Life-Changing, God-Inspired Week

I want to sit and write this while my week is still pretty fresh in my head. This is a long one, so if you need a bathroom break or a snack, you better go get it.

As I mentioned in my quick post, this ranch takes in about 20-25 boys in the foster care system in Georgia. Some are only there for a short time while their parents work out arrangements with the courts, others have had parental rights permanently suspended and are looking for forever homes. Many of the boys come from abuse and neglect. Others have parents who are addicted to drugs, in jail, or dead. A few have been in jail themselves. All of them come to the ranch lost, and while staying there, get found.

I'm not saying that they have some kind of spiritual revival there, necessarily, but all of these boys come from backgrounds in which they don't know what love is. not REAL love. They don't think they're good enough to be loved. If they've gotten into trouble, they wonder if they can ever be forgiven.

And then they meet Zach. And John. And Trudy. And Rachel, Kris, Jen, Joanna... EVERYONE who works on that ranch has taken to heart the mission Jesus gives us to serve the orphans and widows in James 1:27, and to serve "the least of these" )Matthew 25). They KNOW what it means to be the presence of Christ to a lost and broken world, because the boys they come to know and love ARE broken. On this ranch, there is healing.

On this ranch, there is God.

Being able to come down in my group of 13 -- people from ALL over the country -- was an honor. A privilege. A blessing. Yeah, that's it: a blessing. We arrived in Atlanta on Monday complete strangers and somehow, on the hour long van ride to the ranch and through lunch, we became a team. This team was able to gravel a road in 2 hours. This team converted a horse stall into a room and tore down a few walls in the barn to make a school. This team cleaned out an old pump house and helped lay an irrigation system. And this team loved.

I can honestly say that this mission trip was more personal than one I've ever been on in the past. I loved getting to know Chester in October of '07, and hearing the story of Nick and his family's struggles after Rita, and working on the trailer on the shore that was destroyed later that year by Hurricane Ike. But nothing hit me the way that those boys did. I don't know if it's my heart for youth ministry or my passion for teaching or what, but something about them made me stop and go, "Huh."

On Wednesday night we had a service down by their lake and 2 of the boys gave their testimony. One had been on the ranch for only 3 weeks and said, "I feel loved." I don't know much about his story, but I do know that fifteen year old boys do not openly talk about their feelings. And it was the way he said it, the emotion you could hear in his voice that gave it all away. The other boy had been on the ranch for 5 years and in his story, he said, "I don't know God exists because of the trees and everything around me, even though they're beautiful. I know God exists because of the people here on the ranch."

Love.

Do we ever give enough of it away? Do we ever, truly, love unconditionally? I'm not sure I do all the time. I know that there are thoughts that come through my head that I'm ashamed of, that aren't loving. It's human nature, right? And yet... The people on the ranch. The houseparents, the office staff, the administration... THEY know what love really is and they show it to these beautiful, broken boys every day, and help lead them to healing.

SO I was challenged last week. To really remove all of the filters in my heart. Do I love like I should? Not yet. But I want to. The impact that those adults had on those boys is why I want to be a teacher. I want kids to know that they are loved, that they are worth something, that they can be healed. Especially if they are from broken homes like so many of those boys.

The other thing that struck me this week about the boys was how eager the boys were to serve. They served each other, their houseparents, us... It's like pulling teeth sometimes to get my high school youth kids to do something, and these boys were more than eager to use the power tools to install that floor. They were eager to get us more food or another soda, or to clear our plate. And they were eager to shovel rocks all over a road. I'm 24 and I know that I would never want to get up at 8:00AM on MY spring break to move rocks around on a road. BUT THEY DID. Whether they wanted to or not, they did it. And I didn't hear a gripe out of any of them.

Can that be said of me? Of you?

Certainly not of me. There were a few moments today, even, that I caught myself complaining about the work I had to do (especially when one girl needed a dirty diaper changed... it was bad, people). I'm challenging myself to be aware of my thoughts. TO be more positive. To serve.

Life-changing. God-inspired. Challenging. Refreshing. Renewing. There are dozens of words I can use to describe my trip. But the lessons I learned, and the challenges I now face can't be summed up in words or this post would never end. I hope to go back to GVBR. And maybe I will next year. I don't know, we'll see where God leads me. But one thing is for sure: The person I was when I got on the plane in St. Louis Monday morning is not the person I was when I got off of it on Friday. And to that, I say, "Hallelujah."

