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.

Day 5- Third Day of Work

The day started off as any other day. We packed our lunches and then met in the great hall for exercises. Today we had an intense game of Wah. Despite their best efforts, Conner and Josh were not victorious. After exercise time, Katie, Cullen, Madison, Everett, Emma, Emily and Torrie planned a treat for us. They performed a beautiful rendition of “Holy, Holy, Holy.” We then headed to the cafeteria for breakfast. We had bacon, hash browns, eggs, and biscuits and gravy. After that we packed up the last of our work gear and left for our job sites. Jamie: Well, the Mordacious Mountain woMen had a little change in their daily routine. Because of their working skills, they sped through their job and came to a point where there was almost nothing left to do at the job. The team of Jessica, Blake, Emily, Alex, Jamie, and Scott did not have to leave to go to their job site. Today they got to stay at Hinton to dig trenches to put some wires in. We dug those trenches so deep we almost saw China. Considering today was a scheduled half day, we only had to work till lunch time. Once lunch came around, we got to eat in the nice air-conditioned cafeteria. We will see what tomorrow has in store for us. But with this group we know it should be fun. Hayley: At my job site, we had already started priming the back porch the day before so we picked up where we left off. I joined Coach Speckhals on the back porch and stained what was already primed. Then after finishing that, we moved to the front porch. Since today was a shortened day we worked hard so we could get at least one coat of prime/paint on the front and back deck. Thanks to everyone’s hard work we finished that and also replaced a few boards that were bad on the car port. After that we had to wait for Coach Speckhals to clean all of his brushes, so we thought that would be a good time to eat lunch. Mr. Waters joined us, and after that we came back to Hinton and got ready for the other adventures planned for the day. Conner & Josh: Our team (The Rita Roach Restoration Rescue Responders) began the day with an over abundance of energy and dedication to finish our tasks at hand. We stained the porch swing and its holder. We also painted the front porch. Then we devoured our paper sack lunch and had devotion as a group while telling funny stories and laughing. Today’s work was different in our group because the “Notorious Van Driver” (who by the way, turns her blinker on 3 miles before the turn. That is if she even takes the correct roads) Mrs. Dann joined our group since King Sire Shawn Lane wasn’t present at his palace today. His skills were needed in another group. We didn’t get a chance to talk to Ms. Rita (the homeowner) because she was gone all day. After cleaning up our site, we left and came back to Hinton to get ready for our upcoming Indian experience. Kirsten: The Notorious Gazelle Wranglers began their work day thankful that Shawn Lane came to the worksite to help with the carpentry work on the soffits. Blue (the dog that just occasionally hangs with us) greeted us as we came into the driveway, and we all gave him a little lovin’. We got straight to work because we knew we were pressed on time. Natalie, Valerie, Mrs. Vieth and I began staining the two decks and worked vigorously all morning. Our team leaders, Jill and Rebekah (they are awesome), Shawn Lane (the plumber (a.k.a. Connors dad)), Everett (Everett) and Eli (Eli) worked on the soffits and spent the morning taking measurements, painting, and moving ladders for Shawn to stand on. We finished staining the big porch and the soffit crew got something done (not sure what but they were working hard), so we ended the work day feeling accomplished and proud of what we did. We are looking forward to working hard tomorrow and having a lot of fun (lots of it)! After we completed our missions at our job sites, we were off to a nice time. After an hour long bus ride, we arrived at the Cherokee Reservation. As soon as we entered the Reservation, we were invited to a ceremonial dance presentation. After watching a few dances, some of our group members got to join the dancers for a friendship dance. Once all the dancing was over, we immediately got to tour the Oconaluftee Indian Village with a tour guide named Jordan. On the tour we got to see several different aspects of past Cherokee life. We saw Cherokee men and women basket making, pottery making, beading, weapon making, wood carving, and weaving. We were then on our own to visit the common houses, sweat house and the storage house. After our visiting time was up, we got to check out the gift shop and pick out some traditional Indian items. We got on the bus to drive for another half an hour to feed our hungry stomachs. We ate at a family style restaurant named Jarrett House. The food was very good. You got to pick your entrée and pass around your sides that were shared at the table. The owner told us a couple ghost stories as we enjoyed our meal. She later told us that the Band Perry had eaten there in the past. We left there to make our way to Wal Mart. We went to get gifts for our project coordinators and homeowners who have treated us very well. We left Wal Mart and came back to the wonderful Hilton Center. We decided to have our last night at the lake since it is reserved for another purpose tomorrow. We decided to play cards and make s’mores for one of the last times here in North Carolina. We are really enjoying this trip and are looking forward to the ones in the future.

