Hey y'all...so, I'm back
Before I start I must write a disclaimer...any lack of coherancy in the following is not my fault. I've just made it back from a very long but awesome week of World Changers mission in East St. Louis. We headed out on Saturday and just returned this morning and man, I feel like I got hit by a truck.
This is a super cool week, if any of you ever get the chance, go...it's amazing. Not only do you get the regular christian camp experience with a good speaker and worship times, but you get an awesome chance to serve. As you know, east st. louis isn't exactly the greatest neighborhood, but throw 220+ youth in there with about 40 adults and a few construction people who know what their doing and you never know what you might come up with. We had 12 different houses in the area getting new siding, paint jobs, porches, windows, roofs, and so much more. It was great.
When I got there I was assigned to the "challenge house"...the one with the most work needed and the oldest kids put on the crews. Our team of 20 or so worked very long days all 5 days to complete our task for the sweetest home owner you could ever meet. Mrs. Moblie was a 78 year old woman with a leak over her stove, no AC, 7 layers of shingles on her decaying roof, and a heart of gold. We took one look at her house and were ready to go.
Determined to conquer my fear of heights to some degree I climbed to the top of the steepest pitched roof I've ever imagined and sat on the ridge all morning hacking away at old shingles to get to the "skeleton" of the roof. Scary, but I so didn't die! Actually, after you got used to it, being up there was a lot of fun. We proceeded over the next 4 days to put up plywood, tar paper, and shingles. I learned a lot...even how to weild a nail gun!! (yeah, scary, I know....try not to run from the room in terror, I only killed like 3 people) :) In the midst of that whole project, people were tearing down and re-constructing her porch, replacing all her windows, and covering her walls with new siding. I came back from the work site covered in roof soot every day...black is a good color for me I think...and yesterday I had some quality time with tar caulking, the remains of which are on my elbows still, even after my half hour battle with paint thinner and goo gone. I decided that being grungy is awesome...our society doesn't allow enough of it!!
Our crew was amazing. They were fun and hard working...I met a girl named Hannah who rocks my world...she was loud and silly and a great worker, we clicked almost instantly and kept eachother going all week. Made lots of other friends...actually, one of our supervisors could have been Ryan Jackson's twin, not as much in looks but in personality. That was fun...
We worked really hard all week, but by Thursday night the whole porch still had to be sided and finished, the porch needed a roof, and the siding wasn't complete on the house. The roof also needed to be capped and the whole place cleaned up. As we circled up to pray and close the day our crew chief shared some more needs. Mrs. Moblie desperately needed a new ceiling fan and light fixtures for her porch and blinds for her windows, but World Changers couldn't fund it. Once again our crew pitched in and collected enough money to do all of it. By God's grace, a lot of sweat, and the help of other crews cheifs as they finished thier houses, we were able to put in a 13 hour work day on Friday and finish the job. Mrs. Moblie's appreciation made it all worth it. She has so little...being able to help her was awesome. We also learned that she was a Christian, which makes the effort even sweeter.
On top of all the great work that happened I really did have a spritually refreshing week as well. From long talks with a couple of the girls to good worship to some spiritual "re-alignment" it was a fantastic week. God "hit the nail on the head" with me a few times early on in the week and I was forced to wake up a little bit and realize what was going on inside me. I was challenged to submit, to focus my mindset on daily mission work, and to give more of myself to whole heartedly seek God...not just in the tough times, not just when I want something...at all points and for every reason. Why in my pig headded independence do I forget that I am smaller than a pin-point? Only He can take my world that has seemed so out of control lately and make sense of it all...and He wants to do it face to face with me, not at a distance.
I realize that all of the above probably doesn't make a whole lot of sense...I just tried to re-read it and I can' t make heads or tails of what it says. Guess it's time to leave you. Hope everyone's doing well...more later...blessings
The splendor of the king
clothed in majesty
let all the earth rejoice
let all the earth rejoice
he wraps himself in light
and darkness tries to hide
and trembles at his voice
and trembles at his voice
how great is our God
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