Trip #5: BentTree Bible Fellowship (2)

Hello to all my wonderful blog readers out there!

So our month of BentTree is officially ended... They are such great students! This month has been absolutely amazing!

This trip begand with the holes in the back of the house dug and posts in them... Yeah, now we have holes and posts and beams in the front, the flooring in the back, the exterior walls, as well as all roof trelices (sp?) except for the last gable up. It actually looks like a house! I found out from Jess that when this lady asked for help, she originally just wanted a couple of broken windows replaced... She doesn't know what is in store. And Jess hasn't told her to what extent we are fixing up her house because we don't want to promise anything we can't perform. Eventually, Jess wants to have the trailor enclosed and rip out the trailor from the inside... But that won't be til next summer.

This was a major high performing team. Some great students that I won't forget about it!

One thing God has been working on me this trip is trusting Him to take care of things back home... The night before this trip came I found out that I have to stay another semester at HCC (bleh!). My sister-in-law also had surgery and is actually in the hospital (so please keep her in your prayers). And then some other things going on as well... All of which I wish I could be there for to help encourage support, but I am limited to phone encouraging and emails and such... And prayer - God has been teaching me a lot about prayer and how important it is to be bold. We have been doing a study of Nehemiah and he asked God boldly for things and got them.

Another concept I realized while challenging a student this past trip is that God doesn't need me to be serve Him. God wants me to serve Him. There is a huge difference in those 2 words. If God wants something done, He will get it done with or without me. But He does want to provide me with the opportunity to serve Him to show Him how much I love Him.

I was so sad to see this group go. The youth pastor, Dylan, used to work for LeaderTreks so he was totally on board with things. He is an amazing teacher and I learned a lot from him as well.

I am kind of sad though because Shannon (Greg's fiance) and Allie are both leaving today. Shannon is absolutely amazing and will do an awesome job next summer with Greg where ever they are sent. Allie has been a huge encouragement to me and taught me a lot too. Both of them will be greatly missed!

This next trip is 7 12-year old boys. 2 adults males and 2 adult females. Should be quite interesting! Going back to a level 1 trip! It is going to be so very weird after having a month of level 3! Pray that everything goes well and everyone is safe. This is only a one week trip - I have 3 of them left then I fly back to Chicago on August 11th and then back to Tampa on Aug 13th at 5 PM.

Much love to you all and thanks for all your prayers and encouragement!

Joy

P.S. I may not be online as much because Allie is taking her laptop with me... So if I don't respond, don't take it personally! I love you all!!

BentTree Bible Fellowship (2)



The Wall Goes Up (Just Like in Nehemiah)



This Land Has Been Claimed for Jesus



Working Hard and Playing Hard



Where the Next Team Gets to Start!

Trip #4: BentTree Bible Fellowship (1)

Warning: this might be a long blog because a lot happened this week that I want to share with all of you readers out there!

Okay, so this was our first 10-day level 3 trip. INTENSE! But oh so awesome! These were freshman and sophmores from BentTree near Dallas, TX. The funny thing is that they are from the church that 2 of my pastors are from! And their youth pastor, Dylan, used to work for LeaderTreks for several years, so that is pretty exciting! We have another BentTree trip coming in this evening - so it is the month of BentTree! But they are great kids, and very hard workers!

A level 3 is mostly student lead - they planned the menu, did the grocery shopping, decide what we do at the worksite each day (with the guidance of Jess, our construction guru). This team was VERY organized. The first week they put on a Sports Camp VBS. That was absolutely amazing. The first day we hardly had any kids, but by Thursday, we had a lot of kids to love on. I got to reach out to one girl Tamara - and totally just love on her. She is the sweetest girl and has gone through so much! It breaks my heart!

So, we did VBS in the morning and then worksite in the afternoon. We finished Ms. Micey's house and received her CO (Certificate of Occupancy) on Friday. How exciting! Monday, a couple of us went over to do the great clean and that afternoon we were able to give her the keys to her "new" home! She hasn't been inside for 2 years - she told herself that she didn't want to see it until it was finished. This is the house she grew up in - which later became a crack house, and a prostitute house. People from All Saint's Church have been doing prayer walks around the house everyday because we want this to be a safe haven for her. What an amazing thing to be able to give a lady keys to a house she has never seen in such great condition. Only one team gets to experience that moment, and this was the team!

