What a Day!

Hi this is Jason Berry!!! I am a Freshman from North and today i was on the street ministry team.

OK, so we start out and we have to go do some houses yards because the soup kitchen doesn't open until around 11:00. We got to this house and a tree was about to fall and it was right next to the house so Mr. Bruno got the long reach chainsaw and between me Issac and Mr. Bruno we cut the tree back to keep it off the house, it was really cool because I got to use the chainsaw and the pole saw. Afterwards we went off to the soup kitchen I tried to get a job serving food but they were all taken when I got there. So that meant that i had to talk to the patrons and socialize. ( not really my forte) So we are just chatting with these people and these two ladies (one of whom we had helped the day before) start giving our girls advise. Then we went off to the nursing home and socialized with the residents. The old people are so nice!!! We talked with them and some would just trail off into silence while others where absolutely sure what they were going to do. One lady was determined to move to Oklahoma and get a medium sized house and all this other stuff. We also chatted with alzheimers patients. Mary Dell Dean was with me and she told me that i did quite well in that every time they asked if we were from Kentucky I responded as if they had never asked me that before at all. But after all there was just no way you could be mean to these people they were just so sweet!!!

Hi this is Claire Belden and Sami Strong and we're juniors : )
This is Claire. Yesterday was an absolutely amazing day... and it just keeps getting better and better. God is completely opening my eyes to the world around me and is giving me work like I have never had before. It is so fulfilling when we finish each project and then get to talk with the homeowners. You can just see the light of God pouring out of their hearts with much thanks for the work we have done for them. Our group worked on three houses today. The first one we went to we meet this pretty cool guy named Kraig. He told us about his life. Kraig is probably a middle aged man who has a wife and two kids. Although he appeared to be strong and capable like any other his age, he wasn't. He told us that about eight years ago he was cleaning out his hand gun when he accidentally dropped it on the floor and something went wrong causing the gun to miss fire. The bullet shot him in the head. He went to the emergency room and they told them that there was internal bleeding around in his head around his brain and that he had about a 1% chance to live... he told us that every church in his little town was praying for him throughout his situation and somehow, someway he pulled through. I consider him a major blessing! The down side to the story is that he has gone through so much therapy that he has long term memory problems and cannot do work like he used to be able to do. This made him pretty sad, but he is just very thankful to be here today and that he can still get out and walk around to do stuff with his family. I consider him a walking angel and a reminder to myself how fragile life is and how we shouldn't take anything for granted. It has encouraged me use everything that I have to its full potential and to live life to the fullest, glorifying God always. That was one of the stories that have really touched me on this trip so far, but I have a feeling that I have quite a few more yet to come. I am having a blast and growing closer to my wonderful church peeps and most of all God! : )
P.S.
I am super excited for tomorrow... because rumor has it that all the girls get to go back to the nursing home tomorrow after some more work in the morning and pamper old little ladies. (like put make-up on them and do their nails and "girlie" stuff like that while the boys are doing more "manly man" work. It will be great!)

This is Sami now. This trip so far has been incredible! Usually I don't like not knowing the plan and what we're doing but this has been really great just not knowing what is to come, and going with the flow of what God has called each of us to do. We've had some really cool encounters with the people of this close knit community weather we helped move branches or talked to them while they at lunch or at a chill time at the nursing home. Everyone has been so open to what we have to offer and so thankful even if its a little job that some would look over. Throughout this trip everyone has gotten so much closer with eachother and God and the fellowship has been amazing. I've loved everything about this so far and I know that it will just be getting even better! : )


Those are just a few stories from this week! God is moving in great ways. But, prayer is still needed. Especially for one student at Church of the Servant in OKC. They took their high school students on a ski trip in Colorado this spring break, and while she was skiing, she crashed hard into a tree and is in the hospital. Please keep her in your prayers, and we will try to update on her status.

Thank you all SO much for taking the time to read and support us while we're here! There are a few highlight photos at the very bottom, so you should check them out.

God is GREAT.