See you again soon The Hill Church

Our final day on Market Street started with breakfast in the community room with our team and members of The Hill Church community. It was nice to see the families that we had met and connected with the previous 48 hours.

The Sunday service was at 11:00 a.m. And while this might seem normal for most other churches - having a Sunday service in the morning - this was the first Sunday morning worship service in their sanctuary in two years. Pastor Ricardo was encouraged to see some new faces in the congregation. It was cool to be a part of a milestone for this ministry team. You could feel God's presence as two of our team members helped lead the worship songs with our new neighbors from Allison Hill.

As we prepared to return home after our three days in Harrisburg, we discussed since The Hill Church is so close staying involved with this community could easily continue on a regular basis. That was our challenge from God as we departed ... the relationships we developed are worth investing in further so our team is going to pray individually to find out what that next step is for each of them.

Loving, Painting, and Playing with our Neighbors: Day 2
Our Ladies Painting Party event was finally here! We have prayed, planned, and prepared for this event to bless and connect with the ladies in the Allison Hill Community for a long time. Our morning had arrived. It was such a blessing to see ladies we met at The Hill Church festival last week, residents from the neighboring Shalom House, as well as welcome new faces. We were encouraged by a good attendance of enthusiastic women and we also enjoyed babysitting some of their wonderful children.
The painting of a dandelion in the wind was accompanied by a devotional reminding the women that we are all loved by our creator (Genesis 1:26-27, 31). It was a tremendous opportunity for our team to learn more about our neighbors while serving and painting beside them! The joy and laughter in the room was contagious.  You could see and feel the weight of their burdens being lifted with each paint stroke.
Meanwhile, in the babysitting room, we tapped into the children's energy playing Pictionary, dance parties, and good old Duck, Duck, Goose! The smiles, hugs, and laughter from these children will last far longer than this weekend.
In the evening, we donned our stylish black and white serving outfits for the dinner prepared by Pastor Ricardo's talented chef brother, Jude. We felt like we were sous chefs on a Food Network show! And we were able to practice some culinary skills like peeling and cutting 50 pounds of potatoes. Six  of our team members were able to share their testimonies throughout the dinner. It was amazing to see and hear how God used their stories to make connections. We enjoyed a scrumptious meal and conversations with members of The Hill Church and families from the Allison Hill community.
And now we look forward to being with our neighbors on the last day at The Hill Church. As their motto goes, " Life is better together." We agree!

Loving Our Neighbors: Day 1
After a welcoming introduction from Pastor Ricardo in the newly named "Community Room" at The Hill Church, our team hit the ground running  by dividing and conquering our tasks for the morning. One group put their gardening skills to work and cleaned up a garden at The Shalom House after storm damage. They even had the chance to harvest some of the crops and make a delicious vegetable soup and salad. This was a farm to table experience at its best!
Another group took on the many tasks of cleaning and organizing rooms in this early 1800 church on Market Street. Walls and floors were scrubbed, offices were organized, and windows were washed . It was a floor to ceiling endeavor with many hands! Some ladies ventured on prayer walks and were able to interact with our neighbors in Allison Hill.
In the evening, we had the opportunity to babysit Pastor Ricardo's beautiful children and allow him to take his wife Christian on a dinner date. We also prepared food and painting stations for our  Ladies' Painting Class tomorrow. Our team is encouraged from our experiences for our first day and we are excited to meet more of our neighbors tomorrow!

Preparing to partner with The Hill Church in Harrisburg

Our 2017 stateside team of 13 Daybreak women are excited to serve in the community of Allison Hill in Harrisburg coming up August 11-13.

Each individual has been called by God to serve, and together we are prepared to support The Hill Church Pastor Ricardo Volcy and his team.

We've been working hard during our spirited and in-depth team meetings to connect as a group and opening our hearts and minds so we are fully prepared to serve The Hill Church and the surrounding community.

The 2017 Daybreak Stateside team is comprised of: Kelly Argot, Lorrie Blaisdell, Karen Hartenstine, Amanda Johnson, Grace Kindt, Diane Langner, Christa Laubach, Beth Reiner, Bev Rider, Stacy Salter, Maureen Shay, Dani Talarowski and Laura Williams.

