Friday Night

Here we are, day six. Today was very productive but we missed Jack, Juj and Tyler.  We finished everything we wanted to and we didn’t even have to stay on the site late!  We touched up the exterior and hung the black shutters as well as the hanging swing that we returned to its home on the porch.  There was a lot to be done inside and to be honest I was skeptical we would finish all that we needed to do. But the SuperUPYs showed up today and we managed to finish priming and painting three rooms with what might just be the brightest shade of yellow known to humankind.  It was a hot one but we worked together and had a little fun, listened to some music and continued to have some great conversation with one another. 

Finishing the house was a pretty amazing feeling because at 2:00 there was paint everywhere, the furniture was all out of place, the floors were covered with dust, chipped paint and tarps.  Hour by hour, everything wrapped up and came together in a way that changed a work cite into a home right before our eyes.  When Monique and Mr. Montgomery returned from their appointment and we gave them the final tour of our completed projects the smiles on their faces (that we hadn’t seen much of previously) made our whole week worth it. 

After leaving the house for the last time and making our daily stop at RaceTrak convenient store we went back to camp, showered, and ate our final dinner together.  Stuffed and still rather grimy from the work day we were lucky enough to be able to take a dip in the lake and play on the water trampoline for a half hour before the storm hit.  Another rainy day left us in the main lodge in front of a campfire roasting s’mores and reflecting on the amazing week we’d had.   

Thursday Night

Hi All,

            We are writing to you during a severe thunderstorm underneath a covered pavilion, but it probably be best to tell you how we got here first. Our day started off with a fantastic breakfast, and then we headed off to Mr. Montgomery’s home.

            Once we arrived at the house that we were working on, we got straight to work.  We were super exhausted from our day of fun yesterday, so it started off as a slow day, but we still accomplished a lot. Today, we wished happy birthday to Tiana, whose birthday was yesterday, but we were gone on our free day, so we made her a card and gave her some jolly ranchers, which is her favorite candy. Tiana is the niece of Miss Monique, who also helped us paint around the house.

            Today, we accomplished so much, which was amazing because we finally saw a huge difference from their home before we came. Today, we got the first coat of paint on the outside of the house, which was gray. Also we primed the living room, scraped the paint in the kitchen, primed one of the bedrooms, painted the porch door, replaced a screen, painted their front porch and stairs, and finally painted their window frames. Sadly, as our workday came to the end, but the worst part about is was saying goodbye to some of our UPYs. Julianne, Jack S. and Tyler left, but most importantly they will be missed the rest of the trip. Everything is moving so well, that tomorrow will be an amazing realization that we can finally see the before and after changes. We are looking forward to completing the work at Mr. Montgomery’s home.

            Once we got back to camp, we had dinner and then went into pavilion to see The Birchtree Band perform. They sang songs that were both original and songs that are popular by other bands. We rocked out  by singing and dancing to the songs that the band sung. As the band started singing, the UPYs danced with the other Presbyterians at the camp that were from South Carolina, especially Jack and Aleisha, cranking out all their dance moves and encouraging others to join in, which also included the help of Lauren, Lindsey, and Anna. Then the UPYs and the kids from South Carolina,  ran through the sprinklers to cool dance from dancing so hard and rocking out. After a few more jams, the rain started to come down slowly as a drizzle, but suddenly the drizzle turned into a downpour with thunder and lightning. Yet, before it got really bad, the UPYs ran into the rain just to get wet, which has been a tradition. The thunder and lightning couldn’t stop our parade, so we continued to rock until the band lost power to all their sound equipment, so we finished the song, and it became the end of the concert. We then had the opportunity to met the band members, and the chance to buy their cd. After that we played cards and talked under the pavilion, which is were we are now.

            Today was a very rewarding day for everything that we got to do and got the opportunity to see. We hope that everything is well and when we get back, we will have definitely stories to tell all of you.

See ya soon!

            The UPYs

Wednesday Free Day

HOWDY!!!!

On Wednesday, it was our free day which was an amazing day. We woke up to a delicious breakfast and then made our way off to World of Coke. At the World of Coke, we witnessed coke bottles from around the world, learned the history of Coke, bottling process, commercials from past and present, we saw the iconic polar bear and gave him a hug, and last but surely not least, we saw the coke vault. This vault holds the secret recipe for Coke and how it is made. A bonus as we traveled to the World of Coke, we witnessed one of many Olympic torches from past and of course one of the torches from the London Olympics.

