Last Day Reflections

By Conner Lane, Eli Mure and Alex Schannuth

Today is Friday, the last day of our trip. Today we will be spending most of our time on the road back to Hermann. Since today isn’t very exciting we are going to reflect on yesterday.    

Yesterday was a very exciting day in North Carolina. It was our last day of work--most of which was spent outside in the grueling heat which was then cooled off by a downpour for the ages.

At Shawn’s jobsite, we worked very hard all week. We started out by replacing a set of steps which were unusable for the transportation of people. The elderly man named Bill was very thrilled with his new stairs. We also replaced some sketchy boards on his deck which could have collapsed at any moment. Then the man’s water heater was down, which he explained was down for two months! Could you imagine having no hot water for two months? So we called Mr. Reliable Plumbing on the job for that. Shawn Lane fixed the sink in the bathroom, the water heater in a closet, and a drain line for another sink. He was thrilled when he figured out that he could go to the restroom in one bathroom and wash his hands in that same bathroom. 

Then we pulled up carpet out of his kitchen (carpet in kitchen = bad idea), which we also replaced by a floating wooden floor. This was a very long process due to the nature of the floating floor. Each piece of a floating floor was individually tabbed in to place with tabs on the previous piece laid. Then we put trim in his kitchen which completed the beautiful look of the kitchen.

During that same time Preacher Man Mure (Eli) and Sparky Loehnig (Drew) were weed eating Bill’s yard. They also sanded the new stairs, and according to Sparky Loehnig, they were smoother than a baby’s bottom. Bill was outside dancing on them whenever we left and when it started to rain he told us that he was inside on his new floor dancing on that also. He was very appreciative of all of the work that was done throughout this week.

Then when the work day was over we went back to Hinton where we ate a great meal with our new North Carolina families. It was taco Thursday, and everybody got themselves some tacos. We also celebrated Chef Phillip’s birthday this day and we sung happy birthday until the cows came home.

After this a couple of us baseball players went to watch the Hayesville Yellow Jackets’ baseball team play. They are extremely good and we enjoyed every minute of the playoff atmosphere. They ended up losing four to nothing, and this loss ended their season’s run at a state championship. We got to talk to the people around there and almost all of them appreciated the work that Hinton was doing to improve the life there.

 It was hard to say goodbye to the families that we worked so hard for this week. We all enjoyed helping somebody who is less fortunate. We loved to see their faces light up when they saw the work that was done in order to improve their quality of life. My personal favorite moment was when Bill said that he danced on his new flooring in his house. He absolutely loved the work that was done, as all of the other families did too.

We learned so much as a group this year in Hayesville. We learned about the great feelings that come from helping somebody that can’t help themselves due to their disabilities, age, or financial problems. We all hope to go and visit these families again to see how they are enjoying their new gifts. We would like to thank all of our sponsors that help finance this trip, because without these people we could not have done the work that we have done. We would also like to thank all of the chaperones that came along, including Scott Schannuth for his work in carpentry, Shawn Lane for his work in the plumbing, Allen Speckhals for driving us all the way there and his expertise in painting, and a special thank you to Terry Veith and Maribeth Dann for organizing this trip.

Fuego Fantastico ready for dinner with their homeowners--Miss Lynn, Miss Mickey and Miss Clara

Our last evening meeting at Hinton

White-Out Wednesday

North Carolina Trip

Day 5: Hayesville, North Carolina: Hinton

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Donnita Johnson, Sara Keiser, and Jill Kolbe

Jill’s Group: Today was a very eventful day for multiple reasons. Firstly, my team continued to put up railing on the porch for Ruby, her homeowner. Her chickens started flying around the work area as she worked; it was a crazy tornado of feathers and sawdust! Rudy is a very nice woman. She has lived in Haysville almost her entire life and definitely knows the meaning of “southern hospitality”.  My group, Madison, Jamie, Blake, Alex, Scott, and I, are so happy to have been able to help such a sweet person fix up her porch.

