Reflections

Just got back to good 'ol Eastern University. Already have a load of clothes in the washer and getting a chance to relax. It was a good ride and the van I was in had some really fun and interesting conversations. All in all it was a great trip! I wish we could have stayed longer. But now that you have all been reading my reflections during the week I thought it would be cool to hear from everyone else! So here are reflections from the rest of the crew! (the parentheses are the nicknames that Beth came up with for everyone)

This week has been quite an experience.  I love that I got to know all of the people on our crew; everyone is pretty cool and pretty hilarious.  It was so awesome that we built part of a house that someone is going to live in.  Matt, Merritt, and Karen were all patient with my lack of skill with construction, but we made it!  Everyone in the community was incredibly welcoming, especially with the food!  I don’t even mind the sunburn ;) –Gerry not Gary. (Spearmint)

The crew was great to work with; building relationships with everyone was a great part of the trip. At the end of week seeing how much we had done was amazing. It go from not having wall to working on the walls on the second story was awesome. In the community everyone was so welcoming! I determine that by the quality of the food over the week. But in all seriousness, the week was great and I cannot wait for next year. –Allison (Sparrow)

I didn’t exactly know what to expect when I applied to go on this trip, but it has definitely exceeded whatever expectations I did have. Everyone on our team got a long very well and worked together great even though most of didn’t know each other before the long ride down to North Carolina. The crew we worked with were fun and extremely patient with our mistakes and questions. We made more progress on the house than I thought was possible for a group of unskilled and inexperienced builders. Every meal we eat was delicious and we never went hungry and every person we met was so friendly. The best part of the week was meeting the homeowner and hearing her talk about her children and grandchild that will be living in the home we were a part of building, eating food from the kitchen that we helped frame the walls for, and spending time together in the rooms that we helped put together. It was all well worth the sunburn, sweat, blisters, and bruises. –Heather (Monster)

This week was probably the most amazing service week that I have experienced. I learned so much and I also learned that there is so much more I can learn. Before the trip my experience with a hammer and nails would be equivalent to those Playschool sets in preschool. I had experienced hard work in my life, but I had never experienced such physical work before this. My appreciation for those who do this kind of service has grown and I have developed a deeper understanding of having a servant’s heart. I am so grateful for my team, the work crew, and the staff that made all of this past week possible. Not to mention those who provided housing and meals for us; we thoroughly enjoyed both the food and housing arrangement. I pray that all the staff of Habitat for Humanity in Greensboro North Carolina, and the future owner of the Three Sisters house will be blessed. –Christin Suetterlein (Riddles)

I’ve been on several service trips, but this one will probably stand out as one of the most memorable, simply because all of the volunteers gave up their Spring Break. Normally, Spring Break is a time to celebrate or simply rest; for this group, it was a time to serve a community far from home. It was such an honor and privilege to serve with this group, and I feel blessed that they welcomed me into their circle. It was amazing to feel the Spirit working through them, and in some ways, the building of the house represented the formation of faith. In the beginning, the house was an empty platform, but in time, it was framed and built up, and will eventually be groomed and designed to house new lives. For us, as we are built up in faith through our life experiences, our bodies become transformed and strengthened to be temples for God. As I reflect on that, I am thankful for each of the 12 members of Eastern’s finest and I pray that this experience will serve as another building block in their Christian foundation.  – Christian Hicks (Papa Smurf)

Being able to come back another spring break has been more then a blessing. To be completely honest, I wasn’t going to come back, but once Raechel told me that she was leading and we were going back to NC, I had to come. It was honestly great to be able to work with Matt again and be able to work with Kat for at least one day!! Merritt, Karen, and Amanda were such a pleasure to work with and I am so grateful to have met them. I absolutely love Greensboro Habitat and this week was more then I could have ever imagined… I have to say, I felt privileged to have drive the bobcat on the last day. Going to Greensboro last year helped me decide to join the board at my university but going to Greensboro this year helped me realize I want to open habitat to our university more and to show people how amazing it is, especially the incoming freshmen next year. The story of the house that we helped build is just an incredible story itself. I feel beyond privileged to have help. I don’t look at this week as giving up having fun and freedom for our spring break to build houses. I look at this week as having freedom to have fun building houses for those who need it the most. This was not only a learning experience but was the most fun, exhilarating, irreplaceable experience and I cant think of any other way to spend my spring break. I am going to miss everyone!

