Month: May 2016

Posted on

OKC 2016-Our Return Video

Our Return Home

Hilltop
It’s always fitting and bittersweet to end our trips on a Sunday. We begin our day with worship at Hilltop. It’s nice to be part of a church here. Matt’s preaching is solid and challenging, but you also see how a community church reaches out to its neighbors.

They presented gifts and recognition to the 3 High School graduates they had, they promoted a car and motorcycle show they plan in the next few weeks, so you saw how they cared both inward and outward.
Praying for their graduates



Lorin and Laura
Lorin met up with Laura, as she’s been emailing since we met her three trips ago when we first started staying at Hilltop. They caught up, and Laura gave Lorin a custom shirt she had made with “Team Lorin” printed on the back. Lorin also received some artwork from one of the children at Hilltop



The Greenwoods
Joyce and Robert joined us for worship. This was all part of our growing cultural experience. Robert was there to present Art with his bolo tie, in response to Art’s compliment. Prior to the presentation, Art checked with Joyce if there was anything special he should do in response, she said a gracious response was all that was necessary.




I pulled Joyce aside, saying I was a little hesitant to compliment her and I didn’t know how their culture handles appreciation vs gift giving. She suggested that I say “that’s a beautiful watch” is less complicated than “I like your watch”

The generosity and sharing attitude of the Native American/American Indian reminded Craig of parallels with the Hawaiian people… and how they too had given much away when being visited by outsiders.
Presented with the tie by Robert, Art graciously accepted and we prayed all together with Matt and Mike from Hilltop.




S & B Burgers
We went to S&B Burgers, another good find from Pam/Jeff/Tommy, for food and fellowship. It started settling in that this would be the last meal as a team, and specifically with Denise and Paul.

Shakes are pretty good here, yes, that’s a toasted marshmallow on the “S’mores” shake


Our last meal together
Airport
We arrived a bit early, but it gave us time to chat. We prayed for Denise and Paul, and some tears were shed as we bid each other goodbye. 





LAX
Our flight home went well, we met some folks along the way, and we landed at LAX, having a quick team meeting before we went out to baggage claim.


Our friends and family came out to greet us, Jeff’s kids made some signs for him, and they received the gifts he had picked up while out in OKC


It was a sweet return back to home, but part of our hearts were still out in OKC. The newbies were now “vets” and we all knew a bit more about crown moulding, American Indian Culture, Kosher practices and God’s hand in all we do.


We’ll be posting the photo libraries, and info on our presentation coming up in the next few weeks.
Thanks for your support!







Thanks Gary, once again for a great video

Posted on

OKC 2016 Day 5 – Last day at Greenwood’s

With Joyce Greenwood and her son Brent 


With Joyce and Chris Hearns in the back.





Wow. We’re done with the job site.


What a week and what a way to end it out.


Started the day at 8am at the Greenwoods home..


John did our devotional at the job site, sharing our time and message with Chris and the Greenwoods.





Robert looked extra dapper today, he was kind enough to take his friend to a funeral. Bunch of the guys liked his outfit and wanted to take a picture with our friend







Paint Paint and more paint


Team went to work painting all the trim



Jeff took on the task of cutting new cedar decorative “exposed beams” to replace the damaged ones we/he took out on our first day there



We worked on the baseboards and crown moulding for the new room, and painted the siding that had been installed in front of the once-garage. And we installed an attic ladder





Also, we saw that their TV had been sitting on a stand, so for earthquake safety, we asked if we could mount it on the wall






Storm Shelter
Coming from California, many of the team hadn’t seen a storm shelter before, so the Greenwoods were kind enough to let us take a peek







Fry Bread
By this time, we really felt like we were helping out a friend who needed some work done on their home. Miss Joyce had mentioned she wanted to make some fry bread for us on our last day, but we didn’t want to impose… but this was the second time on this trip someone had treated our entire team to a meal. 


This was the best fry bread! Someone on our team had to be held back from getting his fourth serving, and they were big!


Miss Joyce’s hospitality and warmth was remarkable





Gracious Greenwoods
Later in the day, we met Brent, Joyce’s son, who came to greet us, but also to bid us farewell.  We chatted with him for quite a while and found much in common in cultural experiences between Asians and Native Americans. There seemed to be a high value in both cultures for honor, respect and courtesy. 


So much so, that we found that Brent’s presence, and even our fry bread lunch was part of their culture, to thank us. And it might have been an insult to deny Joyce’s hospitality. So weird, because our asian side wants to not have people go to any inconvenience on our part…. 🙂


Art was complimenting Robert on his bolo tie, saying he rarely had no occasin to wear one… but little did he realize that Robert would offer it to him. Seriously. I just realized that Robert was dressed for a funeral. So of course that would be one of his nicest


Robert and Joyce will be joining us for church at Hilltop on Sunday, specifically to give it to him.


They are a very gracious people, both their tribe, and their specifically, their family


Prayer
We prayed for the house and the Greenwoods and Chris H.


