Last Days in Texas

These last few days have been full of work, sweat, & tears. We have been so hard at work that we have hardly had time to post even a hello to our family, & friends at home. 

As we speak we are on our way home. About to board the plane to come home.

Midnight should be about when we roll into the parking lot at HSCC. 

Pray for our team as we fly home.... my number is being called! we are off!

Days 3 and 4: Workin'

After giving a tutorial on painting, Don learned of the consequences of using his shirt as a paintbrush wiper.
Cassidy and Analisa pose for a pic before getting back to painting in "Texico City"

Stephen steps up to new heights as he paints the ceiling.

More pictures and stories will be posted tomorrow, but due to our lack of sleep Conor and I are heading off to bed. Good night everyone!

Sunrise Service

This video is of John in the wee hours of the morning at the sunrise service. On our computer is had a sweet silhouette of John, it seems on the blog there is just darkness. So if you can imagine a silhouette it makes the video EVEN better. 

Don & the Boys B-ball Game

Don missed our trip last year because of his grandson's birth, and we are so glad he is with us this year. Don changed from his crocks to real shoes shortly after this video was taken. 

Day 3: Easter Sunday - A Day Of Rest, Worship, and Close Encounters of the Alligator Kind

A year and a half later, abandoned and tattered houses like this remain untouched.

It was an early-rising Easter for the Texas Team, as we gathered with the local folk for a sunrise service on the beach, in a section that we had cleaned up the previous day. We were treated to some down-home southern preaching and passionate singing as we started a morning-long streak of  Easter festivities which also included Sunday School with local teens and another service in the First Baptist Church of Crystal Beach, where we are staying.

Some road-tripping students had to take a second look when they noticed the oh-so-familiar face of the school mascot of Santa Cruz High School, the cardinal, sitting outside a local baseball field, in just another example of our connection to this area.

John and Abbi were kings of the world for a few moments as they embraced the open air that sat above a nearby canal.
The basketball court provided a great venue for bonding between the HSCC teens and the FBC teens. Please take note of cole touching the rim and clearly in air. 
As one of the trucks ventured inland, the silence was shattered by an array of screams into Todd's ear, due to the sight of a alligator on the side of the highway. Of course, our adventurous team members got out of the truck and caught a close look of the scaly beast, and some were even inspired to wrestle the gator before it scurried off into the swamp.

Travel Day Adventures In A Few Snapshots

Childhood dreams were realized on flight 627, as Juli and Makenzie received free wings from the oh-so-kind stewardess. They then proceeded to mold the wings into some good old fashioned dirty staches.

Makenzie and Kayla were full of smiles as they experienced the 8th wonder of the world: moving sidewalks.

After a 15 hour travel day, the crew sucked in some fresh gulf coast air at the bow of the notoriously awesometastic ferry ride from Galveston to our home for the next week, Bolivar.

work day one

We made it!

  After a long and bumpy ride from San Jose to Texas we were in desperate need of some good sleep.  After arriving to our base on Port Bolivar we were warmly greeted by an employee of the church and shown our rooms.. These rooms are similar to sardine can's. We are crammed into more or less  windowless attics inches away from each other's extremely unstable cot.

Though sleeping was rough, when we all crawled out of our sleeping bags we were ready and willing to go. Today we have three teams doing various projects around the island, one team is currently painting. The second team is stripping and power washing a home. And the third team is working at our church to clean for tomorrows service. Once they are done with that they are moving to the beach to pick up debris. 

Before we headed out for the work day we were presented with a challenge by our speaker Wolf. He challenged us to take a deeper look into our hearts, to discover if our actions reflected our beliefs.  Throughout the day we are focused on this question. 

We currently do not have service on the island and are updating you in Todds truck outside of a Hotel. We will try our best to keep in touch everyday!

SJ Airport!

Hello friends

Good news! We are here and safe in the airport waiting for our plane to arrive. No one was  stopped at security, and we are about to board the plane!

THANK FOR ALL THAT DROVE!!

Pray for us!

- Melinda