Last Day!

Last night we had a little worship time with our little girls' choir and observed the Lord's Supper. Garry read scripture of when Jesus had prepared His disciples for the Last Supper and Phil led us through communion. Later, we had a bonfire where fellowship, singing, and s'more-making occurred! It was a nice, fun, cool last evening together.

Today was the last day!

Both construction crews finished yesterday afternoon and went to each other's sites to check out the colorful shelves and new windows at the Baptist Community Center and the playground and refurbished shed at the Baptist Friendship House!

At the Baptist Community Center, they played games and said their goodbyes!

The kids and recreation group at the Friendship House made "God is LIGHT." 1 John 1:5 t-shirts, had snacks, and played on the NEW playground all morning! They were so excited and had so much fun! It was very hard to leave the kids today.

As far as I know, we all arrived safely back home!

It was such a wonderful week. I know that we go on these missions to hopefully change the lives of others, but I always come back changed; I always come back with something new to pray about, something new learned, new friends, more passion and hopefulness. I come back closer to my church family and to Jesus Christ. I know that we did leave some kind of impact in Roanoke; a pretty playground, new windows, a refurbished shed, and shelves for Pat Carter to get a little more organization in the Center. It was one of the best weeks of my life.

God is good!

Love & Blessings,

Hilliary

Day 4!

The worship was led by the girls of the trip last night! They picked the songs; including "Lord, I Lift Your Name on High" which they danced to! Hopefully we'll be able to get some footage on here for you all to see. (: We discussed prayer and why we do it! Garry helped us come to the conclusion that our all-knowning God tells us to!

Later, all the girls, ages 6 to 19, had a big sleepover! It was SO FUN!

Meredith, Karleigh, Cara, Melody, Avery, Jillian, and Hannah at the slumber party!

Everyone has made GREAT progress this week! Almost all projects are FINISHED!

At the Baptist Community Center, Phil and Garry (yes, Garry Bone) washed all the new windows! The storage shelves are painted all kinds of fun colors! Tomorrow, the children will put their handprints and names on the shelves! With the help of Jason (yes, Jason Byrd).

The playground and shed ARE finished at the Friendship House!!!! The crew finished painting the jungle gym and stained the new picnic tables! They just has some cleaning up to do this afternoon! (It'll be done as I'm writing this post!) The shed looks SO great! Check out the Baptist Friendship House ministry HopeSHED at this website: http://www.hopeshed.org/. The HopeSHED is the shed that the crew just finished!!!

The recreation crew at the Community Center had just as many kids today as they had yesterday! How great! They played games and had snowcones! The crew gave out flashlights to demonstrate that Jesus is the LIGHT! (Our theme for the week!) Tomorrow, everyone will gather at the Community Center for a cookout with all of the children and their families around that area.

6 siblings are being put in foster care today. They will be separated. Please, pray for them and their family. Pray that the Lord will place them where they need to be and get God's love and care through the foster families.

At the Friendship House, we played games and did some crafts! The kids made Salvation necklaces and painted pictures! 5 children came to the House today. They loved watching the construction crew put the final touches on the now beautiful playground!

Joye's Bible study keeps growing! 12 ladies came to the Community Center today! Garry came to have lunch with the ladies. He was about to sit down to eat, and Joye said "Garry, sit down. Pat won't bite!" and Pat said, "I won't bite. I don't have any teeth!" Hahaha! So fun!

Today's weather is AWESOME! It is cool and sunny.

Tonight, we will observe the Lord's Supper during worship, our last devotion together! God continues to bless us with health and safety all week! Praise Him!

Cindy and her kitchen crew are making their last Walmart run this afternoon! (Hopefully.) They all have been so wonderful providing us all with wonderful meals and snacks!

Love & Blessings!

Day 3!

Last night, we had devotion time outside! The cool evening air felt great! We had a wonderful time of fellowship, worship, sharing, and learning! We talked about why us Broadus people go on these mission trips. We've decided that we all love the fellowship so much! We always meet new people and get to know our church family better! Garry spoke about making right decisions, expecially early in life; making the right decisions with family, friends, and yourself (healthwise, mentally, and spiritually)! After group devotion, a cut throat game of UNO began.

Day 3 is here already?!

Work is most definitely progressing at the work sites!

At the Baptist Community Center, all 21 windows have now be REPLACED! The crew finished the shelves and are now painting them all sorts of beautiful and fun colors!

The construction crew at the Friendship House have finished putting the new timber around the playground, put a third coat of red paint on the swing set, scrubbed the slides, and are getting ready to paint the jungle gym! Lots of mulch is being moved around! The kids are SO excited as they watch the crew fix up their play ground! Some guys from the other construction crew came to help insulate the shed behind the Friendship House! They have been cleaning it out and and getting ready to refurbish! The shed will be used to store food to be distributed through the Friendship House!

