Category: 2016 okc team

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OKC 2017 Day 0-On Meeting the Greenwoods, Special Post


The following is more background information from meeting the Greenwoods. We got back real late last night and didn’t have the time to write a post thoughtfully. With input from team members (especially from Pam and Lorin), here is a more in-depth view of yesterday. Please join us in our continued prayers for this loving family. 

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“ Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest” Matthew 9:38

Sweat equity, some labor exchanged, is a requirement for Habitat for Humanity grant recipients. Not only does putting one’s mark in the work provide a sense of pride in homeownership, but also allows for connections to be made. That’s how the OKC team came to know Robert and Joyce Greenwood, along with their very big family. 
Robert and Joyce Greenwood are of the Chickasaw and Ponca tribe, respectively, and have been married for almost 50 years. They met in the late 60s at a local church gathering. Today they have three grown children and beautiful grandchildren whom they graciously help raise, feed, shelter and love.  

“Robert also served in the Vietnam War in which he received a purple heart (note: the Vietnam War ended 42 years ago today…thank you, Robert, for serving our country)!”- Pam

Through the determination of their eldest daughter, Gracie, they were able to apply with Habitat for Humanity to convert their garage-bedroom into a real livable space. With the help of our 2016 OKC team, two new walls were raised, insulation was installed, and an attic access-stairway was added among other upgrades. Now, the Greenwoods’ youngest daughter and her five sons can live in that space without enduring drafty winds and other safety hazards. 

“ At that time, there was a total of 8 family members living in a 3 bedroom/1 bath house.  After we left, there were 13 family members living there.”- Pam.

Many of that OKC 2016 team returned this year and we stopped by to visit. Joyce immediately welcomed us graciously into her home. We were joyous to find out that their youngest daughter had just moved into her very own home with her sons just the week prior. Now the renovated room is empty, but bursting with new opportunities for the Greenwoods to make home feel more like home. 


After a quick group picture, with their youngest granddaughter running out of the room in fear of ‘being in the photo’, we took the Greenwoods to Legacy Grill  (interesting fact: the grill was originally owned by Kevin Durant prior to his departure from the OKC Thunder). There, we learned more about the Greenwoods’ deep commitment to their family, spiritual faith, community, and marriage. 

“I could see the joy of “making merry” in the reuniting of relationship with the Greenwoods, as well as the bonding of this year’s relief team. ”- Pam

Back at the Greenwood household, we prayed for Christ to continue watching over them, for health, and for safety. In turn, the Greenwoods also gave us a blessing with heartfelt thankfulness wrought with deep emotion. The Spirit of God was surely in the room and some of us had to hold back tears during prayer.


“Ms. Joyce … remind[ed] me that when the Father has us perform a work, it always produces fruit that keeps producing more fruit.  Jesus’ description of the Kingdom being like a mustard seed comes to mind, reminding me that any work or conversion we allow God to use us in can have wonderful outcomes.”- Paul Waters


One can calculate the days and time spent with the Greenwood family on one hand. However, in those short moments, a bridge was built and a friendship was strengthened; most importantly of all, a seed was planted according to the will of God.

“Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy…” 1 Peter 1:8-9

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OKC 2016 – Day 2, at the Greenwood’s

First day at the Greenwood’s


Morning Devotional
Morning started with Patrick’s devotional on how our ways are not necessarily God’s ways.. and even in God’s economy, the last shall be first and the first shall be last…


Good thing to keep in mind as we head out to do the second (and possibly last) project of our trip, a Critical Home Repair project at the home of the Greenwoods., just South East of downtown OKC.


Rehab/Critical Home Repair
We were converting a garage into another space for the family, and upgrading doors.



We got to work with Chris, a friend and site supervisor from previous years, and he put us to work.



Two teams worked on the front and rear door, respectively, the rest of the team did demo(lition) work in the garage to take off some decorative beams that had rotted and gotten moldy, and to make room for the new walls






After the walls had been demo’d, insulation was laid in, and the walls were prepared for an inspection hopefully tomorrow.




In the meantime, on the front of the house, these enormous “beams” were removed due to rot, but also to give a more updated look.


A hole was enlarged in the ceiling to allow for an attic ladder. Unfortunately, in her efforts, Lorin had some things fall through the ceiling, including insulation and glass items. She wasn’t injured, and Patrick helped her clean up.






The majority of the team constructed the new wall (where the garage door once stood) and prepped it for tomorrow’s work.







First Baptist Church
We love Hilltop Baptist Church, where we’ve been staying for the last 3 years.


But we feel it’s our responsibility to make sure that we’re choosing the best option that is available to us.


So today, we toured and dined at First Baptist Church of OKC. It’s a beautiful church with a large gym atop the 4 story building. The church has decreased in size over the years and has a large facility that it’s trying to utilize. Since the OKC bombing, and later tornado tragedies, 

JFK sat in this pew!

The gym is enormous

We got to meet some nice folks there and appreciated the facilities. We’ll see what the future holds. It’s hard to say because, we love Pastor Matt and Hilltop.


While the group was getting our tour, whenever there was an opportunity to sit, most of them did. They’re hard working, and they’re tired 🙂




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OKC 2016-Day 1

After our visit to RRR Ranch,


the majority of the team sorted out all the clothes and items for the church’s sale.

(sorry, will have more photos later)

Hilltop Baptist is trying to raise enough funds to build a playground with equipment on the church property, but open to the public.