My Trip, In 10 Bullet Points

I am working on a more detailed post, but for now here are some fun facts about my trip:

1. It was my first time on a plane in almost 10 years. And this plane was tiny! i guess Delta Connection flights always are. it only last about 80 minutes, which was nice.

2. John Blend bought the property in Waleska, GA, in 1982 (I think...)

3. He turned it into the Boys' Ranch in the mid-90's.

4. It is 100% a Christian environment. The boys are required to go to church each week, the family units begin each day with a devotion and prayer, the only music allowed on the ranch is Christian (rock, rap, worship, whatever, as long as it praises his name it's in).

5. The Ranch sits on 300+ acres. There are horses, cows, and 2 dogs from a neighboring property. There are 5 houses for the boys and the houseparents, 2 barns, a pavilion where we ate all of our meals, an admin. building, and an ooooold farm house.

6. One of their goals (and something we worked on) is to turn the barn into a school. Several of the boys are waaaay behind in their studies, so some will exclusively go to school on the ranch while others get tutored in the areas they need.

7. Zach, John's son, is incredibly involved with how the Ranch runs. He's getting married in May to his lovely fiancee Rachel who also has a passion for the ministry of this ranch.

8. John gave the Independent Living boys (4 of them in that house) copies of Do Hard Things by the Harris twins. I have read this book and it is PHENOMENAL. John challenged them to really go out and "do hard things" so they started Good Things Barbecue and Catering Company. They cooked for us all week (except for dinner Tuesday and lunch on Thursday and Friday). It was soooooo good!

9. We had a talent show on Thursday in which we all did skits w/ the boys of the house we ate at on Tues. Such a riot! And we put together a band combining a few of us missionaries, the boys, and houseparents. It was awesome!

10. I have never felt so much love and compassion, or seen so much of Jesus incarnate as I did in that place. Even thought there was about 20 boys on the property, Zach and John not only knew each one by name, but knew what their stories were and why they were there. The boys, who have never known what love is, come to this ranch and suddenly understand what they've been missing.

It was an incredible, life-changing experience.

I'm back!

My week was AMAZING. I just spent the week in Atlanta working at a boys' ranch. I will post more on it tomorrow 'cause I"m BEAT, but I wanted to let you know that I have been out of touch from the "real" world -- no Facebook or Google Reader. I will catch up as fast as I can, as well as post a real entry about my week. For now, I leave you with this photo:

April Mission Trip

The day after Easter, I'm headed to Georgia for a mission trip with work. (Not my new work, my old work... FCS.) We'll be working at the Goshen Valley Boys Ranch, which works with teenage boys in foster care. I'm really excited, but I have a favor to ask.

If I know any of you personally (or if any of you STLWed gals will be at the GNO on the 26th), will you help me provide donations? I want to bring down things like boxer shorts, t-shirts, deodorant, etc., for the boys. Let me know int he comments if you'd like to help. If you won't see me before then, e-mail me at phlpns314jlf at yahoo dot com and we can figure out a place to meet up or I'll give you my address and you can mail your donations to me.

Thanks for considering and thanks in advance to those who help!!

Feel like I'm neglecting you?

The truth is, I've started a few different posts and then had to save them as drafts because I didn't have time to finish them and then I forgot about them. One was about my summer. We'll see if that goes up.

Anyway, as we approach Christmas (cal you believe it's NOVEMEBR already??), I'll be getting even MORE busy at work. This week I have 32 hours, next week I have 30.5 and the following week I have 23. Then the week after THAT is Thanksgiving. It's all crazy from here, folks!

I've been working in the back doing inventory as our regular ICS person is on vacation with some friends. It's been a nice break from customers, and my super organizational side is loving it, but I'll be glad when I'm back up front with people, and not back in the "dungeon," LOL.

