ok so..i was really quite reluctant n unexcited to go with 55 people to miami for a lot of reasons. i didn't really know anyone in the group and they all seemed crazy and alot of them knew each other already..wasn't really looking forward to the 2days of driving to miami..not excited about doing hard labor over break when i'm supposed to rest.
BUT...God is SO good. He really is. everything really does happen for a reason. and He put me on this trip for a reason. it was awesome!!!!
so we started off last friday morning driving 5 vans for the whole day..passed by Kentucky and arrived at Georgia late at night. stayed at a shabby community centre..was soooo tired from being stuck in the van the whole day i went straight to bed. the ride wasn't so bad..got to know the 10 other people in my van pretty well since we were all squished together for hours.
Saturday morning we cleaned up around the community centre then went to work on a house for the Fuller Centre for housing. it was really cool cause they were the ones who started Habitat for Humanity so it was awesome to meet the guy who started it all. met the family whose house we were working on..they were a black family..a mum and 2 older daughters. it was pretty touching, seeing how they were all emotional/excited that we were there to help. and it really struck me that this trip wasn't just about building houses. it turned out to be a form of ministry to others. helping homeless people have a roof over their heads. and the family was SO thankful, it really made me realize that what we were doing was really God's work.
so we got to work on the roof. i was quite freaked out cause obviously i've never done this before!! so i helped pick up debris around the house with some other girls who were afraid to go on the roof too. but after a while i got bored n was itching to go up, so i did. kinda scary at first cause obviously i had visions of me falling to my death. but it was alright..hammered nails into the wooden boards. didn't really know what i was doing..but the guys were really helpful. spent the whole afternoon working. tiring! took a nap in the evening..played around at the community centre n hung out n got to know more people..
had worship and small groups in the evening..we shared about things we were thankful for..and i was just really surprised by how everyone came together so well and worked hard n never even complained. some people even did stuff like sweeping up the leaves that they didn't have to do. it was just nice to see how everyone was so willing to do whatever they could to help out.
we were talking about how Easter Sunday was the next day..but it didn't really feel like easter. everyone was saying how they normally celebrate easter with painting easter eggs n stuff..and i kinda realized how i always put emphasis on Jesus' death on the cross and how He sacrificed so much for us..but i never really thank Him for His resurrection and His victory over death. know what i mean? like i remember His act of washing away my sins but i tend to forget the other part where He rose from the dead. which is equally as important. that just struck me and i don't know how come i never realized it before.
Sunday was EASTER!!! OMG. we had such an interesting experience we'll never forget. so we went to this little church in Plains, Georgia..where JIMMY CARTER, the 39th PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES was teaching sunday school. ?!?!?!?!?!?!!!
it was a complete shock to us when we realized that. isn't that so cool???? i got to see jimmy carter! and we took group pics with him too!! although i feel sorry for him cause most of the pple in the church were visitors and they obviously only came to see him n take pics with him. i would hate to do that every sunday! plus there were Secret Service agents SWARMING the place. it felt more like a museum than a church service. this awful woman talked to us for a whole hour on what not to do when jimmy carter arrived. she became the butt of our jokes for the rest of the trip. it was like her whole life revolved around him. haha.
he was actually kinda boring in person. not as charismatic as i would have thought. and the whole service took like 3++ hours. the most boring thing EVER. but pretty hilarious. the choir was SO tone deaf. the pastor wore a creepy tie with baby heads and he was obviously trying to act like the kids love him but he was just weird. the sermon was only like 15 mins. it was really weird. everyone fell asleep at least 5 times throughout this whole ordeal. omg. such an experience.
we talked about it nonstop afterward. haha. had an Easter lunch before continuing our driving to Miami, Florida!!!! was so excited on the way there. finally reached at night and crashed at the church. all i can say is, thank God the church had air mattresses. it made our sleep sooo much better. and the guys were so nice. they gave the limited air mattresses to the girls. its times like these that i love being a girl :)
Monday was our free day!!!! went to the beach to play. sadly, it was cloudy n cold. but it was still fun. played soccer, frisbee, took walks, played in the water..got a little more tanned :) still getting to know more people. it's hard to get to know everyone cause there's like 55 of us..but i got to have some good conversations with pple. :)
got briefed by Habitat for Humanity..went to another church for dinner. they were sooo nice to make dinner for all of us! it was us Taylor pple plus 3 other groups from other universities. was cool. although the pple from the other group we worked with were....pretty darned lazy. hahaha. we were always like super excited to work, and they mostly stood around n watched us. oh well. i love our group!! we're so hyper n crazy n entertaining :)
Tuesday...first day of work!!!! worked from 7am till 3pm tues till fri. whoaa. really tiring. since miami traffic is awful, we had to get up at like 5am everyday to get ready n leave cause it takes an hour to get to anywhere in miami. hardly got any sleep this break, but it was ok.
so..mum was kinda paranoid about me going on this trip cuz construction work isn't the safest in the world, and some pple got nails stuck in their shoe, blood blisters, all kinds of injuries. and the last thing my mum wanted me to do was work on the roof. she was like, anything but that. but guess what? ironically, God had something else in mind for me. we randomly split into 5 groups to work on different houses..some pple did painting, some lay concrete/grass, some worked on the roof. and yes, my group was the one on the roof. i would've laughed if i wasn't so freaked out.
