DAY 1 - GULFPORT

Hey guys, Johnny here again and wanted to give you an update of what we did down South today.

Today was a HUGE work day and the team got a ton accomplished. We are actually living at the church this week. The pastor turned their children's classes into "dorms" for youth groups and mission teams to stay at the church to do relief work (more on that in a minute).

We divided into several teams and got to work right after breakfast. A good handful of students got to work in the fellowship area of the church, where we are having our meals and storing some of our stuff. They cleaned up chairs, floors, refrigerators and cabinets. After how many people and materials filter through here it was time for a good 'ole cleaning. Another team was outside in the tent, working on painting trim board that we had brought with us from Indiana. Their was an absurd amount of boards to paint, but they rallied together and finished painting all the trim in spite of some rain that slowed the project for a bit. Upstairs, the carpeting process began and two whole rooms got brand new carpet put down, students helped with the fitting, glueing and smoothing of the carpet. (Don't worry parents, none of the children were allowed to use the razor blades! )
Several more painting crews went to town and got two rooms completely painted from start to finish. A third room needs only a final coat, a fourth room got a full coat of primer and the fifth room got the finishing touches of primer added to it. A couple of detail workers started priming the doors for 4 of the rooms so that those too can be painted. We got things cleaned up, had an amazing spaghetti dinner and then had a bit of free/shower time. We gathered as a team to talk about the day, spend some time in worship and hear from YOU! I read your comments from yesterday's blog and they were a huge hit! Everyone was very excited to here from home, so keep writing!

We then gave the kids some time to journal their experiences so far. Not only did we give them the time, we gave them the journals. Not only that, but we gave them the coolest journals I've ever seen in my life. Laura Vincent, Oasis leader and scrapbooker extraordinare, put together a journal/scrapbook for every student. Each one is unique and has several pages already scrapbooked and ready for pictures of this trip. There are also several lined pages in the middle for journaling throughout the trip. The kids were very excited and the impact of the journals was huge! They will be able to remember their time spent here and what God does for a very long time. Laura, we are so grateful!

Pastor Tim came in and spent about an hour with us telling us the story of when Katrina hit and how things unfolded here. I had NO clue what we were in store for!

Here are some facts about when Katrina hit that I had no clue about:
-There was over 1 million acres of Gulf Coastlands that was obliterated by the hurricane.
-The amount of destruction in New Orleans pales in comparison to how much was wiped out in Gulfport. The only difference is that for several reasons, the news coverage was in New Orleans.
-The waters rised and moved inland as the storm approached. When the worst winds hit 35 to 42 foot waves rose and instead of breaking on the shore, went across all the water that had already risen and the waves broke directly on top of homes 2-4 blocks inland past the beaches. All the houses that got flooded, didn't have gradual water rising in the basement and at the foundation. The flooding came through the torn off roofs and second floor windows.

Now for some reasons why we are spending a good majority of our time working here in this church instead of out in more demolished areas:
-This church was literally the connection between Gulfport and the rest of the world. It was the hub that connected all ministry efforts.
For instance:
Larry Jones didn't only send his team down, but he himself came down to Gulfport and stayed 7 days here at the church in one of the dorms to help assess the damage.
Pat Robertson came personally and spent time with the pastor, helping use his influence to get things rolling.
Convoy of Hope, Randy Johnson's "God's Pit Crew", Compassion Alliance, CBN, 700 Club all came to THIS church to help out.
A Disney producer came over to work and told the pastor "Don't tell them who I am, I just want to help work."
President George W. Bush was here and spent some time with Pastor Tim and told him that what was happening here at the church was more than the government was even able to pull off.
This church can house around 50 volunteers and in order to help the sustaining efforts to rebuild and give hope to those in Gulfport, we are helping to strengthen this ministry so that it can continue to help meet the needs of the community.

If you're wondering exactly what they were able to pull off, here ya go:
-In 7 days they were able to distribute over 50 truckloads of food, each truck's goods averaged a retail value of $50,000.
-6,000 hot meals were served the day after the storm, 9,000 the second day and then were able to setup several more distribution centers in the community at partnering churches and parking lots.
-They continued to serve 8-12,000 hot meals a day for 5 weeks.