Please pray for our team as we each take another step forward in our journey of sharing God's word and love.

Day 4 already?!!?!

While each day has been chock full of work, beauty, and God’s goodness, this trip has moved SO quickly! We had another beautiful day of plunging the richness of God’s will for us here in Philly. What’d we do today? Well, at the Tyson Ave campus of True Vine, we got a 2^nd coat of paint on the three children’s rooms, cleaned all the toys and chairs that were in those rooms, swept and mopped all the rooms (the crazy paint scrapings from earlier in the week were quite the little buggers to get off of everything), hung some decorative items for them, vacuumed the sanctuary, swept the stairs, and more! We were blessed with lunch made by one of True Vine’s generous members. We also got to help a family from True Vine move into a new house today! Can you believe that they were driving from Allentown to Philly every weekend to attend – AND that they were high level volunteers who show up to church (with their kids) super early every Sunday? We busted through a full size UHAUL truck, plus a minivan in about an hour (with help from a few True Vine members as well). After dinner (thanks Pastor Luis for grilling for us!), we headed back to Tyson Ave for a prayer meeting. We weren’t quite sure what to expect, but basically it was 90 minutes of Holy Spirit led, God’s presence infused time with a worship leader singing and leading us into God’s presence, and us praying silently and out loud to bless True Vine, tomorrow’s church service, and the local community. We ended the prayer meeting by partnering up with a True Vine church member, us praying for them and their church family, and them praying for us. You should be SO proud of this team! There have been fears conquered, many firsts, so much love and encouragement expressed between team members and more. This random team of 11 people is now a tight knit, affirming family. What a blessing it’s been. Tomorrow is one more full day. We’ll be running Children’s Ministry at both campuses (Wissinoming at 10:30 and Tyson Ave at 1:00). Before that we’ll be doing some cleaning and packing. After that, we’ll be spending some time sharing life with Tyson Ave members after their service, then finishing up with a few debriefs of our trip and a final bless to affirm each other as well as the AMAZING pastors we’ve worked with and the interns here supporting them and us. Good night (or well, now – good morning!)

The Treasure Hunt

Does God have a specific person that He wants us to talk to today? That was the question that Pastor Jim challenged us with this morning before we traveled to downtown Philly.  He led us in a time of listening to God to see if there was a specific word, image, or name that would lead us to a specific person.  God did indeed give us what seemed like random words, images and names.  We typed up the list, made 40 lunches, and headed to downtown Philly to spread God’s love to the homeless and see what God had in store!

We broke into groups of two, overcame our fears, and asked homeless people if we can share our lunch with them.  Many of them agreed and even let us pray for them! We learned their stories and showed that we cared.  Some people blessed us as much as we blessed them. We were all incredibly moved by being able to be the hands and feet of Jesus.

Meanwhile, we were on a “treasure hunt” for people that matched the words, images, and names that God gave us earlier.  One homeless man matched one name that we had written down.  Another was wearing a heart symbol that matched one that we had drawn.  Another person was wearing a batman symbol that we had seen.  Yet a lot of the items on the list went unmatched.  This led one group to go around to random people in the Reading Terminal Market asking strangers if they had the names that matched the names on our sheet.  That didn’t yield any results but it sure was fun! More on the treasure hunt later…

It is so apparent that Pastor Jim and Luis are completely engaged in serving and blessing Philadelphia.  They can hardly talk about anything else! They deeply want to help the neighborhoods know Jesus, love Him, and love each other.  They work hard at it.  So we sent Jim, Luis, and their spouses out on a date while we watched their kids!  After the kids went to bed, we watched the documentary http://www.letthefireburn.com/ and Pastor Jim came home and challenged us to think about what we can do in the Harrisburg area to foster racial reconciliation.  It was a tough question that we wrestled with.

We ended the night with an amazing discovery.  After affirming what God is doing in each of our lives, we circled back around to the treasure hunt.  We realized that a person matching about half of the words on the printed sheet was one of our own team members!  We took that as a sign from God that we should all circle around and pray specifically for that team member.  It was an awesome moment and a wonderful end to the day!