  - May “Jersey” Youngworth (B.I.D. #1)

This was actually my first mission trip, and it was most definitely a good one. This week has been full of learning, mess-ups, fix-ups, laughs, and team bonding. For me, starting off building at the worksite was a bit rough, because I have never really done construction work like that before, it was cold and windy, and it was hard feeling motivated to keep working. Then I got to meet and talk to the owner of the home we were building. Meeting her made the whole experience more real, and it gave me the motivation to do my very best throughout the day. We were not just building the house for a random person, we were building it for her, so I needed to do my best work. As the week continued the weather improved, as did my hammering skills, so it got easier to keep going for the whole day. Overall this trip was quite amazing. I have gotten the pleasure of getting to know each person on my team and the leaders on the site on a personal level. We all had such a good time and accomplished a lot in that week. I would not trade this experience for anything, and I would tell anyone not sure what to do with their spring break to help out with Habitat.

- Emily Palmer (Special Agent)

I was so excited to have the opportunity to return to North Carolina to work with Habitat for a second spring break trip.  Both this year and last were full of laughter and hard work.  If given the opportunity, I would love to return for a third year!  I feel honored to have met and worked with the Habitat staff members who were mentoring us and following us around fixing all of our bent nails and mishaps.  I have always found great joy in a hard days work. There are few things that are more rewarding than being able to go home at the end of the day knowing that you were able to honor God with your hands and feet.  It was also an honor to have met and worked with the homeowner of the house.  I pray that God blesses her and her family as they begin their lives in their new home.  - Beth Storm (Mom)

Having the chance to lead my first spring break strip to Greensboro last year was an experience I will never forget. But the fact I was able to lead another trip to Greensboro again this year was a blessing in disguise. I knew after last year that seeing the joy in my team members faces each and everyday made all of the stress that came with preparing for the trip well worth it for me. I was expecting that to be the case again this year, although much to my surprise the excitement of my team members impacted me on a whole other level. Seeing everyone keep a smile on their faces no matter what the days activities brought, was incredibly powerful to witness. I was excited to know that everyone was genuinely having a great time. Each one of us complimented each other’s personalities in ways I found to be beautiful. The friendships that have been formed and strengthened are only a small token of what this trip has given to us. My memories of this trip will last for the rest of my life. They are going to be cherished and thought about often, each time bringing the same smile to my face as the one that was there when the memory was made. My hope is that the people we had the chance to work with and every other collegiate challenge can walk away from their days on the site with as much satisfaction as we had did. 

Raechel Jones (Dad)

First of all I really enjoyed the group that I was with. It was great to learn everyone’s story. The facility that we stayed was better than all of our expectations. The gymnasium that Mr. Miller had was better than Eastern’s. I got a lot better at basketball, football and pool while being at the facility. It was a perfect place to stargaze when the sky was clear. At the work site, all the Habitat workers were very understanding of everyone’s abilities and experience in the work site. I went in to the break with a little construction experience with a class in high school. The amount that I learned in a week was more than a week in that class. It was so great to see the Three Sisters’ House go from a brick/concrete foundation to what we ended with. All the work we did as a group went into changing the life of the homeowner. This was a great chance to learn, serve, and have fun on spring break.

Cameron Tough (twin #1)

Overall it was great. Ken Miller’s place was sublime to say the least. It was a dream come true to see the outdoor court like we had. The cabins that we had were way better than I expected. The mattress was long enough for me. At the site, all of the leaders taught us a lot and were patient with us. On Tuesday night, we served homeless ate Hot Meals and Hope in down town Greensboro. This was a great experience because we served them, instead of just preparing the food and them waiting in line for food. I look forward going again next year, if possible.

Kyle Engelbart (twin #2)


This was my 2nd year coming to Greensboro to work with Habitat. There were four of us on the team that came here last year. I wasn't going to come this year, but Raechel said that she was leading the group and we were coming back to the same place, so I had to!! I couldn't say no because last year was such a fun time! I was planning on going to Florida for spring break but once I started talking with May, Raechel and Beth about our trip last year I remembered how much fun it was and what a great time we had! This past week was a blast! I loved meeting new staff members and working with ones we had been with last year. The team that we had this year was such a great group of students! And we were so blessed to be able to stay at Ken Miller's place, we loved being able to stay there! We all had such a great time working every day with the Habitat staff members! We joked around a lot and even danced but were still able to get a lot of work done! It was amazing to watch the building process; to look at pictures from Day 1 compared to our last day. I loved spending this past week here! Being able to make new friends within the group and strengthening current friendships was great! :) It was such a wonderful way to spend Spring Break! 
Meredith Donker (B.I.D. #2)

So there ya have it! I hope you all enjoyed reading about our experience down in Greensboro during our spring break. It was such a rewarding experience and I wish I could do it again next year (unfortunately I am a senior and graduating soon) but I know in the future I would love to be able to work again with Habitat in some way. Thanks so much to everyone who made this week possible!

