There is no one like our God--Saturday recap

Yesterday was such a great day! We went to Tom's for some boating, tubing, wake boarding, and awesome food.

Tom is one of the volunteers at AO and he opened his home to us so we could relax and enjoy our last day before the teams start arriving. His home, set against the lake backdrop, is so quaint and pretty. The grounds are lush and a small path leads to the dock and, of course, the boat.

God blessed us with gorgeous weather. The sun was in full view and warmed us quickly. The water, however, was nice and cool. It was perfect. Some of the guys fished, Betsy and Taira sunbathed, and the rest of us hopped into the boat!

Nathan and Gloria learned how to wake board. Pictures of that experience are soon to follow.

We came back to the dock. A bunch of us went out to do some tubing. I've never been tubing before so I was eager to try it out. When Nichole and I finally got on the tube (haha), Kate (Tom's daughter) took us around. Oh, child! I think that was beyond the most fun I've had in a very long time. I have a few cuts on my elbow to show of it! My stomach hurt from laughing so much. That was so fun. Honestly, if you've never been tubing before, please go. It's so enjoyable!

After that, we went back to the house for some food (I fed the cat my leftovers), Judah and I discussed what we're singing Sunday night, and the group talked about our skit we have to perform.

I think that's it. I'll try to upload the pictures as soon as I have a spare moment.

Ciao!

Should be asleep but I'm not--Thursday & Friday

PAY DAY TODAY!!!!

But first a recap:

Thursday
I did an application yesterday for a young couple. They were 23 and 20 years old with an 8 month old daughter. She had the bluest eyes I've ever seen. So precious! They moved from Minnesota to Jefferson City for the husband's job. Well, the job fell through and now they're stuck here with barely anything. I happily filled out their application and checked them out once they were ready. I love the transition from the time they come into the ministry center, their faces strained and the weight of the world on their shoulders to the time they leave, smiles and a little reassurance that everything is going to be okay, that they have a friend in the world who's willing to help.
There wasn't much that had to be done so after about 4pm we were able to go and make dinner. We decided on spaghetti: very simple and takes a short while to make. Betsy had dinner with her boyfriend and Adam went to Boone, North Carolina for work. It was just Nichole, Ayla, Sarah and me for dinner. We watched "Baby Mama" while we finished the pills Adam and Ayla didn't finish from Wednesday night.

Friday
Goodness were we busy! Fridays are cleaning days and it really wasn't that bad last week. However, this week, there seemed to be no end to this to-do list! We swept, mopped, cleaned the bathroom (including the shower...Angie thought people were coming to the store for supplies and thought they may want to take a shower. They slept in their car all night so they were in need of some assistance. Unfortunately, they never showed up) We also did the drop-off box, folded and inventoried 691 AO shirts. I didn't think we'd ever get the work done. There was just so much. Sunday, Betsy and I have to inventory some more AO shirts and put them in bins for selling.
As soon as I got into the apartment, I took a shower and snuggled into my bed to watch "Goodnight and Good luck". I didn't get very far into the movie before I clonked out.
I was awakened by a pounding on my door. I got up and lo and behold, it was Nathan! They came back from Nashville around 7pm. We all missed each other. I got to meet Michelle and Jason. They seem pretty cool and should fit in fine with us.
Of course we had to go to Wal-Mart for "initiation". Basically, we walk around the store, causing a little trouble. For instance, Judah sat in a cart and I wheeled him around. He took random stuff from shelves and placed it in other people's carts. It was the funniest thing ever! We got a weird look from this one woman but it was funny all the same. We made people smile with our outrageous activity so it was great.
We went back to the apartments, had sandwiches, Oreos with peanut butter, and watched "Dumb & Dumber". I should be in bed but I'm not too tired. Slowly but surely, I'm getting to the point of sleep...

We go to the Cherokee Dam tomorrow so expect pictures!

Ciao!

Pill Popping Party--Tuesday & Wednesday

Hello all. Once again I didn't get a chance to write Tuesday so now I must catch you avid readers up on what's been going on around the center.

