On Sunday we had church and Bible study that took up our whole morning. We had pictures to take after all the church services with our shirts. But before we took pictures and ate lunch we met Pastor Budtke. He was one of the pastors that started ASE and he is a wonderful man. I was so blessed to meet him and have him talk to us. I pray to God that if it is in His plan I will get to see him again. After we ate lunch we had river rafting. We got all our stuff together and went out to the place that we start at. After we went through instructions and got our gear we got on a bus that took us to the river. When we got there we got into groups and went out. I'm pretty tired and I'm not sure exactly what to tell u but it was fun and my boat guide was pretty funny. It was my first time so I really enjoyed it and would love to go out again. When we got back we ate dinner and did group activities and worship. Tomorrow we get to get up at 6:15 so we can head off and finish up work sites. I honestly can't believe that we have only 2 days left. I miss home but I'm not sure how I will feel leaving my new family. I might not get a chance to see them again, but I hope God will stay with them and keep them on the right path.
Laura
So yesterday Solomon and I looked through all the Easter hymns and talked about how much we wanted to sing them, then today we sang two Easter hymns in church! God is so cool. Some people gave extremely moving testimonies during the services as well, so the whole morning was excellent. I really enjoy listening to what other people got out of the experience because it's different for everyone.
After church we went white water rafting which was not nearly as exciting as I was hoping it would be, but I really liked the group of people I was with. And we got to jump off a rather big rock, so that's cool. We had to keep on the lookout for beaver sharks, however, and the threat of imminent danger made the trip more thrilling.
After rafting we had the typical games and bible study. We played some dodgeball variations, and although the first one was peculiar, poorly explained, and designed to make everyone look like a fool, the second was quite fun, and I actually ended up winning the second round.
For bible study, we drew some more pictures. Our pictures were really not that good, but we sure had lots of fun. We basically drew a story into both pictures, and in the end, each story was so intricate that we filled the page with people and scenery.
For partner praying, I prayed with Sydney, one of my three partners in roofing. We talked about how much we're going to miss each other and how sad it is that we all live so far away. It really kind of hit today that I might never see these people again, and that's a very sad thought.
Our end of the day service was a bit lacking as we sang one rather empty song. But it's still a very powerful feeling to kneel next to your friends and pray silently together.
Today Cameron told me that Asheville is adding a cat café where you'll be able to pet kitties while eating food. So not only do I want to come back to see all the amazing people, I want to come back to see the cat café.
Also, I always feel like this journal is some message to a friend, and I sometimes get a weird feeling of disappointment when I don't see a message back, and then I remember that this isn't going to anyone in particular. I like to pretend lots of people read this though, and when anyone asks me what I'm typing, I tell them I'm writing to my fans. So thanks for reading, fans.
Nikki
Hay fans! Did you know you can send the group email at OurSaviorASE@gmail.com
I did not get my sleep-in this weekend since we went out to the work site Saturday. Then last night I stayed up late with some of the youth. They were working on their testimonies and I was doing payroll - the one day job task I still have to handle while I am here. So I am super tired and must be quick so that I can still function tomorrow.
It was a fabulous weekend full of group fun, relationship building, and spiritual growth. I almost didn't go rafting because I have 'stuff' to do. I am glad that I did. I had a good time and enjoyed being on the water. I really need to get on the water more. Having grown up on a lake, I miss it. Night all!
Solomon
Well we had a full weekend indeed! Friday we got a lot of
work done on the worksite as we finished leveling some of the trenches. We
finally got some serious rain now; unfortunately, once the trench is level we
don’t want to get it wet! So we were working full speed trying to beat the
rain. It started as a sprinkle, but as we were frantically digging to try and
lay the piping, we could see the sheet of pouring rain advancing on us! We
managed to get a trench and a half of piping laid before the rain got to us,
and we covered it with enough dirt that the rain wouldn’t damage it. Friday
evening we had an early dinner (delicious as always) and headed out to Fletcher
Feed and Seed, a local venue where we got to enjoy some bluegrass music and
some clogging! There were a few differences from last year. This year there was
a lot more clogging and only one partner dance (which was perfectly fine by me)
and they also had our group come up and sing while the band was taking a break.
I wouldn’t have minded, only I didn’t know what we were singing until we
started singing it and I didn’t exactly know all the words. So that was
interesting. I do immensely enjoy bluegrass music though and there was a lady
who taught us how to clog! So it was a fun time. I did go up and try clogging a
couple times and I think I was getting close to doing something that vaguely
resembled clogging! Afterwards we headed out to Sonic, where we enjoyed
milkshakes and some card games!
Saturday, a couple of the groups went out to their
worksites. My group also went to our worksite, but I didn’t go to the worksite.
Instead I slept in until roughly 12:15. By the time I woke up, there were only
about 5 people at the church and everyone else was at worksites or Starbucks.
So the people left taught me a new game called Town of Salem that’s very
enjoyable and includes aspects of Mafia and One Night Ultimate Werewolf. All of
these are games that basically involve trying to find the bad guys before they
can kill the good guys. After lunch, we headed into downtown Asheville, where
we wandered around for awhile. We saw a couple cool street artists and wall
paintings. We also got to eat at the Mellow Mushroom, a delicious pizza place
with very creative artwork! We then stopped at the French Broad Chocolate
Lounge, which had all sorts of cool food and drink (and some hot ones too)! I
ended up getting a strawberry buttermilk milkshake! It was delicious! We went
from there to Shindig on the Green, where we enjoyed some more local music
while playing a new card game I learned called Capitalism! I also learned how
to make some pretty cool braids!
Sunday we woke up and attended the 8:30 worship service and
sang and gave testimonies at all three of the services. We got some PIZZA for
lunch and were visited by Pastor Budtke who helped start ASE. Afterwards, we
got to go white water rafting on the French Broad River. This year, the water
was high enough that we got to jump of off jump rock and we got to swim over one
of the rapids! It was pretty awesome! We got back and we played monarch
dodgeball, which is a type of free-for-all dodgeball. I managed to make it pretty
close to the end by employing stealth tactics such as walking around in the
center with all the people that had already been hit and were on the monarch’s
team and leaning on the bleachers and blending in with the bystanders. It
usually worked out pretty well until they made us raise our hands to see who
was still in. It was a fun, full weekend and I can’t wait to get back to work
on the site!
P.S. we did play trash can Thursday night and I won the
second game!
