Day 4 - Hope Home and Revival

Hey everyone - gosh it's so late...let me just tell you, today has been one to remember!  We woke up for devotion again ready to start the day and unfortunately, I had probably the worst dream of my life last night.  I think it was because of my malaria medicine - it makes you dream and hallucinate and boy, did I hallucinate last night. But anyways, we ate breakfast, got in the van, and rode to Hope Home to continue our construction on the playground.  Pat spent the day with B and Maurice so Lauren and I took over her VBS lesson and crafts.  We helped a little on the playground when we were finished but today we could only work until 1:00 because we were having to leave the hotel for dinner by 4.  We left the hotel at 4:00 to go back to Grace's house in Stanleyville which is where we had breakfast on Sunday morning.  She had a wonderful meal prepared for us - including some BBQ Chicken!  After dinner, we went outside and played with their new puppy and watched a gorgeous sunset set behind the palm trees across the field.  I am so envious of their everyday view of those sunsets - but North Carolina sunsets are pretty awesome too :)

Tonight we had the privilege of hearing God's word from Pastor Tim - in a revival-like way.  I had only heard him preach one other time and that was on our commission Sunday which was the Sunday before we left for our trip.  That Sunday I told him how much I enjoyed his message and really meant it - he was a great speaker.  But tonight, holy moly.  That man can bring it, haha!  Clement asked Pat and I two days ago if we would share our testimonies during the service and of course I replied, "yes!" without hesitation.  However, this afternoon leading up to it I was a little rattled about it.  I always think that a testimony has to be a by-the-book story of your life being completely transformed by Jesus in a particular way or situation.  Honestly, I've never really had that considering the fact that I've grown up in the church so I've always been surrounded by it all.  But, Tony and Pastor Tim helped me in such a powerful way that I knew I had to share.  There's never a wrong thing you can say when you talk about God.  Pat reminded me of that in the van on the way to church tonight.  It's so true.  There is never one thing that you can say that's wrong when talking about YOUR story and what God is doing in your life.  Anyways, I shared a short and sweet story about what God's been doing in my life here lately and I was at peace with it.  There was much more that I could have talked about, but sometimes short and sweet is all it takes for you to touch someone, and be touched yourself.  The service was filled with endless celebration and song.  I don't understand why we sometimes have to travel to these countries to get those feelings.  Why can't we have more nights like that back in the states?  And why can't we have more faith-based conversations on a daily basis back in the states like we do on these trips?  Yes, it's a mission trip so you're expected to talk about Jesus, but seriously - could you imagine if every breakfast, lunch break, dinner, van ride, talk before bed, and time in the morning was spent just talking about God?  Our lives would be so different.  And it's so easy for me to be saying this while I'm here and away from reality, but I'll tell you one thing, reality is going to hit me like a brick wall when I get home.  The last thing I want to do right now is go home to that materialistic society that I already struggle with.

I just wish you all could've been there during the service tonight.  Despite all the dance moves strictly from fighting off huge beetles, it was a service I will never forget.  Worshiping with my brothers and sisters in Christ who help to make up the body.

If you could, please pray from all of us to get some rest.  I specifically, haven't slept good the past two nights, especially last night.  I really need some good sleep.  Just pray for rest for our team so we can have enough energy to complete the rest of our week to the best of our ability!  We have GOT to finish that playground tomorrow!

Here are some more pictures from today!  Enjoy!  Goodnight, y'all.

 Does your chain hang low?

Finished the rock wall today on the far side, got some swings up, got a roof and tarp up too!

 Deshawn, Angel, Isaiah, and Kevin

 Isaiah having fun with my shades and Lauren's hat!

 Straight from my camera!

 The puppy.....ahhhh she's so cute.

 Tony, me and Caitlin before church!

 Pastor Tim - who knew he had such a talent for the piano and singing?!

 The only non-blurry picture that Lauren was able to get of me while sharing during the service tonight.  Thanks girl!

Pat sharing her story - so moving.  Thank you so much for sharing, Pat.

Day 3

The end of day 3...already.  It's been an interesting and emotional day from the beginning for me, and I know it' not going to be the first before I leave.  Wake up call at 6:30am - turned into not getting out of bed until 6:58am to be on the balcony for devotion by 7am (which is normal for Lauren and I).  On the way to  Hope Home today I was sitting in the backseat between Caitlin and Pastor Tim.  We got to talking about something, I think my major, and Pastor Tim looked and me and I knew exactly...exactly...what he was going to say.  "You know, I believe that God has His hand on you.  I was telling Tony, God has very special plans for you...and if you ever need me to talk I'm here." ---------- honored, yet terrified, yet speechless, yet nervous, and lastly - blessed.  If I had a nickel for every time a Pastor of mine has told me that...  Including one that told me something similar to this the night before I came on the trip.  God definitely is working within my life, but man, that just gives me feelings that I don't even know how to describe.  All I can say is, "Thank you so much - and we will see where this all leads me!", but sometimes I wish I had another response.  Emotion overflow...

