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Serve Trip, 2014

Posted by Lombard CRC, General on

On Saturday March 29, 2014 52 adults and high school youths left Lombard for a week of disaster relief service in Walton County, Florida. We served in association with World Renew and Hearts & Hammers. Please continue to pray that the work we accomplished blessed those affected by the storm damage and that our walk with God may be strengthened through this experience.

Below is the daily blog updates that followed our daily activities. 

Saturday, March 29

Florida, here we come! The LCRC spring break serve trip has finally arrived. Our punctual group left five minutes early at 5:55 AM with temperatures in the 30's. The drive through Indiana was...well...weather challenging. For much of the drive it was raining and for a while there was a snow/rain mix with fog. On the bright side, we had capable drivers and the weather served as a wonderful metaphor for life. As we drove, we anticipated the upper 70° temperatures of Florida. We are called to weather the storms of life with hope of a warmer tomorrow. 

Amazingly our five vans stayed together enough to stop at the same place for lunch, about 100 miles north of Nashville. Since we left our stop at different times, not all of us were together after lunch. This was fine since 50 people traveling together can be difficult since not all bladders are created equal. In case you were wondering, we saw some Redbud trees already in bloom in southern Tennessee. We regrouped in Montgomery, Alabama to complete the last leg of the trip together.

Yes! We have arrived at Tri-State Christian Camp at 10 PM.  Our kitchen crew had an amazing spread of late-night snacks for us. What's the camp like? More on that another day. We are busy eating & figuring out who will sleep where. We are thankful for a blessed day of travel.

Sunday, March 30

Our cooks (John, Jim, Ray, Wally) have already made a great impression. After the late snacks last night, we enjoyed a large breakfast this morning: bacon/sausage, scrambled eggs, French toast, yogurt, cereal, and fruit assortment.

Our worship service was in the cathedral of the great outdoors. Under the ceiling of sky and within the tall tree sanctuary, we gathered. Bill led us in singing with Dennisse on vocals, Elizabeth on bucket percussion and Mac on the harmonica for a couple songs. Pastor John challenged us to serve this week in Jesus' name. We all have something to offer others. In small groups we discussed how can we be generous and how can we be open & attentive to God's purpose this week. Our prayer time was in a big circle with people praying out short prayers of praise and requests. 

Then we were off to Henderson Beach State Park right on the Gulf of Mexico. We felt transported to a different country (after being in Chicago just yesterday): blue sky, white sand beach, peaceful ocean, and warm, warm sun. After lunch a group went to the Destin Harbor boardwalk. They were looking for shops and instead found a huge cheerleading competition. Their exploring was fun nonetheless. 

Grilled hamburgers & hot dogs with all the fixings filled us up this evening. Tonight we have our meeting to talk about serve assignments and who is on each work team (this has been a big secret until now). We can't wait for tomorrow!

Monday, March 31

Pastor John opened with devotions based on Philippians 2. Christ's love is our motivation. Know that the Lord will use us in surprising ways. Our challenge: what are one or two words to describe the people we meet or the community we're in.  Breakfast: breakfast burritos. Before the work day we had a group photo and then left 15 minutes earlier than planned. 

Did I mention that many people have sunburn? Faces glowing, back of necks scorched, tops of feet aching. A number have a nice raccoon look from sun & sunglasses. 

Here is a summary of our service work plan. TEAM BLACK: Leaders Chris & Howard. Building a deck, painting a house. TEAM YELLOW: Leaders Sharon & Sandi. Landscaping. TEAM BLUE: Leaders Gary & Dave. Roof work, drywall & landscape. TEAM RED: Leaders Mike & Andrew. Replacing flooring & sealing a ceiling. TEAM GREEN: Leaders Ron & Josh. Trenching for water & sewer lines. 

TEAM RED worked on a dilapidated mobile home in the middle of nowhere (12 miles of dirt road that only had a landfill and one other house on it). Two of the guys fell through the bedroom floor. The house also had a towel in front of the door of one of the rooms to prevent snakes from coming in.  This group won "the prize" for the longest work day, arriving over an hour after everyone else. The rest of us were already enjoying our pork chops. 

After dinner we met to review the day. Each group shared work highlights. In the evening we enjoy hanging out in the dining hall, talking, playing games and having snacks.

Tuesday, April 1

Pastor John shared about the hands of Jesus. We were challenged to think about how Jesus' hands will touch us today. 

