Youth Mission Trip - Friday Report

Good evening everyone! This will be our last update to the blog. Our buses will pull out (hopefully) at 5:30 tomorrow morning for our long drive home. Before that though, here is a report from Clay Sexton and Emily Jeske.

Clay -
YARR!!!!! ME MATES!!! That’s been pretty much of my vocabulary this week, I’m not really sure why through, besides the week before this I was at the beach. So needless to say I was already worn out before setting out to go on the mission trip. I kept telling myself that I would sleep longer hours or something or just sleep on the bus to make up for my late nights and early awakenings at the beach. I never did. I thought that I would be destroyed with being tired even before getting to the work site that our church was working on, but somehow I never did. I have remained awake and very alert for the most part this whole trip working extremely hard every day at the work site. However, most people don’t know this yet, but originally I wasn’t even going to go on this mission trip in the first place. The diocese of North Carolina has a mission trip at the same time as this one to the camp we went to for the first mission trip that St. Timothy's Episcopal Church went on. It was planned that I was going to go because I have a lot of diocese friends that I was starting to get to know about 6 months ago and I really still wanted to get to know them a lot so I was going to go with them on the mission trip that they go on. Now, I’m very happy that I went with our church for a lot of reasons. It was David Roses departure that mainly wanted to make me go since I won’t be able to see him later in the year. Most people in the youth group were pretty mad at me when I told them this plan but that’s another reason that I had to go was because they were forcing me too. The last huge reason was my mom. She has come on the mission trip this year along with Raven and I. When she first told me I was pretty mad that she was since I wanted it to just be a kid thing but in the end I am glad that she has come after all, and I can tell tat she is really glad too. Well I’m being told now that I have to stop talking to you all and give some other people a turn. I’ll see everybody on Sunday!

Emily -
Hello all! It is good to finally be talking (and by talking I mean blogging…) with everyone back at home. We have been hard at work and hard at play and this week has been amazing. Alas, all good things must come to an end. Our 3rd mission trip will be over at 5am (I mean, really, 5am?!?) when we roll out of New Orleans and head back to Winston Salem. I envision much napping on the bus ride home. 15 hour long naps may or may not become my new life path (besides professional slip and sliding, of course). Speaking of slip and sliding, we had an awesome one on Wednesday night that can be described as nothing less than epic. It was just a huge black sheet of plastic from Ace hardware and we set it up in the side yard of Aurora UMC (no hills, thanks below sea level!). Add water and soap, shampoo, and conditioner (yes, really, conditioner), and you have a great slip and slide. Just to throw this out there, I was the first to make it all the way to the grass on the other side of the plastic. I definitely paid for it, I have a bruise that is probably 6 inches in length and 2 in width across my hip, I kid you not. But I would say it was worth it.
Our work thus far has consisted of roofing, priming, painting, and various other nailing projects. It has been hard but definitely rewarding. We met all the homeowners and presented them with prayer shawls and blankets which were knitted by Stitch by Stitch (thank you!). It is nice to see that our work is appreciated and much needed. After 4 years, it’s hard to believe that there is still that much work that needs to be done, but there is still so far to go.
Today was our free day in downtown New Orleans and the French Quarter. We got to sleep in until 8:30 (imagine, 8:30 being considered sleeping in), and then we took the ferry from the West Bank where we are staying across the Mississippi. As a big fan of rivers, this was really cool for me. We split into our groups and had a couple hours to peruse the city before we met at the aquarium. Then we had about four hours after that to go back and shop. Lots of good deals at the French flea market and I feel like I got a lot of good buys. But I digress.
This week has been a really great experience for me and the whole youth group. We have all bonded a lot and will all be sad to leave. I will see you all tomorrow night!

Please keep us in your prayer tomorrow as we travel. We're all looking forward to being back home after such a good week. We cannot thank our St. Timothy's family enough for the prayers and support that made this trip possible. See you back in Winston-Salem!