as i climbed the shaky ladder up to the roof, i was seriously terrified. the roof was like 20 times steeper than the one in Georgia!!! omg. we had 5 girls and 5 guys in our group, and the girls were all huddling together, too scared to venture anywhere. there were 2 guys working for Americorp who were helping supervise us, since we had no supervisor at our site. and they gave us the option of doing other stuff if we were uncomfortable on the roof, but i knew that wasn't an option for me. after all, i was here to challenge myself n it just wouldn't feel right if i left my group to do other stuff. so i stuck with it. and kept telling myself i'll get used to it. and I DID!!!
it was amazing. at first i totally sucked hammering nails into the tar paper cuz obviously i never touched a hammer before. but the guys were soooo encouraging n supportive. i was really touched. and i really worked hard! only took like a short break for lunch then continued working.
by the end of the day i was sore EVERYWHERE. arms sore cause hammering nails all day. fingers sore cause occasionally would hammer my fingers when i missed the nail. (but compared to others, my fingers were in great shape. a lot of people had blood blisters. thank God i was fine) back sore from bending over n hammering. knees sore from having to constantly balance and keep myself from falling to my death. it was freaky cause there were sharp pieces of wood and nails poking out from the ground surrounding the house. so if any of us fell, we would definitely be falling to our deaths. so THANK GOD we're all fine :)
well except for this guy in our group - paul - who got his leg run over by our van in a freak accident cause they were playing a game n things just got outta control. so he had 2 broken bones n had to be rushed to the hospital. we were all scared for him. but he had SUCH a great attitude about it..he was like, thank God i've only 2 broken bones in my ankle n none in my foot..he's such a trooper. he flew home early n had surgery n now he's fine thank God. and we could really see how great the group was as we all came together to support him.
anw by the end of the trip i was so used to being on the roof..it was like our second home!! my work group was so bonded together. love it!!! everyone was so encouraging n awesome :) we were all so psyched to get on the roof every morning. it was funny to see how much we progressed. i even went all the way to the edge of the roof by the second day to hammer stuff n smear tar. i surprised even myself. was pretty cool to get outta my comfort zone n conquer my fears!! :)
so by the end of the trip we got the roof almost done with shingles n stuff, and we painted the house..and it was pretty! yay! and my group was so awesome..we got done early on wed n sneaked off to miami beach to reward ourselves. haha. it was our little secret. i got sooo tanned! think i've never been this tan before. have like 5 different shades of color on my body from wearing different kinds of shirts everyday. got burnt on my shoulders too. miami sun is no joke!
got to try cuban food at the restaurant near where we stayed!! it was AWESOME. yummy. hung out alot with different people every night..so fun!!! went to downtown miami to this restaurant - Bubba Gump - modeled after the movie Forrest Gump. was wayy cool. everything in it was originally from the movie..and the dishes were named after stuff in the movie. wish spring break didn't have to end :(
the last day was intense! we were all called halfway through the day for a sod emergency. meaning we had to go help lay chunks of grass on the concrete. was super gross. i never knew grass came in chunks n u just lay them together like puzzle pieces! i always thought u grow them outside the house. anw..i helped move grass for a while. was super disgusting. but no one complained cause we're awesome like that :) the grass was full of fire ants, worms n other bugs that bit me. was soo glad when we got it all done. ugh. but it was just awesome to see our group come together like that n do our best even though the work was gross.
had small groups almost every night..my small group did this thing where we drew other people's names randomly n had to 'observe' them for the day to see positive stuff about them we could encourage them for. it was fun to encourage people and be encouraged. love my small group! it was pretty amazing to see how 55 of us totally bonded throughout the trip. we even had a family dinner the last day..felt like a huge, crazy family. we were fed sooo well this whole trip i totally probably gained weight. haha. although i did do hard labor everyday too. so it was a balance :)
the Habitat for Humanity staff brought us bowling to thank us for all the work we did. it felt pretty awesome to be able to be part of this whole ministry. the house i was working on was for this 20 year old girl who had two kids. so sad! and the neighborhood was kind of ghetto. there was a young girl walking around everyday in skanky clothes whom we suspected was a prostitute. and we suspected the house across from us was a drug dealer cause fancy cars kept stopping there all day for a few mins n then driving off suspiciously. it was pretty interesting.
then we drove back on sat afternoon after cleaning up..drove throughout the night nonstop and finally reached Indiana on sunday morning. super tiring man. i'm not a fan of road trips anymore. got to catch up on sleep. but felt bad for the drivers cause they had to drive so much. they were constantly stuffing themselves with candy n caffeine to keep awake. heh. went to waffle house for breakfast today.
my first experience at an all american greasy diner! had choc chip waffles n hashbrowns. was really quite greasy but good. but felt nauseated after that. first and last time there. we all came back to Taylor with mixed feelings. sad to be back for classes n cold weather. no more sun n palm trees! but glad to be back at our 'second home' and see friends again :)
so yeah! i learned so much about myself, about others, about God from this trip. glad i had the opportunity to be a part of this ministry cause it's so different from anything i've ever done. got to challenge myself physically, relationally, emotionally, spiritually..got to get out of my comfort zone..learned that i am stronger than i think i am. didn't know i was capable of sleeping on the floor, having less than 5 hours every night n still functioning, doing labor i've never done before, building relationships with people i've never met before.. i can indeed do all things through Christ who strengthens me! :)
whoa that was a long post.
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