Mission Trip 2011 Comes to a Close

We had an amazing week in Hartselle, Alabama! You can definitely see how the Holy Spirit moved through our group based on the testimonies we heard yesterday in church.  May those words refresh you and remind you of how powerful our God is and how He longs to work in you and through you!

 

Thank you tremendously for all the prayers!

Day 6-Our Day in Pictures!

Our final day here in Hartselle was a busy one! Each family team had multiple jobs and responsibilities they took on to help at various work sites and back at camp.  The two work sites that still had work to be accomplished were completed and the camp was cleaned and organized to prepare for our departure tomorrow.  Our evening will consist of a dinner out together, worship, time in our family groups for small group discussion, and a final night of fellowship.

Be sure to read below for an update of each family group's hard work from today!  Also, make sure to follow along with our final devotional tomorrow morning.

We greatly appreciate your prayers and support from home this week...they have truly made an impact! Please be in prayer for our safe travels as we head back home tomorrow morning.

Day 6-Iron Servants & G2 T.O.

These two teams spent their final day in VBS here in Hartselle.  They were sad to leave the kiddos they had met and impacted this week.  The kids in the VBS weren't quite ready to say goodbye to this team which had led "the best VBS that had ever come to their daycare".

The Iron Servants & G2 T.O. also spent part of their day cleaning and organizing the dining hall and our main dormitories.

This team has had a busy week and impacted many lives with the love of Christ!

Day 6-Amassed with the Spirit

Amassed with the Spirit spent their morning helping out around camp.  They cleaned and organized some of the buildings on the campsite.  This team also used teamwork to clean out and organize the trailers to get ready for our trip home.

Amassed with the Spirit spent the rest of their afternoon at Joe and Charlee's home with the Incredible Knights of Christ and the Transformers in order to meet Joe and welcome him home from a nursing home.  They couldn't wait to see his reaction to a home that was no more accessible for him to maneuver throughout in a wheelchair.

Day 6-Iron Servants

The Iron Servants spent their final day on their work site today.  They finished their work by adding landscaping to the front, side and back of the house for the homeowner.  Their finished concrete sidewalk was dry and completed today and looked just as if a group of all professionals had done the job.  The landscaping was a nice touch to finish off all their hard work from the week. 

Scott Fairfield shared with me that the homeowner took time this morning to come out and express how much of a blessing all of this was to him.  The team also had multiple opportunities to share the light of Christ with curious neighbors that stopped by to see what was taking place.

Day 6-Incredible Knights of Christ & Transformers

The Transformers moved to be on the work site with the Incredible Knights of Christ today to help them complete the framing and dry walling that needed to take place to complete the project for Joe, the war vet, and the homeowner, his daughter, Charlee.

These teams, along with Amassed with the Spirit, were able to meet Joe and welcome him home as he returned from a nursing home where he had been receiving therapy.  They had been anxiously awaiting this moment to meet Joe and see his reaction to a home that is now more easily-accessible for him in a wheelchair.

Day 5-Our Day in Pictures!

Make sure to read below for an update from each of our family teams from today! Also, take some time to read our post about our "behind the scenes" team!

Day 5-Meet Our "Behind the Scene" Crew!

We wanted to make sure you all knew just all the hard work and service that was going on here in Hartselle "behind the scenes".

We have been blessed as a mission team with a special group of individuals that are serving us as we serve.

Meet Jack McGohon, our bus driver!

Meet our kitchen team, which have fed us three meals a day, including snacks, and warm dessert every evening! Our kitchen team this year is Rich and Joan Johnson, Tom and Lesa Holdway, David and Vicky Newton, and Carl Elmer.

Meet the famous southern bell from Hartselle, Anna Lakin.  Anna has helped out tremendously around the camp from cleaning bathrooms, taking on the role of nurse, and being a stand-in momma for some little ones missing their own from home.

We have been extremely blessed to have such a wonderful group of individuals here with us on mission trip!

Day 5-The Illuminators & G2 T.O.

The Illuminators and G2 T.O. spent their morning working their Vacation Bible School and then spent their afternoon ministering to the community of Arab, Alabama at a local thrift store.

