Needless to say, I haven’t blogged in a long time. I think this is due to the fact that I graduated and was able to sign up for Facebook. Also, this summer was pretty busy. But now I’m babysitting a printer at work and, alas, I have no games on my iPod, a situation I intend to remedy soon. I can’t think of anything profound to blog about, like I usually do. (That was a joke, incidentally). So I’ll just give an update as quickly as possible, if indeed it is possible!
I graduated in May.
This summer I worked as Head Lifeguard and went on my first missions trip to Galveston. (See my previous blogs for that). I had a great summer, working 35-40 hour weeks, playing soccer with my MK friends, playing computer games at lunch break with my dad and his interns. I also had the fantastic opportunity of learning balloon arrangement and art with a former professional artist- I learned so much! Later in the summer I attended Red Raider Orientation at Texas Tech University, where I'd decided to attend my first year of college. A lot of students say they make great friends at Orientation......really? I have seen one person around whom I met at RRO, but we’re not friends. So long story short, Orientation was a lot of walking around getting lost... I just remembered- during that time I had a spectacular black bruise on my ankle. That was due to a crash on the soccer field... My ankle was swollen for a couple weeks. So now both my ankles match! Anyway, after Orientation I finished up my job and college shopping, and said my goodbyes.
My dad and I drove 6 hours to Tech, and I got to meet my roommate for the first time. We get along pretty well, I am happy to say. I spent the first couple of days figuring out where all the buildings were, so I wouldn’t get lost finding my classes. I got lost anyway. I also tried to find a job.... The first one I applied to was for a photography position with the Tech campus newspaper, the Daily Toreador. I also applied to 10 other jobs, including TTU’s Health Science Center.
While I was waiting to hear from anyone about a job, i started my classes and bought my books. Have I mentioned that I hate spending money? Yeah. I also attended a Christ in Action meeting with one of my friends (whom I’d met during one of my dorm’s many fire alarms). While I can’t go to the Wednesday night CA meetings because I joined the Tech chapter of The Young Conservatives of Texas, I do attend the church CA is affiliated with. I was also able tong to the Texas Boys Ranch with CA and help clean it up a bit. I also made balloon animals and swords for the kids, something I’ll be doing again for my church’s Trunk or Treat.
I’ve never had the opportunity to be involved on politics before. Last Spring semester I was listening to some talk radio and they had a guest on the show- Jeff from the Tech chapter of YCT. During the interview he explained what YCT was and does, and I for some reason wrote down YCT in my ever-present notebook. A few weeks after the fall semester started I attended the student organization fair where I stumbled upon the YCT table. I’d been looking for them at the other organization fairs I'd attended, but this was the first one they were at. To cut this story short, I joined and am now considered one of the "core" members, and do a lot of photography for them.
I also take photos for the TTU Irish Set Dancers, which I’m also involved with. We perform Irish set dances at different events, a recent one being the VMC Spectrum Concert.
So, eventually the DT called me for an interview for the coveted photography job...along with 3 or 4 other people. After several delays, we were given a written test so they could get a feel for how well we knew cameras. Then they gave us 1.5 hours to go on a "wild eye" photoshoot, where I got some great shots of Raiderville. Then it was back to the Student Media building to edit and write captions for our best 20. Altogether, the whole interview took 5 hours.
The next day I was informed that I hadn’t gotten the job. But while I was disappointed, I'd been doing so much photography over the last couple of months, with the promise of even more, so I knew my photography wasn’t going to be stopped by this. And it hasn’t. Some of my photos were printed on thousands of promotional mailing that went to California and Colorado to persuade non-Texans to come to TTU. I was able to photograph Governor Rick Perry when he made a campaign stop in Lubbock. I may even be able to take a photography class next semester!
Right after I knew about the DT job, I accepted the job at the HSC printing department. So now i work there, doing odd jobs and the paper run, which strained my knees very badly. I was recently told that I have patellofemoral pain syndrome aka runner’s knee. My knees will hurt for a while, but as I make the muscles around my joints stronger, they will get better.
I also volunteer at the UMC hospital. I’m supposed to be playing with the kids in the Pediatric ward, but since I come in the evening, I do a lot of cleaning. I also do crafts sometimes and I bring the patients movies.
I think that’s about it...that’s what I’ve been up to at college, besides my classes, which are all going pretty well- even Physiology. Next semester I’ll be taking Microbiology as my hardest class. I’ll also be a junior and will most likely declare my major as Exercise Sports Science.
Well, it’s taken me 1.5 months to write this, mostly writing this on the bus to work. So now it’s time to go do something "useful".
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
One Mission Galveston- Make War!
I hear so many Christians, murmuring about their imperfections, and their failures, and their addiction, and their shortcomings. And I see so little war! Murmur, murmur, murmur. Why am I this way? Make War! John Piper, as used by rapper Tedashii
Last week war was waged in Galveston, Texas*. One Mission:
Galveston vs. Hurricane Ike Aftermath. As part of a group of 110
teens and their leaders, the Dallas MK/FBC Midlothian group
traveled to Galveston on Sunday, June 13 to join in the on-going
relief work.
*This war was certainly not a physical, country vs. country war.
This war was a physical effort to alleviate the hard conditions 35%
of Galveston'ers are still living in. 20,000 of the 73,000 population
still needs help. Certainly spiritual war was fought also, not only by
the teens on this missions trip, but also by the people impacted by
our efforts.
Sunday:
We departed from First Baptist Church of Midlothian around
1:30-2pm-ish. After introductions, prayer, packing the church bus,
we all piled in (FBCM and MKs not quite integrated yet) and drove
off.
The team:
MKs: Bob Alber, Barbara Alber, Colton Pettijohn*, Micah Reiman,
Jonathon Testardi, Jacob Evans, and I**.
FBCM: David Billman, Bob Alber, Barbara Alber, Reagan the
intern***, Lexie Petty, Roxanne, Carli Lowman, Nick, Robbie
"Bobbers" Alber, Mason "Meagan Beiber" and Carrington.
*Colton is neither a MK or a FBCM'er. He's apparently been on
other missions trips with the MKs and Bob's old church, and was a
MK leader for this trip.
** Officially, I wasn't a leader because I didn't check that box on
the form.
*** As her title says, Reagan is the FBCM youth intern and came
along as a FBCM leader.
Except for us leaders, official or not, all the kids were
entering-8th-or-9th graders. I won't say how old Bob is ;P
During the road trip, we pumped up Bob's iPod and stopped at
Freebirds! for dinner. I had a taco bowl (a taco without the taco
shell). Those who finished their dinner earlier made aluminum foil
art for the restaurant's decor.
We arrived at Island Community Church around 8:30ish, and
unloaded our baggage and sports and clown equipment. All the girls
were staying in one huge, freezing-cold room, and for the first
couple days the MK/FBCM guys had a room all to themselves. I
slept on the bed closest to the door. The church's basement (where
we were staying) featured a medium-sized industrial kitchen
stocked with lots of food, a main room with room for about 100, and
two bathrooms with 2 toilets and 1 shower each. The rest of the
showers were located in a trailer outside. They were about the size
of the showers at Sky Ranch, 8 on each side. There were more
toilets upstairs in the main part of the church. However, that part
was still under construction. As in, plywood everywhere, no
windows, just the skeleton of a church. But if you looked at it from
the outside, the walls were still good and you might not guess it was
broken inside.
Originally we were supposed to be staying in a school, but then the
basement became available for us. Also, I was under the impression
that we would be sleeping on the floor, so I was prepared for that.
It was a nice surprise that there were bunk beds with air
mattresses!
Right after we claimed our bunks, we headed out to the main area
for Orientation. We also looked at the giant whiteboards on the hall
walls that told us who had what chores when. During Orientation
we learned that Galveston still needs help. 20,000 people are still
living in unacceptable conditions. (If you want to join in, sign up at
www.onemissiongalveston.org). We learned the rules and the
schedule. We met the One Mission staff, including 3 interns and
Pete, Steve O. and Josh, and heard how God had "ruined" their lives
and called them to Galveston. These leaders were very passionate
about their faith and expressed it not only with their actions, but with
their words.
