It's hard to believe this is the end of this service trip for this year, but it's not to be the end of service for any of us. Our faith calls us to be of service to all, to freely give of our talents which God has given us. This is something we've discussed at several evening gatherings this year and in our prayer circles. It's amazing to see the changes in many of the teens as well as the adults even if this is not their first service trip. This week of service has a way of opening one's eyes to all the blessings we have and just how much others need our help and the gifts we've been given.
Tomorrow morning we have our final gathering as a group with others from Minnesota before we depart for home. We'll be traveling in service teams for the morning to discuss what we've experienced this week and what the trip has meant to each of us. Please be sure to ask those you know about the trip and their experience.......I know they will have a lot to share with you. Here are the final thoughts from our teens:
Hi this is Rachel from team Incendio. Our last day at our site went extremely well, but was also very long. We ended up finishing about three hours after our normal finish time! But we got to miss most of the Harry Potter cleaning party: either good or bad depending on who you are (Janine and Becky were extremely disappointed.) We kept up our team spirit, however, while finishing every project that needed to be done. The actual step boards were placed and screwed in, along with the handrails and spindles. "The Spindlers", Janine, Becky, and I, completed three, that's right, THREE WHOLE GUARDRAILS, unlike one rail in two days, along with the handrails on the stairs. We spent the down time falling asleep with the kitten, cuddling dogs (and three stray puppies that paid a visit from up the road), and singing Frozen over and over again. But then came time to say goodbye. Oh and was it hard, a few of us even teared up. After giving them our gifts of a baby gate, chalk, a candle, welcome mats, and a signed frog, we took a group picture with everyone from both groups and the family. Finally getting 18-month old Lydia to stop crying with a sucker, and Novalene to sit still with two, took time. Goodbyes were hard. Hugs were shared and mutual thankfulness was given among everyone. Ending our day out with a pizza place Amber recommended was a great end to our last day in Morgan County, TN (except for the mopping at the school of course.)
Hey this is Ryan from the team of DURO. Its like 12am right now so bare with me on this one. And don't worry mom and dad, I'm only up this late because we just had a massive group reflection with everyone, and we all had a lot to share. Moving on, today was our last day so this is the grand finish. We started off this morning by driving 30 minutes out of town to try and find a new back door for our family's trailer because theirs was a bit withered, and we had just replaced some floor right inside the door. Anyways, we got to the store to find they didn't have the right dimensions for our door. So, Ron and I drove 40 more minutes to get the door, leaving the rest of our group behind at the store to complete the preparation of some of our family presents (potted flowers). We then picked up our group and arrived at the site at about 11:30am instead of our usual 9am. We then removed the door and brought in the new one after finding and fixing a "screwy" obstacle.... get it... because we had a problem with some screws. As the door was placed in we finished the tiling of a small area inside the door and then packed up and had one last meal with our family and to say the least, it was amazing. Our Debby was a heck of a cook! We then proceeded to go to our usual post-work spot...the waterfalls. We swam and dove and showed off our courage as other groups watched in awe and then tried the leap themselves. After all this completion and fun, we headed back to the center, ate, cleaned, and gathered. Which brings us to right now. So there it is for ya, a day in the life of an ASP-
Hi, this is Jared from Homorphous. Today, we finished up the porch that we have been working on throughout the week as well as finishing up the hallway and bathroom work. I am very proud of what our team has been able to accomplish during this week. We started with a daunting task as our home had not started having work done on it until one of the later weeks. Every team member worked incredibly hard today to finish our tasks, with a special mention for team leaders Mark, Doug, and Dan, who stayed out working into the night hours to ensure that the plumbing on the house was finished. Gracelyn, the girl that lives in the house we are working on, took a number of our team members berry-picking today. They returned with naturally-growing raspberries and blackberries, which were delicious. Our team will miss Gracelyn and her parents Bev and Lonnie as they have been very gracious throughout the week. I think that I can speak for the rest of the team in saying that we had an amazing family to work with and we are so proud of the progress we have made at the site.
Friday, July 25, 2014
Thursday, family picnic day
It's hard to believe the week is almost over as we have one more day to complete our work and clean up the center to give it back to the school. Overall the projects are going well and we should be able to finish everything we've been assigned plus some additional adhoc projects. This evening we are having a picnic with our families at a local state park. This is usually a highlight of the week as we get to spend time with the families in a non work environment. I'll let the teens get into more of the details so here are their insights.
Hi this is Andrew and I'm in Team Duro (Ron, Jody, Nora, Mia, Ryan)
Today started off with the usual peaches an ice stop on the way to the work site. After arriving at the work site, all of us started finishing up the back deck, by putting on spindles and last minute touches. When we finished the back deck, we immediately started putting the flooring on by the back door that was damaged by rain. After the flooring was finished, we enjoyed a home-made lunch from Debbie(the home owner) which consisted of fried green tomatoes grown out of her garden. After lunch, we packed up and went to jump off the cliff and go swimming by the waterfall in the creek. When swimming finished, we went to the Family ASP Picnic where ASP families were invited for dinner and fun in the in the state park. The day finished with a trip to Sonic for ice cream. Overall, today was a great day with new friends and experiences.
Hey everyone I'm Alo reporting for Team Serpansortia. The day started off at 6.30 when I was woken up for morning rosary. I tried waking up other people by flicking their heads, sadly my method didn't get the results. Needless to say it was worth it. Walking outside is a whole new world, the mountains height looms over everything, while a thick fog blankets the bottom section. It's hard to appreciate all the beauty. Now that I'm fully awake it's breakfast time. I eat some pizza mutation that happens to be scrumptious (really) and afterwards we pack some lunch for the work day. We ride in this shady white van to the work site which is about 15 minutes away and luckily we stop by a peach stand, purchasing about 14 peaches for 5 people. That's how good they are. The family is kind and helpful, they're everything I could hope for. Amber is a young mom who loves her two daughters and enjoys being amongst the workers, encouraging and revealing more about herself. It's truly humbling to see the change we make, from ripping up floors to placing new walls, but the real change isn't a new wall or floor. It's getting to know the family and hoping that they remember you and what you've done. I don't really care if the two girls don't remember who made them a new room, as long as they remember singing frozen with me. The change that this family has left on me is much deeper than any experience I've had. Poverty sucks, it ensnares people in this cynical cycle that doesn't end, but this family doesn't let that get in their way. They laugh, smile, and sing just like me. Life hasn't been fair to them and their house is in shackles but their family is vibrant and strong, this makes me happy. Hopefully you can all see what a great thing this is, for me and Amber's family. Oh and then we went to a picnic and had ice cream. It's late now so I'm signing off. It's been a great day.
Hello to our friends and family back in Illinois! This is Lucia Leslie reporting from team Nox to tell you all about our wonderful experiences here in the gorgeous Appalachian mountains, where we not only help build safer, warmer homes for the less fortunate, but also build relationships with one another throughout our 2014 ASP experience.
My day begins with lights suddenly turned on and country music reverberating throughout the hallways. I put on a pair of nasty looking old jeans and a wrinkled T-shirt that I just never found the heart to donate, and head outside to have a morning devotion, or a morning devo. We all join hands, ask God to guide us in our lives, and then go inside for some breakfast. Next, we prepare our lunch (which consists of peanut butter jelly sandwiches), stuff all necessary materials in our van, and head off to our worksite. It is a wonderful, refreshing way to wake up and go on with our day... albeit a little hectic.
We arrive at our worksite, and immediately plunge into work. The sound of hammers hammering and saws sawing immediately fills the quiet country air, and within minutes, we are drenched in sweat. Even though the work is very challenging, difficult, and sometimes downright exhausting, we often concentrate on installing air vents or patching up an unstable roof so hard that we lose track of time. Next thing we know, it's lunch time, then back to work.
