WPC 2011 Mission Trip Updates

Day 8

2011-07-02T19:07:00.000-07:00

Hey this is Team Lightning again!
Today we got an early start to our trip home. After breakfast and loading the vans, we headed out and made our way over to Roswell for lunch. We weren't able to get out and see much because of the UFO Convention going on, but it was still neat to see all the aliens! We made it to Odessa around 7 and played some games before dinner from Subway. After devo tonight we will go to bed early so that we can get an early start again tomorrow and make it home to Webster!
Team Lightning, Over and Out!

Day 7

2011-07-01T18:54:00.000-07:00

So this morning was another early morning. Today we woke up not to work, but to have some FUN! We had a early morning breakfast and loaded up the vans to head off on our two hour journey to Canyon De Chelly. Most of the group decided to take the two hour treck to the bottom of the canyon and back. At the base of the canyon we saw the famous White House Ruins, which date back to 1200 AD. The rest of the group took a tour of the scenic outlooks. After our tour we proceeded to the breathtaking Spider Rock lookout point, where we had lunch all together. After spending a wonderful day in the canyon, we loaded up the vans to head back to the First United Methodist Church. The ride home was a very quiet one for most vans, as everyone was exhausted and fell to sleep quickly. After getting showers, we had a lovely dinner of fajitas. And tonight at devo we will do our affirmation blocks and head to sleep. We look forward to returning home to our church families, families, and friends. We love y'all, and thank you for all your prayers and support.

Day 6 - LAST WORK DAY

2011-06-30T20:23:00.000-07:00

Today was the last day of work here at the Navajo Reservation. It was an early day, we were up at 6:00 and we ate a delicious breakfast of biscuits and eggs. We then hit the road for a looooooong day of work. We all worked hard on our different projects, the outhouse, the roof, the 2 houses, and of course the community center!!! After a work-filled afternoon, we ate our sack lunches, and then continued our laborious work all the way to 6:00 in some cases! What a tough day! Due to our amazing, dedicated, youth, we wrapped up most of our projects, and left with a great sense of accomplishment! We are all very tired and looking forward to the hike tomorrow.The highlight of everyone's day of course, was Joe's Birthday!

Day 5

2011-06-29T20:11:00.000-07:00

Today was the third day of work in Gallup! We had a successful day of work, until thunder and freezing cold rain ended our work day, but we continued to make great progress on our projects. For lunch, Rhoda made us all Navajo tacos. They consisted of fry bread, taco meat, cheese, beans, lettuce, tomatoes, and onions. They were amazingly delicious! Tonight, we traveled to downtown Gallup to watch traditional Navajo dances. The dancers moved gracefully along a gravel circle, as the strobes of lightning flashed in the distance. We watched in awe as they enacted the basket dance, the buffalo dance, and the hoop dance. At one of the homes the woman whose house we were working on, and who didn't speak english, went and got tools that helped us do our jobs faster. It was like she had read our minds. When we didn't have enough pry bars, she appeared with two extra, and when we were reduced to sawing on a small stack of boards, she found two saw horses in the woods and brought them over. Even with a language barrier, a connection was made that required no words.

Day 4

2011-06-28T17:56:00.000-07:00

Ya'ta'hey (Hello) Webster Presby and St. Pauls Presby. Today is another beautiful day in New Mexico; there are clouds in the sky, providing shade for everyone working around the Navajo Reservation in the heat of the sun. Here is a brief rundown of our activities today.

Community Center:

We continued painting the trim and began painting the outer walls of the building, and also continued installing dry wall and spread mud on the dry wall. Progress was made on the outhouse and roof as well.

Rose's House:

We continued rebuilding Rose's roof and replaced the trim. Our generous host also provided us with frybread!

Helen's House:

We finished ripping out the rotten boards that needed to be replaced. We began putting new boards in and the painters started on the trim. We also filled gaps between floor tiles with grout.

At dinner, a den of cub scouts fed us wonderful tacos and provided us with great entertainment!

The week is starting off with tiring work, but it is also very rewarding. We are having a great time and making many new friends. Please continue to keep us in your prayers and send us your love!

Group 2: Watson, Lisa, Marshall, Colleen, Alexis, Charlie, Jonathon

Day 3 First work day!

2011-06-27T17:22:00.000-07:00

Today was the first day of work. There were many different work sites with many different jobs, such as painting, roofing, dry walling digging a hole for an outhouse, and building the outhouse. Everyone worked hard and stayed hydrated. The people of Gallup were so happy for our help.

