Saturday, June 19th

Hi Everyone! 

     We made it to Georgetown, IN just outside of Louisville, KY.  We had a long day of travel and are glad to be resting for the night.   The youth are all well and the adults are all acting crazy as usually!  Jessica was sick this week and I am afraid I may have succumbed to the sickness because I am running a fever.  I am praying it will be gone tomorrow; so please pray that it will go away.  The trip will go on no matter!  I hear that weather man talking about 103 degree days!  We knew that already didn’t we! Talk with you tomorrow.  Liz

Finally we have connection to the outside world!!! 

Hi Everyone! It is Monday night and I sit in my bunk to write this. I hope to post this to the internet in the morning. So far that has not been possible. I am going to get you all caught up. The last time I talked with you on Saturday night I was feeling quite ill. Thanks for the prayers because I did not have the illness that Jessica had. I have allergies and now several others are feeling the effects of all these trees and greenness here. But we have medicine and are doing well. We are sorry that we have not been in communication. There is no cell phone service here at all. A few of the kids got service for a few minutes while we were driving to the houses today. So you may have got messages from them. The when we got in yesterday their internet service was down. When we returned from the job site today we came back in a storm and got here to no electricity. Seemed status quo for us! We showered and ate dinner in the dark. Thankfully they had dinner cooked before the electricity went out. We are sitting in a beautiful holler in Kentucky and the clouds are just hanging on the mountains just like the pictures. Absolutely beautiful!

Many of you may not know that the church van is broke! That’s why you saw it sitting there on Sunday. We had hoped on oil pump would fix it but we found out Thursday night that it didn’t. So all day Friday, Homer and I worked to find us transportation for the 13 people that would have traveled in the van. Noel volunteered his van but we still needed another van or large vehicle. There was nothing available in KC to rent. Finally Homer though of his daughter’s expedition and here we are. Thank you Kim for the use of your vehicle.  I will do my very best to have it sent back to you in good condition! We are thankful for the safe and uneventful trip down. Other people traveling here had trouble. Some did not get here until midnight and 2 in the morning. Wouldn’t want to start the week like that.

Parents I would like you to know that the woman at the hotel we stayed out said we have the best behaved youth! I love that! And they are!

The Red Bird Mission is one great place. They treat us very well. We can raid the refrigerator 24 hours a day. Not that I want the kids to do that but how nice, huh? So Gregg and Gary went to staff meeting this morning and met our crew leader, Tim. You all know that we have 2 houses we are working on. Today was major culture shock for all of us!! Gregg, Gary, Noel, Bob, Tucker, Cody, Philip, Weston, Briar and Buddy all worked on the house that needs the new roof and porch. All of their work is on the outside. This is also the house that said no water. Tomorrow we are taking 2 water jugs for them. They are in the direct sun. Homer should have pictures posted. Gregg worked them hard and they managed to get the tar paper on before the storm hit around 4 pm.

My group was Homer, Sam, Pam, Nancy, Barb, Sharron, Marty, Morgan, Jessica, Molly, Cheyenne and Tiffani. We had more of a challenge! We had to work inside the house just down the street. Going inside is scary enough. Working inside was……..I can’t even tell you….Ok, I’ll try. First let me say that everyone really did a good job at being friendly and not judging. We went in with smiles on while we smelled the stench, saw the cockroaches crawling everywhere, holes in the house, holes in the floor, filth like you cannot imagine and yes even a rat! Pam found that. It is our job to patch holes in walls, paint the living room and Kitchen ceiling, and a bedroom and replace 2 windows. It is impossible to paint without cleaning up. We have to move everything and we women can’t move it without cleaning it. Oh my! This group of people did a fabulous job cleaning today. I didn’t do too much today. This is a small house and there were 12 of us and we just all didn’t fit in that house. Oh yes, I forgot to mention no air conditioning and not an open window! After tomorrow they will have a new window with screen that they can open. Our family is a 50ish woman(Carolyn), with a 21 year old daughter(Sam) and her 7 year old son, Isaac. Isaac has taken a great liking to Jessica and Morgan. He just wants them to play with him and has shown them about everything he has! He is a great kid! Oh yes they have 4 Chihuahuas. The adults were a little distant with us today but had warmed up a little by the time we left. Not sure if the daughter will be there tomorrow. We kinda trapped her car in so she couldn’t leave. They said they thought we were coming next week. Sam(the daughter) has had some trouble in the last couple of weeks and I am hoping she’ll stick around and I can get to know her and talk with her. There is way more than I can tell and I have talked enough.

