APPALACHIA SERVICE PROJECT
ST. ANDREW'S
(see more photos on "photo page")
Update: July 30, 2011
This afternoon our group arrived at St. Andrew’s approximately 4:15 p.m. after driving nine hours and several stops along the way. Even though they were tired from the trip, everyone was happy to be home and excited to see their families.
We had a small reception to welcome our group home and celebrate Ryan Swearingen and Katie Neu’s birthdays. Thank you to Jill and Al Swearingen and Yolanda Williams for making delicious treats for our reception.
I know after all the sawdust settles, our group will have time to reflect on the mission trip. At our reception, funny stories were being shared, hugs given, and plans to see each soon were being finalized. Plans are being made now to share the highlights of the mission trip with our family at St. Andrew’s Lutheran Church.
Thank you for your prayers of strength and keeping everyone safe in their travels.
Liz Wilden
Update: July 29, 2011
Today is the final day for our St. Andrew’s High School Mission Trip in Salyersville, Kentucky. The day was filled with finishing final projects: putting on the last coat of paint on steps, working with the Love Story family to paint curtains for their closet, and cleaning up the work sites. There were many pictures taken to mark the time with each family on the work site and good-byes were said. Many of the families were teary eyed and so were our group. A sense of accomplishment is felt by our entire group and has built lasting memories for our high school youth and their leaders.
During the evening activities, our high school youth were able to share their special moments with the large group sharing the space at the high school. In sharing these moments, some of our youth had people smiling, laughing and at times crying. As these memories were shared, our group felt they knew the other families based on the descriptions.
This evening was spent packing and getting ready to depart early on Saturday morning to return to Columbia. The high school youth were assigned cleaning duties tonight, so some our groups were in the kitchen cleaning; others were responsible for the other areas in the high school.
Each time, I speak to members of our group, the emphasis is on the work they have done, and working side by side with their families. I’m sure our group will come back with many e-mails and phone numbers for the other groups, as our youth played cards, sports and chatted with the other youth groups staying at the high school.
As our mission trip is about to come to a close, Laurie and I would like to thank the congregation, high school parents, and the high school youth. Without your support over the last several months, our mission trip would not be possible, so THANK YOU! Our plans are to share the mission trip memories with the congregation in September.
Thank you. ~Liz Wilden
Update: July 28, 2011
After a full day of work on day four, our group was able to have some fun tonight. ASP sponsored a barbeque at Paintsville State Park. The park has a lake where the high school youth were able to swim and enjoy time with other ASP groups from another county plus their families. There were approximately 200 people at the picnic to enjoy their free time. After the picnic, our group made one more trip to the Dairy Queen, where Laurie had a feast of one small strawberry Heath quake then topped it off with one small cup of vanilla ice cream.
Each St. Andrew’s group will finish all of their projects by the end of the day tomorrow. There are still several small items to get finished tomorrow, but there is going to be time to visit each team’s work site, so they can show off their completed projects and meet each family. Based on the report from Laurie tonight, this is going to be a highlight for the groups. The work sites are anywhere between 15 minutes to 45 minutes away from the home base, Magoffin County High School. Our group has had discussions over the week to talk about their work and the impact to the families they have served in the area. Many of the high school youth and leaders have mentioned they feel our group is able to help their families to boost their self-esteem and have had a positive impact in their lives. Many of the families do live in the moment and this may be hard to understand, but the impact will be far reaching in the young children they have painted rooms for, played with, and swam with tonight.
Some of the touching and encouraging stories are, Heather, who is 10 years old, want to be a doctor to take care of her grandmother, who is in a nursing home now. Heather was able to read over 200 books this summer and she is a serious student. Another family member, Brittney, a six year old, can count to 100 and knows her alphabet forward and backwards. Today Brittney did cartwheels in her new purple, burgundy, and pink bedroom, before she moved in. Our high school youth were also trying to teach her to do a round-off too. Brittney and Heather put their sleeping bags in the new closet and thought it would like a hideout. Heather is also planning a sleepover with her friends once all of the work is completed.
Tomorrow will be the last day at the worksites, and our group has mixed emotions. The groups are also eager to get home to their families and share their stories with the members of St. Andrew’s. One last activity is 80’s night, where everyone will dress up and the highlight will be cleaning the high school with the other groups. This week is the last week of ASP Youth Program, so everything needs to be put back in place and cleaned before the groups can check-out on Saturday morning.
Our group is planning to be back to St. Andrew’s around 4:00 p.m. on Saturday after driving nine hours back to Columbia. If you would like to welcome our group back, please feel free to join our group for a short reception in the Fellowship Hall. It would be wonderful if we could have several volunteers to help unload the vans, truck and trailer upon their return, since our group will be exhausted after traveling. Please consider coming over to the church on Saturday to celebrate their return and the work that has been done this week. If you are interested in helping unload the vehicles, please e-mail and let me know, so I can contact you with any time changes as our group travels home.
I will be sending another update on Friday night and our last update on Saturday as our group gets close to home.
Every time I speak to our group, the high school youth want everyone to know they have worked hard, played hard, and made many new friends. This experience has been a worthwhile experience that has changed their lives in a very positive way.
Thank you.
Liz Wilden
Update July 27, 2011
Today was an eventful day – the St. Andrew’s septic tank was installed for our Love Story family. According to Haley Neff, who was able to document the event with pictures posted on the St. Andrew’s Lutheran Church website it only took two- and-a-half hours to install. Our family’s children were playing around the new septic tank and using it as a jungle gym.