Second Day of Work

Second Day of Work Day 4 We woke up this morning exhausted and tired from the rigorous chores we put our bodies through yesterday. Most of us were more tired mentally than physically. After waking up, we went to the Moore Great Hall to hear announcements and do our daily dance to the tune of “What I Like About You”. We found out that some of us have the groove like Marvin Gaye, but most do not. We then finally ate our breakfast, packed our things, and headed to the work sites our groups were assigned to. The group Eli “The Fro” Mure was in, called the “Notorious Gazelle Wranglers”, scrubbed decks first thing in the morning and then followed it up with power-washing. After the quick washing of the deck, they applied a thick coat of the finest North Carolina stain around. From Mr. Mure’s experience, he felt as fulfilled as a jelly donut. Drew “The Kangaroo” Loehnig’s group had a similar job as the “Wranglers”, which was staining decks around a local citizen’s homestead. His adult in the group, Shaun “The Plumber” Lane, used his priceless plumbing experience to install a toilet in the bathroom of the house. The homeowner was as happy as a pancake on a Sunday morning. Unfortunately for Craig “The Forklift” Winkelmann, he had to share a group with “Anxiety” Andrew Riddell, who was as worked up as a turkey on Thanksgiving. They pulled together despite their differences to power-wash a deck and build a two step stairs. They also replaced some boards on a deck that needed repairs, and the new boards fit like a glove. The group ended their workday with a staining of the deck. They also learned how to properly clean a paintbrush from the well known “The Human Paintbrush” Allen Speckhals. We got back to Hinton to have a great time playing Ultimate Disc after eating dinner and swimming in the lake nearby. The game didn’t last long because the disc was frequently thrown into the woods. We are now sitting by the lake eating ice cream sandwiches and drinking Sundrop, a drink which many of us missed dearly. With a sandwich in one hand and a Sundrop in the other, we are writing a blog which goes a little something like this: “Second Day of Work" Day 4 We woke up this morning exhausted and tired from the rigorous chores … We all had a very productive day that made us come together to work for a good cause. We all realize that this is a great opportunity and we will carry these memories with us for a long time. – Craig “The Forklift”, “Anxiety” Andrew, Drew “The Kangaroo”, and Eli “The Walking Fro” P.S. - We all miss our grandmas dearly.

First Day on the Job

On the day of May 27, 2013, we awoke from our wholesome and satisfying slumber to the sound of the lake lapping on the shores, the birds chirping in the trees, and the sharp unnecessary pounding on our doors at a very unreasonable and annoying hour. We made our way to the Great Hall to consume our breakfast for the day and to stock our rations. After packing tools, we loaded the worksite vehicles and embarked on our journey to help the people of North Carolina. Hooray… We were as a whole broken into many smaller groups to help a greater variety of people. We worked jobs such as stripping decks, mowing lawns, building handicapped ramps, fixing decks, and painting houses. The “Grass Masters” took on a large inclined plane of waist high grass. The “Notorious Gazelle Wranglers” scrubbed the entire exterior of a house in preparation for paint and stain. The “2X2s” weeded and cut a forest of bamboo and stripped a deck. Lastly the “Mordacious Mountain Men” engineered a ramp and prepped the exterior of a separate house for painting. After we returned from a hard day’s labor, it became a mad dash to the cooling oasis of Lake Chatuge. We splashed and played and frolicked our little hearts out in that water. Then when the hour of 5:45 PM struck, we headed to the Great Hall for announcements and invigorating dinner of chicken and macaroni and cheese. Our day ended with an INTENSE Family Feud competition in which the “Grass Masters” emerged victorious. Hooray… We now sit here and type this by the lakeside, as we hear Mrs. Dann being weird, watch the guys play baseball, and smell the aroma of toasting S’mores. The owls are hooting, the fire is crackling and we are transfixed by the majestic water. As we stare off into the mountains that scatter the landscape we can only hope that tomorrow will bring a day as fulfilling as this day has been. -Tyler, Cullen, Alex, and Everett