All of us were very excited as we entered, but especially Carolyn and Aleisha, who dressed up in coke wear to the World of Coke. As we toured around the museum, we ran into many interesting facts and games which allowed us to see everything coke has to offer and how unique it is. As we continued to tour around the museum, we watched a 4D movie that made us shake, sprayed water on us, and poked us in the back. It was very entertaining because we didn’t see what was coming. The best was definitely saved for last when we were able to try over 65 flavors that coke has to offer all across the world. Some were so bad that it took more than five other drinks to get the taste out and made our faces so hilarious that it needed to be caught on camera. On the other hand, there were some that we couldn’t get enough of. Some UPYs and chaperones were so daring that they tried all of the flavors no matter what they tasted like. As the museum came to a close, we exited into the gift shop to find anything and everything with coke written on it, but the best part was the free bottle of coke that we received just because we visited. After that we were all on a sugar high from all the drinks we tried and excited for what was coming next.

After World of Coke, we were on our way to our vans to drive to our next destination, but took a detour into Olympic Park from when Atlanta had the Olympics in 1996. We saw the plaza where everyone gathered and then saw a fountain that shot up water into the Olympic rings, but unfortunately it didn’t work. So we continued to walk in the hot Atlanta weather to our vans in order to get some lunch.  We dashed in for some quick food and loaded the vans in order to get to Six Flags Over Georgia for some fun. Once we arrived at Six Flags, we split up and ran for some roller coasters in order to have some fun. The rides are very similar to the ones back home, except they had some different names. We enjoyed our time there by riding roller coasters, eating dip and dots, talking, laughing and having a great time. Sadly, the closing time of the park was coming, so we had to depart to somewhere else.

Once in the vans, we had a hard decision on whether to go to Stone Mountain, bowling or back to camp. There was no majority so we headed off to dinner. We ended up eating at a pizza restaurant and every bite we ate was to die for. After our late night, we decided that it was right to head back to camp to get a good night’s rest because its been such a long day.

We all hope that everyone is great and we can’t wait to see everyone soon!

            Love,

                        The UPYs

A Word from the boys... Tuesday Night Reflections

Tuesday:

            Salutations from Griffin, Georgia By: John Trotter Wennerstrum, John Walsh Slezak, Thomas Arthur Wennerstrum, and Berry Tyler Allen

            As the sun rose and dawn broke the quaint and simple hew of the morning air, the boisterous and booming voice of Steve Wennerstrum echoed throughout the chamber of the secluded male dominion. The young gentlemen, still dazed from the previous days’ labor and blinded by the early morning light, stumbled down from their warm sleeping bags and onto the chilling concrete floor. As they rushed through breakfast, quick mouthfuls of succulent French toast sticks and southern grits, their bellies were filled with the nutrition needed to sustain a days’ exertion.

As they neared the worksite, their work was surly laid out for them. The previous day of painstakingly scraping paint and tearing through garbage left the house in what appeared to be in worse condition than when they witnessed it for the first time. The male conglomerate, clearly superior to their female counterparts, quickly descended on the work at hand, leaving their sexual opposites behind in the dust. As paint flew and sawdust entered the nostrils of the workers, an injury occurred. As Maximillion Strohl grunted in his effort of lifting a heavy sheet of plywood, the job seemed too much at hand and it dropped onto his unsuspecting right big toe. Maximus let out a freakish yell and performed a traditional Peruvian rain dance around the worksite in an unsuccessful attempt to alleviate the pain.

 Despite the casualty, the UPYs made leaps and bounds on their progression of the Montgomery Estate. The neighbor of Mr. Montgomery, Mr. Willie, aka ‘Daddy-O’, complimented the UPYs grand efforts of priming the exterior and assisting in the building of new gates, walls, and fences around the compound. The UPYs, happy to help, bid the homeowners farewell until Thursday and ventured en route to their campsite, eager to test their might on the nefarious high ropes course. And as the night descended upon them, two unsuspecting gentlemen decided to mount the swing, rather than utilizing the more common zip-line method as a tool of declination. Thomas and Berry repelled down in freefall, unaware that their manhood was at risk.

And as the two waddled back to their cabin, they were met by Matthew, Austin, and Maxwell fighting off swarms of ferocious ants attacking the stockpile of combos snack food. After two minutes of ruthless combat, it appeared that the dapper lads had successfully held off the ants for the time being.  To conclude their successful day of dainty activities, they retired to their sleeping bags once again, with more extravagant adventures awaiting them in the morning.

Bye Y’all!

Black Jack, Red Jack, Tom, and Tyler

About the authors:

Black Jack (aka Jack Slezak) has just completed his fifth year in the 8^th grade.  Unfortunately, he will be returning for yet another year. His writings, viewed as controversial by many, center mostly around his questionable past.

Tyler enjoys long walks on the beach and short walks to the local soda bar for a refreshing malt on a warm summer day.