One more thing. There are about 120 people here this week and they are all very friendly. The youth are making lots of friends and having a great time on this campus. Hard to get them to come in at 10 pm. Hope to talk to you all again tomorrow night(tonight). Liz

Again I sit in my bunk and type our day out.  Tonight I am fortunate enough to have one small little bar for internet connection.  So I should not have to paste in the morning.  It is amazing how extremely comfortable my small bunk area is.  God has blessed me greatly.  I sit here on my fairly clean sheets with a cozy blanket.  I have had a warm shower and feel fresh and clean. I have air-conditioning and I will sleep like a log tonight, just like last night.  There are no critters or bugs crawling past me.  Ok, maybe there might be a small spider in this building somewhere.  And most important of all is that I KNOW God loves me and I can always rest in His arms.  After the last two days just thinking of all these blessings that I have, makes me tear up.  We take so much for granted and the truth is you had no choice in where you were born or who you were born to.  Blessings; we have sooo many.

We women have looked at the pictures that Homer has posted so far and you aren't getting any idea of what we are really experiencing here.  We are planning to do some individual video interviews soon.  We all sat in a group tonight and talked of all the things that have happened in just 2 days and the differences we have seen in the people we are serving and especially us.  It was extremely hard for us to go back today and yet it was the best day ever.  Samantha seemed to warm up to us a little bit more today.  This family has had very little contact with Red Bird Mission before last week.  Apparently last week didn't go as well as this week.  Our crew leader is Tim.  If any of you got to view the video of the Appalachian Mission then you might remember Tim.  He is absolutely awesome and what a great witness he is for God!  He has affected the youth a lot in a very positive way.  I have so much to tell but it is just too hard in this blog.  We are going to dedicate a whole service one Sunday and tell about the mission trip.  You won't want to miss it.  Tomorrow we are splitting up and going to go do some sight seeing.  The youth are going to go swimming too.  We have worked very hard in 2 days and looking forward to a day off.  And yet we can't wait to get back and see the people we left at our job sites.  Isaac was terribly upset when we left today.  Hugging Jessica and Morgan and crying because he doesn't think he will get to see them on Thursday.  His mother, Sam, finally said she would try to have him there.  It's rough!  And I haven't even started to tell you about the woman I met at the men's site today.  Vicky, a very fine young lady.  I will talk about her later and I will be going back over there to get to know her better.  She made a welcome sign for the men she was so happy that they were coming to do her roof.  She was so happy this morning when they got back because she got to tell them that the part of the roof they finished yesterday didn't leak during the storm we had last night.  She can't wait until it is all done.  It is good.  goodnight.  Liz