I did receive word today that I'm going to the Goshen Valley Boys' Ranch April 5-9. It's north of Atlanta and serves 24 boys in a residential method. Their core beliefs in helping these boys are Family, Faith, Education, and Work. I'm really excited about this trip. I'm going with a bunch of other FCS employees from all over the country (including my own manager!). It's in conjunction with the James Fund, our store's non-profit organization. It does a lot with widows and orphans (see James 1:27). We do a lot of special partnerships at work too. For example, PureNRG's CD that released in July helped put shoes on orphans in Mexico and the Dominican Republic. The Casting Crowns CD prebuy is partnering to feed children in Haiti. We also have our Barnabas Bears every year that puts money into the fund.

Anyway, the Ranch is in need of some items, so if you know me personally and would be interested in donating items for me to take, let me know. The website has a list of needs that they have, but I'll be letting you know about some other things I'd like to bring, like games and books and treats and things. It's going to be amazing and I can't wait to see how God will use me to reach the boys, and how He'll use the boys to reach me.

Prayers for those in Ike's Path

Those of you who have kept up with the blog for a while know about the two mission trips I have made to southwestern Louisiana. The first was almost a year ago, which is hard to believe. We were helping to build new houses with Habitat for Humanity. We met a nice man named Chester who was a great man to lead the project: good-humored, willing to teach, and excited about what he does.

The second time I went (in February of this year), we were disappointed to not get to work with CHester, but we had the privilege of working to repair damaged houses. We worked in Nick's house in Lake Charles and we worked on a trailer not too far off the coast in Cameron.

Ike was ad. The eye hit near Galveston/Houston, Texas, but the effects were felt even up here in St. Charles (many areas in the metro area are still flooded). It was total devestation to those not only in Texas, but also our friends in Louisiana. Chester's house -- his beautiful, expensive, "hurricane-proof" house was flooded. The original plan was for this current group (only four from our church this time, and not me sadly as I have student teaching) to go and help our friend clean his house, but authorities aren't even letting him to his house. So the four down there are helping out where needed. On monday and Tuesday, they worked in a church with no power. They also took a drive to examine the effects of Ike in the area. And... well... read for yourself...

We worked in a church for the 2nd day that did not have any power. It was like working in a oven!! The temps are in the low 90's today with high humidity! The church was not damaged too bad, just some sea water about 8 - 10 inches up the walls. We are working about 40 miles from the Gulf. After we where done working today we drove down to the Gulf and we can not describe the scene. Everything was gone!! We saw grass on the power lines that was on the top line of a 8 wire power line pole. Long ways up. We saw a house upside down in a canal that was about 30 miles from the coast. We saw thousands of dead fish from the salt water. We found what was left of a trailer house our church worked on last year. The only thing left was the steel frame that was bent like an s shape. Nothing else was left. We had a shrimp fishing boat sitting partly on the road and had to drive around it. It is soo hard to imagine the damage. Cameron LA is basically gone. We saw oil tanks that where pushed off their foundation by the wind. We saw oil tanks in the middle of fields with nothing within sight. After I get back I will post pictures, but the damage is unbelievable. The scary thing is we are sitting about 2-3 hours drive from Houston, and that is all we saw in the news about damage. This is suppose to be far enough away from the eye of the storm they are not suppose to have all this damage.

Please pray for those all of the Gulf region who were hit hard by Ike. To lose all of that is unfathomable to me, only because I have never experienced something of this magnitude personally. But the few people I have met down there are fighters, and as long as there is a home left, they will keep rebuilding. Pray some prayers of thanks for lives that were spared, but also pray some prayers of intercession for those who are now homeless, for the family who lived in the trailer we worked so hard on.

It's heartbreaking to hear about all of this damage. I know that it is all only "stuff" and our real treasure is not here, where rust and moth can claim, but in Heaven, but you can't help but have your heart ache for these people who have lost everything.

May God be with them. May God be with US.

So, You Wanna Know About My Trip????

This trip was amazing. I wrote last Monday night how nice of a guy Nick was and the rest of our week was amazing, too. We worked on Nick's house in Lake Charles for Monday and Tuesday, working on getting it livable for him and his family. Lots of painting and caulking for us gals while the boys did a lot with plumbing, doors, and other things in the kitchen. Half of us worked there on Thursday. I learned how to use a Miter Saw and actually cut a corner!! Here is my corner that I'm very proud of. Ain't it perty??


