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.