Hello everyone! I arrived back from my mission trip to Huntsville, Alabama on Saturday around four but I’ve been a little lazy and haven’t blogged about it until now. Overall, it was a wonderful experience (as they all are) and I made some new friends and experienced personal growth all around.

At the project, there were about 300 students (give or take a few) divided into eighteen crews. Each person is paired with at least one other person from their church and assigned to a crew. Each crew has a crew chief and a crew encourager and is assigned a house to work on over the week.

I was with three other people from my church: a middle school girl and then two youth group leaders. One of the leaders, Joe, was my crew chief. It’s not that we don’t get along, but he’s one of those people that just mess with you and like to push your buttons. -.- So I wasn’t exactly jumping for joy.

It’s also a bit of an ongoing joke in my youth group because no matter what, I always get a painting site. Two years ago, out of around 20 sites there was one painting site, I got it. So this year there were only two painting sites and whaddaya know! I got it! But it’s okay, because it’s not about me and what I want to do. So it really didn’t even bother me that much. :3

My crew was alright. I say that because, outside of working and if I were just hanging out with them, I would’ve liked them. They were fun and had unique personalities, but I’ve never – in my six years with World Changers – had such a lazy crew. I mean it was ridiculous.

Our house was a nice house and really did not need work, but we had to paint the trim. Normally we are assigned pretty run-down houses where the work is apparent. Nonetheless, we had a job to do. At the most, we had four people working at one time. Me, my two youth leaders, and the other girl from my church. Of a crew with twelve people, four would be working. You’ve no idea how frustrating that was for me.

I just don’t understand how you sign up for a mission trip where you will be doing construction work, from 7:30 AM to 4 PM every day for a week, out in the hot sun, and don’t work. That just baffles me.There was one point during the week that two girls were like, “Becca! We haven’t talked all week!” And I wanted to say in reply “Maybe because I actually work and you all just sit around!” I held my tongue though. Let me tell you, God was working on my patience.

So what should have taken us a day to complete took us three. So they moved our crew to another site that was working on a roof. I absolutely loved their crew. They were all really hard workers and were cracking me up. I also got to get on the roof for the first time and rip off shingles, put down tar paper, and then put the new shingles on. It was fun.

One of our construction supervisors I really bonded with as well. He had a handful of houses that he supervised to make sure that everything was being done correctly and in a timely manner. His name was Ron and he always made fun of my “baby hammer.” It was a cheaper one my mom had bought because we always tend to lose our tools so it was smaller and lighter. At the end of the week he introduced me to his wife and told me that he was really proud of how hard I worked all week despite having a painting job and a lazy crew. He was so sweet. :love:

I also forgot to mention that I had a really creepy crew encourager. She was an older lady that had everyone in the crew call her “Mama.” Uhm, excuse me? I’ve known you for less than a day and you want me to call you Mama? Yeah, no. My mama’s name is Karen and she is not here right now. Creeeepy.

Speaking of my mama, she’s having a hysterectomy on Thursday. She’s really nervouse. I’m telling you, my family has just had all kinds of stuff going on, huh! My dad had his port put in today for his chemotherapy. It was an outpatient surgery that did not take long and he seems to be doing just fine. He say’s he gets a little dizzy and he’s not allowed to be left alone for 24 hours. His doctors also think that the colostomy bag can be reversed, which is so good to hear!

Tomorrow is the 4th of July, which is exciting for all of you Americans! It’s one of my favorite holidays since my family would always grill and have fireworks and friends over. Though things never stay the same do they? My parent have been going to a different church than me, so they’re doing some shin-dig with them, and I have to work 3-11. Urgh. I just want to shove my face in BBQ and watch fireworks! Dx

Ah well, work will be slow so I can just read.