Evening meeting
Afterwards, there was a time singing/worship and teaching. 

Singing was led by John, and teaching David. His teaching regarded trying to serve others, especially, in areas where are often uncomfortable for us. 
David’s strengths and comfort zones are typically teaching people, but chose to serve the kids’ Vacation Bible Camp by cleaning their bathrooms. Because it was a practical way to serve the kids, but and he wanted to grow in areas that would cause him to stretch.



John leading worship and Lorin

David sharing



Afterwards, we jumped in the vans for an annual tradition, Frozen Custard with Uncle Roy. But we forgot that it usually means it’s Frozen Custard courtesy of Uncle Roy… 


His generosity might outweigh his steadfast commitment to treat us to dessert. Either way, he won and treated us all.



Thanks Uncle Roy!


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OKC 2016-Day 1 (non habitat day)

Morning
Day began with a morning devotional from Jeff regarding servanthood. He mentioned how serving others and blessing others should be our main motivation. He took note his most recent example was from his wife, days before he left, as she really took care of some of their shared responsibilities, allowing him to prep for the trip.




OKC Memorial
We went down to the OKC Memorial. A trip we have made every time we visited, but this was the first time that we were able to have time enough to go into the museum.


It was a moving experience for the team, and really helps you keep in perspective what the park outside the museum represents. The museum takes you through the tragedy of that day at a very personal level.




Actual artifacts from the blast





Lunch
Then it was a lunch, returning to Leo’s BBQ from previous years.



RRR Ranch – “Triple R” Ranch


Having met and worked with Skip on our previous trips, we accepted his invitation to come and visit. 


We got a tour of the rabbits, really big quail and “pasture” chickens (more free than free range)







On previous trips, we were impressed with his vision for building a site for retreats and people to recover. But at that time, we had encouraged him to take a sabbatical so he could find God’s focus and calling on his big plans




Pam asked him what came out of that sabbatical. 
His answer was unexpected.


He felt as much as this was a good work, and continues to grow and thrive both spiritually and practially…. that he felt God was emphasizing tending to the “widows and orphans,” and he realized his ministry was much closer to home and heart than he realized. His wife’s mother was a widow… and Skip felt called to go to Texas and tend to her. So after much thought and prayer, he has decided to downsize and sell RRR Ranch to go to Texas and care for her.


(Editor’s note: as impressed as I’ve been with Skip in the past for the plans he’s had and the work he’s done, choosing this humble path is the thing that makes me admire him most)


Okay, back at the church. We’re back at the church and about to tackle the sorting of the clothes and items for sale. 


Items of note: 

  • Tuesday will be our first work day on the site, maybe a new build, we’ll see…
  • Tuesday evening, Pam/Art will be visiting Pam’s relatives in a suburb of OKC
  • Tuesday evening, some of the team will be visiting with Aron and Ronit’s family, Peter’s relocated friends from LA, and will be attempting teaching Ronit how to cook Kosher Asian dishes. We’ll bring the Asian part, Ronit will teach us about the Kosher part


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OKC 2016 Sendoff

Today we left LA, with a sendoff from our church, Evergreensgv.org


It begins with a commissioning/prayer for our team at church, then a mini-sendoff after service where each team member is prayed for by supporters



LAX


Good news and bad news
Nice sendoff from people who drove us to LAX, everyone pretty much made it on time. Then security. Stood in line, and then a TSA terminal broke down, so it took some reorganizing and a lot of walking, but we got on the plane with 15 minutes to spare.


Arrived at OKC

Who was waiting for us at baggage claim?
Paul and Denise, our (previous) Habitat site supervisors from our visits to Mississippi, now good friends, who have joined us on their TIME OFF, to work at Habitat in OKC!









Dinner
Got the cars and ran over to our first meal in OKC, at chicken express in Norman.


While we tried to figure out just how many gizzards and livers our group would eat.. (don’t worry, we got regular fried chicken stuff too), Craig was talking to a family that was dining…


(note: Craig will be supplementing with a little more detail later)

Feeling humbled by someone’s generosity





But, when our cashier was checking over our order, Pam pulled out the team credit card, and the cashier said “No, your dinner is being paid by that gentleman” (pointing over pam’s shoulder). We turned around and started chastising Uncle Roy for his generosity… 


Roy said it wasn’t him.


It was the fellow that Craig was talking with.


He had gone up to the cashier and paid for our dinner.


We were dumbfounded. And humbled.


We thanked him and later, we prayed that we would be able to receive favor, as well as use it as an example to bless others, wherever we find them.


We showed up at hilltop, and tomorrow will be sorting through their items for a flea market sale, raising funds for a playground they hope to buy.





Home sweet Hilltop Baptist Home!


Okay, going to sleep, and sent Gary some videos to see if he can make some sense of them!

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Tornadoes this week

Pam noted that these tornadoes are South of where we’ll be…

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/05/09/no-injuries-reported-after-tornado-touches-down-in-rural-oklahoma.html

As she said…”6 more days…“

Chris noted
Fortunately, Wynnewood is about 67 miles (over 1 hour) away

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2016 Serve OKC Team Newbies

It’s that time of year again…

Our team will be going to Oklahoma City, OK May 15-22, 2016

We won’t be sending out a prayer support letter this year, so we’ll try and keep you informed on here…

but in the meantime, we’ve got three newbies for you to meet.
Patrick, John and Dave