Tennessee 2016: Making progress everywhere

It was a good day today. All of the teams reported good progress on their projects.  I will let the pictures do the talking...

At the "Devo" (morning devotional)

Taking a break

Lunch coolers and water ready to go

Drywall practice

Eric and Tricia measure up

Group shot on the new ramp

Installing the sink

Putting in the subfloor

Playing four square

Ready to serve dinner

Taping and mudding

The last few deck boards going on

Tennessee 2016 - Really rolling with the work

Yesterday (Monday) was a work day, but we spent a lot of time getting prepared and then getting acquainted with our families.  After dinner and the EG ("evening gathering"), we all piled back into our vans and headed into town for some ice cream at the local dairy stand. The staff at ASP were singing the praises of Debbie's Drive Inn all day and we weren't disappointed. Yummy.

By the time we got back, it was Lights Out time, so we missed the blog post. Not to worry, lots of pictures are coming your way when we get back.

Today - Tuesday - we really got rolling with the construction projects. Our teams were up early for a devotional (a "devo"), then breakfast, then it was time to gather tools/supplies and head to the worksites. Teams came home to tell lots of stories about how great the families that we're working for are, how cute the kids are, and how appreciated this work is.  Oh, yes - they also did some construction work.  The ASP staffers are fond of pointing out that this is a relationship building mission with some construction work that happens on the side.

Here are a few more pictures to give you a flavor of what we're up to.  Remember that we have 10 work teams at 10 different sites, so this is only a small representation.

P.S. The place where we're staying is in a serious black hole for cell coverage. Unless you have AT&T, there's pretty much nothing.  So... you're loved ones are not ignoring your text messages, they're just not getting them. Be patient.

Tearing down old drywall

This is "Ladybug", one of our host puppies.

Sometimes the kids really get into the projects...

Zeba pictures added to Monday's post!

Working out some electronic kinks. Don't miss yesterday's photos!

Zeba 2016: Monday, June 26

Today our youth from the First United Methodist Church of Ann Arbor kicked off the 21st year of Vacation Bible School (VBS) in Zeba, Michigan! The youth prepared games, samples of crafts, drama skits, and songs to sing at camp. 26 children showed up this morning to VBS and were paired with Ann Arbor youth. We sang camp songs with crazy motions, watched skits dramatizing the story of Adam, Eve, and the animals, made crafts and played lots of active games. Seeing what a wonderful time the children from Zeba and the surrounding area enjoyed truly showed how God's message can be spread through the hands of our own youth. 

This afternoon, we ventured to the Silver River Falls. Our youth enjoyed a short hike through the falls and some even ventured across the creek! With a high temperature of barely 60 degrees, our youth truly "braved" their way across the falls and some even ended up soaked.

We topped off the day with a delicious hot dinner at the Ford Center in Alberta and a beautiful birthday cake for Mallory made by the staff here after they saw our decorations on her dorm room door!

Tennessee 2016: Sunday - River fun, meeting staff and families

We started the day today with a short hop down to Sheltowee Trace outfitters for a river outing.  Everyone piled into canoes and kayaks and we went for a fun float on the Cumberland River.  We got out of the boats just before the river goes over the Cumberland Falls - a 60 foot cascade that's known as the "Niagara of the South". Very cool.

We had lunch at the park overlooking the falls and then we all got back in the vans to head to Newport, TN where our base camp is for the week.  ASP has quite an operation set up in the elementary school here. They are uber-organized. It's very comforting for us as leaders.

After an orientation with the ASP staff, representatives from each work team went to visit the sites where we're going to be working tomorrow. It was a real pleasure to meet the families where we will be working and it was good to get some idea of what we will be doing.

Tomorrow, it's off to work.

Zeba 2016: Saturday nite June 25

We arrived safe and sound at the Ford Center in Alberta about 7:45 and everyone is settled into their rooms for a good night's sleep. Looking forward to seeing old friends at church in the morning. Sending love to all our families back home!

Tennessee 2016: Saturday, travel day, Fun on the playground

We drove most of the day today, Ann Arbor to London, KY.  We're staying tonight at the First United Methodist Church in London. They have been very gracious in allowing us to sleep on the floor here - we just have to be sure to be out before people start arriving for the 8:30am service.

When we got to town, the first order of business was to move everyone into the church.  It's cozy, but we're having good fellowship.  Then all 65 of us descended on the local Italian restaurant for a very yummy dinner - pizza, spaghetti, lasagna, the works.

After dinner, we went to the local elementary school to let the kids run around. They had a great time, as you can see in the pictures.  Up super early tomorrow and out, then off to a nearby river for some kayaking fun before driving the rest of the way.