|
Wyoming UMC Mission Trip News -
Zanesville, Ohio
Day 5 - Thursday 7/31/08
We're coming up on our last update.
With only 1 workday left after today the group really had to work
hard to stay on schedule to finish their projects. Pastor Jim's
group building the porch is the most worried about time so today the
worked at extra 2 hours with extra help so that they can definitely
finish by tomorrow.
Tonight the work camp had a big
worship service. The sermon was based off John 7:53-8:11- the story
of the women who commits adultery and is brought before the church
and is about to be stoned. When the leaders try to make Jesus cast
the first stone he draws in the sand and looks up at the leaders and
says "He who is without sin cast the first stone."
For the sermon the speaker had each
of the youth bring in a rock and at a certain time they brought it a
big cross and had the youth lay their stones at the foot of the
cross. Pastor Jim admitted that just telling the story did not
make it seem as powerful as it really was. However he said it was
extremely moving.
Day 4 - Wednesday 7/30/08
Today there was only
a half day of work because the group had the afternoon off. There was a
little rainfall while they worked but nothing serious and all the groups
were able to get quality work done.
Their afternoon was
spent at Dillon State Park where they had a picnic lunch and there were
games and swimming and other such activities. However, the
highlight of the day according to Pastor Jim was the talent show and he
shared the promised details that he did not have as of yesterday's
update. First, he told me that there is a work crew all the way from
Japan and 6 of the girls from the group performed the song "Shout to the
Lord" in Japanese and English while wearing traditional Japanese
kimonos. Then, the act that brought down the house, of course, was our
own Suzie Nichols, Lauren Delong, and Brianne Stockslager rapping "I'm
into Jesus Ya'll" based off of the youtube clip "I'm into Nuggets
Ya'll"-a McDonalds commercial frequently quoted at school last year.
Anyways, Pastor Jim said that the rap got the entire building on their
feet clapping in typical MYF fashion.
The last story Jim
shared with me from the day was one I personally found very moving. The
resident of the house Jim and his work group are building the porch for
came out and worked with them today. Apparently her sister and
brother-in-law are going to be moving to Middletown soon and were going
to be looking for a church. Well, remember earlier this week I mentioned
that there were 2 other churches from Delaware- one of them from
Middletown.
When I heard this my
initial response was, "Well isn't that lucky". However, I quickly
corrected myself. When God is involved there is no such thing as luck or
coincidence. The youth at that camp are truly doing God's work and that
story is proof. Needless to say Pastor Jim quickly thereafter
found the leader from that church, acquired one of their business cards,
and gave it to the resident to pass on to her sister. How truly great is
our God.
Day 3 - Tuesday 7/29/08
The mission group sent
all good news tonight about the work they're doing. Other than the fact that
it was ridiculously hot today, all of the work crews got a lot done. One of
the painting teams which was assigned a 2 story house to scrape and paint
was doubled up after a group from another church joined them, making the
immense task set before them much more manageable. The rest of the groups
are doing fine with the other projects. There are no injuries to report
other than a couple minor yellow jacket stings which is very good news.
On a lighter note, the
work camp held auditions for the talent show which will be held tomorrow
night. Pastor Jim mentioned that Suzie Nichols, Lauren Delong, and Brianne
Stockslager auditioned as some kind of trio. He did not know much more than
that but he assured me that he will share more details after the performance
tomorrow night.
Day 2 - Monday 7/28/08
Pastor Jim called around 8 o'clock this
evening and was very excited about the progress the group made today. The 3
groups painting ended up with a much more labor intensive job than they
anticipated. Each group has a large, 2 story structure with a lot of
scraping involved.
The first construction group headed by
Chuck Nichols began work on a handicap ramp today and they managed to get
all of the posts into the ground which was a major accomplishment for the
time they had. The other construction group headed by Pastor Jim began
their project of building a new porch for a house. They completed the first
step by demolishing the old deck and will begin construction tomorrow on the
new one.
Pastor Jim also mentioned that all 5
groups were able to spend time in devotion with the families they are
serving. He said that this is one of the goals of the mission but sometimes
it doesn't happen so the fact that all 5 groups were able to do this is
quite amazing.
For the group’s own devotion, each
individual work group is writing inspirational notes to the people they are
working with. There is a board set up with each person’s name listed. The
note-writing will go on all week so all of the youth will end up with
several notes from the people they worked with that will remind them of the
job they did.
Day 1 - Sunday 7/27/08 - Travel Day
They started the day off well getting to
Zanesville right at noon which put them at exactly 8 hours of driving
because they left at 4 this morning. After check‑in, the group received
their projects for the week. The youth are being split into 5 groups, two of
which will be doing carpentry work, the other 3 doing painting.
Pastor Jim mentioned that there are 2
other churches from Delaware at the work camp. One is from Lewes and the
other from Middletown, so all three counties are represented. On Wednesday
afternoon, the youth have free time which they chose to spend at a local
state park and now the other Delaware churches will be going with them.
The team also received their
accommodations for the week at Zanesville High school. The girls got a
classroom to themselves and the boys are in the library with 5 other
groups. None of the rooms have A/C but Mrs. Nichols made sure to remind all
of the adults to bring fans so that shouldn't be an issue.
The group's only request after one day
is to pray for them in their work that they can do the tasks set before them
to the best of their abilities and also for their interactions with the
other youth there.
| 
![[Under Construction]](images/undercon.gif)