"I wanna say thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!"

We are currently on the road headed back north back to Eastern University. I just wanted to say a big thank you!

Ken: Thank you so much for allowing us to stay at your beautiful house! The cabins were amazing and the campfires were so much fun! You still have half the group stumped from your riddles the other night. It was so great to meet you and thank you for spending some time with some college students. Thank you again so much!

Winston and Ellen: You guys rock! Thank you so much for your warm welcome! It was so great to see your warm faces as we pulled up and also spend time with you on the site. You both were amazing to work with and we were so blessed to have you helping us out with everything and coordinating everything as well. We could not have done it without you!

Matt, Merritt, Karen, Amanda, Kat and the weekday construction crew: Thank you so so so so much! You all put up with our questions, dancing, questions, singing and...more questions. You were all so patient with us because most of the time we had no clue what we were doing. You all were so amazing and we know you will miss us terribly ;) Thank you!!

Habitat of Greensboro Staff and Board: Thank you so much for allowing all of us to come down and serve this week! We all learned so much and can not thank you enough for opening up your homes and serving us some amazing meals the past week! We are so grateful for everything you did for us to be able to work this week. Thank you!

I think I have every one...but just a big thank you for everyone involved in making this week possible and being so accommodating and making is such a great experience! We all thank you so much!

(I think I said thanks enough...right??) :)

Thank you from Eastern Habitat 2012 crew!

" Lean on me, when your not strong..."

Day 5...we survived!
Ok so I am not saying "we survived" as in I am so glad the week is over and it was an awful experience...I am saying it as no one broke any bones or was seriously injured. (every ones fingers are still in tact) And I could not think of many other words to rhyme with five...except jive or chive and those did not seem relevant.
Last day on the site! Kind of bitter sweet. I could not find a better way to end a fantastic week. We ended on the Three Sisters house and it was so great to be back there finishing what we started. It was chilly this morning and the wind was not adding to it. Fortunately, it only rained over the night so we were not drowning while nailing boards together. I must admit we are becoming pros at framing. One of the girls mentioned tonight that she can build a house if someone does not mind no heat, carpet, insulation, plumbing or electricity.
So we spent the day on the second floor putting together frames and walls. We finished and put up the exterior walls and were working on the interior walls. The sun finally came out and we put on our music and had a few dance parties and singing back and forth to each other (we even got Merritt to sing a few lines!)
Lunch we had Subway (eat fresh!) and had a chance to debrief and share some memories and stories. Winston handed out prizes if we could come up with "ah ha" moments. It was great to hear everyone talk about their favorite memories and what stood out to them during the week. It's just so great making memories. And as I type we are all in one of the cabins having community time, laughing and looking at pictures people took throughout the day.
So during lunch we had a special guest! One of the sisters who is sponsoring the house came out and said hello. It was so great to meet her and hear a little bit about her story. It was so amazing to meet her to be able to see both ends of the house. We met the future home owner and got to meet with one of the sisters who is behind the start of the house.
After lunch we got right back to work and all the memories that people had brought up at lunch were still running through my head. I just loved looking around and seeing these people I have been working with the past week and see how great we work together. Thinking back over the week we were there for each other. If someone needed help with getting a nail in or out, struggling with a wall frame or any task we would all be willing to step in and help without any hesitation. It reminds me a bit of the story of Moses in Exodus 17. Moses and the Israelites were attacked by the Amelakites and the Lord told Moses to climb on top of a nearby hill and raise his staff. When his staff was raised the Israelites were winning but when he lowered it they started to loose. When Moses became tired Aaron and Hur (some of his friends) were there to hold up his arms. There were there to help when he became tired.
This week was such an example of that. Everyone, including the staff, were there to help 'raise our arms' if we could not do something or became too tired. I know the other day I really hurt my back and some of the girls stepped in and helped me out.
The night ended with a bunch of us (including Matt, Merritt, Kat and Karen) got a massive table for 20 at Applebees and got a chance to share a last meal together laughing about memories and just talking and hanging out. It was a great way to end a week. I am officially too stuffed right now and we are trying to finish all our food we brought down for the week.
Well time for more bonding then getting up early to drive back to the North. Night!

what we accomplished after one week!!

"Do you feel that breeze? That's God blowing you kisses."