Day 2

This morning we shook off the exhaustion of our long travel and boarded the bus at 7:30 AM. Where were we headed? That would be McDonalds. Again. After breakfast, we rode the perilous highway to Anna Ruby Falls in northern Georgia. We trekked the .5 mile trail to the falls. We were astounded with what we saw at the end. The falls stretched endlessly up the mountain as the water glided down with beautiful grace. After diligent photo-taking, we headed to the gift shop before it was time to move on to the highlight of Mrs. Dann’s day. Cleveland, Georgia, is home to none other than Babyland General Hospital, famous for Cabbage Patch Kids. We were greeted by hospitable (pun intended) LPNs (licensed patch nurses) caring to their babies. We even got to witness a live birth from mother cabbage. It was magical. We even named the baby! Yes, Joseph Ralph was a gorgeous eight pound baby boy. After marveling at the building a little longer, we headed to the eclectic shops in Helen. We browsed a coffee shop, sampled grits at a grist mill, and marveled at different types of candies. Now was time for the real fun! We suited up, boarded a Helen Tubing bus, and headed to our tubing destination. It was an enjoyable experience, even for those who felt the icy water face first. We tumbled over rapids, floated coolly through the German town’s atmosphere in Helen, and absorbed the North Carolina sun. Our journey lasted an hour. Afterwards we dried in the sunshine and had snacks. We were sticking to a rigorous schedule, so it was now time to head back to Hinton! That is where we met Jen, the volunteer coordinator of Hinton. She explained the mission of Hinton, which is to provide service and friendship to any member of the community that is in need. Jen also gave us some background information of Hinton. Hinton was founded 52 years ago as a mission place after the Hinton family donated their 33 acres and lodge. We broke into our work groups to meet our leaders and discuss the tasks at hand. Each person has a different job for the entire week. These jobs range from food coordinator, to tools coordinator to clean-up to relationship builder. The relationship builder will get to know the families we are helping and provide them with any extra needed service. After the discussing was finished, we got to know each other more with some fun games! The winners were awarded with first dibs at supper. We settled down by relaxing lakeside with a calm fire. We told ghost stories and slipped quietly into bed time preparing for our first day of work!

On the Road to North Carolina

On the morning of Saturday, May 25, 2013, 31 of us Hermannities were up bright and early (too early for most of us), to be on the road to Hayesville, North Carolina, at 6:00 a.m. We were off to a good start, many of us sleeping on the bus already, but then our bladders started kicking in. After three stops with about an hour in between each of them, everyone had empty bladders; for a few more hours at least. The ride mostly consisted of sleeping, the occasional card game, more sleeping, storytelling and the few lone book readers. Crossing many state lines, we were bored out of our minds. Then the hunger hit. Even though we had McDonalds for breakfast, the complaints for more food began. Around one o’clock we finally made it to Nashville. The Loveless Café was the destination; we finally made it. Everyone grouped up and went to reserve tables. The wait was an hour and a half or more for everyone. We managed to entertain ourselves with the many cute “Loveless” shops next door to the café itself. There were cute little gift shops such as the main Loveless store which sold souvenirs and Lil’ Biscuits which sold children gifts and pet gifts. There were also antique and jewlery stores. Finally everyone was seated, and it was worth the wait. The food was delectable and we all understood why they were famous for their biscuits. Then it was to the bus. After a delicious meal, we were back on the road to finish our (approximately) 14 hour journey. We slept for many more hours after our bellies were full. More games were played, more books were read, and more people got anxious, especially after Coach Speckhals started driving because he was driving in the mountains. The estimated five hours remaining was definitely shaved down. Mrs. Vieth had much trouble keeping her eyes open, staying in her seat and calm because of the horrid curves on the road. We made one more stop at McDonalds and fifteen minutes later we arrived at the Hinton Rural Life Center, where we are staying for the week. It was about 10:30 when we arrived and we all eventually settled in and fell asleep, although, both cabins had at least one room who decided to stay up and be rambunctious.

