Today, (Friday) was another great day! It is very obvious that we are ALL super tired. I'll give you an example, breakfast is at 7am for everyone no matter if you eat or not. Well at 7:15, the only people in the pavilion were the girls, the Williams, Tim and the food team (who had been there since 6:30am). We were missing the sweet guys AND their leaders (except Steve he was on the food team)! Well Tim and everyone who was awake took matters into their own hands and stealthily proceeded, with water guns to the guys cabin. They threw open the door and our gentlemen were awakened to the screams of 11 girls and 1 super soaker water gun! We ate a great breakfast soon after.
Today was a day of finishing and goodbyes. We went to our respective work sites and started in one more time knowing that at the end of today, no matter what we were finished.
Danny and his team headed back to Ms. Sharon's house to finish the last of the paint, landscaping and finally pulling that HUGE bush out of the ground once and for all! They did a great job on this house. It is painted a beautiful blue with grey trim and the massive bush is gone. We gave Ms. Sharon some flowers and loved hanging out with her granddaughters!
We actually finished Ms. Hildea's house yesterday (Thursday), but she requested a pink rosebush and I think we would have moved mountains to get whatever she wanted. Thursday while we were gone to get flowers Tim stopped by her house and she was sitting on the front porch and he asked what she was doing. She said, "I just can't wait to see those flowers I am going to sit here until they put them in." It never ceases to amaze me what we consider a little thing means in the life of someone else. We started as total strangers on Monday and when we said goodbye on Friday we were saying goodbye to our friend, who promised to have a big pot of beans and some fried chicken ready the minute we rolled back into town next time. She and her brother, Lorenzo, touched our lives deeply.
Steve and Mr. Williams took most of our team back to the demo house today. Really the goal was to gut the inside and secure it, in preparation for a remodel after a tree had fallen through the roof. The man that owns the house is the fifth generation to live there. He told us his story as tears came to his eyes. He said,"I just want to come home." Not only can he not live there but he has watched as his family home has turned into a hang out for people doing questionable things. Our team did a great job of clearing out the house. They ripped out carpet, walls ceilings, basically they peeled it back to the studs.It was truly amazing to see how much work they got done in only a few hours. The stench in the house was disgusting and it was all beyond filthy, but they did their job without complaining and learned that it isn't always easy to serve, but then again God never promised it would be easy to serve him.
About 2:30pm, we packed up our things and headed back to camp. We had lots to clean up at the camp in preparation to leave. Not to mention that we had to pack for our extremely early departure time Sat. morning (4:00am). We worked, played and ate. Pastor Carlos, his wife and daughter joined us for dinner and we got to spend some time with them before saying goodbye. We debriefed one last time around a campfire and wrapped up another incredible week of serving in Hattiesburg.
Thank you to all the parents for letting us partner with you to give your children the experience of another culture and serving God.
And to my team,
I would travel with all of you any where in the world! I love each of you for the unique people that God has created each of you to be! Always remember the lessons that we learned this week and serving doesn't end just because we are home. Look for God in everything and remember to check and see what you "smell like". I love you all! Alley-OOP!
Andi
Quotes:
"Have you smelled that house? It stinks." (this is the understatement of the year) Steve's team
"You call me and I'll have the food ready when you get here." Ms. Hildea
"I touched the wire, oops." Danny (an electrical wire, service into a house)
"Let's-a-go." Steve singing at the top of his lungs at 4AM in a Super Mario brothers voice
"Danny, we should probably get ready to go since we leave in 5 hours and we still need to sleep." Andi (while we are all running around eating smores and playing)
"Come back, I want your car. I promise I won't puke in it." Emily (after she had been sick for almost an hour)
"Party on the bridge, Party on the bridge, SCREAM! Hey that was a combo." Mandi (after being on a bridge and going under one at the same time.)
This was definitley a great experience. I went on both mission trips and they were LIFE altering. I am thankful that Danny and Andi and all of our other leaders and sponsors were and still are willing to take time out of their busy year to plan this so that we can grow in our faith with Christ. I am also thankful for such a supportive church. Hattiesburg has changed my life. As I go back and read the blog, it is easy for me to relive those moments that are so near and dear to my heart. I appreciate the opportunity to share God's love with these people and I want to serve him forever. I guess what I'm trying to say is that when you serve God, and have people with you and back home supporting you, the experience is so much greater.
ReplyDeleteClaire Johnson