Sara’s Group: My group started working on painting the windows and railings of Dorothy, Wanita and Maxine’s house. They are just as nice as Jill’s homeowner; they even brought our group cookies in the middle of the day! They received many friends and visitors throughout the day and were just a blast to be around! After flying through painting the railings, we cleaned up and headed back to Hinton for an afternoon of fun.

Donnita’s Group: We had a lot to do today. My group, Eli, Conner, Alex M., Drew, Shawn, and I, managed to finish up the flooring in our homeowner Bill’s house. We had to do some crazy math and constantly beg our advisers to cut the boards in wacky shapes. I was in charge of putting down the flooring with Drew, who was better at making sure the floorboards were together correctly. Bill’s son arrived at the end and was so grateful for all the work that we had done. It made all of us feel really accomplished and understand just what the impact of our actions were on the family we were working with.

After all the groups arrived back at Hinton, we all loaded up in the bus and made our way to Walmart for a supply run and to buy gifts for our homeowners and supervisors.

 Walmart was just the first stop in our afternoon off from working with Hinton. The Hermann group then went to the famous Fire’s Creek. Everyone had a great time and although some of the rocks were slippery, nobody fell. We did get soaked, though! Donnita lost a shoe, but it was quickly retrieved by one of her friends. Sara chatted with Mrs. Dann and Ms. Vieth because she thought the water was too cold. Jill watched a group of boys make a bridge out of logs.

When everyone was done splashing around in Fire’s Creek, we loaded back up into the bus and headed to a little ice cream shop in downtown Hayesville named Chinquapins.  Soon the entire shop was filled wall-to-wall with hungry Hermannites craving milkshakes. It was a good thing Chinquapins has a huge variety of milkshake flavors, because everyone wanted to try something different. Donnita got a caramel walnut milkshake with Cookies-n-Cream. Sara bought chocolate ice cream in a waffle cone. Jill purchased a chocolate milkshake and a t-shirt (she’s quite the big spender).

Even though our ice cream stop was done, the day was still far from over. When we arrived back at Hinton, we found that Shawn and Scott had been hard at work preparing dinner for everyone. There was plenty of food to go around, but plates were a different story. We had all forgotten that we needed plates! Sara, Heather and Donnita went on a huge adventure to scrounge up any plates they could find. By the time they got back, plates in tow, they found that everyone else had gotten too impatient and had started eating without them! We didn’t mind though, because there was enough food to feed a small nation, or even a hungry group of teenagers.

After dinner, everyone hung out near the lake, swimming and having water balloon fights. We were having a great time until it started pouring! Everyone hurriedly packed up and ran for shelters, some more reluctantly than others. Being rained out wasn’t so bad, though. It gave everyone an opportunity to personalize the gifts we bought for the supervisors and homeowners. Jill even made her own hat!

We had a great time and are so sad that tomorrow will be our last day. It has been a great week at Hinton. We can’t wait to see what tomorrow has in store for us.

Working on the railing

Tie-dye Tuesday

North Carolina Trip

Day 4: Hayesville, North Carolina: Hinton

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Madison Schneider, Torrie Roodhouse, and Valerie Hagedorn

            On the Second Day of our work week, 6:45 a.m. came sooner than expected. After getting ready for another blessed day, all of us went to make our lunches for the day. Soon after we went over announcements, did our daily ritual dance, and met in the chapel for prayer. Then, we ate the delicious breakfast that was prepared for us to get our strength for the day. The food coordinator got all the water and coolers ready for the day, and the tool coordinator got all of the supplies that would be needed on the worksite as well. Everyone gathered in their groups and loaded everything in their vehicles, preparing for their long day of work ahead of them.

Scott Schannuth and Mrs. Dann’s groups ride together in a nice-looking white mini-bus. Their bus rides are very enjoyable. They jam out to music, singing as loud as possible. Mrs. Dann’s singing skills are, in a word, amusing while her bus driving skills are downright professional. They had an adventurous trip today. After dropping off Scott’s group, they got lost a couple of times, but Mrs. Dann’s group eventually made it to their worksite. Mrs. Vieth’s crew, also known as, The Battle Cattle, had a nice slow relaxing drive in the “sickburban” to their worksite. Upon arrival, they practiced their battle cry and promptly got to work.