Day 4...out the door!
Today was a really long day. It was one of the best days so far though. Again we started off at the construction site and this morning we got put into different groups to a few different habitat houses on the same block. Two girls were helping Matt at the house we have been working on, the guys got sent with Merritt to a house up the street to build a fence, and the rest of us were sent to build frames at another house. We worked today with a bunch of elderly gentlemen of the weekday volunteer staff and it was a blast spending time with them today!

The day went on and lunch time came around and we were catered today by a weekday volunteer named Geneva. She made us ziti and lasagna, salad, and we got fresh pastries from Panera. It was an amazing lunch! I know we all do not want to have to go back to dinning commons food in a few days.
Patience was definitely a virtue today. We are so blessed to be able to work with a construction crew that is patient enough to answer all of our questions without any frustration. Karen would answer all of our questions when were were constantly calling her. Same with Matt and Merritt. They are so good at being there to answer all of our questions, big and small. They really are amazing people. And I wish I could come up with a better word for it but I just can't.

After a long day, with some sun but warmer weather, we all got a chance to go back to our cabins and shower and NAP!! No places to go and after a long must needed nap we had a cook out. Merritt and Karen joined in our fun and so did the owner of the property we are staying at. We cooked burgers and hot dogs, had a campfire with smores and banana boats and told stories and riddles. It was so relaxing and a great way to end a day. The night was drawing to a close and we were finishing up some riddles and a bunch of us decided to go on a hike through the woods. The property we are on has a hiking trail. So with our flashlights we headed out. It is a beautiful night, clear skies and a full moon, great for hiking. It was nice to walk around although the guys kept trying to freak us out (kinda expected of course) But it was a good time. And now I am back in the cabin about to head to bed and I cannot help but smile. God has blessed me so much with this opportunity to be here with these people. I remember looking around the campfire and realizing I would not have met half of the people I did or get to now them as well if I did not decide to come on this trip. well that's about it time to hit the sack :) Night!

..and then we all became rednecks

Day 3...twas only a small breeze.
What a productive day! We finished the framing for the first floor and evened out all the walls then we worked our way up! We pulled and pushed beams and plywood to the top to be nailed in. I must say I am going to have some big biceps when this week is over. Those were some heavy pieces of wood! Our lunch was catered by a local Habitat home owner named Bernard and Kevin. The lunch was so amazing and they were so nice to bring it out for us!

Putting boards down on the top ^

                                                                       From the front^

Everyone left at the end of the day with a bit of color to cheeks, necks, ears and arms. The aloe vera has been passed out all evening. After working we went back to our cabins and showered real quick to head out again. We started to head out to West Market United Methodist church for dinner but realized we were really early because we read the time wrong, so instead of turning around we turned into a parking lot by a near by lake and got a chance to hang out there. The guys immediately started throwing rocks and trees into the lake, of course, but it was so beautiful to just to be outside in the sunshine.

We arrived at the church and ate a delicious dinner catered by Olive Garden and who can ever go wrong with soup, salad and breadsticks?!? We got a chance to talk to a bunch of people in the congregation and got to hear testimonies of their recent missions trip to Kenya. I loved hearing the one story of how one woman was giving medicine and caring for the injured and sick and one woman came in with a really damaged and infected leg. She had no idea what to do but they decided to wash her feet. Just a simple act of washing this woman's feet just showed that they cared. It made me think of the scripture in John 3:30 "He must become greater, I must become less." Just having a servants heart. Working on this house is hard and tiring but knowing what we are doing it makes me do it with a good attitude even when I miss the nail and hit my thumb with the hammer, even when the sun is beating down hard, and even when your arms feel like they are going to give out when you are trying to hold up heavy beams of wood. It is a good reminder to become less in order for His light and love to shine through.

"Does anyone have a bandaid??"

Day 2 through!
The mantra of the day was...bandaids. Many blisters were to be had on this second day of work. We arrived at the work site ready to roll and roll we did. So today we did the framings of the walls for the downstairs of the house. Looking at the floor plans I tried to imagine what it would look like when the family moves in. Down stairs there will be a living room, dining room, kitchen with a pantry, hall closet, guest bathroom, master bedroom and bathroom. So we set all the wall frames today. Loads of hammering...I know I will have hammers going in my dreams tonight. We brought our music and had our own dance parties which Merritt was pretty entertained by :)
We had some new workers come out today too! We had Winston; who is a board member, Amanda and Karen; both construction crew members, James; who is a 77 year volunteer who has volunteered with Habitat for 20 years! That is amazing! We also had a special worker today...We had the woman who is going to live in the house after we are finished! She came out and was hammering away with us!
At the end of the work day we blessed the house. The owner is originally from Somalia and follows the Muslim faith. So in her tradition they bless the house before they live in it. So we were able to write our blessings on the wall! Our words and prayers are now a part of the foundation of this house. And the foundation of something is the most important part. Below are some of the blessings we wrote on the walls.

