Farewells

Crystal - The last day of our servant event was today. Many tears were shed and goodbyes said to our friends before we departed. It was probably the most emotional day I've had in awhile. We left North Carolina and headed back the way we came, but I don't remember most of it because I was passed out on either Aubrey's or Andrew's shoulder. We made a stop at cracker barrel,which was my first time there and then the Ohio group departed from us. A long while later we arrived in Monroe, and currently we are headed home. Before our group departed from the rest we were given our message to go and serve others through the Lord in our own towns which I urge all of you reading this to do as well. May God bless you all.

Solomon-Last night was pretty fun. We started it off with a movie which I only watched about the first half of before playing some Apples to Apples. The rest of the night was karaoke and dancing. We also had a pretty intense limbo competition. Then came the tearful goodbyes in the morning followed by the very, very long car ride I am currently in.

James Spangler-I actually stayed up all night for the all-nighter this year!! I thought I wasn’t going to make it because I was so comfortable with my pillow and laying there in my sleeping bag I fell asleep for about 20 minutes in the begging of Pitch Perfect. Once the markers came out and people started getting drawn on I decided it would be a good time to get up and join the party, to save myself and cause some trouble. Ben not only got his face drawn on but he also got a wonderful tramp stamp, it was pretty legit. We started an intense karaoke session that lasted at least an hour and a half, at least, which was followed by limbo and a dance party that lasted the rest of the night, best all-nighter ever.

Cecilia Bronsberg- Last night after we had communion and washed each other’s feet the all-nighter started. We started it off with 2 hours in the gym then went back to the fellowship hall to watch Pitch Perfect. After that I was getting pretty tired so a few of us decided to draw on the faces of the people who had fallen asleep already. Then we sang karaoke for a while and danced then before we knew it, it was time for us to leave. That was hard, especially having to say goodbye to the people who wouldn’t be back, it was very emotional. Then we started the trip back home stopping at Cracker Barrel for lunch and DQ later on. I’m really going to miss everyone.

JT- So today has been a very long day of sitting in a van and sleeping! I think I would rather be working a 10 hour shift of construction rather than do this. But beggars can’t be choosers, so I will just deal with this 14 hour drive we had back home! But other than that we all said good bye to each other before we had to leave this morning! And there was a decent amount of people that cried this year. It is almost like un-natural to not cry lolz. But then I probably have slept like 4-6 hours’ worth of this car ride and then after that just the wonderful snack we have had this ride was great! We are about an hour out now and just about to fall asleep again! Lolz well good bye and thank you congregation for allowing me to go this year once again!

Trish - I’m actually writing this on the last leg of our trip home. Nikki said we could do one more journal entry for ASE 2013. There was a story I forgot to mention from yesterday so I’m glad I will get a chance to share it now.

Let’s start the day off with the ending of the 2013 ASE all-nighter. Nikki was able to pull that off and stay up with those kiddos all night, although I think half the time she was actually working. I however was able to squeeze in some shut eye between loud roars of noise during different portions of the night. I fell asleep to a movie, woke with very loud karaoke style music to tunes from the 80s, and finally woke the last time during a limbo contest. The last time I woke was at 6am by a youth letting me know I had to get up because they had to get the room cleaned up and it was time to finalize our packing and head out. And only about 20 minutes later I find Cecilla standing against a wall, SLEEPING. (I got the pic to prove it).

It was a sad morning as tears were flowing for the goodbyes to everyone we just spent ten days with and those we worked so hard with at our sites. God truly works in amazing and beautiful ways. This is an experience I will never forget. I also will be pondering how I can use what I have learned at home. This experience will always be with me and my prayer is that I will be able to participate again. Either just as an adult chaperone and/or with my remaining three children.

I got enough sleep to drive from Asheville, NC to Independence, OH; only we had a major detour we had to take in NC which added some time to our trip, I believe two hours. That was interesting driving. It was extremely quiet in the van full of teenagers because they were all sleeping. We had an interesting pit stop though.

So to share what I forgot yesterday, I had to run to the local hardware store to pick up a little more grass seed as the front yard did get tore up a bit by a backhoe trying to find the old tank that needed to be crushed in. (We never found a tank but we did need to get it re-seeded.) Anyway I noticed a truck parked outside the store which had a business title of “Jewish Carpenter LLC”. The gentleman was in the store finishing his RTC Root Beer and he struck up a conversation with me. I was able to tell him all about ASE and what we do and what our group was currently doing. He thought that was wonderful and he was happy to hear that kids from all over where willing to come and help those that needed it. We then made name introductions and his name was Seth; what a wonderful Christian name he had. I told him that I loved the name of his business and obviously he works in construction. I just started talking about his business name and he proceeded to tell me that he was actually raised Jewish but converted to Christianity as an adult. I thought that was so wonderful. I had always heard the stories of Jewish people converting to Christianity but never had the opportunity to get to know one or meet one. It was such a wonderful conversation with this person. It shows how God is all around and works in mysterious ways. I thank God for letting this individual cross my path to talk to. It gave me such joy to know that he converted from the Jewish faith to the Christian faith. God certainly showed him the truth, as he does many others (I just got to meet this one).

I feel extremely blessed to have shared and been a part of this experience with my son and the youth from our congregation along with Nikki. She puts a lot of hard work into this with the other organizers to make this happen every year. It was a great to meet and get to know some new pastors and all the adults and youth that came to this event. I made many new friends, many of are the youth and it is so nice to have Facebook to keep up with everyone. I am so grateful that I was given the gift of experiencing this wonderful servant event and look forward to hopefully being able to participate again.   

