Check it out! We were on the Fuller Center blog

You can read the story on the Fuller Center blog at: http://www.fullercenter.org/blogs/fuller-center-general/it%27s-all-in-the-family

Day 4: Painting & Insolation/Sheetrock & Global Village & Youth Group Day

Today there was a race to finish the primer on the outside of the house with only one can left. When the last of the primer got all used up, we were finally ready to layer on the awesome maroon color. Aly was lucky enough not to get near as much paint on herself as yesterday. By the end of our work day, 2 ½ walls were completed. YAY!!!!!

While all of that was going on, on the exterior of the house, hard at work inside was the finishing of insolation. Insolation was tough in the heat but it didn’t come without the satisfaction of having accomplished it (and more hard work of beginning to install sheetrock). It also came with the perk of getting first showers in the inside bathroom. All in all it was a day of hard work for all of us, but after the work came the interesting part.

After rushing back to the church to have just 15 minutes to clean ourselves up, we went to explore the “Habitat for Humanity: Global Village”. Though it was hot, we all pushed through to explore different “Habitat” houses in several poverty stricken countries. After this we were able to return to air conditioning to shower and get ready for dinner and worship with the church’s youth group.

Story by: Caroline & Aly

A grey day

Day 2 A grey day, what that means will become more obvious in a few lines. We arose, had breakfast of pancakes and departed for Koinionia Farm and our work project. Yesterday, we successfully replaced a porch enclosure wall that was badly out of alignment and scraped the loose paint off the house’s cement block walls. We had put in studs and exterior plywood called T11 but it was bare wood. Today, David Snell from the Fuller Center led off the day’s activities with a short devotion. Then, we began the challenging task of priming both the wood and the concrete block walls of the house. You guessed it, battleship grey primer and soon some of it actually made it to the walls, but dabs also showed up on shirts, arms, and faces of our pastor and several of the young ladies painting with Sharon and Pastor Jeff. Aly and I installed a few more studs to reinforce a portion of the wall not replaced. This involved toe nailing the studs, not an easy task. Danny, Steve and Ryan worked with Art learning how to measure and trim out the windows. Danny soon transitioned to working with Dave, our site leader, as he taught both Danny and me what to do to remove old aluminum window frames and glass from the window openings in the concrete walls. We put in five windows in addition to the three installed yesterday. It was HOT again and all were tuckered but finished installing some insulation and began the clean up and tool put away task moving a bit slower at the work day’s end. The kids also really enjoyed Queen E.'s dogs, Max and Winny. Kyra was especially taken with Max and the feeling was mutual. Arriving back at First Baptist, the crew proceeded to shower and several of these energetic young crew promptly took a quick cat nap waiting to diner and/or the shower. Working hard in hot weather takes a lot out of you under these conditions. Tomorrow, we will finish a half day and then visit the Habitat Global Village in Americus. (Jim Anderson)

Bugs, bugs everywhere

Today there were gnats everywhere! We used lots of bug spray and they were still bugging us.

We chipped paint. It was really satisfying when a big chunk of the paint came off all at once. We put new windows in. We rebuilt one wall of what had been a screened in porch that was closed in.

It was super humid today and everyone felt like they’d been swimming with their clothes on. Boy did those showers feel good. It was fun but exhausting.

We had really good Sloppy Joe’s for dinner followed by some awesome brownies. We so appreciate all the food everyone sent for us. (Caroline and Sharon)

On the road again - Americus

Bloggin’ it!

Sunday, July 31^st, 2011

Road trip!! 2 dreaded words, 15 ½ hours stuck in a van with Pastor playing an airplane game and taking multiple pictures of Kyra and I, Emmaleigh. Somehow, we managed making it through the day without a single complain from anyone. (Accept Steven who wouldn’t stop complaining. J) After a short stop for gas, Emmaleigh and I noticed something missing. That’s right, the SNUGGIE! We knew that one of the guys hid it somewhere on the van but they wouldn’t fess up. So how did we find it? By winning the Alphabet Game! It was a close match, both Team Steven/Danny against team Kyra/Emmaleigh, we were tied neck and neck, panicking to find the dreaded letter ‘Z’ (The girls one, of course) With the prize, the soft-pink SNUGGIE, safely back with it’s correct owner, we all fell soundly asleep for an hour or so. By the time we woke up we were starving for food! We all went to Wendy’s for lunch, and Subway (EAT FRESH) for dinner, I can honestly said we had a delightfully scrumptious day. Anyways, there wasn’t much to do during the ride besides play on our iPods, listen to music, and talk. And we did a lot of all of that. As the sky slowly became darker as night time fell, we had nothing but the blinding lightning to help us see in the mere darkness. By the time we finally got to the church, it was close to 10 p.m. Although the thunder and lightning is loud enough to keep us up, I’m sure we will fall asleep, ready for the hard week to come. (Emmaleigh and Kyra)