Our first family: Teardrops on my Guitar\Tim McGraw. This identifies the family, where our team of Melanie Pancoast, Savannah Pounds, Ana Wilden, Jacob Freyermuth, Ryan Swearingen, Beth Shapiro and Greg Holliday are working this week. This group was able to work with Paul Speckman in the bathroom to rebuild a wall, so the group could paint it. There are several other projects being done, to finish up by Friday. Currently, many of the family members are in the home as our group works, so this group has had a lot of interaction with their family.
The second family code name is: Stay Beautiful. This identifies the family where our team of Sarah Freyermuth, Josie Miller, Katie Neu, Greyson Holliday, Daniel Shapiro, Laurie Pancoast and Nathan Williams.
New floors were being installed in two bedrooms, which will be completed tomorrow. There are about 10 more blocks to be installed, so that will be a huge project done. Jimmy is working with the group on hanging new doors and building window frames. On Thursday, our group is hoping to finish the doors, add the trim to each bedroom, and add a clothing rack in each room in the closet.
The last family code name is: Love Story. Our team of Haley Neff, Hannah Pancoast, Katrice Williams, Bryce Bock, Max Neenan, Janet Neu and Sam Miller are working at this home. In addition the septic tank being installed, the group is still working on installing windows in the home. This home has no windows installed right now, so window frames need to be built and offers a new challenge for our group. Today Haley and Hannah were on the roof of the porch installing new tar paper.
Other activities at the center are morning devotionals, cleaning of the center, and an evening of songs and music. This morning Paul Speckman along with Katie Neu, Jacob Freyermuth, and Max Neenan lead the morning devotional. The high school youth read Bible readings and prayers, which was Romans 12:2, Follow the Word Transform the World. The morning devotionals are held outside of the high school at sunrise, which has been a wonderful start to the work day.
Each day our group has responsibilities at the center that range from cleaning the breakfast dishes, shower duty and of course, cleaning the bathrooms. According to Laurie, the high school youth have been doing well completing their daily duties.
Each evening after dinner, there are usually group activities, which include singing songs with an ASP leader, who was playing the guitar. One of the songs that our group wanted to sing, was Here I am Lord, which was used in the Youth Service on May 15. Our group led much of the signing and everyone knew the words too! I was told this impressed the ASP volunteers and other church groups. In addition to the songs being sung, our group had a prayer walk. This was done in the parking lots and included many Bible verses from our youth. Tonight’s theme was birthday, so the ASP volunteers were wearing birthday hats for everyone to enjoy. Our own Jimmy Pounds has been a huge hit at the high school and on the work site. Everyone knows Jimmy! We want to thank Jimmy for attending the mission trip to lend his expertise to our high school youth.
As the projects are half-way, our group continues to send their appreciation to our St. Andrew’s family for their prayers and financial support as they continue their mission work in Magoffin County, Kentucky.
Thank you.
Liz Wilden
Update July 26, 2011Today was day two on the work sites and there are several stories from each location the groups would like to share with the congregation. I think the most important and highlight overnight, the AIR CONDITIONING is WORKING at the high school. It finally came on about 4:00 a.m. today, which was a great relief to everyone.
Each day there are activities with all the groups coming together, which start with a morning devotional, which included a Kyrie that we sing at St. Andrew’s. As Beth and Hannah led our group and the presence of St. Andrew’s Lutheran Church was with our group this morning. In the evening after dinner, the groups get together again and play some games. Every night, there is a theme night, so Monday was Christmas and tonight was Halloween. The kids are able to dress up and the games go along with the theme. On Monday at Christmas night, each person was handed a piece of paper that listed a name of a Christmas carol, then everyone had to start singing their song and at the same time, find others signing the same song in the large group. This ended up as a great mixer.
Tonight the group activity included Tom Whitaker, who is an artist, storyteller, and musician. He entertained the group and had his Aunt, son and another person from the area speak to the group. Tom used the gift of music and humor to talk about the area, which was another perspective of the area. The stories Tom told were inspiring and his message was that most people in the area “live in the moment of what you are doing”, so it is hard to think into the future. Family and church are very important to the residents of this area and emphasized to our group. Tom was gracious to give our St. Andrew’s group a print to bring back to Columbia. The print our group picked has a bible on a chair that is partially painted and a quilt on the floor. This picture reminded our group of the area and what they had seen so far.
One other neat addition at the high school for the youth is a “warm fuzzy wall”, which has brown paper bags that are decorated by each person on the wall. All the high school youth can add notes to each other, to compliment their work, or encourage that person. Our kids have been having fun leaving notes for each other.
The food has been good for our group each day, with some added treats from our group. This morning, Nathan and Katrice Williams shared the poppy seed bread that Yolanda made with the other groups at breakfast. Tonight, our group had chili, baked potatoes, and great brownies for dessert. Our group does pack their lunches daily and are either a bologna or peanut and jelly sandwich. The snacks our high school group brought with them from Columbia are used in their lunches and for daily snacks, when they aren’t at the Dairy Queen!
Now, for the news you have been waiting for – updates from our groups today.
The first family’s code name is: Teardrops on my Guitar\Tim McGraw. This identifies the family, where our team of Melanie Pancoast, Savannah Pounds, Ana Wilden, Jacob Freyermuth, Ryan Swearingen, Beth Shapiro and Greg Holliday are working this week.