At Hope Home today we continued our construction work.  We had a few stressful moments that set us a little behind, but it all worked out in the end.  With all of our teamwork we were able to get a lot of the heavy lifting done and most of the structure finished!  Caitlin and Katy worked on the mural again today - as if yesterday wasn't enough, today it's looking even better.  Pastor Tim and Tony worked inside today sanding, priming, and painting the floor of the boy's dorm.  Pat worked with the preschoolers with some more VBS and crafts!  Lauren, for those of you who don't know, is majoring in social work.  She brought down worksheets for the caretakers here at Hope Home to work with them on ways they can improve the structure and discipline within the orphanage.  It made me tear up listening to her talk to these caretakers because it's so incredibly clear that she's in the right major.  I'm just really proud of her and the work she's doing and will do in the years to come.  We were also given the opportunity to talk to the older/teenage girls when they were home from school during their lunch break.  I let Lauren do majority of the talking because she had a written plan for the discussion.  It was a great time to discuss teenage girl things with the group and reminisce through my early/mid teenage years.  Those girls are beautiful and they have so much going for them.  I hope to come back one day and see them again.

Dinner tonight was held at JR's - a burger joint here in town.  It was a little taste of America.  Then we went to get some ice cream - banana vanilla to be exact.  I'm really going to start craving that in the states!  We have been back at the hotel for about 3 hours now.  Pastor Tim and Tony have been hanging out with Miles, Lauren and I for the past few nights so they can get into our stash of candy (which is now basically gone!).  Seriously, some of the funniest people I know.  So many great memories have already occurred on this trip and I know we have a ton more to go!  We ended our night with a group prayer around me and Lauren's room.  I'm just so thankful for this team.  

The quote of the night from Pastor Tim - "If y'all see that herd of donkeys go into the ocean, then you know we've done something wrong." (It's a long, long story but it's a funny one!)

Lastly, SHOUT OUT TO MY BOY TJ WARREN FOR RECEIVING ACC PLAYER OF THE YEAR! GOOOO PAAAACKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK and also to my baby kitty, Zoe!  She was spayed and declawed today.  Bless her...I'm so sorry baby girl!

Once again, there are plenty of pictures to show you a little bit of our day!  Goodnight, guys!

 Starting work this morning!

 Gettin' it...

 Andy telling us what to do.

 Always playing around on the job..

 Left to Right - Sam, Tony, Pastor Tim, and Nazar working on the boy's dorm floor

 Digging the holes for the swingset

 Mile's handy-dandy calculations when figuring out the angles for the swing set today.  Gotta love those NC State students, Tony and Pastor Tim! ;)

 The mural.  Enough said.

 Pastor Tim, Nazar, and Tony got to know each other and each other's stories very well today!

 Sunset on the sea wall.

 Miles, Lauren and I

 Teamwork was vital for this piece of wood! SO heavy!

Of course if I had the chance to wear these, y'all know I would.  And I definitely did. GO PACK.

Day 2 - First day at Hope Home

Day 2 already complete?  Why is it going by so fast already? :( sigh.  Today was our first day visiting Hope Home!  This is an orphanage that has about 40 kids ranging from about 4 years old to 18 years old and a large amount of them have special needs.  The kids are absolutely beautiful.  Lauren, Pat and I babysat them for a little while and the entire time we were with them they just wouldn't stop laughing!  It's unreal to see so much laughter and happiness from these kids in their living conditions.  Why can't we be that happy all the time while we are living our luxurious lifestyles?  Materialistic societies are ruining us.  When thinking about the workers of Hope Home - I have always had such respect for social workers and those who live to serve students who can't live a normal life, however, these caretakers were a level of loving that surpasses anything I've seen in the states.  You have to have so much patience with these kids.  Without them, who knows were these kids would be today.  They have completely transformed the lives of these children and have helped them to understand how much Jesus loves them.