Art's Thoughts

It has been a day back at normal life, already I miss last week. We were all tired, and all sore. We also did great things. Looking back it was an amazing week. To give it some numbers. We removed and recycled well over 3200 lbs of metal, most of it copper and iron (we got about 750$ towards the new plumbing from this). We filled two 30 cu. yard dumpsters, these are 8ft wide, 22ft long, and 6ft deep. We tore down two porches. We parged (rough stuccoing) walls using between 8-10 mixer loads of mortar. Each load was 94lbs of cement, 25lbs of lime, 15-20 gallons of water, and 27 shovels of sand. We replaced gutters and framed walls on a families house. All in all pretty amazing for 12 people. The shelter/training center when complete will support 5-6 families for about 60 days for each family making a real difference in peoples lives.

We also learned a lot about each other, morning people, night owls, shower hogs, musicians, gamers, geeks, book nuts, among other qualities. But by the end of the week we became a pretty tight community. We look at each other differently when we meet at church on sunday knowing that together with God's help we made a difference.

We also owe so many people our thanks for this trip it is hard to list them all, if I miss anyone I truly apologize, it is not intended.

At Fuller Center New Jersey Pines:

Neil - Our construction lead, teacher, and guardian angel. We owe you big time!

Merle - Our spiritual leader.

Pastor Gary - For vision, hope, and help.

Lord of Life Church - For a great place to stay, eat, and get cleaned up

Redeemer Lutheran - For a place with AC to eat, got us through a couple of really hot days.

Theresa - Thanks for the drive when we were in a tight spot.

At Bethel Lutheran

Everyone - For your prayers for our efforts, keeping us safe.

Cooks - All the food folks made was incredible

Food Donations - It is a huge help to not have to shop when you are hot and tired, your donations are very appreciated.

Peggy - For helping us keep track of things.

Book Donations - Your books and donations helped us do this trip and the books we didn't sell went to McKays and the credits will be used to get kids books for the preschool

Parents - Thank you for your faith and trust in us.

Pastor Jeff - For you spiritual leadership, hard work, and massive help in resolving the CDL issue.

Sharon (my wife) - For all the work you did in arranging all of this. Great job.

Jim Anderson - For all your skill, and your deep perspective on builds of this type.

The Youth

Aly, Danny, Peter, Jack, Olivia, EmmaLeigh, Nick, Ian (our EMT). You all worked so hard during the build, pushing through being tired and sore most of the time. You watched out for each other, kept each other safe. You worked as hard as any adult but you kept us going with your sense of fun (maybe some day radiator throwing will be an olympic sport). The spirit of Christian caring that you show is something I will keep with me always, you are all welcome on any build I am on, I would be honored.

Saturday

As the week finally draws itself to a close, we had to say goodbye to the house that had brought us a week of hard work and reward. Though we were not awaken in the usual manner (instead we were shouted at, politely, by Ian) we soon got out the door and moving. We ended up having the longest 15 minute car ride I think I have ever been on. We arrived at a very normal home and the only thing that gave it away as our 'new' job sight was the trailer parked out front. We were greeted by a very polite woman, thanking us as we began our work to help her build a handicapped bathroom for her son. We tore down (and putting back up) gutters, putting in floor boards, and building a wall. Seeing as we destroyed most of the week, it was odd to build...

As we sit here in the church I am reminded of the hospitality of the people we have just barely met (and probably never meet again) and there joy in helping as we gave. I have all ways known that the holy spirit can work wonders all around us, but I never thought I would be a part of it.

God bless,

Jack Hill