Chick-Fil-A Spirit Night

You can help us get to Hattiesburg, Mississippi by eating at Chick-Fil-A in Nacogdoches!
This Wednesday night, May 12 from 5:00-7:30, if you take a flyer to Chick-fil-A on North Street and order dinner, a portion of your paid meal price gets donated to our mission trip. So take your family out and tell all your friends!

Download and print the GBC Mission Trip flyer HERE. You have to give this to the cashier when you order.

Going Back

We are headed back to Hattiesburg, Mississippi this summer with a fresh set of troops and a renewed sense of excitement for what God has in store for us. Our team consists of about 22 6th grade- high school students and sponsors. Our trip is scheduled for Sunday, June 27- Saturday, July 3, 2010. God allowed so many bonds to be formed and lessons to be learned last time we can't wait to see what He has in store for us this summer.
Although, we physically went to Hattiesburg, it took our entire church family to get us there and keep us covered in prayer while we were gone. This year is no different, we need you to join our team!
First and foremost if you would join us in preparing our team with prayer. Some prayer requests for now:
1. Kids and leaders would have a heart to serve and minister to all those that we meet in Hattiesburg.
2. Our team would open and accepting of a new culture and ways that they can minister to all of God's people.
3. The weather would be favorable for working and that our team would have great attitudes no matter what the weather.
4.Our team leaders would lead in the example of Christ and we would invest well in our younger team members.
5.Bonds and friendships would be formed that cannot be broken, making our local body even stronger.
Thank you so much for praying and starting on this journey with us! Check back for updates or follow our blog to find out the specific ways that you can help in the coming weeks!

We're Home

We arrived home this morning about 4AM! Happy July 4th to everyone. Thanks to Danny and no thanks to the GPS we arrived safe and sound.
God is amazing. We all have grown closer together and to God. Just wanted to check in and tell you we are home and thank you for praying and traveling with us! I will blog about our last day and post some more pics later tonight!
We love you guys!

Hard Work and Good Food

Today was another LONG, HOT work day at Ms. Jones' house. We conquered more painting, both inside and out, today. Outside we painted: some of the high spots on the house, the awnings, and the front porch. Inside we finished hanging up all the new wood-paneling and primed it so that it is ready to paint for tomorrow. We were also able to hang a few pieces of the new ceiling, which we found to be quite challenging. But we heard that we might get a nail gun to use tomorrow (the good Lord provides!), which should help speed things up a little. There was a lot of sweat lost on the job site today and all the kiddos did an outstanding job!! They continue to work hard for Ms. Jones and, of course, have a lot of fun in the process.
The highlight of today came after the work day was over. Tonight we were invited to go to Ebenezer Baptist Church for a Pot-Luck dinner and talent show!!! Talk about a good, southern FEAST!!! We had fried chicken, burgers, macaroni & cheese, jambalaya, and gumbo (my personal favorite). While we ate we were entertained by the amazing voices of some of the church members. We wish you could have been there with us to enjoy the Gospel music and Good cookin'!! Our group also contributed to some of the entertainment. Ashlyn, Clarissa, and Holly impressed everyone with their tumbling skills, Sarah and Claire performed a wonderful rendition of "Little Green Frog", Adam amazed everyone with his contortionist act (legs behind head & 180 degree leg turn), and Joel wowed everyone by doing the worm!! Harrsion wanted to participate, but unfortunately Abott & Costello's "Who's on First?" routine is not as funny with only one person (nobody else knew either part). We ended the evening by watching the churches choir practice. And let us tell you, those folks can SING! They were amazing to listen to and have such passion when they worship the Lord. It was such a great experience and a wonderful end to the day.
Thanks so much for your prayers and support; we love and miss you all! Please pray that we would have the strength to finish well, that we would get the projects at Ms. Jones' house finished, and that God would keep us safe as we travel home. We will see you all soon!!
(Danny)

On the River

We had a great time on the river today! We traveled seven miles down river and had an awesome time. God is sooo good that He provided a rope for us to swing out into the river. Ms. Carol and I even took a turn. We all turned over at least once, except Ashlyn. The girls learned that canoes sometimes have a mind of their own. The boys came to our rescue more than once! What gentlemen we have among us!
Tonight, we joined the Ebeneezer Baptist Church for Wednesday Night Bible Study, followed by an ice cream social! The kids were introduced to a new culture and how they do church. We had a great discussion in the car on the way over and God opened our eyes to our own thoughts about how we worship God.
Thank you again for traveling this journey with us! We head back out to Ms. Jones house tomorrow.
Some Prayer Requests:
1. That we would finish well.
2. The temperature would not be as hot as they are expecting.
3. We would make LOTS of progress on our goals.
4. We would be encouraging and inclusive to all of those around us.