Day 2

2011-06-26T16:28:00.000-07:00

Hey this is Team Lightning! (AKA Elizabeth, Marco, David, Catherine, Brandon, Cortland, Jonathan, and John)
We got an early start to our 8 hours of driving today, leaving Canyon at 7:45. We had a great lunch at Rudy's Barbecue. "The world's worst bar-b-q" was actually pretty good! After crossing the Continental Divide, we arrived in Gallup at about 3:30. After unpacking, we went to the Gallup aquatic center and took showers. They felt very refreshing after 2 days in a van! After showers we came back and relaxed. Tonight we are being treated to a very special dinner by the congregation of the First UMC of Gallup, NM. After dinner, we will play some get-to-know-you games and have devotional before heading to bed to prepare for a long workday tomorrow.
Team Lightning, Over and Out!

Day 1 of Traveling

2011-06-25T20:13:00.000-07:00

Hello all!

Today was the first day of traveling. We have 3 vans, 1 truck, and 2 mini-vans.

We covered almost 700 miles in 12 hours! After leaving at 7:00 am, we successfully and safely made it to Canyon at about 7:00 pm. Many fun stops were made, including Dairy Queen, Bucce's, and numerous gas stations. In the afternoon, we drove through Palo Duro Canyon, a beautiful, awesome, landscape that showed us a striking contrast between the rusty reds, beiges, and the powder blue sky topped with feathery clouds. Dinner was yummy pizza and fun get-to-know you games were played through the evening. We can't wait to finish our driving tomorrow and arrive at Gallup, NM!

Getting Ready For Mission Trip 2011

2011-06-24T13:20:00.000-07:00

From June 25^th through July 3^rd the Sr. High youth (30) and adult sponsors (11) of our church will be driving to Gallup, New Mexico for our annual Youth Mission Trip. And this year we will be joined by 4 youth and their 2 adult sponsors from St. Paul’s Presbyterian Church in Needville, TX, who have not been on a mission trip such as this before. We have planned several service projects such as sheet rocking, painting, building a covered walkway, digging, replacing flooring and other work for the Navajo Nation. This will be a unique opportunity for us all to experience a different part of the United States and different culture. We are looking forward to a time of worship, fellowship, and service as we build relationships among our groups and with those we meet. The youth and their leaders greatly appreciate the support, encouragement, and prayers you have provided thus far.

June 25, 2010

2010-06-25T17:46:00.000-07:00

Last work day in Itasca.

One of our work groups finished up the garage we've been completing. We placed siding on the outside and an OSB ceiling on the inside. The other group painted a mural on the addition to a shed in the Children's Home property. We based it on our theme this week: Changing the World Two by Two. Afterwards, all the youth put their hand prints on the other side of the mural. So, now, when the kids and residents of Itasca's Children's Home drive past the shed, they will see it and hopefully remember our trip and the message we taught them. After work, we played an enjoyable game of softball with the Itasca kids. It was really fun to meet the kids; they are extremely friendly and great at softball. Later, we were invited to tour one of the homes on the campus. The cottage parents explained how the children's home worked, and we got to see the kid's rooms. They were very excited to show us around. Currently, we are packing up to leave tomorrow and preparing to do devo blocks during devotional tonight. And God saw that it was good. It was evening; it was morning, Day 8.

June 24, 2010

2010-06-24T17:18:00.000-07:00

Day 2 in Itasca

We started the morning early again with a 6:20 am wake up call, and 6:30 breakfast. There were clouds in the sky, making the work cool and pleasant. Some of our group helped cook the big BBQ lunch with the residents, and boy oh boy was it good! After lunch we headed back to the work sites to finish up the projects for the day. Every year it seems we get the work done faster than they can hand it out, and today we held up to that standard! The pool was open during free time and everyone enjoyed the cool weather. We got word today that you can view pictures from the musical performances on the road at: http://gallery.me.com/randy.moore/100003. Check it out for some great pictures! There will be a movie at 8:00 with fresh baked chocolate chip cookies as part of devo. :) And God saw that it was good. It was evening; it was morning, Day 7.

