Leader Profiles

Mile Ellis

Best Part: getting to know the high school kids

Hardest Part: the food

Worksite: Betty's house 

Work: building a 8x10 shed

God Moment: Betty was very appreciative of us here. She loved having us and talking with us. 

Yoon Choi

Best Part: lunch devotions, seeing the students ask each other deep questions about God and faith. 

Hardest Part: dealing with the heat, getting progressively tired throughout the day. 

Worksite: Betty's 

Work: cutting with a circular saw was really fun! I got really good at it. Also helping the students find their place. 

Memory: when I got to save Ian's life, and eating dinner rolls in one bite. 

Gina Ellis

Best Part: praying with our homeowner

Hardest Part: knee sweat.  very sweaty. Sweating so much. 

Worksite: God's Resort

Work: taking off siding and hanging up tyvek

Quote: " It only hurts if you touch me" PJ's new single 

Bobby Moore

Best Part: Getting to know the students better

Hardest Part: trying to sleep with the constant rustling of bodies rolling on air mattresses. 

Worksite: Heather Holley's

Work: hanging siding, demoing moldy studs, supervising children

Quote: #manveins

Memory: talking with the homeowner and hearing her story of the tornado

PJ Huizenga

Best Part: leading a group of middle school boys with Mike Ellis

Hardest Part: having spiritual conversations with middle school boys

Worksite: God's Resort

Work: I worked with Sarah and Lexi repairing siding that has been damaged by moisture and bugs

Quote: "It only hurts when you touch me."

Memory:  I was pulling a pipe out of the side of a building that Will said would probably be 6 inches long. I pulled and pulled and it ended up being 10 feet long! We all laughed. 

Zach Baumgart

Best Part: getting to know the students more

Hardest Part: knowing there is going to be an end to the trip

Worksite: Heather Holly's 

Work: putting vinyl siding on a shed, working alongside students

Quote: "I am not the artist, I am the canvas"

Memory: seeing all the student going up and chiseling bark off the piece of wood to represent getting rid of what is between us and Jesus. 

Carissa Moore

Best Part: spending time with my girls!! And bedtime stories with Koriel.  

Hardest Part: getting big bites all over my body

Worksite: Heather Holley's

Work: measuring, cutting  and installing siding. Cutting new studs. Overseeing students on the worksite. 

Quote:  "the hammer doesn't have man veins!"

Memory: hearing Heather Holley's story about surviving the tornado

Guest post: Gina from Crew 3

Crew 3: River Rock Raptors!

Our team has been working on a house for God's Resort. God's Resort is a ministry that is a relational-based transitional housing community. They provide housing for individuals and families who want to become empowered to live like Christ. Our crew has been working with a family that is currently living in one of God's Resort houses. Jessica and her husband live with their with two children Nikolai and Cynthia. 

Jessica has fibromyalgia and has difficulty moving around her house sometimes and even playing with her kids. She has been so excited to see the work get done and the the relationships the students are making with her kids.

Our main job this week was to take the siding off the walls and replace it with new siding. But we ended up  doing a few more things than we planned on.

 As the old siding came off we found thousands of termites spilling out. We decided to cut the rotted stuff out and replace it. 

So the past two days we have been taking all the siding off the house, cutting out rotted sections of plywood, cutting new strips of plywood to get screwed back onto the house, and  a lot of other odds and ends that need to happen to keep the other projects moving forward.

Crew 3 has been loving our time working together. We have been making up all kinds of songs on the site and have been enjoying to get to know Nikolai! Nikolai is 7 and has been helping us from the moment we get to his house until the moment we leave. We have been loving that we have not only gotten to know Nikolai better but his mom and neighbors as well. We have been enjoying our time at this house and are looking forward to seeing it finished. 

Student Profiles: Guys Edition

Jamarcus Cool 

Best Part: working at the house

Hardest Part: working at the house

Worksite: Heather Holley's

Work: siding

Quote: " if you need an ark, I Noah guy."

Drew Suess

Best Part: working at the house

Hardest part: cleaning up the upstairs

Worksite: Heather Holley's

Work: siding and drywall, cleaning up drywall and insulation

Quote: #cheeseballs

Bryce Arnold

Best Part: helping out the community

Hardest part: working in the sun

Worksite: Heather Holley's

Work: hammering in siding on the shed

Quote: "Be nice to bees and bees will be nice to you" -Zach 

Cole Hammontree

Best Part: meeting new people

Hardest part: dealing with the heat

Worksite: God's Resort

Work: taken off siding, hauling tyvek 

Quote: "Get outside your box" 

Curtis Davey

Best Part: meeting the new people

Hardest part: the heat

Worksite: God's Resort

Work: removing siding and hanging Tyvek 

Quote: "YAGGA"

Taylor Plekker

Best Part: helping the people out by working

Hardest part: sunburn

Worksite: Betty's House

Work: power saw, sawsall, demo and hammering

Memory: Ian is Amish

Michael Fox 

Best Part:  meeting all the new people

Hardest part: not working at McDonalds

Worksite: Betty's House

Work: built a wall, sawing, nailing, being awesome, attracting all the ladies. 

