Alabama – Bayou La Batre Day 5

Alabama Blog Day 5:
(Sorry for the late post – we lost wifi access! Better late than never though!)

“Today I worked on painting houses and cleaning an old food pantry, the work was very fun and interesting because of the conversations we had to get to know one another more. While we were painting an old house we got done faster than expected so we went back to the community center to take showers, but we had to go back out to the food pantry and work there with another group. The work at the food pantry was really gross because the let a homeless family stay there for like 3 months and they trashed it. So we were taking out crates of rotten fruit and mopped nasty floors. But afterwards I felt really good about the work we had done knowing it was helping the workers there who felt bad about themselves. My funny moment of the day is when Spencer Everhart, Katherine Sullivan, Anna Grace, and I were all paying soccer in the gym. I had the ball and was trying to dribble past Katherine, and she was wearing Chacos which are rock hard sandals, and I hit the ball far in front of me and she took it and I kicked my bare foot toes straight into the back of her shoes. My moment when I saw God was when we ordered custom shirts and they came in today. My shirt I ordered did not turn out how I expected, so Elaine (my mom), Carole Parrott, and I went back to the t shirt shop to return it, and the worker made me a completely new shirt of my choice and gave it to me for free. She said it was right to do because of all the work we had done in their community. And I truly thank God for giving me the opportunity to deepen my relationship with Him by serving other people and spreading His love.”

• David Holden

“Going to the nursing home early in the morning was a blessing. Speaking to the older people about our daily lives, what we do for fun, and what we have been doing on our mission trip was a key event in when I saw God. When my group went to visit a lady, she talked on and on about almost everything known to man. She was very open to every person that came into her room. I definitely saw God through her because of how kind she was to others.

Later on when we had worship there was a time when our leaders were washing our feet like Jesus did to others. Our leaders prayed over us and gave us a blessing. That really spoke to a lot of us, especially the seniors since we are going off to college in a few weeks. One of the seniors pulled all of the others seniors outside for us to talk about upcoming move-in days and departing ways from each other. We made a promise that we would always stick by each other and never forget the wonderful memories that we have made.”

• Shelby Holden

“Moving furniture for Dixon Elementary School may not seem exciting, but when JT, the site manager, said how much he appreciated our help, it meant the world to me. I was able to talk to him and get to know, which built a relationship through service. I am so thankful for learning this week that serving is a form of worship because it changed my perspective on the whole concept of serving. This encouraged me to build a relationship with those that I am helping and I thank God for helping me understand service.

I saw God today in my service project. I also saw God tonight. All of the seniors gathered together and talked about our love for one another, hugging each other, and prayed as we always have, arms wrapped around each other, taking turns praying for each other, for our futures, and thanking God for the many memories over the past years. I have seen God in this youth group throughout my life and I am thankful every second of my life for these lifelong friends that I have made loving memories with which I will never forget. God is good.”

• Sam McNeely

“I really had lot of fun today. Today we moved furniture at an elementary school and helped the site manager fix up the place. We also painted the front office of the school and even though I got a lot of paint on me I really felt great afterwards because I helped someone. After we got back the group had a cook out which was a lot of fun. The highlight of my day was when we had our large group gathering time and we all sang with our arms around each other. Afterwards the adults in our group gave everyone a personal prayer. Mr. Parrott gave me my prayer and it really meant a lot to me and made me feel happy inside. After that we all said goodbye to all the seniors and saying goodbye to all of my friends has been one of the hardest things I have had to do because I have been with the church all of my life and the youth group for many years, but I know I will see them again and I have shared many great memories with them.”

• Miles Robinson

“Today was a lot of fun. My group was in the process of cleaning out a food pantry. We had to lift a lot of heavy stuff. After we got it mostly cleaned out we started painting. After we began painting I quickly became covered in paint. (It was even in my hair.) We then came back to the Community Center and had our large group gathering, This is where I saw God today as all the seniors huddled around for their last mission trip.”

• Spencer Everhart