Oh, I'm sorry, I must have skipped over what our jobs actually are. It is an interesting question, because are duties often contrast as to which side of the house we are working on. Some of us work inside, installing flooring, while other toil on the roof, ensuring that there are know rough patches so that rain or snow can't get through. My job consisted of installing air vents- so, basically drilling holes, cutting out a square, and drilling an air vent in. Trust me, it's harder than it sounds.
Before we know it, it's 4:15. We pack up everything and head back to base, where we then prepare for a picnic with our families at 5:30, and once again pile into cars and go to the picnic grounds.
I was tired after a long day, and was getting a bit grumpy, but any exhaustion I had evaporated instantly when I saw how beautiful the picnic grounds were. There were trees everywhere, and a river with, get this, a waterfall trickled in the background. We said a prayer, and then ate hot dogs and hamburgers together. It was like having a barbeque with your closest family members, not just people you met four days ago. Finally, we headed back to our homes. We had evening devotion and then got ready for bed.
I can't believe that we've only been in Appalachia for four days. It feels like I've been here my whole life, and my family is just that. My family. It's going to be great to stand back and look at all the work we've done on their homes, and sleep at night knowing that they are in a protected, safe, happy home. But at the same time, it will hurt to leave them behind when we go back to Illinois. That is why I decided to write a prayer for all of the men and women who have made their homes here in Appalachia. If you are reading this and you have a little extra time, please pray the following tonight:
May God bless the gentle, quiet, open-hearted, kind people of Appalachia, and the peace and prosperity they bring to our great nation. May we keep them in our hearts, thoughts, and prayers when we return home, and be forever grateful for all of the blessing God has bestowed upon us. We thank you, we bless you, and support you forever.
Amen
Thank you all readers for supporting this service trip, and have a good, restful night!
Hi this is Andrew and I'm in Team Duro (Ron, Jody, Nora, Mia, Ryan)
Today started off with the usual peaches an ice stop on the way to the work site. After arriving at the work site, all of us started finishing up the back deck, by putting on spindles and last minute touches. When we finished the back deck, we immediately started putting the flooring on by the back door that was damaged by rain. After the flooring was finished, we enjoyed a home-made lunch from Debbie(the home owner) which consisted of fried green tomatoes grown out of her garden. After lunch, we packed up and went to jump off the cliff and go swimming by the waterfall in the creek. When swimming finished, we went to the Family ASP Picnic where ASP families were invited for dinner and fun in the in the state park. The day finished with a trip to Sonic for ice cream. Overall, today was a great day with new friends and experiences.
Hey everyone I'm Alo reporting for Team Serpansortia. The day started off at 6.30 when I was woken up for morning rosary. I tried waking up other people by flicking their heads, sadly my method didn't get the results. Needless to say it was worth it. Walking outside is a whole new world, the mountains height looms over everything, while a thick fog blankets the bottom section. It's hard to appreciate all the beauty. Now that I'm fully awake it's breakfast time. I eat some pizza mutation that happens to be scrumptious (really) and afterwards we pack some lunch for the work day. We ride in this shady white van to the work site which is about 15 minutes away and luckily we stop by a peach stand, purchasing about 14 peaches for 5 people. That's how good they are. The family is kind and helpful, they're everything I could hope for. Amber is a young mom who loves her two daughters and enjoys being amongst the workers, encouraging and revealing more about herself. It's truly humbling to see the change we make, from ripping up floors to placing new walls, but the real change isn't a new wall or floor. It's getting to know the family and hoping that they remember you and what you've done. I don't really care if the two girls don't remember who made them a new room, as long as they remember singing frozen with me. The change that this family has left on me is much deeper than any experience I've had. Poverty sucks, it ensnares people in this cynical cycle that doesn't end, but this family doesn't let that get in their way. They laugh, smile, and sing just like me. Life hasn't been fair to them and their house is in shackles but their family is vibrant and strong, this makes me happy. Hopefully you can all see what a great thing this is, for me and Amber's family. Oh and then we went to a picnic and had ice cream. It's late now so I'm signing off. It's been a great day.
Hello to our friends and family back in Illinois! This is Lucia Leslie reporting from team Nox to tell you all about our wonderful experiences here in the gorgeous Appalachian mountains, where we not only help build safer, warmer homes for the less fortunate, but also build relationships with one another throughout our 2014 ASP experience.
My day begins with lights suddenly turned on and country music reverberating throughout the hallways. I put on a pair of nasty looking old jeans and a wrinkled T-shirt that I just never found the heart to donate, and head outside to have a morning devotion, or a morning devo. We all join hands, ask God to guide us in our lives, and then go inside for some breakfast. Next, we prepare our lunch (which consists of peanut butter jelly sandwiches), stuff all necessary materials in our van, and head off to our worksite. It is a wonderful, refreshing way to wake up and go on with our day... albeit a little hectic.
We arrive at our worksite, and immediately plunge into work. The sound of hammers hammering and saws sawing immediately fills the quiet country air, and within minutes, we are drenched in sweat. Even though the work is very challenging, difficult, and sometimes downright exhausting, we often concentrate on installing air vents or patching up an unstable roof so hard that we lose track of time. Next thing we know, it's lunch time, then back to work.
Oh, I'm sorry, I must have skipped over what our jobs actually are. It is an interesting question, because are duties often contrast as to which side of the house we are working on. Some of us work inside, installing flooring, while other toil on the roof, ensuring that there are know rough patches so that rain or snow can't get through. My job consisted of installing air vents- so, basically drilling holes, cutting out a square, and drilling an air vent in. Trust me, it's harder than it sounds.
Before we know it, it's 4:15. We pack up everything and head back to base, where we then prepare for a picnic with our families at 5:30, and once again pile into cars and go to the picnic grounds.
I was tired after a long day, and was getting a bit grumpy, but any exhaustion I had evaporated instantly when I saw how beautiful the picnic grounds were. There were trees everywhere, and a river with, get this, a waterfall trickled in the background. We said a prayer, and then ate hot dogs and hamburgers together. It was like having a barbeque with your closest family members, not just people you met four days ago. Finally, we headed back to our homes. We had evening devotion and then got ready for bed.
I can't believe that we've only been in Appalachia for four days. It feels like I've been here my whole life, and my family is just that. My family. It's going to be great to stand back and look at all the work we've done on their homes, and sleep at night knowing that they are in a protected, safe, happy home. But at the same time, it will hurt to leave them behind when we go back to Illinois. That is why I decided to write a prayer for all of the men and women who have made their homes here in Appalachia. If you are reading this and you have a little extra time, please pray the following tonight:
May God bless the gentle, quiet, open-hearted, kind people of Appalachia, and the peace and prosperity they bring to our great nation. May we keep them in our hearts, thoughts, and prayers when we return home, and be forever grateful for all of the blessing God has bestowed upon us. We thank you, we bless you, and support you forever.
Amen
Thank you all readers for supporting this service trip, and have a good, restful night!
Wednesday, July 23, 2014
Wednesday - HUMP DAY!!!