Red Jack (aka Jack Wennerstrum) spends his days analyzing the metaphorical themes brought upon by the SpongeBob SquarePants series. He has four dogs, all Norwegian thoroughbred  cocker spaniels.

Thomas rarely leaves his eerie study and his multiple volumes of Emerson and Thoreau though occasionally takes breaks to exercise his exceptionally toned biceps.

No Thesaurus was used in the making if this blog entry

Monday Night Reflections

Below are reflections from Monday night after our first day of work, based on the prayer shared in the previous post.

Things we saw today:

·        A battered house

·        Mr. Montgomery and Monique being gracious

·        A snake

·        Many people saying hi to us as they walked or drove past

·        A sense of community and being together

·        People making the most of what they have

·        Hard work happening

·        A water heater in the kitchen

·        Junk items laying around

·        A ton of cookie cutters

·        A home lacking light and brightness

·        Dirt on the walls

·        Broken windows

·        Monique giving gifts to us such as video games and a tennis racket

·        The home was clutter but the bed was perfectly made

·        Mr. Montgomery very dressed up when we were there

·        Ants everywhere you looked

·        The church next door was a sweet escape from the surrounding streets

·        The 10 commandments painted on the door of the kitchen

·        Some possibly sketchy people around the area

·        Monique taking “before” photos and videos in anticipation of the “after”

Stories and other things we heard:

·        There are 57 churches in the surrounding county

·        Monique talk about how her daughter died of diabetes

·        Monique’s first cousin died last week

·        Monique asked always if we need anything

·        Mr. Willy (across-the-street neighbor whose house was recently worked on by Calvin Center participants) has 106 great grandchildren and grand children

·        Families are big

·        Monique’s was screaming about people taking away the scrap metal on her property

·        The door is open for us for what is ever needed from Mr. Willy and the pastor of the church next door

·        People around the neighborhood asking for their houses to be worked on

·        People working together

·        Scraping isn’t fun

·        The house was bought by Mr. Montgomery’s parents in 1975

·        Sometimes Calvin Center makes calls to try and get people on their list of families to receive help

·        A lady who already has a nice inside and outside of her house asking for a group to come and build a porch

·        Excitement for what is going to happen on the house, especially with paint colors

·        The kitchen will be painted yellow in the kitchen in memory of Monique’s daughter that died

·        A tree feel on the backyard porch 6 years ago

Things we thought about today:

·        We do similar things to fix up houses around our home town and now here in Georgia

·        Appreciating this work trip because we are already seeing the results of our work and it is more fulfilling

·        What it would be like to live in this house; how different it is and it changed our perspectives

·        The differences of topics such as ACT tests and classes for next year and what the homeowners might have felt if they overheard us talking about them

·        We felt bad when we walk into the inside of the house

·        We wish we had a longer time period to make a bigger difference than just one week

·        How if we had a water heater in our kitchen at home, no one would stop talking about it, but here it was just a part of making the house work.

·        Would I know to make a difference if something was wrong within my home or would I just let it go?

·        Would the participants want their homes to look like others that have been redone

·        That the people we are working with will not get the opportunity to have the experiences that we have

Some of the feelings we remember from today:

·        Excited: We can see the potential of the difference that we can make by comparing Mr. Montgomery’s house to Mr. Willy

·        Humble: to be able to do the work and the time and effort that went into it

·        We didn’t fear uncomfortable then we thought it would be

·        The sense of community which made us close to home by the friendly neighbors that were present

·        We felt lucky and spoil for what we have at our homes compared to them

What we are excited about tomorrow:

·        To see the house with the first coat of paint on

·        Seeing Monique’s reaction when the paint is on

·        Seeing the trash hauled off to the dump

·        Seeing the door working and closing (a project we started today but didn’t finish)

·        Restoring the house

Prayer for the week, as shared by Paul, Mission Work Camp Director

God be in my head, and in my understanding;

God be in my eyes, and in my looking;

God be in my mouth, and in my speaking;

God be in my heart, and in my thinking;

God be at my end, and at my departing.

- Sarum Primer

What’s up Presby’s?

Currently, we are all driving back from our first day of work out on Mr. Montgomery’s house in Griffin, Georgia. It was a successful day to say the least, filled with scraping walls, (LOTS of scraping), priming, painting, and getting to know both our si te coordinator, Daniel, Mr. Montgomery, and Ms. Monique, who lives with Mr. Montgomery.

            Georgia is hot and sunny, everyone is starting to get a nice tan, and we believe the week is heading off to a great start! 

            Heading back to camp, we can’t wait to eat and then go swimming after! The other group at camp is going to the high-ropes course today which means we’ll be able to go Tuesday night! Wish us luck.

           

            So long for now,

            Julianne