Rule Number One of Memphis WorkCamp

Hey everyone!

I hope this post finds each of you doing well. Things are going great here in Memphis. I just want to tell you that the longer I'm here the more I'm falling in love with these kids! It's just amazing how God is letting me see His work in their hearts.

I taught my first class (EVER) on Sunday. I'd done a few smaller "classes" before but not with this many kids. I taught a lesson on the Prodigal Son or SonS as I like to call it. I enjoyed digging through the scripture and I tried to be as Brinkerhoffian as possible. All of the kids said they enjoyed class (which is rare to come from the mouth of a middle schooler). One of the boys in the class, who doesn't believe, said "I liked it. She was really enthusiastic." I was so happy when George told me that because I want them to get EXCITED about the Word, to be EXCITED about their faith, and most importantly, EXCITED about their God. For the record, I love teaching classes. That's right, sign me up.

Monday was our first night session of Memphis WorkCamp. I was overjoyed to see the Auburn group there as well as Jacob and Mr. Dale. It was good to see some familiar faces and chat with everyone. It appeared that they were having a good time and I was able to check in with the kids every once in a while.

Man, after Monday night I realized why I loved going on youth trips so much in highschool. It's the worship. You won't find a more energetic and passionate group of worshipers. If you haven't had the experience of going with a youth group on a trip (yes it can be tiring and stressful...), you should go just to be a part of the fellowship and worship. I promise God will really bless you for it! We had a great speaker that night as well.

Today was our first day of working. We arrived at the house and met the homeowner. She was an elderly lady named Mrs.Reeds. She was exceptionally sweet and grateful for our desire to clean up the yard and paint her house. We spent all of today scraping the peeling sections of paint off of the siding. We also did some major weed-a-wackin' around the yard and gathering of trash. I think it's going to look amazing when we're through. We have a mix of kids from all different churches and they're a lot of fun.

Here is a story from our experience today. Ronnie (my co-team leader) was up on the roof scraping part of siding. He yelled down to one of the kids "Hey Tyler, can you toss me that hammer?" Well, Tyler being the fella that he is picked up the hammer and literally tossed the hammer onto the roof. Well apparently the hammer had other plans in mind and decided to bounce off the roof, hit a gutter, and come hurtling back only to take a nice section of my leg with it. Don't panic. It wasn only a scrape. We got it cleaned up and bandaged well. Now we just have a lesson learned: Rule #1 of WorkCcamp is- don't throw a hammer because they are fond of obeying the laws of gravity.

Well I'm plum tuckered out as my Mama Anne likes to say, so it's bed time for me. Thanks for reading and keep Memphis in your prayers!