Paint, Prayer, and Pizza

Philadelphia Day 2 started out as a drizzly day outside, but it wouldn’t dampen our team spirit! We continued on to scraping and painting the True Vine Tyson Avenue children’s rooms. It took many hands and a lot of hard work. Luis served us a great lunch and we enjoyed sharing about the “early days” of Daybreak. We went back to work for a few more hours of painting. Then we headed out to the neighborhoods of Philly for prayer walks. Four groups spread out and canvased the areas, praying for the needs of each community. Among other things, all four groups felt the need to pray for fatherless families. After the prayer walking, Pastor Jim hosted our group at his home for dinner. We had 2 of the world’s largest pizzas, and there wasn’t much left over. After we were full, we debriefed on the prayer walking and discussed the changes happening in the neighborhoods of Philadelphia. It was great to hear the insight of Pastor Jim and an elder from True Vine. Upon returning to the Wissinoming campus in the evening we returned to another service project: We helped prepare fruit to bless the local school teachers on their last day of school tomorrow. We wrapped up with another team debrief to affirm and encourage each other. We’re looking forward to eating lunch with the homeless tomorrow and exploring Center City a bit. Thanks for all your prayer for us. We’re all healthy and loving what God is doing in and through us. 

Philly Day 1

Hi Daybreak (and family and friends!), thanks for your prayers for us today. We safely arrived in Philly at True Vine Church around 11 am this morning and enjoyed meeting Jim Rudd (the lead pastor there) as well as Luis (the campus pastor at the Wissinoming campus), and also two summer interns serving (Phil & Jamie). We were served a great lunch and toured around both of the True Vine campuses, getting to hear the stories behind how God brought about each one, led the staff/leadership of the church here, and how God is working through this amazing church family. We spent the afternoon engaging in our first service project, which was to prepare several children’s ministry classrooms at the Tyson Avenue campus to get a coat of paint – there was some old paint that needed to be stripped/sanded off. It was hard, dirty, but fun work! We wrapped up with dinner, a debrief with Pastor Jim and the interns, and then a debrief of our own to encourage each other and share how we saw God use our team members throughout the day. Tomorrow, we’re looking forward to continuing the painting project and seeing what else God has in store for us. 
                                               

Our first team to Philly!

Daybreak is sending our first ever team to the City of Brotherly Love! This is also our first team we've sent that didn't require a plane flight, and we are looking forward to this new friendship and partnership with True Vine Church Community.

The team pictured here has been training for the past 6 weeks, getting to know each other through team-building, personality development, story-sharing, prayer, and building community & trust with each other.

We will be in Philadelphia from June 17-21, 2015, working with the church family at True Vine. We hope to help complete some work projects at their two campuses, share a meal with the homeless and eat WITH them, organize food for the local Food Bank, serve their church family on Sunday morning, and who knows what else?!?!!!

Thank you for praying for us as we travel, as we serve, as we experience God in a brand new place, and for sending and supporting us!  We hope to update this blog as often as we can.  Just remember that no news is good news if we don't get around to it one day!

Heading home.

We are on our way home.  

Our flight leaves New Orleans at 3 pm local time.  It has been a great week and while we are all glad to be heading home we are also saddened to leave this experience.  

We spent the week on a new build at 638 Georgia Street in Gulfport MS.  While we did not get quite as far on the build as we had expected we can see that while we were here to serve Habitat for Humanity God had plans to work in each of us. Each of us saw and met God in a different way this week and I think that the experience has changed each one of us permanently.  It was incredible to hear from the team each night during our debrief how God was working in their lives.  

We are excited to come home and tell our Daybreak family all about our time here on the Gulf Coast.   See you soon!

On behalf of the team,

Scott

Day 5 - New foundations and The Shed

We've been encountering challenges all week with the foundation of the home that we are working on.  The concrete foundation that was put in before we arrived is not level and we've encountered one challenge or another relating to that.  It could cause you to become discouraged however as we discussed during our debrief last night if you don't have the foundation laid correctly nothing else will be squared up and the whole house will be crooked.  It is very much that way in our lives.  If we dont have a firm foundation with God our lives will be difficult.  I think God is speaking to each of us differently through the work on this house.  