They had food, they had hands and hearts, but the main thing they needed was fuel to pass out along with the 3,000 generators that were given so the community could have power back long before utilities infrastructures were rebuilt. Through a quick news interview, word spread across the country of the need of fuel, since Gulfport gas stations were wiped out and didn't being having gasoline for weeks. Truckers began pulling in off the highway saying, "Pastor, take 25 gallons out of my tank" College students from Chicago drove 17 hours with a trailer full of 55 gallon diesel drums. Farmers donated thousands of gallons of fuel that they had on their farms for their equipment.

And Pastor Tim was the first to admit that no entity, this church included, could have done what was accomplished. The CHURCH did this. And that is why we are here.

WE HAVE ARRIVED!

We have officially arrived down here in Gulfport, Mississippi. We had fantastic travel the whole way through. The flights went well and we got into Birmingham safely. We met up with our luggage caravan at the airport and got a quick bite to eat before we made the 5 hour trek from Birmingham down to Gulfport. We pulled into the church where we will be staying, talked to the pastor's wife for a bit and dropped some of our stuff off.

We loaded everyone back up in the vans and drove down to the main road that runs along the beach here. For awhile we drove down this street just taking in exactly how much damage there was and still is from the Hurricane. We saw entire blocks where houses were just washed away and all that remained was the concrete slab that was the foundation. Giant trees were leaning over, while still some others were completely uprooted. We stopped by what used to be a gated community with condominiums/apartments, something that would be equivalent to Main Street Villas/Apartments back home. The damage that we saw looking in from the front gate was horrific. All the students really began to fully grasp how drastically people's lives were altered.

We spent a few minutes on the beach debriefing the day and really focusing in on why we're down here and how we're going to honor, serve and love each other as well as those that we are here to minister to. The team is ready! They are eager to serve and work hard! They are ready to love on the kids at VBS! It's going to be a great week!

We're turning in for the night, but we will be posting our activities regularly while we're here. If you want to leave a comment for your student or the team as a whole, go ahead and we will try and read some encouraging notes from home!

-Johnny

Gulfport, MS - It Just a Matter of Time

Just a few more hours and we'll be on our way to Gulfport, MS. Yes!!!! The only thing you'll be seeing on this site are updates...so stay tuned.

The van with all the luggage took off today. We hit a little bump in the road with the trailer lights. I now know more about trailer light adapters than I ever knew or wanted to know. Did you know it's almost impossible to find a small five prong (pole) round adapter to fit into a flat four trailer plug. The six prong adapters were too large in diameter and the four prong adapters were perfect in diameter but, of course, didn't line up with the five prongs. Who knew? (Never mind, someone probably does out there somewhere). No luck at Auto Zone, Pep Boys, Auto One, Wal-Mart, Meijers or U-Haul...ugh. The guy at U-Haul was awesome and saved the day, he rewired the thing in 15 minutes and they were on their way.

A side note about the team. They're awesome. They all seem to get alongs so well. It's going to be amazing! Pray we have eyes to see and ears to hear what Jesus wants to do in us and through us. I know a lot of friendships are going to be formed in the team this week as well. Pray that they are friendships that will last...that our students will have someone to love and serve Jesus alongside them for a long time. More later.

Box Score for Camp Adventure 2006

22 Accepted Jesus into his/her heart for the first time.
160 Recommitted his/her life to Jesus.
4 Learned a lot, but haven't made a decision to follow Jesus yet.
8 Had an amazing time.
2 Not present at commitment night due to a baseball game (ugh!!)
___
196 Students Total

I'm grateful for many things at camp this year.
1. We go to a church where the gospel is presented very clearly a number of times a year. Way back in the day you would have seen a higher number of students who accepted Jesus into his/her heart for the first time at camp and a lower number of recommitments. I love the progress we've made in recent years to be very intentional about leading people to Christ and helping them to remember exactly when by marking the moment through the bridge, rocks at the cross, signing their name on the last supper pic, etc.
2. Being led by an amazing senior pastor...seriously, his wisdom...words cannot express. He's been directing Camp Adventure for nearly four decades...yes, you read that right, decades. The fact that he's passing the baton off to the three of us - Corey, John and I - is a privilege and honors that, once again, words cannot express.
3. Rockin' both weeks with the Mann and Keimster. I am grateful. My prayer is that our stance on top of the blob tower (forming a triangle, having each others back) be not only a symbol of today, but things to come.
4. The week with Rob, who infused his passion in me for Jesus years ago. I owe you a lot brother. I am who I am today because of your faith in me over a decade ago. Thanks for being a Joshua.