It's hard to believe this is the middle of the week already. Projects are in full gear, however we did get a lot of rain this afternoon that rained out a couple of teams who had nothing but outside work. Even rain sheltering canopies designed to keep both people and tools dry couldn't compete with the downpour. Several of the teams had to quit early. That's tough for a Wednesday, which is usually our most productive day. It just makes tomorrow all the more important in completing most of our work. Here are the thoughts from the teens:
Today, when waking at 7:15, I thought that it would be a fun, ordinary day. At the beginning, it went as usual: we had breakfast, packed for the working day and went on our way. The first couple hours were running smoothly while we were working on the roof, putting in new tile on the floor, and working on underpinning. For those of you who aren't professional contractors like us - underpinning is attaching metal sheathing to the base of a mobile home to keep animals out and the pipes from freezing during the winter. At about 1PM, after eating lunch, I noticed dark, gray clouds approaching, so I thought "Hmm... it's going to storm." And we got nailed. It started to storm out, so we had to take shelter in the van and house after packing our tools as quickly as possible. In the dry home, we continued to glue and place tiles to the floor. At around 2PM, we headed out and decided to go to Sonic for some hot dogs. It was a good time; we ran into another group there, and my group brainstormed what we were going to plan for our family's nephew, Billy, whose birthday is on Friday. He's always there to lend a hand and share some laughs while we're working on his cousin's house. After Sonic, half of my group and I went to the grocery store and we got Billy a cake. It was a baseball cake (because baseball is his favorite sport) decorated with a pitcher, batter, and catcher, a Phillies logo and red icing that said, "Happy Birthday Billy!!" I am so looking forward to seeing Billy's long grin when he sees the cake. I hope he likes it!
After facing a day without enough supplies and no room for everyone to work, Team Homorphous finally had a very productive day! The kids were out of the way and the cat was a house down, leaving our team without any distractions to continue our work. The stairs were completed and have yet to be connected to the almost-finished porch. The porch railings were put into place along with spindles connected to them. Bathroom tiles have finally all been placed, and we will soon be moving onto the living room floor. After this very productive day, our team leader, Mark Kratzer, was inclined to leave our family with a functioning toilet. The problem with this though, is that not only can a few people work on the toilet at one time, but he started at four in the afternoon--when we're supposed to leave the site. This left almost all the kids and a few adults sitting and waiting for at least an hour for our leaders to install plumbing. We competed against each other in rock-throwing contests and almost shut the back door of a car on four of our kids--needless to say, it was a bit reckless. Nonetheless, our work day was very successful, and our team managed to get back to the base in time to take showers before dinner.
Hi this is Mia from the Duro team, we made great improvements on our projects today. Although there were thunderstorms for most of the day, our team worked on Debby's home, which is a well kept trailer in the deeper part of the woods. We came close to finishing both of the projects on her home that include building a porch in the back and attaching railings, stairs and spindles on both the front and back deck. Wile working, we got our first chance to see and talk with Debbie and Anthony, her energetic grandson. Anthony got to show us his ninja turtle shoes, how fast he can run and tell us all of the fun things that he likes to do around the house(like riding his dirt bike!).We also talked to Debbie learning about her life, home and family. Soon after lunch the rain clouds started to roll in. Somehow we were able to fit our whole crew, a 5x5 deck, a table saw and stand, along with the rest of our tools. Despite the rain and lots of mud, we were able to finish most of the deck today and Debbie really appreciated all of our hard work on her home. We started to head back around 4:45 we stated to head back, and decided to try and find the waterfall that Mumbles, Debbie's neighbor, told us about. When we got there we saw a beautiful waterfall and small river. The waterfall was over 25 feet tall, that we were supposed to jump off of. It was a little intimidating to see the height, and my legs were shaking a little as I convinced myself to jump. Before this trip I never would have taken a risk and jumped, but throughout this journey I have learned to take risks, speak up without worrying about what others might think, taking interest in the worksite and all of the blessings that we have in our everyday life that we take for granted. We have all learned about how God acts through us, and because of your generosity, we are able to help these people. ASP means so much to them- so thank you so much!
Summer 2014 has been a major life changing year for me because of ASP. I am absolutely thankful that ASP has given me an opportunity of serving Morgan County's wonderful families. Today at my work site was one of the best days of my life, despite pouring rain. My work group was halfway done with our goal by morning due to our family helping us. By early afternoon, it was heavily raining, but that didn't stop us having fun with our family's grandchildren and pets. I have never been so happy in my life being wet. My ASP family is truly unique, caring, and loving. I will always be happy knowing that I spent my summer volunteering for Morgan County's families. - Sam Aguilar, group protégé
Today was great, we loaded up the van and headed over to the site. Our project for today was to take out the carpet in one of the bedrooms. We then put in the underlayment on the bare floor and nailed it down. by the way we used like 200 nails. This way we can lay the tile. Tomorrow we will start our new dry wall project. Can't wait for tomorrow -from the Serpensortia Team
HI from team homorphous this is Tatum Scheibler, today we actually got the supplies we needed to finish the deck and bathroom tile, Shawn Sam an I got all the tile done today and the toilet in which was a cool accomplishment cause we thought we wouldn't be able to finish. The last part I did alone because it was raining and I was the only one without wet boots so I finished the last part of the bathroom which was rad cause I got to finish a project myself, also the homeowners Lonnie and Bev where very excited about their bathroom being able to work again and it was a really productive work day and I think we are all very excited for the rest of the week!
Hello, this is Janine from the Incendio team!!! Today was the best day so far. Along with the weather being less hot, we bonded with the family even more than the day before. I'm sure most people who have written today have complained about the weather, but I thought it was amazing. Our group took about a half an hour just to run around in the rain, get soaking wet, and splash around in some super muddy puddles. Sounds fun, right? It was. Boy, I didn't think I could appreciate rain as much as I did today; I'm pretty sure when the rain started, it sizzled off my 200 degree body. Besides the weather being awesome, we made a ton of progress today. Honestly I was pretty worried if we were going to even finish our projects on Monday, but after today, we look pretty well-off. After taking about an hour to pull nails out of a rotting support beam in the back porch and screaming at spiders under the porch and ants crawling throughout the damp wood, we yanked it out. We got the new support beam in and got situated for putting in the actual stairs tomorrow. We also are almost done with the guard rails in the front, and will be putting in guard rails in the back. As for the family, they are doing amazingly. I feel like every day we are getting closer to the family, and the mother Amber is just so kind and generous, always making us feel at home. She lets us come in the house to cool off, and while we eat lunch inside we watch movies with the girls. Today we watched Monsters University, and the girls watched Frozen again (of course). The kittens and dogs are as cute as ever, and are doing well. After the muddy work day, my group and I decided to go to the store to get a gift for Amber and her family. We planned to be back by 7:30 (didn't happen), and we also went to get hot dogs (as a snack) and pizza (as dinner). So healthy!! I think the shopping trip was a huge bonding experience for our group, I am so thankful for every one in my group. If there was one thing to describe our group, it would be a bundle of laughs. I don't think we go without a good laugh for 5 minutes. I think I will have some serious abs after laughing this week. My stomach hurts just thinking about all the laughter. For example, today we came back to the school (at about 8:45, oops) and we all had paint all over our faces. There was Harry Potter, an avatar, moustaches, and more. We are crazy!! Well this has been like the longest entry of the day, sorry! I just had so much fun today, hope the next three days are just as fun!!!
