Duct Tape Wednesday Report

Today we finished our job replacing soffits while battling hornets and moved onto our next one. Our new job was to replace a brick sidewalk with a new cement one and we got to work right away.

Today was definitely our toughest day yet. We were working directly in the sunlight and it really took a lot out of us to keep working. We worked hard though and were able to completely dig out the area for pouring the cement.

We also really got to know our new family and their family, which consisted of a husband and wife, their grandkids two boys and a girl, and there three dogs.

We can't wait to start pouring the cement and get more done tomorrow.

Ryan C.

Team Duct Tape (Anthony Wendorf, Phyllis Hanson, Rod Ring, Rob Pauley, Charlie Tackett, Aniya Jerkins, Kaileigh Spahr, Ryan Campbell, Joey Anderson)

Misc Wednesday at Henderson

Heavy Dense fog rolled in early this morning. The lower deck was shrouded - you couldn't see across the valley, but the upper deck was in the clear.

Even the vans disappeared into the fog (mine's the white one)   :)

When the fog burned off, the day turned brutal with no shade or cloud cover or breeze - but the crews worked on hammering, sawing, digging or making repairs

I guess if it's still double-digits it's not really hot (99)

It's a dry heat !

If it's family night, then it's guaranteed to rain for sure.

Strong thunderstorms rolled. 

Awesome sound and light show provided by the Lord!

Rain moved out, mist moved back into the valley

(photo from the valley below up to the dorm/building)

Long hot days make everybody feel flat and squashed

YSP 2013 -- The LooneyHoons (aka the Hoon Squad)

The LooneyHoons consist of Rhonda and Larry Hoon, Michael Gallagher, Caelyn Eppler, Kennedy McMillen, Betsey and Katey Strader, Matt Lowe and Connor Stump. We have gotten a lot of work done so far this week and have a team that is determined to get the job done. Our task this week is to build a porch, complete with two sets of stairs, a roof and a swinging gate, for a family of three. They are a very nice family, and the son and father have actually been a huge help with the building process. The mother works at the Henderson Settlement as a cook, so although we don't see her much at the home, we do see her at meal times.
Along with the porch, we ran into a problem with a drain in the driveway. Basically this "drain" is at a lower elevation than the little creek which runs right next to the driveway.

As you can see, there is not much draining going on here. Rhonda spent the first hour or so just trying to scoop up all of the water and dig out the mud and gunk from the "drain". It looked pretty good until we came  back from lunch and found that all of the water had returned. So the water problem has pretty much just been busy work for people when they are not needed for drilling or cutting.
The Hoon squad has had a very successful first 3 days, and we are looking forward to finishing the porch by the end of the week.
Wishing everyone back home a safe and happy week and we will see you when we return!

Henderson - Day 2

Sorry if things seems a little slow being posted - Monday the electric grid went down in the afternoon & didn't come back up until dinner time. The local power company had to replace some poles and transformers, so everything was slow coming back - including WiFi at Henderson. Today most of the issues have been worked out.

This morning was HEAVY FOG in the valley, making for a beautiful morning devotion (but a challenge for drivers heading east to their jobsites.

Afternoon highs were in the lo 90's, luckily (!) it was high humidity as well so everybody was sticky. Crew leaders made sure everyone was drinking every half-hour and using plenty of sun screen. It's good to see everybody go thru their water bottles plus a 5 gallon igloo each morning and afternoon.

Henderson Settlement had a local bluegrass & gospel band play for the camp this evening. Stone Mountain Band - bass, banjo, guitar and mandolin. Excellent music with 126 campers singing Happy Birthday to Tyler and Pastor Gabe from Monmouth, IL. We walked down to the Hillside Market (bottom of the hill) for softserve ice cream for all who wanted. The video is about 1 minute of the Stone Mountain Band - worth watching. We'll try & get photos / project descriptions up tomorrow (WiFi's crashed 4 times in the last 35 minutes - toooooooo many people trying to use their devices).

Cancel the video - crashed the WiFi trying to upload - so here's a photo instead....

At Henderson - Yeah

All the teams are here ! Yeah - bet you didn't know you had to go over the mountain, into Tennessee, back over the mountain, make a couple of HARD LEFT Turns (if 180 degrees is turning around - what is 175 degrees?). Well, you really don't but GPS doesn't always works this far back into the hills.

Overnite at Berea (KY) UMC

Part of Henderson is 800 acres of working farm.

These must be part of the miniature cattle farm - right?

View from the parking ridge (on top of the knob)

4 other groups from Ohio, 1 from Illinois, a family from Tennessee and a group from Georgia.

We have WiFi at the dorm, BUT NO CELL Service (or texting).

We go to the worksites and meet our families tomorrow.

Forecast - mid 90's with chance of rain & t-storms late in the day.

Day One Mission Report

Well, the first day of the trip is complete. As I prepare to rest for the night, I thought I would share with you all today's adventures.

Following some nice donuts and a fellowship filled send off, we took off heading south. Some of our van teams had to be split up but it was still an enjoyable ride. Most people just decided to sleep through the trip, but some of us stayed up and watched the amazing uh, trees and corn pass us by.

We made a quick stop for lunch at a nice picnic area, and arrived at Mason United Methodist Church by four. After a quick unpacking we set off for Kings Island for a night of fun. We all split up into groups around the massive park to ride rides and eat dinner.

It was especially well, interesting for me because I experienced my first roller coaster thanks too the help of my group. I'll let this picture express my feelings for me. At least I experienced something brand new and it's only the first day of the trip.

Afterwards we all gathered together to watch fireworks and left the park feeling worn out from a long day. After some pizza and fellowship, we discussed tomorrow's adventures at Mammoth Cave and at the birthplace of Abraham Lincoln. I can't wait to see what this week has in store for us.

With God in my heart, Amen.

Ryan Campbell

(Yeah, I rode this one, the Diamondback...)

last minute flurry

Time's getting short.
Last minute packing flurry - where's this . . .have you seen my ...... do I need an airmattress.
We load up when???

Come see chaos in action -
Commissioning 8:00 Thursday evening MUMC
Caravan moves out Friday morning 9:30

It's YSP time again . . . . .

It's that time for 49 youth and adults from Mentor United Methodist Church to get packing, load up the tools and head down to Frakes, KY.

Henderson Settlement is in southeastern Kentucky in the heart of Appalachia. 5 work teams from MUMC will be working in the Henderson Community and on the campus to assist in home repairs,  sharing our faith and being stewards of His Word.

Follow the youth as we bend some nails and break some bread at the Henderson Settlement. Each work team will try and post about their day activities on the journey.