Montreat – Final Reflection & Pics

Hi folks,

we had an outstanding time at montreat. i wish we could go back – not only for the conference, but because the temps were so much  lower!!! the multiple houses worked out and the food was great! (thank you Tellers!) keynote was outstanding, small groups were great, and the preaching was controversial – but made for good discussion. i was very pleased with the reflection that the GOOTH had each night during devotions and their cooperation living together for a week. 33 people can be tricky, but this group did well! maybe the multiple houses helps that fact!! as with every trip, the group continued to grow closer as the youth go to know one another better – particularly people they didn’t know as well before the trip. the adults who went on the trip as chaperones did a wonderful job and the youth loved having them around! many thanks to hoy, char, shelby, ronda, and the tellers. allen and chelsey even came up for a day each to visit!

here are some public links to my pics that are posted on facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=585&id=305700031&l=7623754425
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=584&id=305700031&l=24c96b8d3f

hope you enjoy!
jay

Montreat – Last Day

we’re all safe and home, now! what a week! i’ll add my final reflections and links to pictures later.
-jay

Emma Badorrek
Rising Freshmen

WOO! Since I’m a rising freshmen, this is my first year coming to Montreat. So far, the Montreat experience has been really great. I’ve been having a really good time meeting new people, getting to know the GOOTH better and getting a better understanding about what gets our world “fired up”. Hahahaha, the theme is “World on Fire”.  Anyway, at Montreat, I have been just chilling waiting for an opportunity to pop up for something I have never done before. Like, rock-hopping (which I did), sharing a house with so many people, acting like I’ve known the strangers in my small group since before I was born, and last but definitely not least following Ian on a mountain-hike (yes I was hesitant). I really can’t believe it’s already Friday and in roughly 24 hours, I’ll be home. Even though, we are leaving soon, the memories won’t.

PS: Reva and I haven’t been paddleboating

Reva Manikas
Graduated senior

I WENT PADDLE BOATING! been waiting all week! ( no emma … I couldn’t find her ) Kate and I were in a paddle boat and Kelli and Sarah were in a canoe. We raced each other. Each team won once. We were AWESOME!

Sarah Hoyle
Rising sophomore

Reva and Kate totally cheated. Anyhooo, I’m having a totally rockin time at Montreat. Its probably the coolest place in the world. This year, my small group was AMAZING we had so much fun. CRAZY STORY- Summer before my 4^th grade year I went to summer camp with Meredith and Rachael. I don’t remember much except I shared a cabin with this girl named Molly. We were pen palls for about a year but we eventually lost touch. Here is the crazy part- this year in my small group there was this really cool girl named Molly that I became friends with. GUESS WHAT! They are the same person! Crazy huh?

Brittany McGowan
College

This year has been a different experience for me. Being a college student I was on work crew. Work crew helps to run rec. events but we are also our own small group. We played some of the same games as the other small groups, but mostly we had discussions about keynote and then spent most of our time trying to figure out where we needed to be for the events we needed to help with. Work crew is also the group of people who open the doors for everyone to run in. Being a part of this group I got to see more of the behind the scenes work than I had previous years. I got to see the organized chaos that went into each event, especially the rec. events. The events I helped with included handing out popcorn on movie night, helping with the God’s eye table one day and helping with the “Water Rights” game during the small group rec. “Water Rights” was a game where the small group had to use duct tape and popsicle sticks to move water from one bucket to another in ten minutes or less. Jacob’s group really impressed me. There was a water fountain nearby so they decided to line it with duct tape, remove the duct tape and then use the bowl that had been formed to carry the water. I also helped to count one of the offerings collected throughout the week. I helped with the “loose change” offering that each small group was collecting. Everyone’s loose change added up to over $400.

For the concert this year there was a poet, Glenis Redmond. Someone else has probably already mentioned her by now, but I just wanted to mention her in case for some reason no one else had. She was phenomenal.

My favorite part of the week, however, is still the candle light service. It’s always so pretty both to see everyone around the lake with candles and to hear everyone sing the songs we have been learning throughout the week. It’s hard to explain the peace Montreat brings. It is just as difficult to explain why it is the candle light service means so much to me, even now when I’m not saying goodbye for the first time. Like I said it is very difficult for me to explain.

It’s getting late and I’m getting tired, but I want to end by letting those of you that will understand (such as Chelsey) that just before going to bed right now Jacob carried in a handful of “random kitchen utensils.” Goodnight.