We started on a new house this trip as well. Ms. Smith is 26 years old and had 5 kids (I believe the oldest is 9). She lives in a 1 bedroom trailer that is falling apart. In order to meet all the codes, instead of tearing it down, we are enclosing it - building new rooms around it. We dug 18 holes (2' x 2' x 2') and then hand mixed cement and filled all those holes in a matter of 3 days. We went through 3 palets of cement bags (about 216 80 lb bags). The neatest part of that is we are not only impacting the family we are helping, but the lumber store (whom we bought out all their cement) is noticing there is something different. When we ran out of cement and went to order more, they could not believe that a group of high schoolers had gone through 3 palets in 2 days and mixed it all by hand at that! What an awesome testimony!

The other project we have been working on at Ms. Smith's house is the woods behind her house. Apparently here in Pawley's, they don't have a scheduled trash pick up; you take your trash to a dump. Well, there was trash in the woods knee deep and who knows what all was really back there. We cleaned it up - yay for huge crap piles! There were parts of a car from 1972... Craziness!

Even more exciting than helping these families, to me, is being able to touch these students lives and show them a whole new way to serve and follow hard after God. This week was a mile stone for me in that I am half way through the summer. But even more, I learned something about confidence. It's a choice. I have grown so much in that area this past week, and God gave me the opportunity to speak into several students' lives this trip. What an amazing feeling to know that God allowed me the opportunity to influence these students in change that will bring a huge impact on His kingdom. There is no better feeling to me in the whole wide world!

Well, I guess this is about long enough... Greg's head is doing much better. Thank you for your prayers! Pray for Allie as this is her last trip with us :( She leaves on the 20th as well as Shannon, Greg's fiance. Shannon flew in after our last trip and is here for 2 weeks - she is so amazing! I have learned so much from her already! And she and Greg are so cute together!

Well, I love you guys all very much and thank you for all your prayers and encouragement! I can't wait to tell you all stories face to face!

Staying strong,

Joy

BentTree Bible Fellowship



Ms. Micey Walking into Her New House for the First Time



Ms. Micey's New Kitchen



Ms. Micey's New Living Room



Crafts at Sports Camp



Mixing Cement at Ms. Smith's House



Me Flying Over the Battery in Charleston, SC

Trip #3: Mayfair Bible

Hey everyone,

So I know this is long overdue... But here is the recap from our 3rd trip last week.

They were from Flushing, Michigan. It was a group of mostly high schoolers - one 8th grader. They were great! Very high performance team! We managed to get pass the electrical inspection which Jess (our construction manager) didn't think likely. God can do the impossible! We got that on Thursday so we had electricity on Friday. We had hoped to finish the house last week, but the inspectors found a couple of other things that Jess didn't know had to be done... So that tacked on another week of work.

There were some graduating seniors that were really amazing young ladies. It is so neat to get to pour into students lives and challenge them to live up to their potential.

Allie and I got the opportunity to start teaching during this trip. We each did a growth journal and a Bible study. It was amazing. I am still working on my confidence in front of new groups of people, but it is so cool to know that God is letting me be a part of changing students' lives.

This trip did an amazing job getting so much done on the house. They were such a joy to work with!

Quick update about this week - I won't say too much until my next blog about this current trip... But we did get our Certificate of Occupance on Friday! Major YAY GOD! Now Micy can move into her house! Pics soon to come!

Thank you so much for all your prayers and encourgement! Please continue to pray for strength. Level 3 trips are intense in that we are with them for 10 days straight and I am realizing how important personal time at night is... So, yeah! Strength is my main prayer request right now...

Love you guys, miss you all very much!

Joy

P.S. Pray for Greg - we were at the beach for a fun restful day and a wave overtook him and something nicked his head. He had to shave his head and has a big scrape on his forehead. Seems to be doing fine... But pray for healing and not a lot of scarring since he is getting married in a little over a month!

Mayfair Bible Church



Kitchen Cabinets and Tiled Floor (ALL installed by students!)



How LT Staff Keep Our Sanity!