June 23, 2010

2010-06-23T18:10:00.000-07:00

First Day of Work at Itasca

We woke up really early to beat the heat for our work day. Breakfast was mmmmmmooooo good, and then we headed out in our work groups. Some of the projects were; siding a garage, busting up concrete, building a shed, hammer, nails, and gopher wood galore. We ate lunch with the children of the home in the dining hall where there was hot lunch and a cool atmosphere. After lunch we finished up the work before it got too hot. Then we headed to the pool to relax and cool off. Dinner was a BBQ feast accompanied by a scrumptious dessert of lemon bars and brownies. Now we are hanging out at the playground before going to devo and bed. And God saw that it was good. It was evening; it was morning, Day 6.

June 22, 2010

2010-06-23T17:58:00.000-07:00

Traveling to Itasca and Last Musical Performance

We woke up very early and packed up our things in order to relocate to the Presbyterian Childrens' Home near Itasca, Texas. The set crew (James Kinzler's van) got lost, but we were still able to start on time and have our best performance yet! The children here really enjoyed our performance, and had face paint to match ours. Everybody cried when the roadies left. After that, we all cooled off in the pool and had a diving contest. After a quick session on work safety, we were excited and ready to get to work! And God saw that it was good. It was evening; it was morning, Day 5.

June 21, 2010

2010-06-21T19:21:00.000-07:00

We had a really fun day at Six Flags today. It was a little warm, but everyone did a great job drinking water to stay hydrated. There were plenty of rides with short lines for our avid roller coaster riders, and there were plenty of other things to do for those who prefer to keep their feet on the ground. Even our little mascot Zachary found plenty of rides to ride!

We had dinner at the world famous "Kincaid's Hamburgers" and it was absolutely delicious!

Right now everyone is showering and packing for our trip to Itasca in the morning. Our mission portion of the trip will begin tomorrow at the Presbyterian Children's Home after a matinee performance of the musical for the children. And God saw that it was good. It was evening; it was morning, Day 4.

June 20, 2010

2010-06-20T21:38:00.000-07:00

This morning we had a wonderful pancake breakfast made for us by the Grapevine breakfast team. We gave them a “teaser” of our musical during Sunday School to get the church excited about our performance later. Worship was held at 10:00, just like at Webster, and we really enjoyed the experience. After worship we had some down time to nap or just hang out. When we woke up we had lunch and some more down time until we had to start to get ready for our performance. Our third on the road trip went wonderfully! After that remarkable success, we went to devo, and then enjoyed yummy pizza for a late night snack. Then we got ready for our fun day at Six Flags tomorrow. And God saw that it was good. It was evening; it was morning, Day 3.

June 19, 2010

2010-06-20T21:35:00.000-07:00

This morning we were supposed to sleep in, but we learned that most of us are early risers naturally- unfortunately. We had an opportunity to help out some volunteers who showed up to do work around the church. We cleaned up bush trimmings and helped with general yard work while others did dishes and prepared breakfast. Mrs. Nancy headed up a delicious meal of breakfast tacos, fruit, pancakes, and bacon. After breakfast we had free time until linner(lunch/dinner). Next we headed to St. Phillip’s Presbyterian Church for our second musical performance. There was a great crowd of kids who got their face painted- and even some adults too. The night concluded with ice cream sundaes. And God saw that it was good. It was evening; it was morning, Day 2.

June 18, 2010

2010-06-20T21:29:00.000-07:00

We left promptly at 9:00am on Friday morning with 51 mission trippers headed to Dallas. The car ride was pleasant and all the vans were playing a get to know ya game in hopes of winning the prize for the most things in common. When we arrived at Eastminster Presbyterian Church there were friendly faces to greet us as we prepared to set up the set for the musical. Some very kind volunteers made us a wonderful spaghetti dinner. We performed in their beautiful sanctuary that had wonderful acoustics. The performance was awesome and all the cast was very animated. The audience was the best part of our performance because they were so active during our performance. The night ended with a trip to First Presbyterian Church of Grapevine where we are staying for the weekend. And God saw that it was good. It was evening; it was morning, Day 1.

Last Day of Work and Fun

2009-07-03T18:18:00.000-07:00

Today was awesome! Some people went to work to worksites and the others tie-dyed shirts from this mission trip. The people who went to the worksites worked until 11:00 and finished four sites. When they came back to the church they had lunch and we all headed for canoeing. The canoeing trip was a blast with many splashes and upside down canoes. Two renegade sponsors blasted many lucky and hot youths with super-duper water guns - those lucky youths! Aresha and Sarah ganged up on one of the renegades and tried to steal the arsenal - but to no avail!

The whole team in the water havin fun canoeing.

At the stops we made we threw a frisbee and a tennis ball.