The First Day of Our Big Adventure

Today was the start to our Joplin trip. It was a five hour bus ride, including one bathroom break and one lunch break. We left the high school around 10:00 A.M. We arrived at the “Relief Spark” house at about 4:00 P.M. It was a nice log cabin hidden in the wilderness. There were many animals to provide for some entertainment such as: horses, a donkey, guinea birds, ducks, cats and some chickens. As soon as we got off the bus, we raced inside to claim our beds. As it turns out, the girls’ beds consisted of air mattresses and cots. Each room held about 4-5 people. The boys however, stayed in a bunkhouse that used to be a large dog kennel. There were many bunk beds for them to choose from. Once we were all settled in, it was time for orientation. We met this nice lady named Tammy. She is the house supervisor. She showed us around the property to where we felt at home. We then got to hear from the person in charge of operations on speakerphone because she wasn’t able to make it. We learned about the whole program and jobs. After all the informational stuff was out of the way, we just hung out for a little bit until it was supper time. In that time we played a little volleyball, petted the horses and played cards. For supper we had pulled pork sandwiches, salad, potato casserole, green beans and watermelon; compliments to the chef Mrs. Vieth. Everyone enjoyed the meal together on the deck. Afterwards, we started a mean game of hantis (game-like mix of tennis and ping-pong using the hands). We played until dark. That is when we went inside to meet our jobsite managers, Michael and Rebecca. He told us about what each jobsite group would be doing and the safety precautions each one would need to be taken. Later Mrs. Dann assigned us all to our jobsites, which included: siding, intereior/exterior painting, gardening and fencing. After discussing all the essential information, we enjoyed some cookies and milk and sat around the lounge room and hung out. Tomorrow is the first day of work to where we will be departing at 8:00 am. Hayley Stiers, Kirsten Leimkuehler, Jamie Gleeson

Day Five: Our Very Last Day

By: Katie Kernen, Emily Kunz, Cullen Horstmann and Tyler Krimmel Exactly 13 months ago today, a devastating tornado disrupted the friendly community of Joplin, Missouri. With that in mind we woke up this morning to the aroma of left over breakfast food from the previous days of our stay. The breakfast was a grand feast of pancakes, biscuits and gravy, bagels, pizza, and an array of assorted pastries and doughnuts. After we all finished gorging ourselves we loaded up the bus and drove to our worksites. The painting crew painted a second coat on the back of the house and put a first coat on the side of the house. The siding crew finished the siding. But, the fencing crew….wasn’t so lucky. After the Thursday’s rain, the holes that the team had been digging, and re-digging and laboring over all week were now full of mud. The fencing crew had to re-dig yet again those blasted holes. But, some good did come out of it all; Tyler unknowingly wounded the giant insect monster that had been terrorizing us all week, known as….Tina. Tina was a large black and white stripped winged insect that terrorized the skies and dragged other insects into the dungeons of her burrow, where they were feasted upon. With one mighty swing of his shovel, Cullen killed Tina. There was cheering and then… more work. The pickets that had been put into place the day before we now discovered to be unlevel and crooked. We had to rip them out and start again, by this point our moral was diminished and Roxanne (Mrs. Ziess) was at wits end! But then Michael, our supervisor, gave us a little speech about integrity, telling us to stay focused and not give up but to complete the job to the best of our abilities. With this we pressed on while Mrs. Dann and a few others set fence posts in concrete. Then, it was noon and we were let out early! Our work was finished, it was time to play. We headed back to the house for yet another feast of leftovers. We packed the bus, changed into our swimming suits and headed off to the water falls. It was beautiful! The water falls sparkled blue and we went swimmin’. Bikinis and tennis shoes were the fashion and we were styling! Dodging snakes and other reptiles in the water we made it to the top of the falls and though we all wished we could take a leap of faith down the falls, we couldn’t …it was a rule. We still sat up there and enjoyed the view. While up there, we ran into a guy that was with his team. They worked for USA Today and had a blog called, “The Best of the Road”. Anyway, this guy had a small water video camera and he jumped off of the cliff into the water. We were cheering for him and the blog people said that our picture was taken while we were cheering and that we would be featured in the blog, which is exciting!! After more swimming and sun we were on the bus, this time headed for home, stopping for dinner and going back to our normal lives. We won’t forget our trip though. The stories that we were told, the people we met or the memories we’ve made. We have all learned from this experience and are fortunate to have had the opportunity to go and help in Joplin. Devastation so close to home, we didn’t think much of it until we came down here. It feels good to pay it forward and we can only hope that we can do it again next year. Bye!