Quotes for the day:
"I haaaate canoooooeing"- Ashlyn
"Has anyone ever told you, you look like those models?"- Pastor Carlos Wilson to Danny in front of everyone at the church service.
"Don't go down the rapids without a boat." Danny, Carol and Andi
"I just got attacked by a tree." Clarissa
"Why are you going backwards (in your canoe)?" Berek to Ms. Carol and Ms. Andi
Girls:
"Danny will you stay with us?"
Adam:
"NO, he's coming with us to do guy stuff!"
"Are there snakes in here? Do you think this is safe?" Claire about 1000 times

Servin' Tuesday

Servin’ Tuesday
Today was much like yesterday afternoon. We got up about 6AM, the boys about 6:50(God and I really are going to talk about this!), and ate some breakfast. Then we loaded up and headed out. Carol and I took the girls to meet Ms. Shirley and minister at a local nursing home. Danny took the boys back to Ms. Jones house to keep moving toward our goals there.
The girls were challenged this morning and moved way out of their comfort zone. We met Ms. Shirley at church and she helped us plan a short program for the patients at the nursing home. We were asked to sing, share scripture, our testimony, and love on people that we didn’t know. To be completely honest I was uncomfortable, but in the midst of how we were feeling God gave us a place to serve his people. We sang 4-5 songs together and some of the patients even requested some old hymns for us to sing. The girls did the best they could and were great sports about singing songs they weren’t comfortable with. Then Clarissa read from I Corinthians 13 and Holly prayed. Ashlyn shared a testimony about how God has worked in her family. Then we talked to the residents about their families. The amazing thing was that we slammed two generations together in one room and God showed up! The girls were so overwhelmed with emotion they were crying. They walked into the room scared and left the room hugging the people they ministered. It was awesome.

(From Danny)
The boys got off to a good start this morning at Ms. Jones' house. Joel, Harrison, and Berek did a whole lot of painting. If you could have seen them you might have wondered if they got any paint on the walls; I think they are still picking paint off of themselves right now! In all seriousness, they did an amazing job and got most of the painting outside finished today. Adam helped me with a whole lot of clean up from yesterday's ceiling demolition. He karate-chopped all of the big pieces down smaller ones and then helped me bag it all up. All of the guys are such hard workers and I can really tell they have hearts that truly want to make a difference. It has been great getting to know all of the kids and establishing relationships that will carry on for many years to come! Thanks for sharing your kids with us, they are AMAZING (but I am sure you know that already)!!!

After a break and some lunch with our entire team, we headed back to Ms. Jones’ house.
The guys had made great progress and painted most of the outside of the house. We hung some paneling and finished working on the flower beds. Ms. Carol and Ashlyn painted the bench on the porch. We also got to hang out with Ms. Jones' extended family. Her grandkids joined us in and blended well with the team. The kids are learning lots about culture and how we're not all the same and that's ok. We have had lots of life lessons already.
We are looking forward to a well deserved day off tomorrow. We will let you know how our trip down the river goes. Thanks for servin' with us.

Quotes:
"Old people don't care if your ugly." - Holly
When talking to an elderly woman at the nursing home,"So is your family nice?"-Ashlyn
"The walls aren't square?" - Kasii (our team leader)

Training to Serve and Then Serving

We rolled out of bed this morning about 6AM in the girls cabin about 6:50 in the boys cabin. Life is so unfair, but anyway. We spent the morning with our amazing trip leader, Kasii May. Kasii led us in some team building activities and helped us gain perspective for the experiences that lay ahead of us. Kasii is passionate about serving and helping others learn to serve. She did a great job keeping all of us engaged and learning.
After our learning morning, we helped pick up around the camp where we are staying. We challenged the California group, to see which group could pick up more pinecones. We were, of course, the winners and the first to eat lunch.
After a quick lunch we met with Josh our other awesome team leader for some instructions. Then we headed out to serve. We arrived at the home of Ms. Jones. She is a 69 year old woman who survived the devastation of Katrina with her home largely intact. This sweet woman told us about the storm and how she will never stay through another storm as long as she lives. She told us about the water that came through the roof and how the house shook.
Our task is big but the kids are going to make it happen. These are our goals:
∗ Clean the entire outside of the home and prep for painting
∗ Clean out flower beds and till them up by hand
∗ Remove damaged parts of walls and ceiling (haul it outside)
∗ Paint the entire outside of the home
∗ Replant flower beds with shrubs and flowers
∗ Hang new paneling on the walls and thin plywood on the ceiling
∗ Paint all new paneling and ceilings
∗ Clean up brush and yard outside of the home.
We accomplished the first three in three hours this afternoon. The kids worked really hard today. They were motivated and encouraging to each other and those around them. You would have been proud. We are enjoying some free time tonight and then we are turning in early!
Prayer requests:
1. The kids would stay motivated.
2. They would bond even more as a team.
3. We would love each other, with our words and actions, even when we are tired (because we are tired)!
4. We would love those we come into contact with unconditionally.
Thanks for joining us on this journey. We love and miss you all.
Andi

Quotes for the day:
Me: “ Adam, can you get the crow bar and demo this wall?”
Adam: “YES MAM!!”
“I have never been so tried of eatin’ eggs off a grill in all my life.” –Ms. Jones
“Mrs. Andi, the reason my foots hurts is because I have a nail in my shoe.” – Claire
“ I want to go to Walmart, I still have money to spend.”-Joel