I'm Comfortable in My Skin

I've been thinking through some things lately, so this blog is more for me than for you.

I continually want to take my "next step". I want to grow wiser, get better and all that good stuff. I don't know if it's age (I'm very close to being yet another year older) or what, but for perhaps the first time in my life, I'm rejoicing about who I've become. Instead of wishing this or that, I'm content with who I am. Maybe it will last for a moment, maybe for a day, hopefully, forever.

One area I'm content in is my leadership. Don't get me wrong, I've got a lot of growing to do and a lot of insecurities to get over, I'm not arrogant or naive enough to believe otherwise. I could give you a list of my weaknesses, but would rather not. However, here are five areas where I've discovered who I am and where I land, despite whether others around me agree is correct thinking in regard to leadership.

1. I'm not afraid to get my hands dirty. I have this theory that leaving a room as good if not better than you got it is just plain the right thing to do. After the kids are gone, I still help clean up until the job is done and the lights are turned off. Granted I have a team that helps make it a whole lot faster, but I think there is something in them seeing me flush toilets, clean tables and take out the trash. Some would say that me vacuuming is not a good use of my time and, if I did a whole lot of it, I would agree with them. However, a few minutes here and there, keeps me grounded, keeps me humble and reminds me of how I got to where I am today. I like that about myself.

2. Some would say that all of your time and attention should go to the leaders of leaders, to which I agree...kinda. While I try to focus on the leaders of leaders the most, I ensure that those behind the scenes, who may not feel like they matter as much as the high profile person, get my prayers and attention too. I try to be very intentional about telling them how grateful I am and how much what they're doing matters - that what they do does not go unnoticed. I like that about myself.

3. I'm conservative, but not oblivious to what's going on around me. Someone once told me that I don't see what's next, but what's five years up the road. I see how one decision will lead into the next and where that will take me or someone if we venture down that road. I could go into a thousand different ways on how that affects my decision making, but I won't. However, I will say that it's prevented a lot of train wrecks from happening in my life and I like that about myself.

4. I'm loyal to the core. Sometimes what people who matter most to me do drives me absolutely insane, to the point where I feel like throwing in the towel on the relationship. However, I've watched people throw in the towel and have realized that once you throw in the towel the first time, it's easier to do it the next...so I just refuse and I like that about myself.

5. One of my areas of giftedness is in discernment and problem solving. I see things in body language and hear things in voice tones that others don't. This lends itself to being a good problem solver and the one people look to when "issues" arise. Someone recently told me "Judy, you're good at that. It's shaped based stuff." My first thought was, "I don't think I want that shape, often times it's not very fun." Upon further thought, despite how draining it can be, I've decided I like that about myself...at least for the moment.

This is not meant to be an ego stroke kind of blog. I'm not sure where I've landed is even right, but it's who I am...and I'm ok with that.

Put the Razor Away

Lesson 4: Remind counselors to keep their razors in their bag.

While one of our guy counselors was in the bathroom, one his campers decided to "borrow" his razor and give himself a reverse mohawk. I was dreading that call to the mom. Gratefully, she was amazing and said that she totally understood...that her son was always five steps ahead of her and that she was more concerned with whether he had connected with anyone (which he totally had). After some evening out, his cut looked normal...well almost.

Celebrate the Victories

Lesson 3: I can do a thousands things right and one thing wrong and, you guessed it, I park on the thing I did wrong (or the things I could of done better). I've decided not to do that anymore...or at least try not to. It sucks the life right out of you. It makes things not fun!

Don't get me wrong, you need to evalute yourself in regard to what went well, what can be improved upon and where "you blew it". That's not the point. The problem is parking on the "you blew it", even when it's few and far between.