Nikki - I am whipped, emotionally & physically.  

It is always sad coming home from ASE.  Don't misunderstand, I love my family & home and am grateful to see them when I return.  However, there is nothing quite like twelve days of being steeped in service, God's Word, and christian fellowship 24/7 as you work, study, pray and live together.  It is kind of a downer to come back to 'the real world'.  Even though I work in the church and am surrounded by brothers and sisters in Christ, there is an intentionality and a shared purpose about ASE that can not be sustained in daily living.  Everyone should be blessed to experience something like this.  

Physically aside from doing outdoor work and activities like digging and rowing that I do not usually get to do behind my desk, I volunteered to stay up as a supervising adult  for the all-nighter.  It gave me the chance to spend some more time with the youth and also to catch up on my ASE paperwork, which I had sorely neglected.  I did fine until about 4:30, when I found myself nodding off with my fingers on the keyboard.  Time to join in the dance party for awhile on the line dances I knew!  We had a lengthy detour this morning - a MOUNTAIN detour - that prevented me from sleeping in the car until about 10am.  I did get several hours of sleep while Trish drove.  

Thank you all for continuing to support Youth in Missions and the Appalachian Servant Event.  Until next year - PEACE.

Last Day

Cecilia - Today was our last day of work and we finished our jobs that we needed to complete.  We said our goodbyes to Wanda and Claudine and thanked them for allowing us to serve the Lord by helping them. Then we went to the park and came back home for the night to pack to leave and get ready to pull the all nighter. 

Crystal - Today was the end of the work at our sites. It was a bittersweet experience--bitter because we would miss those we have been working with, and sweet because we have completed our work successfully. At the end of the day, we went inside to speak to Frankie and her family and they expressed their gratitude so greatly that it was emotional for us. Her niece jokingly tried to get us to hideaway in her chicken coop and when she realized we couldn’t she actually started crying because we were leaving them. It was special to think that we had that much of an impact on their lives in that short of an amount of time. We all will really miss them as well because of the fact that we’ve been spending a bunch of our time with them lately. Their ambition to help us dig and help us with whatever we needed was awesome especially since they were so considerate for their age. People were always saying how they got more out of this experience than those whom they helped, and to begin with I didn’t think they’d be entirely right given the circumstance the people we helped were in. Now that I’ve experienced this for myself I realize how wrong I was and how right they were. I have definitely learned some very important lessons throughout my time in Appalachia and one of them is this: when you reach out to serve one another; a lot of the time you end up serving yourself. You learn new things about yourself that you never knew, you meet new people who will impact your life in interesting ways, and you learn how to share God’s love with the ones who need it most and yourself as well.  

Trish 

Wow it’s our last day here.  It is early evening and fun festivities are beginning so I will close out my journal from the events of today and an item from last night that I forgot about. 

Well, the item I forgot about was the chair basketball we played last night.  We were all kind of confused how this was going to work, even after we thought we had strategies down.  However it went off quite well.  It is just basketball, with everyone in a set position with an opposing player by them (so a set of two seats, one for each team).  Then you play ball.  The trick is, you can’t leave your seat and each team also has a runner for their team (which happened to be JT for our team) should the ball leave the “seated” area the runners go after it and toss it back into play.  Turns out, yours truly not only scored for my team but also the first one of the game – woohoo.  I made JT proud. 

As the evening progressed into our Spiritual Life program and closing worship, the tears were already starting to flow last night.  I even had a hard time sleeping but had a difficult couple of days with a few different things.

We woke this morning for our last day of work at our site and we were a little nervous.  There were many last minute things that kind of came up and we were not even sure if this project would be completed on time.  Turns out….NEVER DOUBT GOD….his timing is perfect and everything went well.  Both electrical and plumbing inspections passed.  Tanks and trenches were filled in completely, seed for grass was spread we finished earlier than planned.  At this point we realized it was time to say goodbye to the homeowners and her niece and nephew who really became a big part of our group.  PJ selected me to give them the little goody bags we put together for them.  They got one of the ASE bags and water bottles along with a few “sweet” goodies.  Everyone on the site signed the bags for Dom and Tori so they would remember all our names. The homeowners got the ASE coffee mugs and hopefully we will be able to get them a picture of the whole group of us including Dom and Tori.  Please keep these two children in your prayers, Tori took this very hard when we left and was crying pretty hard.  I pray our impact was a good one and the Lord blesses her and her brother.

All the youth I worked with on this site worked hard.  We all had our days but mostly great ones.  We had used team names for certain tasks and different groups of kids and it as a great motivator to get things done.  When the inspectors met with PJ he was told by them that they were impressed that we did all this digging and burying by hand.  This was a huge job and we were able to get it done with a few snags along the way.  What I discovered is that this is a team effort for everyone on the site.  It helps them build character and to know what it feels like to accomplish something.  For the adults, I think we learned a lot of the same thing but being older and trying to guide them as youth in an important task could be difficult at times but we needed to learn to have patience with them.  Most importantly, anything is possible with God.  I honestly questioned if this was something we would be able to get done in seven days and we did. 

We left the site both heavy and light hearted.  Light hearted because the work was complete.  Heavy hearted because we are going to miss that family.

We returned to the church to unload, clean, and put away all the tools the sites had at their sites.  I took the most of my time cleaning out the inside of the van from the dirt and mud and smell from the past week.  And then it was pack time and dinner.  We held a very informal evening service with communion; a final service just with the ASE members which felt very special.  Now the festivities of the all-nighter are under way.  I dragged my sleeping stuff into the community room as I guess movies and such will be playing.  If I really need to get some sleep and I can’t get it in here, I’ll just head back down to my room but I’d like to be a part of this for a little while.  I can’t believe we leave in about eight hours.  So with that.  Thank you to all the staff that organize and bring kids and adults and pastors from all over to help those in need.  This even will forever be in my heart along with all these wonderful, faithful youth.

God Bless!

Solomon - Today was different than the other days of the week. It was a little sad as it was the last day we would see the kids at the site but it is also exciting to be done with the work. Tonight should prove exciting as well since this is the lock-in.

JT- Today has been a great day! we had to finish our place that we all worked at! i got to the site and it was raining so we had to wait for a break which we did get it! i jumped out of the van and then got straight to work! i finished up the framing and then we were pretty much done! then our group adults took all of us to Dairy Queen for a treat! thank god for ice cream. and then we had our worship time tonight, and then we have our all niter tonight! but i am gonna get back to my movie now so good night! ;)

Nearing the end

JT - Today we almost finished our site. We ran out of wood before I could finish framing so I have to wait till tomorrow to finish our framing. but the inside of the house finally almost looks complete. And then all of our electrical is finished but one more light we are going to install. and then tomorrow night everyone is going to stay up and hang with each other before we all have to leave. Well it is bed time. good night

Cecilia - Today we had a productive day back on the site. I worked on the roof probably the whole day which I enjoyed. After that and taking showers we went home for dinner. We had fajitas and they were absolutely delicious, as well as the ice cream and brownies we had for dessert. For community life tonight we had a visitor, one of the original pastors to start ASE, who came to sing with us. We also played a game of basketball where we all sat in chairs paired up with an opponent when we couldn’t move from our seats only pass the ball, it was interesting. Then we did spiritual life and worship. After worship, you could tell that the realization that we would soon be leaving started to kick in.  I’m looking forward to our last day of work tomorrow at the site, praying to get all of it done before we go our separate ways.  

James - Some days you're the cow, some days you're the grass, some days you are a sneaky ninja silently eliminating everything in your path. Today I was a painter though. There isn't a whole lot for everyone to do anymore but I was able to keep busy painting a sealer onto the tin roof of Claudine's house as part of a small 4 person crew. The indoor crew finished most of the living room floor, that is, they laid the sub floor, primed it, and put down about 90% of the tiles. Today everyone had their first moment of grief, realizing that we only have one day remaining before we all have to say goodbye. Hopefully we will be able to make this last day a great one and finish everything in a timely manner so we will have more time together with everyone off site. It has been a great year getting to know our family's we have been working for and all the people here. 

Solomon - Today was a very laid back day at the work sites. We got a lot accomplished but it was mostly one or two person jobs that either had to be done one at a time or by a specialist.  This resulted in most of us taking much needed and wanted naps.

Trish

Today’s entry is gonna be short and sweet (compared to what I have normally been doing – LOL).  Today was not necessarily a busy day.  Our work site is at a limited capacity of what can be done.  We are in limbo waiting for inspectors and the like before we can start filling in the remainder of our holes that we need to do.  In the meantime, while kids were napping and playing with Dom and Tori at the site, I did about a zillion Lowe’s trips.  Supplies were needed and I was the one who could get it done (and the only other one who could drive the van).  So my first two trips I made sure to text PJ to see if we needed any other supplies before I left, he then responded “I don’t know.  We’ll see when you get back.”  That answer was priceless and made me laugh so hard.  A couple of the text were made just as I was firing up the van to head back to the site only to have to go back into the store to get something else.  I knew right then this would be a day long trip to Lowe’s and back.  I even got to a point I was afraid to text PJ to ask if there was anything else needed.

We will be putting in a full day tomorrow as we do still have a lot of dirt to move to cover the tanks and the rest of the trenches that were dug.  And that will be it.  Tomorrow is our last day at the site and I can’t believe this Servant Event is coming to a close.  I made some new friends and really grew in my own faith.  I pray all these young people who attended this event stay strong in their faith and don’t allow Satan to overtake them with all the temptations in the World.  Every single one of them is a GREAT kid and very blessed.  I feel very blessed to have been part of this group this year.

Tomorrow night will be the all-nighter.  I will stay up for some but I will be the one driving a good chunk of the way home tomorrow while the chaperone for that overnighter will be trying to catch some z’s while I drive.  I will try and do a last blog tomorrow and hopefully Nikki will be able to get it posted.  I am a little anxious to be heading back home.  I do miss my family and my bed to sleep in.  Wanna get lots of lovin’ from those little monkeys at home Wednesday.

Blessings all.

Nikki

Today was a good day.  Since I needed to get to the Asheville PD to retrieve my wallet this morning (they don't open until 9, work groups leave at 7ish) I stayed back with Dave to run a few errands, including the Police Department, and then ride out to my work site after that with him.  He had a wood burning stove to deliver there.  Retrieving my wallet was painless: in and out in 15 minutes.  Dave & I had some nice visiting time while we ran around.  When we got to the work site, there were some items needed from the nearby hardware.  I went out with Dave again and when we returned it was lunch time!  So I had an easy morning.  Then I think I shoveled more this afternoon than I have all week.  We were able to get everything filled in and I had a fun time hanging out and working with the youth.  Tomorrow we will have to finishing mounding the dirt over our holes so that when it settles it will be an even grade and not a depression, and then seed everything.  Since it has rained at some point everyday, we have made a terrible mess of the yard where we walked around, in addition to all the holes we dug.  A neighbor stopped on her way home and chatted this afternoon.  Said if we ran out of work, come on up to her place - the next log house!  She was very appreciative that we were helping her neighbors.  I expect that Wednesday will be a blubbery one this year, as the tears already started tonight.  That means that we have done our jobs well and stayed out of God's way for the most part.  Time to turn in.  Blessings!