After Orientation we unpacked, hit the showers, and went to sleep.
Monday:
We started Monday at about 6 am. the MKs had Breakfast at 6:30,
so we had to get up earlier than everyone else. Mrs. Alber got up at
5 am!!! Breakfast at first glance was disappointing. Jacob and I
served eggs and waffles, respectively. The breakfast seemed
disappointing at first because the first batch of waffles I served
were soggy and mushy. But when the other batches came out, they
were hot and crispy. Jacob and I eventually got to eat and it was
good! Bob and the others were involved in washing dishes.
After breakfast, we put on sunscreen and filled our water bottles,
etc before heading out to group devotional time on the basketball
court. There Steve O. led us in studying a passage in Acts. After a
prayer, we were given our assignments. We were to work on the
Garcia house in the morning and host a sports camp at a Galveston
ISD in the morning.
After loading the bus with water, sports equipment, ladders,
paintbrushes, drywall equipment, etc, we started driving to the
Garcia's house. Along the way, we swung into a Valero gas station
to purchase ice and bottled water. They didn't have the water we
needed. Then I noticed the Murphy USA gas station across the
road."Hey! Wal*Mart is over there!". Consequently, we went to
Wal*Mart from then on. As we drove into their parking lot we
noticed the Chicago group's bus there. Wal*Mart must have loved
One Mission that week! (And probably will continue loving us the
entire summer!)
Upon arriving at the Garcia house, we met Naomi Garcia, and 2 of
her 4 children. The house had been primed the week before by
another group, but it was like they'd run out of primer. That day we
primed the entire house, mostly all over again, and Billman (the
FBCM middle school youth pastor) tore down the ceiling the
previous group had done and started over again. While waited for
the ceiling and primer and paint to arrive, we weeded the Garcia
garden and picked up trash. Bob also explained how to properly
handle a paint brush (he painted houses for 14 years).
Once the supplies arrived we went to work. Bob, Barb, Micah,
Carrington, Carli, Jonathon, We used two ladders and a rather thin
plank as scaffolding. Micah and I stood on the plank near the
ladders and tried to avoid the middle. When we did have to paint in
the middle, only one of us stood there! We made a good start on
priming, but by the lunch time it was clear that we would have to
work through the afternoon to get things finished. So Billman took
most of the FBCM'ers, Jonathon, and Jacob to host the sports
camp. Bob, Micah, Carli, Carrington (I think), and I stayed and
primed the rest of the house. I got so much primer on my 24 shirt
and it didn't all come out in the wash :( It was very hot outside (but
it was even warmer in the small side room where they were
working on the ceiling) but we had water, so nobody got
dehydrated.
We finished an hour before Billman and the others came back from
sports camp. We rested in the shade and Mrs. Alber talked more
with Mrs. Garcia. It became known that we were also asked to
paint the already-primed inside of the house. We wanted to, but we
didn't know if we'd have time. There also some other small jobs, like
screwing up new house numbers because we'd taken down the old
ones for painting. In the morning, Mrs. Garcia had shared some of
her struggles and stories with Mrs. Alber. After living with relatives
for a year, the Garcias were able to move back to Galveston.
However, the house was still in pretty bad shape and her teenage
daughter, Ariana, was having a hard time. They were very grateful
for our help.
After cleaning the brushes and paint buckets, I found a blue rubber
ducky up in the tree....it was rather amusing. After I took pictures
of it, Micah got it down for the little Garcia girl. Then Billman came
to pick us up and we headed back to the church for debriefing.
During debriefing we gave a brief description on our assignments and
how they were going. The speaker then challenged us to expect
God to work miracles. After the 20-minute debriefing on the
burning-hot basketball court we went inside for dinner. I forgot
what we had for dinner, but it was pretty good. Dinner was always
pretty good, especially for camp food!
There were 3 groups from Chicago, one from Kansas, and one
from Austin, besides our group. Most of them hit the beach (which
was about a quarter of a mile down the road), be we stayed at the
church. Billman and Bob were really tired. So we stayed inside,
played a dice game called Farkle, Mafia, and I took care of a blister
on my toe. Then I discovered Bob's balloons, that he got in Jamaica
in 2004, and I started practicing my balloons for Sports camp on
Wednesday.
The plan was to clown and balloon on Wednesday. Bob had
recommended Reagan as my clown partner, because Ruth didn't
come on the trip, but Carli showed an aptitude to sit down and learn
ballooning. Most of the other kids wanted to blow up balloons and
things, but I couldn't supervise them all at once, so mostly it was just
Carli and I ballooning. Most kids want to twist balloons and make
something, and I completely understand that (that was sort of how I
got started!) but their attention span doesn't make it feasible to
teach them. Plus, I didn't have that many balloons and that much
patience! Because we only had 2 nights to practice ballooning, I
showed Carli how to make a sword, bunny, parrot, and poodle. My
balloon repertoire is not very impressive, so generally when I
balloon at an event I ask the kids to request one of, say 10 items. Or
if they ask for something, I will try to figure out how to grant their
request. But I've had to say, "I'm sorry, I can't make that.".
Naturally, the littler kids were attracted to the balloons, so a lot of
our creations went to them. Oh, another group consisting of 6th
graders arrived that night. One could play the piano pretty well, and
he could also create pretty big mess, as we found out later. But
most of the balloons went to Pete's three pretty little girls.
After ballooning, Farkle, and Mafia (I was accused of being the
Assassin but I accidentally waved my card in the air while we were
arguing and someone saw it and told the accuser I wasn't the
Assassin) we showered and went to bed.
Tuesday:
I didn't plan to wake up until 6:30 at the earliest. However, I woke
up at 6 and decided to go for a walk down to the beach to take
pictures. I figured I would be too tired to do that later in the week,
so I may as well do it that morning! I and Kelsey from Kansas
walked to the beach and I got some nice pictures, and woke up.
Then we went to breakfast, which included pancakes. I think it was
during Tuesday, or Wednesday, but we had a great time at
breakfast. Billman was making all sorts of pirate jokes and talking
with a lot of "Arrrrg"s thrown in.
Billman: Did you hear about the new pirate movie?
Roxanne: No! Is there a new one?
Billman: Yeah, it's rated Arrrrrrr!
Roxanne: *pauses for a moment* Well, at least Reagan can see it!
Billman: *collapses on the table laughing. And laughing. And
laughing.*
All: *laugh at Billman and laugh at the joke and how it turned out*
After group devotionals, departure, and a Wal*Mart run (which
included two leaders staying in the bus to man the iPod (Skillet,
TobyMac, and the Make War song) and make sure Security didn't
check on us) we arrived at the Garcia house. We opened the paint
buckets- the paint was a sandy color. Ick. Ok, it wasn't THAT bad,
but I'd assumed the house would be white or a very light color.
However, Mrs. Garcia said the color was OK, so Bob and his team
started painting. Billman and his team started putting up a proper
ceiling. The painting went relatively fast, although it was a little
tedious and pretty strenuous on the neck, eyes, and arms. We'd
found a nicely thick plank, so no more standing on a plank that felt
ready to break! However, the work on the ceiling didn't go so well.
Apparently they screwed in the drywall (which was VERY heavy)
vertically. Later they found they should have screwed it in
horizontally...so they had to start all over. Meanwhile, we painted all
but one side of the house by working through the afternoon again.
Billman and the sports team left for the school after lunch, leaving
Bob, Barb, Micah, Carli, Nick, and Jacob (I think) to paint. That
afternoon was probably the hottest one. Bob's face was turning
purple from the heat, and Jacob and Nick were sunburning. I kept
telling Bob to get a drink, and he only listened about half the time.
