Third day at Ministry Sites
Today was a bit compressed since the late afternoon/early evening was free time.
Updates by person…
Rob
- Day three of VBS done…theme was Zacheus
- It was a pouring rain day, so the games part was held in a local school in the gym
- we used the rental van to take the kids back and forth all day, and they were really wired since it was raining
- some of the parents were much nicer today
- Noah’s Ark is tomorrow
Diane
- Odd day…thought it was a fair day…on bus ride had a talk with Shawn that upgraded it to good
- Diane decided she had an attitude problem
- She upgraded it to good after realizing some of what they were doing was for future users of the areas she was working
- Went to a community center with 24 people from m-fuge…there were only 3 people there
- washed the doors and walls of all the rooms on the 4th floor of the campus dorms
- cleaned up parks…including instruction on dealing with needles if found
Alicia
- Mall peformance got cancelled
- their leader had them go around just talking to people in the mall
- this was hard to do
- went to a senior center later in the day
Lauren
- same group as Alicia
- there is a choir here participating that is also on a tour, so they handed out flyers inviting people to a performance on Thursday night
- sang “Holy is the Lord” and did sign-language at the senior center
- like talking to Ada
Melissa D
- built fences
- favorite was when the rain stopped
Matt D
- same as Lauren and Alicia
- also enjoyed talking to Ada
John
- finished clearing old materials from Walls and ceilings…like panelling
- cleared all scraps from the area and put in dumpster
- liked discussing life stories of all the kids with the leaders
Jeremy
- worked in rain building fences
- after lunch drilled in spikes for fences
- liked using sledge hammers for the spikes
Matt R
- tough day due to rain
- it slowed their progress, but did not stop it
- drove in steel spikes with sledge hammers
- liked working and talking with Al, a carpenter
Melissa
- Thought it was cool that rain didn’t stop them
- liked the bus ride for an unspecified reason
Emily
- actually thought it was fun to work in the rain
- cleared more brush…which caused a mudslide and several people to get washed down a hill including Melissa
- also mentioned bus ride as being fun
- liked meeting people from Monroe
- Worship was fun for her…kids from her site were there that she is helping to witness to
- 2 of the kids are catholic and the other completely unchurched. She is going to talk to them more on Friday
Chelsea
- same group as John
- cleanup and painting
- stained a bench
- like encouraging Freddy STERNLY to paint better
Nicki
- was inside with kids today
- a little discouraging
- trying to help Marion, but they aren’t having the impact Nicki would like to see
- kids attention span very short
- she loved one boy who was very happy to get attention in reading and playing
Laura
- built fences
- thought they were wrong
- took apart
- re-built…determining she was right in first place
- also mentioned the bus ride
- likes working with Ginny - one of the adults who is really good with power tools
Mark
- it was wet
- a bit frustrating due to lack of tools for the large group they have to work
- they had 5 sledge hammers but only 2 levels…meaning 3 are useless
- so…30 people with 2 sets of tools
- also, hammered in a stake for a fench and saw it being pulled out later in the day
So, the rain did make it challenging here today, and there was a bit of frustration coming through in most of the reports.
We went out to dinner at an East Side Marios here, then went downtown for a bit of shopping. After doing a drive-by of Fort Henry, we headed back to campus and into Worship.
Tonight was interesting as we had 3 guests sitting with our church group. There is a sailing competition here and there are sailors from all over the world staying here. Some of the girls had been talking to some of them, so they knew them. Its a long story, but they wound up coming to Worship tonight, and since they knew some of our girls, they sat with us.
It was hard since they have most likely never been in a church service before, so they had no idea how to “conduct themselves” properly…but that is just our own predjudice shining through I guess. As Mark indicated…these are just the people that need to be in church…the ones you look at in the service and say “what are they doing here”. Anyway, we got through it, and they got through it, and all everyone here can hope is that something got through the laughing and talking.
Friday is the last day on site…actually in a couple of hours since I waited until today to do this update. Please pray for us as we spend the last day with our Ministry teams, and transition into a going home mode. Also please pray for the sailors that God would have spoken to them, even just a small whisper last night.
Peace.