Being away from civilization for a week makes it
really hard to get back into the blogging world. I'll admit that I loved being away from phone service & internet (though I discovered wifi on about the 4th day). But...now I've been avoiding blogging about the trip because I just don't even really know where to start.
This week was great for several reasons...I loved getting to know people from my church better. There were 8 of us in my group, so spending 24/7 with them for a week spoiled me & now it's weird when I don't see them every single day.
Mary Ellen, McKinlie, me, & Danielle...please note that this picture was taken at 7:30 am.
...except I've still seen McKinlie every day since we got back. She had my whole life planned out for me, in case it wasn't "in style" by the time she got around to living it (she's 15). She had me a husband picked out, wedding planned, kids named & everything...but now she's decided that I have to be a spinster & live in her basement.
Tangent: I love hanging out with youth. I went to a movie with them the other night ("How to Train Your Dragon"...so cute!). Simply going to a dollar movie & out for pizza was so much fun. Makes me feel a
lot older than them when they talk about listening to Britney in preschool...but I still love it.
So, back to ASP...we worked on a trailer all week that a tree had fallen on in a storm about a year ago. The family that lives there is an eighteen-year-old girl, her 7-month-old little boy, & her fiance. To be eighteen & living in the situation that she is, I think she is a pretty good mother. The baby enjoyed us being there...he was such a people watcher, never scared by the loud hammering or sawing.
In talking to her, we found out that she grew up in church...she believes, but doesn't seem to have a relationship. Both her parents died of cancer & some of the things that happened with the church surrounding their deaths drover her away. Since Little Larry was born, she's felt judged by the church. That was the saddest part of this whole situation to me. The one place that we think people should be able to turn to was the place where she felt the most judgment. In reality, the
one place we can always turn to is Him alone.
Over the course of the week (we worked from about 9:30-6 or so everyday), we were able to replace a lot of the subfloor that was rotting from rain, replace 2 walls (reframed & put up siding & painted), start cutting new trusses to hold the roof up, & put in a back door & build a porch. There will be groups working on their trailer all summer, so hopefully it will be livable soon. They've been living in it for a year...but nothing there is up to code. I'm sure there is mold & other dangers, so it will be such a blessing for them to
safely be able to live there again.
A thought from the week: Over & over in the Bible we see God give specific instructions, measurements even...that always seemed kind of odd to me. (I think in my head I wondered why God cared about math.) We read about Him giving Noah the exact measurements for the ark; we see Him telling
exactly how to construct the Ark of the Covenant & detailing how it should be carried; we read the specific instructions He gave many on how & where to build altars. This week as we ran into problems, it would've been easy to do the job "good enough." But that never happened. We did it
right. It would have been okay to settle for a lot of things if that was the best we could do, but because we had people who were knowledgeable about the repairs we were making, that was not acceptable. God calls us to do & be our absolute best, & I was very proud to feel that we did that this week, even when it meant feeling like you'd wasted an hour of work, backtracking to do something the right way, tearing down a wall you'd just put up, etc.
"I will not present burnt offerings to the Lord my God that have cost me nothing."
2 Samuel 24:24
That trailer is our offering to God.
Whatever it cost, we did it right.
McKinlie, me, Danielle, Mary Ellen, Veronica, Coach Moore, Andrew, Kevin
Funny story of the week: So, before I left I mentioned the outdoor showers...I didn't quite know what that would be like. I forgot to take a picture, so here's one I drew to explain...
The first day, after I got over the odd feeling of being naked outside, I kind of liked it. It's pretty nice being able to look up & see the sky while you're showering. ;) The water was cold, but with the sun beating down right on you, it wasn't too bad. Well, fast forward a couple days...McKinlie, Danielle, & I are in the 3 showers, trying to hurry because we can tell it's about to storm. Interesting conversations always took place out here...this one including "the naked pact," our pact that if any of us got struck by lightening, we would make sure she was covered up before anyone else saw her. The only things worse than getting struck by lightening, we decided, were to get struck while you're naked, or to get struck while naked &
not die. So right after the pact was made, it starts getting windy...& the walls of my shower blow COMPLETELY open. Kinlie's already dressed at this point, so while I'm screaming, she comes over to hold them closed...then go Danielle's. She couldn't hold both of ours closed so we end up running, half-covered by towels, into one "stall" so McKinlie could hold the 2 walls together for us to get dressed. As we're getting dressed, then comes the rain. Hands down, most eventful/traumatic shower experience of my life.
The end.
P.S. Sorry for the longest blog post
ever...but I'm making up for a week.