Towards 2 pm. there was no shade. Of course, my hair was
extremely bothersome, and because my baseball hat kept falling off
when I turned upside down to paint the roof eaves my hair got on
my neck and boy was that annoying! We were all sweating buckets
as we swotted away and we didn't finish the whole house. But we
felt like we accomplished a lot. Unfortunately, we realised that
Billman's team felt the exact opposite :(
During group devotionals that day we played the Evolution game
(like rock-paper-scissors, only you progress from an egg to a
chicken, dinosaur, frog prince or princess, to a king or queen.) I was
able to go straight from an egg to a queen without progressing
backwards. During debriefing, we were asked to pray with
someone on Wednesday. Micah and I shared the same views on
that: we should be challenged, or encouraged to pray- not ordered
or asked to promise. It might not be God's will for you to pray with
someone that day, and if you'd promised to, then you would be
breaking a promise, which is not advisable. Or right.
During dinner, a mutual friend of Bob and Billman and many of the
FBCM kids came and joined us. Jeremy also went to the beach. I
am SO jealous of his truck! Some didn't feel like going, so they
stayed behind with Mrs. Alber. I went, but seaweed creeps me out,
so I didn't actually go past the seaweed to the waves. But it was
very relaxing time just listening to the waves and birds. And taking
pictures. It was kind of one of those "Be still and know that I am
God" moments. Everyone else was in the water. After the beach,
we went to Ben and Jerry's for ice cream. I didn't feel like ice
cream, so I didn't eat any. (I am milk/dairy intolerant, and even
though I take lactase pills to help me digest milk I try to eat as little
as possible.) Not to mention, Ben and Jerry's is so expensive! I did
lend Micah some money to buy an ice cream, and it looked
delicious. I found some brochures on the ingredients and nutrition
facts of the ice cream Billman was eating. It was a fun
conversation:
Me: Phish Food ice cream has 6 grams of saturated fat!
Billman: Awesome!
Me: You are eating 230 calories, 100 of which are from fat!
Billman: That's great!
Me: There are 25 mg of cholesterol in your ice cream.
Billman: And that isn't changing how good this tastes!
On the way back to the church we played the Make War song
again, and then we all took showers. I and Carli practiced balloons
again, and we made a balloon hat for one of the Chicago guys who
had his birthday that night. His leaders surprised him with a cake
and everyone in the room sang Happy Birthday to him. We also
made a hat for Billman and he wore it for a little bit. Another teen
from Chicago wanted to learn balloons and so I said I'd teach him
the next night.
Oh, there was one table full of kids who played spoons every night. They were so loud! To say the least, it got annoying at times. But on Tuesday night the One Mission staff dressed up in white jumpsuits, hard hats, and gas masks. They ran down the hall, grabbed one of the girls from the Spoons table (randomness: she lost her voice later that week) and hauled her, screaming (not very loudly) back up the haul to a small closet. There they held her down and wrote OMG on her forehead. Then they brought her back to her friends. (OMG stands for One Mission: Galveston.) I had my camera with me as I was teaching Carli balloons. So I got pictures of the abduction. It was very funny!
Wednesday:
The MKs had to lunch prep duty at 6:30 am. I woke up at 6:25 am.
I thought it was 6, because that was when all the cell phone alarms
had rung the previous two mornings, but apparently the phones'
owners had decided to sleep later. After I brushed my teeth, etc, I
went to wake up the MK guys.
Me: *knock knock* Hey MKs, we have breakfast duty.
Someone: Who?
Me: Wycliffe.
Someone: They're already up.
Me: Oh. Sorry.
I hadn't heard them in the kitchen, so I thought they weren't up.
They were already in the kitchen, spreading peanut butter and jelly
on bread for the lunch sandwiches. But they were probably so
tired they weren't making any noise, which was unusual. Which is
why I'd assumed they weren't in the kitchen. We made 110
sandwiches.
I forgot what I was doing, but when I arrived for group devotionals,
they'd already started. Steve O. had gotten 3 male volunteers to try
out their best pick-up lines on two girls, who were sitting on a
3-person "couch". After the guy tried out his line, the audience and
the girls decided if he'd be allowed to sit on the couch with them.
The lines were hilarious, and all three guys were invited, one by one,
to sit on the couch between them. As he sat down, each guy would
hit the ground. The couch was a tarp spread over TWO chairs,
making it look like there was a third seat in the middle! The second
guy caught himself, but the other two fell through. Hee hee!
I got a video of that. And come to think of it, I think I had my
camera's microphone on mute. Which means the video I got of the
ocean probably doesn't have sound. :( :( :(
After the hilarity was over, we were armed with the Word of God
and sent out to our projects. After the usual Wal*Mart run, we
arrived at the Garcia's. We finished painting the last side of the
house and finished up some spots from Tuesday's painting.
Billman's ceiling made significant progress, and Mrs. Alber fixed
some things inside. Bob stayed behind again that afternoon to fix the
cracks between the outside wall and the window. Mrs. Alber had
caulked that place previously. I took pictures that morning with Mrs.
Alber's camera that day so there would be pictures of everyone
working.
That afternoon all of us, except Bob and Barb Alber, went to sports
camp. When we got to the school, I thought we could balloon under
the HUGE oak tree outside. However, I quickly learned that was
not a good idea because the grass was sharp enough to pop several
balloons upon contact. So we moved to a corner of the gym and
finished our balloon prep. Some kids saw us immediately and we
were mobbed, as balloon artists usually are. What can I say? We're
awesome! Once we started making the balloons for the kids, it was
chaos. They wouldn't be quiet while Carli and I tried to talk to them
about Jesus, they wouldn't sit down, they got too close, and they
wouldn't form a line. We worked as fast as we could, but not
everyone that wanted a balloon got one. :( One kid kept asking me
for a balloon, over and over and over, and when he was supposed to
go with his group outside, he kept disobeying and coming in and
asking over and over, and finally I told him we'd still be here when
he came back in. Guess what? He kept coming in and asking.
Finally, I had to tell him I wouldn't make him a balloon because he
wasn't obeying his leader, who kept coming in after him. I lost
track of time completely, but I'm guessing we made balloons for
less than 2 hours. I also had blisters on my toes from standing on
the ladder and scaffolding for 3 days and my heels and feet were
killing me. And I was standing the entire time I was ballooning. We
eventually ran out of balloons and had to stop. I hobbled over to the
bleachers in the gym and watched the kids playing basketball. And I
watched kids arguing. And bullying. And as teen from Chicago
observed, I watched 8th graders recruiting 3rd graders for gangs.
During debriefing, two Chicago girls told about how the kids camp
was going. The first two days they'd had around 35 kids. That day,
we'd had over 80 kids, and it was chaos. They really appreciated
our team coming in and showing God's love to the kids, mentoring
and befriending them. They also mentioned they could use help in
the morning. While we waited for the dinner line to peter out, Bob,
Billman, Barb, Colton, and I sat in the shade and discussed
Thursday. We'd planned to quit work at lunch time and hit the
beach. Thursday was our last day of work. However, we still had to
finish the ceiling, paint some inside things, put up the house numbers,
and more. However, as experienced during that week, sometimes
we had too many workers, so some kids didn't have anything to do.
Whatever was decided during that discussion I didn't catch, because
I'm bad at catching the points or decisions or discussions. There
were also some details to figure out, such how many leaders did we
need at each place if we did such and such?
Dinner was good. Then we went to the beach again! It was also
Bob and Barb's 26th wedding anniversary, so we all went to the
beach so they could go to dinner together. In the bus back from
sports camp, Bob, Colton, and I figured out that Bob had spent 100
days waiting for Mrs. Alber. Yup. Bob thought it was around 9
years....but math always proves things :) Have I mentioned I like
math? Anyway, on the bus to the beach/dinner, Billman had created
a special playlist on his iPhone for the trip. Soft love songs for the
first 2 songs....then:
Billman: This is how Barb describes Bob in the morning. *plays
Skillet's song Monster. Everyone falls over laughing*
So we went to the beach and the Albers walked across the street to
a restaurant. Bob said he had steak. This time the seaweed wasn't
as bad and I went into the waves. The water was warm. But we all
had fun and I watched some of the kids where the water was
deeper and we discussed guns and deep-sea fishing. After a while I
got tired of the big waves and tried to get them to move back to
shore (they saw through all of my attempts to coerce them back).