The Day of Firsts

The day started out unlike any other we have experienced before on an enrichment trip. To start, everyone was allowed to sleep in an extra hour. When we woke, there was the sound of raindrops falling on the rooftop, along with the aroma of fresh pancakes. The four of us walked down to see Roxanne covered in flapjack artwork. Then to our surprise, we were told we could go back to sleep, because the rain was impairing our ability to build houses for the day. THIS WAS A FIRST. Once everyone was fully rested, we loaded up the bus and were off to Wal Mart. This is yet again another first. While we were there the kids bought miscellaneous things such as movies, magazines, and junk food. After our stop at Wal Mart, everyone had a “go with the flow” attitude. We made our way to the Joplin Warehouse, which consisted of different volunteer groups that brought together a variety of skills to help rebuild the city. Inside the warehouse was an assortment of tools; hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of supplies. As we were walking through the warehouse, we were introduced to an extraordinary woman, Sandy. We were fortunate enough that she told us her survivor story. From her story, it helped us to focus on the aftermath of the tornado. Sandy suffers from post traumatic stress disorder, along with many other survivors of the disaster. This was really brought into perspective when she mentioned before the tornado she read an average of three books of week; now she can’t focus long enough to do this. Instead Sandy volunteers at the Joplin Warehouse, which she seems to be very beneficial in helping her recover from the tragedy. Once we were finished at the warehouse the group was starving, possibly because it was an hour and a half past normal lunch time. With this in mind, our group took a break at Cunningham Park, where we devoured our packed lunch. The park was approximately a block away from the once functional St. Johns hospital, which is now a reminder of the devastation from May 22. With the help of a few friendly strangers, we heard of a memorial museum that told the different stories of the tornado survivors. We arrived to the museum and instantly were shocked by the sights. The different images, stories, and 911 voice recordings silenced us. The rooms were filled with photographs of many survivors with different words of hope and encouragement painted on their arms, back, or face. Underneath these photos were their stories, some more upsetting than others. While reading the stories, the only words that were spoken seemed to be “oh my gosh”, “wow”, “that’s terrible”, etc; they really hit close to home. The day ended on a lighter note once we met up with some fellow Joplin students at one of the local swimming pools. We enjoyed pizza and other refreshments before hopping in the pool, which seemed more like a water park to be honest. There were waterslides, giant lily pads, and tons of room to swim. After two hours of this excitement it was time to pack up for the day and head back to our humble abode. We said goodbye to the Joplin students and pawned off as much extra pizza as possible. Once we arrived home, we met for our FINAL fireside chat. We discussed the activities for the day ahead of us, which consisted of preparing for the journey home tomorrow. Now we’re winding down for the day and it’s time to sign off. Maybe we’ll go to bed; maybe not? Let’s just say we are. Goodnight all. By: Talisa, Jessica, Natalie, and Kelsey

Day 3: A Wondrous Wednesday of Work and Whimsy

This morning we awoke to the squawking of the guineas and the snorting of the horses. After slowly waking up and washing away weariness in the shower, we ate a hearty breakfast of egg casserole, donuts, fruit, and cheddar mashed potatoes. After a short fireside chat where we voted to have pancakes for breakfast Friday, we finally piled onto the luxurious school bus, chauffeured by Mr. Allen Speckhals, and headed off to a backbreaking day of labor. We, the master painting group, arrived at our sight with high hopes and big smiles. We quickly dispersed into different rooms to divide and conquer. The north side of the house was sided by Jon, Evan, and Hannah. The painting crew began work on the final room - the interior bathroom. MiKayla and Natalie put all the effort forward to complete this room quickly. Jessica and Everett began the second coat of paint on the soffits, as Kelsey, Talisa, and Torrie moved many rocks that were littering the yard. After the soffits were dry, the whole crew began and finished painting the south siding, a beautiful bronzed ivy color. Since most of the painting work was finished, most of the crew went to a local school to water their garden. The plan for tomorrow is to finish all of the painting inside and outside of the house. The fencing crew began their day joyously. We skipped all the way to the holes we had to continue to chisel. Little by little the rocks in our two foot holes disappeared. Soon we were mixing concrete and measuring, measuring, and more measuring. After marking out all the measurements with “straight” lines, we nailed the boards into place. Our fence was finally coming to life! After a refreshing lunch, we continued our wonderful day of labor. Hayley, Katie, Kirsten, and Jamie helped to mulch the children’s play set while the rest of the crew started to prepare the wood for the fence. Michael cut the wood with masterful precision as the students watched intently. Emma helped to haul scraps into a pile. Andrew and Cullen removed the nails from the stakes we had used the day before. It was hot, sweaty work, but we loved every second of it and couldn’t stop smiling. Soon Rebecca was recruiting members to go to the garden at the elementary school. Emma, Cullen, Tyler and Hayley reluctantly left their work at the fence sight to go water the plants. Seven members from the painting crew came along as well. It took a few extra moments to actually locate the garden, but once we did, we dived in head first. Soon the cold water was a flowin’ and the plants were drinkin’ it up. We watered all that we could and then left to pick up the other members. We arrived back at the ranch and proceeded to wash all of the dirt and sweat away and get spiffed up for a night at the carousel park. Mrs. Vieth cooked up a wonderful build-your-own taco bar and we had sodas and ice cream as a special treat. Then we loaded up and headed out to the carousel park where we met up with a religious group and shared fun times. Carousel park was a magical land of bumper boats, go-karts, mini golf, a Ferris wheel, and bumper cars. Ironically, the only carousel to be found was part of the kiddy rides and no one rode it. We proceeded back to the shack to finally use our pool after another nightly fireside chat. The crew told funny stories and then drifted off to sleep to rest up for another day of work.