Onward to the physical aspect of our day: we began building the playground!  It's coming along very nicely.  The pictures below show the progress that we made today.  We are hoping that we will finish by Thursday, and if not, then we will be 99% done!  Everyone drilled, bolted, sawed the wood, and sanded - but not everyone got as sunburnt as Miles and not everyone's shoe sole fell off like Mr. Jeff's!  It's blistering hot down here during the day.  We are building two separate structures, both with picnic tables underneath.  It's going to be awesome when it's finished!  It will have swings, a slide, a rock wall, and a ladder connected to it (if I remember correctly).  The kids are probably never going to get off of it.

When we finished adding the picnic tables we noticed that we needed sandpaper to smooth out the edges s the kid's wouldn't get splinters.  Clement pointed at me and said, "Come with me to get the sandpaper from the market."  I quickly responded with a "yes sir!" and headed out with Clement.  We were gone for maybe 15-20 minutes total, but during that time we were able to get in good conversation.  I'm not going to go into much detail about everything that was said just for the sake of typing it all out, but the basis of our conversation was living out the word of God and how easy it was to stray away - but yet no matter what we do, He is always there to open that door that we had closed.  We discussed how vital it is to live by God's vision and in with some personal decisions I have made in my life, I could honestly tell Clement that I had kept my word to God and stayed clear from letting myself go and falling into temptations.  It was such a wonderful feeling to be honest about something that was so personal to me, without Clement even knowing that it was a personal topic.  (If that makes sense to any of you.)

In more of the pictures you can see the beginning of a wall mural that Katy and Caitlin started painting today in one of the dormitory rooms.  Kenneth, the director of the orphanage, wanted a mural resembling a puzzle of an undersea scene.  These girls are ridiculously talented!!!  I could not believe their painting skills and how fast they were completing the project.  Isn't it beautiful?  GREAT JOB LADIES.

We had lunch around noon which consisted of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, Lays Staks chips, and trailmix.  We left Hope Home around 3:30 (we had been there since 8:30 this morning) to head back to the hotel for a little rest and a shower before we left for dinner.  After a short nap and a refreshing shower, we loaded up the van and went to Maurice and B's brand new house.  When I say brand new, I mean brand new - no furniture, no fridge, no stove, no plates, not anything!  This was basically their first night in the house.  They're furniture is being shipped over so it will be a little bit longer until they are able to completely furnish their house.  Guyana is an interesting place.  There are shacks right beside mansions.  This house was one that would be classified as a mansion, in my opinion, but this family has not received this money because of drugs (which is how many people here are able to build their enormous houses).  This family was so generous - they rented tables and chairs for us to use for dinner.  We had yet another Guyanese authentic meal that consisted of Roti, beef curry, chow mein, and rice.  It was really good.  My mom is probably in awe of me saying how much I'm enjoying the food here.  And get this Ma, we had banana and vanilla flavored ice cream for desert and I ATE IT.  ALL.  hahaha you would be so proud.  OH!  How in the world have a skipped this?  Well, before dinner we were given the opportunity to stand with the family as they cut the ribbon into their new home.  A ribbon cutting for their new home?  Yes.  It was so cool!  Pastor Tim blessed the home before dinner also.  We all laid hands on the door, door frames, windows, staircase, and kitchen while he read some scripture from Matthew 7.  It was definitely an experience to remember.  During the ribbon cutting, B told me to go inside (by myself, while everyone including the family was outside) and be the photographer.  I was honored.  Before we left, I went to give B a hug and to thank her for her incredible hospitality and she asked was more interested in talking to me than she was to tell me goodbye!  Her kind words will stick with me for a long time.  She was excited when I told her I have two younger brothers.  She wants to meet them - haha!  You hear that Patrick and Stephen?  Get your bags ready.  You too Mama and Daddy - she wants to meet you too! I'm sure you're chuckling reading this, but you better believe she was serious, and honestly, I am too.  I hope that one day you guys are able to experience what I have.

When first writing tonight, I told Lauren I wasn't sure if I had much to say.  Well, I guess that changed.  Sometimes when you don't have much to say, words flow out of you more than ever.  "Let it flow" - Clement's quote of the night. (hahaha and LOL to the team when they read that.)  Have fun looking through the pictures and let me know what y'all think!  I would love to hear comments about anything!

Love you all and talk to you tomorrow!

I'll say goodnight with this quote from Pastor Tim when leaving our room a few minutes ago from coming to get some sour patch kids :  "Well, I'm gonna do something that the devil won't do....leave you alone."
HAHA.  Goodnight everyone!

 This is what we arrived to this morning.

 Progress.

 Picnic tables!

The floor of the platform was being placed.  This is as far as we got today.

 Angel.  Isn't she gorgeous?  I'm obsessed...

 Lauren with Angel and Isaiah!

 Katy and Caitlin at the beginning!

 Caitlin's hands

Um, can you believe this?  Stunning!

 Ready to work - ha!

Thanks for this pic, Lauren.

 Maurice and B's house!

 The ribbon - you can also see the balloons inside.  It was a celebration!

 Maurice and B, with one of their son's cutting the ribbon.

 Tony, me, Lauren, and Tim on the balcony.

 The group!

Dinner was delicious.

Day 1 - Worship, Homeless Shelter, and Feeding.

WOW.  Y'all, it's been a long, long day!  With many more to come!  We woke up around 5:15 this morning to take a shower and get prepared for the day ahead.  We left at 6:30am to head to Clement's house about 45 minutes away to eat breakfast prepared by his wife and family.  Clement is one of the locals that has been helping this team for years and years.  He is wonderful.  The breakfast was a full spread of authentic Guyanese food.  It was delicious!  After breakfast, we walked across the street to Stanleyville United Methodist Church, which is Clement's home church.  I've been blessed with worshiping in Costa Rica, Africa, Spain, and now Guyana with fellow Christians and it never ceases to amaze me how strong this body of Christ really is.  We are all brothers and sisters in Christ, no matter what language we speak or what continent we live on.  Isn't that such a wonderful thing to think about?! :)

After church, we made our way back to the hotel to change and put a few footlockers in the van.  We headed to homeless shelter in the downtown area where we passes out items such as toothbrushes, toothpaste, cookies, mints, toilet paper,  and flip-flops.  Pastor Tim and Mr. Jeff placed cross necklaces on them when they finished going through the line.  They were so incredibly thankful - yet, we were even more thankful to be helping them.  Once we were done, we drove down the street to Church's chicken to pick up some lunch.  (Yes Emily, I know I gave up fast food for Lent......but I'm hoping God will make an exception given that I don't have any other option!)  After lunch, we took a MUCH needed nap and revived ourselves before hitting the streets to feed the homeless for dinner.

We got in the vans around 4:00 to make our route around downtown.  Everywhere we saw someone laying on the street or sitting against a tree, we stopped.  We might have only stopped for one or two people, but once we looked down and looked back up again there were normally 20+.  It's always fulfilling to help others, but when you feed those who haven't eaten in days, that's something serious.  Throughout my past trips I have met many people who are hungry, but I've never been given the chance to help them directly.  There was one scenario that took place while we were feeding in the market area that I will never forget -- One of the men that we fed grabbed his "cookup" from us, received his cross necklace, and then walked to the second van to receive his tang juice.  Before he touched his food, he shotgunned his juice then threw the cup on the ground.  Just threw it on the ground.  This country has no means of sanitation, and I definitely already realized that.  But, watching this man litter in front of us after we helped him was unforgettable.

Dinner was ordered from Pizza Hut - and honestly, it was better than Pizza Hut from home.  Ah, delicious.

Here are a few pictures from our day!

Before church this more at Stanleyville United Methodist!  (Lauren wasn't able to come with us this morning because she was sick from a migraine.  Clement prayed over here during church for her migraine to be gone when we got back to the hotel and sure enough when she woke up by the time we had returned it was gone!)

At the homeless shelter today, before the process began! (Me, Tony, and Lauren)

Lunch: a #7-Spicy Chicken sandwich with FF.

On the other side of the sea wall.  Could you imagine this without all the trash?....It's still beautiful no matter what.

 HAY GURL HAY (This is Lauren)

 Miles found this cool shell on the beach.

 This is Pat - my partner for feeding today!  She's showing the "cookup" meal.

 Our full feeding team - van #2.  (Pat, Pastor Tim, and Miles)

 The cookup.

 The cross necklaces.

Hope everyone at home had a wonderful day!  Looking forward to a full day tomorrow at Hope Home.  We start building the playground tomorrow.  Keep the prayers coming and we are praying for all of you as well.  Lauren is writing a blog about the trip as well, you can follow her blog at www.laughlivelovetravel.blogspot.com .  She has been multiple times, so she will have tons of entries for you to read from past experiences!  

See ya tomorrow!

We made it!

Well, after 15+ hours of traveling, we made it to Georgetown, Guyana!

It's been a long day and we have an early morning tomorrow so this is going to be short and sweet.  Thankfully all of our flights were on schedule today so we didn't have any problems getting down here.  Africa team, if you're reading this, I never had ONE problem getting through security and all of my technology is working - so far so good.  Today we flew from Wilmington to Charlotte, to Miami, then to Georgetown.

