home again home again

We are home!! It was a great week and more details will come but I just wanted to let you all know that we are home and safe! We left with 45 and returned with 45! Here's the kicker, it was the same 45! Praise God!!

On the road again!

Hey everyone! We are on the road again headed home! We left about 615 this morning. I will send out a phone tree to let you know when we are an hour out. Love you and miss you!!

Friday- Bittersweet

Today was our last day of work! We got up at the normal time and had breakfast and our devotions. After our devotions we headed out to the Park to start the work of the day. The college group went back to the school to finish their logo. It looks awesome! They painted a cheetah on the courtyard at the school and it turned out amazing! One of the high school groups went back to the Gallery Church office and helped them get organized and clean. The other high school group finished some edging in the park and then pulled weeds.

At lunch, we all met at the park and had a big cookout with hamburgers and hot dogs. It was great to hang out with everyone and just have fun as we talked. Ellis, the pastor of the Gallery Church, talked to the students one last time. Robert, who also works at the Gallery Church, also talked about what the impact that our students have made this week. It was very encouraging to hear what we have accomplished this week for the church!

After lunch we left and came back to the hotel. We got cleaned up and then left and went to the Inner Harbor to get ice cream for everyone. We ate out on the harbor and while we were sitting there, a HUGE boat came up and docked right in front of us. It was pretty awesome! We left there and came back to the hotel and packed our bags and loaded them on the bus. After that, we had free time and then went to bed about 11.

Be sure to check my Facebook updates tomorrow to see where we are at all points in the day! Love you and see you tomorrow!!

Thursday- Free day!

Today was our free day so we got the chance to hang out and get some rest! Our morning started off by sleeping in! We slept in til about 9:30 when we had breakfast. We then went to our conference room and gave everyone the schedule for the day. After that we all loaded the bus and headed to DC. When we got to DC, we went to Union Station for lunch and then headed to the zoo for the rest of the afternoon.

The zoo was fun but my favorite, the otters, were asleep in their den. The other animals were okay, most were just lounging around. The elephant was on the scale and it weighed 5100 pounds! That's crazy!! We were at the zoo until 4:00 and then left to head to the baseball game. There was a lot of traffic so it took us forever to get back to Camden Yards, but we still got there early for the game.

The game was great! It was an awesome time to just hang out and relax. We watched the game but mostly hung out and talked! It was a great time to be with the students and just see what was going on in their lives for the week. I talked to a lot of them about what they had learned this week and what God was doing in their lives. I also got to know some of the students that I don't really know that well. The Orioles lost 6-3 so the home crowd wasn't very happy. We left the game at 10:30 and got back to the hotel and went straight to our rooms and then to bed!

Tomorrow night will be the last night that I blog in Baltimore, but you can keep track of where we are on Facebook as I will update my status throughout the day on where we are. I will also send out a calling post about an hour from our arrival at Graceland. If you could please listen to the call and be there when we arrive, that would be awesome! We love you and can't wait to see you!!! Goodnight!

Wednesday- Ups and Downs

Today was an amazing day of realizing what we are doing and why! Our morning started on time this morning and we ate breakfast about 7 am. After breakfast, we went to have our devotions and our morning exercise time. We left and headed to Patterson Park at about 8 and met up the the Gallery Church team. From there we split up and went our separate ways.

The college group stayed at the park this morning and edged the pathways in the park. My group of high schoolers left and walked through a neighborhood beside the park and picked up trash. Our goal was to talk to people as well, but we didn't really encounter too many. It was hard to walk around all morning and not interact with someone. The spirits were looking pretty minimal at this point, but then someone drove by and screamed, "You're doing a good job!!" This gave us the enthusiasm to finish this task! The other high school group went and painted fences and backstops again!

We then went to lunch at the Gallery Church office and got a little morale bust from hanging out in the shade and not in the sun. After we went to lunch, we went back to the park to work. My group took over the edging and weed pulling. It was hard work but God provided clouds and a really nice breeze. The other high school group went and walked to the school where the block party was going to be tonight. The college group walked back to Hope Village, the place where our first block party was, and picked up trash and talked with people.

After this we came back for dinner and then got ready for the block party. We went out to the school and started getting everything set up. Some groups went out to advertise then as well and we waited for people to show up. This was a location where they have never held a block party before so they didn't know who was going to show up. After about 30 minutes, there were about 30 people that came. This was pretty good considering it was raining and about to storm. Once it started to lightening, we loaded up fast and went back to the Gallery Church for Klondike bars and our download time.

Many of the students and leaders shared about what God was doing in and through them today! They are truly being challenged and truly stepping out of their comfort zone everyday! Continue to pray and continue to love as God has loved!!

Tuesday- Rain, Shine, and Rain

Today started with rain in the morning. Actually, so much so that we had to postpone starting til about 9. We still had breakfast at 7 and then devotions at 7:30. Then we gave them a couple of minutes to go back and get coats from their rooms. We met at the park at 9 and then split up from there. The college group went back to the Friendship Academy to organize and clean a closet. They spent the whole day there.

My high school group went back to The Door and finished scraping tile up off the kitchen floor and painting the cafeteria.

The other high school group went to the park and started edging the paths throughout the park with shovels. This work was crazy hard. They did this all morning until we all went to lunch. When we came back from lunch, we, as in some of my group, picked up the shovels and started trimming the edge of the paths. The other group went to paint backstops to softball fields, pickup trash, and pick weeds.

It was a hard day out working today! The sun came out about 1 and it was about 90 degrees and super humid from the morning rain. One cool story we heard today was that this work that we are doing in the park is helping the Gallery Church host an Easter Egg Hunt next Easter where they are planning on having over 1000 kids show up. That is why we are edging the sidewalk, that is why we are picking up trash, that is why we are painting the backstops, and that is why we are picking weeds! It's all for the glory of Christ and to show others His love for us all!!

Tonight we were supposed to do a block party for a new community but it rained and we had to cancel it. We will do it tomorrow night and let you know how it goes! We send you our love and send you our prayers!

Monday = Wiped

Well Monday has come and gone and it was an amazing day and night!! We started off with breakfast at the hotel and then had our devotions. We then got on the bus and headed to Baltimore for our first whole day of work. We broke up into three groups: one college group and two high school! The college group went to work at a local high school to paint a mural of their mascot on their front patio area. This is the same high school we renovated last year. It is awesome to be back here and as the group walked in, they were met by one of the office ladies from last year. She remembered them too!! It is great to see what a blessing we can be to other people!

One of the high school groups went to The Door. It is an old church that offers after school and summer programming to elementary school kids. We painted multiple different rooms, organized a library, and tore the tiles off the floor in the kitchen. We didn't get all the tile off the floor but we got most of it up. We are going to retile it tomorrow with a cool design too!!

The other high school group worked in Patterson Park and painted the back stops on the softball and baseball fields. They also picked up trash in the morning!

Tonight was amazing its own right. We did another block party and it was awesome to see God move. We started around 6:30 and had about 150 people come out within 30 minutes. They came from the local projects as we handed out free water, hot dogs, popcorn, and snow cones. We also had games and activities setup for them to do. It was such a blessing to look around and see all of our students playing with kids, talking to adults, and laughing and having fun, but ministering all at the same time. There were a lot of conversations that were started during this time too. Many students and adults got to see the needs that the people of Baltimore have on a daily basis. The need for family, for food, for love, for peace, for compassion! And that's why we are here! We are here not to bring Jesus to them, but, more importantly, to BE Jesus to them!!

Love you all and goodnight!!