2nd Work Day at Joplin

Today started out as almost a mirror of yesterday, we woke up early and were served egg casserole, bagels, and fruit. We left for the work site around eight even beating our work site leaders out the gate because we were so eager to work. The work itself went smoother than yesterday because everyone knew what they were doing. The paint crew managed to apply a second coat of paint to the entire interior including the safe room and garage. The siding crew made a lot of progress and covered an entire section of the backside of the house and filled the cracks with caulk so the siding will be ready to be painted tomorrow. The work was a lot more enjoyable after the work site leader, Rebecca, dropped off a radio to replace the broken record of Allen Speckhals’ greatest Christmas hits. We discovered a lot of hidden talent in students like Torrie Roodhouse who managed to sing over the radio loud enough to entertain the siding crew outside. Noelle, the home owner, and her neighbor relieved some of their built up stress by venting to the students during breaks about their concerns towards their contractors and expressed their gratitude for all of our help. Noelle even went so far as to running out in the middle of the street to stop the ice cream truck and treated us all to Bomb Pops—which were delicious! We are so lucky to have a kind homeowner like Noelle, who always made sure we had what we needed. The fencing crew got into some dirty work while cleaning out the holes they drilled yesterday for the posts. They learned many new things today like the word plumb, which means that they had to make sure the posts were leveled up and down. They also got to use mini jack hammers to break the rocks at the bottom of the holes. One of the students on the fencing crew, Katie Kernen said,”Using the jack hammer was interesting and it was really dirty work.” They were rewarded with chocolate chip cookies from the homeowner, Misty. At quitting time Misty’s neighbor followed suit by bringing oatmeal cookies as well. After all our hard work, we came home to a lovely dinner. Mrs. Vieth proved to us that she could challenge Rachel Ray in a cook-off and most likely win. She served us pork steaks, mashed potatoes, salad, cornbread salad, and corn. Mrs. Vieth knew just what we needed to refuel after our long day so we had enough energy to head over to the laser tag arena for several epic battles. It got more competitive after each round. Mrs. Dann proved her tenacity by chasing and “accidentally” hitting her prey while running through the arena. It was questionable whether or not we sweated more during our eight hours of work or two hours of laser tag. Some people may have forgotten one of the rules that “it is just a game” and laughed at their victims as they fell to the floor and their guns were deactivated. One of the other leaders, Eric, decided to join in on the fun and show that he was more skilled than us when his screen name, Birthday Cake, showed up at the top of the scoreboard almost every time. All of the workers shouldn’t have any trouble falling asleep tonight after all the excitement from the day. Hannah Steinbeck, Valerie Hagedorn, MiKayla Engemann