Scott’s group, also known as the Super Troopers, had to rebuild a porch with railings and also a wheelchair ramp with railings. The homeowner had many animals, such as chickens and dogs. They were running and strutting around everywhere. The boards on the porch were rotting and falling through, which was very dangerous for the family. The group sawed and screwed down many new boards for the new porch, and also scrubbed and washed the railings. They got a lot accomplished and was very happy with their work, though they didn’t finish the porch, they will be back bright and early tomorrow morning!

Mrs. Dann’s group, also known as Fuego Fantastico, started off the day painting the floor of a carport red, finishing the job from yesterday. Then, they began to stain a bench. They also used their axe chopping skills to cut up some branches, which was loaded in a van and took to the dump. Andy, the site supervisor, showed up later with a chainsaw to help us finish the job. We helped him load the remaining wood on his truck. They also painted some concrete flooring and planted some flowers. Their homeowners were very pleased. The best part about their day was spending time with their homeowners, who continuously offer coco-cola, cake, and other goodies. They felt very accomplished and love spending time with their homeowner and neighbors.

Back to the Battle Cattle, they began by pressure washing the entire house. Emily and Torrie were in charge of pressure washing at the beginning and they took about four showers a piece. While the house was being pressure washed, Sara, Isaac, Andrew, and the team leaders Ashley and Ben cleaned up the yard. After the pressure washing was done, they all took our turns up and down the ladders washing the windows to prepare for painting tomorrow. They finished a little early and hopped in the vehicles to Fire’s Creek. They explored Fire’s Creek then headed back to Hinton.

Some of the groups had an opportunity to go to the ice cream place in the town of Hayesville. It was very delicious.  Everyone made it back to Hinton. Some enjoyed a nice swim at the lake before dinner. Around 5:45, we had a delightful dinner. After dinner, we played a very intense game of “Murder Mystery” or “Who dunnit?” We ran all around Hinton, miles and miles of running, and followed the clues to solve the supposed murder. We found all the clues and had to create a Mad Lib story. It was really fun and enjoyable. We are so glad that the Hinton staff and campers could put this game together for us. We are so thankful for the Hinton Staff and everything they have done for us.

Powerwashing

Day 3--First Day of Work

Today on Hinton Hill in North Carolina we were busy with our first day of work. In the morning some kids got up early to watch the sunrise or take an early morning run, while others snored away. We then packed our lunches for the day and ate our morning vittles after an early morning dance lesson. There was an array of biscuits and gravy, eggs, hash browns, sausage, and grits. After we were finished gorging ourselves upon the bountiful feast, we split up to perform assorted tasks. The food manager packed all of the lunches, including ones for the homeowners, into a cooler and grabbed water; the tools manager gathered all of the needed tools and equipment for the day and packed them into the trucks and the clean-up person cleaned off tables after breakfast to make sure we were ready for the day. After all supplies were packed, we loaded up to ship off to our work sites. The “Blue Eyed Peas” went to work for the day after a seemingly forever long of a ride. They worked on painting a house for an elderly woman. But, today there was only paint scraping to be done on this work site because the current paint was peeling.  There are still many things to happen at this site (which you will learn about in another blog). At noon we all stopped for lunch and ate our sack lunches with the home owners. The relationship coordinators gave a lunch to the owner, and we all ate lunch together. After we were done eating lunch we had a quick devotion before going back to work again (religious things are not required). We worked for a long time and decided to call it quits for the day and head back to Hinton for the evening around 4:00. Once back at Hinton, many students (after returning tools to the shed and cleaning out coolers) went for a swim in the lovely Chatuge Lake at the base of the hill. After swimming, students met up at the hill at 5:45 to have a short meeting before our evening meal. After an amazing meal of assorted homemade pizzas (double yum!) there was some free time before a tense game of trivia at 7:00. The trivia game was close, but in the end Team 2 won. They were not very gracious and courteous winners. They were very boastful, but we weren’t exactly the best losers! After the game; the boys and girls returned to their cabins. The boys held a not-so-secret meeting about their new not-so-secret government. They refuse to give up any information about their secret organization even when thoroughly questioned. After the boys’ meeting (that doesn’t exist ;), because of the rain that moved in many gathered over in the upper level of the girls’ cabin to play games (while supervised). Overall, it was a productive, energetic, not-so-secret, amazing day at Hinton Hill in North Carolina!

