It was a great day!

We all had a great day down here in Wilmington!  Lots of us are slowing down from being tired, but the groups are meshing well and having fun.  Here are the updates for the day from each of the job sites!

Group 1:

Today was a great day for us! We almost finished painting the house. As well as finishing the painting, we also finished removing and replacing all of the siding. Our group had the chance to meet Mrs. Alice’s granddaughter too. Meredith and Kaley had the privileged to play games with her grand daughter who we called “cutie pie” She even helped us dust the porch off in preparation for repainting. We very much appreciated the help from our homeowner’s family. They helped us paint, gave us advice, and gave us shelter from the storm. Today, we also did yard work. We can’t wait for another productive day with Mrs. Alice.

 

Group 2:

Are group stared the day with finishing painting Mr. Griffins bedroom. We pulled down a fence and put up a new one. Kevin helped us pull out and put down the fence. Bryan got a nasty scratch and got bitten by fire ant and had to where Kevin’s extra t-shirt, but he is ok. Had lots of fun and we worked hard to. At Walmart we got Mr. Griffin a chair so he can sit down in the shower because he has problems with his leg.   

Group 3:

Today was a very productive day. We are almost finished with all of our outdoor jobs. We mostly painted today and replaced rotten boards. Yesterday we went to Walmart and we bought our homeowner a welcome mat and a new mailbox for her front porch. She was very happy with all that we have done for her so far. We are looking forward to completing the job tomorrow.

Group 4:

We love our homeowner. One of the things these trips always make me realize is how important relationships are. Mrs. Paletha has loved on us since the first day of this week. She has about 4,000 roosters in her kitchen in various forms, so we went to Wal-Mart yesterday and bought her a welcome mat with roosters on it to go on the new floor we’re putting in. We also gave her a new broom that we had all signed, along with a picture of our group with her in it and our names on the back. Her reaction was moving. She began to tear up, and in between murmurs of “Thank you Jesus” she expressed her deep gratefulness not only for the material things we were giving her, but also the love we had shared and the intangible relationships and bonds that had been formed that week. That was a theme with Mrs. Paletha. Material things can be replaced, but people and relationships are what we should treasure most.

 

Group 5:

Today was a pretty good day. It was the first time this week that we have a job that was an inside job. We took up flooring and put down primer.  At our work site we had a very nice owner, she had moved everything before we arrived so that we didn’t have to do anything except pull the flooring up. Today was some of our first times using a power saw. It was very awesome. I can’t wait to go back tomorrow.

Tuesday/Wednesday

We had a great day at the beach!  A few folks are "pink", but it was a beautiful day today!  Very choppy and rough water today that wore everyone out, but we still spent 5 and a 1/2 hours at the beach!  Tomorrow it is back to work!

Here is yesterday's blog.  The wifi is still down, but I am able to connect through someone's "hotspot".  It is slow, but hopefully will do the trick!

Group 1

On Tuesday, our second day working with the wonderful Miss Alice and her friend Miss Betty, we learned about the story of the cricket and how important it is to look to God and not material possessions. We took many water breaks and had a wonderful lunch, which we shared with the two amazing ladies. We were surprised and even moved in our gratitude when Miss Alice brought out a honey bun cake for us, which must have taken a good part of her day. It was very kind of her and restored my faith in humanity and it’s kindness. After that we painted two sides of the house, made a doorframe and replaced boards for the day, we headed home.

                                                                                    ~Wolfi

Group 2:

Today was day 2 on Mr. Griffin’s home. We did lots of yard work and cleared up his fence line, which looked VERY sharp. Inside, we finished painting the kitchen, which has a very nice coat of beige and white. We started on Mr. Griffin’s bedroom, and intend to add a coat on Thursday.

Group 3

Today, we continued our work for Mrs. Watson and not only did we do physical labor and demanding work out in the sun, but we also found out more about Mrs. Watson and her husband, son and daughter. As the day went on we noticed that Mr. Watson started coming out more and more until he was always sitting in a chair right next to us, watching us do our work. We have been working so hard and we think that our hard work is going to pay off by creating an opportunity to end early on Thursday.

