This is just the e-mail I sent out to those who asked for a daily update throughout the week, and I thought I'd share for those who just wanted to know how things went :)
Dear Friends,
First, an apology is in order, both for my West Virginia team, and for myself. We fully expected to send out daily e-mails about how our trip was going, but once we got there, our team leader was a little overwhelmed and found out that there was not enough time in the days to report to our church secretary every day to share our news. So, as you well know, we got in contact with church once the whole week. A sad excuse for e-mail updates! Sorry from my team!
Also, a sorry from myself, because I kept meaning to write a follow-up e-mail and thank you to all those who supported me with money and showered me with prayers about this trip. It has sadly taken me almost two weeks of being home to sit down and write to share with you all the wonderful things that went on during our trip to West Virginia.
I’ll give a basic overview of the week, some fun stories and a few little tidbits that I learned, all while trying to be brief… We’ll see how this goes!
We arrived Saturday after about 11 hours of driving. Apparently there were awful floods in Chicago, which we were graced with safe travel through. I was asleep, so didn’t see any of the wreckage, but from what I heard, we just missed the really bad rains by about an hour! Praise God!
Sunday we went to meet with Etta and the other home owners. All 19 of us squeezed into Etta’s living room. It was a beautiful reunion for those of us who knew her before, and those who hadn’t were so excited to share in meeting our wonderful friend! Her daughter and granddaughter, Tammi and Taya, were there as well! Taya had been to the Easter Egg Roll at the White House, and she showed us the commemorative egg she got there. I was SO jealous. My idol, Dolly Madison, was the one who started the Egg Roll, and I have always wanted to be a part of the tradition. So, the closest I got was holding the fake egg.
Monday, we started working. I learned a little about plumbing. I helped install a new sink vanity set in Thelma Brown’s house. We took the box it came in and made “Spaceship Cheese” with Octavian, Thelma’s great-grandson, one of many! He’s five, and he is quite a hoot!
Tuesday, more work. I painted in one of the bedrooms in Thelma’s house.
Wednesday, we had the afternoon off. In the morning, I finished up painting in the bedroom. Marie, whose roof we repaired, made us the most beautiful meal of all time! Fried chicken and ribs, with hand-made rolls that could put Texas Road House to shame! Then we spent the afternoon at Valley Worlds of Fun, which is where Tammi works. It’s like a small Chuck E. Cheese’s or Fun World with outdoor rides and activities as well. They had bumper boats – the best thing for relief from the heat! They also had a really cool mini-golf course where each hole was another country. We golfed – or sort of golfed, since I don’t really play by golf rules – with Taya. She spends a lot of time there since her mom works there, and so she’d say, “I know which country comes next. It’s got a BIG population!” She is just too precious!
Thursday, we rented a carpet shampooer for the bedroom I had painted, because the granddaughter who had lived in it had spilled and carelessly left everything to stain. We would have felt awful leaving it as dirty as she had, so we did our best to clean it up a bit. Many of the big stains came out!
Friday, there was not much work left to do, so after we finished up the few remaining loose ends, we spent the day with Etta, watching soap operas. A few of us ladies went with her to look for a couch. She had been wanting a new one for some time. It was fun to go looking with her. Then, we all went to this cute little restaurant called the Poky Dot. It’s a 50’s style diner. Their ice cream is pretty cheap and comes in colossal proportions! That night there was a dinner for all the hosts whose houses we had worked at. It was nice to eat a meal with Etta, Tammi, Taya, Marie, Nicki (her granddaughter), and Cedric (Nicki’s son).
All week, Pastor Adam Powers spoke to us about Jonah back at the camp. It was very refreshing to have God’s Word spoken each day. We also met some teens from a church in Sparta, Illinois. It was really great to bond with God’s people from all over. But one of my favorite parts of the trip, both this time and last, was growing in relationship with those from Cornerstone itself. I have found it so valuable to know the people you attend church with every Sunday. I even got to know people from church who I had only met in passing.
Thank you again for all your prayers throughout the weeks surrounding my trip. Thank you for your patience with not receiving updates. I would love to talk more in depth about the trip if any of you have questions!
In Christ’s Love,
Audrey Moore