This group continues to work on painting several projects in the home. There is one issue with the bathroom, it is falling apart and they are trying to fix it, so it can be painted. Paul Speckman has joined to help Greg and Beth with this project. One funny story from this group today is that they left their paint there overnight, so the group didn’t have to continue to pack it up every night and unpack. Ana and Melanie had been working on painting a bedroom, which was a pretty cream color. Well today, when they came back, their paint was now a nice brown color. The homeowner decided to mix a couple of paint colors she had there and make a brown color, so they painted the room again. That was a surprise for the youth this morning, but they went with it and started working.
Yesterday, the Teardrops on my Guitar group was lucky to have Charlie, a neighbor of their family join them with his guitar and sing to them as they worked. According to the group, it was a great concert!
The second family code name is: Stay Beautiful. This identifies the family where our team of Sarah Freyermuth, Josie Miller, Katie Neu, Greyson Holliday, Daniel Shapiro, Laurie Pancoast and Nathan Williams.
This group has been working hard on window frames and painting. The room for the six year old girl is going well and I think the colors growing on the group. When the group was leaving today, the six year old girl ran out to the vehicles to give everyone a Popsicle and made sure that each person got their favorite color. The Stay Beautiful family has very little, but this little girl made sure our group had popsicles before they left.
On this site today, a cross moth was spotted and we will post a picture of it on the website. Jimmy Pounds thinks it was there to visit him!
The last family code name is: Love Story. Our team of Haley Neff, Hannah Pancoast, Katrice Williams, Bryce Bock, Max Neenan, Janet Neu and Sam Miller are working at this home.
Today this group has been working on installing windows and you can see that Bryce Bock and Max Neenen were busy under the direction of Sam Miller. There are several windows to install and the frames need to be made for each window. Haley Neff, Hannah Pancoast, Katrice Williams worked with Janet Neu on a porch addition. They were working on the roof of the porch today. There has been great progress at this location and still so much to do.
Another special story I would like to share, is our mission trip group received a donation at St. Andrew’s today from a person in our community that wanted to support our trip and the septic tank project. After reading about our kids, this kind person made a donation to our group. THANK YOU!
It was another productive day for our groups and they are ready to head back to their respective work sites for another day. The energy remains high and lights out are at 11:00 p.m. and there is no one awake after this time!
Please continue to prayer for our groups as they enter the third day of the work week.
Update: July 25, 2011
Today was the first day on the work sites for our three teams and you can tell by the pictures posted on the St. Andrew’s website, our groups were busy. I just got off the phone earlier this evening with Laurie Pancoast, our fearless leader, who said, “I will be happy to get to bed”. Last night, there were storms in the area, so that has knocked out the air conditioning in the high school, so all of the adult leaders with construction experience were down in the boiler room looking to see what needed to be done to get the air fixed. St. Andrew’s sent their best team down to resolve the situation!
From the conversations that Laurie has had with the high school youth, the general consensus “WE LOVE OUR FAMILIES”. All of the high school youth are enjoying their work and families today, so we are off to a fantastic start. There was a lot accomplished, so tomorrow will be another great day and weather was fine today – only sunshine.
I thought it might be helpful for our St. Andrew’s church family to have more information about the families our high school youth and adult leaders are serving in Magoffin County, Kentucky. Each family has a code name which is used for updates and this information is given to each team.
The first family’s code name is: Teardrops on my Guitar\Tim McGraw. This identifies the family, where our team of Melanie Pancoast, Savannah Pounds, Ana Wilden, Jacob Freyermuth, Ryan Swearingen, Beth Shapiro and Greg Holliday are working this week.
Family Situation: Maudie is trying to escape a verbally abusive relationship, and has a four year old daughter Chastity. Chastity has a very difficult time being around men, but Maudie hopes to bring her into a safe environment. They have a trailer which they planning on moving into shortly. Maudie’s father, Joe, has worked on make sure his daughter and grand-daughter have a safe place to live. Projects working on: painting three rooms today and work on flooring that was ruined by the rain over the last few weeks.
The second family code name is: Stay Beautiful. This identifies the family where our team of Sarah Freyermuth, Josie Miller, Katie Neu, Greyson Holliday, Daniel Shapiro, Laurie Pancoast and Nathan Williams.
Family Situation: This family has four young girls, and one son. They live in a two bedroom trailer. The four girls sleep together on a queen size bed and the son sleeps in the same room as the parents.
Projects working on: painting a room for the six year old daughter, which you can see on the St. Andrew’s website. One child picked out pink, burgundy, and purple to paint her room. It looks like Sarah, Josie and Katie had a fun time painting. Both Greyson and Daniel were able to work with power tools, where they built window frames for the home.
The last family code name is: Love Story. Our team of Haley Neff, Hannah Pancoast, Katrice Williams, Bryce Bock, Max Neenan, Janet Neu and Sam Miller are working at this home. This is the family that St. Andrew’s raised $1,000 to add the septic tank, once the ground is ready for a backhoe to start the work. For everyone at church on Sunday, Pastor Paul’s message mentioned, “We know that all things work together for good to those who love God who are called according to his purpose.” Now, our high school youth are working with a family, called “Love Story”, which I know this family will feel the love of St. Andrew’s across the miles.
Family Situation: This is a great family, who we stumbled upon by chance during set-up week. Robert is the home owner and takes care of Kevin who is 4, and Alyssa who is three, and also has Cystic Fibrosis. They are an awesome family!