Friday, June 25, 2010

Ok, so last post was Tuesday and now it's Friday. This hasn't been so successful this week.  The church host for our web-site was attacked and they shut us down from making changes on the web pages.  So communication this week has been minimal.  Sorry.  It is now Friday evening and we are done.  Hard to believe.  I hope you are looking at the pictures.  The men actually finished the roof.  Gregg is so very happy because he was so unsure if it could be done.  But they " Got er done!"  That's Tim's quote, our crew leader.  You want to talk about a thick accent.  I have him on video so you can hear him.  He is also one fantastic man!  Wednesday Pam, Christy, Marty and I took the kids to Cumberland Falls to see the falls and go swimming at the swimming pool there.  The rest of the group went to Cumberland Gap where we were originally suppose to all go.  We were exhausted after the day of play.  At the first of the week we had this group of women who were up and getting ready at 6 am when my alarm would go off.  I like the snooze button till 6:30.  As the week progressed, fewer were up that early.  This morning I was the first one out of bed at 6:30.  And there was still all this snoring going on!  We are tired.  We worked hard.  I wish I could really explain these experiences in the depth that we feel them but it isn't possible.  The only way is for you to go on a mission trip.  I don't know of any adult who has regretted it.  I don't think any of the youth do either, but it is rougher on the young ones.  The world is much rougher than they imagine it.  The youth have really made great friends on this trip and the older youth seem to really be having some deep sessions on their own.  I can't say enough good things about this camp.  Right now the older youth are with new friends in the dining hall talking.  The younger youth are on the basketball court.  Barb, Pam, Sharron and i don't know what other adults are playing horse shoes.  It is an absolutely beautiful night!  These hollers grow on you.  I am so exhausted that I can't tell you too much tonight because I would just sit and cry.  It has been an emotional week.  I will be up until midnight probably on kid watch because they are begging for more time with their new friends.  So I will sign off for tonight.  We will be doing some talking next Sunday so don't miss it.  We want to introduce you to our new friends.  Thank you for sending us to do the work we did here.  God shone through us this week and some people were helped and touched.  goodnight.  liz

 Saturday, June 26th

We are checked into the KOA and safe off the road.  It was a very long day of travel.  Tomorrow night we all sleep in our own beds and I know we all have a new appreciation for them and our homes.  I want to thank all the people who came on this mission trip.  These people worked so very hard.  I honestly did not work as hard as they did.  I was working on the human relations end of it.  I could not be more proud of the youth and how they just got right in there and did what needed to be done.  They are all extremely hard workers.  And they made Tim tear up just talking about how great he thought they were.  He says it means the world to him to see youth come across the country to work so hard for people they don't even know.  Tim also tears up about having such a great work crew.  Yes he appears to be a very emotional guy just like I am an emotional gal. Tim's appreciation is like none other that I have experienced.  Once again I tell you that this week is beyond desription.  I could not have asked for more dedicated adults to go on this trip.  I mean I am totally impressed!  The just dug right in and started working in horrible conditions. The women's house was beyond what you could imagine.  Vicky's house was different.  It is probably close to falling down and yet she is very proud of her house.  She has no running water, no shower.  But she has a cleaner house than the other one we worked at. She keeps her side yard very nice with a garden and flowers and plants all over.  She has a green thumb.  But the poverty that she and her husband live in, is hard to imagine.  Pam and I thought one night in bed what we could give to her.  Pam came up with the lawn chairs because she has a little table outside with an umbrella but no chairs that we could see.  We decided folding ones she could take inside easily and use wherever she wanted would be best.  Things have to be brought in because of stealing.  I don't think we could have thought of a better gift.  She was beeming about those chairs by the time we left.  She said she could sit on her front porch and not get wet because of the new roof and be comfortable in one of those chairs.  You can see them in the pictures on the front page.  I think they are in day 7.  We also left some bags of our snack foods.  She said we were spoiling her.  She had us read her the cleaning instructions on the chairs 2 times.  That is correct. she told us that she cannot read or write.  She said this is the most visiting she had done in years and how much she was going to miss us.  Her and her husband don't leave their house much because their things will get stolen if they do.  They do have a vehicle but no money for gas.  The available jobs in the area is about nill to none.  We have her address and I intend to write to her. Her neighbor, Bessie, will read the letter for her.   I also have an idea for something for her to pass her time.  I don't have any intention of letting Vicky go.  She and those hollers will be in my heart for ever.  I hope to come back someday.  goodnight.  liz