Day 1 - Saturday June 14

UPC Family,

Well, we left Saturday morning from the Church parking lot at 9:00am for our Mission trip to Charleston , SC.     We had many family and friends there to wish us well on our Journey.  Rain accompanied us for most of the day.  We stopped at Coonskin Park in Charleston , WVA for lunch (in the rain).  Nate had the most ingenious (but probably not the most nutritious) lunch [the largest Rice Krispie treat ever seen in North America ].   Even with 9 hours in the car, the kids seemed to have fun.  Clay Evans created a “Game of the States” that kept us busy (each time we drove through a new state, there were multiple questions to be answered).  We arrived at our stopping point for tonight in Charlotte , NC at the Davidson College – Presbyterian Church  www.dcpc.org   

They have a very nice Youth / Sunday School building which we have the run of. (lots of pent up energy after all the sitting today).

We will be heading out tomorrow after worship service to Charleston , SC.

We are counting on everyone’s prayers for safety, guidance and for us to have the openness to follow what God has planned for us this week.

We will hopefully keep everyone informed as much as possible all week long.  Thanks very much for all your support and prayers!

UPC Mission Team 2008

Day 3 - Monday June 16

UPC Family and Friends,

Monday…. First day on the job…. WOW!!!  It was 90 degrees and about 90% humidity and sunny all day long (thanks for the  prayers for sun, but this is ridiculous).  We split into two teams.  One team is doing a re-roof / re-shingle project (which includes some plywood repair of the roof).  Tearing off the old shingles, trimming a tree that is too much of an overhang, painting the ends of the house.  This is a big project that will take all week.  The other team is painting an entire house which is made of concrete block.  Lots of scraping, cleaning, de-molding (with bleach water).

Each site has its own porta-potty (which the kids really like….. yeah… right…..).  There wasn’t much shade at all, so we used some pop-up tents that we brought along to eat under to protect us from the intense heat.  The job sites are close enough so that we are able to each lunch together.  We are going to start earlier tomorrow (7:30am) since it’s supposed to be even hotter than it was today.

Now are prayers are for no rain, but some clouds would be really nice… even a little breeze (but now we’re getting picky).  So far, just a little sunburn, but everyone is doing fine.  Should be an ‘early to bed’ night tonight (at least for the adult advisors… boy this kids have a lot of energy).

Mission Team 2008

UPC Family, Friends and Prayer Warriors

 Tuesday…. Day 2 on the job….   And to think we thought Monday was hot.  It was slightly warmer today (that’s a nice way of saying “how do these folks live with 95 degrees and 95% humidity… and it’s only June?) and we started at 8:00am.  The water and fluids were flowing and so was the sun tan lotion and bug spray.  The kids really kicked it into high gear in the morning as they finished taking off all the old shingles in about 45 minutes.  It was so hot that you could not sit on the roof at all or risk burning a hole in your britches.  All the wood repair was done and the paper put down (luckily since we had a major storm blow by this evening…. 2 days of rain in the 3 days we’ve been here… again… what drought are they talking about down here).

 The painting team put a coat of primer on the entire house and the first coat of green.  Sometimes we had to improvise… like when we found that we didn’t have a stir-stick… we had to shake the cans of paint to mix them.  Paining an entire house sure takes a lot of time, especially when you can’t see very well as your safety goggles have clouded up with sweat and paint splatter.  But these kids are full of energy and enthusiasm.    What a great representation of UPC!  You could not ask for more.  You would all be very proud of every one of them.

Luckily, with all this heat, we happen to be about 10 minutes from the Atlantic Ocean .  At least one of the kids had never been to the ocean, so it was a special treat to be able to ‘hit the beach’ for an hour after we got home (before the storm hit).  It was a great break from the heat and a good way to clean off some of the grime and paint that had accumulated on all of us.

We hope to get another early start tomorrow as we can see the light at the end of the tunnel on both projects.  The families we are helping have been very appreciative and we have been approached by many neighbors asking about who we are and what we are doing.  The youth have been doing a nice job of talking to any of the neighborhood kids that stop by, just talking about the fact that they are a Christian-based Youth Group…. Spreading the Love of Jesus….  Nice job!!!!

Mission Team 2008

UPC Family, Friends and Prayer Warriors

Wednesday…. Day 3 on the job….  Wow, we have had another awesome day out in God’s beautiful world.  I’ll explain the attached photos.  The first is one of our daily evening devotions, that have been a great time of fellowship, with scripture reading, sharing time and of course some guitar lead songs. There is a picture of our daily morning craft time. The kids and adults are encouraged to redesign the shirts they have on. They usually cut off the sleeves and use one sleeve for a rag for the pocket and the other for a sweat band. The ladies usually go with a v-neck or a scooped neck line. The only problem is we have only one pair of scissors.(Guess who brought those.) The weather was a little cooler this morn as we had a severe storm come last evening and cooled it down, but got humid and hot as the sun came up. The next few pics are of everyone at the roofing site, getting packs of shingles up to roof to prepare for nailing them. The next ones are some break times, one is of our youths talking to two little girls in the neighborhood.

     All is well here, and I feel so blessed to be a senior high advisor, all of these kids have been doing a super job!!!! We have had some blisters here and there. Youth and adults have been carefully watching out for each other, checking to see if we have been drinking enough or need to apply more sun screen.

     We are all taking it easy this evening and just took the youth to a beach store, and then another run to Wal-mart. Most are watching a movie now, till time for devotions at 9:30. Tomorrow, our last day of work, we are hoping to have some time at after work in the late afternoon to go to the beach. Its nice, and the water temp is 85 degrees. Yippee!!!!!!!

     Continue to pray for this wonderful group of mission workers, and also for the people in the homes we are working on, and help them to see God’s light in us. See you all soon!   In Christ,  Zonna

Mission Team 2008

Day 6 - Thursday  June 19

UPC Family and Friends

Thursday…. Day 4 on the job….  We FINISHED the jobs!!!!!  Not rain, or heat or Thunderstorms or Fire Ants could stop these kids.  They were simply awesome!!!!   On the Re-roofing project, we tore off the old shingles, repaired bad wood, put down paper, laid new shingles, added a ridge vent, scraped and painted the sides of the house and put up the gutter.   At the ‘paint the house’ project, we scrapped the entire house, used a bleach-water mix to get rid of the mold (which was all over the house), primed the house, painted the house, painted three cement porches, trimmed all 9 outside windows, painted patio furniture and painted the car-port area.   See the ‘before’ and ‘after’ pictures (at the painted house, the owner was there for the picture).

All this in 4 days.  What a team effort.  What great project leadership from Bo and Dale Chapman.

Some of these kids (Nate, Bryce, Joe) even had enough energy to run 3 miles each morning at 6:00am before we left for the job site.

We will be leaving tomorrow morning for Charlotte, NC to spend the day at Carowinds Amusement park (our fun day of the trip).  We will be home Saturday early evening.  Thank you for all your prayers during our Mission Trip.  They were very much appreciated and welcomed.  Everyone is accounted for.  Everyone is coming home a slightly different person.  Thank you Jesus for watching over us, guiding and directing us.

Mission Team 2008