Focus on TEAM BLACK & YELLOW. We worked at Judy's  house. The "lemonheads" (Yellow) did landscaping. In reality it was more like clearing a jungle. Removing trees, bushes, vines and thorny plants proved quite difficult. I (Mac) was consoled more than once about the tragedy of such tree destruction. Brave Jackson volunteered to go under the house to remove lots of trash. 

TEAM BLACK (the jalapeño poppers) scraped, primed and painted the house a "brown sugar/mocha/coffee with cream" color. The shutters were sage green. The courageous ones climbed tall ladders to reach the eaves on the sides of the house. In addition Chris & Howard, with the help of others, replaced the rickety back steps with a nice 8' x 10' deck. At the end we gave Judy notes and prayed with her. She gave us a tearful and heart-felt thank-you.

Tonight after our taco dinner we celebrated Tegan's birthday with cake and ice cream. Pam then gave us a challenge and a game to connect with every person on this trip. The camp director, John, told us about how God worked to bring this camp about. Finally each serve team shared about their day. There was much laughter and even tears as we shared. Right now, everybody is busy connecting!

Wednesday, April 2

Pastor John read the Beatitudes from Matthew 5. God's Kingdom is opposite of the world's kingdom. Today let's desire and value what God desires and values. Question for the day: Where do we see God's kingdom at work today?

The joyful Blue team has been working at Betty's place since Monday: roofing the house, gutting and replacing walls in the mobile home, washing the entire outside of the home, and cleaning up the trash. This project is huge! So much so that they were joined by the Green & Yellow teams today. Betty's quote, "God may not come when you call him, but he's always on time," We filled two 30 yard dumpsters (that is in addition to a 40 yard one earlier in the week, along with a couple trailers full if trash). 

Pulled pork was for dinner. We ate in shifts because the Red & Black teams worked late (6:30 & 6:45). 

According to our nightly ritual, each team shared about the day. Different people share each night. It is fun to hear from youth and adults that do not normally speak in front of groups.

Bill, Dennise & Elizabeth led us in singing. A holy time of worship settled among us (despite having weary bodies). We then circled up with our serve teams. Each person shared a prayer request and was prayer for. Overall, we had a wonderful day of service and rich Christian community.

Thursday, April 3

It is getting a bit harder to get up in the morning. Devotions by Pastor John started off by asking "who saw evidences of God's kingdom yesterday?" A meaningful share time ensued. Our Scripture was from 1 John 3. Question: How do I show my identity as a child of God today?

Focus on TEAM GREEN: This environmental team began the week by digging trenches for sewer and water lines: 12 to 36 inches deep, one was 75 feet long and the other 40 feet. At another house they dug a 20 foot in diameter retention pond. It was 2-3 feet deep. If that was not enough digging, they also dug another long trench and created a 2 foot berm that was 50 feet long . To add a little variety, there were some painting projects in the house. Unlike all other teams, Team Green worked 2 blocks from the beach, so of course they had to visit it! The next two days they worked at Betty's house, which was in yesterday's blog. 

A number of people did their serve project at the camp we are staying at. We painted, raked, cleared brush and cut down dead trees. 

After dinner, we spent time as a whole group sharing what this week meant to us. It was inspiring to hear the testimonies. We have a great group that loves each other, serves the needy and is committed to Jesus. We sang Pour Out My Heart, One Thing Remains, & Oceans. Now there is lively free time with most in the dining hall writing friend-o-grams, playing games or just talking (and laughing!).

Friday, April 4

We began the day with breakfast and cleaning the camp. Moms: the high school boys do need some more lessons on how to sweep floors and wipe down bathrooms.

Mike Grafton led a team that went the extra mile and spent the day painting and installing laminate flooring. This fearless crew included Hannah, Tegan, Lauren, America, Ellie, Rich, Andrew, and Sharon. 

Chris, Howard, Ron & Pete spent a couple of hours to finish the top coat for all the drywall in Betty's mobile home. 

The rest of us went to Grayton Beach State Park. It was a warm/hot, partly sunny day with 4 foot waves. After our picnic lunch on the beach and a little more swimming/sunning, we went into town for some shopping and dinner. We then drove an hour to a country church that is also a camp. We have settled here for the night. Our 5:00 AM wake-up will come early. See you Saturday night!

 

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