Well, the end of our week here in the San Luis Valley has come. All of the work crews finished up their jobs, realizing of course that the work here is never done. We learned from our CCSP liaison Suzanne, that this summer they had commitments from 7 church/work groups to come to the Alamosa area to work to improve the living conditions of residents in and around the city of Alamosa. When all was said and done, only 4 of the 7 groups fulfilled their commitment. This of course left many jobs undone and many homeowners pushed to next summer's list when hopefully they can receive the help they so desperately need.
The highlight of our day today came at dinner time. Yes, Amy's spaghetti dinner was wonderful but the highlight had nothing to do with the food, but everything to do with some visitors that came to dinner with us. Laura, the young mom who's house the Habitat crew worked on, her 3-year old daughter Aliana, and Laura's mom came to have spaghetti with us (Laura's fiancé Jacob was working and unable to come). They were so thankful for the work of the team and could not get over the bags of groceries of leftover food that we sent home with them. Laura cried as she filled grocery bags saying, "This is the best grocery trip ever! I don't have to add up as I shop." As you can imagine, it was an emotional moment for all of us.
I think we all feel truly blessed to have had the opportunity to do just a small amount here. There are so many things that our church as a whole, or that individuals can do to lend support from afar. The PALS program for example, has a wish list on their website that is updated monthly. What a blessing it would be to them if we continued to support their work with at-risk children. Or, what if we sent a truckload of food for their food bank down once in awhile to help feed the hungry in this area? It may sound cliche but it is true that the needs here are so great, but the resources are so scarce. I feel honored, humbled and blessed to have had the opportunity to share this experience with you. I hope that it has made you all feel a part of the team, and I hope that you will give serious thought to joining in continuing what we did here.
For more information:
PALS Program- www.lapuente.net/pals.php
LaPuente- www.lapuente.net
Habitat for Humanity San Luis Valley- www.slvhabitat.org
Friday, August 2, 2013
Day 5- We Made the News!
Just a quick post to give you a link to the Valley Courier website. The editor came out to interview a few people yesterday and wrote a really nice article about our work here in the San Luis Valley. If you go to www.alamosanews.com and look in the "Community" section, you' see the article.
More later as we wrap up our time here.
Thursday, August 1, 2013
Day 4- Who's Impacting Who?
Day 4 of our trip began with breakfast at the church and then dividing up into our work groups. The CCSP group headed to a new work site at a trailer park on the east side of town where they worked all day doing repairs on a trailer home. The group repaired the deck, replaced rotting sub-flooring and tile squares, and installed new carpeting. You haven't lived until you've seen Karen Richardson using a power saw to cut decking and her sister Sydney and Anna Dahlstrom using a carpet stretcher and staple gun to install new carpet.
Our Habitat for Humanity crew headed back to their job site to stain their fence and put finishing touches on framing. They also readied the kitchen for cabinets by framing the kitchen. Tomorrow's work includes installation of blue board which is an exterior insulating material which will go all around the house before the stucco is applied.
The Alamosa "paparazzi" were out to interview the Habitat crew today and their local newspaper is going to write an article about our work here in the San Luis Valley. They took some pictures and spent some time with the team, getting a feel for the work we've accomplished this week.
One of the most moving thing that we did today was to visit with the children and director of the PALS program. PALS is an agency that works with at-risk 5-9 year old children in the valley. These children come to the program via the court system, social services, or upon recommendation and are all living in extremely dysfunctional and in some cases, abusive homes. They are licensed for 20 children but currently have 17 on their roster. To see their little faces and know what their home lives were like was heartbreaking and heart warming all at the same time. The director of PALS, Tim, says that the goal of the program is just simply to provide these children with a safe place for a few hours a day. He was humbled at our gift of the baby blankets as well as the stuffed animals provided by the Muckle family. Please keep these children and the PALS staff in your prayers.
