Back!!!

Well I am back from the Mississippi trip with CBC and here is how it went.

Sunday

Drove for hours on end from Crossroads to Mississippi. took some pictures made some awesome videos and laughed a lot with friends. Then got situated in the camp and unpacked.

Monday

Woke up at about 6ish and got work crews situated for the week and headed out for our first job.
My group was Alexis, Nicole, Chelsea, Mary, Scott, Pierce, Chris, Nate, Stephen, Brandon, Eric, and me. Our first job was a lot of yard work... we didn't have a lawn mower =*( but we did find a nice truck in the trees =) after we finished we went to a second house and did some more yard work without a lawn mower.

Tuesday

Woke up at about 6ish and things went a little smoother than monday since teams were set up already. First house we went to Alexis, Nicole, and I made a nice stone path for the woman we were working for, while the rest of the team helped her clean out a tattered tent full of rotten food and other junk. While Brandon, Pierce, Stephen and Scott all went up to another house and started putting in insulation. After the team that was with me was done the lady we were working for brought us some popsicles and we sat around and she told us some pretty cool stories (ask in person for more details.) When Scott came back to pick us up we went to another womans house with the intent of doing some work on the door and the trim as well as powerwashing her deck and staining it. Well powerwashing took two days, and we ended up doing some extra work for her like cleaning up her garage and I mowed her lawn.

Wednesday

Woke up at about 6ish and things got started really quickly. We went back to the lady from tuesday and finished powerwashing her deck and we stained the first half. We had a half day and went back to camp at around 12 and then went to the beach for the rest of the day. I got sunburnt really bad =(.

Thursday

Woke up at about 6ish and we went to work about 8. We finished with the womans deck from tuesday and wednesday. We also ended up doing some touch up paint. That got finished at around 3 and Scott took us to Sonic.

Friday

Woot! last day again got to work at about 8. But today we hooked up with Brent and Ian's team and helped take down some trees and brush from a natural park. Also cleaned the outer edge of a pond, which was disgusting btw. Had a nice concert put on by Chris. that boy has some rythm! Got done with that and went back to camp got showers and just sat there until group pictures. Seniors went to dinner with brent and Charlie while the rest of us had brisket. went to the beach afterwor where people shared what they had learned.

Saturday

Packed up and drove home with like 3 stops for gas and food. got back at around 6:40 or so. unpacked and headed home!

Random events

I think over all the pictures that were taken this week we will easlily have over 3,000. Well the boys tent had an AC leak which made the floor all wet which was not fun. The beach was a giant sandbar that went out for about a quarter of a mile =/. We had two Birthdays that week Jared Dahl and Mrs. Carrol Stewart! Shelby gave me a black eye while playing basketball with her, Charlie, and Macy (but I will say we are even because I hit her in the eye first lol). One Group had a small old lady who was more beast that a lot of people I know and shot snakes with a 12 guage shotgun. Julie made a tree fall over by yelling,"Your mother was a toothepick. Sunburns were very common. Chris played "Hey Jude" on a cooler

What I learned

What I learned over the course of the week in Mississippi is that no work is useless and shouldn't be taken for granted, and not to judge a person for what it looks like they have. For example on the first day the yard work we did seemed pretty pointless since the houese was just a frame, brick, and broken windows and nobody lived there. But at least we gave the neighbors something pretty to look at. Also when we first got to the ladies house on tuesday, the one with the deck that needed staining. She had a really nice house for all the other houses we had been to, and all she had us doing besides the deck were some small handyman jobs which I thought her husband could easily have done. Later I found out that her husband had died 5 months after Katrina. I felt horrible that I had felt bitter about doing those small things for her since I thought her husband could do them. I wish I had never had those thoughts and had gone into her house willingly and with a smiling face instead of somewhat bitter with a smiling face.

This is my 2 cents