Friday, June 16, 2005

Please scroll down to view photos from today!

Today was our last day to work, and the youth poured themselves into doing all they could on the house.  We did finish tearing the rest of the old roof off the house and getting the new roof on the entire house, which was a tremendous improvement (given the fact that for the past ten months, every bit of rain that fell on the house also went on into the house).  We also built a closet on the inside of the house to replace an old one that was there, finished peeling wallpaper, priming, and painting another room in the house, and tore an old ceiling out of the living room (along with all the old, soppy cellulose insulation that was sitting on top of that roof--it was a terrible mess, but they cleaned it all up!).  There were other rooms that were painted, some drywall put up in the kitchen, and all kinds of cleanup too.  At the end of the day, a BIG rainstorm swept through as if to test the roof, and it shed water beautifully all over the house.  There was only one small area that leaked, so the rain enabled us to find it and repair it (a screw for the metal had broken off during installing it, and it had not been covered over yet).

Then we got to spend a little bit of time with June for pictures and to talk about the trip and the project.  She expressed deep gratitude to the youth group, and they also had many good things to say to her too about what it has meant to be here and get to know her.  The people who built the back porch all signed the railing; the people who built the closet all signed the corner post, and the people who painted in at least one of the rooms all signed a wooden paint stirer.  June kept looking at it and saying how she would always keep it. You could tell that the whole experience meant a lot to her.

I will include a few more pictures below; there are literally hundreds more where these came from!  We will have a CD of all the pictures made and distributed to all the youth and leaders when the trip is over, and we look forward to sharing a presention with the congregation at Camp Point UMC about our trip in the near future.

There will not be a new page posted for Saturday and Sunday, since we will be traveling home on those two days, and this driver will need all available night time to rest for the journey.  Please pray for our safe journey home, and thank you for all the many ways you have supported the youth group on this venture, and in so doing, have contributed to an important mission trip that I know the youth will always remember!

Special thanks to each one of the youth, and to our "fearless leaders!!!" 

"This is how we know what love is:  Christ gave his life for us.  We too, then, ought to give our lives for our brothers and sisters.  If a rich person sees a brother or sister in need, yet closes their heart against that brother or sister, how can they claim that they love God?  My children, our love should not be just words and talk; it must be true love, which shows itself in action." (1 John 3:16-18)