And yes, you might see it in some videos, we prayed for our own Chris too. He had hurt his ankle on Monday, and re-injured it in the last hour of today.







John wrapped in Saran Wrap to hold the ice in place, which was reminiscent of our first year in Mississippi when Tommy wrapped Peter’s shoes with shrink wrap



Okay, that’s it for now, enjoy the recap video!
















Posted on

OKC 2016-Day 4 Recap Narrative :)

Going back to the Greenwoods!


Devotionals: Sorry guys, they’re so good, can’t share ’em!


Morning: Bu
Bu shared from his heart about trying to raise and encourage his kids in things, including basketball, but realized he really should be encouraging them in the growth the Lord has for them. Was very personal and very touching. So much so, I felt we had to preserve his privacy. It encouraged us more to look for God’s movement in people even more than what we want/see for them.


Praying for Bu before giving his devo….where he wrote notes on a paper plate 🙂





Evening: Chris C
Chris shared about his family, and what it’s like to have kids.. and how sometimes there can be communication disconnects on both sides, the parents and the kids… was honest and personal. And then he applied that to his personal relationship with God.. that often he’s too busy asking/talking and not listening enough. His examples were personal.. and yes, so good.. but too much for public sharing..


He ended with us spending a couple of minutes in silence, trying to “hear” from God.. was good, and different than doing so by ourselves….


As sad as I am not to share, wanted you to know that part of the good of this team is the depth of honesty they seek. Both within themselves and with their faith.


Good men and women all.


Okay, back to the task-oriented stuff:
Started out the day drizzly and cloudy…
Went to the Greenwoods, ready to work.


Chris praying for our day



Basically, everyone went to continue/further their projects.
Interior doors, including the bathroom one. Since the house has only one bathroom for all occupants (and us while we’re working there) we had to make sure everyone was warned that it would be off limits while they were changing the door.




Back door and doorbell were finished


Siding on front of once garage-now wall with a window



Chop girl was in full effect





Majority of the team was finishing up drywall work/mudding and then Chris (site guy) put up a textured coating on ceiling and walls. We waited an hour and then went to work on the trim. Window trim








Things that may not make sense:


-Chris (site guy) gave us Tshirts and some “chip clips” for snack chips. That’s what Roy is wearing on his cap.




-There is a grid like thing some people were working on. Denise discovered some of the HVAC intakes had old/dirty filters. We bought new ones, but they had to be custom cut to size.



-Tommy was talking with Joyce and found out that she wanted the backyard to be a safe area. He climbed into the tree (via a ladder) to cut down some branches that were precarious







– We make our lunches every morning and bring them to site.. Today we forgot half our lunches at the church, so had to run to Sonic to feed ourselves



Posted on

OKC 2016 Day 4-Two Recap videos!

Uh okay 
This is embarrassing… Gary is taking care of his family, and editing these videos faster than I’m able to tell you what’s going on! 🙂


Day 3 and Day 4 recaps are live!









Posted on

OKC 2016 Day 3-Return to Greenwoods and Team Dinner

After a very interesting and team reflective devotional by Roy/Tommy… 






we headed out the door to drizzly rain, heading back to the Greenwoods


Basically split into three teams


Garage
Craig, Jeff, Lorin, Patrick, 
Removing the temp OSB we put up yesterday and putting up a window.



Finishing up insulation, then…


Drywall/mudding what we could (leaving one wall exposed near electrical until the inspector came, and then we could seal the walls up, and yes, we passed inspection)









Doors
finishing up front door and back door locks (Peter obsessed on flipping the orientation of the key for the back door)
Putting up a screen door and trim on the front door









Interior Doors
Chris, Lorin, Denise and (often) Roy working on replacing interior doors to the bedrooms, closets, etc.


They got to use some new tools that made hanging them a little faster, but still, was a tough fit for some of the doors.







Chop Girl open for business
And then, Chop Girl opened for business. A common power tool we use is called a Chop Saw, where you raise and lower the circular saw in a “chopping” motion. Pam has been doing most of our chop work, where we can just yell “1×4, 38 and a half, heavy” and she cuts up exactly what we requested (a piece of wood approximately 1″x4″, cut to 38-9/16″ length)


She’s great at this job, but also someone (I think it might be her) created a little open/closed sign for her.. It was very endearing.







Donuts!
It was very sweet of our hostess/homeowner to buy us donuts today. It was an unexpected surprise!






We returned home for fast showers and out for our Team Dinner. This year, with our two site supervisors, Jose (and his son) and Chris (and his family)


Chris was able to share what’s been going on in his life, and Jose chatted and got closer to the people at his table.


Chris’ family was adorable and we all felt at home with them.


At the end, we were able pray for Jose’s continuing effort in education and leadership.


Praying for Jose



Okay, long night, some people are doing laundry (TMI)
so in the words of Chop Girl…







Oh, and almost forgot, we had posted a photo/instagram with Uncle Roy (with his permission). He had fallen asleep, and some of the team wanted to take a picture with him, as we had in previous years. Jose (who really likes Uncle Roy) saw this, he wanted in on the action.