Yesterday was Thursday and if you have ever been on this trip Thursday is the night where we take the team out to The Shed. So last night we loaded up the van and headed out.  The Shed is a local BBQ joint that has received national spotlight attention because of its food and atmosphere.  The good is excellent however the atmosphere . . . well let's say if you didn't know about it you would drive on by considering health inspections and how a place like that could remain in business. But you would miss out on so much could food.  We invited a couple of the Habitat folks and their families to join is and had a great time getting to know them more.  Below are a couple of pictures from the Shed last night. 

We are all doing well.  We are tired but continue to have a great time and have real grown close.  See you all soon.  

In Christ,

Scott

Day 4 of our trip, Day 2 at the work site

Our morning started with another delicious meal prepared by our hosts here at New Life. Our team spends our drives to the job site enjoying a time of devotion and worship together as a team which sets our day off on a great foot!

The weather has been sunny with temperatures in the mid 80's with high humidity.  Today we were blessed with a nice breeze! Our main focus today was hanging the joists for the flooring.  It has been great to watch our team work together not only with each other but with the team from Habitat.  The best word to describe the atmosphere at the job site is JOY.  It has been such a blessing to be the hands and feet of Christ while enjoying making new friends here in Biloxi!

This week has been full of so many great moments together as a team.  Each team member has been growing in their own individual way while encouraging each other along the way.  We have enjoyed many memorable moments together and can't wait to share many stories with all of you when we return.  

We feel all your prayers and know that God is present and working in and through all of us this week. We are looking forward to returning to the work site for day 3 in just a few short hours!  In the meantime enjoy a few pictures from the work site! 

Full of Christ's Love,

Scott, Nate, Doug, Melissa, Kelli, Cyndi, Jeff, Ron, Mark

  

Day 3: First day on site

Whenever you are on a Short-Term trip you always have to expect things to change.  As of late last week we were told that we would be working on rehab, so I think we had some hope that we might get to work along side the family who lives there, however, when we arrived at Habit for Humanity of the Mississippi Gulf Coast on Tuesday morning we discovered that we would be working on a new build.  And when you talk about getting to work on something from the ground up, well that's what we are doing.  When we arrived at the job site we found only a concrete foundation there and we jumped in and got started right away.  Here's a picture of our team just before we headed out to the job site.

The thing that always amazes me is how God assembles a short-term team, He always places the right people on these teams for the right reasons.  Sometimes you don't always see that until you get into the thick of things.  But when you realize that this isn't a team assembled by Daybreak, rather it's a team assembled by God it is an awesome thing.

On Tuesday we were able to get a good bit of work done, everyone pitched in and worked hard in the warm Biloxi climate.  It was in the high 80's with high humidity.  By the end of the day we were all ready to get out of the heat and get cleaned up.  We are staying with New Life Ministries here in Biloxi and boy do they know how to host a team.  We arrived back here last night to a great dinner of roast beef and mashed potatoes that were very tasty.

We'll be heading back out to the job site this morning and we'll be starting our day here at about 8 a.m. CST.  We appreciate your prayers and ask that you continue to pray for safety and strength.  We all want you to know that we are doing well.  

Thanks,

Scott

Day 2: Tourism and arrival in Biloxi

The morning started out with a walk to see the sunrise over the river for some. While the rest of us stayed at the hotel to prepare for a day of tourism.

After a hearty breakfast at the hotel we headed out to start our sightseeing.  It did't take long for us to find Cafe Du Monde and have Beignets!! YUM does not even begin to describe these delicious treats!! Reminded some of us of funnel cake!

We enjoyed lunch at the Gumbo Shop in the French Quarter and before long we found ourselves stopping for more of those delicious Beignet's!! They even make Pig Nay! 

We spent the remainder of the afternoon on a 3 hour hurricane Katrina tour.  After our tour we all loaded up to make the 90 mile trip to Biloxi MS.  We were welcomed to New Life by Ken and Miriam who also had a delicious home cooked meal ready for us.  

After settling in to our "home" for the remainder of the week we enjoyed an amazing time of team affirmation and encouragement.  We are excited to begin working with Habitat for Humanity tomorrow morning and looking forward to God using us as his hands and feet.  

Please continue to pray for safety and that God will continue to center, grow, fill and use our team!

In Christ's Love and on behalf 

of the entire team,

Melissa

Biloxi Travel Day 1 evening update

After arriving without difficulty, incident, or complications our team of nine got a bit of time to recoup at the hotel.

It took a bit to figure out where to eat. We finally settled on the Grand Isle. The food was good and the conversation engaging.

We returned back to the hotel for a short team time of sharing about the day. Pictures books and smiles remind us of our loved ones at home.

Tomorrow, there is rumor of a group of team members who are planning to wake before dawn. The desire to watch the sun rise over the Mighty Mississippi River.

What is for certain is that we will take a city tour that will focus on the devastation that Hurricane Katrina perpetrated upon the city of New Orleans.

After that we will be head up to Biloxi to our camp site.

Thank you to all of you who are praying for us. We felt it today.

for the team,

Nate

We are on our way!

We all got up early and arrived at Reagan National this morning.  We've had our breakfast (isn't airport food awesome!) and we are sitting at gate 4 waiting for our flight.  At 11:40 we board our Southwest flight to head straight to New Orleans. Today will be a day of travel and taking in a little of New Orleans culture and sights.  

So here we sit waiting to take off. Keep us in your prayers this week as we now head out to be the hands and feet of Jesus.  

We leave in just a few days!

We had our last team meeting and we are ready to go.  Well, except for the packing . . . and wrapping up projects at work . . . and things at home, I think you get the idea.

The Biloxi team has met together 6 times over the last two months and we've gotten to know each other quite well in that time and we are now prepared for our trip to the Gulf Coast where we'll be the hands and feet of Jesus.  Thanks to all of our prayer partners, financial supporters and the Daybreak family, none of this is possible without you and it is incredible to know and feel the support we are receiving from you, so thanks!  Here's a picture of our team:

While we don't officially leave until the morning of October 5th, the time we spend together prior to the trip is so important and helps all of us tremendously.  We're not going on this trip as 9 strangers but as 9 friends who've already shared quite a bit through team building exercises, prayer and just getting to know one another. As you can see in the picture below we can be a little crazy :)

So as we are in the final days of our preparation for heading off to Biloxi please keep us in prayer.  All of us have a lot to do this week as we prepare to leave our families and our work for a week.  We've all got anxieties ranging from will I get it all done to what did I forget to pack.  Please pray for peace in our preparations, safe travels and a safe week of working with Habitat for Humanity.  You can be praying for Ron, Doug, Jeff, Melissa, Kelly, Cindy, Mark, Nate and myself by name.  

If anyone wants to see us off, we'll be meeting at the church at 6 a.m. on Sunday morning.  

Thanks,

Scott Biggs

A Little Blurb From Each Of Us

Today (this was actually written LATE last night) was our final day on our two worksites, and although we haven’t yet had our final debrief about the full effects of this trip on our personal journeys, the experience has been incredible.  God has revealed Himself in some amazing ways, spoken things to us we did not expect but we welcomed, and the memories created will forever go down in our histories as some of our best moments with Jesus.

We wanted to give you a quick snapshot from each person on our team.  So enjoy the updates, and this will be our final entry before we fly home tomorrow.  And yes, even though we won’t get into Mechanicsburg until after midnight, we WILL be at Daybreak on Sunday morning.

Thank you ALL for your prayers this week.  We never could have done this without you.

From Mark: What an incredible week! The people of the Gulf region have an incredible spirit and perseverance and it was a remarkable privilege to spend the last several days serving and interacting with these great folks. We had the pleasure of building homes with the dedicated and inspiring people of Habitat for Humanity and found out very quickly that we were not simply building homes, we were building hope within the community. I am amazed by the number of people who have expressed their sincere gratitude for the small part we have played in the continuing massive renovation process. Although the time has gone by very quickly and I love the Daybreak Biloxi team (the Mighty 11)I miss my family greatly and look forward to seeing you all tomorrow. Love you, Lu, Alex, Todd, Kara and yes…you too Nala, our cat! See you tomorrow!

From Jeff B.: Katrina still leaves her mark these many years later – physically, economically, emotionally. Not sure what I was in for when I signed up, but I hoped my work might help someone. In the end, I am leaving with far more than I contributed to the Gulf Coast. God spoke to each of us in some way. Our team was a joy. Hi love….I miss you, and can’t wait to see you tomorrow!          

