Monday's Update

“I was standing on the corner of Winslow, Arizona, such a fine sight to see.”

Ya-ta-hey! We are already turning into quite the fluent Navajo Indian speakers. After a never-ending day of traveling from RDU to Phoenix by plane, followed by a four-hour van ride, we arrived to our home for the next week, Dilkon, Arizona welcomed by our new friends from Team Effort. We were all exhausted due to the three-hour time change but have quickly adapted.

It’s only the first day on the reservation, but it has been a real eye-opening experience leaving us realizing how blessed we are. Today we split up into two different work groups, each working on different projects.

My group and I went down the road to a home of a family of six to help reconstruct parts of their house. We started off with some people on the roof tearing off the old, worn shingles and pulling out rusty nails, then measuring out new pieces of plywood to help keep the new roof sturdier. The rest of us worked on taking off the chipping paint, smoothing the surface, and preparing the wood to be re-painted. The woman had a ten-year-old and a three-year-old boy who we played with ALL day, from playing baseball to shooting the “monsters” Stacks and Spencer with Tristian’s new water guns. Just seeing the smiles on their faces was enough to make our day! (Caroline)

My group stayed at the church we are sleeping at to paint one of the buildings to match all of the others. We first had to prepare the walls by removing all the old caulk and then adding new caulk. We then painted the outside walls of the building beige. It was quite an experience standing on the tall ladders trying to reach the gutters while avoiding the paint dripping from above. We completed one whole side of the building, and almost finished the other three sides as well. At the end of the day, we were all covered in paint from head to toe. (Shannon)

After a long day of hard work, sunburns, and some tears (What can I say… That roof was really high up! –CK) we were taken forty-five minutes away to a river to go cliff jumping. What an experience! The adrenaline rush as you ran to the end of the rock to the screams as you were mid air (and from the freezing water!) left us refreshed. We came home to a yummy meal of hamburgers waiting for us followed by awesome worship by Team Effort. We heard a jaw dropping experience from Bryant about when he was younger, awesome music by Casey, and a fun (yet very unfair… what parents don’t know who the Jonas Brothers are… Youth so should have won that one, sorry leaders!)

“Whatever you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God” -1 Corinthians 10:31. This bible verse is the purpose of our missions here this week. In everything that we do, we must remember that it is all for Him, and that we must serve Him daily, not only while on our summer mission trips. We have seen that we are very fortunate for everything that we have, and that we take things for granted WAY too much. We must share His love with everyone that we encounter and be the hands and feet of Christ in all that we do.

-Caroline Kohls and Shannon Kelly