Eventually, it was time to leave and stop at Ben and Jerry's again.
This time there were more people in the shop, so I and some others
stayed outside.
I'm not sure if it was Wednesday night for sure when Billman said
this, but one day we didn't play the Make War song because some
of us didn't keep the Deal: No energy drinks on the trip. I didn't
have an energy drink (do you know how much caffeine is in that
stuff?).
I was really tired that night, but I kept my promise to the Chicago
kid. I didn' t feel like it but I decided to ask him anyway if he still
wanted to learn. He did, very much so. So I taught him first to make
the dragonfly that I'd invented that morning. The little kid had asked
for a butterfly, but because the wings wouldn't stay vertical, it
turned into a dragonfly! And it is adorable. So anyway, I taught that
to him and a few others. Carli joined us and it was great. Drew, the
Chicago kid, kept explaining to his curious friend what he was doing:
"It's a lost art! And seriously, I am sweating so hard!" He was
sweating- most do because they're afraid of the balloon popping and
the terrible noises the balloon can make when it rubs against itself.
He made a dragonfly, parrot, and a sword, and was satisfied. Then
I went to bed.
Thursday:
We had breakfast duty again. We had to get up early most
mornings, unlike the other groups. But we didn't have the
clean-the-facilities chores, so I'm not complaining.
After devos, we hit Wal*Mart (again!) and it took a little longer
than usual because Mrs. Alber went back in buy wall texture in a
spray can (I had no idea that stuff existed!)
Something funny: After Wednesday my feet were shot. So I went
around commenting how I needed a new pair of feet, there really
was no hope for my existing pair! So Thursday morning,during
breakfast duty, I had a great idea! I would walk into Wal*Mart,
limping and holding my shoe, stuffed with a sock and a balloon. I'd
ask a cashier if they sold feet and go from there. Hopefully the
cashier would be weirded out and we'd all have a good laugh (and
maybe get it on camera). However, I tested out my fake foot on a
few of the teens and it wasn't extremely convincing. And plus the
fact that I can't be serious when pulling a prank. But when I
showed Micah the pictures I took of my fake foot he was a bit puzzled
:)
At the Garcia's house, we quickly painted the front foundation and
the steps. The mutual friend Jeremy joined us to work on the house.
Then we cleaned the brushes yet again.... I think that was the worst
part, because it was just so tedious!
That day we had an opportunity to pray for someone- and we'd been challenged to pray for someone on Wednesday. A couple walked up and I guess someone stopped to talk with them- they were still living without electricity and water. Both were unemployed. We had the opportunity to pray for them and give them some money.
By the time we were done (we got started late), it was time to go to sports camp. Billman dropped everyone off, except himself, Jeremy, Mrs. Alber, Robbie, and I. Mrs. Alber showed Robbie and I how to put mud on the room to
seal up the crack between the walls and the ceiling of the room
we'd fixed. After the first day of work, Bob started bringing his
iPod and speakers, so we had music to work by. It certainly helped
us work faster, and more cheerfully! So Robbie "Bobbers" put it on
shuffle and we mudded to music. Mrs. Alber worked on painting
the inside door frames, and when Billman and Jeremy got back
from dropping the others off at sports camp they worked on fixing a
portion of the wall. It was good for Billman to have someone bigger
to help him. I was the second tallest person (except for Micah and
Bob, Barb, and Billman) on the trip and none of us were involved in
drywalling. After a little he left and Bobbers screwed in the drywall.
It was really loud inside that small room. Anyway, Billman ran out
to Home Depot to get some supplies, I mudded, Mrs. Alber painted,
and Bobbers screwed and mudded. I mudded for 5 hours. I got
most of it done, but if I'd had more time, I would have mudded the
seams in the ceiling, sanded everything, painted and textured
everything. Also, I wish we could have put in a proper door, and
done something, like carpet or tile, the plywood floor. Then I would
call the room livable. Oh, and the light bulb left much to be desired,
and air conditioning should be channeled to the room. I'm proud of
what we did, but I wish we could have done more.
We quit and cleaned up around 2:30 pm. Mrs. Alber had bought
Gatorade drink mix that morning so the cooler was filled with
orange G, and that was great! We all drank a lot because it was so
hot in the room, and it kept me from being too hungry, so I didn't eat
until 3. Plus, I wanted to get as much done as possible, seeing as it
was our last day of work.
We put all the supplies, ladders, etc back in the bus to take back to
the church, and we also invited Ariana to dinner with us that night.
Sure, church food was good, but we decided to go out anyway!
Once back at the church, our War on Hurricane Damage was
Done. Victory: Us. Because the Garcia's house was more fixed and
more like a home. The paint made the house look new (but I still
wished we could have put a contrasting paint trim on it, but it looked
great!).
After we unloaded and cleaned the bus of sand, dirt, empty bottles,
etc, we changed and headed to the beach, where Jeremy joined us
again. We all had a great time and the waves were a lot bigger
closer to shore than before. I saw a lot of fish in one wave- that
was really neat! Billman, Colton, and Jeremy tried to boost some of
the lighter kids to do somersaults in the waves....not extremely
successful, but funny. Micah and Jonathon continued to torment me
by swimming past my legs underwater (when Micah first did that I
didn't see him go under so I thought it was a HUGE fish!) and
throwing seaweed at me. Apparently there were no human-stinging
sting rays in Galveston that week ;D (inside joke with a friend who
wasn't on this missions trip). Mrs. Alber took some pictures with
her camera...it was the first time she was at the beach during the
trip. That afternoon was really hot and the water was pretty
warm...probably around 95 degrees. The ILC pool feels OK at 90
degrees...but the ocean was considerably warmer!
Next we went back to the church...we'd missed debriefing but we
didn't care. We walked into the room where everyone was eating
dinner...mashed potatoes and chicken nuggets. Carli and Roxanne
took some to the showers...that was funny! Then we had to get
ready for dinner...the Carrington was able to dress the nicest...she
brought a really cute dress. I went in my nicest clothes that I
brought: my HAS polo and capris. Mrs. Alber noticed that Jonathon
worked in polo shirts but went to dinner that night in a Dr. Stephen's
ortho T-shirt!
Ariana came with us to dinner....when some of the girls saw her
before that day, they were murmuring, "I bet she's a size 2!", etc.
Sometimes I just get so mad at my fellow females about how mean
we can be. I don't think the girls meant any harm by it....but it can
become a hurtful practice. Anyway, we went to a recommended
restaurant called The Spot, known for it's good hamburgers and
waffle fries. FBCM treated everyone, and I had a Swiss King
hamburger with onion rings and root beer. While we waited for our
food, Ariana told us how the Hurricane had really disturbed her life,
what is was like during the hurricane, how much water came in, and
how she was grateful to stay with loving relatives. But it was
Really. Good. To. Be. Back.
The NBA finals was that night, but while she told her story we
switched the TV off...but the speakers were still on. I was sort of
rooting for the LA Lakers, because I was born in LA...sort of.
Maybe that's why I can be so ditsy!
My burger was great. Mushrooms and swiss cheese on a burger
with lots of lettuce, tomatoes, and onions. And the onion rings were
huge, and very tasty. Oh, and the Lakers won. The Spot was pretty
crowded except the second floor, so we had some privacy.
Because we had our guest, Ariana, with us, Billman and Bob
actually behaved their ages. Bob and Billman acted like children the
entire week!! *wink.
After dinner we were all really tired. Usually, after a retreat or
something I'm with all my friends, so we talk a lot. I didn't talk as
much on this trip, so I didn't get laryngitis! (I get it pretty easily.)
Apparently, on Wednesday night the 6th graders staying in Bob's
room went to sing outside the girls' door at 11:30....lights out was
11.And woke Bob up 3 times. So that Thursday night we was
bound and determined to get EVERYONE to bed at 11! He
succeeded for the most part. Another youth group leader, Bob and I
stayed up talking for a while, then Colton joined us and we talked
until 12. Except Jacob kept getting up and coming out.
Jacob: I can't sleep. I'm still so pumped!