From Mel:  This team has knocked my socks off!!!  God has spoken to us individually and as a team, and the moments where I’ve thought to myself, “I love my job, I love my job” have been endless.  Highlights for me included relationships with the Habitat staff, a great connection with home owners, a killer team co-leader, personal time with God, all the laughter, and deep, life-changing conversations with my teammates.  Thank you BFF’s & prayer partners for all of your prayers – they were felt a lot!  Family, my neck is feeling great and I haven’t had any trouble with it all week.  Deb, this trip was only made possible because of you… seriously.  Scott Kaplin, I could not have imagined this trip without your incredible wife – thank you for everything and for allowing me to share this week with her.  John, I can’t wait to share everything I’ve learned this week with you – I miss you and love!!!

From Andy: Real quick, if you need any sanding done just give me a ring. Me and the electric sander have become best buds. Seriously, I was looking forward to helping build a house this week. I had no idea God was going to teach me about what true serving looks like. Hint, hint, building the house is just the vehicle. What I learned from my teammates this week peeled back another layer of my soul, and I will always be grateful for their trust and friendship. It was awesome to show the image of Jesus to others, and see his image in others. A guy name Slim rocked my world. I will never forget him as long as I live. Maureen, I Love You and will never be able to re-pay your prodding for me to take this trip. Kaci, your journal was inspiring. Rock Star!!! Brendan, I missed seeing you after school each day. All my prayer partners, I felt your strength all week. I can’t wait to get home to share some of my experiences with all of you!

From Jason:  What an experience! This has easily been one of the most positive and powerful experiences of my life. In addition to helping to rehabilitate a house by operating seven different types of power tools and at least a dozen hand tools in order to demo a few walls, build an interior posts, and hang soffit, I had the opportunity to do so much more. I had the pleasure of serving alongside my team members throughout the week to give hope, and show Christ’s love to the people of the Mississippi Gulf Coast. I look forward to returning home to share my experiences with family and friends and hope to continue some of the great things we experienced this week, including peacefulness, prayer, deeper conversations, and stronger relationships.

From Alicia:  This has been an absolutely amazing week filled with so many blessings.  In addition to operating some power tools, going under the house (again!), getting up on some scaffolding and doing whatever else was needed, I grew closer to each person on our team and grew in my relationship with Jesus Christ.  Interacting with the Habitat site crew, Brad and Paul, was awesome.  We also got to spend some time with Mark, the Habitat site manager we worked with when I came with the 2010 team.  Each person we encountered showed us so much love and grace.  And it was such a blessing getting to share this experience with Jason.  Our marriage has grown stronger because of this trip.  While here, we have done so much more than help build a house; we built life-long relationships.  To all my friends and family, please know that I love and miss you and I’m looking forward to seeing you soon.  Dad – I miss you!  And give Emmitt a big hug from us!

From Matt: This has been a truly blessed week. We came here to be a blessing to others and come away feeling we were the ones blessed. I met several wonderful and spiritually mature young men. Brad, our site leader, and Paul, his assistant, they are true servants and have a deep, deep faith. We heard a testimony from Mark, who was our site leader on my last trip, WOW! It was amazing. I felt as if God was speaking to Lesa and I directly through him. There were many more moments to share, when we get back. I missed you Abi, Joey and Noah, see ya soon.   

From Lesa:  Wow!  I just have no idea where to start.  I have had an amazing week and have once again been blown away by how awesome my God is.  I came here to build houses and spend some time with Matt and ended up with something else entirely. Matt and I served at separate sites and I did VERY little actual building (9 pieces of soffit in 3 days is less than impressive!)  But God’s plans are ALWAYS better than my plans and I have been overwhelmingly blessed by this trip and my precious teammates.  And to think this trip was not my first choice!!!!!  Melissa and Wally, thank you so much for sacrificing your convenience to make this trip possible for Matt and I.  You are such a blessing to me and I am so glad I count you as friends.  Thank you JR for STAYING WHERE YOU BELONG!!!  Abi, Joey and Noah, I miss you all and love you so much.  I can’t wait to come home and be with you again.  And yes, Momma and Daddy have surprises for you!!  See your really soon!!