While we were doin this we were blasted by John Grady and Janice Smith-Bagheri and thier super powerful water guns.

We found a rope swing along the way and spent about an hour swinging into the cool refreshing water. There were many laughs and belly flops to be had!

We will be returning tomorrow at 11:00am. Pick up is at WPC.

Team One - Emily F, Marshall, Jennifer, Henry, Janice and Carlos

Finishing up our Working Week

2009-07-02T20:02:00.000-07:00

Hey!!!

Today was the last full day of work for some of our group. Tomorrow, half our group will be working around the church while the other half finishes up our jobsites. It was a long, hard day with many tired youth after last night's festivities.

Team Carlos/Caressa/James had a really long workday, but once everyone was divided up between the tasks, we were able to get a lot of work done. Some of the boys and Caressa taped off, prepped, sanded, and textured the walls while the rest of us base painted and put up molding. After a 9 hour workday, we had a bunch of very tired kids and most of our work finished, leaving just a little bit to do tomorrow.

Team Watson went to 3 houses today. In one house, they finished doors that for some reason took all week to do..... In the next house, they painting trim and finished up some other odds and ends. In the last house they put up some sheet rock.

Team John painted, finished putting up trim, and started putting up doors. They got to work with Ronnie and Michael which was a blast! On the way home they stopped by a veteran's memorial and took some pretty awesome pictures.

Team Janice/Lynn painted, painted, painted and did a little bit of sanding. They painted the entire interior of a house, minus the bathroom. All the painting took a lot of prep before their 5 hours straight of painting.

At the end of the night, we had an awesome dinner of lasagna and key lime pies made by David! During devotionals, we had an extra special time of lighting candles and reflecting on the ways we have seen God this week.

Good Night!!!

~Team 5

(Elizabeth, Kyle, Matt, and Amy)

Carpentry and Crawfish

2009-07-01T19:13:00.000-07:00

Day 3 of Work

Today was our third day of hard work and carpentry!

Team John and Janice painted a whole outside of a house. Awesome!! However, John did not participate in the painting outdoors, while Janice and the youth suffered in the heat. They also hung five doors inside the house in Bridge City. Bridge City is where only 14 homes out of 3,800 homes that did not receive water from Hurricane Ike. They were fixing 1 of the 3,786 homes that needed to be remodeled.

Team Caressa and Watson headed back to the pink house in Port Arthur where work had been done on Monday. Today their team put in ceiling tiles, which involved using a hand staple gun above you. Tough work that they did beautifully. Along with the ceiling titles they fixed doors and put trim around a bedroom door and closet doors. Although the batteries on the skill saw died so the last door could not be completed, so a group will stop by in the morning to finish that quickly.

Team Lynn worked at the resale shop, the Attic. Sorting through cloths and miscellaneous objects, they found some really cool 80's jumpsuits and a crazy suit. Together they sorted through a mountain of clothes and hung them on racks.

Team James and Carlos went to Beaumont to install sheet rock in the ceiling of a home. They then spackled the walls to prep them for texture. Also, they stripped some molding from the walls. Because the room was a little on the small side, while some people where in the room those leftover went and relaxed outside in the shade of clouds.

After a long, exhausting day we gathered back at the church to prepare for our feast! Some very generous friends of Caressa invited us into their amazing backyard for dinner. There was a nice pool and a lake with a dock and paddle boat to swim in. They cooked some very yummy crawfish and shrimp for us that was delicious! We had an amazing time hanging out together and cooling down in the lake and pool. There was a ton of crazy jumping off the dock and fun!

When arriving back at the church, James discovered that, yet again, his belongings were missing. Mysteriously every year his bedding, bags, and belongings go missing. This year in it's place there was a wheelchair. The culprit was eventually apprehended and returned his belongings after a ransom of Hershey hugs.

After a great day of work and fun everyone is ready for a good nights rest. And are prepared for another day of work! Thanks for checking in on us and for all your prayers and support!

Love, Group 4

-Michelle, Graham, Rebekah, Emily, and Aresha

(O and John, but he really didn't help. We are starting to see a trend.)

2nd day of work

2009-06-30T19:40:00.000-07:00

Another day of hard work and sweat (lots of sweat):

Team Janice and Watson had the job of replacing temporary windows to permanent ones in Beaumont. The task was long and tedious. There were many trips back and forth to the hardware store to get the materials needed to complete the job.

Team Lynn and John had the job of power washing and painting the outside of a house in direct sunlight in Bridge City. In temperatures above 90 degrees, the team had to stay extra hydrated.

