Good Evening from Marvell, Arkansas! We made it here this evening with out any trials or tribulations! We drove from Cross Lutheran to St. Louis. This morning we woke up and went to visit the St. Louis Arch! It is BIG! That is a direct quote from David. We left St. Louis about 11 am and headed for Marvell (our mission site). We were met by a very excited and anxious to get started crew! We had a great dinner, club time and church time! Well off to bed and we will update the page as we have time and we will be trying to add pictures soon too! God Bless and have a great night. Keep us and the people of Marvell in your thoughts and prayers!
Hello All,
Today is Monday, August 2, 2010. This was our first day in Marvel, AR on our Multi Generation Mission Trip. Tom, Myah, David and Denise Carroll and I had our mission to work on Miss Hazel’s home. She is an 83-year-old single young lady. There was a group of 20 of us that went to do some work on her home. Half of us painted the soffits and the other half which was us, scrubbed the vinyl siding and got it all cleaned up. Okay, not all, we have to go back tomorrow, but we did get a good portion of it done. It was 115 degrees today with the heat index. It was an amazing feeling to see Miss Hazel’s face light up when we all arrived and to see her periodically come out and her smile getting bigger and bigger as the day went on and the wetter we got from the heat. We were tired, wet from sweating horribly and hungry, but it is a day that we will never forget. Not only the work that we did for Miss Hazel, but how a group of 20 from 3 different churches pulled together and worked together as if we had worked together for years. It as truly amazing and you could feel the love of God all around us. Oh, David had a good time, catching toads while we were at Miss Hazel’s. That was the best part of his day. J Well, we will close for the day. God bless everyone, and please keep us in your prayers. Love to all.
Hey there all you mission trip fans-
Today Jim and I were on Kids Club and it was beyond HOT! (I think even hotter than Puerto Rico) This morning we planned and had orientation and then this afternoon we got ready to go. I played a wicked game of drip, drip, drop! I pushed kids on the swings over and over. Jim played football with some of the older boys who weren’t sure if they were “too cool” for Kids Club. They played a new game called Extreme Football. We also made friendship bracelets and just sat in the shade and visited with the kids spending quality time with them just being interested in their lives. The evening activities included a visit to a cotton field and learned about the history of farming cotton and how that is a big part of their economy and history. (Jim got a bunch of seeds to take home) We also went to a thrift store where you can buy clothing at garage sale prices. The kids were encouraged to come up with a wacky outfit for a special “fashion show” during club time. They were quite successful! J Well, we are off to bed – we are all very tired. Talk to you all again soon-
Good Evening Everyone, it is Tuesday night and so far we have all survived the heat. Today, Tom, David and I went out for work projects. We finished Miss Hazel’s house and she was so excited. She gave Tom her mailing address and we are going to send her pictures of us that were at the work site. She praised us all and could feel the love from everyone. It was a great feeling how happy she looked and sounded when we were done. Myah went to Kid’s Club for the day and Denise laid low for the day. She got a little over heated on Monday. So she did some homework and she went and watched the kids club for a little bit to get some pictures for the Olson’s since we were on a work sight. Half of our crew got to go to a new work sight after lunch and start another project. This project is a lot easier, since we only have about a 6 hours to complete a project. So the new project is to just clean up the trim on the house and garage and kill a few Wasp nests. They are very bad down here and they are HUGE! At least a foot long, okay maybe not that big, but they are bigger then what size we have and there are thousands of them. But thank God, not one has gotten stung. It has been a hot two days and the sweat just keeps pouring out but not has much as the love that is pouring out of all the individuals that are here with us. Tom and I have made a few friends that we are hoping we can stay in contact with even it if it just a few times a year. This mission trip is an experience that Tom and I have never went thru before and it is so up lifting. I never new that hard work could bring so much satisfaction and love. Well, I better sign off for now, Jim will be asking me how my day went in one second. God Bless you all and thank you for your continued prayers. The Olson’s and Denise.
Today at Kids Club we got to go to Helena to visit a nursing home. We spent all of our time in the common area and Jim played guitar and a bunch of us sang songs. The residents all liked the silly songs we sang and then we sang This Little Light of Mine and Jesus Loves Me most of them sang along with us. It was fun to see them remember the songs from childhood. This afternoon we had Kids Club again in the BRIGHT HOT SUN. (I think we might be on the face of the sun) J I played some Uno in the shade and again just visited with the kids. Jim however, mesmerized a group of older boys who wanted “coach” to throw them the football. During a break, Jim and another adult, Joe, talked in the shade with the boys – who were all about 16- about what they would change about their community. They said they would build a pool that everybody could use. Right now there are 2 pools but you have to be a member and it is quite expensive so most of the families can’t afford it. We ended the night with a trip to the swamp. We went out to see the landmark stone where the surveying began for the Louisanna Purchase. One more day of Mission Work and we will be heading home!
Cross Lutheran Family,
It was our last day here in Marvell, AR. It was hotter today then the two days prior. We did not think it was possible but it was. Denise, Tom, David and I did the Works Project and Myah hung out at Kids Club. We started the day with the whole group of 49 went to the Nursing Home in West Helena. It was an amazing experience talking with the elderly. We got the pleasure of sitting with a few individuals and talked to them. We got pictures taken with them and will be sending them copies of the pictures along with cards and just letting them know periodically with a card that we are thinking of them. After the nursing home, we went to Mr. Eugene and Ms. Mary’s house. Mr. Eugene is a member of Marvell community and he works with The Youth Works Program on the individuals who need assistance with their homes, yards, etc. So a way to thank him, we went and surprised him, by cleaning up his yard, by raking, weed whipped the yard, and some minor painting. Tom ran the weed whip, Denise trimmed some branches and I raked and we did a lot of visiting with Ms. Mary and Mr. Eugene. They are the most amazing couple ever. They were so grateful and loving and accepted us into their home even being all hot and sweaty, and STINKY, and I mean STINKY. We also received a few addresses of the individuals that we worked on houses for, I took a lot of pictures and will be mailing them and Tom and I hope we are able to have a pen pal relationship with them and we can keep in touch with them and maybe sometime return to Marvell to visit with them again. We made a lot of new friends and we hope that we are able to keep in touch with them. It is amazing what God has done not only for the people of Marvell this week, but also what he has done for the Olson’s and Denise. It is a wonderful feeling. It is our last night and it is going to be hard to get up tomorrow to leave knowing there is so much more that could be done here and so many more people to make friends with and share the word of the Lord with. I truly feel this will not be our last mission trip. We might try to find a place in a little warmer weather, J but we will go to serve the Lord again.
