Day 4 recap

Great day of ministry today. Let me first talk about our morning routine here. He have breakfast at 7:15 (Unless you are on the cooking crew or if you go for a run with me) and then we have our devo time. We then head out to our ministry sites.

The McChattys went back to Privet pulling today and then to the boys and girls club. The Conductors went back to Avandale Rec center in the evening, but this morning we went somewhere new. We go the chance to work at the Siscan developmental center for children with special needs. What a neat place. It would take to long to describe it here, ask me about when we get home. Basically it is a head start program for children with special needs to get the ready for real school. They have 300 students in the school aged from 3 weeks old to 6 years old. They spend around $26,000 per child per year. You would not believe the center, it was awesome. Check out the pictures.

We ended our day with a community cookout, club with a foot washing ceremony, and church group time. It has been an awesome week. You would be so proud of our girls. They worked their tails off this week. It has defiantly been a spiritual high this week and one of those moments that you will remember what God did through you by serving others. Can't wait to get home and start planning Putting Together the Pieces. It starts August 2 which is less than two weeks away. Time to apply what we learned by serving here and help out people in our own community.

More Courage, Less Fear; More There, Less Here; More Love, Less Ego; More Be, Less Go; MORE OR LESS YOUTHWORKS 2010 CHATTANOOGA!!!!!!!!!!!!

Day 3 recap

Day three was a blast. This was a repeat of day 1. The Conductors and the McChattys went to the same ministry sites as before. I showed up at Audobon Acres and guess what? The privet was still there, but we put a good dent in it. I had the girls share some stories last night, here are some:

One of the boys at one of the centers farted in Madison face. He apologized and said that he could not help himself.

Our two groups went to the same center yesterday. The McChattys in the morning and the conductors in the afternoon. When we got to the center in the afternoon, we were informed that they liked us better than the other white people (talking about the McChattys.) I do not think they did really, but these kids know how to work the system and to get played with. They are not shy.

The McChattys did the girls at the center nails for them. They returned the favor by doing some cornrolls in their hair.

We had the girls looking hard for the Statue of Liberty from Lookout Mountain. They never found it, but they looked for about 10 minutes.

I have told you about the mission sites, let me tell you about our typical nights here. After our evening activity, we come back to the church and have snack, club, and church group time. Club is a time where we sing some songs, get our announcements, see some silly skits, and have a bible lesson. You will have to ask us about the Hippo song. I am sure the girls will be glad to show you.

Alright that is all for now, I need to run of to devos and then to our mission sites. The Conductors is going to a new place today. It is a center for mentally handicapped kids. Pray that we will show them the love of Christ in our actions. The McChattys head back to Audubon to tackle the Privet. Pray for endurance. We will be home tomorrow, Yeah!!!

Day 2 pics

Day 2 Recap

We had a great day yesterday. Our two groups broke up again.

Group 1 (The Conductors: Wes Ford, Larry Blalock, Caroline Clark, Caroline Easterly, Chelsea Lawless, and Madeline Wood) went to the Chattanooga Food Bank and boxed up lunches for North Georgia kids. They feed the kids lunches during the summer when school is out. Each lunch bag got a sandwich, gummies, ganora bar, tooth brush, a drink, and applesauce. This place is huge. Check out the pictures. We packed over 1200 lunches in an hour and a half. We then got to go swimming with our kids from Avandale Rec Center. The water was very refreshing.

Group 2 (The McChatteys: Pam Stewart, Makenzi Bible, Jessica Luetjon, Grace Gass, Madison Shipley, Shelby Walker, and Kirsten Lawing) went to Avandale Rec Center and the to the Girls and Boys club. They played with kids all day and got to make some pretty cool bracelets.

We capped the day off with a trip to Coolige Park downtown with some clumpy's ice cream and playing in the fountain.

Day 1 pics

Day 1 Recap

We had a terrific first day. Our group split into two groups. Group 1 went to a Native American Trail of Tears site and worked with Ms. Cleot and Digger. We got introduced to our new enemy Privet. It is an invasive root that can grow into a 25 foot tree. We spent the morning pulling it up and carrying it off. Youth works has been doing this al summer and we added to the pile of pulled privet that is already 6 feet high, 30 feet wide, and about 60 feet long. We then went to Allandale Rec center and played with kids the rest of the afternoon. Group 2 went to Allandale center in the morning and got to play kickball with the kids. They then went to a boys/girls club and played some more. For our activity in the evening, we went for an enchanted stroll through Rock City. If you are curious there are 62 gnomes in rock city.

It was an excellent day of ministry. The girls did awesome serving the Chattanooga community. Pray for strength to be able to pull out another day.