Bob: Try counting sheep.
Jacob: I counted to 500 sheep!
Bob finally shooed everyone off to bed.
Friday:
I woke up at 4 something am. One Chicago group had to get up
super early to catch a flight. But I'd packed a lot Thursday night and
so I didn't spend a lot of time on that in the morning. I slept until
around 7 am. Breakfast was hash browns and it was good...except
all the greasy food we'd been eating all week was starting to catch
up to me.
We started hauling all our luggage out to the van...there was a lot,
but not really any more than what we'd arrived with. I took the
opportunity while we were waiting to load to take some final
pictures...the first picture I'd taken of the One Mission: Galveston
sign was pretty blurry...so I took a new, sharp photo!
Steve O. popped into our bus and prayed for a safe trip, and some
of the Chigaco chicks also came to say goodbye. Then we
left....most of us slept for at least a little bit on the road. I know I
dozed for an hour or two. Carli looked completely wiped out, as did
Mason and Roxanne. Carrington slept for a while, too.
Our goal was to stop at Chick-fil-A for lunch....but we couldn't find
one! So we stopped at Whataburger, where we ate....more greasy
food! We took a bunch of bathroom breaks, including at one gas
station that had a bunch of bumper stickers....Don't follow me- I'm
lost too! I really like that one.
We'd hoped to arrive back at FBCM at 3 pm....and we arrived at
2:58. There we unpacked, said hellos and goodbyes, and departed
for our respective destinations. Mrs. Alber took my camera home
with her to transfer my sports camp pictures to her computer....so
this weekend I went through camera withdrawal....it wasn't terrible,
but I missed not having my camera at the ready.
I thought I would be dropped off at the ILC center on the way
back, but Mr. Mark was able to drop me off at home. So I didn't get
to work that week...but it was probably a good thing because I was
pretty tired. Not extremely tired, but I did take a nap on Sunday
afternoon.
If you think about it, 20,000 out of 73,000 homes means 27% of
Galveston living in unacceptable or hard conditions. One Mission:
Galveston reached 9 homes that week. That is 0.00045% of those
homes reached, or 0.0000123% of Galveston. Numerically, this
missions trip reached nothing and nobody. But we did. Those 9
homeowners, their families, their neighbors, and even their friends
were grateful. We were able to show them God's love through our
blood, sweat, and tears. Love takes many forms, and nothing that is
done for the Lord is insignificant.
Let's do it again next year.
Last week war was waged in Galveston, Texas*. One Mission:
Galveston vs. Hurricane Ike Aftermath. As part of a group of 110
teens and their leaders, the Dallas MK/FBC Midlothian group
traveled to Galveston on Sunday, June 13 to join in the on-going
relief work.
*This war was certainly not a physical, country vs. country war.
This war was a physical effort to alleviate the hard conditions 35%
of Galveston'ers are still living in. 20,000 of the 73,000 population
still needs help. Certainly spiritual war was fought also, not only by
the teens on this missions trip, but also by the people impacted by
our efforts.
Sunday:
We departed from First Baptist Church of Midlothian around
1:30-2pm-ish. After introductions, prayer, packing the church bus,
we all piled in (FBCM and MKs not quite integrated yet) and drove
off.
The team:
MKs: Bob Alber, Barbara Alber, Colton Pettijohn*, Micah Reiman,
Jonathon Testardi, Jacob Evans, and I**.
FBCM: David Billman, Bob Alber, Barbara Alber, Reagan the
intern***, Lexie Petty, Roxanne, Carli Lowman, Nick, Robbie
"Bobbers" Alber, Mason "Meagan Beiber" and Carrington.
*Colton is neither a MK or a FBCM'er. He's apparently been on
other missions trips with the MKs and Bob's old church, and was a
MK leader for this trip.
** Officially, I wasn't a leader because I didn't check that box on
the form.
*** As her title says, Reagan is the FBCM youth intern and came
along as a FBCM leader.
Except for us leaders, official or not, all the kids were
entering-8th-or-9th graders. I won't say how old Bob is ;P
During the road trip, we pumped up Bob's iPod and stopped at
Freebirds! for dinner. I had a taco bowl (a taco without the taco
shell). Those who finished their dinner earlier made aluminum foil
art for the restaurant's decor.
We arrived at Island Community Church around 8:30ish, and
unloaded our baggage and sports and clown equipment. All the girls
were staying in one huge, freezing-cold room, and for the first
couple days the MK/FBCM guys had a room all to themselves. I
slept on the bed closest to the door. The church's basement (where
we were staying) featured a medium-sized industrial kitchen
stocked with lots of food, a main room with room for about 100, and
two bathrooms with 2 toilets and 1 shower each. The rest of the
showers were located in a trailer outside. They were about the size
of the showers at Sky Ranch, 8 on each side. There were more
toilets upstairs in the main part of the church. However, that part
was still under construction. As in, plywood everywhere, no
windows, just the skeleton of a church. But if you looked at it from
the outside, the walls were still good and you might not guess it was
broken inside.
Originally we were supposed to be staying in a school, but then the
basement became available for us. Also, I was under the impression
that we would be sleeping on the floor, so I was prepared for that.
It was a nice surprise that there were bunk beds with air
mattresses!
Right after we claimed our bunks, we headed out to the main area
for Orientation. We also looked at the giant whiteboards on the hall
walls that told us who had what chores when. During Orientation
we learned that Galveston still needs help. 20,000 people are still
living in unacceptable conditions. (If you want to join in, sign up at
www.onemissiongalveston.org). We learned the rules and the
schedule. We met the One Mission staff, including 3 interns and
Pete, Steve O. and Josh, and heard how God had "ruined" their lives
and called them to Galveston. These leaders were very passionate
about their faith and expressed it not only with their actions, but with
their words.
After Orientation we unpacked, hit the showers, and went to sleep.
Monday:
We started Monday at about 6 am. the MKs had Breakfast at 6:30,
so we had to get up earlier than everyone else. Mrs. Alber got up at
5 am!!! Breakfast at first glance was disappointing. Jacob and I
served eggs and waffles, respectively. The breakfast seemed
disappointing at first because the first batch of waffles I served
were soggy and mushy. But when the other batches came out, they
were hot and crispy. Jacob and I eventually got to eat and it was
good! Bob and the others were involved in washing dishes.
After breakfast, we put on sunscreen and filled our water bottles,
etc before heading out to group devotional time on the basketball
court. There Steve O. led us in studying a passage in Acts. After a
prayer, we were given our assignments. We were to work on the
Garcia house in the morning and host a sports camp at a Galveston
ISD in the morning.
After loading the bus with water, sports equipment, ladders,
paintbrushes, drywall equipment, etc, we started driving to the
Garcia's house. Along the way, we swung into a Valero gas station
to purchase ice and bottled water. They didn't have the water we
needed. Then I noticed the Murphy USA gas station across the
road."Hey! Wal*Mart is over there!". Consequently, we went to
Wal*Mart from then on. As we drove into their parking lot we
noticed the Chicago group's bus there. Wal*Mart must have loved
One Mission that week! (And probably will continue loving us the
entire summer!)
Upon arriving at the Garcia house, we met Naomi Garcia, and 2 of
her 4 children. The house had been primed the week before by
another group, but it was like they'd run out of primer. That day we
primed the entire house, mostly all over again, and Billman (the
FBCM middle school youth pastor) tore down the ceiling the
previous group had done and started over again. While waited for
the ceiling and primer and paint to arrive, we weeded the Garcia
garden and picked up trash. Bob also explained how to properly
handle a paint brush (he painted houses for 14 years).
Once the supplies arrived we went to work. Bob, Barb, Micah,
Carrington, Carli, Jonathon, We used two ladders and a rather thin
plank as scaffolding. Micah and I stood on the plank near the
ladders and tried to avoid the middle. When we did have to paint in
the middle, only one of us stood there! We made a good start on
priming, but by the lunch time it was clear that we would have to
work through the afternoon to get things finished. So Billman took
most of the FBCM'ers, Jonathon, and Jacob to host the sports
camp. Bob, Micah, Carli, Carrington (I think), and I stayed and
primed the rest of the house. I got so much primer on my 24 shirt
and it didn't all come out in the wash :( It was very hot outside (but
it was even warmer in the small side room where they were
working on the ceiling) but we had water, so nobody got
dehydrated.