Today, when waking at 7:15, I thought that it would be a fun, ordinary day. At the beginning, it went as usual: we had breakfast, packed for the working day and went on our way. The first couple hours were running smoothly while we were working on the roof, putting in new tile on the floor, and working on underpinning. For those of you who aren't professional contractors like us - underpinning is attaching metal sheathing to the base of a mobile home to keep animals out and the pipes from freezing during the winter. At about 1PM, after eating lunch, I noticed dark, gray clouds approaching, so I thought "Hmm... it's going to storm." And we got nailed. It started to storm out, so we had to take shelter in the van and house after packing our tools as quickly as possible. In the dry home, we continued to glue and place tiles to the floor. At around 2PM, we headed out and decided to go to Sonic for some hot dogs. It was a good time; we ran into another group there, and my group brainstormed what we were going to plan for our family's nephew, Billy, whose birthday is on Friday. He's always there to lend a hand and share some laughs while we're working on his cousin's house. After Sonic, half of my group and I went to the grocery store and we got Billy a cake. It was a baseball cake (because baseball is his favorite sport) decorated with a pitcher, batter, and catcher, a Phillies logo and red icing that said, "Happy Birthday Billy!!" I am so looking forward to seeing Billy's long grin when he sees the cake. I hope he likes it!
After facing a day without enough supplies and no room for everyone to work, Team Homorphous finally had a very productive day! The kids were out of the way and the cat was a house down, leaving our team without any distractions to continue our work. The stairs were completed and have yet to be connected to the almost-finished porch. The porch railings were put into place along with spindles connected to them. Bathroom tiles have finally all been placed, and we will soon be moving onto the living room floor. After this very productive day, our team leader, Mark Kratzer, was inclined to leave our family with a functioning toilet. The problem with this though, is that not only can a few people work on the toilet at one time, but he started at four in the afternoon--when we're supposed to leave the site. This left almost all the kids and a few adults sitting and waiting for at least an hour for our leaders to install plumbing. We competed against each other in rock-throwing contests and almost shut the back door of a car on four of our kids--needless to say, it was a bit reckless. Nonetheless, our work day was very successful, and our team managed to get back to the base in time to take showers before dinner.
Hi this is Mia from the Duro team, we made great improvements on our projects today. Although there were thunderstorms for most of the day, our team worked on Debby's home, which is a well kept trailer in the deeper part of the woods. We came close to finishing both of the projects on her home that include building a porch in the back and attaching railings, stairs and spindles on both the front and back deck. Wile working, we got our first chance to see and talk with Debbie and Anthony, her energetic grandson. Anthony got to show us his ninja turtle shoes, how fast he can run and tell us all of the fun things that he likes to do around the house(like riding his dirt bike!).We also talked to Debbie learning about her life, home and family. Soon after lunch the rain clouds started to roll in. Somehow we were able to fit our whole crew, a 5x5 deck, a table saw and stand, along with the rest of our tools. Despite the rain and lots of mud, we were able to finish most of the deck today and Debbie really appreciated all of our hard work on her home. We started to head back around 4:45 we stated to head back, and decided to try and find the waterfall that Mumbles, Debbie's neighbor, told us about. When we got there we saw a beautiful waterfall and small river. The waterfall was over 25 feet tall, that we were supposed to jump off of. It was a little intimidating to see the height, and my legs were shaking a little as I convinced myself to jump. Before this trip I never would have taken a risk and jumped, but throughout this journey I have learned to take risks, speak up without worrying about what others might think, taking interest in the worksite and all of the blessings that we have in our everyday life that we take for granted. We have all learned about how God acts through us, and because of your generosity, we are able to help these people. ASP means so much to them- so thank you so much!
Summer 2014 has been a major life changing year for me because of ASP. I am absolutely thankful that ASP has given me an opportunity of serving Morgan County's wonderful families. Today at my work site was one of the best days of my life, despite pouring rain. My work group was halfway done with our goal by morning due to our family helping us. By early afternoon, it was heavily raining, but that didn't stop us having fun with our family's grandchildren and pets. I have never been so happy in my life being wet. My ASP family is truly unique, caring, and loving. I will always be happy knowing that I spent my summer volunteering for Morgan County's families. - Sam Aguilar, group protégé
Today was great, we loaded up the van and headed over to the site. Our project for today was to take out the carpet in one of the bedrooms. We then put in the underlayment on the bare floor and nailed it down. by the way we used like 200 nails. This way we can lay the tile. Tomorrow we will start our new dry wall project. Can't wait for tomorrow -from the Serpensortia Team
HI from team homorphous this is Tatum Scheibler, today we actually got the supplies we needed to finish the deck and bathroom tile, Shawn Sam an I got all the tile done today and the toilet in which was a cool accomplishment cause we thought we wouldn't be able to finish. The last part I did alone because it was raining and I was the only one without wet boots so I finished the last part of the bathroom which was rad cause I got to finish a project myself, also the homeowners Lonnie and Bev where very excited about their bathroom being able to work again and it was a really productive work day and I think we are all very excited for the rest of the week!
Hello, this is Janine from the Incendio team!!! Today was the best day so far. Along with the weather being less hot, we bonded with the family even more than the day before. I'm sure most people who have written today have complained about the weather, but I thought it was amazing. Our group took about a half an hour just to run around in the rain, get soaking wet, and splash around in some super muddy puddles. Sounds fun, right? It was. Boy, I didn't think I could appreciate rain as much as I did today; I'm pretty sure when the rain started, it sizzled off my 200 degree body. Besides the weather being awesome, we made a ton of progress today. Honestly I was pretty worried if we were going to even finish our projects on Monday, but after today, we look pretty well-off. After taking about an hour to pull nails out of a rotting support beam in the back porch and screaming at spiders under the porch and ants crawling throughout the damp wood, we yanked it out. We got the new support beam in and got situated for putting in the actual stairs tomorrow. We also are almost done with the guard rails in the front, and will be putting in guard rails in the back. As for the family, they are doing amazingly. I feel like every day we are getting closer to the family, and the mother Amber is just so kind and generous, always making us feel at home. She lets us come in the house to cool off, and while we eat lunch inside we watch movies with the girls. Today we watched Monsters University, and the girls watched Frozen again (of course). The kittens and dogs are as cute as ever, and are doing well. After the muddy work day, my group and I decided to go to the store to get a gift for Amber and her family. We planned to be back by 7:30 (didn't happen), and we also went to get hot dogs (as a snack) and pizza (as dinner). So healthy!! I think the shopping trip was a huge bonding experience for our group, I am so thankful for every one in my group. If there was one thing to describe our group, it would be a bundle of laughs. I don't think we go without a good laugh for 5 minutes. I think I will have some serious abs after laughing this week. My stomach hurts just thinking about all the laughter. For example, today we came back to the school (at about 8:45, oops) and we all had paint all over our faces. There was Harry Potter, an avatar, moustaches, and more. We are crazy!! Well this has been like the longest entry of the day, sorry! I just had so much fun today, hope the next three days are just as fun!!!
Tuesday, July 22, 2014
Tatoo Tuesday
Most of our days have themes and today is Tatoo Tuesday. The teens (and adults) are encouraged to wear the play tattoos as something fun. Tonight we have culture night where we have a Blue Grass group coming in to entertain us. It's always a highlight for our EG (evening gatherings). Today the work gets into full gear as we've already scoped out our projects, have done some work (or in some cases jumped head first into the work yesterday) and know what we need to get accomplished for the week.
We have a great group of teens and adults this year and everyone is getting along extremely well. It was great to see Fr. Le interacting with the teens yesterday. Usually we have quiet time at 10:30 PM however last night Fr. Le and about 8 teens were playing a card game and having lots of fun and laughing that we just let them continue to play until "lights out" which is at 11:00. It's not often that teens have an opportunity to interact with a priest in that way and it gave them a different perspective that they are just like everyone else and yet have a deep religious belief and relationship with God. It shows them what's possible for us as well just as Christ through His humanity showed us how to live. So many times we see Christ or a religious person as someone "outside the norm" and feel we can't live up to their example. However, once we realize that they are human too with the same temptations and issues to deal with, we can begin to see that it's possible to live a different life and not succumb to the "ways of the world". It's a blessing having Fr. Le with us this year!
