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!