Sunday

Solomon - Today we attended parts of three services and gave testimonials.  Later we went white water rafting which I didn't think would be very fun for a couple reasons. I was flat-out wrong.  It was a blast and I even got to rescue someone who fell out of the boat. Then we had ask the pastor which brought up some pretty deep questions (along with some silly ones.) In the end it was a good and very tiring day.


Crystal - Nerves probably got the best of me today. I said my testimonial during the middle service and I totally stuttered the entire time. After staying  up until twelve thirty the previous night to write it, I still messed up. On the bright side, everyone elses were great. I guess it just goes to show that you the Holy Spirit talk through you instead of your earthly self. I actually sounded okay when I simply spoke from my heart rather than my paper. Later in the day we went white water rafting. It was thrilling and the sites were breathtaking. I couldnt believe that I almost chickened out because I didn't even fall out of the raft once. I wish I could say the same for some others in our group. Once I put my fears aside I was totally calm and collected which was surprising to me. Afterward we came back,ate dinner, had community life and "ask the pastor". Ask the Pastors was quite ibteresting to me and I felt that I learned a lot! 

James - Going to keep it short for sake of uhhhhh....I like sleeping. There wasn't a whole lot that happened anyway, after singing and some of the youth gave testimonials at the services we had a short lunch of some prime pizza before rafting. Rafting was extremely fun this year because the water level was much higher than normal due to all the rain they have been getting down here in North Carolina all summer. Our rafting guide looked like Karl from Workaholics, and he had a polka-dotted painted helmet that he put duck tape dinosaur fin/scale/thingy's http://www.paleo.cc/ce/stegosaurus.gif, so i knew it would be a good day. Our raft, the Champion Squad, got to lead the wolf pack downstream, but due to the high water levels we were unable to jump off what would normally be the 30ft rock into the water, because it was only about 4ft above the water. The day is just kind of a blur after that because we just came back, ate, hung out, some other ish, and had our nightly spiritual life. I'll attempt to type up a better journal tomorrow, no promises. 

JT - Today was a good day! I think I counted 2 1/2 church services. but at this rate that may be wrong because this far into the week my mind is scrambled! everyone did there testimonies today and they all did fantastic! I think they all had different opinions and different view points of how to look at this servant event. and just like last year after three people went up and did these I regret not wanting to do one because I feel as if I have a great opinion of how this whole thing comes into play! I feel very strongly about this servant event and exactly how it has helped me grow in Gods word. But I am a scarred cat when it comes to speeches! especially when I choke up in front of friends. that is even worse lol. but hey we will all learn! and then we went white water rafting today which was very different because you weren't worried about getting wet then dry and wet then dry..... because it rain pretty much the whole time we were out! :) and then we had a nice dinner and worship was great! like always! I love having time at the alter at night! it makes me feel complete when I can pray at an alter before bed! well talking about bed that sounds like a very peaceful place to go right now! night yall! peace

Trish

Waking up for early service on a Sunday morning; what a great feeling.  I can’t believe I have been here for over a week. 

Today for Service Pastor Jud gave the sermon while Pastor Kufaul did the service. (These are two of the four pastors serving in our midst at ASE.) What a treat it was to see the acting pastors that are serving ASE preach God’s word among us in our hosting church.  It was a little strange to see them in their collars this morning as this was the first time I had seen that all week because they have been in street clothes the whole time.  It was a double blessing as the service itself felt more like home, we followed the Hymnal and there was a lot more singing.  We sang our song at the three services and at each service three of our youth gave testimonials.  They did a great job. 

We then were able to take group and state group photos.  Hopefully we will see these up on another side soon.  We had a great lunch before we left for white water rafting….pizza, which has been too long since I last had it.  It was SOOOO good.

After lunch we headed off to the French Broad River for White Water Rafting.  It was quite interesting.  I have never done this sort of thing before; I always wanted to try but never really had the opportunity to.  They gave us instructions on how to sit in the boat, what gear we would be wearing and using, and what we were to do if someone fell in the water or you fell in the water yourself.  After hearing about the bottom of the river I was a little nervous, I didn’t want to fall in the river, I was afraid no one would save me if I did.  LOL.   It didn’t stop me from going rafting.  Turns out it was quite the adventure.  It was a pretty tame river compared to the ones that have apparently been visited by ASE in the past and the scenery was just beautiful.  They like this river because it is easy on the beginners but gives the experienced ones a little thrill.  It was pretty cool going down this river.  The rapid areas were pretty wild.  We had to work together to make this boat go where we wanted it to go.  We did get caught by surprise by a few rocks, a tree branch, and we did lose a passenger, it just wasn’t me (thank goodness), but I was the one that kicked it to high gear to get Matt Q back in our boat; he is a dad chaperone from Maryland, and not a small guy at all.  He bopped right out the boat, I immediately reached out with my paddle and pulled him back to the boat so he could grab the rope on the side of the raft.  Then I grabbed his one hand and had the other couple of youth that were on Matt’s side pull him into the boat by his life jacket like we were supposed to.  It took all three of us.  LOL  It was fun.  I can’t believe we were actually on the river for about an hour, several of us commented we could have easily have gone for another hour.  Turns out four individuals made the French Broad Swim Team this year from the ASE group, Matt Q., Nikki, Lisa S. and Betsy.  That’s a swim team I don’t necessarily want to be on.  It was great fun.  I wish the weather would have been a little better for us but honestly I would much rather have it rainy on the river than rainy at the dig sites because it would make moving that dirt extremely difficult. 

When we got back from rafting (and took advantage of the heat in our vehicles to warm up) we were greeted here with a great cookout dinner, hamburger, hotdogs and lots of great sides.  Again, I stuffed myself on this dinner.  After dinner the kids headed to the gym to play a game which I opted out of this time because some supplies were needed from Kmart so I did a run to take care of the last couple items.  No more runs for me, I’m out of money, LOL. 

It was “Ask the Pastors” night tonight where the kids could put a question in a bucket any time this week that they thought of to have the pastors’ answer.  They came up with some very good questions.  Ones that a lot of us are trying to deal with now.  It was great to see this interaction between the kids and pastors.  I even learned a couple of new things myself. 

With the long day of activity on the river and activities once we returned from the river, I’ve discussed with several of the youth what our themes at our work sites should be for the last two days, so in the Larry the Cable Guy voice GIT‘ER DUN!  We are all very close to wrapping our project sites up.  I even had a short discussion with PJ about the work tomorrow so we can get a jump on things and maybe get this done a little on the early side.  We shall see, there is some “appointment people” who need to be at the site for us to finish but I don’t imagine that will be very difficult. 

With that, God Bless our last couple days and GIT‘ER DUN TEAMS!

Nikki - Kind of long day (writing this at 1:20 am)  and I need to get to bed.  May elaborate more tomorrow.  Left my wallet in Pack Square downtown Asheville last night.  Police have it, but it went into property so I can't get it until tomorrow.  I joined the French Broad Swimming Club tomorrow.  (That means I went for an unintentional swim by falling out of the boat.)  The river ate my right shoe.  At the end of the day all is well and I am off to bed.  Wish me a restful night. 

A Little R & R

Cecilia - Today we got to sleep in!! It was wonderful!! For breakfast I had a pancake then went and played basketball game in the gym. After, we all got ready to go into the town of Asheville for food and the ShinDig on the Greene. We went out to eat at a pizza place called Mello Mushroom. It was the best pizza ever. Then we walked around the town to explore and headed to the Greene.

Solomon - Today I got to sleep in until about eight thirty.  After my morning routine, I stayed down in the computer lab for awhile because only the adults were up in the cafeteria.  After breakfast, I played some basketball in the gym for awhile.  My team did pretty well but after two games I was tired and headed to the cafeteria to hang out for awhile. Around two o'' clock, it was FINALLY time for some meandering around downtown Ashville.  We started with some delicious pizza at the Mellow Mushroom followed by a brief period in an antiques shop.  Then we somehow managed to find a record shop.  We briefly stopped in a cool local shop where I bought a black and green braided bracelet.  Then it was time for shindig on the green.  I mostly listened to the music and played cards.  I learned a new card game, had some delicious ice cream, and had a brief nap. All in all, it was a pretty good day.

James - Today was an entertaining day packed full of wonderful experiences, to elaborate on them all would be too much writing so I'll give y'all an overview. My morning started with the words "Hey James, Tom is making eggs to order and there's pancakes, sausage, and there might be bacon". Almost immediately I was up and running to the serving station because I thought I had overslept for breakfast, to my surprise, since I had awoken earlier due to my deflated mattress and slept on a couch in a room next to the community life room (where we eat and ish), the eggs were an extra perk and I found myself eating with the adults, only moments before the rest of the youth actually stumbled their way down to breakfast. After breakfast I rode with PK to Kmart to get my secret servant a lil somethin' somethin' and search for a bisfree. It didn't take long to get off task and start riding around the store on a ripstick, greatly increasing the speed and productivity of my shopping of course. I ended up swapping vans, which turned out great because I was able to get Taco Bell and we drove around just havein fun for a while, instead of the original stop at Kmart for 15 minutes. We went to downtown Ashville at 3 to eat, check out all the sweet shops, and enjoy the music and culture being shared at the "Shindig on the Green". Our first stop was food, of course, and my small posse stopped in at a fancy pants Italian restaurant to eat, but we quickly realized a large pizza to share would be the most economical decision. Once we were finished I asked the waitress where the closest wizard shop was, the look on her face was priceless. I wanted a staff and hat to go with my robe I purchased at goodwill last week which I later found on a chance occurrence when i went to cut through a store to go to a music shop, but saw the perfect staff the moment I walked into the door, it only took a moment to find a hat to go along with it. I was inspecting my awesome wizard/madhatter hat when I discovered the top of the hat contained a bunny. That made my day, I impressed a 3yr old later by pulling it out when he was staring at me in my funny outfit, he seemed like a good kid so i gave him the bunny, it was awesome to actually see him smile instead of stare in fear (don't worry his mother was right there and watched the whole thing, I swear it wasn't creepy). anyway Ima end this record length post righhhhttttt here -----> DONE!