Our devotional time each evening always begins with a short debriefing of our day. Dr. Scott, along with our devotional guide provided by Rebecca Glancy, have given us good food for thought as well as lots of great discussion starters. Tonight we really explored the question of, Who is Impacting Who? There is no doubt in our minds that our work here is more than appreciated but we are all feeling an overwhelming sense of gratitude and humbleness at how our work has impacted us as team members. I would definitely call this a side benefit of our experience. We ended our devotional time on Tuesday night and tonight with Holy Communion which was a meaningful way to bring us together and remember that even though we were all making sacrifices this week, that Christ made the ultimate sacrifice for us.
Tomorrow will be our final work day and some of our team will be heading home. Please keep our team in your prayers as they return home. We will be sharing our experience during church on Sunday at 9:15 and we hope that you can join us. We have lots of pictures to share as well as stories to tell. My final blog will be tomorrow night; I hope this has helped you to follow us on our journey.
Our Habitat for Humanity crew headed back to their job site to stain their fence and put finishing touches on framing. They also readied the kitchen for cabinets by framing the kitchen. Tomorrow's work includes installation of blue board which is an exterior insulating material which will go all around the house before the stucco is applied.
The Alamosa "paparazzi" were out to interview the Habitat crew today and their local newspaper is going to write an article about our work here in the San Luis Valley. They took some pictures and spent some time with the team, getting a feel for the work we've accomplished this week.
One of the most moving thing that we did today was to visit with the children and director of the PALS program. PALS is an agency that works with at-risk 5-9 year old children in the valley. These children come to the program via the court system, social services, or upon recommendation and are all living in extremely dysfunctional and in some cases, abusive homes. They are licensed for 20 children but currently have 17 on their roster. To see their little faces and know what their home lives were like was heartbreaking and heart warming all at the same time. The director of PALS, Tim, says that the goal of the program is just simply to provide these children with a safe place for a few hours a day. He was humbled at our gift of the baby blankets as well as the stuffed animals provided by the Muckle family. Please keep these children and the PALS staff in your prayers.
Our devotional time each evening always begins with a short debriefing of our day. Dr. Scott, along with our devotional guide provided by Rebecca Glancy, have given us good food for thought as well as lots of great discussion starters. Tonight we really explored the question of, Who is Impacting Who? There is no doubt in our minds that our work here is more than appreciated but we are all feeling an overwhelming sense of gratitude and humbleness at how our work has impacted us as team members. I would definitely call this a side benefit of our experience. We ended our devotional time on Tuesday night and tonight with Holy Communion which was a meaningful way to bring us together and remember that even though we were all making sacrifices this week, that Christ made the ultimate sacrifice for us.
Tomorrow will be our final work day and some of our team will be heading home. Please keep our team in your prayers as they return home. We will be sharing our experience during church on Sunday at 9:15 and we hope that you can join us. We have lots of pictures to share as well as stories to tell. My final blog will be tomorrow night; I hope this has helped you to follow us on our journey.
Day 3- A Little R & R
Wednesday was a day set aside for a little rest, relaxation, and rejuvenation that gave us a chance to explore the beauty of the San Luis Valley. Lots of the team members ventured to the Great Sand Dunes and rode "sand boards" and sand sleds down the dunes. The object was to remain either upright on the board, or seated on the sled. Lets just say we were met with mixed success but a great time was had by all. Several people also took off on a hike to Zapata Falls which isn't too far from the Sand Dunes. This is a fairly easy and beautiful hike that leads to a 25-foot waterfall which provided some nice relief from the heat.
Alligators in Colorado? You betcha! One of the side trips that a few people made was to the Alligator farm located just outside of Alamosa. They also have a small Tilapia farm on the premises as well as Emu, Peacocks and Ostriches. Who knew?
One group took off in search of fish. Steve Batch, Dr. Scott, and Bob Muckle set off at 6:30 in the morning to a secluded section of the Conejos River to fly fish. The day was a success. They caught several nice fish and had a nice day exploring a bit of this beautiful valley, all in preparation for the last two work days of our trip.
