Bringing the Eastern Shore to West Texas
My two weeks of craziness are almost over! It all started with the arrival of Immanuel Lutheran Church in Easton, MD, on the 10th of this month. Well, actually the night before, since if you recall the list of everything going on from the 10th-24th in one of my previous blogs, my family's visit was on there, and they got in on the 9th. Chris had to entertain them until I got back from building in Juarez, but then we all went out to dinner at Cheddar's. I had this buffalo chicken wrap, which was good but ginormous so I ate it for lunch the next 2 days too! The following day the MD group arrived. They found out about us via the Servant Event Portal on the LCMS website; I was excited about them before I even met them purely because they were from MD--not exactly known for Lutherans. They had never been on any sort of mission trip before, so I was particularly humbled that they chose YLM for their first experience since they skipped out on an awesome sounding Christian campout on the beach in Wildwood, NJ, to be here.
Turns out I had every reason to be excited though, because they were an awesome bunch. The youth were some of the most Christ-like, respectful, and hardworking I have seen. I wasn't the only person to notice either; my parents and Karen, a volunteer from Seward, NE, who came to help with San Pablo's VBS, both paid them high compliments. I honestly think a lot of it has to do with their leaders, who don't work for the church but rather lead the youth group on a volunteer basis in addition to their regular jobs.
Immanuel's project was to put this year's "Fix-Up-The-Mission" initiative into action in a big way. With my parents and sister pitching in, they helped with San Pablo's VBS, built a new roof on #8, tiled 3 dorm rooms, built a sound booth for San Pablo, painted the outside of the dorms and part of San Pablo, and even left a piece of the Eastern Shore (I heard that term a lot last week, as well as topics like crab cakes and Old Bay seasoning) in West Texas...
My sister (right) and one of the Sarahs from MD tiling in room H.
Lindsey fixing the bookcase from room H. All it needed was a couple nails but it had probably been like that for years. I think this picture embodies the servant attitude that the whole group had: they saw an opportunity to serve no matter how small, and they pitched in however they could.
Last piece of cove base!
Kristen using THE tool on the sound booth, with my mom supervising. She did surprisingly little of that and was working as hard as anyone even after we spent 4 hours in the ER on Sunday night so she could get 6 stitches in her left pointer finger (she cut it with a utility knife while laying tile in room C).
My dad was part of the roofing crew.
How many Lutherans does it take to cut a 2 x 12?
They let Jess use power tools?!? It was determined on the way back from the airport that Jess is one of those intelligent people with no common sense (like someone else I know...), so the leaders gave her to Chris to be his "mentee"--aka he gave her a hard time all week by doing things like telling her that ice cream trucks are free in TX to see if she would believe him, and then of course it was her "birthday" at Cattleman's.
Breaktime with the goddaughter while working on the sound booth.
I like it when my sister is around because there is sure to be proof that I was in fact, actually working.
#12 seriously looks like a whole different building!
Tim even built a shelf for sound equipment...
...and the group laid VCT tile on the floor.
EVERYONE working to finish painting at least the front of the church...with a special goal in mind...
Ladder picture!
Like it? Complete with little nails on top to keep pigeons from landing there and all of their names on the back.
The little piece of the Eastern Shore that will forever be in West Texas!
Turns out I had every reason to be excited though, because they were an awesome bunch. The youth were some of the most Christ-like, respectful, and hardworking I have seen. I wasn't the only person to notice either; my parents and Karen, a volunteer from Seward, NE, who came to help with San Pablo's VBS, both paid them high compliments. I honestly think a lot of it has to do with their leaders, who don't work for the church but rather lead the youth group on a volunteer basis in addition to their regular jobs.
Immanuel's project was to put this year's "Fix-Up-The-Mission" initiative into action in a big way. With my parents and sister pitching in, they helped with San Pablo's VBS, built a new roof on #8, tiled 3 dorm rooms, built a sound booth for San Pablo, painted the outside of the dorms and part of San Pablo, and even left a piece of the Eastern Shore (I heard that term a lot last week, as well as topics like crab cakes and Old Bay seasoning) in West Texas...
My sister (right) and one of the Sarahs from MD tiling in room H.
Lindsey fixing the bookcase from room H. All it needed was a couple nails but it had probably been like that for years. I think this picture embodies the servant attitude that the whole group had: they saw an opportunity to serve no matter how small, and they pitched in however they could.
Last piece of cove base!
Kristen using THE tool on the sound booth, with my mom supervising. She did surprisingly little of that and was working as hard as anyone even after we spent 4 hours in the ER on Sunday night so she could get 6 stitches in her left pointer finger (she cut it with a utility knife while laying tile in room C).
My dad was part of the roofing crew.
How many Lutherans does it take to cut a 2 x 12?
They let Jess use power tools?!? It was determined on the way back from the airport that Jess is one of those intelligent people with no common sense (like someone else I know...), so the leaders gave her to Chris to be his "mentee"--aka he gave her a hard time all week by doing things like telling her that ice cream trucks are free in TX to see if she would believe him, and then of course it was her "birthday" at Cattleman's.
Breaktime with the goddaughter while working on the sound booth.
I like it when my sister is around because there is sure to be proof that I was in fact, actually working.
#12 seriously looks like a whole different building!
Tim even built a shelf for sound equipment...
...and the group laid VCT tile on the floor.
EVERYONE working to finish painting at least the front of the church...with a special goal in mind...
Ladder picture!
Like it? Complete with little nails on top to keep pigeons from landing there and all of their names on the back.
The little piece of the Eastern Shore that will forever be in West Texas!I have lots more blogs on deck now that the craziness is ebbing a little bit, so keep reading! Until next time, blessings!
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Word verification word: farin
Word verification sentence: Hope everyone is farin well after all the heat, storms, and hard work of last week!