JT -  Alrighty today was a very good day!!!! I mean it was very boring because they wouldn’t let me work today haha. We got a free day today. Like we were allowed to sleep in and then hang out with friends for the day until we went to the Shin-dig on the green. Which was a blast because James and I were allowed to  go into the city with our peeps and go to this fancy restaurant place. Then we went wizard hat and staff searching, which was very successful by the way! Even one of the Pastors here got a staff!!!! Success! Lol well I am going to go pass out! Peace out

Crystal - Today, we had great adventures. We were granted the chance to sleep in today! I even slept in an extra fifteen minutes. Surprisingly, I didn’t even sleep talk last night which was probably because of how exhausted I was from the whole week before. After I got up we enjoyed fellowship with our friends by playing volleyball and talking. Later on we went to downtown Asheville, which was a very exciting opportunity to experience urban life without the congested atmosphere. The arts and sites in Asheville were amazing and consisted of an art museum, craft stores, and art sculptures throughout the way. Aubrey, Matt, Robert, and I went to The Mellow Mushroom Pizza place and had left over pizza to spare. Not wanting to waste it, we decided we would write a note on the box and leave it on a park bench for this homeless man we saw earlier. Hopefully he saw it, because when we got back after the shin dig it was gone. Our note on the box read, “We hope you enjoy this pizza and may God Bless you.” We thought it was a nice gesture though there might be  a few variables in the situation. Later on, we came back for worship and sang Amazing Grace. I decide that tomorrow I would be one of the nine people to give a testimonial during church, so wish me luck! 

Trish

A wonderful relaxing day today.  We were able to sleep in after a week of getting up by 6am and ready to hit the door at 7am.  We didn’t have to be awake until 10am this morning and really, you didn’t even need to be awake then, it was only if you wanted to eat breakfast.  Most everyone was pretty much up by 9:30.  I am so glad we put those trash bags up by our outside window, what a difference that made to be able to sleep in this morning without the morning sun waking us up.  I think I even slept till about 8 myself, although I didn’t get to bed till about 1.  Still, I got my 7 hours and I was happy.  It did feel very strange to not have to pack it up and head to the site though. 

Today I know for myself I had a chance to actually read the book I brought, figure out how to add a couple games to my Kindle and actually play them.  I even dozed off for about 2 minutes before PK woke me for the adult meeting.  We headed out to Asheville for dinner and Shindig in the Park which was pretty cool.  Some of us adults were able to separate from the kids and we ended up in a really nice little restaurant called Packs Tavern.  It was a nice little break to be able to separate from the kids for an hour and just have adult conversation. 

Tomorrow we will be at early service together to worship, along with singing Amazing Grace-My Chains are Broken (The Chris Tomlin version) as a group for the congregation.  Nine kids from our group will give testimonials about this week to the congregation for the three services.  We so thank Emmanuel for putting up with us for a week and spoiling us with all the wonderful breakfast, lunches, and dinner meals.

After lunch tomorrow we hit the rapids.  I can’t wait to try that.  I have never been white water rafting and am looking forward to a great time doing it. 

Blessings on your evening or morning, whenever you are reading this

Nikki - It was nice to have a free morning today.  I was able to get all the forms sorted and ready for rafting (with a little help - thanks Matt Q!) before most of the kids were up.  I took care of a few other things and then was able to spend some time visiting.  One of the things that struck me today was the importance of balance.  Certainly, that applies to many things.  Specifically I was thinking about how nice it is to get some 'adult time' in the midst of a 12 day long event, yet I also thoroughly enjoy spending time with the youth  and enjoy watching them with each other.  It can be difficult to find the right balance, as in so much of life.  When you stop to spend time with the other adults, you will most certainly miss something that is going on with the youth.  If you don't, you inevitably (at least I do) get cranky eventually.  One thing that I have been learning this past year is to allow myself some 'me' time.  An opportunity for coffee with friend, even in the middle of work day, is worth taking even when there is work to do.  The work will still be there when I get back.  This is how we build relationships and become Knit Together in Love - this year's ASE theme.  God created us to be in relationship with others.    So today in Asheville I took advantage of the opportunity for lunch with 'the big kids', which gave us the chance to get to know each other better.  I enjoyed the great company and good food.  We shopped around town a little, running into and mingling with other Servant Event groups.  When we all met at the greene for Shin Dig, I mostly hung out with the kids.  That was fun too!  I thank God for the chance to be here at ASE again and to experience with it with both of my boys.  Amazing things happen here.

FRIDAY!!

Solomon - Today was another very long day.  It started off very slow and boring but picked up after the sun came out. Unfortunately, part of my group, including me, had to work about three hours late.  Needless to say, we ate dinner in a hurry.  We then headed to Marshall, where I mostly slept.  We then made a late night sonic run and I received an AMAZING disc shooter from my secret servant.

JT -   Another day has been officially accounted for! Today we finished up all the walling of our building! And I was super mad that I wasn’t able to hit a nail today! HAHAHA but it is okay because holding up all the ply wood this whole week has been a great muscle builder! One other thing that I absolutely love about this week is all the worship time I have! Because we get like all day to work and then go to devotional time and then go up to their church they have here, which by the way is a very nice small church! But then we went to Sonic today, which was also a great thing about today!!!! Alright sleepy time!

Cecilia - Woke up today ready for another productive day of work before the weekend. Before getting started with our work I talked to Wanda for a while about when she was a little girl. Once we got to the site I went on the roof with a couple people. Not too long after that, we had to get down because it started raining which made our next task of digging a little bit more difficult because it made the mud a lot more difficult to get off of the shovel. Then we said our goodbyes for the weekend and were on our way to the showers. When we got we had dinner than got ready for going into the town of Marshall to listen to Bluegrass music and dance. It was lots of fun! Before we went home to go to bed we made a stop at Sonic and got shakes.  Then went home excited to sleep in the next day.

