One Last Post

Hey Everyone! It's weird to know that this is my final night on the mission trip. I have been so unbelievably fortunate to be a member of the Mac Ply Youth Group. The friendships formed with my fellow youthies from the past four years are friendships that I treasure deeply. Each year on the mission trip, I am always amazed at what I take away from the trip. To be honest, I never thought that I would take away such a religious bit from a mission trip because I like to focus on the work over the religion. I go on these missions trips becasue I believe that it's the right thing to do-- to help our fellow world citizens. I thought a lot about what my personal religious beliefs are. I am happy that we went with Next Step Ministries because this trip challenaged me to be open and non-judgemental and to think long and hard about what I believe in terms of religion. To see the work we completed on Rick's house was such a joy. I still smile when I think about nailing in ALL those nails by HAND on the roof porch. I was glad because I was able to work from start to finish on the Porch and start to finish on the front window (demo, taking out the orginal front french windows, building a frame with Jack and Henry for the smaller new window, and installing the window). The feeling when we finally were able to lift the window into the hole and it fit on the first try and then screw in the screws was SO rewarding! Finally, I'd like to thank a a few people. Thank you times a millon to Norm, Maggie, Rita, Marsha, John, and Tom! This trip in would not have happened without each of you. A thanks to Next Step for providing us with a place to stay, work, showers, and food! As I sat during prayer partners tonight, I looked around and realized once again just how much I really love youth group. Everyone is so real and so critical to the group. I gazed up at the sky of Joplin and saw hope among the stars, as if they were the light leading the city to a new future. There is a long way to go still in terms of totally rebuilding the city, but I know that we made our impact on Rick's house with all the work we completed. Yay Mac P! Love and Peace, Clara D