Mission Trip 2010: Pontiac, Michigan-DAY 3

Our "wake-up" time was an hour earlier today; which most of us felt as we slowly made our way downstairs. Since today was to be our first work day, we had additional preparations to add to our morning. We had to pack our lunches and our bags with clothes to wear following our showers.
Morning Glow was led by Clay and Erin. Their devotion was all about relationships; sustaining them to make an impact on our lives 52 weeks a year instead of just this one. They encouraged us to think about how we work as a group to sustain each other. This week we will strive not to "Catch and Release" our friendships, but to show the love of Christ year round.
We boarded the buses and made our way to The Baldwin Center to divide into our work groups for the day.

We were welcomed by the Resource Developer, Jason Gordon. Jason gave us an orientation and a short tour of the center. Meanwhile, the Day Care Center group, "Team CHABELA" had to go right to work, welcoming children and preparing breakfast. Twelve children attended "Camp Sunshine" Detroit-style. Our theme was "Have you filled your bucket today?" We taught the children that you can fill one another's buckets by doing kind things for each other. You are a "bucket dipper" if you take something out of someone's bucket by being unkind. All of our activities centered around this theme and included language arts, math, crafts, music, and outdoor time. We had lunch with them and began to develop close connections with these special children. We sang songs from a recent Vacation Bible School and closed with a relaxing quiet reflection time.

The children ate a lunch that was also served by some of our group in the Soup Kitchen at the Center. The guests of the Soup Kitchen were served Beans and Franks AKA "Beanie Weenies". Little did we realize that McKenzie would be surrounded by beans-her most-unusual phobia. She survived and helped others in the process.
One of our smaller projects was to unload two boxes of clothing that were donated to the Baldwin Center Clothes Closet.

"Team Cakesters" (named from the car construction game from last night) cleared a lot; removing broken fences and a roof and started post-holes for a new fence. Their favorite part was the removal of SEVEN nasty toilets filled with brown water, mosquito babies and tadpoles. On a lighter note, they scraped paint and applied the first coat of paint on a tool shed.

The "Gold Diggers" aptly named had a main goal to dig and take apart a playground that was not up to code and was more costly to repair than replace. The went through several layers, beginning with mulch and dirt. Next came a very strong layer of weed barrier similar to a burlap sack that had to be cut with scissors. Once they tore through that, they met the clay, which was very thick. In total, the Gold Diggers had to go through 36 inches of mulch, dirt, weed barrier, and clay only to meet up with the unbreakable reinforced concrete base. This seemed like a good time to break for lunch. A trip to the hardware store was needed to purchase the correct tools to take the playground itself apart. The highlight of the day happened within the last five minutes of their workday was when Cameron and Chandler finally pulled out a metal piece with concrete attached that they had been working on all day!

The "Dream Team" began renovations on a house that had been uninhabited for quite a while. They moved furniture, tore out carpet and tore down wallpaper. The house was less than "dreamy"-they found hair on the wall after they peeled the wallpaper and they had to use toilets that had not been cleaned in 12 years-literally. The carpet smelled of animals; some even said the animals may not have been living when they were last in the house.
Skittles AKA "Mark Skillestad" kindly recommended that his group take a break. He then laid down and never came back. While the group wondered where their leader was, he was being transported to the hospital with severe lower back pain and nausea. As it turns out, Skittles, was suffering from a kidney stone. As we write this, Mrs. Skittles is at the hospital with her husband hoping that he can pass the stone and rejoin the group. We ask you to join us in keeping him in your prayers.

After the girls had to limit their showers to 3 minutes or less, we miraculously left the high school in time to go out to eat at the World Famous Big Boy Restaurant. Although some of us had to wait quite a while for our food, the service was friendly and the food was satisfying. Chandler had the most food ever without paying for it. Mid called him a "Moocher" and nothing but it!

Devotions began with a debriefing of the day and what our strengths and weaknesses of the day. We were asked to choose our "Catch of the Day"--the person who overcame the obstacles and was basically the MVP of the day. We ended with our Bible verse and journaling about what we were prayerful, thankful, and joyful about.

Overall, the first day was exhausting, but progress was made and relationships were formed and strengthened.