Day 7 recap

Greetings all. Miss Stow and I are sitting here late Wednesday night while most of the rest of the team are playing Apples to Apples. Man, since when did teenagers start getting loud?!? Today was an awesome day. Despite Melissa missing out on the construction due to a slight illness, everything went great. The ministry of this team on the entire trip has been a blessing to us. They are truly allowing God to use them and we are grateful for being along for the ride. Today ended with a time of devotions where we discussed many of the difficult issues we have encountered in our time here: poverty, violence, abuse, drug use. The team is learning a lot about ministry!! We ended our time by handing out letters the parents wrote to their kids before we left. It was a really great time. Today, our bloggers are Chris, Becca and Melissa. We will let them tell you about today and some of their experiences from the trip so far. First Chris and then Becca and Melissa...

God bless.

Jack

Hey guys, there is a lot I can say about this week and telling you everything would take up about 10 novels worth of information so I'll spare you guys :) so where to begin.........well the construction work has been crazy hard but fun at the same time....I have the worst farmers tan any human being will ever have.....and proud of it! The kids have been incredible, I never thought that they would be so accepting so quickly. I know I've been here before but for some reason the whole flood of emotions seem so foreign and I don't understand why. I feel that God is revealing more in depth details about the reservation that I did not notice when I came as a freshman. I've been learning so much this trip, more then I ever have before. God has shown me my humanness that I have been denying myself for so long. I hate making mistakes and this trip has shown me its ok to make mistakes, and strangely....it gives me peace.

To everyone at home I love you and miss you guys. Thank you for the letter mom, I love you so much. For my friends in England, New York, and for my little bro in D.C. I love you guys and I'm praying for you everyday. :) ok I'm going to go pass out now. Good bye everyone :)

-Chris Savarese

Hello Everybody,

We're sweaty, tired, aching, living off of stale bread and water. Some people are enjoying this sweaty sensation but us blondes aka Melissa and Becca are not....sikeeeee

It is so awesome here we could live here forever, legit. Although the construction workers have no faith in us and constantly tease us for tripping or hammering ours/their fingers, we're having a great time building houses for these people in desperate need (and posing for pictures proving that we're somewhat capable). And guess what? We actually did some damage involving putting together a window!!! Surprising? Nay Nay:)

(Blonde #1 Becca)- I lost my other half...Melissa stayed home sick today with Miss Stow...worst thing ever...Most of our stomachs are all out of wack. Pause! (using the bathroom)...I Survived!!! Okay well the cooking here is like so amazing but so filling so we're all taking at least 4 tums each hour. I'm kind of not kidding. Okay now for the serious part of this blog post. I have been so humbled by this experience, the construction is hardcore and I actually know that I'm helping a family, and ministering to the kids is amazing. I have met so many kids that I'll cherish forever and their influence on me has been more than I could ever begin to imagine. I've realized I take so much for granted. These kids have barely anything. They're living in such hard conditions, making it hard, to me at least, how anyone could be happy. These are the happiest kids I've ever met. They are full of joy and will fall in love with you in seconds. I will never regret this experience...ever. Miss you all!!!

Blonde number 2 (Melissa): as you have already heard from my dear friend and partner in obliviousness...I was sick today and stayed home from construction. Thankfully the Lord allowed me to be well enough to go on the church bus with the kids. As always, He had a plan. Zac and I volunteered to do crafts together which was decorating and putting together kaleidoscopes. I handed one to a girl named Shelby who had gotten into an argument shortly before with another girl named Janessa. Shelby had written on her kaleidoscope "Jesus loves and Janessa is mean". I hurt for the girls and realized this is something they dealt with everyday. Hurt and fights. I didn't know exactly how to respond but clearly I didn't have to...God spoke through me explaining to the girl that Jesus was love but He also forgives and likewise we need to forgive others. Shelby looked at me with repentant eyes and quickly crossed out "Janessa is mean" and wrote "Jesus forgives". I knew that small realization to that girl was why God wanted me on that bus today. As for construction - yes, I'd rather have an air conditioner outside following me around, a flawless tan rather than burn, an electric hammer rather than actually swinging my arm and a gourmet lunch rather than a sandwich. But at the same time, these people would rather live in a house than a trailer without siding. So I've learned to put aside my unreasonable comforts and put others before me. Praise God for all He's doing in my life and everyone else's. Thanks for the prayers!