Update- Emma

Hi All,
The wifi here is slow, so photos will be coming when we can.
Till then enjoy the stories and have a great night.
Emma

Day 1- Trenton

The first day of our mission trip was dirty. We first stumbled upon an old walkway that needed repair. But we had no idea about the horrors that lay under the boards. MUD, tons of mud.  Every time you dared to step foot in the pit it tried to swallow your shoe whole. If you did manage to get your foot free another shoe sized glob of mud emerged with you. After we finished our morning in the mud pit we ate lunch.  We went to a local retirement home to eat lunch. They served a favored dish of high school kids, Meatloaf. Strangely I was one of the only ones who enjoyed the loaf of meat. I guess everyone had a big meal that morning. Maybe, it was because the meatloaf and mud looked so similar?

~Trenton

Day 1- Isabelle

Today was the first work day of the Ohio mission trip. My group is helping build a ramp for a lady in a wheelchair. Her husband Bob is really involved in helping his neighbors. Sadly Lows was suppose to bring the wood but didn’t, so we couldn’t do as much as we wanted to. We had one of the best lunches we have had on mission trip. We had BLTs, chips, candy and watermelon. The car ride home was a lot of fun. We had some adventures I got closer to people in my group I didn’t know as well. When we got back we played a lot of games. At night we did highlights and lowlights. This is always one of my favorite things we doing on mission trip. My lowlight was that I ate a worm, but my highlight was I got paid for doing it. It was a little worm and it was for a bet. 

~Isabelle Darragh

Day 1- Brittany

Hi everyone!  My work group had a really productive first day here.  Our wheelchair ramp is actually starting to look like a ramp.  When we arrived at our work site (a trailer home) we met Donna, the homeowner, whose daughter in law had a heart disease restricting her to a wheelchair.  She told us the story about her husband’s death and how she had turned her life to God and taking care of her daughter.  It was clear to see that the makeshift ramp already in place that she had made herself needed a facelift, so we took the whole thing out and started fresh.  The first time I saw God was in Pastor Rob.  The way he connected with Donna and was able to use his construction know-how to get our ramp progress in motion really made me see how God’s does his work through him.  His passion is incredible and inspiring.  I hope one day I am able to fulfill my calling in the same way he has fulfilled his.  Today has opened my eyes to God’s supportive hand on all of us, guiding me in my decisions the same way he does for you.  I’m praying for everyone back home that they too are able to feel God’s grace in them and feel comforted by his presence.  Have a great rest of the week!

-Brittany

Day 1- Thomas

We started off the mission trip yesterday morning from First Presbyterian Church at the Sunday morning service.  After sitting through that we quickly made our way into the vans and started our journey to Bethesda, Ohio.  When we got here, we were separated into our bunks.  Here at the boys bunks, we had a very fun night playing basketball which included a dunking contest, a three point contest and also a game of PIG.  The next morning we were separated into different groups and went to our job sites.  My group went to a city called Shadyside on the far east of Ohio.  When we got there we met Bob, he was the person we are building a wheelchair ramp for.  We started off by hearing his stories and it quickly became obvious that he is a great guy and was considered the caretaker of the community.  Our first day of work was cut short due to lack of supplies, but we got some good work done digging holes for the foundation.   After we finished what we could we hit the road.  On our way home we made a unanimous decision to take a quick detour to West Virginia.  This was very exciting for me as I have never been before.  After spending about 30 seconds in the state we returned to Ohio.  We returned to the church where we ate dinner and talked about our day.  Our first day was very fun and I got to meet a lot of interesting people.

-Thomas Smither

Day 1- From Emma

Greetings Everyone!
It is 7:30 and the kids are all outside playing.  We will be gathering for worship in a bit and then some more blog posts should go up.

It has been a full day!  We got aclimated to our job sites, met some really sweet people, and started getting to work.  Tomorrow looks to be busier than today, although the chance of thunder storms is threatening our work day.

I can't wait for you all to hear some stories from today...but I will let them tell you those stories.
Stay tuned...and keep us in your prayers.

Joyfully,
Emma

We made it!

We are here!!!  It was a long (rainy) drive, but we made it. Settling in and waiting on dinner. 

Joyfully,

Emma