leveled out the ground and stacked lots of old bricks. Just like the other team, a task that should have taken days took this team an afternoon. Their goal tomorrow is to finish up the cleanup and completely level out the area.

Andi and Will’s team were scrapping machines! We prepped a house for painting today. The beautiful thing about this job is that we scraped the old, peeling paint with four-inch plastic putty knives. I will confess, I REALLY wanted to complain, but I chose to follow the example set by my other team members. They smiled, sang and scrapped away, not one complaint. They were definantly a living example of I Timothy 4:12 today. We didn’t quite finish our goal because of the small afternoon rain shower, but tomorrow morning we will finish scrapping and start to paint!

Thank you to all of you that prayed that the weather would be good to work in because God answered your prayers today. The heat was not a factor this afternoon it was cloudy and cooler and then God blessed us with the rain. Although it ended the workday for some of us about 30 minutes early, it was a wonderful gift.

We loaded up and came back to camp for an evening of swimming, debriefing and DINNER! We wanted to do some worship this evening with our devotional/debriefing, but no one brought speakers loud enough to make that happen. So thinking outside the box just a bit, we pulled one of the vans up near the screened in pavilion where we meet and maxed out the radio. The thing was that God honored our efforts and showed up. It really was a fun worship experience, that will be remembered for a while!

You should be proud, every one of them is serving the people of Hattiesburg well. In the midst of serving others, they are loving and honoring each other also. I wish more of you could see them in action here, they are amazing. I won’t lie they are starting to get tired (yes already) and the harder times will come on this trip, but the foundation they are standing on is firm. They seem to understand that serving this week is bigger than themselves. I can not tell you how many times I have heard them say, “ I don’t know how to do that but if you will show me I will gladly do it!” or “Sure, no problem.” They are awesome, thank you so much for letting us borrow them this week to watch God mold their hearts into lives even more beautiful than they already are.

Quotes for the day:

1. “I want to smell like new tennis balls.” Gus

2. What do you smell like today? Tim (our leader)

3. (To Andi) “ Your hair looks like red velvet cake.” Sarah S.

4. (to a person with a pine cone) “That is porcupine poop.” “Really I didn’t know they had porcupines here?”

5. “I am going to need to get gas if we have to drive much farther!” Steve (after Andi led the entire caravan on a slight 30 minute detour)

Prayer Requests :

1. That the World Servants’ truck would be fixed Tuesday, so that Tim can have a dependable vehicle.

2. The heat would not be an issue in the coming days.

3. Our actions and our words would match in the eyes of this community.

4. The great atittudes would continue.

5. As tiredness creeps in that we would give more grace and love to each other.

We're Here!

WOW! What at great first day! We left Nacogdoches this morning about 9AM and made it to Hattiesburg around 4:30 PM. Every car was loud and had lots of fun! Personally I tortured the girls in my car with classic country, I can't understand why they don't want to listen to George Strait hits from the '80's. Everyone jumped, well the kids jumped, out of the cars and went to work. The kids cleaned the cabins that we are sleeping in, we divided up into three teams. All of you would have been proud of the jobs are kids took care of tonight. After a great dinner, we all came together to learn about being a servant and a learner on this trip. "People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care!" That is the theme of our attitude and trip this week! The kids are swimming and we are headed to bed asap and then we have an early day tomorrow. Breakfast is at 7AM!

Important information from today:
1. After taking the Justin Bieber compatibility quiz, we now know that DANNY COMBS and Justin Bieber can the "BEST of FRIENDS FOREVER AND EVER!"

2.After taking the "When will I get Married Quiz", we found out that Will Flynn will be married in his thirties.

3. Andi's truck bounces when a group of people jump in it!

4. Will Flynn and Lana are separated siamese twins! The kids believed it, duh!

5. Starbucks closes at 10PM. I mean really?


Prayer Requests:
1. The great attitudes and servant hearts would continue!
2. We would serve the three families well.
3. The temperature wouldn't effect our ability to serve.
4. Listening and loving each other well.
5. Meet new people and share stories with each other.
6. That everyone would get out of their comfort zone and be uncomfortable!

Good Night and we will talk to you tomorrow!
Andi