Tuesday--First real day back and man was the store busy! Everything from new applications to making sure the store looked presentable was on our list of things to accomplish. 12pm couldn't role around fast enough. After lunch, though, we were extremely slow. One or two customers to the max came in to browse. There was, however, a woman who came in needing a new application. Up until this point I haven't written about the people we interact with. It's not that the stories we hear aren't pitiful and make you want to scream at the government for desolating their own citizens, but this one particular story set a lump in my throat I couldn't pass.

Ms. Bright is a woman about 60 years old. She recently became disabled and is living in the projects a little ways from AO. She said she always thought she was going to be able to work and make a good salary until she was ready to quit. Well, life tossed her around a bit. She did live in Kentucky but she moved back up here (where she grew up). It's like her life did a full-circle. She ends exactly where she started. It's sad because she shouldn't have to end up living in the projects. She's getting some financial help (disability compensation) but not much. She has arthritis in her hands and her right knee easily becomes sore.

With a lump in my throat and tears wanting to flow, I helped her put her groceries in her truck. Her truck is fairly new but thankfully she was able to pay it in full before she got hurt. I told her my dad's story because it was so similar.

My dad was a mounted policeman in Charleston, South Carolina when he and my mom first got married. They lived there for about two years and then moved up to Jersey for family. When my dad was 33, he was hurt on the job, breaking his back. He had to have surgery, getting screws inserted in his back. During that dark time, my parents had to scrimp and save to keep us afloat. My grandparents helped tremendously and when we moved to our current home, things turned for the best.

I encouraged her that things would get better. With a "God bless" I sent her on her way, still trying to swallow that lump in my throat and not quite succeeding.

Taira and I had an assignment from Jim Wilson. He was sending medication our way and we had to sort and pack it up. I thought it would be a quick job. Not so when I walked to the garage and saw two full crates of meds!

The meds will be sent to Zimbabwe June 2nd. They are to be used to cure cholera, treat malaria and clear acne. It's packs a pretty powerful punch in such a little tablet. For every three tablets, a person can be saved from death by cholera. Even though our thumbs began to hurt and we were getting tired, we knew these pills would be saving lives and the more we got out and packed, the better. The missionaries and I ended up packing 30,000 pills in a couple of hours. How awesome is that?!

Last night, the group and I watched "Finding Nemo" and "Mall Cop" (dumbest movie ever) while we took the meds out of their packages and put them in Ziploc bags. It was fun but very tiring and in the morning my hands hurt!

Wednesday--Tired and sore, the missionaries got up for breakfast. The majority of them would be heading off to Nashville for the orientation training. The rest of us (Jonathan, Ayla, Betsy, Adam, Nichole, and I) stayed here and continued doing what we do. There wasn't much to be done at the store today. Another very slow day but I was able to do some office work for Angie so it was all good. I made copies for folders, did some application stuff and then it was lunch time. After lunch, Betsy returned to the desk and I went to the garage to continue popping pills. I sang some songs, talked to Ronnie a bit, and packaged 2,000 pills in four hours. My hands are so sore! Tonight we all got together in Adam's room and did about 4,000. That's 6,000 pills with just six people! Not too shabby. We're all really tired and are sleeping in a bit before breakfast tomorrow morning.

I'm going to bed now. Ciao!

Sunday & Monday

Since I wasn't able to write yesterday and I have a few minutes to sit and think, I thought I would catch up on what happened yesterday and today.

Sunday....

It was our first Sunday as a group. We had to go to a Baptist church in Morristown. The preacher had us go up to the front and prayed for us. He then went on to deliver a powerful and wonderful message about not allowing the strong faith of the believers before us be in vain. Our faith should be comparable to those like Abraham and Stephen. The message really put everything in perspective and reminded all of us just why we're on this earth and who put us here. We need to remember our reason for being here and that's the only reason why we're here: to bring people to Christ and not back down when faced with adversity. To promote vacation Bible school, after the sermon, some staff brought in two wallabies! They were so adorable and felt just like a baby rabbit. Adorable.