Montreat, Day 4

Sam Cooper
Rising freshman

Montreat this week has been an eye opening experience. I have bonded with everyone here. When I thought about sharing a house with everyone I will admit it was a scary thought but by far that’s one of the best things about Montreat because it brings you closer together. Keynotes and Worship are very eye opening in the sense of informing you about all the bad things that are going on in this world. they also are good in the sense of telling you about the good things. Listening to all the people singing together is something that’s so beautiful I can not even put it into words. My small group is small group 16 and I LOVE THEM!!! My favorite thing to do after small group is to come back to the house and see and talk to my goothy family . We have had some of the craziest conversations on the front porch. Yesterday I went rock hopping and it looks a lot easier than it really is !!  I cant believe it is already thursday it started off as kind of slow week but now its going by WAY too fast. I know that when my mom came back from Montreat last year she kept saying how tired she was and I thought she was just exaggerating she was soooo not. I have never been this tired in my life and I think that why everyone has been going crazy . The best part of waking up in the morning is the Teller cooking ….no joke I would run miles for their food and the hill we have to climb to get to the house comes very close to running a mile – it’s the biggest hill I have ever seen. All in all Montreat has been amazing and I love it and the people here. I cant wait for squishy(daddy) to get here tonight its gonna be a Cooper packed fun time!!! cant wait to see you all when I get home and tell you all my stories !!!! Much love!!!!

Sara Morris
Rising freshman

Helloo everybody! It’s hard to believe that it is already Thursday and we only have one more day left at Montreat. It has been a lot of fun though. I have visited Montreat a few times, one time two years ago to hear Katie sing, but I have never actually had the true Montreat experience. And, as they say it truly is a treat. Small group has been a lot of fun and it’s neat to have discussions with all different kinds of people, from different places. We have had several people over to our house for dinner, one group for the Shallowford Presbyterian in Lewisville, and another group from Washington D.C. I’d like to say they came because they enjoyed our company, but I think it was mostly because of the Tellers cooking. It’s been fun just exploring around Montreat too. Yesterday, on our free day, a bunch of people went rockhopping. Personally, I’m not a big rockhopping fan so I decided to take pictures. As Kate and I were walking back to the house, we decided to try on Jay’s flip-flops. And let me tell you, they were very large.

I talked to some of the people in my small group who were staying in some of the college dorms and realized what a neat experience it is for all of us to stay in a house together (or in our case 4.) It’s really cool to just hang out around the house together. .

Worship is a very unique and different experience too. Over the course of this week, I have learned a lot of things, and thought about many things that I’ve never thought about before. This week has been great and I can’t wait for next year.

Alyssa Brown
Graduated Senior

Things I did at Montreat that I’ve never done before: Played Speed (Card game), watched a plasma television in a mountain cabin, used a clawfoot bathtub, held a snake, become friends with a girl from Arkansas, ate a salad with apples & walnuts, ate beef stroganoff, ate so much food in a day, talk about Global Warming during worship, talk about politics in general in a church setting, be in a boy band with a hit single “Chimpanzee riding on a segway”, hear a poet speak, gotten to know people in gooth on a deeper level, invited random people from small group over for dinner and act like I’ve been friends with them for a long time, played the game “shuffle your buns.” Will there be more on Friday?

Montreat, Day 3 – Free Day & Communion

we did communion this year on wednesday, which is a day earlier than usual. i think it worked well with the theme to do it last night and commend the planning team for making that decision. messing with “tradition” is sometimes a tough call to make. wednesday’s sub-theme was “torch tossing” and dealt with the idea of the “cloud of witnesses” and passing the torch on to the next people in line to lead God’s people in the church. we took the time to name and acknowledge the people who have been “saints” and mentors in our lives, surrouoning us as the cloud of witnesses.

we have a couple of new blogs to post from yesterday. we hope you continue to enjoy checking in with the youth!

-jay

Kelli Letner
Rising Senior

Blog, blog, blog.  I’m at Montreat and it is sooooo fun…except for the fact that everyone cowers in fear as they walk back to the house because there are BEARS!  We’ve decided that we’re going to play nose goes if there is a bear to choose who has to scare it off.  Last night we watched the poet, Glenis Redmond, who is amazing and strong-black-woman-tastic.  Her words just make me want to write all day, and they make Julia want to be really really creepy.  I’m loving being closer to God at Montreat and thinking about everything God will call me to do in my life, and all those who support me.  Time for Teller food soon…win!  Over and out.