Heather Hingst and Jacob Bockting

A few of the Blue-Eyed Peas busily scraping paint

Day 2: Drew, Emily and Josh

     Hello blog followers!  Today, May 25, we started off by leaving the lovely Country Inn & Suites at approximately 8:02 a.m. While we were still at the hotel, we enjoyed a nice breakfast that included waffles, cereal, ham, eggs, potatoes and an assortment of fruit. We also had a small contest within the group to determine who could leave their rooms the cleanest, the winner to be determined by Mrs. Dann. The winners were Heather, Jillian, Donni and Sara. The thank you note that they left for the staff clinched the win.  The prize—a seat all to themselves on the way home!

     After we left the hotel, we then embarked on a six hour journey through parts of Tennessee and North Carolina.  The scenery was spectacular as Mr. Allen Speckhals drove the bus though the Appalachian Mountains. We also enjoyed watching the White Water rafters as they weaved their rafts down a river of fury. We stopped for lunch at around one o’clock, and had a variety of choices consisting of Wendy’s, Pizza Hut and Long John Silver’s. The group also stopped at Walmart to buy some small items.

     Once we left, we arrived about thirty minutes later at the Hinton Center. Once we were there, we met in the Great Moore Hall and greeted our group leaders. The group also had to introduce themselves. We did this by having Cullen “read” everyone’s palms and give them their fortunes for the upcoming week. After meeting our leaders, we were assigned our groups and positions. The positions include relationship, clean up, food, tools, and programming.  Relationship responsibilities include conversing with the homeowners we are helping and communicating between them and the group leaders. The clean up person within each group is responsible for making sure the site and Hinton Center remains clean, and also helping other positions. Tool people have to load the tools into the trucks each morning for their specific site. The people that are in charge of food have to load the coolers with the lunch bags and fill the community water jugs each day. Programmers make sure everyone remains on task and that safety precautions are being followed. Following the positions meetings, we participated in a short prayer service, then ate a stir fry dinner prepared by the wonderful chef at the Hinton Center. We ended our night by going down to the lake and enjoyed the sunset along with a bonfire. Everyone from Hermann is excited for their jobs and what the rest of the week has to hold.

Wagon Wheel

North Carolina Trip

Day 1: Nashville

Saturday, May 24, 2014

Blake, Isaac, and Gunnar

            ‘Twas the morn of our departure, we had arrived early to take leave ere break of day. We took to the highways, headed towards the shallow south, North Carolina. Those of us in our fellowship set our jaws, ready to commence in a week of back-breaking, bone-shattering, man(woman)-making… festivities. On we went, beginning our great journey of service learning to the mythical land of the Hinton Center in Hayesville, our new home for a week of jubilant work and jolly wonder.  After many a mile on our long and perilous trek across our nation’s interstellar… oh wait different journey… our nation’s interstate system, and many a stop for the draining of pipes, we had arrived at our midway, the Country Music Capital of the World, Nashville, Tennessee! We bided our time at our place of lodging, Country Inn Suites, resting until the evening’s jamboree, at The Unbroken Circle, a   live history of country music… The Grand Ole Opry! We were awed by many living legends including: Little Jimmy Dickens, Connie Smith, Jeannie Seely, John Connelly, and newer artists: Keni Thomas, Jason Crabb. Also entertaining were several blue-grass bands and the Grand Ole Opry Square Dancers. We also were fortunate enough, on Memorial Day weekend, to hear several songs pay tribute to all our veterans alive and deceased. To start off early with some work, we had our very own Jamie Gleeson strut her stuff on the Grand Ole Opry stage in a battle of trivial wits over the history of country music. And so, after a long eventful day and action packed evening, we returned to our lodging to rest and relax. Tomorrow starts a new day, and who knows what will transpire…

The whole group outside of the Grand Ole Opry

Having a little fun!