After church, we all met the pastor and hung out a bit. The lake was our next destination, so we had lunch there, took pictures, and tried to figure out what to do during the afternoon. **Look at the pictures from the lake the next post down.** We didn't have orientation or anything to do so we had the rest of the day to ourselves. The guys decided to go golf and Nichole and I went to the Samaritan House to get breakfast things together for Monday. We had to do yet another Wal-Mart run (those are the best!). The decision was made that there would be as little cooking to be done as possible on Monday because, well, it's a Monday so who really wants to stand over a hot stove on a Monday morning? No thanks =) By the time we got everything, Nichole and I were ready to just chill out. We decided to get our computers and compare cute boys on facebook. It was pretty hysterical.

The guys came back and we decided to get pizza and a movie for the night. "Yes Man" was the choice for the evening along with "Taken". Unfortunately, we didn't get a chance to watch the latter because of time constraints. "Yes Man" was hilarious. Jim Carrey is my all-time favorite comedian (well...besides Jerry Seinfeld, David Hyde Pierce, Adam Sandler, and Andy Samburg. Okay, so I have a few).

Adam came back from his weekend away. George decided to make breakfast at 10am since it was Memorial Day (?) on Monday. Let us sleep in a bit. The rest of the night was spent playing Mario Carts on Adam's Wii and then crashing into bed about 1am.

Today...

The day started late and ended early. I got up a little early to go over Nichole's so we could start breakfast. Adam came over a little later and helped with muffins and cinnamon roles. Yumsters! Cereal (in real bowls!), fruit, muffins, and cinnamon roles was the agenda this morning and it turned out pretty well.

Off to work we went. Betsy reported to the front desk while Taira and I spent the day organizing AO shirts, getting them ready for re-sale. We took inventory of those. Other than that, we restocked the shelves for tomorrow, ate lunch, then went to the Samaritan House to take inventory for dinner tonight. Tacos were on the menu tonight and, of course, Betsy, Taira and I were the cooks. Dinner turned out exceptionally well as always =) We made a cake and cupcakes that turned out to be a huge hit....maybe too big of a hit.

After dinner, we went back to the apartments, chilled out, brought in a bunch of furniture into Nathan, Adam, and Will's room to watch "Taken". It was SUCH an awesome movie. I loved it! I may need to buy it one of these days...yes. I will.

Ok I need to be up in about..mm..7 hrs?...so I'll write more tomorrow.

Ciao!

Picnic at the lake

Nichole grillin'
Betsy & me

Knoxville and back again

Today was my first day off. I did nothing but sleep half the day away. I woke up at 12:45pm and pretty much did some writing and web surfing the entire day.
Taira called me around 3pm, asking if my check had an AO signature on it. I knew I didn't have a signature on there and was going to wait til Tuesday but she had contacted Jean-Ann and Jim Wilson was coming to the apartments to give us his signature. Nathan, Taira and I were the only ones who didn't get our checks signed...weird.
I went back into my room to do nothing and then Nichole, Ayla, George and I went to Knoxville Airport to pick up the mystery missionary. He would be the last to join us, rounding out the summer group to 18 volunteers. That's two more than AO had last year! Pretty sweet.
So we picked up William. He's from Maryland (another northerner. YES!) and he seems to be pretty cool. I know he kind of feels like an outsider but we'll bring him into the group in no time. He was laughing and seemed to have a good time with us tonight so we'll see how he pans out. My prediction is once he gets out and starts working, he'll come back with a whole slew of friends.
We went to Steak 'n' Shake after we picked him up, ate and began to get to know him. He and I are starting a friendship since we're both from way up north. He's the new guy so I kinda want to look out for him. I want to be his friend because right now he's on the outskirts. I'm going to try all I can to bring him into the center of the circle with the rest of us.
We came back from Knoxville and the guys and Betsy (she went to her boyfriend's parent's house for Friday night into today) were back. We decided to fool around in Wal-Mart so a bunch of us climbed into cars and went on our way.
Betsy and I have decided we want to be on a first-name basis with the Wal-Mart workers by the time the summer is over. Here's hoping!
Nathan, Will, Judah, and George went to the ministry center after Wal-Mart to get Will some bedsheets and the guys wanted some clothes. They're so crazy. Betsy, Nichole, Dakota and I went back to the apartments and to our rooms.
A few minutes later, I heard a knock at the door. I opened it to find Nathan in a vest, tie, and leisure pants. I cracked up! He was like "George said I looked like a male prostitute." I laughed so hard. It was ridiculous. He's wearing that ensemble (with a button down shirt instead of his cut-off t) to church tomorrow. It's our first church service as missionaries so we have to dress up a little.
After church, the plan is to go to the lake which I'm very happy about.