Team Carlos finished up the job they started yesterday: replacing base boards and touch

up painting. After that was completed they drove to Beaumont to do demolition on a kitchen

ceiling and hallway ceiling. The job was dirty and definitely not great for their allergies.

Team James worked in Port Arthur and had the job of painting and hanging doors. After many trials and tribulations, the job was almost completed.

Team Caressa worked at the Union Board of Mission's resale shop called "The Attic". They sorted and rearranged displays and emptied out truck loads of more donations.

Team James and Caressa switched workers midway through the day.

With Love,

Group 3: Colleen, Rudy, Melissa, Brandon, and Watson

First Day of Work!

2009-06-29T17:28:00.001-07:00

Hey, Webster Presby!

Today was our first day of mission work in the Port Arthur and Beaumont area. This morning we traveled to the SETIO (South East Texas Interfaith Organization) warehouse and met with our coordinator, Scott, and met the guys on his team (Mario, Blake, Barney, and Carl) who had lots of advice and instructions for us. We were briefed on safety and the work we were going to do, and everyone was then split up into five groups and headed out to their different work sites. Between all of us, we replaced doors, put in baseboards, painted, textured walls, worked in a resale shop (much like ICM food pantry and store near us), and met with the homeowners. We all had lots of water, stayed safe, and soldiered through the heat with the help of our Cool-Rags made by Mrs. Jill Massie! Work wrapped up around 4 o'clock, with each of the groups arriving after they completed their day's task. Everyone in our group has expressed how gracious the homeowners at their work site were, and we all just had a really great time. We got back to Central Baptist, rested up, showered, relaxed, and had a wonderful dinner of spaghetti and meatballs made for us by one of our small groups. We topped it off with Blue-Bell fudge pops, and now we're settling in for another night of games, fellowship, and devotional worship.

We love and miss you all,

-Group 2: Sarah Faxel, Bethany Cowan, Melanie Moore, Trevor Grunden, David Snowden, & James Kinzler

Expedition Bridge City

2009-06-28T19:08:00.001-07:00

Well, we headed out from Webster with a great send off from family and friends. This year 22 youth and 7 adults have decided to take a week out of there summer to help with Hurricane Ike recovery. We left Webster Presbyterian Church around 3:30 and got in some really good bonding time with each other in jam packed vans. We arrived in Bridge City around 5:00 and started to settle in right away at our home for the week, the Central Baptist Church in Port Arthur. The church has provided us with cots and mattresses, along with a whole floor in their sunday school area. There are showers in the church, with hot water! (Unlike last year's little fiasco with the ice cold water.) We are thankful to be staying at such an accommodating church. For dinner we headed out to the local Casa Olé for a tasty meal. At the dinner we sat with our small groups and got to know one another better. These small groups are groups of about 4 or 5 youth with 1 adult. Each group is in charge of a different task each day such as, breakfast crew, lunch crew, dinner crew, or devotional crew. In just a little bit the group plans to play some fun games together, followed by our nightly devotional. Tonight Caressa has planned a special opening night devotional to show us why we felt called to serve God in this place. After all that is planned for this evening, we plan to get a good nights rest for our first day of work tomorrow.

Thank you for your prayers, support, and love. Stay tuned for more updates on our adventures.

-Sarah Faxel and Michelle Dupont

Introduction to 2009 Sr. High Mission Trip

2009-06-24T20:22:00.000-07:00

Hello all!

After being commissioned at the 11:00 service on Sunday June 28, the Sr. High Group and Sponsors will leave on the Sr. High Mission Trip at 3:00 pm to head to Bridge City, TX. Bridge City is at the border between Texas and Louisiana, close to the Gulf. (In the middle of the map, north of the Sabine Lake.) It is by Port Arthur and Beaumont. The drive will take a little more than 2 hours. Even though this mission trip is closer than the past two mission trips, we felt we needed to go where the need was greatest-Ike recovery. Many of us experienced the effects of Ike first hand and really wanted to help the people who still needed lots of help to rebuild their homes. 80% of the people in Bridge City had their homes flooded.

We will return to WPC on Saturday July 4 at about 11:00 am.Thank you very much for your prayers and support.

Thanks for reading!

-Sarah Faxel

Driving Home

2008-06-22T10:21:00.000-07:00

Good morning WPC! This is Elizabeth Spivey reporting from Carlos Noriega’s laptop from van number 2, in somewhere East of Eden, at about 10:40. We’ll post this as we approach Austin.

