Mission Trip Recap

{this is a very long post}

First off- I want to thank Alisha, Amanda, Ashley, Baily, Kylie, and David for guest posting for me! If you missed their posts, please make sure you go back and check them out. It was truly a pleasure to have y'all on my blog!

Romans 12:1 "Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is true worship."

What an amazing/humbling/busy week in Ringgold, Georgia. It was such a blessing to be able to go on this short-term mission trip. An answered prayer. It was exactly what my heart needed. There were a total of 8 of us. I did not "know" a single one of them. Each of us had a different personality and were 25-60 somethin'. Pretty interesting, but we all got along. I honestly was pretty nervous and didn't know what to expect, but it turned out wonderful. 

In the town of Ringgold, 7 or 8 people died from an EF4 tornado, that was on the ground for over 50 miles. Remember that crazy week of tornadoes in April?? Devastating. It truly doesn't hit you until you are there. We drove through Ringgold when we got there on Sunday night to check out the town and the house we would be working on. We all got chills driving through Cherokee Valley up to the Cope home. Trees and houses were wiped out. There was a cone placed where a house was that marked a family that died. 

Meet the Cope Family:

{Seth, Joy, Dale, and Shay}

We were all truly humbled and blown away by this family. They had such a positive outlook after such devastation in their lives. Their family survived, by seconds. Only 1/4 of their house was left standing, all four cars were damaged. NOT ONLY THAT but their business, a pharmacy, was completely damaged. They were left with nothing. They've been blessed with help each week on their home and the love and support from their church and others around them. Seth spent his entire winter break working with us, which was a blessing for us as well. 

So what did we do? Well we put up wall frames for the room the Cope family is pictured in. We also installed numerous windows (2 stories high and very dangerous, thankfully no one was injured), and installed doors. Finished part of the roofing as well. The best part was how patient Dale was. Each week they have a new team coming in and he has to teach them what to do and re-tell his story every time. An amazing man. Praised God all week for us. 

AND I got to use power tools (I AM WOMAN, HEAR ME ROAR) and eventually got over the fear of scaffolding. I am pretty sure the numerous amounts of coffee to keep me warm helped. Seriously, never drank that much in my life! Joy Cope even made us some amazing latte's! 

 

{our team & the Cope's} 

{ohhh ya.} 

{just a tiny bit freezing}

{the wall frames}

{200lb windows we installed}

{we had a system for installing them, worked out great, no serious injuries!}

{having a beer in Chattanooga, TN}

It was hard to leave. Even harder to come back and not help build anything for 8hrs a day. I so very much hope to be able to do more short-term mission trips like that! Can't wait to see how the Cope's house turns out. It's going to be BEAUTIFUL!