Any way, enough with my sermon.......Here are the insights from the teens!
Today, our group Homorphors continued the construction of the family's home. The construction group that worked on the interior of the home continued installing new tiles and supports for walls. The outdoor group led by Mr. Kratzer installed new deck boards and supports for the front porch. We all ate lunch on the brand new deck and shared the time with Little Bit as he slept. A couple of crew members accompanied the young daughter of the family, Gracelynn, on a fishing trip to the nearby creek. She caught several fish and showed them to us with pride. Our day was great and we hope we get to have many more moments like these during the week.
HEY EVERYONE, it's Will from Protego. Our youth minister, Theresa, joined us today! We completed our 100 foot trench today! We laid down the weed guard in the trench as the hot sun shined down on us. We continued by laying gravel throughout the trench to divert future water away from the house. Kurlin, one of the homeowners/ former carpenter, assisted in many of the projects today. He helped in building the small deck, securing the 4x4's for the handicap ramp, and offering invaluable advice. We had to put on our "thinking caps" trying to create the best path for the handicap ramp. Kurlin and Trish's grandson, Jacob, was our honorary work member. Kurlin shared his youth stories about his motorcycle riding days over lunch. We were introduced to the neighborhood dog, Leroy, who rolled on his back anxiously awaiting a belly rub. Leroy kept us company as we waited for another load of gravel to arrive. We finished putting the gravel throughout the trench, and covered over 60% of it with dirt. Overall, very productive day and got to share a few laughs with the family.
Hi everybody, it's Nora from Duro. Today we had a great day, and we got a lot of work done. We finished the decking on the back porch, and did a lot of work on the front porch. We put up 4x4's and 2x4's, and used spindles to build a railing around the stairs and entire porch. We also learned how to plumb a post. Our group had a great time watching Debbie's cats, especially when one of them caught a salamander played with it. We were also introduced to a neighborhood dog named Smokey. She is soo cute. Sadly, Debbie is still feeling under the weather, but we were able to give her some medicine today. We are hoping to finish the front and back porches tomorrow. If we are able to complete this, we will have to decide what else we can help Debbie with. She has some rotting floorboards that we may replace, or fix/replace her back door. We also have to think of a good gift to give Debbie at the end of the week. After we finished for the day, we stopped at a farmstand and got some fresh peaches. Mmm, were they good after a long day of work. After we got back to the ASP center and showered and ate, we got to hear a fabulous bluegrass band play. We even got to dance. I hope the rest of the week can continue to be as great as the first two days have been!
Hi this is Sean Coughlin from the Homorphous team and we had a very productive day today. We finished tiling the kitchen and we moved onto tiling the bathroom. While on the outside the other team worked on the front porch. Everything was going great until right after lunch when a shortage of supplies halted the work on the outside forcing one team to call for the day. But on the inside the work continued. We continued tiling the bathroom while the adults crawled underneath the home and fixed the plumbing. After finishing another day on the job we went back to the center and we experienced culture night. A blue grass band came and played some fun and entertaining songs for us. It was a great day and we were very productive!!
Hi this is Becky from the Incendio team. Today we finished the guard rail in the front of the house and almost finished the stairs. Amber (the mom) was very helpful and interested in what we were doing; she lent us a drill when ours ran out of battery. During lunch time, we had the amazing opportunity to eat with our family. Sixteen month old, Lydia, three year old Novaline and their fifteen month old cousin Alec were adorable! We played with them for about an hour and had a ton of fun. We also played with their dogs, Diva and Copper. Diva is a Doberman; she looks scary but is a huge sweetheart and loves to play fetch. Copper is a copper colored (duh) wiener dog. He always barks at Diva even though she is ten times bigger than he is. Our family also has a black kitten named Toodles. She has a huge scar down her back from one of the dogs, but is still adorable. After lunch, we started working on the back. We replaced a rotting piece of wood that supported the corner of the deck and started bracing the deck replace another piece of wood. During the next couple of days, we are going to build a staircase in the back. Today was hotter than yesterday, but we stayed cool by setting up a canopy and drinking a ton of water. Their house is already looking a lot safer and more secure; I can't wait to see the finished project and I know everyone feels the same way. So far being at ASP has been a blast and has been a real eye-opener. After we got back, we got to listen to a blue grass band that came to play for us; it was a ton of fun and really showed the culture of the area.
Hey its Cyrus from Nox team. Today my team and I kept working on the roof of the house and also under. We also dug out the ground, used power tools and worked together efficiently. We had an awesome kid named Billy with us again today. He loved the tattoos we brought him. He helped us throughout the day. We worked long and hard and accomplished most of our tasks but with our faith strong nothing can stop us. A highlight of the day was saying thank you to our family for letting us serve them by giving them a gift. We gave the young couple a car seat to keep their new baby safe.
We have a great group of teens and adults this year and everyone is getting along extremely well. It was great to see Fr. Le interacting with the teens yesterday. Usually we have quiet time at 10:30 PM however last night Fr. Le and about 8 teens were playing a card game and having lots of fun and laughing that we just let them continue to play until "lights out" which is at 11:00. It's not often that teens have an opportunity to interact with a priest in that way and it gave them a different perspective that they are just like everyone else and yet have a deep religious belief and relationship with God. It shows them what's possible for us as well just as Christ through His humanity showed us how to live. So many times we see Christ or a religious person as someone "outside the norm" and feel we can't live up to their example. However, once we realize that they are human too with the same temptations and issues to deal with, we can begin to see that it's possible to live a different life and not succumb to the "ways of the world". It's a blessing having Fr. Le with us this year!
Any way, enough with my sermon.......Here are the insights from the teens!
Today, our group Homorphors continued the construction of the family's home. The construction group that worked on the interior of the home continued installing new tiles and supports for walls. The outdoor group led by Mr. Kratzer installed new deck boards and supports for the front porch. We all ate lunch on the brand new deck and shared the time with Little Bit as he slept. A couple of crew members accompanied the young daughter of the family, Gracelynn, on a fishing trip to the nearby creek. She caught several fish and showed them to us with pride. Our day was great and we hope we get to have many more moments like these during the week.
HEY EVERYONE, it's Will from Protego. Our youth minister, Theresa, joined us today! We completed our 100 foot trench today! We laid down the weed guard in the trench as the hot sun shined down on us. We continued by laying gravel throughout the trench to divert future water away from the house. Kurlin, one of the homeowners/ former carpenter, assisted in many of the projects today. He helped in building the small deck, securing the 4x4's for the handicap ramp, and offering invaluable advice. We had to put on our "thinking caps" trying to create the best path for the handicap ramp. Kurlin and Trish's grandson, Jacob, was our honorary work member. Kurlin shared his youth stories about his motorcycle riding days over lunch. We were introduced to the neighborhood dog, Leroy, who rolled on his back anxiously awaiting a belly rub. Leroy kept us company as we waited for another load of gravel to arrive. We finished putting the gravel throughout the trench, and covered over 60% of it with dirt. Overall, very productive day and got to share a few laughs with the family.
Hi everybody, it's Nora from Duro. Today we had a great day, and we got a lot of work done. We finished the decking on the back porch, and did a lot of work on the front porch. We put up 4x4's and 2x4's, and used spindles to build a railing around the stairs and entire porch. We also learned how to plumb a post. Our group had a great time watching Debbie's cats, especially when one of them caught a salamander played with it. We were also introduced to a neighborhood dog named Smokey. She is soo cute. Sadly, Debbie is still feeling under the weather, but we were able to give her some medicine today. We are hoping to finish the front and back porches tomorrow. If we are able to complete this, we will have to decide what else we can help Debbie with. She has some rotting floorboards that we may replace, or fix/replace her back door. We also have to think of a good gift to give Debbie at the end of the week. After we finished for the day, we stopped at a farmstand and got some fresh peaches. Mmm, were they good after a long day of work. After we got back to the ASP center and showered and ate, we got to hear a fabulous bluegrass band play. We even got to dance. I hope the rest of the week can continue to be as great as the first two days have been!
