ARG! I am very annoyed because I just erased my entire post and have to type it all over again! *takes deep breath* Ok.
Welcome, holysoldier5000. Welcome also, c_hunter.
Our trip to Kentucky went well. We had to drive 18 hours to get up there (12 hours the first day, 6 the next), so it was great bonding time for all of us
. The roads were very narrow and curvy with usually a dropoff on at least one side. In 1 1/2 miles there were 72 turns! Praise God that we got there safely!
Once there, we were divided into three teams (there was also a group from Pennsylvania there, so it was cool to connect with them). One roofed a house, another redid most of the inside of a trailer that was rotting out, and my team was building a porch and attaching underpinning to an elderly lady's trailer. Porches are an importat part of Appalachian culture. Fanny (the lady) and her daughter Elizabeth were very sweet and cooked us lunch every day. Elizabeth's husband (Richard) and their three sons helped us build some. Not judging Richard was a challenge for me. I first saw him as a fat guy without a shirt on, and a gray beard, smoking a cigarrett. He turned out to be an ok guy, though. On the last day Fanny and Elizabeth cooked us an extra big traditional Kentucky dinner: potatoes, cornbread, some sort of macaroni-and-hamburger stuff, and soup beans. Mmm, mmm was that delicious!
One girl from my youth group fainted one day. She fainted several more times and eventually we had to take her to the hospital. She was ok in the end though. A couple of other people got sick too (including me), but everyone turned out to be alright. Praise God!
It rained for a couple days durning the week, which set back our plans. One group that was supposed to work at the site for 5 days only got to work for 2 1/2. My group tried to work that day, but trying to hammer nails through a couple layers of tin in pouring rain while slipping around in the mud doesn't work very well, so we gave up at about lunch time. Dealing with that was an awesome growing opportunity!
One of my friend's week was very upsetting, though, because after this trip, she has to leave the youth group. She doesn't want to, but her parents (who aren't Christian) want her to attend a church where she has (biological) family. She is very sad.
A lot of people said that they grew a lot, were changed forever, and felt closer to God at the end of the week. That's great! Me, I didn't have emotional experiences or revelations, but I just grew in technical aspects. You know, I got to practice patience, not judging, self-sacrifice, and I learned how to use power saws
!
So, yup. I had a good week. Praise God!
)
Long post, I know. Let me know if I made sense, or if you think I went wrong anywhere, ok? When I go and write so much on an issue, it gives me both the chance to express my views and to be corrected if I'm wrong - both of which are good things that I value. So if you hold a different view than mine, please feel free to correct/inform me. 