Hi its Maddie Moore! I am going into my sophomore year at Mt. Vernon High School. My first mission trip that I went on was to Lexington, Kentucky, my second mission trip that I went on was to Washington D.C, and now I am on my third trip in Hazard, Kentucky. By far, this trip has been the most work out of all 3 trips. Before this trip, apparently I didn’t know what hard work was. I am in the smaller group of 4 that is working at a different work site than the rest of our youth. At this worksite we have been working on a roof, and today we finally finished!:) All of us have worked so well together. We were offered a break this afternoon but we declined because we were so close to being done. When all of us were done with the work, we came back to enjoy AMAZING shaved ice. We also experienced a traditional Appalachian meal that the church prepared for us. It was interesting to hear stories from the people who cooked the meal. Even though it has been a very long, hot, and tiring day it was so worth it. All in all this day was so awesome and I can’t wait for tomorrow!

Hey Everyone!

My name is Alice Miranda, I am an incoming freshman in college at Butler University. This is my last mission trip. This is my second time going to Hazard, Kentucky! My first mission trip was here exactly! We have had so much fun these last three days! This week has flown by very quickly. It is incredible to know how much as a group we have accomplished during these three days here. Today we were able to finish up four walls and put four of them up today! We can tell you that from today, we are still not experts in hammering in nails. We need the nail guns! With today’s circumstances we were rock stars pushing through. The weather today was incredibly hot and really did challenge us physically and mentally. I bet Kyle can tell you a quick story about the “meltdown” he had today if you ask him! Due to our group’s mentality and ability to work hard, we were able to put up four walls without any machines to help. On our way back to the church, we stopped by to grab some snow cones that were so needed after a long, hot day. We all are praying for some good weather to push through tomorrow!

(P.S. we are still continuing our Phase 10 game since Monday, let us say that we are all a bit competitive!)

The wall is up!

The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Hello everyone, we are Shelby and Olivia and this is our third mission trip. We’re both in the new construction group. Today at the work site it was a really cool experience because all of us got to see how much progress we have made over the past two days. Shelby’s favorite part of the work site is the nail guns. Olivia’s favorite part is the sledgehammer. Today we nailed the ply wood down and got two walls put together which both made a big impact on the progress like we said earlier. We also love how patient and understanding the contractors are. They know when we need a break and when to push us harder. Overall I would say today was a pretty successful day with all of the work we got done in the time we had.

Hello this is Sam! This is my fifth mission trip and I’ve had a blast. My group has been working on replacing a roof and by day two we have already finished over half of it! My favorite part of the trip so far has been progressively getting better at using tools without having to think too hard about using them. Everyone else on the trip seems to be having a great time and getting along well! I can’t wait for the rest of the trip!