We met up with them at T.E.S.A. (Temporary Emergency Services of Arab), a thrift store run by a non-denominational Christian organization.  This thrift store sells to the general public but also provides programs and assistance for women and children in need.  They have spent a lot of their efforts lately helping tornado victims as their community was one directly impacted by the recent tornadoes.

The great impact this ministering opportunity had on our middle school youth was obvious as I spoke with them about their day and watched the expressions on their faces.  What a heart for others they have!

Savannah talked with me about a woman they had met at the thrift store that had survived the tornado by taking shelter in a closet under her stairs with her four children.  They had also met a lady that was the only survivor out of her family.  Savannah also shared that she was so impressed and in awe of how strong these tornado victims are.

Trevor expressed his enjoyment of helping those in need.  When asked if he liked VBS or working at the thrift store more, he said that he liked them both, but he really liked working in the thrift store to help those that are in need from the tornadoes.  He expressed that they deserve to be happy too even though they've gone through such bad things.

These teams will spend tomorrow morning finishing up their last day of VBS and then helping around the camp to prepare for our departure on Saturday morning.

Day 5-Iron Servants & Transformers

The Transformers joined the Iron Servants today on their work site.  We met this team just in time to find the concrete truck pouring concrete for the homeowner's sidewalk.  Everyone was pitching in, whether it was carrying a wheel-barrel full of concrete, smoothing out concrete, or raking the concrete.  This sidewalk will help make the home more handicap-accessible for the homeowner.  Others helped out finishing up the painting of the trim on the house.

When I asked a few of the youth what stood out to them about their family groups on the work sites, they had a lot to share from their heart.

Corbin is very proud of all the hard work her team is doing and especially of her new-found painting skills!

Michael explained his awe of the patience shown by all the group members.  He explained how amazing it was that over the course of the week, he's seen no frustration come out in his team members.

Camilla shared that the fact that everyone is making such a big difference in others' lives is what stands out the most to her so far this week.

Garrett has been impressed with the willingness of everyone to pitch in on the work site.  He shared how the members of the family groups haven't even complained when a less popular job has come up on the work site.

Sarah has found it really special to meet everyone that is on the trip and is thankful for how close she's gotten to others through the fellowship that has taken place this week.

Tomorrow, this team will finish up their painting and work around the outside of the home to clean up and landscape.

Day 5-Incredible Knights of Christ & Amassed with the Spirit

The Incredible Knights of Christ were joined on their work site by Amassed with the Spirit.  Their day consisted of continuing their work inside the home to widen the front door and the hallway to make it more accessible for the homeowner's father, which is in a wheelchair.

Another project the teams decided to take on was landscaping the front of house.  Charlee, the homeowner, enjoys gardening and plants.  She was very excited for this surprise project that spruced up the front of her home.

When I asked a few of the youth what stood out to them about their family groups on the work sites, they had a lot to share from their heart.

Gracie shared that she really enjoyed having such an involved homeowner and that the interaction with Charlee had been such a blessing.  She explained how her family had really enjoyed building a relationship with her.  This family group was also blown away by Charlee's hospitality as she showed her gratitude by fixing lunch for the family groups two days in a row!

Patrick was very impressed with some of the new skills he developed on the work site...including building a bench "without nails!" ;)

Christian shared that he is really impressed with the fact that the youth and adults are working so hard and well together on such little sleep.  He also expressed how great it is that everyone contributes on the work site.

Rachel is really enjoying how close the family relationships have become.  She also shared that she can really see God in her team members.

Drew came a couple days later into our mission trip.  He is impressed with how accepting and inviting his team was when he got here, even though he came late.  He's been so thankful for how they have embraced him as a family.

These two teams will spend their last day on the work site slinging drywall mud, caulking around the front door, and cleaning up their work site.

Day 4-Our Day in Pictures!

Make sure to read below for an update from each of our family teams from today! Also, make sure to follow along with our daily devotionals found in the above "Daily Devotionals" tab.

