SIFAT Reflection
So to begin with, I’m sorry I wasn’t able to update the blog while we were at SIFAT…it appears the entire city of Lineville has something against my phone, since it didn’t work literally the entire time I was in the city (not just at SIFAT). Aside from the obvious annoyances of my phone not working, it was kind of a relief to be disconnected from the virtual leash that we all carry around all day everyday.
On to more important things. SIFAT was an absolutely amazing experience. This year’s group was our “guinea pig” group. After having experienced SIFAT, my opinion is that all students should participate in this experience at least once, and that the church as a whole adopt more in-depth (more SIFAT-esq) training for all mission trips being sent out from the church. I call the trip an experience because that’s exactly what it is…we experienced different cultures and had a taste of what life is like for people around the world, and most importantly, we had a glimpse of what mission trips can look like from the receiving end. It really makes you think about what you do and how you do it, in terms of serving on a mission trip.
ReCreation…..incredible week!!
Recreation
Well….. we are driving back from NC and will be in late tonight. What an incredible week. I am not even sure if the word Incredible can adequately explain this week. God has been so faithful and worked so powerfully through our group this week. Yesterday was our final day of work. We were not able to finish our roof unfortunately because the recreation folks did not bring enough shingles. We were a little disappointed but came to the conclusion that it was not about us and that another group would come in and finish up the work. The roof was a beast to work on. The angle and landscape made it very difficult but we made it work.
ReCreation Day 3
Right now I’m sitting down on a picnic table in the field behind the ReCreation base. Lightning bugs are flying around us. it’s a picture perfect summer night in NC. The group just got done playing bracin UNO. What a crazy game. I lost. Bad. The other youth groups still stare at us when they pass. We have defiantly made our selves known. Were defiantly labeled as that youth group.
SIFAT Update 1
Hi yall i’m not on the trip but just got off the phone with jamie johnson! Everyone is having a great time up in alabama. They just finished the 24 hours in the 3rd world village. She said it was great experience for all! Our team was split up in groups and they haven’t seen each other in awhile. When they do get a chance to talk we’ll try and have a better update available. There’s no cell service where the group is staying so chris can’t update the blog. If anyone wants a message sent to them comment on this post and i’ll get it to them!
ReCreation Day 2
Hi yall it’s me! Alex Confer bringing you news fresh from ReCreation! Steve lane just read the first sentenced and told me to take out the word “fresh” due to the smell of us right now. These fans just can’t handle our awesome. You maybe wondering why we just upgraded bloggers. It’s because Andy has poison oak and can’t move. Just kidding he’s just lazy, so now I’m doing the dirty work. In fact andy is laying on his personal cot with his own fan blowing on him. Take it from me he’s very comfortable.
ReCreation day 1
Well, we are off to a great start!! It was a great drive up and we made some great time here. Everyone slept!!! We only stopped to get gas, two Rest area stops, McDonalds and that was it!! We got here around 2:45ish…wow!! When we arrived we went and set up our rooms. we are in a large room that we are sharing with 9 middle school students from First UMC Orlando. There is no AC so it is hot! After getting settled in and being the first group here we went out to the fields to play some soccer. Almost everyone played and we had a great time. We play what is referred to as Madision County soccer where there are no boundaries and no rules basically. Full contact is allowed and many people got knocked down. It then started to rain and we all continued to play. At the end of our game we were all nasty and stinky. It was when we went to go shower that we found our that we were not allowed to shower that night or this morning. Many of the girls went and rinsed off using the hose outside. Let the adventures of being stinky begin!
Just arrived at ReCreation! 3 Hours Early
We have all safely arrived at ReCreation! We are the first group here. A whole 3 hours early! That’s right! We were early for something!!! Our rooms are set up (we got first pick) and now madison county soccer is about to go down here in NC! More details latter.
SIFAT
The journey begins in about 1 day! Are you ready?!? Keep checking here for updates, I’ll post as I’m able while we are in Alabama.
The Thursday Day
It’s always a bit rough getting back started after a day off. We probably stayed up a bit too late last night because we weren’t quite as tired, and it was a quiet morning around the breakfast table. But we got up, had our morning devotions and left for the worksite in silence because the devotion was about meeting God in the silence.
We were painting today and our group totally rocked it! We worked hard all day (fortunately it was overcast most of the day) and got the vast majority of the house painted. There is some trip and touch ups left. As we were cleaning up it started pouring rain, so we’ll see how much of our paint job has to be redone tomorrow.
We came back had an awesome dinner…Jamie tried watermelon for the first time…and loved it! We then had a time of worship, and Chad talked about Nicodemus which prompted a great discussion on why we feel like Nicodemus sometimes and will only come to Jesus “at night” when no one else will see us. We talked about why it’s hard to live as a Christian even around friends who also are Christians.
Then more dodgeball and now bed time. One more day! Keep praying for us and for Ms. Dora!