Last night we stopped in Midland Texas, at a Trinity Presbyterian Church where Carressa’s aunt is a Pastor there. We got in so late we didn’t write a report, but after a long day of travel (in which we scared a few adults with our cabin fever) we had a great devotional at about midnight and ending at about 1:30. We wrote to each other on our affirmation blocks and shed a few happy tears at some very happy memories. We managed to get up at about 7:15 and hit the road at 8. We are shooting to be back at the church around 5 PM. So far, it’s been a safe journey and we are praying it stays that way. We’ll see you soon!

The irony of being tired

2008-06-20T21:56:00.000-07:00

Hello WPC! Greetings from Elizabeth Spivey, Marshall Godwin, reporting with tonight’s blog.
(Edited by Rebekah Spivey, Graham Montgomery, and Travis Fuller.)

It was a bit of a slow start this morning for the girls, because we kind of accidentally left the windows open all night. Sooooo, we were all so cold and had trouble getting up. But we made it! We loaded up in the vans and sent a group to the resale shop, the rec center, and the Habitat house construction site.

At the rec center we divided into two groups; a group to pick up loads of rocks that were in the way of the community’s children’s play, while two other people (Graham Montgomery and Marshall Godwin, the latter of whom is writing this paragraph) got gargantuan gas powered weed eaters to eat away at the preposterous amount of plants that covered the park. It was actually surprisingly fun hacking away at giant stalks of grass, and the work day was made by a touching confessional made by the man who is the ONLY full time employee at the park. To make a long and emotion invoking story short, he told us that no matter what happened God would see you through, even through horrible, heart rending events. This, honestly, made my day, to touch someone’s life in such a way.

While those guys were having a ball at the rec center, Rebekah Spivey, Austin Stubblefield, Erik Kinzler, Amy Waehner, Jennifer Paden, Melissa Moede and Carlos Noriega, did a lot of work on the exterior of the Habitat house. Some of the things we did were put down tar paper, glue Styrofoam, paint with tar, and build two frames. At the end of the day the two wall frames were put up and we were all happy that we got to put up some walls, not just build them. The work was hard but rewarding, and the homeowners and other Habitat volunteers were really excited and proud that we got so much done so quickly.

At the resale shop, we did a lot more clearing out, but we got a good start on the shed out back. This shed is going to hold a lot of piping, lumber, tools, and other shed-like materials for the Habitat Home Supply store. Today we hammered a lot, rather that taking out nails (although some of that still went on.) The very brave Shelby McNeill, Sarah Cravens, and, for a little bit, Rudy Noriega, cleaned out another fridge. We also heard that one of the previous fridges we cleaned out got sold! Travis Fuller, Brandon Looney, Elizabeth Spivey (me) and Rudy worked on building the shed, taking apart some wood and sanding the affirmation blocks. Sarah and Shelby helped there too. Shelby and I also sorted through a ton (literally) of books and shelved them. I even found a book I wanted, and the very nice Mr. Ross gave me a 20% employee discount (a whole 7 cents off a 50 cent book!) As you can tell, a lot of work was done today, and we ended the week with a strong outlook on the future of the Habitat homes we worked on, and the resale shop.

Tonight the Bayfield Lion’s Club graciously fed us a wonderful dinner of hamburgers, macaroni salad, beans, fruit, brownies and cookies. We got to hear from the Habitat staff, and some homeowners. One homeowner had a truly touching story of rising from a dark place, and how God and Habitat gave her a hand up. It was great to hear how much we were appreciated, and it really felt good to know that we have done a very good thing.

All in all, the week was really worthwhile and a great opportunity. We cannot thank the congregation enough for their support, love, and care so we could come out here and do God’s work. The experience was truly amazing. We donated $4,500 to the Habitat for Humanity of La Plata County, and they were so happy to receive it that we all felt very grateful for the support Webster Presbyterian Church has given us so we could bring this hope and happiness to Habitat staff and the homeowners. Every little bit helps, and just by you guys supporting us we have impacted many lives, including our own, this week. Thank you, thank you, thank you! We will be heading out early tomorrow morning, so goodnight WPC, and again, thank you for helping us help others. Peace.

A series of unfortunate events

2008-06-19T19:14:00.000-07:00

Hola fellow Webster Presbyterian members. This is Marshall Godwin and Sarah Cravens reporting on our third day of this amazing Mission Trip. (And edited by Elizabeth Spivey and Travis Fuller.)