Memory: Ian's concrtre eye 

Quote: "Michael is awesome" 

Matt Anderson

Best Part: connecting and growing with God

Hardest part: 2am on Sunday

Worksite: God's Resort

Work: taking off siding, demo

Memory: Bobby brought cheese balls 

Student Profiles: Ladies Edition

Sarah Verburg

Best part: free time to just hang out

Hardest part: the heat 

Work Location: God's Resort

Work: replacing siding 

Quote: "Wristband"

Lexi Barraza

Best part: I like it all! 

Hardest part: the heat and the showers

Work Location: God's Resort

Work: replacing siding

Quote: "It only hurts when you touch me" 

Emma Richter

Best part: playing cards

Hardest part: the heat 

Work Location: Heather Holley's

Work: putting up siding and taking down drywall. (And being a ladder buddy)

Quote: "Emma squirrels!" 

Grace Anderson 

Best part: being with friends and serving others

Hardest part: the heat 

Work Location: Heather Holley's

Work: putting up new siding and drywall

Favorite Memory: getting to know people in the van during the 15 hour ride here. 

Samantha Stockdale

Best part: being with Carissa

Hardest part: sleeping

Work Location: Betty's

Work: sitting and watching the birds (and hammering)

Quote: "pull off the sheet" 

Brenna Harman

Best part: playing cards

Hardest part: hives

Work Location: Betty's House

Work: hammering and measuring

Quote: "1600 on the SAT" -track 9

Koriel Harris

Best part: the people

Hardest part: sleeping in the van

Work Location: Betty's

Work: sitting  sawing the studs (to build a shed)

Quote: "I've had to poop for 2 hours but I haven't told anyone!"

Grace Garner

Best part: the people

Hardest part: the heat

Work Location: Betty's House

Work: measuring and marking off boards.  Sanding and making a coaster for Betty. 

Quote: "Amish" 

Heading out for day 2!

Good morning! 

We have bellies full of biscuits and gravy and just finished devotions. 

We read about how Jesus can reveal himself to us even when we least expect it. We are praying that God reveals himself to us today in big ways. 

Morning "stretches" before heading out to our worksites. 

Please pray for strength for us, to have the energy to work today. Pray for our hearts and minds to be open to God's work. 

Also please pray for health for a few of us. We have quite a few bug bites, sore places and a case of hives. Pray that Satan does not attack us through these or other things. Pray for a hedge of protection over us. 

It is a beautiful (hot) day to see God work! 

Work day 1

We were woken up at 7am by a guitar serenade, and promptly made our lunches and ate breakfast. 

Making lunches

By 8am we were doing devotions, followed by packing up all our tools, lunches and water for the day. We made it to our worksites by 9. 

We had a great day of work at all three sites. It was very hot and muggy(91) and ended up raining right as we started packing up. The rained cooled it off for about 10 minutes. 

There were lots of encounters with bugs; spiders, termites, and ants! As well as great interactions with the people we are serving. 

We will write more later- but now it's time for worship! 

We made it!

Well, we made it, with all our vehicles, luggage, students and adults! 

Here is a quick snapshot of what life will look like this week. 

We are staying at the Journey church Ministry Center along with three other church groups, for a total of about 70 people. There is a "shower trailer" in which 4 people can shower at a time. 

Playing frisbee out by the shower trailer! 

The boys are in a huge room with all the other churches, and our girls are in one room with just our church. 

The girls room. 

Chillin in the fellowship hall before dinner. 

All 70 people are divided into 8 work crews. Our church is divided into 3 crews, and so will be working at three different sites tomorrow. 

We met as a crew to pick a name and assign our crew jobs. We also learned a little sneak peak of what our work will be tomorrow. 

Mike and Yoon's crew. 

Jon and Gina's crew

Bobby, Zach and I's crew

We are ready for our first day of work tomorrow morning! Pray for a great night of sleep and a fun day of work! 

Constant

Bags piled high. Prayers raised. Doors latched. Heads on pillows. Pulling out of the parking lot at 12:30am, the excitement is still detectable, even through tired eyes. 

Passing orange barrels and bouncing on potholes. As the cities and miles pass, one thing stays the same; a sky so stunning we can't ignore.  I stare at the black canvas glittered with stars. The vast expanse reminds me of how his love and presence covers us, 

fully, 

completely, 

constantly. 

Then, ever so slowly the sky lightens. So subtle and slow you barely notice the change is happening. Suddenly the bright blood-red sun breaks through the horizon and ignights the entire sky. Like a gift of joy can transform a season of sorrow. 

“Then I was constantly at his side. I was filled with delight day after day, rejoicing always in his presence, rejoicing in his whole world and delighting in mankind.”

Proverbs 8:30-31 NIV

What a beautiful reminder of the consistency of God. We are praying for the powerful love of God to invade our hearts this week as we serve in the city of Joplin. Please pray with us too! 

Safe travels so far. We are nearing the outskirts of St. Louis and just stopped for a breakfast break. Lots of sleeping and miles logged. About 5 more hours to go!