After a long day of work we headed back to our cabins and realized we were all very burnt. A beautiful day full of sunshine but we may have forgotten the sunscreen. So with our newly red necks we hopped back into the vans and headed into Greensboro to First Presbyterian church to volunteer at Hot Meals and Hope. Every Tuesday night churches in Greensboro open their doors to a free hot meal for the homeless community. About 100+ people came out for a hot meal of chicken fried steak, rice, bread and cake. A local group spoke about grace and how God's grace sets us all free and how we need to give things up to God and learn to trust in Him. That is a message everyone can relate to. But looking at all these men, women and children who do not have anything and thinking how important it is to give things up to God hit me. I gave up facebook and twitter for lent because I love being on those sites. I have that option to give it up. I look at my life and see how much I really do have and I have thought of how I would be nothing without God and realizing that there are so many people that do have nothing and don't have God. But it was so heartwarming to see some of the men and women praying before their meal it made me smile realizing they do have hope and know God is with them. It was just an awesome experience to hang out and talk with these men and women and help be able to serve them with a hot meal. They seemed very grateful and it felt good to be able to take time out and help them.
We are now back at the cabins and debriefing about our day; favorite parts of the day and laughing and just being together in community. And that is how God intended it to be :)

live from Greensboro!

DAY 1 done!! Today was a blast! Wait... let me start at the beginning...
So this is a blog about my experience with Habitat for Humanity for my senior spring break trip. I am a senior at Eastern University (up near Philadelphia) and I decided to use my spring break to go on a missions trip and I really wanted to work with Habitat for Humanity. So here I am in Greensboro, NC building a house! Who woulda thunk it?! I love working with my hands and building things but I am working on building a house!
Yesterday around 8 am we piled into a big van and a mini van (13 of us) and headed down the long drive to North Carolina. We made excellent timing and played tons of games on the way down. Well we tried to just stump each other with riddles.
We arrived at the house we are staying at for the week and it is gorgeous! Just amazing! We are staying at a local sponsor of Habitat's house and the property covers about 200 acres and there is a full size basketball court, game lodge, fire pit and rope swings. We are staying in cabins that have heat and very spify showers ;) (gotta love clean bathrooms) And the beds are super comfy and the food we have been fed here makes me not want to go back to the food in the dinning commons at school.
Ok, back to the work. We had a great night sleep (on the super comfy beds) and got up and headed out to the work site. This week we are working on a house called the House of the Three Sisters. Three sisters are donating this house to Habitat for a family to live in. We met Matt, who is the construction leader, Merritt and Clark (aka Big Daddy- his nickname) and we got to work. A bunch of us started on framing and two of the guys went and worked on floor plans. We worked hard and I am sure that my right arm is going to be much bigger than my left because of hammering so many nails. But I got the hammer swing down and I also learned how to rock a construction helmet! We stopped for an amazing lunch (brought by some of the Habitat board members) catered by Jimmy Johns. Then after a nice break with subs, chips and some great chocolate chip cookies we got back to work. By the end of the day we got 4 walls up! It looked so cool to have them up by the end. It seemed slow in the beginning and did not feel like we were getting far but once the walls were up....it looked GOOD!
So amazing to think that we did all of that! The day was filled with tons of laughs and jokes. After finishing we headed back to our cabins and got cleaned up and headed to dinner. We were blessed to be hosted by one of the local members of the Habitat board at their beautiful house. They were so welcoming and excited to have us there. There was chili and rice that was oh so delicious! (don't forget the salad) Then we finished off our meal with some cake, with some strawberry filling, can't go wrong with that! They allowed us to venture up to their third floor (that's right third floor!!) and play come pool, basketball and just hang out in their game room. It was so nice of them to open their home for us. The food was delicious and they were so hospitable and friendly to 13 college students from the north.
We are now back at our cabins and a bunch of people are busy working on homework for school. It is weird to think that we will be back to classes in a week. Well I for one am going to savor all of this and just thank God for all that He has been blessing us with this week! Oh wait it's only Monday!
Can not wait for tomorrow! Well...I am off to make some smore's around the campfire and head to bed to be refueled for another adventure tomorrow.
Ciao!


picture of the end product of our first day: