This is so exciting! I've honestly been dancing around the tent for the past 10 minutes out of sheer happiness. And no, I'm not talking about the mission trip. I'm excited because this is the first blog I've ever written. Even more exciting is the fact that I get to stay up 15 minutes after my bed time and this is the first time I've used a computer in a whole week. But really, this has been an amazing mission trip. Every year I venture on the trip with a small amount of nerves. Each year, I get on the bus worried that something will go wrong--the work will be overwhelming, the people will be shy, the leaders will be too strict. And each year, I'm proved wrong. This year, like each of my past 2, has given me many gifts. I've made instant bonds with my teammates and leaders, worked my tail off painting a house, and gotten into trouble plotting pranks with Nelson and Steve Sweet. I could go into an endless story about the events of the week, but I'm sure you'll all hear the highlights soon enough. I still can't quite comprehend the fact that this is my last year on the high school trip. Or maybe I can comprehend it, but I just don't want to accept it. I feel so blessed to have been called to serve the Lord with the Sandia Presbyterian Youth. I hope that all is well with my family and friends at home. Tomorrow, we're off to Six Flags, where I'll most likely spend the day people watching and lounging in air conditioned food courts, because of my extreme dislike of roller coasters. Now it's bed time, and time to hope that the boys didn't pull any shenanigans our tents.
Bailey Flynn (B-Fly)
Thursday, June 3, 2010
My Last Hoorah!
I gotta tell ya, I can't believe that this is really my last, my very last, mission trip. It's been 4 years since I first sat in those vans on the way to Mexico n my very first trip. I've seen so many people come and go through the years, and now, it's pretty surreal. You don't really think that your high school days are done until everything begins to wrap up. I owe everything to the Huntleys. I honestly felt that at the end of confirmation, I would stop church completely, as did 33 students in that class. Chad and Beth came along, and everything changed. I always went to youth group and I've never missed a mission trip. This trip was unique not just because it was my final mission trip, but because we were helping out with a disaster that happened in my home state of Texas, which actually felt more meaningful. Trips like these seem to just open my eyes more and more. Not just to what God wants me to do, but what I can do in volunteering around my community. And I owe it all to Chad, Beth, Nelson Bell, Mike Coltrin, and everyone else in the Youth Ministry. So to everyone I say thank you, and Goodbye
-Jordan Key
-Jordan Key
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
The Andrew, Bryce, and Kris Post!
SUP!
Well so far the trip has been oodles of FUN!!! We have rocked some serious bootay! We have been repairing houses all across Port Neches. Everyone has been working really hard and we appreciate everyone's support back in the Q. We hope that everyone is doing well and we look forward to seeing you soon. We are also looking forward to seeing Six Flags in the next two days!! WOOHOO!!! This has been a great eye-opening experience, and we are truly becoming Las Manos De Dios En El Mundo!!
Kris
Bryce
Andrew
Day 3
Yet another hot day on the work site, but somehow we managed to make it through. After a lot of painting and hard work, we returned to the village for a delicious spaghetti dinner and birthday cake for dessert. After dinner, in retaliation to an earlier prank by the older girls, us hee hee, (We poured glitter in the boys sleeping bags :) ), we were pranked and pelted by water balloons from all directions. It was a nice change to the heat and humidity. After all the crazy shenanigans, we were off to the nightly devotional in the sanctuary. Tonight was a special change from Chad's talks. haha just kidding... but not really :) The pastor from the church we are staying at gave a presentation on the destructive hurricanes that have come through this area and ruined homes and lives. The pictures were incredible and breathtaking. There were pictures of boats on houses, coffins raised from their graves, walls of water 30ft high, and the people affected by the storm. It put everything in perspective for us and definitely taught us not to take things for granted. We are really excited for our last day of work and, of course, six flags on Friday!!!! To be followed by a long, long drive...yeah.... We aren't very excited about that, but we are looking forward to sharing our stories from this long, hot, humid week. We hope you are having fun with this blog! See you soon!
Love, Katie Tillery and Lauren Diller
Katie's Thoughts:
What a crazy week! You wouldn't believe how hot and humid it is here. We get out of a cold shower and immediately start sweating again. We sweat eating breakfast, walking to the bus, before we start working. Ridiculous. I am working at the Pickens's house. We have spent multiple hours scraping paint, priming, painting the house, and tearing down dry wall. It's exhausting, but well worth the effort. It's finally all coming together when you look at the house. We have the front of the house painted and both sides as well. The feeling of gratification is finally being felt, I believe. As mentioned above, we were presented with a slide show of the damage and effects of hurricanes Ike and Rita. It's impossible to fully describe the pictures we saw. There were boats on freeways. Houses, stripped completely of their foundations. Coffins, above ground. It's enough to haunt you... and deeply impact you. It makes you feel so grateful for what you have as well as where we live. We don't experience earthquakes, hurricanes, or tornadoes. I have realized how lucky I am to have never experienced such disaster except in aiding in the rebuilding. Which is awesome! To be part of something that seems so small at the time, but know that it is making a huge impact on someone's life is phenomenal. Seeing Mrs. Pickens smiling face every time she comes to the house warms your heart. I can tell she really appreciates what we're doing. I'm looking forward to finishing up our work here tomorrow and going to Six Flags. I can't wait to come home as well!
Love, Katie :)
Lauren's thoughts:
This trip is once again not what I expected. haha It happens every year. This year has been a little bit different than the other years with pods to live in which is a step down from Iowa but a step up from Mexico. I haven't ever experienced humidity quite like this before. You sweat no matter where you are (except in our cold showers). The food has been excellent as has the service. We have three wonderful helpers from this site that live with us for the week but in their own trailers that go around to the sites and help us do the jobs on the sites and get us the supplies we need. They are amazing. The weather here definitely makes me appreciate our weather more. We don't have the humidity, or the large amount of mosquitoes nor do we have the natural disasters like here. This makes me realize that New Mexico's weather really isn't that bad. The slideshow that the pastor showed us at our devotional tonight was breathe taking. Houses, cars, bridges, and building just demolished by this deadly storm. Many were killed,injured,and homeless left without a clue what to do Throughout the week we have worked at 3 main sites and a couple of us went to another ladies house the last couple of days to paint the outside of her house. These people are such welcoming people and have taught me so much about enjoying life and appreciating what I have while I have it because you never know when it could all be taken away from you. The main site I have been working at is the Pickens' house. We have scraped paint, painted, dry walled, cleaned up trash around the house, and even gardened a little. It is all starting to come together and is looking really good. It is really gratifying when you can actually see the results. I have learned so much this week at the sites, through our devotionals, and in our small groups and also through the people I am around. I am so blessed to have been able to experience this and be a part of such an amazing trip but I am getting ready to come home!haha It has definitely been a memorable one though. Love, Lauren :]
Love, Katie Tillery and Lauren Diller
Katie's Thoughts:
What a crazy week! You wouldn't believe how hot and humid it is here. We get out of a cold shower and immediately start sweating again. We sweat eating breakfast, walking to the bus, before we start working. Ridiculous. I am working at the Pickens's house. We have spent multiple hours scraping paint, priming, painting the house, and tearing down dry wall. It's exhausting, but well worth the effort. It's finally all coming together when you look at the house. We have the front of the house painted and both sides as well. The feeling of gratification is finally being felt, I believe. As mentioned above, we were presented with a slide show of the damage and effects of hurricanes Ike and Rita. It's impossible to fully describe the pictures we saw. There were boats on freeways. Houses, stripped completely of their foundations. Coffins, above ground. It's enough to haunt you... and deeply impact you. It makes you feel so grateful for what you have as well as where we live. We don't experience earthquakes, hurricanes, or tornadoes. I have realized how lucky I am to have never experienced such disaster except in aiding in the rebuilding. Which is awesome! To be part of something that seems so small at the time, but know that it is making a huge impact on someone's life is phenomenal. Seeing Mrs. Pickens smiling face every time she comes to the house warms your heart. I can tell she really appreciates what we're doing. I'm looking forward to finishing up our work here tomorrow and going to Six Flags. I can't wait to come home as well!
Love, Katie :)
Lauren's thoughts:
This trip is once again not what I expected. haha It happens every year. This year has been a little bit different than the other years with pods to live in which is a step down from Iowa but a step up from Mexico. I haven't ever experienced humidity quite like this before. You sweat no matter where you are (except in our cold showers). The food has been excellent as has the service. We have three wonderful helpers from this site that live with us for the week but in their own trailers that go around to the sites and help us do the jobs on the sites and get us the supplies we need. They are amazing. The weather here definitely makes me appreciate our weather more. We don't have the humidity, or the large amount of mosquitoes nor do we have the natural disasters like here. This makes me realize that New Mexico's weather really isn't that bad. The slideshow that the pastor showed us at our devotional tonight was breathe taking. Houses, cars, bridges, and building just demolished by this deadly storm. Many were killed,injured,and homeless left without a clue what to do Throughout the week we have worked at 3 main sites and a couple of us went to another ladies house the last couple of days to paint the outside of her house. These people are such welcoming people and have taught me so much about enjoying life and appreciating what I have while I have it because you never know when it could all be taken away from you. The main site I have been working at is the Pickens' house. We have scraped paint, painted, dry walled, cleaned up trash around the house, and even gardened a little. It is all starting to come together and is looking really good. It is really gratifying when you can actually see the results. I have learned so much this week at the sites, through our devotionals, and in our small groups and also through the people I am around. I am so blessed to have been able to experience this and be a part of such an amazing trip but I am getting ready to come home!haha It has definitely been a memorable one though. Love, Lauren :]
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Day 2
As day two wraps up I think of all of the hard work that the team has done.
We did more scraping, cleaned up yards, painted, repaired, removed a stump, made a support pole, made a flower bed, scraped, cleaned and the scraped and did more landscaping.
Just take a look at all of the pictures on the picture page to see our team in action.
We did more scraping, cleaned up yards, painted, repaired, removed a stump, made a support pole, made a flower bed, scraped, cleaned and the scraped and did more landscaping.
Just take a look at all of the pictures on the picture page to see our team in action.
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