On Wednesday Mary received a phone call from Sister Flo at Cedar Grove AME Zion. She just wanted to say thank you again and to find out if we had a good trip back.
Flo said that word is spreading about the work done at Cedar Grove and that they expect a big turnout at their first event in the renovated space, a women's meeting Thursday night.
She says that people keep asking her how it was that our group turned up at her church, and she says that God sent us down!!
On Saturday we woke early in Washington, NC, had a cold breakfast and headed for Washington, DC. We arrived mid-afternoon to amazing weather and light crowds. We split into small groups; some of us saw the monuments, while others were able to briefly see a museum. We then gathered at the Lincoln Memorial and went by bus for a brief visit to the Jefferson, before having dinner at Union Station. Then it was off to Silver Springs for our overnight.
On Sunday we were up early for the drive home. We got lucky with traffic around New York City and arrived in West Lebanon shortly after 5pm
Today was our final day at the work site. With an amazing burst of effort we finished sanding and priming the sanctuary, removed the tarps, cleaned the room and replaced the pews and other furniture. What a difference! Two bathroom teams finished tiling the floors and replaced the fixtures resulting in two great looking, accessible bathrooms. Sara and Peter finished repairing and painting the steeple and the exterior team finished the sides of the church.
We got an incredible amount of work done this week, much more than we could have hoped for. We and the people of Cedar Grove were overjoyed to be able to have a nice ceremony at the end of work today in the sanctuary to celebrate the work and say our goodbyes. We left with bag lunchs in hand prepared by the people of Cedar Grove, and of course lots of hugs and happy memories and more than a few tears!
We arrived at the Fort Macon State Park beach in mid-afternoon for swimming and a picnic dinner. It was an hour-and-a-half drive but well worth it!
The evening ended with a general clean-up of our living space at First Baptist and a special circle-time where we shared our thoughts of the week, from first-timers to tenth-timers!
Tomorrow (Saturday) starts with a quick breakfast and then we hit the road for Washington, DC. We'll spend some time touring, then head to Silver Springs for our overnight. Sunday we leave early, have breakfast on the road at a buffet, and arrive home later in the day in West Lebanon.
We've posted pictures of our work and play today on our album at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/nccyouthgroup2008
Today was our final full day on the work site (we'll finish up with a half-day on Friday). We finished the sheet rock and the mudding in the sanctuary and prepped the room for some early-morning priming tomorrow. We made major progress on the steeple, bathrooms and exterior --- and got a bit sun-burned in the process!
Tonight is our "annual" (as of last year) Work Trip Talent Extravaganza.
We began the day with a wonderful breakfast of grits and scrambled eggs prepared by David's team ("Team Creeper"). The people at Cedar Grove served us a fantastic lunch of fried chicken and collard greens with cheese cake for dessert. For dinner the men of First Baptist served us baked chicken, mashed potatoes and peas. Mmmmmmmm...
The Talent Extravaganza was an awesome success; photos of some of the acts are in the day's web album at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/nccyouthgroup2008
We had an incredible day today. With a super effort we were able to finish hanging the sheetrock in the sanctuary and got most of the first coat of mud and tape up. Tomorrow we'll do a second coat of mud and will have it ready for priming at the end of the day!
In the bathrooms Dan's helpers re-routed the plumbing, installed the flooring and finished a hole in the ceiling of the first bathroom. In the second bathroom the kids re-routed the sink piping and installed new subfloor. They also drilled holes through the concrete walls for sink drains in both bathrooms.
The people at Cedar Grove made us a great spaghetti lunch with all the trimmings, and in the evening we had dinner with about 150-200 people from First Baptist at their regular Wednesday dinner. Afterwards some of us played basketball in their regular after-dinner pick-up game. The girls from Sharon Academy taught everyone how the game is played!
As always, pictures from our day of work are posted in our web album at http://picasaweb.google.com/nccyouthgroup2008
What an awesome day we had today! We started right in where we left off on Tuesday, finishing the firring strips in the sanctuary and diving into the sheetrocking. We expect to have all of the sheetrock up by the end of the day Wednesday. We even expect to begin some mudding on Wednesday morning!
The teams working on the exterior have finished their scraping, brushing and caulking and have put on a coat of primer. The bathroom team finished the floor reconstruction in one bathroom and have moved onto the second.
The people of Cedar Grove served us another wonderful lunch today, this time featuring catfish ("chatfish"), trout and BBQ venison (very) good!!). This evening the deacons of First Baptist provided pizza and great conversation. We've lucky and very thankful to have these folks looking out for us!
Pictures from our work today have been added to our web album at http://picasaweb.google.com/nccyouthgroup2008
We had a great day today! After scrambled eggs cooked by Mary's Team, we had our daily circle time and then were off to Cedar Grove to begin work.
After some instructions, we started by removing all of the pews and other moveable items from the sanctuary and covering what we couldn't move. Then we started into some light demolition, removing the paneling/wainscoting. That made room on the walls for the firring stips, which we completed on about half the sanctuary and can start receiving the sheet-rock tomorrow.
Dan got a team started on the bathrooms, where the project is similar to previous years: re-framing the floors, re-plumbing and re-flooring. Outside, a team got started on scraping and cleaning in anticipationg of painting in a few days.
It was a great start to the work week! Tonight we will enjoy a dinner prepared by some of the great people at First Baptist.
We've added an album of our photos from today at http://picasaweb.google.com/nccyouthgroup2008
Hey everyone! We've arrived safely at our home base for the week, First Baptist in Washington, NC.
We started the morning at the Econolodge and we ate breakfast at Woogies (Yeah!) on our way to worship with Cedar Grove AME Zion Church in Aurora. After service we had a great lunch served by the people of Cedar Grove.
This evening we had dinner prepared by the youth group at First Baptist and their families, and watched a movie projected on the wall of their activity center (like a big gym).
The people at Cedar Grove and our hosts at First Baptist have been wonderful and we are looking forward to a great week! We're very thankful that everyone has been so welcoming.
Pictures will be posted to our Picasa site soon; please be patient and watch for updates!
Some last-minute thoughts from Mary:
Tools: There is still some vagueness about the scope of work, but we are going with the idea that insulation and sheetrocking will take up most of our time. So, those of you who have substantial tools can pack accordingly. Drills are handy of you own one. Label your things well so we don't get mixed up. We supply the hardhats, plus safety glasses and some extra gloves if anyone really can't get their own.
Food: We are trusting that enough people will bring snacks to share on the bus. We won't starve...
Saturday at the Beach: Remember that we will try to go to a beach on Saturday afternoon, so bring a suit and towel, etc.
Sunday Worship: Remember that we will worship with the folks from Cedar Grove AME on Sunday morning, so bring a nice set of clothes and a few dollars for the offering.
Most of all bring enthusiasm and flexibility. They go a long way!
We're looking forward to seeing you on Friday morning in West Leb!!
Hey worktrippers - only two days to go!
Here's a list of what people should bring:
We ask that people not bring laptops
We will supply hard hats. Safety is important to us!
If you want to bring a camera or video camera to make a record of our week, please do! Its great to have afterwards, and some students have used this opportunity to do a school art or writing project.
We like to have people bring snacks for the bus, especially fruit and non-junk food!