Hi this is Sean Coughlin from the Homorphous team and we had a very productive day today. We finished tiling the kitchen and we moved onto tiling the bathroom. While on the outside the other team worked on the front porch. Everything was going great until right after lunch when a shortage of supplies halted the work on the outside forcing one team to call for the day. But on the inside the work continued. We continued tiling the bathroom while the adults crawled underneath the home and fixed the plumbing. After finishing another day on the job we went back to the center and we experienced culture night. A blue grass band came and played some fun and entertaining songs for us. It was a great day and we were very productive!!
Hi this is Becky from the Incendio team. Today we finished the guard rail in the front of the house and almost finished the stairs. Amber (the mom) was very helpful and interested in what we were doing; she lent us a drill when ours ran out of battery. During lunch time, we had the amazing opportunity to eat with our family. Sixteen month old, Lydia, three year old Novaline and their fifteen month old cousin Alec were adorable! We played with them for about an hour and had a ton of fun. We also played with their dogs, Diva and Copper. Diva is a Doberman; she looks scary but is a huge sweetheart and loves to play fetch. Copper is a copper colored (duh) wiener dog. He always barks at Diva even though she is ten times bigger than he is. Our family also has a black kitten named Toodles. She has a huge scar down her back from one of the dogs, but is still adorable. After lunch, we started working on the back. We replaced a rotting piece of wood that supported the corner of the deck and started bracing the deck replace another piece of wood. During the next couple of days, we are going to build a staircase in the back. Today was hotter than yesterday, but we stayed cool by setting up a canopy and drinking a ton of water. Their house is already looking a lot safer and more secure; I can't wait to see the finished project and I know everyone feels the same way. So far being at ASP has been a blast and has been a real eye-opener. After we got back, we got to listen to a blue grass band that came to play for us; it was a ton of fun and really showed the culture of the area.
Hey its Cyrus from Nox team. Today my team and I kept working on the roof of the house and also under. We also dug out the ground, used power tools and worked together efficiently. We had an awesome kid named Billy with us again today. He loved the tattoos we brought him. He helped us throughout the day. We worked long and hard and accomplished most of our tasks but with our faith strong nothing can stop us. A highlight of the day was saying thank you to our family for letting us serve them by giving them a gift. We gave the young couple a car seat to keep their new baby safe.
Monday, July 21, 2014
Monday, our first day on the job and meeting the family
This morning started with wake up at 7:15, morning devotions at 7:30 followed by breakfast at 7:45. Some of the teams will have some light morning chores while the adult team leaders are picking up supplies prior to heading out to the families. This will be our normal morning pattern for the week.
Each day we'll have one of the teens from each of the work teams blog about the family they are working with, the work we're doing, and the experiences they are sharing. We're not able to include pictures in the blog, however we do have a link to a share site in Shutterfly where we'll add pictures daily. Pictures of ASP trip
Here are the comments from the teams:
This is team Portego. We had a great first day today. First when we got the are work site the mom came out to greet us then she got the dad to come and greet us. Then some of the kids came to greet us as well then the dad just showed us what we needed to do. Then after we got done having to little tour we unpacked and set up are tools and equipment. So most of us went to the right side of the house to dig a trench to move water away from the house and a few of us were on the left side helping the dad put underpinning on. After we got the underpinning on we start on the porch next. Then around 12:00-12:30 we had a lunch break. After lunch we started to make a trench on the left side of the house we finished the trench on the right side and got the left side trench half way done and got the porch floor done. So today was a great day for us everyone worked really hard.
David Truskowski checking in from team Incendio. Today was a great day of work, despite the early wake up time. It was only a short drive up to our house for Day 1. We soon learned that we had a fortunate spot in the mountain, covered all morning from the sun by the trees. Mostly present was the mom of the children and the grandpa, although there were others, especially the group of kids who came to play after lunch. The site has two dogs and a small kitten, who are all very entertaining as we work. As for that work, our day had a lot of measurements and problem solving to do before we could get down to business, but we did get some hard labor and carpentry in. We have to build handrails down some existing stairs and on the edge of the porch. After figuring out where to dig our post holes in the tough terrain, Jack, Frank, and I put some muscles to the dirt and dug around the rocks and roots. After that, everyone pitched in to cut and assemble the spindles and rails, which went up on the porch. We nearly finished the porch side, and tomorrow we will tackle the harder but ever more exciting task of stair rails.
This is Homorphus! Our first day was very successful. Dan, Sam, Adeline, and Sean started and completed tiling the kitchen. We are super lucky because our house is air conditioned!! Sarah and Doug were ripping out the floor in all of the bathroom and most of the hallway. Our family has one little girl and a boy but he never showed. They also have a cat that was very entertained with us working.
HI this is team Portego II Today was the first day we started working at the houses. We started off waking up at 7:30 and went to a meeting. After that we went to breakfast which included hash browns, biscuits, and sausage. Then we got ready and went to our work sites. The ride to the site was filled with astonishing views of the smoky mountains. The family that we met today was very friendly and loving. Mr. Curly and Ms. Trish welcomed us with great ecstasy. We began our work just as the sun began to come out of the clouds. The objective of the day was to dig a trench around the house so when it rained, water would pass around the house instead of flowing right towards the home. We dug a trench over 55 feet long along with 2 pits 3ft by 18 inches deep. After the long and tiresome day at the site, we said goodbye to the family and headed back to the middle school. When we got to the school, everybody showered and cleaned up for dinner which consisted of biscuits, salad, and chicken pot pie. Now that day 1 is coming to a close, everybody is looking forward to day 2 and it's fun adventures and memories that it brings.
Hi this is Sarah from Team Duro. Today was our first work day and we were so excited to get started. Debbie, the homeowner was unfortunately feeling under the weather today; hopefully she'll feel better tomorrow. We started building a 5x5 porch for her back door. Digging the holes for the posts was a bit of a struggle until Debbie's friend Mumbles let us borrow his post hole digger and "God rod", and then the work went way faster! With all the team work, we were able to almost finish the porch. The rest of the week we'll be adding spindles and railings to the two porches. Our ASP leader was impressed with our progress today and we are excited to make more progress throughout the week.
Hey Y'all this is Julia from Team Serpensortia. This is the first day of a week full of fun here for us. We went and met our family. There is a father named Anthony, his two parents, and his two young daughters: Ava and Khloie. Our entire family is so sweet and so helpful and they love talking to us! Our project is going swimmingly for just the first day! Our entire project is creating a bedroom for the two little girls out of the living room. We already have the structure of the wall separating the two rooms and we have the plan for tomorrow,
Our day started off at 7:15 to the cotton eye joe song. We had a Devotion prayer at 7:45 before we went to breakfast in the cafeteria which consisted of hash browns, biscuits, and sausage. We got ready and left for our work site at 9:00. The family at our site, The Bunch's, had a 6 year old and her two parents. We got back at around 4:30 and headed straight for the showers. After, we had dinner and did our chores. Now we are preparing for a 7:30 meeting in the gym.
