Final countdown

Hey everyone it’s Megan Sindelar.  Today we finished our projects at each work site and all of the homeowners were delighted!  We went to a new waterfall today which did not even compare to the old one, but it was still fun.  Unfortunately, we had to also clean the entire ASP center, and the dishes were awful!  I am still grossed out by the little scraps of food floating in the water.  Anyway, at e.g. (evening gathering), everyone got in a big circle and shared where they saw God this week.  It was cool to hear what everyone had to say, but it took forever!  Later, we played card games and ate food.  Overall, it was a pretty good week!  See you all soon!

The day after hump day...

Hey everyone, it’s Paige (Dold) and I can proudly say that we had a very successful day! Today was the picnic where each group invited their designated family to come have a buffet dinner at the ASP site. We pigged out on hot dogs, burgers, beans, and lots and LOTS of watermelon. It was a great time with not only our fellow church members, but our work families as well! Right now we are on our way to another cell service trip, after getting ice cream from BP. Hope we’re not missing too much back home!

Hello PCWS blog readers, Jamie here.  Today was a very big day for my group, Paige D. Katie S., Dan, Brian, Lance and Linda.  We finished building our floor, but we did have a few problems.  I accidently almost sawed off Paige’s butt, ooops. The day also consisted of multiple nap sessions on the newly renovated floor, which Lance did not approve of.  It was amazing to see the finished product and how overjoyed the family was.  Other teams completed their projects as well, which was amazing.  Can’t wait for another exciting day tomorrow, who knows what other projects will be in store for us!!!!

Birthday Bash 2.0

Hi it’s Maryna currently coming back from hilarious awards night at Hardees! Thanks to the senior boys Matt and Tom with a little help from birthday kids Charlie and Losh, we all had a great laugh!!!! LOL! We had a fun climb up to the waterfalls again today and also did great work at our home again!!!!! Now handing off to Charles!

Charles here. Today was my birthday and I’m glad it was. Tom, Matt, Lacey and I are the new champs for best awards given. Each member of the team had their own contributions to help create the awards. Matt added the intellect and cleverness, Lacey knew the inside scoop with all the girls very well, Tom had the artistic ability of Picasso and I was a mush. See you soon and now to Matt.

We’re on the road Jack. It’s Matt Hennessy currently maxing out in the van, and we’re on our way to the top of the mountain.  Despite the fact that it’s 10:00 p.m. and we won’t be able to see anything on the horizon, the UPY’s are in desperate need of some cellphone reception. It has been too long!  Otherwise we had a super great day at the worksite with the sweetheart Diane and her girls Laney and Bailey.  It’s always great to have a little extra help around the house.  Keep it real HOMIES!!

Birthday Bash 1.0

Work Day 2:

HELLO FABULOUS PEOPLE! We're having SO much fun on this mission trip as well as working super hard! Today was an awesome day with my work group (The Lorax, Scott, Amy, Davis, Erin, Megan, Matt H., and Lacey[me] A.K.A. the best group EVER)  Today we painted basically the entire house :).  As a special treat on account of my birthday (WHOOOOOO!), my group and my 'family' went out for lunch! After finishing a very hot day of work we were able to take a trip to the waterfall! Although, I forgot my swimsuit! Whoops!  In the evening, we were given the best private concert that Tennessee has to offer!  (7 old men playing blue grass) Then we had birthday cake and chit chatted as a group! Can't wait for the rest of the week!

Peace,
Lacey Allen (currently stealing wifi from the library)

First day on the job!! ;)

Hey this is Dan writing to you guys outside of the library at Sneedville. Today we were woken up by really loud music. It was not very pleasant but it got the job done. Next, we ate breakfast and quickly went our separate ways to our worksites. At my worksite, we were going to replace a bedroom's floor. We walked into the house and immediately were greeted by a massive dog, a small cat, and what appeared to be a three legged dog. We could tell from the smell that the owner of the house was a heavy smoker. First, we were getting all of the stuff out of the owner's room and went to taking out the carpet and then the floor underneath. However, the biggest problem of the day may have been convincing the owner to get out of bed so we could move the bed to another room. However, it was a very productive day and hopefully we will do a lot more work tomorrow.

Hey this is brian still writing outside the library in sneedsville. I worked with dan so my day was very tough. It did give me hope that the owner of the house had her daughter help us. I thought it was very funny that she probably helped out more then some of the people in our group. She seemed so happy for someone living in a rotting trailer. Which really makes me think. Today at our meeting one of the asp counselors said that the average income in america is about 44,000 dollars, but the average income in hancock county is about 19,000 dollars. The people of hancock county all give me hope.

Hi this is Tom, I just infiltrated the library and am writing to you from the inside.  Today was a really eventful first day of work.  The work that we did was pretty fun actually.  Our job was to install a new flooring in their house.  What we did was we removed a super old carpet from the person's house and then we started nailing in boards that go down before the actual floorboards.  The family has two kids who were super helpful and very friendly.  Also I found out that they are the lawnmower racing champions of the world.  They had the coolest lawnmowers that they put together out of scrap parts that they would find, then they would compete against people who dropped major dollars on their lawnmowers and would smoke them.  After work we went to a series of cool waterfalls.  There were three big ones and a couple small ones, but each one was higher up in the stream than the others, so it was a really hard hike to reach the top.  We tried to find the source of the river but once we got to the top all we found were some wild turkeys and wild turkey poop.  Today was awesome and hopefully tomorrow will be better.

Cheers from ASP,

Dan Wennerstrum, Brian Kral and Tom Wennerstrum

Holy Moly

Yesterday we left church at 12:30 bound for Louisville, Kentucky. We stayed at Harvey Brown Presbyterian Church Saturday night. We enjoyed pizza and chocolate cake and spent the rest of the night playing games and exploring the church. We finally got to bed around midnight only to wake up at 6:15 in the morning. Holy moly that was early! Sunday morning we drove to Kyle's Ford, Tennessee for a two-hour canoeing extravaganza. There were lots of canoe-tipping and laughs and people falling in the mud. Then it was a final hour drive to our final destination at the ASP facility. Tomorrow the work begins.

Yours Truly,

Erin Sullivan and a car full of girls who helped write this including Maryna, Nora, Losh, Jamie, & Bella :)

Coming Soon

We are just a few days away from leaving for Louisville this Saturday, before we head into the heart of Tennessee on Sunday, and my enthusiasm for this trip is growing with every passing moment. I trust that God is gearing up to use us, shape us, challenge us, and inspire us. I'm thankful that we have so many great kids coming and so much support from their parents and the chaperones who will give of their time to make the UPY mission trip meaningful in 2015! Each night, we'll update this blog with stories and sightings of God's love and mission! Please read along and keep us and the people we meet in your prayers! Grace and Peace, Pastor Matt