Jacob Hoyle
Graduated Senior

This morning I ate two pancakes for breakfast.  I put a little strawberry jam in between them, but I didn’t put enough; it was difficult to taste the jam for all of the syrup.  I was kind of disappointed and could only eat about the amount of one pancake.  I felt bad for wasting some delicious pancake, but to my knowledge no one went hungry, so all was not lost.

Kelly Norris
Rising Sophomore

This evening for me was very eventful! After the worship service, which was much better than Monday and Tuesday’s, our group was going to watch WALL-E. However, I lost the group when I stopped to use the bathroom. I didn’t know where to go. I found it eventually, with some help from various people and the lady at the desk of Assembly Inn. While I was lost, I ran into our two keynoters, who happened to be named Francis and Kelly so I got to tell them that I’m Frances Kelly! Finally, we went back to the house and ate some delicious chocolate pudding. So that’s the story of my evening. I’m ready to go to sleep now.

Montreat, Full Day 2

folks,

i apologize for not posting yesterday’s blog until now! i had created the post yesterday, but apparently just made a draft and never published it! woops!

yesterday was another fun and full day. it rained in the afternoon, but it was after some of us went on a hike, so the rain was welcome.

we only have one additional blog to post today. check back tomorrow.

-jay

Stephen McCoy
Completed 8^th grade

This morning started out with waking up at 7:05 to prepare breakfast that started at 7:15. I started fixing bacon but almost burned my hand over the fryer, so I stopped doing that. Then we had keynote where we watched 2 clips from A Christmas Story and Slum dog Millionaire, which explained what we sometimes have to go through in our Presbyterian lives. Then we had small groups. Afterwards we ate lunch, where I had a chicken parmesan sandwich. Then we had more “small group” time. Then, finally, we started climbing Lookout Mountain. When we got to the top, we saw a huge thunderhead cloud coming our way. So, we all (the select people who went on the hike) started down the mountain. After about 15 minutes, we got to the base of the mountain and ran back to the cottage in the rain. As soon as we got to the steps, it started pouring. So, Jay, Ryan, Brittany, and I sat in the rain to cool off from the run. Now, I’m still soaking wet along with Jay.

And it is still raining. Now I am sitting here with the coolest people ever and I am eating the best Teller tacos ever!! Sam might do her taco dance later if we are lucky!

Montreat, Full Day 1

Monday was a great day with lots of fun activities, yummy country-cooking dinner (fried chicken tenders, mashed potatoes & gravy, and corn on the cob! yum! the keynote and worship are challenging in a good way – the youth had a great discussion last night for devotions. we have a variety of opinions in our group, but the group respects that in one another and in the conference leadership. we are all looking forward to the rest of the week to see where the theme takes us! check back tomorrow morning for more blogs from the youth. here are a few from monday and this morning.

-jay

Reva Manikas
Graduated 12^th Grade

Today was our first full day at Montreat. This is my fifth year and every year has been wonderful so Everyone is open and friendly with each other. Emma and I are really wanting to go paddle boating sometime this week.. we’re excited about doing that J ( she just laughed ). The theme for this conference is “World on Fire!!!” Our T-shirts are red and yellow tie-die! The Tellers cooking is great as always! Well.. not much else to say except I’m looking forward to the rest of the week!!!

Adam Chatham
Completed 9^th grade

Monday was a twist and turn kind of day for me. The best part of the day was when I got ice creamJ. they gave me what they called “pouring the gravy” or aka finishing the rest of the bowl before I know it I got ten spoons reaching for my ice cream! Even after everyone had a little bit I still had leftovers so I gave it to Jay. it was so worth three dollars.

Jacob Hoyle
Graduated 12^th grade

This morning I ate lucky charms out of a cup.  The decision to eat from a cup did not stem from a lack of bowls, but just seemed more convenient; I only needed one hand.  All in all it was about the same, because sometimes I had to shake the charms into my mouth making myself look a little silly.  I have done that before.