Group 4

Today, we had a bump in our journey. There was water damage where we were supposed to be putting floor down.  We had to bleach the area and put flooring on hold. We will start back up on Thursday and hopefully be able to finish the kitchen and living room. Through our struggles we continue to find ways to help our homeowner in the smallest ways possible. Today, we also had a crazy encounter with a snake while cleaning up the back yard. We killed it swiftly and held a funeral in its memorial. *moment of silence* We have put in a lot of effort and had a great time doing it, and hopefully our home owner will be the most excited when we complete all our assigned work.

Group 5

On Tuesday, the second day of helping the people in need we helped two people.  The jobs we did were very hard but with God’s help we worked hard and got it done.  One of the jobs we did was yard work, before the yard looked like a jungle after it looked wonderful.  The second job was painting and scraping the old paint off and putting a new coat on.  After that we cleaned up and came home.

Church wifi is down

We are having a bit of technical difficulty with the church wifi, so I'll have to try and post updates in the morning.

All the kids are great!  Tired, hot, and grumpy... But okay!

We are all looking forward to our day off.

Special Picture Update

Rain, Rain, Go Away

Here are tonight's updates from the groups!  

These are written from the youth's perspectives!

We had a great day...wet, but great!

Group 1

This morning, our group went to Alice’s house to work.  At the site we screwed, drilled, and painted.  Mackenzie and Abby built a handrail for Alice.  Kaley and Meredith painted the windows and one side of the house.  Cameron and Hank removed the siding and replaced it.  We had a very productive day.

Group 2

This morning, our group went to Mr. Griffen’s house to do yardwork and paint. We met Mr. Griffen, an Ex-Marine and a very interesting character. We also met his daughter who was extremely nice.  We had to mow the lawn and use weed wackers to clear his yard.  We started painting the kitchen and the bathroom.  It looked very sharp after. We look forward to going back.

Group 3

This morning we drove to Mrs. Watson’s home. She told us she had lots of kids and grandkids and had lots of pictures that she showed us. Painting was a large part of our job so the rain delayed our work for about an hour.  We ripped off rotten wood off parts of the house to nail new boards down. We also installed a new doorknob on the front as well as the back doors. This was tricky because the instruction manual was not helpful. It was a good day and we got lots of good work done.

Group 4

I have to say that our homeowner is the nicest lady I have every met. After some of the things she has been though in her life, she is so blessed and happy to be where she is. In her house, her friend, Ms. Debra, and her father, Eddie (who Is blind), lives with her. She has hired a nurse to help take care of her father. Since her father is disabled, he has urinated on the carpet and our homeowner has tried her best to keep the rugs clean.  Our job this week is to replace the floors in the bedrooms and living room with wood floors to create a better living environment for the family.

Group 5

Well to start off the group is a blast and working with them has made the work seem timeless, and the work that was done today was removing a wheel-chair ramp which isn’t as easy as it sounds, It wasn’t easy because there was a catch, we had to preserve the wood and remove the nails so it wasn’t all demolition. The person, Ms. Mary,  had passed so we had no company besides each other … which is  not so bad I guess r.i.p Ms Mary.

Safe and Sound

Hey folks!
We have all arrived in Wilmington Safe and Sound!
Both Dilworth and St. Andrew's showed up about 2:30.

We got settled into our rooms, divided into groups, and had an amazing dinner!

Here are the groups for the week!

Group 1
Adults:
Scott C, Jim W, Katie P
Youth:
Kaley C, Meredith P, Miriam M (when she joins us...feel better!), Abby b
Mackenzie S, Cameron W, and Hank W

Group 2
Adults:
Brian D, Rebecca G, Pam B
Youth:
Kayla M, Jada M, Emily W, Jeremiah R, Jorge, Sam M, Grant S

Group 3
Adults:
Randy S, Karen G
Youth:
Andrew W, Austin S, Max S, Katie S, Haley B, Andrew M (Dilworth), and Tyler F

Group 4:
Adults:
Dave S, Liz S, Elaine W
Youth:
Haydn H, Jacob P, Hank H, Paige S, Alex G, Madie B, Ashley A

Group 5:
Adults:
Tresca M, Tony J
Youth:
Mya I, Justin M, Andrew G, JaNiya R, Destiny R, Adam B, Foster L

Those are the work teams for the week!
You can look forward to seeing post from the youth tomorrow night!

Kevin