Day 4-VBS

The Illuminators and G2 T.O. spent their second day teaching Vacation Bible School to some of the local kids of Hartselle.  They were excited to find the kids eagerly awaiting their arrival when they got to the daycare for a second day of VBS.

Today's VBS included a snack of vanilla ice cream and apple pie, games, crafts, and singing.  One of the most memorable parts of VBS for our youth today was washing the feet of the kiddos to teach them more about Jesus and a bible story.  Kimberly, one of our middle school youth, thought it was very funny that this caused them to giggle a lot.  However, through all the giggles, they were teaching them about Jesus' love for them!

As these two family groups prepared to leave for the day, a few of the children at the daycare eagerly asked if they were coming back tomorrow and expressed that they didn't want them to leave at the end of the week.

There's no doubt that hearts are being reached with the love of Christ!

Day 4-Incredible Knights of Christ

The Incredible Knights of Christ were eager to show off their hard work when we made our last stop of the day at their work site.  By early afternoon, they had completed a wheelchair ramp off the front porch with railing.  Their hard work was definitely noticeable!

The homeowner and her neighbor were quick to express their gratitude and amazement at the hard work taking place by the youth.  The Incredible Knights of Christ were blessed with a lunch provided by their homeowner.  She was also eager to provided any extra materials that they needed as they worked.

The rest of the afternoon consisted of working on the door frame in the hallway to widen it to be wheelchair accessible.  They will continue on this project tomorrow.

Day 4-Transformers

Brian Withrow's team, the Transformers, had accomplished a lot on their work site when we met up with them after lunch.  Although they are working in a small area, everyone was busy at work doing their part.

This team had continued to work on their ramp off the front porch of the house.  Team members were working together to drill holes and screw boards to the ramp.  Other youth were using circular saws to cut boards for the ramp.  Some were adding boards for support underneath the ramp.

The Transformers completed their ramp and look forward to help another family group as the week progresses.

Day 4-Iron Servants

We met up with the Iron Servants as a steady rain started to come down.  Although it was raining on their site, this team continued to work hard with positive attitudes.

Some of the team had paint brushes in hand.  Others were working on measuring and cutting boards to start the ramp.  Part of the team was on the roof ready to work and others were on ladders working on the soffit.

Meet Rodney--our speaker this week!

By lunch, they had painted almost all of the trim, were making steady progress on the ramp, and were near finished repairing holes in the soffit of the house.

This team will continue working on the ramp at their work site tomorrow and then begin on any other smaller jobs that the homeowner has shown interest in being completed.

Day 4-Amassed with the Spirit

We started our morning out visiting Amassed with the Spirit in Joppa, Alabama.  As we waited for the team to pick up some supplies for their site, we ventured around the town to look at some of the tornado damage.  One road just about a mile from this team's work site had been almost leveled from the tornado.

As soon as Amassed with the Spirit made it to their work site, they were busy at work! We were able to meet the sweet homeowner, Mary, and her dog, Patty.

Today their work consisted of bleaching and scrubbing mold off the siding, weed-eating around the house, and repairing a damaged part of the roof with new shingles.  Everyone was busy at work, whether it be working on the roof, scrubbing the house, or holding a ladder for someone else.

This team completed all the work on their site today and then spent their afternoon helping The Incredible Knights of Christ on their work site.

Day 3-Our Day in Pictures!

Make sure to read below for an update from VBS and each work site from today!

Day 3-Amassed With the Spirit

Amassed with the Spirit is working at a site furthest away from Hartselle this week in Joppa, Alabama.  This team is working hands-on to prepare a home with tornado damage from the recent tornadoes.  We met up with this group late in the afternoon.  Although they were waiting to receive shingles to repair the roof and front of the house, they had accomplished a lot when we stopped by.

This team spent the day cutting down poison ivy, cleaning gutters, and preparing the front of the house for shingles.

The homeowner shared with the team that she heard the freight train sound from her home as the recent tornadoes hit the area.  She found shelter with her dog in her bathroom, and thankfully, there was only minor damage to her home.  However, around her home, were numerous areas of trees completely uprooted and homes with major damage to the roofs.

This team looks forward to repairing the roof of this home.