James Spangler – Day one of work. Day two of bacon in the
breakfast. Day three of breakfast. Day four here. We had to get up around six
a.m., breakfast was at 6:30. Once we got to the site we were told what we had
to do n got started right away. We got two of the trenches started as well as
the septic tank pit before it started to pour. We waited for a while but it got
too muddy before the rain stopped so we were the first to the showers since we
left early. Boom.
J.T. Mrozek- Alright so today we got up and ate food. Once
we knew we had everything together we headed out to our sites with everyone.
Today I think I got a new friend! And I am super happy about that. When we got
there I was happy to have found out that the site I was on was a construction
job pretty much. Considering I have had a lot of experience with construction,
and that two of the guy leaders were fighting over who should get me, I think I
was doing a great job. Then before we went back to the church we all went and
took showers. Now we are back and eating dinner, which I have to say the cooks
are great. Not that your food isn’t mom, but still. Then we are doing our group
meeting later and then bed time. Let God show us our way and I will be back to
tell you more tomorrow.
Seth Whitehouse- Today was a good day. I really enjoyed
getting to work finally. I was put on the site where we have to replace the
floor boards and roof. This site probably had the worst living conditions out
of the years I’ve been here. The people at the site were really cool to get to
know; they have a certain type of pride, which I admire. The kids were really
nice. I have a ton of respect for these people. Also, this site has a lot of
dogs and puppies who were awesome. Also, I accidentally fell through the roof,
but I’m all good. I really like everybody at our site and it was a great day.
Hopefully we get more supplies for the floor and roof tomorrow so we can fix
all that we tore apart today. Bye, I’ll try for a better journal tomorrow.
Mariah Miklusak- so pretty much today was a good day. I’m at
the same site I was at last year, which is Pearl McIntosh’s house; we put in a
double septic tank for the bathroom we built. However there were some
difficulties that we endured and we were blessed to have a few people return to
her site this year. One of them was myself, and the other one is my soon to be
husband, Stephen McGhee. We put up part of the wall in the bathroom and I
nailed all the nails into the wood; I didn’t hammer myself! Yay me. I must say
we made a lot of improvement, more than was anticipated. Pearl is such a
wonderful host to us, always telling us stories about her childhood. She has a
brother, who lives next door to her, and he is the absolute sweetest thing I
have ever seen. He told me today about his late wife, Willy Lou. They used to
make sausage gravy and biscuits, an interest we have in common. But yes, also,
Mrs. Spangler is my mom and James is my twin. A lot of people believed that… I
don’t look that much like James do I? There’s no way I’m that ugly. ;D okay well I’m going to bed, I am exhausted.
Write more tomorrow.
Zach Foor- I realize that I have not been writing every day
in this journal, so bare with me. Today, I arrived on my work site (septic) for
the first day; we were not able to see the work site yesterday. When we
arrived, I was so surprised with the condition of the home; it was in such good
shape! The only problem with the entire home was that it was lacking a plumbing
system. So, the people that lived at the home we worked on, Tammy and her
daughter Courtney, were very nice people. They were forced to move down the
hill to a trailer by the state because of the plumbing. We got a lot of work
done today and I have to say I’m VERY happy to be back here for the fourth year
in a row now. I miss this place, it always puts my mind in the right spot.
Nikki Spangler – We have four work groups this year. Seth & I are both on the same site – the
Ensley family. There are four children,
boys 18 & 14 and girls 15 & 10.
The mom & 15 year old daughter took the week off of work this week
so the family was at the site with us all day.
Everyone joined in with the work we doing wherever they could. Our supplies did not all arrive until the end
of the work day today, so we did what we could without them. A good portion of the flooring has been
pulled up to be replaced and we completely filled a dumpster cleaning up the
property immediately surrounding the home.
We also spent a lot of time getting to know the family, which is also an
important part of what we do here in Appalachia. Usually we do not take pictures on the work site the first day, but one of the other adults asked and was told to take all we want, so I will try to also get pictures up regularly. I need to find some picture takers from the other sites to get me pictures too!