Our group is working on window frames, where Katrice was able to use a table saw at this location to help build the frames. Replacing bay windows with double paned windows. Insulate under the rest of the trailer. The entire subfloor of this home is rotten, so it has been replaced by previous work groups, so St. Andrew’s is working on the windows and other flooring.
As a treat tonight, our group went to the Dairy Queen to celebrate their first day on the work site and talk about their experiences. Each high school youth has a journal with them, so each day there is time to write about their experiences, so they can share these with us upon their return.
Every day, our St. Andrew’s Mission Team will be sending pictures as time allows to update our website of their progress. Please continue to check the website each day for daily updates and pictures.
~Liz Wilden
7/24/2011
Our St. Andrew’s high school youth and adult leaders arrived in Salyersville, Kentucky this afternoon for their orientation with ASP and a little free time before they start their work tomorrow morning. Our group played a little basketball, volleyball and Frisbee in the gym, where they are staying. The gym is spacious, so our group is on the upper deck of the gym, where they have set up their cots, sleeping bags, and moved in for the week.
Currently, it is pouring down rain and they have lost power at the high school, so they are hoping to be able to start on their projects bright and early tomorrow morning at 8:00 a.m. The work must go on – rain or shine! Our high school youth and leaders will work at each worksite from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. this week.
This evening, one adult and high school student, were able to go to their respective worksites to meet the families and visit with them before starting work tomorrow. The work group of Greg Holliday, Beth Shapiro, Melanie Pancoast, Savannah Pounds, Ana Wilden, Jacob Freyermuth, and Ryan Swearingen will be painting a room addition, installing flooring and trim and adding steps. This trailer was built for a family with three little girls. The second group of Sam Miller, Janet Neu, Haley Neff, Hannah Pancoast, Katrice Williams, Bryce Bock and Max Neenan, will be installing windows to start this week. The last group of Laurie Pancoast, Nathan Williams, Sarah Freyermuth, Josie Miller, Katie Neu, Greyson Holliday, and Daniel Shapiro will be working on painting a trailer, installing doors and a closet.
The septic tank will be installed, but due to the rain, they will have to wait until a backhoe can get to the location to dig the hole for the tank. The group will provide St. Andrew’s an update, so we can monitor the progress.
Spirits and the energy level remain high which is great. The youth have met in their small groups tonight to plan for their projects before arriving on-site tomorrow. We are fortunate to have Jimmy Pounds and Paul Speckman on the trip, who will be filling the role of general contractors for our work groups to keep them on task and help with any issues that may arise as the work begins.
Please continue to send your prayers of strength to our St. Andrew’s High School Mission Group, who will start their work tomorrow, serving the families of the Appalachia area. Also check the St. Andrew’s website for updated pictures from today. I have attached one special picture, once they heard that $1,000 had been raised today for the septic tank project (see more photos on photo page).Thanks St. Andrew's!
7/23/2011
This morning, after loading three vans, a truck, and one trailer with supplies, tools, suitcases and sleeping bags, our high school youth and their adult leaders were off for their trip east to Kentucky. Our group will spend one night in Louisville, Kentucky, at the home of Sabu, a friend of Greg Holliday, who has graciously offered to host our group, since he was unable to participate in the mission trip. Sabu wanted to “serve the people who would serve”.
Our group will be leaving around 9:30 a.m. Sunday morning, and will arrive in Salyersville, Kentucky to check in with Appalachia Service Project (ASP) and complete a new group orientation before they begin their work on Monday morning. During the week, our group will be staying at the Magoffin County High School, which has air conditioning! Yeah!! At the high school, our St. Andrews group will be sharing this space with two other groups: one from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and the other from Exton, Pennsylvania.
Some of the possible projects that our group will be working on are: painting a new bedroom and bathroom addition, roofing a home, installation of a wheelchair ramp and installing a septic tank for a family with three girls. The septic tank project was underestimated by $1,000, so in order to complete this project, our group is being asked to raise these funds to complete this project. Please consider if you are able to help.
Our high school youth and adult leaders from St. Andrews have truly been blessed with your support as they begin their mission work in Salyersville, Kentucky. During our youth service on May 15, members of St. Andrews picked a card with the name of one of our high school youth attending the mission trip, please keep them in your prayers. We ask that all members of St. Andrews pray for strength, peace, patience and kindness during the week of our mission trip.
I have attached two photos from our group: one photo as our group was leaving St. Andrews this morning, and the other in the home of Sabu this evening. Each day, I will send an update from our group of their daily activities, projects that are being worked on and hopefully, by the end of the week, completed projects.
Thank you for your continued support and prayers this week. ~Liz Wilden
Update 7/23/2011:
Our mission team arrived in the Louisville, KY. area for the night. A friend of Greg Holliday is graciously hosting all 23 for supper, overnight, and breakfast. They will depart mid-morning Sun. and arrive at their destination early afternoon.
This from fearless leader Laurie Pancoast: "We also received a special request for donations for a septic system for a family with 3 small girls. The project was underestimated by $1000.00. They will not be able to put in the system until they receive the funding. If anyone would like to make a donation for this project, it would be greatly appreciated."
You may write a check to Saint Andrew's, marked ASP, and we will tell the group of your contribution and forward the money immediately.
THANKS!
Pastor Paul UPDATE #2: Thanks to several St. A's folks the money is in hand!!
ST. ANDREW'S
(see more photos on "photo page")
Update: July 30, 2011
This afternoon our group arrived at St. Andrew’s approximately 4:15 p.m. after driving nine hours and several stops along the way. Even though they were tired from the trip, everyone was happy to be home and excited to see their families.
We had a small reception to welcome our group home and celebrate Ryan Swearingen and Katie Neu’s birthdays. Thank you to Jill and Al Swearingen and Yolanda Williams for making delicious treats for our reception.
I know after all the sawdust settles, our group will have time to reflect on the mission trip. At our reception, funny stories were being shared, hugs given, and plans to see each soon were being finalized. Plans are being made now to share the highlights of the mission trip with our family at St. Andrew’s Lutheran Church.
Thank you for your prayers of strength and keeping everyone safe in their travels.
Liz Wilden
Update: July 29, 2011
Today is the final day for our St. Andrew’s High School Mission Trip in Salyersville, Kentucky. The day was filled with finishing final projects: putting on the last coat of paint on steps, working with the Love Story family to paint curtains for their closet, and cleaning up the work sites. There were many pictures taken to mark the time with each family on the work site and good-byes were said. Many of the families were teary eyed and so were our group. A sense of accomplishment is felt by our entire group and has built lasting memories for our high school youth and their leaders.
During the evening activities, our high school youth were able to share their special moments with the large group sharing the space at the high school. In sharing these moments, some of our youth had people smiling, laughing and at times crying. As these memories were shared, our group felt they knew the other families based on the descriptions.
This evening was spent packing and getting ready to depart early on Saturday morning to return to Columbia. The high school youth were assigned cleaning duties tonight, so some our groups were in the kitchen cleaning; others were responsible for the other areas in the high school.
Each time, I speak to members of our group, the emphasis is on the work they have done, and working side by side with their families. I’m sure our group will come back with many e-mails and phone numbers for the other groups, as our youth played cards, sports and chatted with the other youth groups staying at the high school.
As our mission trip is about to come to a close, Laurie and I would like to thank the congregation, high school parents, and the high school youth. Without your support over the last several months, our mission trip would not be possible, so THANK YOU! Our plans are to share the mission trip memories with the congregation in September.
Thank you. ~Liz Wilden
Update: July 28, 2011
After a full day of work on day four, our group was able to have some fun tonight. ASP sponsored a barbeque at Paintsville State Park. The park has a lake where the high school youth were able to swim and enjoy time with other ASP groups from another county plus their families. There were approximately 200 people at the picnic to enjoy their free time. After the picnic, our group made one more trip to the Dairy Queen, where Laurie had a feast of one small strawberry Heath quake then topped it off with one small cup of vanilla ice cream.
Each St. Andrew’s group will finish all of their projects by the end of the day tomorrow. There are still several small items to get finished tomorrow, but there is going to be time to visit each team’s work site, so they can show off their completed projects and meet each family. Based on the report from Laurie tonight, this is going to be a highlight for the groups. The work sites are anywhere between 15 minutes to 45 minutes away from the home base, Magoffin County High School. Our group has had discussions over the week to talk about their work and the impact to the families they have served in the area. Many of the high school youth and leaders have mentioned they feel our group is able to help their families to boost their self-esteem and have had a positive impact in their lives. Many of the families do live in the moment and this may be hard to understand, but the impact will be far reaching in the young children they have painted rooms for, played with, and swam with tonight.
Some of the touching and encouraging stories are, Heather, who is 10 years old, want to be a doctor to take care of her grandmother, who is in a nursing home now. Heather was able to read over 200 books this summer and she is a serious student. Another family member, Brittney, a six year old, can count to 100 and knows her alphabet forward and backwards. Today Brittney did cartwheels in her new purple, burgundy, and pink bedroom, before she moved in. Our high school youth were also trying to teach her to do a round-off too. Brittney and Heather put their sleeping bags in the new closet and thought it would like a hideout. Heather is also planning a sleepover with her friends once all of the work is completed.
Tomorrow will be the last day at the worksites, and our group has mixed emotions. The groups are also eager to get home to their families and share their stories with the members of St. Andrew’s. One last activity is 80’s night, where everyone will dress up and the highlight will be cleaning the high school with the other groups. This week is the last week of ASP Youth Program, so everything needs to be put back in place and cleaned before the groups can check-out on Saturday morning.
Our group is planning to be back to St. Andrew’s around 4:00 p.m. on Saturday after driving nine hours back to Columbia. If you would like to welcome our group back, please feel free to join our group for a short reception in the Fellowship Hall. It would be wonderful if we could have several volunteers to help unload the vans, truck and trailer upon their return, since our group will be exhausted after traveling. Please consider coming over to the church on Saturday to celebrate their return and the work that has been done this week. If you are interested in helping unload the vehicles, please e-mail and let me know, so I can contact you with any time changes as our group travels home.
I will be sending another update on Friday night and our last update on Saturday as our group gets close to home.
Every time I speak to our group, the high school youth want everyone to know they have worked hard, played hard, and made many new friends. This experience has been a worthwhile experience that has changed their lives in a very positive way.
Thank you.
Liz Wilden
Update July 27, 2011
Today was an eventful day – the St. Andrew’s septic tank was installed for our Love Story family. According to Haley Neff, who was able to document the event with pictures posted on the St. Andrew’s Lutheran Church website it only took two- and-a-half hours to install. Our family’s children were playing around the new septic tank and using it as a jungle gym.
Our first family: Teardrops on my Guitar\Tim McGraw. This identifies the family, where our team of Melanie Pancoast, Savannah Pounds, Ana Wilden, Jacob Freyermuth, Ryan Swearingen, Beth Shapiro and Greg Holliday are working this week. This group was able to work with Paul Speckman in the bathroom to rebuild a wall, so the group could paint it. There are several other projects being done, to finish up by Friday. Currently, many of the family members are in the home as our group works, so this group has had a lot of interaction with their family.
The second family code name is: Stay Beautiful. This identifies the family where our team of Sarah Freyermuth, Josie Miller, Katie Neu, Greyson Holliday, Daniel Shapiro, Laurie Pancoast and Nathan Williams.
New floors were being installed in two bedrooms, which will be completed tomorrow. There are about 10 more blocks to be installed, so that will be a huge project done. Jimmy is working with the group on hanging new doors and building window frames. On Thursday, our group is hoping to finish the doors, add the trim to each bedroom, and add a clothing rack in each room in the closet.
The last family code name is: Love Story. Our team of Haley Neff, Hannah Pancoast, Katrice Williams, Bryce Bock, Max Neenan, Janet Neu and Sam Miller are working at this home. In addition the septic tank being installed, the group is still working on installing windows in the home. This home has no windows installed right now, so window frames need to be built and offers a new challenge for our group. Today Haley and Hannah were on the roof of the porch installing new tar paper.
Other activities at the center are morning devotionals, cleaning of the center, and an evening of songs and music. This morning Paul Speckman along with Katie Neu, Jacob Freyermuth, and Max Neenan lead the morning devotional. The high school youth read Bible readings and prayers, which was Romans 12:2, Follow the Word Transform the World. The morning devotionals are held outside of the high school at sunrise, which has been a wonderful start to the work day.
Each day our group has responsibilities at the center that range from cleaning the breakfast dishes, shower duty and of course, cleaning the bathrooms. According to Laurie, the high school youth have been doing well completing their daily duties.
Each evening after dinner, there are usually group activities, which include singing songs with an ASP leader, who was playing the guitar. One of the songs that our group wanted to sing, was Here I am Lord, which was used in the Youth Service on May 15. Our group led much of the signing and everyone knew the words too! I was told this impressed the ASP volunteers and other church groups. In addition to the songs being sung, our group had a prayer walk. This was done in the parking lots and included many Bible verses from our youth. Tonight’s theme was birthday, so the ASP volunteers were wearing birthday hats for everyone to enjoy. Our own Jimmy Pounds has been a huge hit at the high school and on the work site. Everyone knows Jimmy! We want to thank Jimmy for attending the mission trip to lend his expertise to our high school youth.
As the projects are half-way, our group continues to send their appreciation to our St. Andrew’s family for their prayers and financial support as they continue their mission work in Magoffin County, Kentucky.
Thank you.
Liz Wilden
Update July 26, 2011Today was day two on the work sites and there are several stories from each location the groups would like to share with the congregation. I think the most important and highlight overnight, the AIR CONDITIONING is WORKING at the high school. It finally came on about 4:00 a.m. today, which was a great relief to everyone.
Each day there are activities with all the groups coming together, which start with a morning devotional, which included a Kyrie that we sing at St. Andrew’s. As Beth and Hannah led our group and the presence of St. Andrew’s Lutheran Church was with our group this morning. In the evening after dinner, the groups get together again and play some games. Every night, there is a theme night, so Monday was Christmas and tonight was Halloween. The kids are able to dress up and the games go along with the theme. On Monday at Christmas night, each person was handed a piece of paper that listed a name of a Christmas carol, then everyone had to start singing their song and at the same time, find others signing the same song in the large group. This ended up as a great mixer.
Tonight the group activity included Tom Whitaker, who is an artist, storyteller, and musician. He entertained the group and had his Aunt, son and another person from the area speak to the group. Tom used the gift of music and humor to talk about the area, which was another perspective of the area. The stories Tom told were inspiring and his message was that most people in the area “live in the moment of what you are doing”, so it is hard to think into the future. Family and church are very important to the residents of this area and emphasized to our group. Tom was gracious to give our St. Andrew’s group a print to bring back to Columbia. The print our group picked has a bible on a chair that is partially painted and a quilt on the floor. This picture reminded our group of the area and what they had seen so far.
One other neat addition at the high school for the youth is a “warm fuzzy wall”, which has brown paper bags that are decorated by each person on the wall. All the high school youth can add notes to each other, to compliment their work, or encourage that person. Our kids have been having fun leaving notes for each other.
The food has been good for our group each day, with some added treats from our group. This morning, Nathan and Katrice Williams shared the poppy seed bread that Yolanda made with the other groups at breakfast. Tonight, our group had chili, baked potatoes, and great brownies for dessert. Our group does pack their lunches daily and are either a bologna or peanut and jelly sandwich. The snacks our high school group brought with them from Columbia are used in their lunches and for daily snacks, when they aren’t at the Dairy Queen!
Now, for the news you have been waiting for – updates from our groups today.
The first family’s code name is: Teardrops on my Guitar\Tim McGraw. This identifies the family, where our team of Melanie Pancoast, Savannah Pounds, Ana Wilden, Jacob Freyermuth, Ryan Swearingen, Beth Shapiro and Greg Holliday are working this week.
This group continues to work on painting several projects in the home. There is one issue with the bathroom, it is falling apart and they are trying to fix it, so it can be painted. Paul Speckman has joined to help Greg and Beth with this project. One funny story from this group today is that they left their paint there overnight, so the group didn’t have to continue to pack it up every night and unpack. Ana and Melanie had been working on painting a bedroom, which was a pretty cream color. Well today, when they came back, their paint was now a nice brown color. The homeowner decided to mix a couple of paint colors she had there and make a brown color, so they painted the room again. That was a surprise for the youth this morning, but they went with it and started working.
Yesterday, the Teardrops on my Guitar group was lucky to have Charlie, a neighbor of their family join them with his guitar and sing to them as they worked. According to the group, it was a great concert!
The second family code name is: Stay Beautiful. This identifies the family where our team of Sarah Freyermuth, Josie Miller, Katie Neu, Greyson Holliday, Daniel Shapiro, Laurie Pancoast and Nathan Williams.
This group has been working hard on window frames and painting. The room for the six year old girl is going well and I think the colors growing on the group. When the group was leaving today, the six year old girl ran out to the vehicles to give everyone a Popsicle and made sure that each person got their favorite color. The Stay Beautiful family has very little, but this little girl made sure our group had popsicles before they left.
On this site today, a cross moth was spotted and we will post a picture of it on the website. Jimmy Pounds thinks it was there to visit him!
The last family code name is: Love Story. Our team of Haley Neff, Hannah Pancoast, Katrice Williams, Bryce Bock, Max Neenan, Janet Neu and Sam Miller are working at this home.
Today this group has been working on installing windows and you can see that Bryce Bock and Max Neenen were busy under the direction of Sam Miller. There are several windows to install and the frames need to be made for each window. Haley Neff, Hannah Pancoast, Katrice Williams worked with Janet Neu on a porch addition. They were working on the roof of the porch today. There has been great progress at this location and still so much to do.
Another special story I would like to share, is our mission trip group received a donation at St. Andrew’s today from a person in our community that wanted to support our trip and the septic tank project. After reading about our kids, this kind person made a donation to our group. THANK YOU!
It was another productive day for our groups and they are ready to head back to their respective work sites for another day. The energy remains high and lights out are at 11:00 p.m. and there is no one awake after this time!
Please continue to prayer for our groups as they enter the third day of the work week.
Update: July 25, 2011
Today was the first day on the work sites for our three teams and you can tell by the pictures posted on the St. Andrew’s website, our groups were busy. I just got off the phone earlier this evening with Laurie Pancoast, our fearless leader, who said, “I will be happy to get to bed”. Last night, there were storms in the area, so that has knocked out the air conditioning in the high school, so all of the adult leaders with construction experience were down in the boiler room looking to see what needed to be done to get the air fixed. St. Andrew’s sent their best team down to resolve the situation!
From the conversations that Laurie has had with the high school youth, the general consensus “WE LOVE OUR FAMILIES”. All of the high school youth are enjoying their work and families today, so we are off to a fantastic start. There was a lot accomplished, so tomorrow will be another great day and weather was fine today – only sunshine.
I thought it might be helpful for our St. Andrew’s church family to have more information about the families our high school youth and adult leaders are serving in Magoffin County, Kentucky. Each family has a code name which is used for updates and this information is given to each team.
The first family’s code name is: Teardrops on my Guitar\Tim McGraw. This identifies the family, where our team of Melanie Pancoast, Savannah Pounds, Ana Wilden, Jacob Freyermuth, Ryan Swearingen, Beth Shapiro and Greg Holliday are working this week.
Family Situation: Maudie is trying to escape a verbally abusive relationship, and has a four year old daughter Chastity. Chastity has a very difficult time being around men, but Maudie hopes to bring her into a safe environment. They have a trailer which they planning on moving into shortly. Maudie’s father, Joe, has worked on make sure his daughter and grand-daughter have a safe place to live. Projects working on: painting three rooms today and work on flooring that was ruined by the rain over the last few weeks.
The second family code name is: Stay Beautiful. This identifies the family where our team of Sarah Freyermuth, Josie Miller, Katie Neu, Greyson Holliday, Daniel Shapiro, Laurie Pancoast and Nathan Williams.
Family Situation: This family has four young girls, and one son. They live in a two bedroom trailer. The four girls sleep together on a queen size bed and the son sleeps in the same room as the parents.
Projects working on: painting a room for the six year old daughter, which you can see on the St. Andrew’s website. One child picked out pink, burgundy, and purple to paint her room. It looks like Sarah, Josie and Katie had a fun time painting. Both Greyson and Daniel were able to work with power tools, where they built window frames for the home.
The last family code name is: Love Story. Our team of Haley Neff, Hannah Pancoast, Katrice Williams, Bryce Bock, Max Neenan, Janet Neu and Sam Miller are working at this home. This is the family that St. Andrew’s raised $1,000 to add the septic tank, once the ground is ready for a backhoe to start the work. For everyone at church on Sunday, Pastor Paul’s message mentioned, “We know that all things work together for good to those who love God who are called according to his purpose.” Now, our high school youth are working with a family, called “Love Story”, which I know this family will feel the love of St. Andrew’s across the miles.
Family Situation: This is a great family, who we stumbled upon by chance during set-up week. Robert is the home owner and takes care of Kevin who is 4, and Alyssa who is three, and also has Cystic Fibrosis. They are an awesome family!
