Monday, July 21, 2008

Greetings from North Carolina from your Servant Event team: Lindsey Beideman, Rebecca Knoll, Katie Pagan, Andy Schumm, Thomas Walsh, Ernie Homer and Irene McFadden. We are here with teens and adults from seven other states-fifty of us in all.

This year we have the privilege to serve two families:

Calvin and Ernestine Chandler- they are a couple in their 70's who have a farm on ninety acres. They have been there for forty some years. They have been told that they will lose their farm if they do not put in a septic system-something North Carolina is really beginning to enforce. They are not able physically or financially to do this. So we get to provide the labor and many others have donated or sold at low cost the materials. Ernie, Irene, Lindsey and Rebecca are working at this site, digging the 60 X 120 X 66 pit for the septic tank and two 90 foot trenches. Mr. Chandler is so grateful and is working right alongside us!

The other site is for Amanda and her family. She and her husband have three children, two of whom have brittle bone disease - the nine year old just began to walk, the three year old cannot sit up yet. They now live with Amanda's brother and family in a double wide trailer. For the last year and a half family and friends (none of whom are professional builders) have been helping them build a house. It is framed in but needs much work. Our assignment was to put in two septic tanks and four trenches (uphill to the water source!). In addition we were to work on as much of the interior as we could to help get it further along.

On the the second day of our work inspectors came (there had been no inspections since the project began) and verified what several of our expert servants discovered before we began our work, that the house is 10 inches off plumb. The inspectors issued "an orange slip" of items needing to be corrected or the house will be condemned and need to be knocked down. Needless to say this was disheartening to our servant crew which had done a tremendous amount of work already, but most of all to Amanda and her family. It was agreed that if we could correct some of the structural issues in the next few days the project can continue. So we have taken to heart 2 Corinthians 9:8, "God is able to make all grace abound toward you: that ye, always having all sufficiency in all good things, may abound to every good work."

We ask that you join us in praying, believing that, "[We] can do all things through Christ [because] He strengthens us." Phil 4:13.

Thank you for supporting us as we are allowed to be His hands and feet over the next week.

Irene

PS: Look for daily updates from our other servant eventers!

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

hey mom how are you? having a great time at s.e. miss you guys.

here at servant event, we are really showing gods love to the max! we are having god shine through our work. there are two sites, one at the farm(with cows!) and one at a unfinished house. the farm site is digging a septic system, and whatever else the farmer needs them to do. the house needs a lot more work, which is why the majority of the people are there. there are two septic systems to dig, five trenches to excavate, and drywalling, installation, and siding to be put on the house. so far, some of the people have dug two 90-foot trenches and the pit(septic hole) crew is almost done. today we received some bad news. the inspectors came and told us that the house was done poorly. whoever had started the house before us had done a really bad job. there is no foundation, so the house is on a tilt. the upstairs walls are off center with the bottom beams, and the drywall that was up when we got there was installed wrong. we also learned that there is no building permit for th is area! they didn't even get a permit! the inspectors said that they might have to knock the house down and refill our holes! we were really upset. but god was on our side, and they called back and said that we could continue uor work, but we would have to fix all the mistakes, setting us back.

outside of work, we all like to sleep! when we're not sleeping, we play games, go to k-mart, and play on the playground. eating junk food is a specialty. we also have a thing called secret servants. we got a slip of paper with someone else's name on it. there are bags in the caf, and while you are at k-mart, you pick something up to put in your servants bag. but shh, it's a secret! at the end of the week, we reveal our secrets!

i am having a great time here, and i hope that i go back next year!

-Katie Pagan

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Hi! Lindsey here. I'd like to share our experience today on site 4 with Mr. and Mrs. Chandler. We started the day with a prayer and got right back to digging. By this point most of us are still in pain from the intense physical labor, but it seems to be getting a little bit easier ;) Before lunch we got very close to finishing the two large trenches. They have to be inspected tomorrow again to make sure they are the right width and depth. After our lunch break, we started to make some real progress on the pit where the septic tank will be placed. We all took turns digging and using the pick ax. It was quite hard work hurling big chunks of rock, clay, sand, and dirt out of a pit that is about 7 ft deep!! We cant wait to continue working at the job site and see the end result :) Outside of site 4, everyone is enjoying the delicious dinners, spiritual life, community life, and of course free time spent at Kmart.

Friday, July 18^th, 2008

Greetings from the Servant Eventer's,

We have now been serving in North Carolina for over 8 days.  Our time here has been amazing.  After a long week of laborious work, we finally have the weekend to rest our aching muscles.  Both of our sites have had wonderful progress.  The PA group is represented at both sites.  The weekend activities have included Whitewater Rafting, eating, sleeping, recreational activities, eating, and more sleeping.  Our group has bonded well.  I can't wait for the rest of the week.

