Mission Trip! United in Service!

Mission Trip started off great! Everyone met their teams, got to know people from other churches, and got to worship together! We are in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. Our living center consists of the churches: Journey of Faith from Round Rock, Corsicana First, University from Fort Worth, and Acton. We are having a great time with everyone and getting along great! We came here with 18 projects to do, and hopefully we will return home with every single one completed! There are 9 teams made up of many youth and two or more adults. Our theme for the week is "United in Service."

Sunday was the start of our trip. Long drives, restroom breaks, and fast food sums up the day. When we all got to the living center and set up our stuff, we went to the felowship hall to meet our teams! Each team is made up from different people from different churches. Worship was great, with music, a message, and more! Eventually, after a long day everyone was excited to go to sleep! No one could contain their excitement of the week that would unfold.

Manic Monday! Monday was a day of waiting and beginning. Many teams waited on lumber and fellowshipped with each other for hours. After the lumber was delivered, each team started working hard and fast. Many teams started by digging post holes and cutting wood into boards. Then the wheelchair ramps started coming together, piece by piece, board by board, and nail by nail. After the long work day, everyone was ready to return to the church for showers, and it was raining! Dinner was fantastic, delicious, and filling. Dessert was amazing too! Then at worship two Acton youth gave the message and it was very moving. We also sang songs, danced in the aisles, and praised the Lord. We had "family time" that night with our churches to talk about our week. Then it was lights out!

Tuesday! Tuesday, everyone was ready to go out and spread God's love. The teams were ready to go out and get started working as fast as they could! The only problem was it was raining. We were delayed on our start time, but everyone tried to do as much work as possible inside, so they wouldn't have to be in the rain. It passed over about lunch time, and everyone was ready to start working even harder, now that they could work outside. The wheelchair ramps were starting to look almost finished and the teams went to showers. Dinner was great again, and dessert was sweet and savory. Worship started and we were singing songs, when we saw a man, whom we did not know, and he was praising the Lord. We had an amazing guest speaker that night, who made us laugh, and made us really think about what the Bible is trying to say to us. It was a great worship service and then we went to bed once again!

Wednesday! Wednesday has just started. The Community Men of Pine Bluff, cooked us a delicious biscuit and gravy breakfast. We got to fellowship with them and hear one of their speakers. The teams were very eager to go to their work sites and finish the jobs they had today!

We cannot express how much excitement we have for the rest of the week. It is going to be great!

Courtney Traylor