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Friday, June 24

Day 6

An awesome end to an awesome week! Last day on the worksites for the squads. Most of them finished the jobs by mid-morning and returned to the church to help us clean and to hang out. Each squad took a bible and a squad photo to their homeowners today. One or two squads rolled in after lunch, and everyone had fellowship time together until supper. (Until then we all ate leftover popsicles :)

After a wonderful barbeque supper and made from scratch pound cake, we headed to the worship center for celebration! This was  time where all squad leaders, construction folks, and youth group leaders were recognized and given a photo and/or small gift. Then of course we watched the much anticipated Mission Cam! (which was great). The band then led us into an awesome time of worship. We had 3 or 4 homeowners attend worship with us tonight. What a blessing!

Steve spoke on taking our spirit of servanthood home with us. His challenge was this: when someone asks you about this trip, do not begin your story with "I." We are to focus on what God has done this week, not how many shingles we nailed. Steve recognied those that had made decisions this week. Seven gave their lives to the Lord and multiple answered a call that God put into their life. In our eyes, this project has been a success if only for these decisions!

This week would not have been possible or bearable without your constant prayers and support. And trust me, definitely not without your emails :) Thank you. Hopefully we have made an impact on the city of Savannah, but most importantly, hopefully the Savannah project has made an impact on us!

God Bless!


Thursday, June 23

Day 5

Another great day here at Mission Serve Savannah! It was the penultimate work day for the squads, and boy did they get some work done! Our wonderful band members took popsicles to every squad today and visited with all the workers for a little while. Most of the sites are either finished or very close to being finished, which is great considering there are some pretty big roof jobs. As always, it was very hot and extremely muggy. But we all got some relief at about 4 pm when the rain finally started and didn't stop for about an hour. The kids (and staff) loved it, and quite a few even went outside to rejoice in it! :)

Maybe it was the night off last night, or the fact that tomorrow is the last day, or the rain, or maybe just too many popsicles. We're not sure what it was, but something had all the youth fired up at worship tonight! They were buzzing with energy and were clapping and yelling even before the band started. The band was at their best tonight, and you could tell they really fed off the kids' energy. We had a great, fun (and to the adults' dismay, very loud) worship. Steve wanted to connect tonight to our concert of prayer from Tuesday night. He talked about living out the passion and worship we had that night. He spoke from Daniel 3, of the fiery furnace and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego's refusal to give up their faith in God. He related the fire because of the heat here at our project. It was a really powerful sermon and made everyone evaluate their attitude towards life. Alot of times we are caught up in our own comfort to care about others that want to know Christ.

Tomorrow is the last work day and full day of the project. Hopefully all the worksites can be finished. We are looking forward to a great night of celebration and fellowship.

Wednesday, June 22

Day 4

The squads got a little break today with a half day of work. Also, the weather was much more overcast and not as hot, so everyone got a lot of work done! After lunch, the church groups got the rest of the night off to go have some fun! Most of the groups went to the famous River St. in downtown Savannah to see all the unique little shops on the river and to eat a delicious dinner! Some groups went to the beach and enjoyed the breeze and then got some fresh seafood. We even had one group that landed reservations ate the famous Paula Deen's Restaurant! All in all, it was a great night of fun together, and everyone enjoyed the break. We didn't have worship tonight because of the night off, but the band is hard at work preparing for another great night of worship tomorrow night.

Tomorrow, it's back to the grind. The squads have two more full days of work, but most are on the homestretch of their jobs. Hopefully everyone will be able to finish the work they started and stay safe! Keep praying that we make a big impact in this city and that the kids hearts' are touched by God in these last few days.

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Tuesday, June 21
Day 3
 

Wow! What an awesome day here in Savannah, GA! We sent the squads out bright and early again this morning, but not before they had a good southern breakfast of biscuits and gravy! Some roofing squads left earlier to beat the heat. We've had a few cases of heat exhaustion, but thankfully most of the workers are doing great.

Despite the heat and sleep deprivation, tonight was definitely a moving worship experience. We had a concert of prayer, which is designed to be a self-led worship time. The entire band and Steve were hidden from view. Onstage, there was a simple garden scene to represent God's creation, a cross that was revealed halfway through and then finally a throne representing God's throne in Revelation was revealed near the end. The focus of tonight was how we need God in our lives. We continually sang "I need You...Oh God, how I need You." It is always a wonderful thing to see everyone with arms raised or on their knees at the altar, truly worshipping. All the complaints and worries of the week disappeared tonight. The youth groups left singing together, "How Great Is Our God," over and over again and kept singing until they reached their youth group devotion times. Afterwards, we had a great time of fellowship together, just hanging out and having fun.

Tomorrow is a half day for the squads, and then they get to go have some fun in Savannah! Don't worry, we will take care of them!

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Monday, June 20
Day 2
 

We started off the work week early this morning with a 6:00 a.m. breakfast! The squads packed their own lunches and then left for the sites by 7:00 a.m. Each squad has a breakmaster, who takes care of the coolers, a medic, who handles the first aid kit, and a chaplain, who does daily devotions on the work site. Thankfully nobody was injured and everyone survived the heat. Keep praying that the squads will be able to work through some tough conditions this week.

After supper, we took a large group photo and then headed to worship. Tonight's worship was kicked off with a bang by the North River Baptist Church praise band. They did a great job getting everyone (yes, even the construction captains) involved in worship. We then had a special dedication prayer for our offering that would be taken up at the end of the service. Steve spoke about being "Grounded" in our calling from God. He talked about being an extra in a movie. Even though you may only get one tiny second of screen time, you still are passionate about that one little blip. He compared that to our part in God's plan. It may be just a tiny blip, but we must be passionate about it. Everything else in our life should be centered around that passion to God's calling.

At the end of the service, we took up the offering. This year's offering will go to help future Mission Serve projects in tornado disaster relief areas, specifically Alabama. Our squads gave with willing hearts and we have already raised over $1500. Our total summer goal is $20,000, so hopefully we are well on our way to meeting that goal. We are hoping to at least raise $2000 here in Savannah.

Most importantly, a young lady gave her life to Christ tonight after worship. What an awesome thing! What if God put together this whole project just so that one girl could come to know Him? It is worth it. Keep our squads and staff in your prayers this week!

 

Sunday, June 19
Day 1
 

Everybody has safely arrived in Savannah, GA! The participants spent the afternoon getting situated into their rooms and meeting each other. They also found out which squads they were on and got to meet the rest of their squad after worship. We have 18 squads working on 15 sites. It is gonna be a hot, hot week in Savannah. Tomorrow the temperature will stay around 100 degrees for most of the day. Pray that the workers can work hard through the heat and exhaustion. We are ready to kick-off the work week tomorrow morning!

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Keep checking in all week for updates and pictures!