Our group is working on window frames, where Katrice was able to use a table saw at this location to help build the frames. Replacing bay windows with double paned windows. Insulate under the rest of the trailer. The entire subfloor of this home is rotten, so it has been replaced by previous work groups, so St. Andrew’s is working on the windows and other flooring.
As a treat tonight, our group went to the Dairy Queen to celebrate their first day on the work site and talk about their experiences. Each high school youth has a journal with them, so each day there is time to write about their experiences, so they can share these with us upon their return.
Every day, our St. Andrew’s Mission Team will be sending pictures as time allows to update our website of their progress. Please continue to check the website each day for daily updates and pictures.
~Liz Wilden
7/24/2011
Our St. Andrew’s high school youth and adult leaders arrived in Salyersville, Kentucky this afternoon for their orientation with ASP and a little free time before they start their work tomorrow morning. Our group played a little basketball, volleyball and Frisbee in the gym, where they are staying. The gym is spacious, so our group is on the upper deck of the gym, where they have set up their cots, sleeping bags, and moved in for the week.
Currently, it is pouring down rain and they have lost power at the high school, so they are hoping to be able to start on their projects bright and early tomorrow morning at 8:00 a.m. The work must go on – rain or shine! Our high school youth and leaders will work at each worksite from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. this week.
This evening, one adult and high school student, were able to go to their respective worksites to meet the families and visit with them before starting work tomorrow. The work group of Greg Holliday, Beth Shapiro, Melanie Pancoast, Savannah Pounds, Ana Wilden, Jacob Freyermuth, and Ryan Swearingen will be painting a room addition, installing flooring and trim and adding steps. This trailer was built for a family with three little girls. The second group of Sam Miller, Janet Neu, Haley Neff, Hannah Pancoast, Katrice Williams, Bryce Bock and Max Neenan, will be installing windows to start this week. The last group of Laurie Pancoast, Nathan Williams, Sarah Freyermuth, Josie Miller, Katie Neu, Greyson Holliday, and Daniel Shapiro will be working on painting a trailer, installing doors and a closet.
The septic tank will be installed, but due to the rain, they will have to wait until a backhoe can get to the location to dig the hole for the tank. The group will provide St. Andrew’s an update, so we can monitor the progress.
Spirits and the energy level remain high which is great. The youth have met in their small groups tonight to plan for their projects before arriving on-site tomorrow. We are fortunate to have Jimmy Pounds and Paul Speckman on the trip, who will be filling the role of general contractors for our work groups to keep them on task and help with any issues that may arise as the work begins.
Please continue to send your prayers of strength to our St. Andrew’s High School Mission Group, who will start their work tomorrow, serving the families of the Appalachia area. Also check the St. Andrew’s website for updated pictures from today. I have attached one special picture, once they heard that $1,000 had been raised today for the septic tank project (see more photos on photo page).Thanks St. Andrew's!
7/23/2011
This morning, after loading three vans, a truck, and one trailer with supplies, tools, suitcases and sleeping bags, our high school youth and their adult leaders were off for their trip east to Kentucky. Our group will spend one night in Louisville, Kentucky, at the home of Sabu, a friend of Greg Holliday, who has graciously offered to host our group, since he was unable to participate in the mission trip. Sabu wanted to “serve the people who would serve”.
Our group will be leaving around 9:30 a.m. Sunday morning, and will arrive in Salyersville, Kentucky to check in with Appalachia Service Project (ASP) and complete a new group orientation before they begin their work on Monday morning. During the week, our group will be staying at the Magoffin County High School, which has air conditioning! Yeah!! At the high school, our St. Andrews group will be sharing this space with two other groups: one from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and the other from Exton, Pennsylvania.
Some of the possible projects that our group will be working on are: painting a new bedroom and bathroom addition, roofing a home, installation of a wheelchair ramp and installing a septic tank for a family with three girls. The septic tank project was underestimated by $1,000, so in order to complete this project, our group is being asked to raise these funds to complete this project. Please consider if you are able to help.
Our high school youth and adult leaders from St. Andrews have truly been blessed with your support as they begin their mission work in Salyersville, Kentucky. During our youth service on May 15, members of St. Andrews picked a card with the name of one of our high school youth attending the mission trip, please keep them in your prayers. We ask that all members of St. Andrews pray for strength, peace, patience and kindness during the week of our mission trip.
I have attached two photos from our group: one photo as our group was leaving St. Andrews this morning, and the other in the home of Sabu this evening. Each day, I will send an update from our group of their daily activities, projects that are being worked on and hopefully, by the end of the week, completed projects.
Thank you for your continued support and prayers this week. ~Liz Wilden
Update 7/23/2011:
Our mission team arrived in the Louisville, KY. area for the night. A friend of Greg Holliday is graciously hosting all 23 for supper, overnight, and breakfast. They will depart mid-morning Sun. and arrive at their destination early afternoon.
This from fearless leader Laurie Pancoast: "We also received a special request for donations for a septic system for a family with 3 small girls. The project was underestimated by $1000.00. They will not be able to put in the system until they receive the funding. If anyone would like to make a donation for this project, it would be greatly appreciated."
You may write a check to Saint Andrew's, marked ASP, and we will tell the group of your contribution and forward the money immediately.
THANKS!
Pastor Paul UPDATE #2: Thanks to several St. A's folks the money is in hand!!
