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! 

Grit.

Last night I laid in bed, not wanting to face the first day back after Christmas Break. I knew I had not worked on lesson plans or assessments, service capture or IEP's all break and I felt so guilty and unprepared. I had a difficult time falling asleep, and staying asleep. I kept having dreams about my students and things that could go wrong. My body automatically woke up three times before my alarm out of fear of missing it. I grumbled as I scraped the three inches of ice off my windshield. I was so focused on not forgetting my lunch, I forgot my phone at home.  I scowled as I lugged the huge bags of textbooks (I hadn't touched all break) back into my classroom. I sighed as I walked into a classroom that was in disarray because the janitors cleaned my carpets over break. I rolled my eyes as I pushed my furnature back into place. And I sat at my desk once again. 

I looked up at my wall and saw a note from a student tacked to my board. A smile came to my face as I read words of appreciation. I opened my email and planned out my day. The planning came easy, as I was now anxious to see my students. I was reminded that my job was important. That my job made a difference in the lives of my students. I laughed out loud while discussing t-Rex's combing their hair while watching students identify the steps to solve equations. I felt honored to listen to a student's good news about their break. I was blessed to celebrate a student correctly answering a challenging math problem. I was encouraged as I documented progress monitoring data, and saw steady improvement towards an IEP goal. I smiled as I observed a student, and the teacher discussed having "grit" with her students. 

"We're in this together, right?" She said.

Yes. Yes we are.  And that is such an honor, that parents would entrust their students to me. That I get to listen to their hardships, encourage their grit, and celebrate their successes. 

That's why we teachers come to work every day. That's why we do what we do. It's all for them. And I had forgotten that last night. I'm so glad I was reminded of it today. I can't wait to go back to school tomorrow.