Holes, Snack time, and the opposite of enough sleep

So I apologize for the long wait. As I said in my last post, last week was another week away and I am just now getting around to writing about what happened. The week began at 4 on Sunday when I headed over to one of the local middle schools and began to meet people from our group there. That night I got the chance to meet the group of students that I would be leading for the week. Part of the goal of Chambersburg Project is to create relationships within the larger church community of the area. Students are mixed up and put into groups with students from other churches, not just their own. Lights out came at 11 and by 1 my air mattress was flat (not a great way to start the week.)

Morning came quick and at about 6 AM the lights came on and it was time to get moving. We ate breakfast, packed lunches, loaded up the cars and set off to our work sites. My team's first job of the week was to tear down an old deck and rebuild a new one in it's place. Tear down went much easier than we had anticipated, partly because the deck was sitting on the ground and not secured at all. After removing the old deck we began the construction process. We marked out where our holes needed to be dug (we were actually going to secure the posts on the deck we built.) After some issues with this part of the process (we dug one of the holes 6 times before finally getting it right) we finally got the posts in the right place and began building the frame. When the work day finally ended I was beat. Thankfully we had extended free time that night and I was able to relax with a few friends before wrapping up the night with, what would become a highlight of my day, snack time, and devotions with the guys.

The next morning started much like the first. Although this time I had a good mattress to sleep on. Two of our Jr. High guys volunteered to share one larger air mattress and let me use the other that they had. Good guys those two, haha. We headed off to the work site and after about half an hour of work were halted by more problems. The teeth on the saw blade were bent and creating massive problems for us. Despite several set backs we were able to get most of the deck finished. That night there was a concert with the week's band, SevenGlory. It was good, but I was so tired I had a hard time enjoying it completely.

Wednesday was our last day at this particular work site. We spent the beginning of the day finishing the deck. We built the railing and put the finishing touches on the deck. This was a half day and at about lunch time we headed back to the school. That afternoon we walked over to the Municipal park and spent the afternoon at the pool. It was a good day for it and after a few hours there we walked over to the pavilion at the park and ate dinner. After listening to one of the local church's youth bands lead us in worship and listening to our speaker, we headed back to the school for some "Capture the flag." I didn't play so I can't explain the rules, but I can say that it wasn't like any capture the flag I have ever seen. I was able to scavenge enough glow sticks (they were from part of the game) to create myself a pretty neat pair of glowing Wolverine claws.

Thursday we started a new job site. We spent most of the day working on building a new wheelchair ramp for an older lady. She was very friendly and spent much of the day talking to us either through the screen door or sitting outside with us. She even bought us pizza for lunch. The other task for the day was beginning to replace the shed doors. We weren't able to get it all finished but it was still a productive day. That night there was a movie during free time. It was called "Forever Strong." Imagine Remember the Titans meets rugby. It was pretty good. It made me want to play some rugby and feel more like a man, haha.

Friday began just like the rest, way too early. We got things ready and headed back out to our site. Since we had the time, we decided to replace a few panels on the back of the shed that were rotting, replace a few shingles on the roof of the shed that were missing, repaint the shed and tear out the carpet in her basement that was damaged when it flooded. While the other guys tore out the carpet I climbed up on the roof of the shed and replaced the shingles and then began to tear off the rotten paneling. We got what we needed and while the rest of our crew began to paint the shed, I replaced the panels. The wonderful lady whose house we were at bought us lunch a second time and as we finished lunch it began to rain. This obviously made painting hard, but we were able to finishing the doors and put them back on the shed before calling it a day early. That evening we had our final evening program before saying goodbye and heading home. It was a long, tiring week, but I am really glad that I had the opportunity to go. I had many opportunities to get to know students better and really grow in my own leadership.

Things to pray for:

-Continued growth and openness to grow on my part.

-PRIME students as we all continue this journey.

Thanks for reading. God Bless!

-John