Day 4: Tuesday, June 24

Lake Charles, La. (Senior High)

Amber F.:

Today I arrived at a new work site with a new group to work with. Half of us hadn’t worked here yet and were not exactly sure on what to start doing. However, that didn’t last long. The adults and youth who had been here before quickly took others under their wings and explained how to the various jobs around the site, allowing work to start quicker than expected. There were four main jobs: working on the roof, reinstalling the insulation, sawing the wood to be used for other work, and what came to be known as the black hole, which is where I started off working. The Hole was, well, a hole in the living room of the house, which was being made in order to put new wood in the place of the rotting wood. When I arrived I found out that all the work yesterday’s workers (meaning Dad, Michelle, Brian, and Alex) had done had to be completely destroyed in order to pull out more rotting wood. Basically I had to help these remarkable people tear apart a whole day’s work and start from scratch. However I was amazed that not one of them complained and quickly began working on getting the job done.

I also spent time working on the roof, where I realized I cannot operate a hammer to save my life. Anyway, I saw God in every person up there who had been working many hard hours before I started, in the 108 degree sun, and were still going strong until the job was done. Everybody was so amazing and working so hard all day.

However there are two other important people, not involved in youth who need recognition. The first is Jimmy, a worker from the Mission Center who had come over to help work on the Hole. This fifty-year-old man never stopped working and gave very helpful advice and effort to the task. The job definitely could not have been done without him.

The second is Stella, the woman whose house we were fixing. I felt awful while working in the Hole, because the whole time she sat on her couch watching us tear apart her house, a sad and hurt look in her eyes. I could tell she was bothered by the necessary destruction, but who wouldn’t be? However, she talked and joked with us, complimenting us on our work, not once complaining. Her strength was eye-opening, and I am still amazed by her.

Today was a great day. Everyone worked, sweated, and finished our various jobs together. No one complained about the heat, or the work, or anything. Today I finally realized what a unique group of people our youth group is; one who is ready for anything without asking anything in return. And I’m glad to apart of it.

Paul F.:

Today we woke even earlier than yesterday. We woke up at 6:00 and at breakfast at 6:30. Our teams and work sites were changed to help us gain more experience from this trip. I got to my work site which was an hour away and got to work on the roof. Me and my team tore shingles off the roof and replaced them with new ones. We worked from nine to four with lunch being our only real break. We finished replacing more than half of the shingles in 104 degree weather. I saw God in all of the people who started and stuck with the roof work all day no matter how tired. I’ve seen God so many times this week this is my favorite mission trip so far.

San Marcos (Junior High)

Austin S.:

Today, we started out with another great breakfast of biscuits and gravy. I had some with and some without gravy, but either way it was still pretty good.

For the first half of work we pretty much did the same thing. Tore off a couple more, but after that we got to saw some wood. We had to cut the wood that still had lead paint in it. We did that until lunch (hamburgersJ).

After lunch, Beck, Blake and I got to work on the wall on one of the sides of the house. I did that for the rest of the day and I had a lot of fun.

And I couldn’t wait until Saltgrass Steakhouse for dinner where I had an excellent, juicy STEAK.

Bailey T.:

I saw God in Mr. Whiteman today. From the start, he was there for me. He reminds me of my papa. Today was fun! The owners’ son, Anthony, came out while we were working and the smile on his face motivated me to work harder and it reminded me of what we are really here for!! I miss my family but I can wait a few days!!

CJ:

Today we got moved to another work site (blue group) from Marshall to Seguin. When we got to Seguin, another church had already been working there all week. We were welcomed with warm and open hearts. The other church that was there was Grace United Methodist Church. There, I got the pleasure to work with the supervisor Matt. Matt and I got to build a porch on the left side of the house. I met a lot of new people today like Jordan, JJ, SY, and Matt. We had an awesome day overall and everybody that I met had a warm and welcoming heart.