We finished an hour before Billman and the others came back from
sports camp. We rested in the shade and Mrs. Alber talked more
with Mrs. Garcia. It became known that we were also asked to
paint the already-primed inside of the house. We wanted to, but we
didn't know if we'd have time. There also some other small jobs, like
screwing up new house numbers because we'd taken down the old
ones for painting. In the morning, Mrs. Garcia had shared some of
her struggles and stories with Mrs. Alber. After living with relatives
for a year, the Garcias were able to move back to Galveston.
However, the house was still in pretty bad shape and her teenage
daughter, Ariana, was having a hard time. They were very grateful
for our help.
After cleaning the brushes and paint buckets, I found a blue rubber
ducky up in the tree....it was rather amusing. After I took pictures
of it, Micah got it down for the little Garcia girl. Then Billman came
to pick us up and we headed back to the church for debriefing.
During debriefing we gave a brief description on our assignments and
how they were going. The speaker then challenged us to expect
God to work miracles. After the 20-minute debriefing on the
burning-hot basketball court we went inside for dinner. I forgot
what we had for dinner, but it was pretty good. Dinner was always
pretty good, especially for camp food!
There were 3 groups from Chicago, one from Kansas, and one
from Austin, besides our group. Most of them hit the beach (which
was about a quarter of a mile down the road), be we stayed at the
church. Billman and Bob were really tired. So we stayed inside,
played a dice game called Farkle, Mafia, and I took care of a blister
on my toe. Then I discovered Bob's balloons, that he got in Jamaica
in 2004, and I started practicing my balloons for Sports camp on
Wednesday.
The plan was to clown and balloon on Wednesday. Bob had
recommended Reagan as my clown partner, because Ruth didn't
come on the trip, but Carli showed an aptitude to sit down and learn
ballooning. Most of the other kids wanted to blow up balloons and
things, but I couldn't supervise them all at once, so mostly it was just
Carli and I ballooning. Most kids want to twist balloons and make
something, and I completely understand that (that was sort of how I
got started!) but their attention span doesn't make it feasible to
teach them. Plus, I didn't have that many balloons and that much
patience! Because we only had 2 nights to practice ballooning, I
showed Carli how to make a sword, bunny, parrot, and poodle. My
balloon repertoire is not very impressive, so generally when I
balloon at an event I ask the kids to request one of, say 10 items. Or
if they ask for something, I will try to figure out how to grant their
request. But I've had to say, "I'm sorry, I can't make that.".
Naturally, the littler kids were attracted to the balloons, so a lot of
our creations went to them. Oh, another group consisting of 6th
graders arrived that night. One could play the piano pretty well, and
he could also create pretty big mess, as we found out later. But
most of the balloons went to Pete's three pretty little girls.
After ballooning, Farkle, and Mafia (I was accused of being the
Assassin but I accidentally waved my card in the air while we were
arguing and someone saw it and told the accuser I wasn't the
Assassin) we showered and went to bed.
Tuesday:
I didn't plan to wake up until 6:30 at the earliest. However, I woke
up at 6 and decided to go for a walk down to the beach to take
pictures. I figured I would be too tired to do that later in the week,
so I may as well do it that morning! I and Kelsey from Kansas
walked to the beach and I got some nice pictures, and woke up.
Then we went to breakfast, which included pancakes. I think it was
during Tuesday, or Wednesday, but we had a great time at
breakfast. Billman was making all sorts of pirate jokes and talking
with a lot of "Arrrrg"s thrown in.
Billman: Did you hear about the new pirate movie?
Roxanne: No! Is there a new one?
Billman: Yeah, it's rated Arrrrrrr!
Roxanne: *pauses for a moment* Well, at least Reagan can see it!
Billman: *collapses on the table laughing. And laughing. And
laughing.*
All: *laugh at Billman and laugh at the joke and how it turned out*
After group devotionals, departure, and a Wal*Mart run (which
included two leaders staying in the bus to man the iPod (Skillet,
TobyMac, and the Make War song) and make sure Security didn't
check on us) we arrived at the Garcia house. We opened the paint
buckets- the paint was a sandy color. Ick. Ok, it wasn't THAT bad,
but I'd assumed the house would be white or a very light color.
However, Mrs. Garcia said the color was OK, so Bob and his team
started painting. Billman and his team started putting up a proper
ceiling. The painting went relatively fast, although it was a little
tedious and pretty strenuous on the neck, eyes, and arms. We'd
found a nicely thick plank, so no more standing on a plank that felt
ready to break! However, the work on the ceiling didn't go so well.
Apparently they screwed in the drywall (which was VERY heavy)
vertically. Later they found they should have screwed it in
horizontally...so they had to start all over. Meanwhile, we painted all
but one side of the house by working through the afternoon again.
Billman and the sports team left for the school after lunch, leaving
Bob, Barb, Micah, Carli, Nick, and Jacob (I think) to paint. That
afternoon was probably the hottest one. Bob's face was turning
purple from the heat, and Jacob and Nick were sunburning. I kept
telling Bob to get a drink, and he only listened about half the time.
Towards 2 pm. there was no shade. Of course, my hair was
extremely bothersome, and because my baseball hat kept falling off
when I turned upside down to paint the roof eaves my hair got on
my neck and boy was that annoying! We were all sweating buckets
as we swotted away and we didn't finish the whole house. But we
felt like we accomplished a lot. Unfortunately, we realised that
Billman's team felt the exact opposite :(
During group devotionals that day we played the Evolution game
(like rock-paper-scissors, only you progress from an egg to a
chicken, dinosaur, frog prince or princess, to a king or queen.) I was
able to go straight from an egg to a queen without progressing
backwards. During debriefing, we were asked to pray with
someone on Wednesday. Micah and I shared the same views on
that: we should be challenged, or encouraged to pray- not ordered
or asked to promise. It might not be God's will for you to pray with
someone that day, and if you'd promised to, then you would be
breaking a promise, which is not advisable. Or right.
During dinner, a mutual friend of Bob and Billman and many of the
FBCM kids came and joined us. Jeremy also went to the beach. I
am SO jealous of his truck! Some didn't feel like going, so they
stayed behind with Mrs. Alber. I went, but seaweed creeps me out,
so I didn't actually go past the seaweed to the waves. But it was
very relaxing time just listening to the waves and birds. And taking
pictures. It was kind of one of those "Be still and know that I am
God" moments. Everyone else was in the water. After the beach,
we went to Ben and Jerry's for ice cream. I didn't feel like ice
cream, so I didn't eat any. (I am milk/dairy intolerant, and even
though I take lactase pills to help me digest milk I try to eat as little
as possible.) Not to mention, Ben and Jerry's is so expensive! I did
lend Micah some money to buy an ice cream, and it looked
delicious. I found some brochures on the ingredients and nutrition
facts of the ice cream Billman was eating. It was a fun
conversation:
Me: Phish Food ice cream has 6 grams of saturated fat!
Billman: Awesome!
Me: You are eating 230 calories, 100 of which are from fat!
Billman: That's great!
Me: There are 25 mg of cholesterol in your ice cream.
Billman: And that isn't changing how good this tastes!
On the way back to the church we played the Make War song
again, and then we all took showers. I and Carli practiced balloons
again, and we made a balloon hat for one of the Chicago guys who
had his birthday that night. His leaders surprised him with a cake
and everyone in the room sang Happy Birthday to him. We also
made a hat for Billman and he wore it for a little bit. Another teen
from Chicago wanted to learn balloons and so I said I'd teach him
the next night.
