I have actually been avoiding writing this blog. During the trip I couldnt wait to write all about it and post it for everyone. But for some reason once I arrived home yesterday, I lost all motivation for it. I honestly just did not want to write it. I believe that is for multiple reasons. For one, I am exhausted. Writing this blog is going to be emotional, and I', not really sure if that's really what I want right now. Another main point is that this blog will in no way sum up my trip. Really, it can't be put into words. You need to have had experienced it, or you just won't get it. Any person who went on the trip with me can vouch for that.
But here I am. I have gotten many requests for the full story. So here we go. I know a few of you I will be sitting down with and you will get more details, but I'll do the best on here that I can do.Be ready for the longest blog you will probably ever read.
So the trip down. We get to the church, get all registered, find out who our teammates are, and find out we will be riding with them in the vans. My team consisted of Dennis Taylor and Kerry Bard as the leaders, than me, Jenna Parham, Mac Saunders, Tyiesha Steele, Becky Steele, Chris Cacares, Matt Fuqua, Tyler Heye, and Felicia M. Later on Tyler and Felicia were switched off of our team, and Ceri Wilk was switched in. This was extremely exciting for me, considering Ceri is one of my girls. As is Tyiesha, who I was equally excited about having on my team. That's pretty much all you need to know about the first 2 days. Team, and travel. We stayed in a church called God's House Saturday night, got 0 sleep and sweat a lot. But it was roomie and we are super grateful, considering the church let us stay there on such short notice.
We arrived at Trinity Church in Covington, NO about 7 pm Sunday night. We got the ground rules, met the volunteers/staff, and were shown our accomodations. We would be eating in the sanctuary of the church, and boys would be sleeping on one half of it as well. While the girls slept in the youth trailer right next to the church. The trailer was great; air conditioned, a splattering of sofas, and dozens of Christian band posters. The only part I was not a fan of was the showers. We had a bad first impression when Kylee, Jenna and I went to shower and couldnt find the light, but found finger-sized bugs instead. Not good. You will later learn about my other good experiences with these showeres.
So Monday. Get up bright and early 5:45 to beat all the other girls to the bathrooms inside the church. [our trailer only had one bathroom, not really to be used for getting ready.] Had a good breakfast, listened to devotions from John, then got ready to work. Luckily my group was informed we were allowed to wear shorts, so most of us took advantage of that. Sadly Jenna and I were the wise ones who decided that our athletic pants would be just as good, no need to go change. mmmm. We packed a lunch of sandwhich, chips, granola bar, and a piece of fruit, filled up our cooler, and off we went. It was about a 45 minute drive to New Orleans where my team was working on 2 houses on Willow Street. We drove over the longest bridge over water on the way there, and it was gorgeous. see facebook pics for a teeny image of it. But really, no picture could capture it; it was incredibly beautiful, and it was peaceful to drive the 30 minutes over it. my favorite part of the drive, by far. we got there and got right to sanding; face masks and sunglasses on. within minutes you were DRIPPING sweat. I have never sweat that much in my entire life as I did this past week. Anyway, we sanded, and with the help of the other girls we got a worship sing along going, went very well. we all put 110% energy into those first hours, and then after a while were told to stop. Then is when we found out taht everything we had just sanded wasnt actually supposed to be sanded, but it was TEXTURE. so we ended up jsut making MORE work for ourselves, after wasting all of our energy and quite some time. we kept moods up, worked on other jobs, and that was the end of work day 1. headed home, raced for the showers, ate a well appreciated dinner of pasta, played cards, and hit the hay. emotions? quite negative, actually. I had gone into this trip hoping for God to completely shatter my heart. I felt it was what I needed and what I was going to get. a day in and I felt nothing. disappointing, thats for sure.
im splitting up the blogs by days, or they will be way too long. so thats it for day 1
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