By Arkansas Missionaries on 7/24/2008 10:49 PM

Hello!  I wanted to write this blog tonight so I stole the job away from Rachel...

We have a celebrity amongst us!  Kate Hall (or as Helena-West Helena know her as: Katie Hall) was surprised to find out that they named the newly renovated pool pavilion after her and the pool supervisor Ernest Womack.  It is called the Ernest Womack and Katie Hall pool pavilion.  That pool pavilion was actually the old pool house which they tore most of down.  Mark wired the pool pavilion and it passed inspection the first time, so it was ready to be used tonight for the ending celebration.

Most of us had a great Thursday (except my group).  Cindy shared that a kid that wouldn't let her touch him at the beginning of the week, let her hold him and he slept in her arms for almost an hour.  She said it was the highlight of her week.  Beth had a girl named Alexis in one of her swimming groups and since she was the only girl in that group they called her "Princess Alexis."  Today she finally went off the diving board and...

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By Arkansas Missionaries on 7/24/2008 8:52 PM

I know I speak for everyone here when I say working this week in Helena with all of these kids, volunteers, and adults has been the most challenging, but rewarding experience. Building relationships with individuals makes this week more inviting for us to come back and see how the community has changed in a year. That's why most of us always come back!

Yesterday (June 22) during kids camp around lunch time, there was a thunder storm that creeped up on the park. The dark clouds were scaring most of the kids and we all had to go to the community center and finish camp. All of the kids were mad/sad that they couldn't swim twice. We played dodgeball, and Mrs. Tracy was in charge; nobody messes with her. She is so sweet though, when you're on her good side. It was pouring rain when we were there. George told us that they saw clouds, but they decided to keep working until the rain came. They only got...

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By Arkansas Missionaries on 7/21/2008 10:13 PM

Hello All Again!!

So, Kristen is telling me I'm in charge of updating the blog about the Arkansas trip, so here I go. As I'm writing, I'm listening to music that the younger generation in here is playing. Always have to pump it up! Tonight, we had one of our two meetings we have everyday. They told me I had to take notes of all the stories being told, and it made me feel like a reporter.  I know what not to be in the future. Anywho. So, here are some stories told by the group here in AR-KANSAS!!

First, Ginny and Mark did the devotion. Matthew 5:33-45 were the verses read. It says to love your neighbor as yourself and to be patient. Then they related about having a loving and patient attitude toward the kids and others here in Arkansas. We are all here to for the same reasons, to help out the community of Helena-West Helena.

Then! Kristen asked to tell stories, and EVERYONE said...

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By Arkansas Missionaries on 7/20/2008 8:29 PM

Hello Everyone!

I was sitting here on my computer looking at stuff, and Kristen comes in telling me I need to write on it, so here I am. ;-)

Things are good here in Helena-West Helena. Yesterday was a little hard waking up at 4:00am in the morning to catch our flight. Some of the others had a later flight. After the two hour plane ride, we rode over to rent our transportation, and it seemed like it took forever! We eventually ended up with two twelve passenger vans, a car, and a cargo van to pack our massive amount of luggage. We rode for an hour to Helena and came into the Inn. After we figured out what we were doing, we went to "The Best Coke in Town." Of course, it doesn't have the best coke in town, but it has the best oreo milkshakes in town. Since most of us young girlies were with Kristen, we went to Leonora's house to work on some stuff: making name tags, stuffing shirts in bags, putting tape on towels and bags for the kids. For dinner, we went to Oliver's. We usually go there every year,...

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By Asheville Missionaries on 7/3/2008 9:46 PM

Hey Y'all,

Busy, busy, busy is what we've been over the past two days. Today, your middle school group worked on three separate ministry sites in Asheville. We began the day by finishing our work from Monday at Mr. Dixon's house. We completed painting the screened-in-porch and the perimeter of the siding. Two of our young ladies finished staining the side deck and the back yard porch. We finished work at Mr. Dixon's house and then headed across town to do some landscape work and trash clean-up at an elderly woman's home. We removed three truck loads of trash from her yard! It was a ton a trash (literally). To the kids' surprise and interest, this woman had five birds, four dogs, and various other animals in her house. This was an interesting project site to the say the least. But, we were glad to do our part in removing some of the clutter from her life. Our last ministry project site of the day was with a charming and beautiful elderly woman named Mrs. Chapel. Mrs. Chapel sat outside and pointed to weeds...

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By Asheville Missionaries on 7/1/2008 9:50 PM

Today was a good, long day.  We started off the day by celebrating Matthew's birthday.  He became a teenager here in Asheville!  After breakfast, we headed off to the Manna Food Bank.  We had a fun and productive morning of sorting and packaging boxes that will feed over 2000 people in Western North Carolina.  We also worked with a girl named Chelsea.  Please pray for her.  She has struggled with running away and is being placed in a new foster home in the next week.  The group enjoyed working with her.  Our experience here also made the 6:00 news!  We were so excited to see ourselves on the WLOS news.  Check out thier website and see if you can view that segment!

After working at the Food Bank, we headed over to the ABCCM hotel for veterans.  They just recently purchased an old motel and are renovating it for veterans.  Almost 150 men currently live there.  We worked on moving brush, chopping bushes (or at least we thought they were, but they turned out to be a stump), pulling weeds, and doing general yard clean-up.  We met a man that used to live in Raleigh and has attended HBBC.  It was good to make a connection with him.  Pray for Mr. Jones.

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By Asheville Missionaries on 6/30/2008 10:23 PM

Monday was a very successful day for the middle school group! After breakfast at the hotel, we drove to our work site in the mountains. We are working at a rustic three-bedroom home on the slope of a mountain just outside of Asheville. The home is owned by an elderly gentlemen who is no longer able to do general upkeep and maintenance on the property.

Our group began work at 9:30 AM and did not finish until 4:30 PM. Your youth mowed lawns, "weed wacked," painted the siding on the entire house, sanded and painted the interior of the screened in porch, sanded the front and back porches (and stained them!) and trimmed bushes surrounding the property. These folks worked hard today! Kristen and I are very proud of our group. After a long but rewarding day of labor, we drove back to the hotel for showers and rest before dinner. Tonight, we dined together at the J&S cafeteria--mmm mmm good! Our entrees ranged from country style steak to fried flounder to baked spaghetti. And of course, we all splurged a little...

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