The other thing I noticed is that people have a tendancy to help you park on the "you blew it" moments. People are too quick, in church and life, to remind you of the "you blew it" moments and not remind you of the "you knocked it out of the park" moments. Why is that? Insecurities in themselves, we're an ungrateful people, that really is what we remember...whatever it is, we need to reprogram our minds.

It was worth it!

Lesson 2: Do Whatever It Takes

Two girls at camp were homesick last week (actually only one, the other one was just being sucked into it). There were many extenuating circumstances that I can't go into that required excessive amounts of TLC. I knew if I could keep them through Tuesday night, everthing would probably be ok. So I worked it...big time! I stayed in contact with the moms and they worked it...big time! At one low point, I wondered whether it was all worth it. There were 122 students at camp and these two, while they were amazing, were consuming enormous amounts of my time just to keep them there. The answer to whether it was all worth it came Wednesday night at Commitment Night when the two girls rasied their hands when asked "who accepted Jesus into their heart tonight". These weren't "recommitments" but "first time commitments". The next morning when I heard one of the girls say it out loud to her mom, it truly blessed my heart. I was glad I stuck with it. I was glad I had the opportunity to witness it. I loved it and I love them. They're pretty amazing girls that have seen and been through more than middle school students should ever see or go through. Satan truly is battling for the hearts and minds of our kids. You can't have 'em dude!

My Knight in Shining Armor (ok, maybe it was a t-shirt and jeans)

What haven't I done lately...many lessons learned. I'll share a few in the coming days.

Lesson 1...

Soap in the eyes + more soap in the eyes + more soap in the eyes = Allergic Conjunctivitis - or as I say "With (Spanish word "Con") Junk in the Eyes".

Corey had this amazing idea (it really was amazing and I'd do it again in a heartbeat) of us (John, Corey and myself) getting totally suds up for the Friday night Camp Adventure mass slip and slide so he bought three colors of dish soap and we poured it on big time...head to toe. Unfortunately, I didn't tighten my goggles enough and a good portion of it went straight from my head into my eyes.

It hurt and hurt bad! 20 hours, four showers, an eye rinse by nurse Jody and a jump off the high dive didn't stop the tears from streaming down the left side of my face or prevent my eye lid from swelling three times its normal size. Fortunately we were in our final hours of camp.

So, camps over and we're having our annual post-camp gathering at McDonalds. I call my amazing administrative assistant, Chris, to make sure the camp bus got back ok and she willingly calls my eye doctor for me to see what my eye remedy might be (I'm thinking a whole lot of Visine - you know, "get's the red out"). Word back...If her eye is still bothering her that much she needs to come in right away cause something could have detached from something and that's not good (I'm not sure what she said, but in my mind it was like the retina from the cornea)...oh yeah, and she shouldn't be driving!

Chris, predicted my response..."oh, somethin' somethin' didn't detach from somethin' somethin'... and I can drive just fine...as long as I keep my left eye shut anyway." It was, however, just enough to freak me out a little. I ditched them at Mc-a-dee's and went staight to my eye doctor, which I had exactly 8 minutes to see before I had to head out for a two hour drive to a wedding. I'm praying on the way in, "please Jesus don't let there be any one waiting." Unfortunately, there was. The doctor was in with someone and had another guy waiting. However, the guy waiting sees the predicament I'm in and offers to let me go first which was very cool. He was like a knight in shining armor. I was grateful.

And...as it turns out...somethin' didn't detach from somethin'. I just had an eye infection, which would only have gotten worse as the weekend progressed.

Camp Adventure Week 2

We're hours away! Friends, family, fellow bloggers...be praying. I'm excited that I'm just as much excited about week two as I was about week one. This is the first time we've done two camps, so I wasn't sure how it or I would feel. We have 121 campers who will have an opportunity to figure out their next step for Jesus this week. Pray that they not only discover it, but take it too! I love Camp Adventure! The focus will be the five wins...

Invest and invite
Take your next step
Have a friend, be a friend
Serve (at least once a month)
Read your Bible

Camp Postings Later...

Went to the Silverhawks game last night with some great friends - two of which got recruited to be vegetables. It was absolutely hilarious. No clues on who they are... it just might show up as a Camp Adventure Bible Quiz tie breaker. Ok, maybe just one clue, one's the corn and the other the carrot (neither one could see a thing). Good times.