Five days later and I still don't know that I've fully recovered. I am jealous of Cliff's adventures in Peru, but at the same time, I know that I couldn't have gone back to back. I've slept a lot this week! Make sure you check out the slideshows below.
For me, this was my first week long Home Works trip ( I did go on the Junior High trip), and it was a grand adventure! I won't say it was perfect (no trip is ever perfect), but it definitely was life changing. It was humbling to be a part of God's mission and work in the world, and it was really fun and challenging to spend a week in community with our youth and the other groups. Many thanks to our adult chaperones/volunteers: Nell Brennan, Lynda Lovelace, Cliff Moore, and Brandon Templeton. Without you, this trip would not have been possible. I thank you for you time and willingness to serve. It was humbling to serve alongside you. Also, many thanks to the adult volunteers who traveled to Louisiana. I offered many thanks to you then, but I have an even greater sense of your service now. I am so very proud to be a part of a community that supports mission work so well. Also, thank you to Hank Chardos for providing a wonderful ministry opportunity in Home Works.
All told, there were about 115-120 volunteers at Johns Island (including youth and adults), and we all stayed in the same gym. It was really cold at night (some say the refrigerator type situation keeps the smell down!), and we were cooked during the day with heat indexes well over 100. We worked on a total of 13 homes, and the vast majority of the work was finished by the end of the week. There was at least one member from our group on each work site, and I heard nothing but compliments about our youth from the site leaders. Some job sites were closer to St. Joseph's Catholic Church (where we stayed) than others. My work site was 30 miles from St. Joseph's, and I put about 1000 miles on the bus during the week.
This trip was filled with many adventures and has brought home many great stories:
Harrison Hart is the youth director for the group from TN that stayed at St. John's on Sat. night. Harrison developed a certain driving reputation through the week. Sunday morning, as we were about to head out of the parking lot, he backed into a certain priest's car (luckily leaving no damage!). It seemed that as soon as we were in Charleston, Harrison's driving struck again. There was some dispute, but it appeared that he may have backed into a mailbox. The homeowner did say that it was leaning already. Hmmm....And finally, during a rainy day, Harrison got the van stuck in a water-filled ditch and had to be pulled out. Harrison received a couple of Hank's famous awards, and he was a great sport about it all.
Taylor Jackson was on another worksite that was quite a ways out, and it had the coolest mural ever in the garage. It was a portrait of the home owner at a younger age, and it was titled: Death Angel. This was the mural I alluded to in an earlier post. It featured the home owner as a not-so-clothed, angel holding a baby and shooting a dragon. That discription really doesn't do it justice. Brandon and Cliff rode me for days, insisting it needed to be posted to the blog. Cliff even called me Death Angel over the radio system. You can find the picture in the midst of the slide shows below.
Brandon was a site leader for a home that housed two incredible girls. I think they were 10 and 15. One was so bright that she was skipping a grade, and she already had her life planned out through med school and beyond. Brandon and his team made a huge difference in their lives by, not only repairing their home, and not only upgrading their sleeping arrangements, but by also being great role models and offering wonderful insight, advice, and encouragement. I think the Home Works experience for those girls will be something that stays with them forever, ensuring that they will push on to their life goals regardless of their roadblocks. I know I don't do the story justice, though, so make sure you ask Brandon about the details. Also, Anne Marie Powell struck up a quick friendship with the girls, so make sure you talk to her about them as well.
Hank Chardos (the founder of Home Works and the Johns Island coordinator) impressions were bountiful during the week. Austin McCoy does the best one. Ask him to do it for you.
We often had heavy rains and/or thunderstorms in the afternoon and evenings. Although the roof of Ms. Richardson's home was tarped (because the shingles hadn't been put on yet), it still leaked during a heavy rain. It leaked bad enough that the ceilings fell down in many of the rooms. All of a sudden the home presented a much larger task. As groups finished their respective homes, they moved over to help out at the Richardson house, and by the end of the week, not only did Ms. Richardson have a new roof, but she had new ceilings as well. It was a great example of team work and perserverance.
There are many other great stories from the trip. Too many to post here. Maybe as they come to mind, I will continue to add them to the blog... There were night runs for materials and milk shakes. Epic ping pong battles were waged every day. Nick names were handed out frequently. I hacked my cast to allow it to breathe better. New friends were made without even introducing yourselves to each other.
Home Works is also a great place to learn leadership skills. Some of our youth were official site leaders (Annie Ward and Preston Busbee, among others that I can't remember at the moment), and others took on leadership roles during the week. Patrick Dimig was the only one on his site that knew how to install vinyl siding, so he taught others and oversaw their work. During the week, he learned how to lead the installers appropriately. He was awesome. Taryn Close also was given leadership responsibilities on her site. Marshall Sheorn is known for his abundance of energy, and that energy was on display at his work site. His site leader told me that Marshall was the hardest worker on the site (sometimes leadership by example is the best kind). Our youth showed great leadership and poise. They were awesome!
The most important thing to point out, though, would be the home owners and their thankfulness. Sometimes you felt like you were putting a bandaid on a major hemorrhage. At the beginning, you really wondered if you were making a difference. Some fixes were very visible at the end of the week (new roofing, new siding, paint, repaired flooring, etc.), and some were more subtle (new plumbing, window glazing, etc.). But all told, each home was left in a much better state than when we arrived. Most were upgraded significantly! And the home owners were so very thankful. They came to a thanks giving dinner on Saturday night, and they were all so emotional and thankful. Their sharing brought many in the room to tears. On Saturday, you could really tell that you had been a part of God's mission in the world.
Thanks again to everyone. Thank you to the youth who attended (Fripp Prioleau, Virginia Prioleau, Jack Moore, Taylor Jackson, Marshall Sheorn, Blair Campbell, Katherine Gaulin, Maustin McCoy, Lawson Smith, Preston Busbee, Margaret Taylor Cain, Patrick Dimig, Taryn Close, Mike Montgomery, William Axson, Sarah Axson, Anne Marie Powell, Ben White, Anne Ward, Sarah Williamson, Stephanie Marsha, and Helen Brennan) and thanks for working so hard and so well. Thanks again to the adult chaperones/volunteers. I can't wait until next year.
Blessings,
dorian