The First Work-Day in Joplin

This mornin’ we woke up at 6:30 to get ready for our first full day o’ work. Errr-body was anxious ‘bout gettin’ started. Ms. Vieth made us a hearty breakfast of egg, water, ham, sausage, onion, salt, pepper, pear, eggs, grape, peach, grape, pineapple, fruit, potatoes, cheeze, eggs, more eggs, milk, water, grape, and peach… and eggs. We left at approximately 800 hours and we arrived at our first house ready to go! We were split into three different groups: One was in-charge of paintin’, another hangin’ siding, and the last one buildin’ a fence! The four people who were in charge of siding were kind of off in their own world for the day but they got a lot accomplished! Surprisingly, we discovered that Bean and Jon knew how to read a tape measure! For the painting crew, we had a couple of pro painters with us and the new-bees caught on really quick! The fencing crew was the last to arrive at their job site and started by measuring the fence line. Then the fencing crew split in two and while one worked outside digging holes in the heat the other waited for wood in the air conditioned Home Depot. After a long hard difficult challenging day of demanding, arduous, excruciating, back-breaking, lung-busting, debilitating labor, the whole group took a tour of the City of Joplin. During this tour, we saw many homes and buildings that had been recently rebuilt. We learned from our tour guide Shenen, who was one of the survivors, many interesting facts like there were 400 mph+ winds and that the high school was moved to a mall. It was all very shocking and very heart-breaking. The mile wide tornado travelled six miles through Joplin and destroyed everything in its path. Afterwards we ate a restaurant that came highly recommended by Coach Gubera. He was right when he said we would bet lots of good food at a reasonable price. Then we arrived back and ate homemade ice cream while we had our evening meeting. We are looking forward to another hard day of work.

Day 5

We woke up a little late because Tyler kept hitting the snooze button. We went out to join the rest of the kids for our morning breakfast; it was a pretty nice energizing meal before our hard day of work ahead.
We showed up to our usually day of work out in the Louisiana heat. “Heard Dat”. For group two we got to go to a different house. We were busy mudding and putting up dry wall. We accomplished a lot. For our lunch break we went and had a picnic at the “Battle of New Orleans National Park”. It was very nice and pleasant. There was a cool breeze, which felt really good in the shade. We walked around and saw all the different locations of the battles. It was pretty awesome.
Meanwhile on the other side of New Orleans group one was busy painting the trim on a nearly finished home. They also finished putting the hard wood floor down, which they were working on all week long. They had a normal lunch break outside their house.
This was the last adventure that the students of Mrs. Dann’s group had in the big city of New Orleans. We had a lot of fun and learned a lot, and we feel really good about what we have done and accomplished.

Survival of the Fittest

Our adventure began with breakfast served by our five star chef who is commonly known as Mrs. Vieth. It was served in the courtyard inside our beautiful establishment at the St. Charles Guest House. Yummy! They tried to provide us with enough energy to power through the day before we are released into the cruel dark world which is known as work…. (Just kidding!)

Group 1
Summer ventured off into the world alone. Where they tackled a gruesome beast…laying flooring!! It put up a good fight! It threw glue that would never come off! The only way she pulled up on top was by using some concrete to rub her hands raw to get rid of the glue. In the end they ended up winning and the floor looked like it belonged in a king’s castle! For their bravery and hard work they were rewarded with a trip to Rally’s for some nice cold ice cream provided by Gary!

Group 2
The other group faced a different kind of monster…MOLD!! It was big, it was scary, and it was way up high!! It had the whole house conquered by the time we arrived at 8:00!! We did the only thing we could, fought back as violently and as swiftly as we could! Luckily, our wonderful leader Ali knew the monsters only weakness, by rubbing it with Shock Wave! So very quickly we rubbed all of the walls and ceilings with the deadly substance. THAT STILL WASN’T ENOUGH!! The mold was still fighting strong! We then applied KILZ!! Which is an even more deadly mixture! It turned the mold white and we then knew that we had succeeded. Don’t kid yourself though and think it was easy, because you would be wrong! It took us hours to finally kill the mold and the heat was deadly itself! If you didn’t keep yourself hydrated the heat would kill you before the mold could!

MISSION STEAMBOAT
This was the final adventure for the night. One of our agents was greatly awarded with a virgin strawberry daiquiri for her amazing ability to kick butt at bowling earlier in the week. She used a lot of her wits to win this, since it was indeed our own Miss Natalie Witte who came out on top! While she was enjoying her drink, the rest of us were soaking up the beautiful boat and views! We were very careful to not fall into the big red death trap…the paddle wheel!! For our hard work and bravery we were rewarded with a wonderful dinner too! We were even provided with some wonderful entertainment! At age 70 (educational guess) he was a world renown jazz dancer (totally just made that up!)! One of our own, Summer Schacht was even lucky enough to dance with this famous guy who only got better with age! The music that was provided with the dancing also had some hidden talents! The bass player surprised us all by standing on his instrument while playing The Saints go Marching In! It was a night we will all remember!

We then retired for the night after some swimming and good natured fun!