Oh, there was one table full of kids who played spoons every night. They were so loud! To say the least, it got annoying at times. But on Tuesday night the One Mission staff dressed up in white jumpsuits, hard hats, and gas masks. They ran down the hall, grabbed one of the girls from the Spoons table (randomness: she lost her voice later that week) and hauled her, screaming (not very loudly) back up the haul to a small closet. There they held her down and wrote OMG on her forehead. Then they brought her back to her friends. (OMG stands for One Mission: Galveston.) I had my camera with me as I was teaching Carli balloons. So I got pictures of the abduction. It was very funny!
Wednesday:
The MKs had to lunch prep duty at 6:30 am. I woke up at 6:25 am.
I thought it was 6, because that was when all the cell phone alarms
had rung the previous two mornings, but apparently the phones'
owners had decided to sleep later. After I brushed my teeth, etc, I
went to wake up the MK guys.
Me: *knock knock* Hey MKs, we have breakfast duty.
Someone: Who?
Me: Wycliffe.
Someone: They're already up.
Me: Oh. Sorry.
I hadn't heard them in the kitchen, so I thought they weren't up.
They were already in the kitchen, spreading peanut butter and jelly
on bread for the lunch sandwiches. But they were probably so
tired they weren't making any noise, which was unusual. Which is
why I'd assumed they weren't in the kitchen. We made 110
sandwiches.
I forgot what I was doing, but when I arrived for group devotionals,
they'd already started. Steve O. had gotten 3 male volunteers to try
out their best pick-up lines on two girls, who were sitting on a
3-person "couch". After the guy tried out his line, the audience and
the girls decided if he'd be allowed to sit on the couch with them.
The lines were hilarious, and all three guys were invited, one by one,
to sit on the couch between them. As he sat down, each guy would
hit the ground. The couch was a tarp spread over TWO chairs,
making it look like there was a third seat in the middle! The second
guy caught himself, but the other two fell through. Hee hee!
I got a video of that. And come to think of it, I think I had my
camera's microphone on mute. Which means the video I got of the
ocean probably doesn't have sound. :( :( :(
After the hilarity was over, we were armed with the Word of God
and sent out to our projects. After the usual Wal*Mart run, we
arrived at the Garcia's. We finished painting the last side of the
house and finished up some spots from Tuesday's painting.
Billman's ceiling made significant progress, and Mrs. Alber fixed
some things inside. Bob stayed behind again that afternoon to fix the
cracks between the outside wall and the window. Mrs. Alber had
caulked that place previously. I took pictures that morning with Mrs.
Alber's camera that day so there would be pictures of everyone
working.
That afternoon all of us, except Bob and Barb Alber, went to sports
camp. When we got to the school, I thought we could balloon under
the HUGE oak tree outside. However, I quickly learned that was
not a good idea because the grass was sharp enough to pop several
balloons upon contact. So we moved to a corner of the gym and
finished our balloon prep. Some kids saw us immediately and we
were mobbed, as balloon artists usually are. What can I say? We're
awesome! Once we started making the balloons for the kids, it was
chaos. They wouldn't be quiet while Carli and I tried to talk to them
about Jesus, they wouldn't sit down, they got too close, and they
wouldn't form a line. We worked as fast as we could, but not
everyone that wanted a balloon got one. :( One kid kept asking me
for a balloon, over and over and over, and when he was supposed to
go with his group outside, he kept disobeying and coming in and
asking over and over, and finally I told him we'd still be here when
he came back in. Guess what? He kept coming in and asking.
Finally, I had to tell him I wouldn't make him a balloon because he
wasn't obeying his leader, who kept coming in after him. I lost
track of time completely, but I'm guessing we made balloons for
less than 2 hours. I also had blisters on my toes from standing on
the ladder and scaffolding for 3 days and my heels and feet were
killing me. And I was standing the entire time I was ballooning. We
eventually ran out of balloons and had to stop. I hobbled over to the
bleachers in the gym and watched the kids playing basketball. And I
watched kids arguing. And bullying. And as teen from Chicago
observed, I watched 8th graders recruiting 3rd graders for gangs.
During debriefing, two Chicago girls told about how the kids camp
was going. The first two days they'd had around 35 kids. That day,
we'd had over 80 kids, and it was chaos. They really appreciated
our team coming in and showing God's love to the kids, mentoring
and befriending them. They also mentioned they could use help in
the morning. While we waited for the dinner line to peter out, Bob,
Billman, Barb, Colton, and I sat in the shade and discussed
Thursday. We'd planned to quit work at lunch time and hit the
beach. Thursday was our last day of work. However, we still had to
finish the ceiling, paint some inside things, put up the house numbers,
and more. However, as experienced during that week, sometimes
we had too many workers, so some kids didn't have anything to do.
Whatever was decided during that discussion I didn't catch, because
I'm bad at catching the points or decisions or discussions. There
were also some details to figure out, such how many leaders did we
need at each place if we did such and such?
Dinner was good. Then we went to the beach again! It was also
Bob and Barb's 26th wedding anniversary, so we all went to the
beach so they could go to dinner together. In the bus back from
sports camp, Bob, Colton, and I figured out that Bob had spent 100
days waiting for Mrs. Alber. Yup. Bob thought it was around 9
years....but math always proves things :) Have I mentioned I like
math? Anyway, on the bus to the beach/dinner, Billman had created
a special playlist on his iPhone for the trip. Soft love songs for the
first 2 songs....then:
Billman: This is how Barb describes Bob in the morning. *plays
Skillet's song Monster. Everyone falls over laughing*
So we went to the beach and the Albers walked across the street to
a restaurant. Bob said he had steak. This time the seaweed wasn't
as bad and I went into the waves. The water was warm. But we all
had fun and I watched some of the kids where the water was
deeper and we discussed guns and deep-sea fishing. After a while I
got tired of the big waves and tried to get them to move back to
shore (they saw through all of my attempts to coerce them back).
Eventually, it was time to leave and stop at Ben and Jerry's again.
This time there were more people in the shop, so I and some others
stayed outside.
I'm not sure if it was Wednesday night for sure when Billman said
this, but one day we didn't play the Make War song because some
of us didn't keep the Deal: No energy drinks on the trip. I didn't
have an energy drink (do you know how much caffeine is in that
stuff?).
I was really tired that night, but I kept my promise to the Chicago
kid. I didn' t feel like it but I decided to ask him anyway if he still
wanted to learn. He did, very much so. So I taught him first to make
the dragonfly that I'd invented that morning. The little kid had asked
for a butterfly, but because the wings wouldn't stay vertical, it
turned into a dragonfly! And it is adorable. So anyway, I taught that
to him and a few others. Carli joined us and it was great. Drew, the
Chicago kid, kept explaining to his curious friend what he was doing:
"It's a lost art! And seriously, I am sweating so hard!" He was
sweating- most do because they're afraid of the balloon popping and
the terrible noises the balloon can make when it rubs against itself.
He made a dragonfly, parrot, and a sword, and was satisfied. Then
I went to bed.
Thursday:
We had breakfast duty again. We had to get up early most
mornings, unlike the other groups. But we didn't have the
clean-the-facilities chores, so I'm not complaining.
After devos, we hit Wal*Mart (again!) and it took a little longer
than usual because Mrs. Alber went back in buy wall texture in a
spray can (I had no idea that stuff existed!)
Something funny: After Wednesday my feet were shot. So I went
around commenting how I needed a new pair of feet, there really
was no hope for my existing pair! So Thursday morning,during
breakfast duty, I had a great idea! I would walk into Wal*Mart,
limping and holding my shoe, stuffed with a sock and a balloon. I'd
ask a cashier if they sold feet and go from there. Hopefully the
cashier would be weirded out and we'd all have a good laugh (and
maybe get it on camera). However, I tested out my fake foot on a
few of the teens and it wasn't extremely convincing. And plus the
fact that I can't be serious when pulling a prank. But when I
showed Micah the pictures I took of my fake foot he was a bit puzzled
:)
At the Garcia's house, we quickly painted the front foundation and
the steps. The mutual friend Jeremy joined us to work on the house.
Then we cleaned the brushes yet again.... I think that was the worst
part, because it was just so tedious!