The amount of kids keeps growing at the Community Center! Today, around 50 CHILDREN came to play with the recreation crew! They turned the hula hoops into jump ropes! And stoomped on a bunch of balloons! Inside, the kids were bowling and making pictures with their thumbprints.

The same children PLUS ONE came to the Friendship House: Noah, Treasure, Justice, Jordan, and Chris; plus Sa'nae! We're getting to know the kids very well! Today, we fished in a small pond; the young kids LOVED it! We had relay race with water-filled sponges and played with the big Parachute! The kids decorated visors and had a peanut butter and jelly lunch!

Joye had 7 ladies in her Bible study today! They had a great study and a fried chicken lunch provided by another church in the area!

Everyone is enjoying the cooler weather. It should be in the lower 60s tonight! We're excited.

Keep us in your prayers!

Gina sweats hearts!

Blessings!!!

Day 2!

Last night's devotion went very well, with singing and sharing. We discussed servanthood with Garry and Jesus' example of washing his disciples' feet. Worship was led by Hilliary and Tim. After testimonies and prayer, we all spent time with family and friends. And a good game of Mexican Train Dominoes!

Relaxing after the recreation camps!

We had another great day today! Starting out with a Shoney's qualified breakfast! Sandra spent all night broiling bacon for everyone this morning! Jean made some fabulous, and fluffy, pancakes! Priscilla (Leona) scrambled up some delicious eggs. Cindy and the crew are AWESOME! They have put a lot of thought into feeding over 60 people 3 meals a day this week! We are so thankful!

The construction crews woke up bright and early to get back on the job! The group at the Baptist Community Center are still working hard on the windows and are starting to build storage shelves for Pat to organize quilts for the Women's Bible study and for the children's school supplies!

We caught Seth making sure Phil uses the skill saw correctly!

The Friendship House construction crew is cleaning up the playground and starting to paint the swing set and jungle gym!

The recreation crews were hard at play today with all of the children at the centers!

The Community Center group played games, used the big parachute, and were having fun with some pool noodles! Around 30 kids came to the Center today! The children are still rowdy but we love them!

At the Friendship House, the same kids came to play! We played with hula hoops, frisbees, bubbles, and sidewalk chalk! Keep praying for the kids in the neighborhood and around these areas!

Today, Joye's women's Bible study doubled in size! Yesterday: 3, today: 6!!! They continue to enjoy fellowship and a noon meal!

We have met these WONDERFUL Roanoke firemen! They provide us with free ice for our coolers. They are so kind and friendly! We see them about twice a day.

The weather is still warm, but bearable! Speaking of bears... A bear cub was sited around the neighborhood close to the Community Center!

Thank you all for your continuous prayers and thoughts! We are making GREAT progress in all aspects of our trip!

Love & Blessings!

Day 1!

We made it! Once we got to Ward Haven, we went toHopeTree Family Services, a troubled youth and special needs adults ministry partly sponsored by Roanoke Valley Baptist Association, and had hot dogs and bbq for dinner. We played cornhole and walked around the campus. We got back to Ward Haven, finished unloading, had meetings for the next day, and threw Will Gardner a surprise birthday party!

Both construction crews before work!

What a great first day! We have divided into four groups: two groups at the Baptist Friendship House and two at the Baptist Community Center; one construction group and one children's recreation group at each site!

At the Friendship House, 5 children showed up.

We also had some of the children from

Broadus playing, too! First, we had a devotion with the kids and a little snack. We decorated the front porch with sidewalk chalk and played a bunch of fun games! After games, the Friendship House had a block party with a moon bounce for the kids. They LOVED it! They were all so excited watching the moon bounce go up and couldn't wait to play inside! For lunch, the other children's rec group came and ate pizza with the Friendship House groups and played with the children. It was so fun! The children are so sweet and loving already!

The construction team at the Friendship House is fixing up the playground! They are having an "awesome!" time (in the words of Nicklaus Frame) and think that it is a true blessing to be working and watching the kids have such a fun time playing games and jumping in the moon bounce!

At the Baptist Community Center, over 20 kids showed! They had poptarts, one child had 4!

They split up and played games. Some of the kids get pretty rowdy, but are having a great time!

The construction team is replacing 21 windows in the Center (pictured below), many of which are difficult to remove. Of course, gaining experience is proving to help!

It was VERY HOT today. However, it's looking like the weather will be cooling down this week!

Cindy Overton and the kitchen crew continue to provide us with fabulous meals. Jean Loving remembered the PEANUT BUTTER!

Please, continue to pray for safety and God's love to be known by the adults and children in the Roanoke community.

We love you all! (: