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!

break the chains

hi ya peeps!  No doubt, I haven't been on my A-game when it comes to this stuff (didn't see that one coming....ha).

As you know, school started back a week ago.  Since I participated in both summer sessions (I know, I know...I don't know why I did that either), I haven't exactly had a vacation from school since August of 2012!  craziness.  Along with getting a job this summer, thanks to The Pit (yall come get some BBQ!), I haven't had much time to breathe between classes, work, and commuting back and forth from home for various occasions.  Needless to say, my faith journey had been paused for a little too long.

This time last year I was burning with that Christian "high" from being in Africa and visiting with my friend Rachel down in Largo, Florida.  Last summer was completely jam packed with experiences that boosted my faith journey more than any other trips I had ever been on...especially Africa.

Why is it so easy to fall off of that Christian "high"?

Society is nothing but a vacuum.  A pure moral and value sucker.  You truly have to be on your A-game every moment of everyday if you want to stay on that "high", but we all know how impossible that is.

I've given into society way too much recently.  I'm tired of it.  Don't get me wrong, it's not like I'm going out and doing drugs and getting drunk non-stop.  It's not that at all.  It's just the little things: having more negative thoughts than positive thoughts towards certain things, complaining too much, not sharing God's word at all, not having faith based conversations with friends.

It's time for a change - for me to get back to 'normal'.

I've never really been this far away from my faith before.  I'm not doubting or anything, it's just not the first thing that I base judgements off of like it used to be, ya know?

I want to read my Bible more.
I want to have more conversations with friends.
I want to pray more.
I want to pray before every meal.
I want to be able to go to bible study on a regular basis (hopefully work will allow it).
I want to be held accountable for these things.
I want to shine God's light in everything I do.
I want people to see Him through me...like people said they used to.

While I pray for all of you, I hope that you will pray for me in return.  We all have struggles like these, it's human.  That's why it's so easy to get like this.  But it's time to break these chains and walk on as disciples, people!  Here we go!

I'll leave you with this verse from my reading tonight:

"For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."
Ephesians 2:10

-E

adios, UT

I started moving my stuff out of my room today.  This is my last weekend here at good 'ole University Towers.  I've been here for two weeks shy of a full year now.  This place is full of memories.

It's where I met my future roommates.
It's where I got ready for all football, basketball, and baseball games.
It's where I studied for all of my finals.
It's where I ate Marco's pizza and countless cookout trays at 3am.
It's where I met 14 people on my hall that became a family of mine.
It's where I became a part of an amazing bible study with about 30 other girls.
It's where I spent my freshman year, as well as the summer of 2013.

I'll never forget living here -- I mean how could I?  I can't wait to visit my friends that are staying here again this upcoming year!  (Especially now that I worked here this summer and became friends with many of the RAs.)

This is my bittersweet moment!  Everyone else had it back in May where they moved out after finals.  This is MY move out realization moment!  This 12 x 24 foot room has been my home for a year and I wouldn't trade it for the world!  I'm ready to be in that apartment though!

Move-In Day, August 17, 2012

The best hallmates.

The roommate and suite mates!

Many nights of hallway hangouts.

Our room, 712, was the place to be. 

My room at the end of the year - so much memorabilia. 

Needless to say, I lived a great year at UT!  Adios, UT.  

It's been real.

It's been fun.

And it's been real fun.

thinking about the future

Sitting in my room everyday here at UT, I find myself constantly thinking of the future.  I guess it's got a lot to do with my age and stage in life - I'm almost 20 years old and I'm in college.  This is prime time for change.

In less than three weeks I move into an apartment with two amazing girls, Emily and Malin.

(Malin on the left, Emily in the middle)

They have done loads of shopping for the apartment this summer while I've been working and taking summer classes so I can't wait to be home next week and start pulling my weight when it comes to apartment shopping!

I'm very excited to watch our friendships grow and see how we will grow as individuals as we begin this journey together.


With moving in you know what that means......school's back.  August 21st is the first day of fall semester.  I know I've only been in college for a year now, but I'm glad I'm finally looking forward to going to class.

As I change my major to Parks, Rec and Tourism, people tend to look at me like I'm crazy.  Yes I can make a living with this major and YES this major is a real major.  Think about it, when you go to the beach - that's tourism.  When you go shopping at the mall - that's tourism.  When you go to Pullen Park with your kids - that's Parks and Recreation.  Needless to say, this world wouldn't be as vibrant or enjoyable without this field.  I can't wait to be a part of this field and put forth my time and energy to make communities want to participate in recreation.

Along with class, the beginning of the fall semester also means FOOTBALL SEASON.  There are 32 days until kickoff.  Get excited people.  Doeren is going to take us far this year. (According to the football players in my Parks and Rec class)

So, here's to the future and a great football season.  Go Pack!