That day we had an opportunity to pray for someone- and we'd been challenged to pray for someone on Wednesday. A couple walked up and I guess someone stopped to talk with them- they were still living without electricity and water. Both were unemployed. We had the opportunity to pray for them and give them some money.
By the time we were done (we got started late), it was time to go to sports camp. Billman dropped everyone off, except himself, Jeremy, Mrs. Alber, Robbie, and I. Mrs. Alber showed Robbie and I how to put mud on the room to
seal up the crack between the walls and the ceiling of the room
we'd fixed. After the first day of work, Bob started bringing his
iPod and speakers, so we had music to work by. It certainly helped
us work faster, and more cheerfully! So Robbie "Bobbers" put it on
shuffle and we mudded to music. Mrs. Alber worked on painting
the inside door frames, and when Billman and Jeremy got back
from dropping the others off at sports camp they worked on fixing a
portion of the wall. It was good for Billman to have someone bigger
to help him. I was the second tallest person (except for Micah and
Bob, Barb, and Billman) on the trip and none of us were involved in
drywalling. After a little he left and Bobbers screwed in the drywall.
It was really loud inside that small room. Anyway, Billman ran out
to Home Depot to get some supplies, I mudded, Mrs. Alber painted,
and Bobbers screwed and mudded. I mudded for 5 hours. I got
most of it done, but if I'd had more time, I would have mudded the
seams in the ceiling, sanded everything, painted and textured
everything. Also, I wish we could have put in a proper door, and
done something, like carpet or tile, the plywood floor. Then I would
call the room livable. Oh, and the light bulb left much to be desired,
and air conditioning should be channeled to the room. I'm proud of
what we did, but I wish we could have done more.
We quit and cleaned up around 2:30 pm. Mrs. Alber had bought
Gatorade drink mix that morning so the cooler was filled with
orange G, and that was great! We all drank a lot because it was so
hot in the room, and it kept me from being too hungry, so I didn't eat
until 3. Plus, I wanted to get as much done as possible, seeing as it
was our last day of work.
We put all the supplies, ladders, etc back in the bus to take back to
the church, and we also invited Ariana to dinner with us that night.
Sure, church food was good, but we decided to go out anyway!
Once back at the church, our War on Hurricane Damage was
Done. Victory: Us. Because the Garcia's house was more fixed and
more like a home. The paint made the house look new (but I still
wished we could have put a contrasting paint trim on it, but it looked
great!).
After we unloaded and cleaned the bus of sand, dirt, empty bottles,
etc, we changed and headed to the beach, where Jeremy joined us
again. We all had a great time and the waves were a lot bigger
closer to shore than before. I saw a lot of fish in one wave- that
was really neat! Billman, Colton, and Jeremy tried to boost some of
the lighter kids to do somersaults in the waves....not extremely
successful, but funny. Micah and Jonathon continued to torment me
by swimming past my legs underwater (when Micah first did that I
didn't see him go under so I thought it was a HUGE fish!) and
throwing seaweed at me. Apparently there were no human-stinging
sting rays in Galveston that week ;D (inside joke with a friend who
wasn't on this missions trip). Mrs. Alber took some pictures with
her camera...it was the first time she was at the beach during the
trip. That afternoon was really hot and the water was pretty
warm...probably around 95 degrees. The ILC pool feels OK at 90
degrees...but the ocean was considerably warmer!
Next we went back to the church...we'd missed debriefing but we
didn't care. We walked into the room where everyone was eating
dinner...mashed potatoes and chicken nuggets. Carli and Roxanne
took some to the showers...that was funny! Then we had to get
ready for dinner...the Carrington was able to dress the nicest...she
brought a really cute dress. I went in my nicest clothes that I
brought: my HAS polo and capris. Mrs. Alber noticed that Jonathon
worked in polo shirts but went to dinner that night in a Dr. Stephen's
ortho T-shirt!
Ariana came with us to dinner....when some of the girls saw her
before that day, they were murmuring, "I bet she's a size 2!", etc.
Sometimes I just get so mad at my fellow females about how mean
we can be. I don't think the girls meant any harm by it....but it can
become a hurtful practice. Anyway, we went to a recommended
restaurant called The Spot, known for it's good hamburgers and
waffle fries. FBCM treated everyone, and I had a Swiss King
hamburger with onion rings and root beer. While we waited for our
food, Ariana told us how the Hurricane had really disturbed her life,
what is was like during the hurricane, how much water came in, and
how she was grateful to stay with loving relatives. But it was
Really. Good. To. Be. Back.
The NBA finals was that night, but while she told her story we
switched the TV off...but the speakers were still on. I was sort of
rooting for the LA Lakers, because I was born in LA...sort of.
Maybe that's why I can be so ditsy!
My burger was great. Mushrooms and swiss cheese on a burger
with lots of lettuce, tomatoes, and onions. And the onion rings were
huge, and very tasty. Oh, and the Lakers won. The Spot was pretty
crowded except the second floor, so we had some privacy.
Because we had our guest, Ariana, with us, Billman and Bob
actually behaved their ages. Bob and Billman acted like children the
entire week!! *wink.
After dinner we were all really tired. Usually, after a retreat or
something I'm with all my friends, so we talk a lot. I didn't talk as
much on this trip, so I didn't get laryngitis! (I get it pretty easily.)
Apparently, on Wednesday night the 6th graders staying in Bob's
room went to sing outside the girls' door at 11:30....lights out was
11.And woke Bob up 3 times. So that Thursday night we was
bound and determined to get EVERYONE to bed at 11! He
succeeded for the most part. Another youth group leader, Bob and I
stayed up talking for a while, then Colton joined us and we talked
until 12. Except Jacob kept getting up and coming out.
Jacob: I can't sleep. I'm still so pumped!
Bob: Try counting sheep.
Jacob: I counted to 500 sheep!
Bob finally shooed everyone off to bed.
Friday:
I woke up at 4 something am. One Chicago group had to get up
super early to catch a flight. But I'd packed a lot Thursday night and
so I didn't spend a lot of time on that in the morning. I slept until
around 7 am. Breakfast was hash browns and it was good...except
all the greasy food we'd been eating all week was starting to catch
up to me.
We started hauling all our luggage out to the van...there was a lot,
but not really any more than what we'd arrived with. I took the
opportunity while we were waiting to load to take some final
pictures...the first picture I'd taken of the One Mission: Galveston
sign was pretty blurry...so I took a new, sharp photo!
Steve O. popped into our bus and prayed for a safe trip, and some
of the Chigaco chicks also came to say goodbye. Then we
left....most of us slept for at least a little bit on the road. I know I
dozed for an hour or two. Carli looked completely wiped out, as did
Mason and Roxanne. Carrington slept for a while, too.
Our goal was to stop at Chick-fil-A for lunch....but we couldn't find
one! So we stopped at Whataburger, where we ate....more greasy
food! We took a bunch of bathroom breaks, including at one gas
station that had a bunch of bumper stickers....Don't follow me- I'm
lost too! I really like that one.
We'd hoped to arrive back at FBCM at 3 pm....and we arrived at
2:58. There we unpacked, said hellos and goodbyes, and departed
for our respective destinations. Mrs. Alber took my camera home
with her to transfer my sports camp pictures to her computer....so
this weekend I went through camera withdrawal....it wasn't terrible,
but I missed not having my camera at the ready.
I thought I would be dropped off at the ILC center on the way
back, but Mr. Mark was able to drop me off at home. So I didn't get
to work that week...but it was probably a good thing because I was
pretty tired. Not extremely tired, but I did take a nap on Sunday
afternoon.
If you think about it, 20,000 out of 73,000 homes means 27% of
Galveston living in unacceptable or hard conditions. One Mission:
Galveston reached 9 homes that week. That is 0.00045% of those
homes reached, or 0.0000123% of Galveston. Numerically, this
missions trip reached nothing and nobody. But we did. Those 9
homeowners, their families, their neighbors, and even their friends
were grateful. We were able to show them God's love through our
blood, sweat, and tears. Love takes many forms, and nothing that is
done for the Lord is insignificant.
Let's do it again next year.
Monday, May 31, 2010
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