GOOTH at Montreat, Arrival and Morning of Day 1

Montreat is off to a great start! we had a great arrival day yesterday. everyone was so excited to get here and see the houses…yes…houses, plural. we are staying in 4 dwellings: a 15-bed house, 9-bed house, 5-bed cabin, and a 4-bed cabin. it is taking some coordination to work out meals and washing dishes, but the youth have stepped up to the challenge! all our food is consumed in the “main” house, or on the porch of the main house…but food is prepared using two kitchens. thank God for cathy and bill teller, who are coordinating the food this week! the youth truly bring the old adage, “many hands makes light work,” come alive. they have responded to our call for sharing in the work without complaint.

yesterday’s opening event started out great, with recreation and socializing afterwards. we spent some time after curfew looking ahead to the week, and reviewing our procedures, the lists of “do nots,” and answering questions. about a third of our group are new to Montreat this year! we’re all so excited about that. they had about an hour to hang out last night, or go to bed…some chose to go on to bed, while others stayed up until the lights-out time.

this group is such a fun bunch, and I’m looking forward to the rest of the week. hopefully tomorrow morning (Tuesday), you’ll begin seeing daily updates with postings from the youth. after our first full day, some will have stories to share tonight that I’ll post late morning (between 10:30 and 12:00). Jacob offers up the following comment today…but I suspect future postings will be more wordy.

-jay

Jacob Hoyle
Graduated 12th Grade

This morning I ate strawberries in my lucky charms. I have never done that before.
-Jacob Hoyle

Massanetta Springs Middle School Conference Reflections

The Middle School GOOTH just returned from an amazing conference at Massanetta Springs on Sunday. Fourteen middlers and three adults went to the 2009 Conference, which was themed “Inside Out.” In the next couple of days, I hope to post multiple reflections from those who attended the conference as well as some links to picture albums. So, check back over the next few days for updates and/or additional posts!

Jay

Jay’s Picture Albums
Album 1
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=560&id=305700031&l=315090f32d
Album 2
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=561&id=305700031&l=4b2c02ac91

Samantha Cooper
completed 8th grade

Hey everyone!!!

Sam here back from Massanetta!! It was so exciting this year!! Not only did I get to meet some really cool people I also learned a lot about myself at this conference! The theme this year was “Inside Out”. The main thing we were suppose to learn from the workshops and keynotes was our many talents that god has given us and wants us to use. We also were taught how to love yourself for who you are and not for what others see you as. When we arrived at “Netta” Thursday afternoon everyone was excited! We checked in, un-loaded cars, and went to Hudson for opening session. We then got to go to our small groups and meet the people we would be spending the most time with!! I really liked my small group we were very open to discussion and really got along well. I made two very good friends that I am keeping in touch with from my small group! After getting to know everyone and eating some amazing pizza we went to the Nook (which is like a giant screened in porch) to have a mixer (big way to meet new people)!! The next day was our first full day of Netta. This being my third conference I was extremely excited because I knew exactly what that day I had in store for us! We played and worshiped and learned a lot about ourselves and others around us. That night the dinner was very exciting for me! Every year a Netta they have a taco bar on the second night. All day I had been looking forward to this dinner and in being so excited about it I made up a dance and song about tacos I will be glad to share it with anyone who wants to hear it. Everyone loved seeing me do it and tried to do it with me. That night was the night we had to do our traditional service project. Every year we take one night and for an hour we do some sort of service project. This year it was for STOP HUNGER NOW!! We filled up non-perishable food pouches. That would help feed many people all over. The next day was very similar to the first but the only difference was at rec., that day it was wet rec.!! Everyone had tons of fun.  This was the day that we had hair don’ts, slip-n-slide, face paint and fingernail painting!! The first thing everyone did was no surprise: the slip-n-slide and it was amazingly fun! After we did the slip-n-slide we broke from our one big group and went to do the stations that were around us I went and reciceved my first hair don’t and If I do say so myself it was very cool. After that I got my face and finger nails painted! Later on that night we had our wonderful dance. And then my favorite part out of the whole conference….We were in our small groups and all of Massanetta went to the front lawn in the dark and made a huge circle, which was outlined with candles. We sang and just looked around reflecting on how much we had done and discovered while we had been there!! In doing this, I flashed back to my first middle school conference at Massanetta and remembered how much I had learned that year and the year after that. In doing this of course, I was the first one to start crying but it was not sad tears; they were tears of happiness, because Massanetta is the place I discovered my faith and really got to know who I am and who I wanna be. I am glad to know that I will always have my memories of Massanetta in my heart. And I can’t wait to go back in two years as an enabler!!  Thanks for making this trip possible!!