On Wednesday we went to Cameron Parish, literally 300 yards from the Gulf, to work on a trailer. This family came home after Rita to find their mobile home in a U shape. They got $7000 from FEMA and bought what they could -- another trailer which had weathered the storm. We tore up her bathroom tile to lay new flooring, both her toilets to replace them, put in new a new counter and cabinets, and I learned how to use a Jigsaw to cut beaded paneling that we hung in the kitchen. I want to note our drive to Cameron. We drove past so many foundations with nothing on top of them, stairs that led to nowhere. Warehouses where the walls had caved in but the framings till remained. Boats on land with no water in sight. It doesn't hit you, really, that people lost everything until you see that. It doesn't matter what you see on the news. TO see that IN PERSON is... humbling.

Anyway, for pictures, here is the link to my Facebook album. You should be able to view it, but if not please leave a comment and I will fix it. Check out my pictures here. I had so many I needed another album.

Touching Lives

I hate to say it, but last time I was in Louisiana, while I had a great time, I didn't feel like we really touched someone's life. I mean, we helped out Miss Mary by buying her a Walmart gift card, but nothing like I experienced today.

We aren't working on a Habitat house. Instead, we're helping out a man who is an employee of the United Way whose house was almost destroyed in the hurricane. He and his wife and 2 daughters are of middle income and probably wouldn't qualify for a Habitat house even if they wanted to. After the storm, only one room in their house was still liveable; their roof was falling apart from mold, their floor was molded... It took a long time for them to fix it back up; meanwhile they are living in a house just next door with a $1000/month rent. They received federal grant money to fix their house, but Nick, the father, is a construction coordinator, so while he was taking care of other people's houses, his own kept falling deeper and deeper into disrepair.

Enter Christ's Church. A lot of the work has been done already: he has a new roof, a new floor; most of the tiles int he kitchen has been laid, most trim and doorframes are up. We arrived this morning and immediately got to work doing electric work, plumbing, painting, caulking,etc. Nick popped in occasionally to chekc on our progress and was amazed each time. Here's what I learned about Nick this evening during devotions:

Nick had spent many many nights tryingto fix the house and fell into a deep time. He was drinking a lot and hadn't been to church in weeks; he had lost hope. How could God still care about him? Then he lucked out and Habitat allowed our group of 15 to work on his house (he has to be out by this Saturday or pay another month's rent). After dropping us offand showing us around, telling us what needs to be done, he left to go back to the office. He didn't return again until lunch, by which time we had put up 3 more door ways, primed most of the surfaces, installed a bathtub and sink, laid the rest of the tile int he kitchen, changed outlets... He said he cried going back to the office. We showed him that God still cared about him, despite his time in the "pit" that he had been feeling.


you never really know if what you're doing makes an impact. Our simple gesture to come down here and devote our time to his house made a monumental impact. I'm thankful that GOd allowed me to be a part of it.

Only 27 Days!!

Until My next Louisiana trip!! I had so much fun lasst time I went and I'm gettign excited to go again. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to go because it's more expensive than last time. I put in an application to our Putting People into Missions fund for $50 of the $25 but haven't heard anything yet, but Kathy and some other women and even Steve (the man basically "in charge" of it all) said not to worry about it, so I'm covered either by PPIM or by generous friends (this is why I LOVE my church!). And wanna knoow what else is exciting? Jerome is going, too!! As long has his request for PTO for that week is approved (which it will) he is game. Yay! Like last time, we're leaving on Saturday the 16th around 9AM. We'll stay in Hammond, LA for the night and go to church in the area, then begin the 4 hour drive west to Lake Charles, stopping at the Tabasco factory near Baton Rouge on our way. THen we'll work Monday-Thursday and spend ALL of Friday (and I do mean ALL... it's a looooooooong drive back to St. Louis) driving back home.

I am so excited for this trip. I have a lot of people that I'm close to going this time. Don't get me wrong I had a great time with the group I went with last time but it was a group mostly made up of people I hadn't spoken to a whole lot at church, moostly only in passing. but this time Kathy is going and Jerome and Kelly. Leanne and Mary and Charles are goiong again. And we'll hopefully get to work with Chester again. He's a fantastic work leader. I hope he's ours again. He's just a character.

I leave you with a few pictures from my last trip. Enjoy!