I think that's it for now...I have to get up early tomorrow so I'll end it here.

Ciao!

Some Fishin'

Whistle while you work!

IT’S FRIDAY!!!!!!

That means 1) no work tomorrow 2) being able to sleep in and 3) the first paycheck has come. We worked like crazy to get these checks, no doubt.

I wasn’t able to blog about yesterday because it was already late and I had to catch ya’ll up on what I’ve done before internet access. So onto yesterday!

There wasn’t really anything huge to do. Surprisingly, it was a pretty slow day in the thrift store! We went over to BYBC to organize the house and take inventory of what we had and needed. We have a pretty good list going on so I’m glad that’s done. Betsy, Taira and I started on the back closet when we got back to the center. We had to organize and clean it. We began taking stuff out and trying to organize everything as best we could. I really don’t understand how AO could have such a messy closet! I was about to go insane just being in there. After work, we all went to George’s for a cookout. That was basically it. Not such an eventful day after all.

Today however was eventful. Since the store was closed for the day, Taira and I completed the closet while Betsy manned the front desk. The phone kept ringing throughout the day so she must’ve been just as busy as we were. Taira and I had to test so many pens and markers. My feet fell asleep multiple times. It was a grueling task but we ahd to make sure the pens and markers worked before we put them back into the closet. After that, the rest of the closet was easy to organize. Within two days, that closet was done. Around 2:30pm we finished and were dag gone happy and proud of our work. Angie was impressed and loved how organized it is now, which is good. She gave us her approval and that made me happy.

We went over to BYBC, after we swept and mopped the store floors, and put up posters and such on the walls. Slowly but surely that house is going to turn into a great place to work. I can’t wait til we open the door for vacation bible school. It’s gonna be sweet!

When work was done, we went over to Jim Wilson’s house for a wonderful dinner of chicken and assorted salads, oh, and the BEST biscuits ever! Some of us went fishing in Morristown after dinner. Dakota caught a little fish! He said it wasn’t worth anything so he put it back, but not until I snapped a picture of him with it haha. Those pictures are now on here, so you can go over to the picture tab and check it out =)

Also there are pictures of my room and apartment on there so you can see where I’m living and what my living conditions are haha.

That’s all for now!

Ciao!

My Apartment!

Hey, hey, hey!

I didn’t have internet access until now. I started on Monday so I’ve been writing about what’s been going on since then. I’ll post them here right now. I have so much to catch up on!

Day 1—May 18th, 2009

I’m moved in for the most part and just had a brief meeting with AO. My parents and brothers left around 4:30pm. Before they left, we went over to Appalachian Outreach so they could scope out the area and see exactly what AO is all about. Needless to say, they were impressed. Of course my dad asked about the security and openly fussed about me walking to work. In front of my bosses! Oy vay…

I met my roommate, Betsy, and I think she’s the sweetest thing ever. She’s going to be a junior next semester. She’ll be doing administrative things for AO so we might work together. We share an apartment on campus. All the AO summer missionaries are on the same floor, guys and girls alike. It’ll be fun because we’ll be able to get together in a room and have movie and game nights…maybe, if we aren’t all dead tired by the end of the days. These are some pretty sweet digs!