Erin Welty
completed 7th grade

so massanetta was basically amazing!! the keynoter, michael, was awsome. every keynote offered something that really clicked in my brain, and i feel like i learned so much from him. my small group was so much fun!! my enabler, caroline, was hilarious, and so was her inflatable duck henry . we also got so much closer as a group. we all have great memories of laughing and crying (and dancing!!) together that we’ll never ever forget. my experience at massanetta made my faith grow in so many ways, and we all got closer as a group. it was fabulous.

GOOTH Mission Trip Pictures

Another GOOTH Mission Trip has now ended, and everyone is feeling the effects of it. GOOTH have been walking around dazed, sleepy-eyed, confused, and dragging their feet for the last two days. Even Tony almost fell asleep during worship yesterday morning…and he only had to hear the sermon once. Hopefully, everyone will be rested up today. The week was a difficult & demanding week, because of the level of hard work, the level of heat, and the even higher level of humidity. I am very proud of the work that the GOOTH accomplished both on the houses and as a growing family.

Many youth groups have a difficult time mixing the middlers with the high school youth. But our GOOTH do not fall into that category. They mix very well as a group. Yes, they enjoy their time separated from one another, but they also enjoy getting to know the other age youth. The youth traveled in 7 vehicles on the way to SC, where they were grouped according to age and/or gender. The van rides always end up being a lot of fun. Luckily, the fun was limited to 6 hours on the road! As for the workgroups, the GOOTH were divided up according to age and/or gender. This left each group with roughly the same skill level, maturity, and age range. For the most part, each group basically had 2 6th graders, 1 seventh grader, 2 8th graders, 3 9th graders, 2 10th/11th graders, and 1 12th/college youth. They worked very well together. The older youth helped teach the younger youth when needed, and the younger youth gave assitance to the older youth as needed.

I would like to thank all of the adults who went on the trip for their time, skills, and ministry. The trip would not have been possible without their help. We had a wonderful food team of Bill & Cathy Teller, who kept us hydrated, fed, and satisfied. The workteams were led by 1) Anne Lowder, Cameron Lowry, and myself; 2) Allen Cooper, Tony & Phyllis Stovall, and Nanita Heasley; and 3) Joe McGowan, Lee Norris, and Egla Garcia. My brother, Mark, assisted on the first day with group 1.

We stayed in a church in Andrews, SC, and ate our meals together. Breakfast was done as you arrived, lunch was brought to the worksites by the Tellers, and dinner was eaten together – whether in the gym, at a restaurant, or a picnic shelter. The A/C worked all too well in the church…some nights, we nearly froze to death, while others we were hot because we adjusted the A/C so as not to freeze us. Oh well. You can’t win them all…if the A/C not working properly is the greatest of our problems, we’re doing well. The church complemented the youth on how well they kept the church tidy and clean. The cleaning lady, Diane, came in everyday and was amazed that the bathrooms were in as good of shape as they were. We all know that teenagers can mess up some bathrooms…but they treated the church like their home and kept it all clean!

As I said before, the work was difficult. But the GOOTH rose to the challenge, stretching their boundaries so that they could learn something new and help someone at the same time. The houses we worked on require more work than what one group in one week can do. The house that my group worked on had been a worksite for three weeks prior to our arrival. The other two groups may have been the first groups to work on their houses…if not, then the second. The youth learned how to use new tools, new techniques, and stretched their minds with situations that required them to problem-solve either alone or together. It was a joy to watch the light bulb come on in the eyes of the youth as they understood the need for certain action, the cause of a problem, or how to do the shortcut. As the week progressed, the youth became more skilled and comfortable with the tools they used. Some ventured into the land of power tools, while others opted to watch at a safe distance. Some became masters of measurements & fitting, while others became fantastic nail-pullers. Some learned how to lay shingles, while others learned how to put up walls. Some learned how to remove & put in new windows, while others learned how to level new doors. The variety of work made each worksite a unique learning environment for the GOOTH. By doing the work on these houses, the GOOTH helped raise the living conditions in the homes to comfortable, safe, and clean standards. The GOOTH’s eye’s were opened to the dirty and run-down conditions in which some people live.

Thank you for following our trip on the blog, and for your support – both financially and with prayer. The trip would not have been successful without the help of the church family & friends.

Here is a public link to my pictures on my facebook site. In time, some more links may be posted as comments to this post – so check the comments! http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=549&id=305700031&l=89a1359df8

Peace,
Jay

Brittany’s pictures on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2013104&id=1401300092&l=c424099af5

Katie’s pictures on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=26834&id=1343135336&l=21afc4893e

GOOTH Mission Trip, Day 5 – The Free Day

We are packing the vans and getting ready to leave, but i wanted to post the “free day” blogs. see you soon! jay

Stephen McCoy

8^th grade

Today was our free day which made everyone happy, even though we still had to get up close to normal time. We traveled to Charleston and the first thing we did was we went to the Second Presbyterian Church of Charleston because the First Presbyterian Church of Charleston was being renovated. After that, we went to Market St. and did a little shopping. They only gave us one hour to shop which was not enough time at all. After that, we ate lunch at Waterfront Park, where we also celebrated Mrs. Garcia’s birthday. Then we headed to Mt. Pleasant and went to the beach. We stayed at the beach for about two hours then went and got our dinner at Ye Olde Fashioned Ice Cream and Burger Shop. Then we headed home and started packing for tomorrow. I was running to get upstairs and wasn’t watching where I was going and I stubbed my toe on the tetherball pole and it still hurts. Overall it’s been a good day and a good week.

Stephen McCoy

Meredith Welty

9^th grade

Overall, this week we worked harder and did more challenging projects than any of the other two mission trips that I have been on.  In my group, we replaced all the windows, laid plywood for flooring, painted trim and doors, and put up walls and ceiling in the bathroom.  We were pretty busy, but we had a lot of fun.  The first day I came on the worksite with not really any construction skills.  I could use a drill if I was lucky and I could paint.  I wouldn’t call myself that adventurous either.  So I didn’t know how much heavy construction I would feel comfortable doing.  On the first day I started laying flooring first thing.  We had to clean the room out, get the measurements of the room and then cut and staple the wood.  I held the tape measure and carried the wood and I thought that would be about it.  Then Mark asked if I wanted to use the staple gun and I said OK.  Surprisingly, it was a lot easier than I thought!  Then one of the contractors taught me how to pull a nail out of the wall with a hammer (which I’m still not that great at).  And the next day I got even more hardcore.  I put screws in windows to hold them in the wall.  I hadn’t successfully used a power drill to screw in a screw before.  But with Jay’s help, I finally got the hang of it.  And I helped paint some boards that I later got to chop up-but that comes later.  The third day I painted plywood with a roller (and a roller extender).  The last day I helped Cameron to trim all the windows.  We had to cut the painted boards and then staple them onto the windows.  I used a saw, the one that is a circle and you pull up and down.  I don’t know and don’t really care what it’s called [insert by Jay: compound mitre].  I used the staple gun again.  I also measured the windows better than Cameron.  So that was my week in power tool experiences.

Meredith Welty

Brittany McGowan

College

Hey everyone. I just thought I would share about my experiences throughout the week. It was wonderful to be able to come back this year as a college student. This year we worked on several different houses for those who cannot afford much needed renovations. I did several different jobs throughout the week. On the first day I learned how to “pop lines” for a roof. That basically means using a string covered in chalk to make straight lines so that a person knows where to place the shingles. I helped shingle for a while, but then the glue on my shoes melted and the bottom of them were very deformed. I then helped dig trenches and finished adding plywood to the front of the house. On the way to the sight the next day we stopped to get me some new shoes from Wal-Mart so that I could help finish the roof. It became mine and Laura Vroom’s project. We spent most of Tuesday on a 100 degree roof hammering in shingles to get it done. It was such an exciting feeling to finish because we could see everything we had done and it was one full project completed. Other things done around our site included replacing insulation, putting up plywood and installing windows. Our work site was a swamp. There was water under the house so we had to jack up the house and dig trenches to lead the water out. We also removed a floor from one of the bedrooms so that our site leader could get under the house easier to jack it up.

During the evenings we spent time getting to know one another at the beach, around Georgetown, and around the church. And during our free day we spent time in Charleston and then went to the beach. We played paddleball and swam for a few hours. Tonight we had a paddleball tournament in the gym and spent the last bit of time hanging out before heading home in the morning.

I am so happy I was able to come back again this year. I enjoyed this trip just as much as all the others I have been on, if not more than some. I really enjoyed finally getting to do construction work, and am glad I did not end up missing this opportunity. I’m sad to be leaving but I know we got a lot done and I think we are all getting a little too tired to be working with power tools for much longer anyway. See you guys Sunday!