Washington DC Project

This week has been an amazing journey to us all. I can honestly tell you that each and every individual on this trip will go home a changed person. We have learned so much about so very many things whether it was painting, tile laying, or how to get more in touch with God. This spiritual quest has touched us all in very different ways. However, wherever these teens and adults were with God when we left, they will be on an even more positive or straight forward track as our return. There are three words that have been used a copious amount on this trip. Those words are grace, greatness and flexibility. This is something that we can all use in our daily lives. I could sit here and name reasons why or how you could use them all, but I think it should be self explanatory to you. I have yet to meet one person that has a reason not to. Ultimately it comes down to the one encouraging phrase that I have heard from Emily so very many times. “God is in control”. This has been used so many times on this trip. However every time I hear this phrase it reminds me why I am here and what I am doing. So I encourage all of you to use this in your daily lives. I can just about ensure you that it will help you day to day.

By: Nick Moore

Ms. Emily is really something. 

She remains so calm in unexpected twists during our travels.  From no rooms in the dorms, no electricity, no hot water, and ongoing throat soreness, she displays flexibility.  With God in control, she continues to be faithful that the projects repairing a 70 year old church will be completed and the group will continue to build each other up, not break each other down. 

Ms. Emily displays grace when interacting with store customer service representatives that are less than serving to our group.  From the college representative that claimed the air/hot water was on when 30 individuals knew for sure it was not to the Home Depot employees who chose not to assist her in the store, Ms. Emily oozed of grace.

Greatness can be felt in her presence.  She goes above ad beyond the call of duty.  She demands respect amongst us and towards us from others outside of our group.  She shows truths even if it is painful but necessary for growth.  She plugs through each hour with our safety of body and spirit as her utmost concern.

In the words of Andrew Watson, “Who does that?”  The answer is Ms. Emily.  Not just today but everyday.  We are blessed.

Miss Kelly, Harmony, Kayla, Kelsey

This experience has been a lifetime change for me. The friends that I have made and the stories that Second St James Baptist Church have shared with me, makes me realize how great God is. The works He has done working with us to rebuild this church is so amazing that words it self can’t explain. I feel as if we as a group have only grown from this experience. We have had some rough times but God works in mysterious ways. The team leaders have set a great example for this team.  During the days that we have left on this trip, I hope to come to find myself as well as some other things.  Most of all, I hope to find all the different ways that God works.  The three main words that have been used during this trip is … GRACE….. FLEXIBILITY…..GREATNESS…. these words have become important in my daily life….. I see grace in our leaders… I see greatness in our group… finishing our projects and tackling extras…..and flexibility in everyone I see … coming on this trip I never expected to come out with the feeling and the memories that I have…. I hope that I can continue to fulfill what God has planned for me .

Blessings-

Kayla

Today was a very interesting day. We had got our work done early yesterday. So, today Emily had rewarded us by going to see some tourist sites. At first we had gone to the Arlington National Cemetery. (Which in case if some of you don’t know that where basicially all the soldiers who had fought in WWI and WWII and others) At first I was really shock that it was so HUGE, and I honestly could never believe how honestly how many people had died for my freedom, and how my words can’t honestly explain what I saw today. Another Tourist site that we saw was the Holocaust Museum and I honestly would have never known on what the Jewish congregation went through all this, and I was also thinking how this only happened only 80 years ago, and that this could have happened to anyone , and how we should  never forget the past , and keep the memories, and just keep the GRACE,  always be FLEXIBLE, and always have GREATNESS!!

~Peace and Love~                    -Kelsey Gilliland

Girl Power:

Today was a day of girl power.  We divided into 2 teams to conqueror and divide.  One group was girls and the other group was boys.  It was a day of bonding for everyone.

The morning was a little out of control and we got to open up on our thoughts and feelings after breakfast. As the morning progressed we learned that women are beautiful in the sight of God due to Alfonso’s morning thoughts.  We started off with going out in the community by landscaping the yard of Dorris whom has cooked for us all week while the boys traveled to Lowe’s to buy cupboards for the kitchen.

          During our morning of landscape Kelsey had the opportunity to vacuum the street.  It was quiet the sight to see by all whom drove by. Stephanie had the opportunity to dance with the weed eater while Allie broke the weed eater.

          Bob gave us a lesson on what weeds are and what should be pulled.  It was decided that everything that is green and in the wrong place is considered a weed and should be pulled out.  Officer Bob really gave us a rough and tough lesson on landscaping.