You enter the door and there is a living area and a kitchen with an eating bar. We were given our own fridge and oven. Betsy provided a microwave which was definitely a blessing. Down the hall are our rooms. We’re right across from one another so that’s good. My room is definitely in need of some pictures of Josh Groban and such. Bare walls just will not do. I’ll take pictures of my room later tonight or tomorrow. Probably tonight since tomorrow seems like a full schedule.

I love having my own room but I also love having someone here with me. Betsy goes to Carson-Newman college (AO is through them) so she took me around campus and Jefferson City. We drove past the lake and around Jefferson’s strip, which isn’t that big. I’m kind of glad for this because after having to live in the Nashville atmosphere, it’s nice to come to a place in Tennessee where everything is smaller and the big ticket for them is Wal-Mart. It’s quaint and relaxing.

The other people I met are the following:

Gloria—A lively girl who is able to crack jokes on George Husk, one of the AO supervisors, in a split second. She’s bilingual in Spanish and English, which is pretty cool. Betsy says she has ADD which is pretty hilarious because she makes anything fun.

Sarah—She’s from Nashville and obviously knows where Belmont is. She said that was her dream college but because it was too expensive she had to settle for Carson-Newman. When we were at the Mexican restaurant, she sat down and began asking me questions. We had good conversation and I like her a lot.

Nicole—She’s an RA for Carson-Newman and she’s been with AO for two years now. She’s a nice girl.

Betsy—Obviously you already know she’s very nice and sweet. I think we’ll be good friends by the time the summer is through. I can see us keeping in touch probably for a couple of years if not more. She’s an open person, funny, and great to be around. I’m blessed to have her as my roommate and friend.

Tara—She’s a giddy girl, according to Betsy. She was a cheerleader her freshman year so she has a lot of energy. She seems nice and she’s involved in the children’s ministry and the ministry center so we’ll be working together a lot.

(There is another girl but I can’t remember her name)

Judah—He’s a very nice guy. He reminds me of Alan because he’s tall and thin. He gave us a great lesson tonight on the different things you can concoct in order to make things blow up. He’s pretty hilarious and laughed at some of my jokes. He’s working on getting his GED; everyone’s proud of him for being able to work hard for something he really wants. After his GED he’ll work on going to college.

Dakota—He’s a big dude who reminds me of Austin. He also gave us girls a lesson on how to blow stuff up and he shoots squirrels, birds, eggs. Basically, if it’s legal and he can get away with it, he’ll do it. He’s pretty funny. I’d figure by the time the summer is through we’ll have a great friendship.

David—He’s a shy guy and doesn’t really talk much. When you do talk to him, though, you can see how big his heart is. He graduates high school this Saturday! He’s a nice guy and pals around with Judah and Dakota. The three of them poke fun at George, too and laugh a lot.

Nathan—He’s an outsider like me. He’s from Illinois and a different college. He and I are probably the only ones who don’t or haven’t gone to Carson-Newman. He’s pretty shy but I’m thinking Dakota, Judah, and David will take him under their wings and make him part of their group.

Jonathon—He actually does go by his full name. Everyone calls him Jon Madden though because Madden is his last name. I didn’t get to talk to him really because when we were at the restaurant, he was sitting at the other end of the table. Then at the meeting, he didn’t really say a whole lot. He’s a religion major, I do know that!

Adam—He’s always smiling at something! He’s a jovial person. He’s tall, wears glasses, and looks like he’s trying to grow a beard. I’m not certain, though. He pals around with Nicole. I don’t really know a whole lot about him but we probably will get to know a lot about each other before the summer is through.

I think that’s it! There are a few other people who are supposed to come down. I think they’ve either come and are starting to move in or they’re supposed to come within the week. AO is expecting 18 of us to help out. We’re all getting paid they assured us.

This summer is going to be really great. I have high hopes for this group and am praying we all form a strong bond by the end. I’m so excited to begin working and am just waiting to see what the Lord is going to do from now until July 30. I’m expecting growth, maturity, and strong bonds between new brothers and sisters.

I think that’s it. Ciao for now!