James - On the occurrence of my awakening I was very startled to find my slumber had been too excessive and was two minutes short of the time that breakfast would occur. Luckily I must have anticipated such an incident, for I had laid my shower bag, work clothes, and morning materials out already, permitting me to quickly prepare for the day and get to breakfast while it was still being served nice and hot. The rest of the day was rather slow, but I was able to accomplish painting approximately half of the roof today, without it being washed off by the rain this time!! That was a big relief still seeing it there after the short torrential downpour, which I spent the duration of under the house with the kind spider family that consisted of Tory, Kathryla, and Mrs. Spochin. We went to Marshals today and danced to some bluegrass music, I also got a call during that from some awesome peeps back home; Colton, Jordan, and Hannah. Swagsauce. I better wrap up cause it's already past midnight, I'm not sure which would be more difficult to vanquish, a vampire zombie, or a werwhale (werewolf, except a whale). 

Nikki - We are getting down to detail work outside on our site, which makes the day go kind of slow. There is not enough to keep everyone busy.  I felt kind of useless on the job site and just tried to find things to keep the kids moving.  There is plenty to do inside.  However, there is not room for many more people inside than are already there.  I pray that the piles of dirt dry a little over the weekend so that when we are ready to cover everything on Monday, it is easier to shovel & rake to where it needs to be.  We have a fun-filled weekend planned.  At this point the highlight is that we don't HAVE to be up until 10 am tomorrow.  I cannot tell you how I am looking forward to sleeping in.  We even taped up black garbage bags over our windows so that we are not awakened by the early morning  sun.  (Thanks Trish & Jeanette!)

Trish -

Today was a tough day.  We all had a hard time getting motivated and staying motivated today.  It has been a long, hot, dirty work week.  However the Lord has answered our prayers to keep the rain away so digging has been good but hot. 

We were able to finish the trenches, squaring off the D-box and getting both tanks into that huge hole but our Pastor and about 6 of the boys stayed behind to get that done so we could all sleep in tomorrow.  We had an excavator show up to move the D-box (which was a large cement box) into place.  It was also used to help lower the second tank into its spot next to the first one.  So, now all we need to do is all the PVC hookups, and the electrical.  We did find out today that we have to dig one more trench about 7 or 8 feet long, 4 inches wide and again 18 inches deep and that is for the electrical for the septic system.  Needless to say that those of us working on those trenches now call them the traumatizing trenches.  It has been a hard week and we all are ready for a small break.  We still have work to finish and I think a rest from the work to enjoy some fun this weekend, with no pressure, will help to re-energize us to finish this wonderful work the Lord has given us to do for the people in need. 

We still went into Marshall tonight, just a little on the later side.  We had to wait for the other half of our group so we could all leave together.  We had a great time.  Watching and old band play, the kids dancing with their friends, the adults in our group having conversations with the locals, in which I was a part of.  PK was chatting with an elderly gentleman and included me in on the conversation.  The gentleman complimented me and liked my hat.  He had some very interesting information about his family and the area.  He was also very funny.  I did ask him to dance but he didn’t take me up on the offer.

We stopped at Sonic (as is ASE’s yearly tradition after Marshall) to grab some late night goodies.  Some of us walked back.  We are all beat today and look forward to a relaxing day tomorrow.  I may even start my journal in the morning and write sporadically through the day.  I may remember events I wanted to include but have forgotten.

Blessings all, as I lay my head to rest for a much deserved good night’s rest.  (We even used black trash bags to cover our outside window so we can sleep in tomorrow.)

God shows up

Crystal - A lot was accomplished today on the work site. We finished filling in our trenches with the pipes in them and we started the slimmer, longer trenches along the sides. Dominique and Tori were good helpers, as usual, and looked for every opportunity they could to help us. The pit we were digging for the septic tank is getting deep, but I’m not very good at helping with that because I lack height and upper arm strength which are both needed for a pit as deep as it needs to be. The trenches along the sides were definitely more my forte. Frankie gave us a thank you card expressing her gratitude towards us which was so sweet that it almost brought us to tears. Later on, we were exhausted and extremely hot from working in the beating sun, however, Jeanette and Trish surprised us with ice cream bars which were delicious! For the first time, our van beat the rest of the vans back to the YWCA which was pretty exciting for us. However, I never found my clothes that I had left behind the day before.  

Solomon - Today started out kind of slow.  It was cloudy and dreary and I just felt done.  But the day picked up speed and we got a lot of work done.  At lunch, we got a beautiful thank you note from the homeowners at our site.  Today is also FINALLY laundry day.  I was getting low on clothes so it’s nice to have them all clean again.

JT – Okay so today has been a fantastic day! We finally finished the main part of the walls and I am happy. Cause that means we only have a little more work outside to do.  And because I already have a decently good sun burn I do not wish to make it anymore worse than it already is! And now we are doing laundry so I don’t have to deal with James’s sock!!!! Thank the Lord! I guess all my prayers worked lol. Well I am going to get back to my cloths so I will write tomorrow!

Cecilia - Today was a hard start to the morning. I was extremely tired. We went to the worksite and started digging more in the pit, shortly we hit more water in the pit. But that wasn’t a problem because a guy named Bill offered to use the excavator we were going to rent and also pick it up and drop it back off. A couple of us also started to make a ramp for the chicken coop so that a lady that lives there named Wanda could access the coop to retrieve the eggs in the winter. After Bill was done digging we put the tank in and started to fill it up with water. While we waited I thought it would be a good idea to start a mud fight, so I did. It was super messy but also super fun. After that we were totally ready for our showers. We left early because after dinner we went to the laundromat. I’ve never been so excited for laundry before!

Nikki

Today we experienced a 'God sighting'.  God is always there and if we are paying we can see all over all the time.  Sometimes He shows up in big, obvious, in your face ways.  That is what happened today.  Around 9:45 this morning we hit water again in our tank pit at 3'.  The tank whole needs to be 6' deep.  We called our inspector who had said to call right away if that happened.  She was on the way with her supervisor to visit the site already.  We discussed a few options and they were off, leaving us with some follow-up to do.  We had the kids leveling off the pit but not going any deeper while we were working on a game plan.  Our most plausible option included renting wall supports for the pit and a pump to pump out the water.  Some folks were up  by the road working on the chicken coop.  A contractor that we had met a few days ago at the local building supply store just 'happened by'.  Pastor Chris asked him if he knew of  a way to anchor a septic tank.  He came over to look at what we had going, suggested a few things, and stepped away to make a few calls.  When he came back he said that the local construction rental place would give us a deal on an excavator for a half day, he could go pick it up with his truck for us, run the excavator, and return it.  All for the special $80 rental fee.  After he left, Irene (one of the other ASE adults) came up to me and said that someone had given her an anonymous donation to help with the expense of the work they see us doing for their neighbor.  When she pulled it out of her pocket to give to me she said "Oh my goodness!   I thought that was a $10 bill."  It was not, it was a $100 bill.  Irene had peeked at it as she slipped it in her pocket and believed it was a $10, bringing to mind the widow's mite.  All of this happened within an hour of each other.  See how good God is to us!  

Just as we were finishing lunch Bill (the contractor) showed up with the excavator.  Turns out that we were digging our pit in what was an old filled in creek bed.  Not only was there water, but also LOTS of rocks and shale further down, some very large.  We saw the pit walls collapse at least twice.  Bill also helped us place the tank and stuck around while we got some water in it from the creek to weigh it down and he pushed the 'muck' at the top of dirt pile back into the pit.  We had some great conversation while he was there.  He never did get to his own job site where his men were working.  He said "When God puts something in your path for you to do and you do it, He takes care of the rest.  This is where I was supposed to be today."

There are a lot more little details to this God sighting.  I fear I have not done it justice.  Hopefully I have been able to at least give you a glimpse of what we experienced today.  May you notice when God shows up for you in ways big and small.  Blessings!

Trish

I forgot to mention the game we played last night which was a lot of fun.  This game entails a deck or two of playing cards, everyone sitting in chairs in a circle, and dealing each person one card.  Only the suit(s) are relevant in this game.  So then the “dealer” now has a deck of leftover cards in which he calls out the suit.  If you have the suit called you move to the next chair, which means you may end up sitting on someone’s lap.  If someone is on your lap and your suit is called you can’t move.  You can’t move until no one is sitting on your lap.  So as this game progresses, you get people sitting on people up to six laps long (I think we had a couple that may have had seven on the laps).  The idea is to get around the entire circle and end up in your own chair.  It was quite the game with a ton of laughs and lots of moving.  JT actually won this game but he never got to sit on my lap, nor I his and he was sitting behind me in the circle.

Today we were able to get back a little early.  Actually our group was the first ones back.  It felt good to be one of the first instead one of the last.  We are just plugging away on our job in this heat.  Turns out we were working in a heat index of about 97 today.  I know we are getting some pretty hot temps back home in Michigan and in a very small, tiny way, I’m glad I’m here to at least sleep in the A/C (we don’t have it at home).

You can tell the heat this week is taking its toll on our group.  We are all feeling the exhaustion by about lunch time, some a little sooner, some a little later.  We have been keeping a close eye on the kids to make sure they are properly hydrating themselves.  If they aren’t they have to drink enough water to use the bathroom (Jeanette, our resident nurse, basic instructions.  Easy way to make sure they are keeping hydrated.)  I forgot to mention that Crystal and Solomon are on the site with me, so it’s nice to have the three of us from Michigan that are new to this event.

The double tank hole is almost complete.  It measures approximately about 18'.  PJ’s Pit Jockey’s hit that pit hard today and I believe they only have a couple feet to go.  Trenches are at least in place but now need to be about 18 inches deep and maybe a little more straightened out.  So the Trench Team hit that hard today.  At lunch today, PJ read a very touching thank you card from the owner of the property to our group today.  This is what it read: 

“Pastor Jud and his ‘band of little angels’”

The card itself reads: “If there were more people like you in the World….there’d be more smiles like ours!”

“What a blessing you all have been for us.  We did not have money to do all we were told we had to do in order to remain in our home.  Then God sent you to us – you have been such an inspiration to us every day – your bright shiny faces each morning – the hard, back breaking work you did all day and yet you kept a sweet attitude – you certainly have fulfilled God’s commands to “love one another”, we were strangers to you, yet come and filled our needs.  And the way you accepted Dominique and Tori it has made a big influence on their lives.  Maybe someday the will be ministering to those in need also. 

You are a wonderful group and we pray God will lead you and keep you safe so you can continue to bless others the way you have blessed us. 

No words can express the gratitude we have – we pray we will be a blessing to someone else.  Remember - wherever you go our prayers will follow you.  With love and thanks be to God- in His Love – Frankie and Jeff.”

This is what this event is all about.  What joy in my heart God gives us to know that the work we are doing are for people that really need it.  It also helps you know your priorities and appreciate what you have.

Later in the day PJ had us make an ice cream run.  What a relief that felt like and the kids just devoured it.  I think they got a second wind after that short burst of sugar and cold.  We were able to get just a little more done. 

So it’s an early night tonight for working.  We even get a dinner that’s a little early as well.  We go get to do laundry tonight.  Things should start smelling a little better tonight.  LOL

Blessings all, I will report again tomorrow.