The day is Thursday, June the 19, and it is a beautiful day in the town of Bayfield, Colorado.

This morning didn’t start so well, but things have gotten better as the day goes on. At approximately 3:30 AM, Hugh Evans was taken to the hospital due to high blood sugar. James Kinzler and Watson Dupont sacrificed their sleep to make sure everything with Hugh worked out. He is currently in the hospital resting, however frustratingly waiting his release. He is looking forward to being back working in the killer sun tomorrow morning.

Okay not to confuse you this is Sarah speaking. After being together yesterday, the group was split. Most stayed at the work site and some went to the resale shop. I will tell you the behind the scenes of the resale shop. The shop is going to have a huge sale Saturday and needed lots of help clearing areas in the back and removing nails from lumber. The only problem was that a majority of the nails were sticking out every which way. One of the nails took fifteen minutes to remove. The work site seemed like a dangerous one. Elizabeth Spivey had close encounters with six nails but was not harmed. James Kinzler and John Grady’s head almost got taken off by rotating wood. But we all learned that safety is very important, and after a lecture from the “safety policeman,” James, we all sharpened our safety skills and had no accidents.

Some of the group went off to clean a refrigerator and freezer to prepare it to show. Not to gross you out, but the refrigerator had a huge amount of mold and a mysterious red and yellow substance. Emily Fernandez, Shelby McNeill, and I cleaned the employee’s kitchen and bathroom. We had to do some dishes which included a bucket. This was no ordinary bucket; it had old, rock hard, strawberry ice cream. Let’s just say gloves and forks were used during the sanitation process. We kept our energy up by singing pretty much every song from every musical we have seen. During the song Doe a Dear, a worker popped her head in to join us. The shop enjoyed listening to our show- I think.

We met Chrystal. She is super sweet and is wondering what she and her husband, Daniel, are going to do with all the extra space. She is eight months along and is working five days a week. Major kudos to her. We all have something to do and we are getting very good supervision and instruction so the work goes well and fast. They are all surprised by what the WPC youth can do!

A few of the youth stayed at the construction site to assist in the creation of the couple’s house. It was a hot day, making working with tar paper quite the task, but it was a blessing to everyone to be able to help in such a big way, especially because several of the youth had not yet had the chance to work on the actual house. With tar paper boiling and walls a’raised, the WPC Youth Group once again conquered the task set out before them.

Editor's note - These are the views of our highly impressionable youth as described in their own words. No animals were harmed in the making of today's blog.

Work and Fun

2008-06-18T20:35:00.000-07:00

Hey fellow Webster Presbyterian Church members, this is Michelle Dupont updating you on day 2 of Mission Trip.

Today is Wednesday, June 18, 2008 on which all 30 of us embarked on many adventures.

After another night of wonderful rest, we headed back out to the worksite. Many of us continued to work on the duplex house and the can houses. It is amazing to see the change in the can houses from one day to another, just yesterday we started building them and today we completely finished a can house. Finishing a can house called for some of us to unleash our inner roofer side, meaning we had to learn how to put shingles on the roof. Those who are working on the duplex home finished their work on the interior walls and have moved onto the exterior wall work. Some of those strong boys and men helped dig a hole to find a pipe, which after a little while they successfully found it. After receiving a wonderful meal from Christ the King Church, where two of the future home owners attend, we headed back to the church to get ready for some white water rafting! A small group of 6 people headed over to the resale shop to lend a helping hand, which included the two girls successfully cleaning out a refrigerator.

Then everyone headed to the white water rafting on the Animas River. We had four rafts which the group divided into as we began a totally freezing adventure. The guides told us that the water was somewhere around 38 degrees, way colder than anything we have experienced back in Texas. At one point we came to a calm area in the river where anyone who wanted was allowed to jump in and get a quick swim, I have to add that I was the first person to test my ability to swim in almost freezing waters and many people followed that by jumping in the water too. Once we all were back in the boats we headed down the rest of the way where we hit some raging rapids and only had one person fall from the raft. Almost everyone got soaked, yet some how Jennifer Paden managed to stay sort of dry. Other than the cold water, everyone had an awesome time with that.