Day 3 May 20th—2009

I didn’t touch base yesterday because I wasn’t feeling well. I had such a bad headache that I was getting nauseas. Some of the group went to Wal-Mart last night at like 9:30 but I just went to bed. I felt better today and don’t have a headache or anything so I think it was just because I was really tired.

So yesterday…

Betsy, Taira, and I had on-the-job training at the ministry center. Now I know why I need to know Spanish! AO serves a lot of Hispanic people. The majority are white and Hispanic who come through the doors. Basically, we learned about how to check people in and out, how to keep the store clean, learned where everything was, and how to fill out new applications for cliental.

I began to feel really bad after lunch. We all went into the break room for lunch, talked and ate real food. Then George busted out MRE’s someone had dropped off. There were some…interesting things in that box, including blueberry cobbler and pound cake. The food wasn’t that bad, actually. It was pretty good coming from a cardboard box no bigger than a hand-width. I didn’t have any water all day so maybe that’s why I was beginning to feel sick. (I had water today at lunch and felt ten times better than I did yesterday.)

After lunch, we went back to the ministry center and finished in the store. When we closed, Angie (the supervisor) drove us over to the Backyard Bible Club (BYBC) house and showed us the layout. Taira and I are the main ones going to be working it this summer. It’ll be a lot of fun. We figured some things out like carpeting and cool, fun things to put on the walls. We then went over to Samaritan House to have dinner and Bible study.

I was exhausted by the time we got back from Bible study but still went over George’s with the others for movie night. We watched “Accepted”. Judah hadn’t seen it so it was fun to laugh with him. An hour or so later (around 9:30) I was beat. The others wanted to go to Wal-Mart to goof off, but I needed to sleep…So ended yesterday.

Today…

Betsy, Taira, and I returned to the ministry center (my Spanish is improving!!) The store was open for two hours so the rest of our time was spent doing office work like making copies, organizing folders for the upcoming budget meeting put on for cliental and organizing receipts for the month. I almost broke the copy machine. Not really. I put a receipt on the top bar instead of lifting it and putting the receipt on the main part. It didn’t get jammed but we couldn’t find it for a good minute. The receipt got swept away when the copier tried to copy it. Thankfully, no damage was done and I was able to do that job without any tears. Though, I was sweating with a little worry. God had it all under cover. Hakuna Matata.

It was our turn to make dinner. So, the girls and I went over to Samaritan House to make an “Italian styled” dinner. We made it complete with cheese & garlic bread and brownies. The HR team really enjoyed it and thanked us a hundred times over.

After dinner, we all piled into cars and made another trip to Wal-Mart, this time for breakfast items for tomorrow. We’re having breakfast in Gloria’s apartment which is nice because it’s only a door away. I can sleep in. YAY! Taira didn’t go with us to Wal-Mart. Instead, she hung out with her fiancé’. I got to meet him. He’s a good guy, a little rough around the edges but they’re in love I suppose. Taira’s got her wedding pretty much all planned out. She has videos, her gown, house items she wants, etc. Anything you think of when planning a wedding and Taira probably has it planned. It’s good because when the time does come for their wedding (they’re getting married in the summer), they won’t be stressed out about planning because it’s already done!

We decided it would be fun to set off bottle rockets from our apartment balcony. Adam got some from George and asked when we wanted to set them off.

I was like “Tonight.”

“Yea we can set them off tonight if you want,” he said.

We got in trouble by setting them off at the apartments. Nicole freaked out when she set hers off. She lit it and held it for about two seconds, flipped out and threw it. Her face was PRICELESS! Then Dakota gets up there and takes the stick off. He’s such a nut. He lit it and threw it over the balcony as soon as possible. It was fun while it lasted.

I just got back from watching “10 Thing I Hate About You”. Adam let me borrow his vast movie collection so I’ll probably pick a couple for the weekend to watch. I have a feeling though that I won’t get around to watching them. It’s our first weekend together as a group so we’ll probably do something extreme. J

Okay, it’s 12am and it’s supposed to be a BIG and busy day tomorrow…er, today, right? Better get to bed.

Ciao!