This is a photo of Pastor Tim with our footlockers.  We brought down 23 footlockers, 50lbs a piece, full of supplies, clothes, and building tools.  Despite them falling off the cart at baggage claim for Miles and making a scene, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be to get them all through Miami International.  Surinam Airways claimed that our carry-on bags from US Airways were too heavy for their flights so they were added to our long list of checked bags - and thankfully made their way to Guyana with us.  Today was the first day I have ever been on an airplane for a 5 hour flight with people constantly socializing throughout the aisle.  I guess that's just the way to locals are here, which is awesome.  Everybody was just walking up and down the aisle of the plane talking to each other as if they knew one another.  I've just never witnessed that on an airplane as many times as I've flown!  

This was the sunset from our plane tonight.  Needless to say, it was beautiful.  God is definitely with us.

Arriving to Guyana, it immediately took me back to Costa Rica and Africa.  It's like the perfect mix between the two.  The smells, the buildings, the murals on walls, the roads, the vans, everything.  It's nice to be in such an unfamiliar place while feeling somewhat at home.  I can't wait to see what's in store for the week.  

This was our plane from Miami to Guyana. 

Oh, and for all of you back home in NC, its 87 degrees here.  There's a great amount of humidity, but this weather is amazing compared to what we have been having at home!  Like I said, this post was going to be short.  I'll post again tomorrow after another full day!

And PS: shout out to my dad for my note in my passport - I love you too!

And also : I hope all of my friends who are traveling around the world right now are having an amazing experience! 

Night, y'all!

4 days until Guyana

Hey hey friends!

It's 12:26am on a Tuesday night, (Wednesday morning), so you all know what that means: prime time procrastination.  I've got so much going on this week but yet, I just can't focus on much.  Why is this?  Maybe it's because of the trip I will be taking this weekend.  I'm traveling to Guyana, South America with Pine Valley United Methodist Church from Wilmington, NC and I absolutely cannot wait!  This is my first major trip since Africa in the summer of 2012.  When we had our first meeting for the trip, we had to introduce ourselves and explain what we were looking forward to in the trip.  I was basically an outcast, with the exception of Lauren, Miles, and Pastor Tim Reeves.  Lauren was my suitemate last year in UT, Miles is her boyfriend who I met through her last year, and I actually met Pastor Tim at Catalyst when I traveled to ATL with Pastor David and Pastor Marty a few years ago!  (Such a small world sometimes.)  Anyways, we went around the table introducing ourselves and once it became my turn, the words started flowing out of me in pure excitement.  I explained how this trip is coming at a time when I need it the most.  It's been a long, hard road through college to be the Christian self that I've always been.  I hadn't been living on that Christian "high" all the time.  I haven't been walking down the devil's path, but I haven't been fully walking down God's path either.  It's easy to be blinded of God's work sometimes.

I'm ready to see the sweet, innocent faces of those children who are fully committed to our Lord and Savior.
I'm ready to breakdown on my knees in awe of his wonderful mercy and grace.
I'm ready to experience the new opportunities that will come with the orphans of Guyana, South America.
I'm simply ready to sing the joyful song that has been embedded in me thanks to my hometown - who has always supported me in my mission work and proved to me that I can help make a difference in this world.

There will be 10 of us traveling to Guyana on Saturday.  (If I can remember correctly.)  We will be flying out of Wilmington around 7:30am to Charlotte, arriving in ATL, then onward to Guyana.  We should arrive in Guyana around 11:30pm Saturday night.  We will be there a full week and we have an itinerary that will be keeping us busy from the first day to the last.  Our time will be spent painting wall murals at the orphanages, building a new playground for one of the orphanages who's previous playground wasn't safe enough for the kids to play on, we will be feeding the homeless, providing clothes to various orphanages, partaking in church services of the community, and visiting homes of families that the Butlers (Miles' wonderful parents who have been on this trip about 15+ times) have become very close friends with over all of the years.   Guyana is an English speaking country who shares the same power outlets as us here in the States, but yet lives in a poverty stricken world that makes it seem as if there is no hope.  This team will continue to bring that hope as they have through all of their past trips - and I can't wait to be a part of it.

Please keep our team in your prayers!  Pray for safety, clarity, and perspective.  We know that the Lord will be shining down upon us during our entire trip.  I'm hoping to continue blogging throughout next week so I can keep you updated on what's happening!  Keep checking for posts!

I'll get back to studying now...maybe.

Goodnight!