          We came back to site and ate a great lunch of chicken sandwiches and fruit.  Food travels fast here.  If you don’t grab it, it seems to be gone.  We have experienced moon pies too due to Andrew and they are great and very full of calories.

          We installed cabinets, painted wall brick, painted a cross on the outside wall, laid paneling, cleaned, and installed lights.  It was a busy day. Praise God, the sound room is finished. The team worked really hard for 3 days and it looks great now. Way to go team! 

          However the cleanup of today was a challenging. We had paint brushes everywhere, rollers, and pans to clean, plus some of the painting rules of today were broken.  Miss Kelly gave painting 101 to our team.  We learned how to box paint, brush paint, and dip our paintbrush in only half way.  It was a great day of painting 101 in the fellowship hall.  Our girls did a great job.

          We gathered for dinner tonight and Dorris cooked one of Miss Emily’s favorites (fried chicken). We had a super dinner of fellowship, and cleaned up for a while afterwards. We drove together tonight to buy our last set of supplies and groceries.  We have one more full day of work ahead of us, VBS, and a church wide block party.  So it is going to be great. We are looking for the heat to subside a little too. Thank you for your continuing prayers as we travel.

It has been a great day.  We came back from a great day last night to a few more challenges. NO hot water and we ended up with a really bad storm passing through Maryland.  We gathered together in the basement for devotions surrounded by flashlights because we had lost power for nearly 3 hours.  The lightening was intense and the storm was loud.  It was awesome to talk about Jesus in the dark with flashlights. We spent time reading scriptures, playing games, and sharing how we saw Jesus in each other during the day.  It is amazing to see the growth in such a short period of time.

Due to the storm passing through, the heat wave has broken. Today, it was only in the low 90’s as compared to the low 100’s.  We were excited and got great work done with super excitement.  We took an extra hour this morning to get rested and headed off to site after the rain.  The extra hour made all the difference in the world.

We painted, worked on doors being put in, lights, fixing door handles, and having a ball with VBS. During our lunch of sandwiches, fruit, and chips, Pastor Delores shared her testimony with us and it was great.  We learned how the Lord has shaped and molded her through her young life of 70 years old. Our youth had great questions to ask her and were very intuned to all she had to share.

We are cleaning up now and getting ready for our Spanish meal that was prepared for us tonight by request from our Gen. friends.  The team is excited as well as I am.  We are headed to the community pool tonight for some swimming and of course some hot water. Praise Jesus!

The day tomorrow is full of projects and an early morning trip to downtown to see a museum.

We are learning, growing, and walking together in Grace, Greatness, Togetherness, and Patience.  It has been truly been a great day with this amazing team of 30.

Blessings and lots of Love-

Miss Emily

These past five days have been nothing short of incredible for me. Having the opportunity to travel across the country and help out others amongst new people and new friends is almost abit overwhelming; I don’t travel very often. I’ve tried my hardest to savor each moment, and I can only imagine what the rest of the week will entail.

Gab

Today was probably the best day we have had this week. I think today we got the most done. For example, we got a whole back wall painted grey in about one hour and thirty minutes, but it was supposed to take about 3 hours. Also we got all of the front porch finished. The sound room was also finished. Today was great and the best thing is that we did all this even though we woke up extra late and finished early for VBS. Later today we are going to a pool.

Seb

This trip has been amazing so far, I mean it’s only been a couple of days but I feel as if I have known everybody on this trip for years. It’s amazing all that we have in common, and it only took this trip for me to realize how great our neighboring church can be. I really do hope that the bonds we made, and will make in the following days, will only get stronger, and that the youth in both DIVE and Genesis will see a lot more of each other in the following months. Sure the work has been hard and this heat wave is killer but it helps us depend on each other more and makes the bonds that much sturdier. But other than that everything is great in D.C.

Well hello everyone my name is Katina and I am part of the Community United

Methodist Church in Casselberry Florida .And we are all on a mission in Washington D.C on helping repair Second Saint James church. We have only been here for four days and it has been great .Let me tell you some great experiences I have had  these past few days. For example, on Sunday we divided groups and one went to the church and the other group went to a retirement home .Well the group I was in went to the retirement home and listened to a pastor by the name of Minister Bennett preach and praise with us. So we all got to meet new people and learn something interesting about them. I really enjoyed Sunday because I got the chance to see what people go through and how miracles can really happen if we just have faith in people and ourselves. So In my opinion these past few days have been great! I just pray that we all can come together as one and stop forming cliques with each other. I hope tomorrow is as great as it was these past few days. I’ll write back soon.

 Katina