Hi this is Emma from Team Nox. After morning devotional outside (which we shared with the other youth group from Minnesota), we ate breakfast in the school cafeteria. Gabby and I made sandwiches (with love) for our family, and then we loaded our van with all the lumber, tin, and tools we'll need for the week. Once we got to our work site, we assessed the task ahead of us. Most of my work today consisted of underpinning the tin around the mobile home, but my team also worked on the roof, laying the material down, and inside, layering the levels of floor boards. We ate lunch and visited with our family before finishing up for the day, knowing that we accomplished so much and that there is even more to complete.
Each day we'll have one of the teens from each of the work teams blog about the family they are working with, the work we're doing, and the experiences they are sharing. We're not able to include pictures in the blog, however we do have a link to a share site in Shutterfly where we'll add pictures daily. Pictures of ASP trip
Here are the comments from the teams:
This is team Portego. We had a great first day today. First when we got the are work site the mom came out to greet us then she got the dad to come and greet us. Then some of the kids came to greet us as well then the dad just showed us what we needed to do. Then after we got done having to little tour we unpacked and set up are tools and equipment. So most of us went to the right side of the house to dig a trench to move water away from the house and a few of us were on the left side helping the dad put underpinning on. After we got the underpinning on we start on the porch next. Then around 12:00-12:30 we had a lunch break. After lunch we started to make a trench on the left side of the house we finished the trench on the right side and got the left side trench half way done and got the porch floor done. So today was a great day for us everyone worked really hard.
David Truskowski checking in from team Incendio. Today was a great day of work, despite the early wake up time. It was only a short drive up to our house for Day 1. We soon learned that we had a fortunate spot in the mountain, covered all morning from the sun by the trees. Mostly present was the mom of the children and the grandpa, although there were others, especially the group of kids who came to play after lunch. The site has two dogs and a small kitten, who are all very entertaining as we work. As for that work, our day had a lot of measurements and problem solving to do before we could get down to business, but we did get some hard labor and carpentry in. We have to build handrails down some existing stairs and on the edge of the porch. After figuring out where to dig our post holes in the tough terrain, Jack, Frank, and I put some muscles to the dirt and dug around the rocks and roots. After that, everyone pitched in to cut and assemble the spindles and rails, which went up on the porch. We nearly finished the porch side, and tomorrow we will tackle the harder but ever more exciting task of stair rails.
This is Homorphus! Our first day was very successful. Dan, Sam, Adeline, and Sean started and completed tiling the kitchen. We are super lucky because our house is air conditioned!! Sarah and Doug were ripping out the floor in all of the bathroom and most of the hallway. Our family has one little girl and a boy but he never showed. They also have a cat that was very entertained with us working.
HI this is team Portego II Today was the first day we started working at the houses. We started off waking up at 7:30 and went to a meeting. After that we went to breakfast which included hash browns, biscuits, and sausage. Then we got ready and went to our work sites. The ride to the site was filled with astonishing views of the smoky mountains. The family that we met today was very friendly and loving. Mr. Curly and Ms. Trish welcomed us with great ecstasy. We began our work just as the sun began to come out of the clouds. The objective of the day was to dig a trench around the house so when it rained, water would pass around the house instead of flowing right towards the home. We dug a trench over 55 feet long along with 2 pits 3ft by 18 inches deep. After the long and tiresome day at the site, we said goodbye to the family and headed back to the middle school. When we got to the school, everybody showered and cleaned up for dinner which consisted of biscuits, salad, and chicken pot pie. Now that day 1 is coming to a close, everybody is looking forward to day 2 and it's fun adventures and memories that it brings.
Hi this is Sarah from Team Duro. Today was our first work day and we were so excited to get started. Debbie, the homeowner was unfortunately feeling under the weather today; hopefully she'll feel better tomorrow. We started building a 5x5 porch for her back door. Digging the holes for the posts was a bit of a struggle until Debbie's friend Mumbles let us borrow his post hole digger and "God rod", and then the work went way faster! With all the team work, we were able to almost finish the porch. The rest of the week we'll be adding spindles and railings to the two porches. Our ASP leader was impressed with our progress today and we are excited to make more progress throughout the week.
Hey Y'all this is Julia from Team Serpensortia. This is the first day of a week full of fun here for us. We went and met our family. There is a father named Anthony, his two parents, and his two young daughters: Ava and Khloie. Our entire family is so sweet and so helpful and they love talking to us! Our project is going swimmingly for just the first day! Our entire project is creating a bedroom for the two little girls out of the living room. We already have the structure of the wall separating the two rooms and we have the plan for tomorrow,
Our day started off at 7:15 to the cotton eye joe song. We had a Devotion prayer at 7:45 before we went to breakfast in the cafeteria which consisted of hash browns, biscuits, and sausage. We got ready and left for our work site at 9:00. The family at our site, The Bunch's, had a 6 year old and her two parents. We got back at around 4:30 and headed straight for the showers. After, we had dinner and did our chores. Now we are preparing for a 7:30 meeting in the gym.
Hi this is Emma from Team Nox. After morning devotional outside (which we shared with the other youth group from Minnesota), we ate breakfast in the school cafeteria. Gabby and I made sandwiches (with love) for our family, and then we loaded our van with all the lumber, tin, and tools we'll need for the week. Once we got to our work site, we assessed the task ahead of us. Most of my work today consisted of underpinning the tin around the mobile home, but my team also worked on the roof, laying the material down, and inside, layering the levels of floor boards. We ate lunch and visited with our family before finishing up for the day, knowing that we accomplished so much and that there is even more to complete.
Sunday, July 20, 2014
Sunday, we arrived at our center
This morning started a little more leisurely than our 5:00AM wake ups from yesterday. Most of us were up by 8:00, however there were a few late risers that we had to get up by 8:30. After a good breakfast we loaded up the vehicles according to teams in prep for our drive down to the center. After some pictures and a blessing by Fr. Le we pulled out of the hotel by around 10:00 for our 4- hour-drive. Several groups drove together and stopped along the way for lunch. Once we were off the main highways the terrain changed significantly to more hills and literally hundreds of "S" curves which slowed us down substantially; especially those towing the trailers. We arrived safely around 2:15 at the Middle School in Wartburg Tn. where we'll call home for the week.
The school is about 12 yrs. old and is the best facility we've stayed at over the 5 ASP trips. We're sleeping in 4 air conditioned classrooms, have a great cafeteria, and a fantastic gym for our evening gatherings and some opportunity to burn off some of the extra teen energy.
Each night we'll have a member from each of our 8 work teams write a paragraph about their day, the family we're working for and any interesting happenings that they would like to share. We'll try to post pictures but we've found out that the school has filters placed on social sites which inhibit much of our abilities of what we can and can't do. Hopefully, we'll be able to include some pictures.
One other thing, team Homorphous is really two teams wrapped up in one. One team is led by Doug Truskowsk and Dan Coughlin with five teens helping out and the other's headed by Mark Kratzer, Kelsey Heffern and Jarred Pavelski and four more enthusiastic teens. Together, they'll all be working on a house that needs a lot of work and a lot of enthusiastic hands to knock it out. But the work goes much deeper than just fixing houses, what we'll do here will cement relationships. From the kids to each other, to the people we work for, we show how much we care... and more than anything we are becoming God's hands, feet and heart here in the Appalachian Mountains of Tennessee.
Here are some insights from a few of our teens.
Hi this is Grace Mahoney and our team name is the Homorphous (a Harry Potter spell) yet but my team members are Kelsey, Jared, Max, Luke, Abbey and Mark. Today was our first day at the center and tomorrow we start work on the house. The work is going to include fixing some holes in the roof, repairing and replacing the kitchen floor and repairing the main water service. On the way down, we saw lots of mountains and pretty landscaping. We met another group from a church in Minnesota. All the girls are sleeping in two classrooms and the boys are sleeping in two other classrooms. We got settled in and had some free time to play in the gym at the school. Each team was able to go and meet the families we are helping. This allowed us to plan our projects for the week. It is a true privilege to help someone in need. I love to be part of this Christian Community.
Hello from Gabby Struik of the NOX group!! Our team left Lexington, KY this morning at 10:00, after a prayer from Fr. Le and multiple group selfies. We drove down with our work groups and jammed to some assorted music from the birthday boy, LL Cool J (aka Dominic). We got to our ASP site, Central Middle School, at 3:00. The site is beautiful; when we walk out the front of the school instead of seeing roads and houses, we have an amazing view of a mountain range in the near distance. After setting up our belongings in the classrooms, we were able to play soccer out on the field and other sports inside the gym. Before dinner we sang some ASP songs (Wagon Wheel, Prince of Peace, etc.) with all our hearts, and then ate dinner. A few teens accompanied one adult leader and an ASP representative to our assigned work site. Afterwards, our group created a list of supplies for what we'll need in this upcoming week. We are ready to work tomorrow and are looking forward to it!! Sincerely, Gabby, Emma, Lucy, Dominic, Cyrus, Tim and Sheila.
Hey, it's Sam Kratzer from Team Homorphous. Today we left our hotel in Lexington and drove to Tennesse and the school we'll be living in during our stay. As soon as we arrived, everybody from all eight teams pitched in to bring in the bags. It was very tragic to see good people live in poor homes with there families. After seeing what these houses looked like, I felt inspired to work on them because you can see the devastation of what they're going through. The people I met today were really nice and I realized they have kids and pets that all have to live in the same conditions. It must be hard on the parents to not be able to do more for their families. I really want to help these people as much as I can with my team. I will be working with the purple squad (that's the color of our bandanas), my two leaders are Doug Truskowski, and Dan Coughlin. My teammates in my group are Adeline Nickel, Sara Ploch, Sean Coughlin and Tatum Scheibler. I'm really looking forward to working with these individuals. It is going to be an awesome Week!
The school is about 12 yrs. old and is the best facility we've stayed at over the 5 ASP trips. We're sleeping in 4 air conditioned classrooms, have a great cafeteria, and a fantastic gym for our evening gatherings and some opportunity to burn off some of the extra teen energy.
Each night we'll have a member from each of our 8 work teams write a paragraph about their day, the family we're working for and any interesting happenings that they would like to share. We'll try to post pictures but we've found out that the school has filters placed on social sites which inhibit much of our abilities of what we can and can't do. Hopefully, we'll be able to include some pictures.
One other thing, team Homorphous is really two teams wrapped up in one. One team is led by Doug Truskowsk and Dan Coughlin with five teens helping out and the other's headed by Mark Kratzer, Kelsey Heffern and Jarred Pavelski and four more enthusiastic teens. Together, they'll all be working on a house that needs a lot of work and a lot of enthusiastic hands to knock it out. But the work goes much deeper than just fixing houses, what we'll do here will cement relationships. From the kids to each other, to the people we work for, we show how much we care... and more than anything we are becoming God's hands, feet and heart here in the Appalachian Mountains of Tennessee.
Here are some insights from a few of our teens.
Hi this is Grace Mahoney and our team name is the Homorphous (a Harry Potter spell) yet but my team members are Kelsey, Jared, Max, Luke, Abbey and Mark. Today was our first day at the center and tomorrow we start work on the house. The work is going to include fixing some holes in the roof, repairing and replacing the kitchen floor and repairing the main water service. On the way down, we saw lots of mountains and pretty landscaping. We met another group from a church in Minnesota. All the girls are sleeping in two classrooms and the boys are sleeping in two other classrooms. We got settled in and had some free time to play in the gym at the school. Each team was able to go and meet the families we are helping. This allowed us to plan our projects for the week. It is a true privilege to help someone in need. I love to be part of this Christian Community.
Hello from Gabby Struik of the NOX group!! Our team left Lexington, KY this morning at 10:00, after a prayer from Fr. Le and multiple group selfies. We drove down with our work groups and jammed to some assorted music from the birthday boy, LL Cool J (aka Dominic). We got to our ASP site, Central Middle School, at 3:00. The site is beautiful; when we walk out the front of the school instead of seeing roads and houses, we have an amazing view of a mountain range in the near distance. After setting up our belongings in the classrooms, we were able to play soccer out on the field and other sports inside the gym. Before dinner we sang some ASP songs (Wagon Wheel, Prince of Peace, etc.) with all our hearts, and then ate dinner. A few teens accompanied one adult leader and an ASP representative to our assigned work site. Afterwards, our group created a list of supplies for what we'll need in this upcoming week. We are ready to work tomorrow and are looking forward to it!! Sincerely, Gabby, Emma, Lucy, Dominic, Cyrus, Tim and Sheila.
Hey, it's Sam Kratzer from Team Homorphous. Today we left our hotel in Lexington and drove to Tennesse and the school we'll be living in during our stay. As soon as we arrived, everybody from all eight teams pitched in to bring in the bags. It was very tragic to see good people live in poor homes with there families. After seeing what these houses looked like, I felt inspired to work on them because you can see the devastation of what they're going through. The people I met today were really nice and I realized they have kids and pets that all have to live in the same conditions. It must be hard on the parents to not be able to do more for their families. I really want to help these people as much as I can with my team. I will be working with the purple squad (that's the color of our bandanas), my two leaders are Doug Truskowski, and Dan Coughlin. My teammates in my group are Adeline Nickel, Sara Ploch, Sean Coughlin and Tatum Scheibler. I'm really looking forward to working with these individuals. It is going to be an awesome Week!
Saturday, our trip begins
Saturday morning we met early 5:45 AM to complete final packing, assign vehicles everyone would be traveling with and offer prayers and blessings for a safe trip. We were sent off by family, friends, and Fr. Trout who led us in prayer and a final blessing. We traveled in caravans of 3 or 4 vehicles traveling down through Indianapolis and then over to Cincinnatti on our way down to Lexington. Included in this post are some pictures of our sendoff and our travels down to Lexington.
We had to wait a while before our rooms were ready and most were in their rooms before we headed off to Mass at Christ the King Cathedral. Our attendance was acknowledged with applause before Mass when we were asked to stand as a group and state where we were from. After Mass we went to Gattitown for Pizza and arcade games. We returned to the hotel where we found out who will be on which teams and met for a few minutes to get to know each other and set expectations for the coming week. Everyone had an hour or so of free time before turning in for the night.
We'll be including some pictures with each posting as our web access services permits so you can experience somewhat of what we're doing, seeing, and feeling. Sometimes our web access is not good so please be patient if we miss a day with pics; we'll include them as we can. Thanks for your support and we look forward to sharing this experience with you. Please come back to our blog often to see what we've been up to this week.
We had to wait a while before our rooms were ready and most were in their rooms before we headed off to Mass at Christ the King Cathedral. Our attendance was acknowledged with applause before Mass when we were asked to stand as a group and state where we were from. After Mass we went to Gattitown for Pizza and arcade games. We returned to the hotel where we found out who will be on which teams and met for a few minutes to get to know each other and set expectations for the coming week. Everyone had an hour or so of free time before turning in for the night.
We'll be including some pictures with each posting as our web access services permits so you can experience somewhat of what we're doing, seeing, and feeling. Sometimes our web access is not good so please be patient if we miss a day with pics; we'll include them as we can. Thanks for your support and we look forward to sharing this experience with you. Please come back to our blog often to see what we've been up to this week.
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