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Alex Ruegg, Ashton Weber, Bentley Weisel, Brad Gehring, Cody Hufstetler, Craig Mellinger, Danny Baltzly, David Lebo, Elijah Williams, Hailee Horstman, Hannah Shaw,
Heather Cagwin, Jon Crabbs, Josh Mason, Kayla Piatt, Kevin Schroeder, Lucas Russell,
Matt Cunningham, Megan Hoag
Laurelyn Shaw, Alex McMahan,
Arnie Weiss, Maureen Weiss
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Friday, June 26
"Of all the groups who have come through to work on my house, I have felt most connected to your group. No other group has reached out to me personally and loved on my kids more than you. You seemed to care the most about my family and not just our house." - Amanda Martin (with tears in her eyes), Homeowner
"Of all the groups that have come through here, I think you got the most done. We were hoping to get the drywall up but you have gone above and beyond with mudding and sanding and its...incredible." - Tyler Honeycutt, Client Representative for the Madison County Housing Coalition
"The king will reply, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me." - Matthew 25:40
Over 1,000 volunteers have worked on Amanda's house over the past two years. How cool for our team to know that we made a difference in both the house and the family.
Today we finished up the mudding on the second floor and began sanding it down. We also completed the siding on the front of the house and put another coat of black paint on the foundation. Before we left, we prayed with Amanda again and asked that the Lord would provide the people and resources to finish it in time for her August 6 move in deadline.
As a token of thanks, Amanda, her brothers and her dad made lunch for us. What a spread! It was true southern cookin'! They are a quiet bunch but it was obvious that they were grateful for our help and wanted to bless us in return.
Today was a great day. The students each chose to make the day count, to work hard, to be intentional in their conversation and actions and to experience the presence of God in their work. It showed!
Tomorrow morning we will head home around 8:00am. We will aim to return to the AKRON Campus, Hamilton Lot (the one from which we left) by 6:00pm. Please check the hotline for updated arrival times tomorrow afternoon.
I'm anxious for you to hear about this week firsthand and witness the growth in your children. Thanks for praying and keeping up with us here on the blog.
See you tomorrow!
Thursday, June 25
Hey everybody! I wanted to start this morning with thanks to you for your patience with the blog updates. Getting internet access was only a small part of the issue and each day is something new. However, we are now up and running and I'm so grateful to be able to share with you, through pictures what our team has accomplished this week.
Thursday was a really hot day. I'm not sure of the temperature but our worksite sits directly in the sun with little to no shade in the surrounding area. This, along with the fact that the team has been working hard for 3 days straight made for a long day. We have also come to the point with several of the projects where we have maxed out with skill level, time and/or resources. The recurring theme for this week has been flexibility and we're all so thankful to Arnie for heading the charge wtih all things project related.
Last night, during our team time we each got to share 3 descriptive words encompassing our day. I heard tiring, hot, frustrating, exciting and challenging several times from both the students and the leaders. Our worksite is quite a bit more limited than we originally anticipated and unfortunately, today held the brunt of that as the generator could accommodate only two outlets when we needed five. Also, did you know that mudding on drywall needs to dry for about 24 hours before you can apply a second coat or begin sanding it down? Or that paint tends to spread beyond the intended surface to...every other surface in the surrounding area? Would you believe that we have fought three different varieties of bees/wasps on our worksite alone? Do you know what T-111 is? These are just a few of the things our team is learning and working with this week.
I was also reminded last night during our team time of just how many different life lessons are addressed on a mission trip. We are eating every meal together, sharing living space, working together, praying together, laughing together, geting frustrated together and growing together. Any facades that one thinks they can put up during this time inevitably get chipped away and our true selves begin to emerge. Sometimes this can get ugly but it is only then that we know what things need to be addressed within our hearts and lives. And that is when growth can truly begin to take place.
I am so encouraged by the growth I have seen in the members of this team. They are really investing themselves in each conversation and experience, seeking to be the hands and feet of Christ.
Prayer requests for today, Friday:
• A strong finish to several projects we have begun.
• A passion within each team member to be an ambassador for Christ in whatever they do today.
• Continued safety onsite.
• Dry skies: currently the sky is quite cloudy and threatening rain.
Wednesday, June 24
Hello everyone! Today was another great day and as I look back at last night’s prayer requests, I am encouraged to see that many of them have been answered (even though you didn’t know them until now!).
The house is transforming before us and it is so fun to watch. Today’s projects included dry walling the entire second floor (a huge and hot project for several guys who now possess a greater respect for professionals!), painting high and low on the entire exterior of the house, preparing the siding which we’ll put up tomorrow and getting the house ready for a fun day with Amanda’s kids tomorrow afternoon.
It was awesome to watch them work together on each project and own them. The dry walling especially, was a group effort.
Tomorrow we have an opportunity to bless Amanda and her children in a special way. She is really putting a lot of faith in our students and that is so cool and so humbling. I’m sure that we’ll have many stories to share with you about it when we return.
Tonight we dished out some cobbly nobs to each other and it was great! Ask for the back story on that one…
Prayer requests for tomorrow:
• Boldness within the students to reach out to Amanda and her children personally.
• Evidence of the fruit of the Spirit within each of us as the work day is long, the air is hot and the week is progressing with the same 23 people.
• Continued safety on the worksite. Praise the Lord that all is well so far!
CLICK HERE for some pictures from today
Tuesday, June 23
Today was the first day on the second leg of our journey. To better help you walk with us, I encourage you to stop reading and hold your breath. Are you doing it? Hold it for a few seconds.
Now, without letting go, slowly inhale a little bit more air. Hold it.
Again, inhale just a little bit more. Keep holding.
Once more. (If you’re really daring, repeat this 5 more times.)
Now, if possible, take one last huge gulp of air. Do you feel full? Have your lungs stretched more than you thought they could? Are you ready to burst? Maybe your head hurts a little, too.
This is how our students were feeling, spiritually, after breathing in so much truth, challenge and encouragement from God’s Word at the conference. Morning and evening for three and a half consecutive days they have been inhaling, a little bit at a time and even ended with an enormous ‘gulp’ of God’s presence at the conference finale along with a sweet time of team commissioning among our group. They are full, they are growing and some of their heads hurt, too.
Today, they were ready to exhale – to breath, speak and live truth here in Asheville. We couldn’t get to Amanda Martin’s (the homeowner for this week’s worksite) house fast enough. And so, the parting in Gatlinburg this morning was bittersweet. We were sad to say goodbye but so anxious to begin the work that God has prepared for us here in Asheville.
The pictures will help you to see what we saw as we arrived, a site which has already changed from just one day of hard work. We began by praying with Amanda and in a sense dedicating this week of work to the Lord. She is a woman with an incredible story so be sure to ask about it.
Today was a little hectic as far as work projects because we didn’t want to waste a but still needed to assess what projects we can do this week and what supplies will be needed.
We capped the night at a worship service with the other 7 teams here in Asheville working with Youth On Mission. It gave a good sense of camaraderie as we updated each other on our projects and then prayed for each other.
Prayer requests for tomorrow:
• Wisdom as we choose which projects to take on in throughout this unfinished house.
• Safety on the worksite.
• To keep Christ on the forefront of our minds as we paint and pull weeds remembering that these are acts of worship just as much as singing.
• A deeper connection with Amanda and her family.
Check out a few pictures from today by CLICKING HERE
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