Jamie testing her country music knowledge on the GOO stage

Hinton Blog; Day 6 the Finale

                Ok so today, May 30, 2013, was unlike any other we have seen so far… It started like any other day, like regular clockwork, we awoke early in hopes of glimpsing, our sun rise, like a majestic phoenix from its ashes reborn, another day. After the hike down to the lake, we were dismayed, to see the mountain opposite of us, shrouded in clouds, and fog looming over the water, thus preventing us from watching the eastern light rise. Unfortunately our hike was for naught.  Out across the lake, quit vividly, flashing lights could be seen, piercing the cloud of mist on the southern shore across the lake.      Eventually we wandered back up to Moore Hall, and partook in our usual morning activities of enjoying the peace of the early mountain morning in the gentle sway of the rocking chairs, swift games of checkers, announcements, service, and breakfast.

                Being our last day, rumors of Fires Creek or ice cream floated around in our heads like dreams of Christmas in little children.  We set off to the tool shed to load the truck, and a heavy truth hit us hard. There was a high chance of us, after finishing our job, returning to Hinton  for the back breaking task of trenching. After loading the truck and piling onto the bus, we headed out with heavy hearts and high hopes of completing the ramp. Previously we had ventured into Wal*Mart, searching for gifts of memorabilia to leave our home owner and service workers. After a few obnoxious photos , cheap frames, and a music box, we had our prize. We had a picture of our crew (officially Team 4--the Mordacious Mountain Men) around the ramp. We found a frame with a border that we all signed and gave it to our homeowner.  After completing our ramp--of which is the most glorious and beautiful of ramps in the world—Kevin and Hayden (our site coordinators) were given gifts, as well. First, all week our only complaint was a lack of music, the never ending silence, throbbing sound of our shovels on the hard, rock filled clay, constant buzz of our drills and occasional comment escaping our lips--we purchased a portable AM/FM Weather Radio; again, our luck ran dry due to lack of outlet and batteries. We were unable to shatter the silence with music from the newly purchased radio.  Instead Scott, was able to play his music, from his iPhone.  After completing our work on the job site, a few group photo shoots in which we all modeled, lunch and a decent sized wait, we were able to go off to Fires Creek and avoid the dreaded trenches.

Alan’s Team was in the midst of equipping each other with war paint as they assaulted the hefty labor of lavishing layers of thickly coated paint and finish that encased the entirety of their site without breaks or rest feeling more and more desperate to complete their task. Also we had a framed bible quote for our homeowner. The sole stop was when Coach came to collect the Mordacious Mountain Men to help finish the job. In all actuality, they just relaxed on the lawn…awaiting the lavish cleaning of the brushes to make our voyage o’er land to Fires Creek.

                After getting lost we finally reached our destination--Fires Creek, a cold running natural mountain stream with a waterfall.  Mordacious mountain men--the whole crew, minus Kevin of whom unfortunately was unable to join us--made the hike to the top. We then left the falls to venture down the mountain to commence building a dam. After a while at the creek,  we ventured on to the homestead. Once at our separate lodges, we got ourselves all gussied up for the end of the week dinner with our homeowners. After the filling explosion of flavors of Taco-Thursday, we had a couple of minutes till we headed to a bonfire, down at the lake. We went boating out on the lake, sang songs, made s ‘mores, and enjoyed a festive joyous evening. Finally ending with packing our bags,  and cleaning the lodge so that we are ready to begin our trip back to Missouri.