What's Up in the Wetlands

This week has been full of training. From grouting to laminate to bamboo. We did bamboo today and it was my favorite of all of the flooring types, it went down well and it looks great. This week has been really great because I get to see a change in these houses, and it's a change that I am causing. There is that phrase from Mahatma Ghandi that says "be the change that you want to see in the world." Well for the past few years I have wanted to see a change, but I haven't had the means to do so. But now with this program, I do. I have seen a change in these houses, seen the smiles of home owners who get to see that they are about to be living in a home that is their own. This work is so fantastic.

I come home each day and feel exhausted and also satisfied. I get to go out each day and use table saws and nail guns and see before my eyes a floor being made. The disappearance of concrete and a floor appearing is amazing, we go into a practically empty house and make a floor that people can build a life on, play with their children on, and after we clean it possibly eat off of... I wouldn't, but they can if they want. The other thing that I really love about Project Homecoming is the people. I have made great friends through this program, we sweat together, bleed together, build together, and sweat some more together. We make jokes like "asbestos, more like tastesbestos." And these people, despite our differences in age, are becoming my greatest friends because we all are serving for a year and we all want to give people homes to live in.

I sent a text the other day to one of my friends that said "this is where I'm meant to be." The days are hard sometimes. It takes me a little while to wake up, some days are difficult and long, but this is where I am meant to be. Our site coordinator mentioned last night that God doesn't call the equipped, He equips the called. I may not be the most experienced person on our training days, but God is going to equip me to do what He has sent me down here to do. I miss my friends and my family, but this service is exactly what I need, it's time for me to make a difference, it's time for me to do the work, and maybe it's time to change and grow in my faith and help this wonderful city of New Orleans to do the same.

Wish me luck in training tomorrow, more bamboo and then some framing in the afternoon.

It's Time

I leave for New Orleans tomorrow. My boxes are packed, I have the supplies, and my tank is full. But am I ready? My mom has been telling me constantly to clean my room, do my laundry, write my thank you letters and say my goodbyes. I always said back that I have time, that I have a couple of months, there is nothing to worry about. But I don't anymore, it's tomorrow. I'm 18, my friends are either already at college, or are going soon, and I'm about to go on this brand new adventure.

The goodbyes have been hard, cleaning my room was difficult too, and I'm excited for this next chapter in my life. There will be trials, but I know that God will shepherd me through all valleys, just as He has promised.

I'm ready, it's not next year, or a couple months, it's tomorrow. It's time.

Summer Time thoughts of a YAV

So I've been reading this book, its called The Irresistible Revolution. It's by this cool guy named Shane Claiborne. It's subtitled "living as an ordinary radical." Now Shane isn't just any long-haired "radical," Shane goes all over the world for mission work. He spent months in Calcutta, India working alongside Mother Teresa, played with the children of Baghdad during the war in Iraq playing simple juggling games with them. Shane is the head of a group of Christian Activists in Philadelphia titled "The Simple Way." http://www.thesimpleway.org/about/.

So why did I just post all of that information about Shane? Shane's dedication to the book is "Dedicated to all the hypocrites, cowards, and fools... just like me." That really got to me for some reason. Just the idea that he isn't trying to portray himself as a better person than anyone else makes him feel more down to earth. He makes his own clothes, grows his food, and does everything he can to help, but he considers himself just like everyone else. He talks about radicals and martyrs and saints, and he mentions that that is why he calls it the "ordinary" radical once again because he doesn't want to be viewed as special, just another person. I was talking to one of my good friends the other day and he mentioned that I'm a good Christian, and a good person for taking a gap year for mission work. That sat with me the wrong way, I don't want to be considered better than other people just because I'm not going to college right away. My friends who are going to college are doing great things too, they are expanding their knowledge which is just as valuable, I just like to think that we are taking different paths, but we are all on the same way to what God has planned for us.



My last mission trip with my church is on Sunday. We are going to Washington, D.C. I'm excited and a little sentimental too. I knew that this summer would come, but I don't know if I was truly ready for it. My last high school mission trip, my last montreat youth conference, all of those things. I don't like thinking about it, but at the same time I know that I will try to do more in the future, try to help everyone that I can, try to do as much as I can, and try to truly live for HIM with all of my heart. I don't want to be considered a better person for what I want to do and what I do, I just want to be considered a Christian, normal, plain, ordinary.

New Info

Found out that I am leaving for New Orleans on the 18th of August, then flying up to New York with the other volunteers on the 22nd. Still trying to get my fundraising taken care of, but I'm not worried, I know that it will be given by the wonderful friends and community that I am surrounded by. Meanwhile, here is a video from youtube about Young Adult Volunteers in New Orleans

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-i_Allj6uhw

What I'm doing

http://gamc.pcusa.org/ministries/yav/

This is from the General Assembly Mission Council website, it has some info on the YAV program and a little on what YAVs do.