When we returned back to home, “Bayfield Christian Church”, we had a wonderful, warm meal and then hit the showers. And if you haven’t read the blog before today then you probably haven’t heard about how cold the showers are at the rec-center. The first night of showers the water was unbelievably cold! Half of the group decided not to take them because of the water temperature. Then the second night they seemed to be a little warmer, but not close to the warm showers we would most likely take at home. But tonight when we returned to the church we learned the Pastor of Bayfield Christian Church, Pastor Troy, arranged with a local middle school the use of their “warm” showers through the rest of this week. So tonight every single person here got a warm shower and is squeaky clean!

Well as we come to the end of our day we are getting ready for a devotional then so hard core sleeping. And once again there is a surprise for James when he gets back from his warm shower. Like every year his sleeping bag as gone missing, hmm… wonder where it could be?? Well goodnight everyone and check back tomorrow for another mission trip update. Also, thank you so much for all the love, support, and prayers!

The First Day of Work

2008-06-17T18:26:00.000-07:00

Hey y’all, this is Susanne Plaisted and Elizabeth Noriega here.

Today was our first work day, and it was rather light. The whole group split into 3 different groups, after all starting off at the house site to see what was going on. The first group was comprised of only those members 16 and older, due to Habitat’s policy. This group was designated the “house” group, although due to the house already being 2 days behind schedule and running out of lumber, all that was accomplished 8 walls. The second group was the “can” group who was in charge of making the can houses for habitat donations. They accomplished 2 and a half houses plus the one original model can house. This astounded the habitat folks because they were only expecting four can houses for the week. All in all, these two groups completed more work than was expected, and now the habitat people are struggling to find work for the rest of the week so they released us early. The third group went to the Habitat resale store. There they met one of the future home owners, and also cleaned out a refrigerator. They also helped to load trucks for the store.

Van Fever - Finally Made It!

2008-06-16T21:56:00.000-07:00

Greetings everyone at Webster Presbyterian Church! This is Marshall Godwin, writing down the blog for the Mission Trip, Monday, June 16, 2008.

Today, we drove out of El Paso at roughly 10:00 in the morning, and we had quite a time on our final leg of the road trip. It was a pretty peaceful drive, and we saw about 33 different state license plates, including ones for cars from the U.S. government when we got within the vicinity of Roswell, New Mexico…but that’s another story. Well, we have traveled over 1,245 miles, or 2,191,200 yards, or 6,573,600 feet from WPC. Not that we had too much time to figure all that out. We enjoyed some fun games like “Which Would You Rather” after which we told ghost stories and took pictures of the outstandingly beautiful desert scenery (as well as pictures of each other when we fell asleep). After about 8 hours, we arrived at Bayfield Christian Church, where we set up camp. A dinner of pizza and salad can do wonders for you after a day of playing games and sleeping. The people here from Habitat for Humanity are exceedingly kind to us, and from what I gather, this is going to be far from boring. This is going to be an excellent mission trip!

Marshall Godwin, signing out

Sunday's Drive - Only two flat tires!

2008-06-15T22:58:00.000-07:00

So. It started out as a wonderful send-off at the 8:30 worship service. And a flat tire. But it got fixed and we were soon on are way, for a not so soon stop in El Paso. But we made it. The wonderful little car bags the VBS kids made were absolutely wonderful. They seriously gave us some entertainment on the 11 hour car ride. Towards the end of the day another car got a flat, but we were able to fix it and get back on the road. So far, we’ve all discovered we love each other very much, being so close together for so long. We’re all still excited and pumped for Colorado, despite the exhaustion that has overcome us. We have a shorter drive tomorrow (yay!) and we can’t wait for what God has in store. Keep us in your prayers, and thank you for your wonderful support of the WPC youth!

You too can participate in the Mission Trip with our Youth and Sponsors!!

2008-06-12T21:03:00.000-07:00

Be a Prayer Partner! If you haven't already received a Prayer Partner card from one of our Mission Trip Participants you can still catch them at first service on Sunday before they leave.
(A little secret - You can still pray for them without a Prayer Partner Card!)

Read the Mission Trip Blog and send them a message! Go to www.wpcmission.blogspot.com/ and read the latest update. If you want to post a message to the Mission Trip Participants:

Click on the title of the latest blog posting
Scroll down to the bottom of the posting and click on "Post a Comment"
Type your comment
Type in the security word verification on the screen
Type the User ID and password sent out by Daphne (or your personal gmail account id and password if you have one)
Press "Publish your comment"

Listen to the Mission Trip Update Message! Call the WPC main number, 281-332-1251. If the phone is answered, ask for extension 17. If not calling during office hours, press ext. 17. The extension will ring 3-4 times, and you will hear the message for the day.