From Jeff G.:  A truly amazing week!  I spent most of the week on scaffolding and ladders doing some hard but rewarding work.  I am just amazed at the spirit of the people in this region.  They are so gracious and inviting.  Everywhere we went, we were blown away at the gratitude they showed us for just being here.  It was my honor to serve them humbly.  God has done so much here and I am blessed to be a small part of it.  I came here as one of eleven on this team but I am going home with relationships that have bonds that will never be broken.  A ton of laughs, tears, phrases, and stories have made this one special week.  Thanks to everyone who provided support to me.  It was evident.  Most importantly, thanks to my best friend for giving me letters to start each day.  I love you so much Jan and cannot wait to see you tomorrow night and share this experience with you.

                          

From Beth: This has been one of the greatest experiences of my life! I am just amazed by our God. He has demonstrated over and over again this week what a good God He is and that He has a plan for each of us…AND IT IS GOOD! The people on this team are amazing, the people at Habitat are amazing and the people at AmeriCore are amazing. I am truly blessed! Cameron & Emily I love you more than cheesecake! Miss you!  Can’t wait to see you and tell you all about this experience.

From Robin:  In reflecting on my experience here in Biloxi, I was reminded earlier today that I was a “last minute addition” to this team.  I have had a fantastic week with the team and I am so glad I said “YES” to come down and join God in His work here in Mississippi.  This week has been another life-changing experience for me. I had an incredible opportunity to lead part of our team on one work site, while Mel led the rest of the team at a second work site…we saw God show up in incredible ways and I find myself, once again, in awe of God’s faithfulness and goodness in my life.  I, too, learned how to use many different power tools this week, engaged in some serious demo, learned how to hang soffit, got to suit up in a Hazmat suit, ate some yummy BBQ at the infamous SHED and had many incredible moments of relationship-building with our site crew and teammates.  God is clearly at work here in the Gulf and He showed His favor on us as a team as we made ourselves available to be used by Him.  Of course, I am excited to return home to see my family…Alexia and Megan…I will be home soon (and I am bringing home a little surprise for each of you).  Babe, THANK YOU for your support…it means the world to me.  I Love You and will see you soon!! 

We'll be at BWI tonight at 9:45 PM.  Probably won't get back to Daybreak until after midnight, maybe 12:30 PMish.  If anyone is waiting for us and wants to know exactly when we'll arrive, call my or Robin's cell phone.

A Few Extra Thursday Details

This is our final workday on the Mississippi Gulf Coast doing God’s work in two locations, yesterday was a great day for our team. Spending a glorious day under the leadership of Brad and Paul from Habitat for Humanity, the entire team spent the day together in Pascagoula on the new home build.

One of our team members, riding the Daybreak Church wave, said “on this trip we are one team serving in two locations!” And we’ve embraced the separate sites. But, honestly, it was sweet spending a sun splashed day together doing God’s work as one team.

We were introduced to Glenn and his two sons. A Daybreak team helped re-build Glenn’s house in 2008, and still four years later you see the genuine gratitude dripping off him. It helped show our team yet again how building homes is just the vehicle driving the relationship train.

Glenn’s oldest son, Kevin, told us “If you want genuine Mississippi Gulf Coast hospitality on a plate, go to The Shed.” So our team went to the barbeque shack last night.

Most of the male members went with The Sampler – one brave sole tackled the Jumbo Sampler. It was six meats and three side dishes. How can you possibly share a Sampler?? Let’s just say “audible eating” (lots of hmmmm’s and groans) was the order of the night for the male team members.

As we get ready for our final workday, our somewhat lack of youth in our team is pretty evident. Lots of moaning, Advil and Tums.

But today is New Day and Let Us Rejoice In It. One team at two locations doing God’s work. Our prayer this morning was to make today a new beginning. Amen.

Posted by Andy, our resident journalist (on behalf of the entire team)

Our Thursday Together

We’re too tired to write much, so here is a look at our day in photos.  It was the only day that all 11 of us got to serve on the same home, we went to visit Glenn & his family (one of our home owners from 4 years ago), we got to see the Gulf, we ate yummy barbeque at The Shed, and we had a great debrief time tonight with some awesome moments of affirmation.

Enjoy the pics!

P.S.  The plan is to have someone else post more in the morning before we leave for our final day of work…