Saturday, July 19^th, 2008

Hey everyone! Rebecca here. The past couple days have been CRAZY. lots of work and lots of fun. Thursday was a great work day. In the morning Lindsey and I got down in the septic tank pit and got totally muddy. we also worked on the trenches more. Then we hiked up the hill of Mr. Chandler's farm and got to see all the way to Tennessee. The view was spectacular. The majority of that day was spent waiting for the septic tank to arrive. It was great bonding time. Once the tank arrived we started on the trench to it from the house and the trench from it to the drainage trenches. We also laid out the drainage system (which looked like packing peanuts) in the trenches. On friday we waterproofed the inside of the tank and worked more on the remaining trenches. After lunch we got tot see Mr. Chandler feed one of the calfs. It was so cool. It suck on my fingers which was the weirdest feeling ever. Friday night we went to the converted train depot in Mrashall. the bands played lots of blue grass music and everybody danced. It was so much fun. Also, we had extended curfew that night, so i got to spend extra time bonding with the other kids here. Saturday we and the day off and everybody slept it. It hung out with a couple of the kids from Michigan in the morning and then we all went rafting. that was AWESOME!!! I rode in a "duck" which is a one person raft. It was great having the freedom to go where i wanted (within limits). the river was lower than normal since it hasn't rained much so people kept getting stuck on rocks. I think the best part of the trip was watching Irene jump off a 20ft. ledge into the water. the rapids were fun and we all got really wet. This morning I shared my testimony with the congregation here at Emanuel Lutheran. I was nervous to speak before the whole church but God gave me the words to say and the courage to say them. after church we took the group photo and did a Kmart run. It's been a relaxing day and now I can't wait to get back to work tomorrow. It's almost dinner time so I have to go! See you next sunday! 

Sunday, July 20, 2008

dear christ memorial,

This is your favorite person ever..... ANDY SCHUMM!!!  i just wanted to let you guys know how much of an amazing time i'm having this year at the appalichian servant event in NORTH CAROLINA!! the site i have been working on has been really really really hard.  but extremely AMAZING at the same time.  the first day we had to carry in over 150 pieces of dry wall.... which stunk more then a monkey's butt.  i now have nightmares about dry wall.  then on the second day i had to put in tons and tons of insulation all over the house.  which also stunk along with making me extremely itchy.  i now also have nightmares about insulation... but its all cool beans because it helped out the family and i would be willing to do it again for them tomorrow.  Wednesday was my favorite day at my job site.  i got to nail on the roof, cut wood with an awesome saw, and i went on an awesome adventure in the crawl space under the house (where we encountered unnaturally large spiders and crickets).  thursday was fun because we did laundry.  i know..... it doesn't sound fun but when you are with your best friends, you make it fun!!  friday was awesome because we went to marshall for a blue grass dance.  it was loads of fun even though there were some creepers there. LOL.  and of course yesterday was awesome because we went WHITE WATER RAFTING!!!  FA SHO!!!!! lol.  it was pretty intense but thomas and i had it all under control because we are just that good looking.  just wait untill you see our pictures.  they are INSANE!!!!  today was pretty chill because we just hung out around the church, watched movies, went to k-mart, played games, and slept on top of each other

tomorrow brings many more challenges to me and the others on my site because we are getting switched to a completely new site.  this should be interesting.  but i have no worries because i know God will take care of everything.   

so pretty much i have had an amazing.... AMAZING... AMAZING time here at servant event and i have prayed every night that i will get the chance to come back for one more year.  this event has changed my life in the fullest and i will never forget what i have learned here.  i only have two more days here with these amazing people and knowing that really makes me sad because these people have become my best friends and i won't get to see them ever again unless i get the chance to come back next year.  i want to thank everybody for their prayers and support.  i miss everyone and will see you all next week.    love,   ANDY!!!

Monday, July 21, 2008

Today at the site was a enjoyable time, not that the other days were not enjoyable.  We finished the site that we have been working on this past week.  The inspector came in and gave the final “ok” on our work.  During the work we completed a full septic system.  This required two pits, one which was 6’ 2” deep, 4’ wide, and 8’ long.  The second pit was 6’ 6” deep, 4’ wide, and 8’ long.  The pit I was working on alongside a friend from Wisconsin had some issues; about 5 feet into it we hit a spring that quickly flooded the hole.  Many filled buckets and soaked clothes later we finally emptied the whole and completed it.  These two pits were filled up with tanks that collect the waste and slowly separates solids and liquids.  As the waste goes through the tanks it is then pumped up the hill into four separate pipes to eventually return to the soil in a harmless state.  This piping required trenching that tore apart the hillside.  After hard labor we filled the trenches with pipes and covered them with dirt and grass seed.  As your reading this you’re probably shaking your head thinking that Thomas has lost it, what is fun about this.  I’ve tried explaining this to so many of my friends and rarely every find someone who understands. What makes this such a great time is what your going through during it, the fun with new and old friends, joking around with a couple of pastors, and of course the food.  But maybe the more important part of this experience is what comes afterwards, the lessons we learn.  That being a Christian today may not be easy, and we will always be faced with challenges and temptations.  Even though it is a sure thing that we will go through this, it is also a sure thing that we will have people who love us that will help, and that god will never abandon you.  Being told this growing up may help, but living that kind of experience is what I enjoy so much about Servant Event.

Thomas Walsh