Alligators in Colorado? You betcha! One of the side trips that a few people made was to the Alligator farm located just outside of Alamosa. They also have a small Tilapia farm on the premises as well as Emu, Peacocks and Ostriches. Who knew?
One group took off in search of fish. Steve Batch, Dr. Scott, and Bob Muckle set off at 6:30 in the morning to a secluded section of the Conejos River to fly fish. The day was a success. They caught several nice fish and had a nice day exploring a bit of this beautiful valley, all in preparation for the last two work days of our trip.
Tuesday, July 30, 2013
Day 2- Feeling humbled and grateful
Whew! What a full day we had today. "Team Habitat" was able to hammer themselves out of a job today. These guys, and one very sweet gal (Sandra Jordan) finished framing the entire interior of the 3-bedroom house they were working on. In addition they finished the fence around the back yard and got the two exterior doors hung. The blue board hasn't been delivered yet so their work at this job site is complete. Onward to another job site on Thursday!
"Team CCSP" also worked themselves out of a job today! They finished a roofing project, repaired some ceiling drywall and got it all ready for priming and paint, repaired some stucco on another home, and managed to fix a front porch on an elderly neighbor's home down the street. These two teams will also be moving to new sites as they got everything completed today too.
As you can tell, we have been blessed with extremely efficient work teams whose skills have matched up perfectly with the jobs needing to be done. Dr. Scott called this a "God thing" at our devotional time tonight. We feel blessed to have been so efficient with our time and thankful to have been able to get things done so quickly over the last two days.
Today brought the La Puenta food bank volunteers to the church to pick up the donations from St. Paul's. They were absolutely overwhelmed at the generosity of our congregation as their food bank shelves were nearly empty. They have had to ration food over the past few weeks as supplies have been very low all summer. They said that our donation will enable families to eat ration-free for the next week. A humbling thought that our small church had that kind of impact after one or two Sundays of giving. We were also able to deliver half of the beautiful baby blankets to the Alamosa Women's Resource Center today. The WRC works with low income and teen parents to help them with birth control, pregnancy resources, and aids in prenatal care. They weren't expecting our gift and were thrilled to receive the blankets.
We are all looking forward to a day of fun, rest, and relaxation tomorrow. Some folks will be heading home, and others will be joining us for the rest of the week. Please keep our team in your prayers as we take a day to catch our breath and enjoy this beautiful valley. The weather here has been absolutely perfect and we are extremely thankful for temperatures in the 80's and low humidity. We hope our blog is keeping everyone informed and that you are able to get a feel for our work down here. More to come tomorrow.
"Team CCSP" also worked themselves out of a job today! They finished a roofing project, repaired some ceiling drywall and got it all ready for priming and paint, repaired some stucco on another home, and managed to fix a front porch on an elderly neighbor's home down the street. These two teams will also be moving to new sites as they got everything completed today too.
As you can tell, we have been blessed with extremely efficient work teams whose skills have matched up perfectly with the jobs needing to be done. Dr. Scott called this a "God thing" at our devotional time tonight. We feel blessed to have been so efficient with our time and thankful to have been able to get things done so quickly over the last two days.
Today brought the La Puenta food bank volunteers to the church to pick up the donations from St. Paul's. They were absolutely overwhelmed at the generosity of our congregation as their food bank shelves were nearly empty. They have had to ration food over the past few weeks as supplies have been very low all summer. They said that our donation will enable families to eat ration-free for the next week. A humbling thought that our small church had that kind of impact after one or two Sundays of giving. We were also able to deliver half of the beautiful baby blankets to the Alamosa Women's Resource Center today. The WRC works with low income and teen parents to help them with birth control, pregnancy resources, and aids in prenatal care. They weren't expecting our gift and were thrilled to receive the blankets.
We are all looking forward to a day of fun, rest, and relaxation tomorrow. Some folks will be heading home, and others will be joining us for the rest of the week. Please keep our team in your prayers as we take a day to catch our breath and enjoy this beautiful valley. The weather here has been absolutely perfect and we are extremely thankful for temperatures in the 80's and low humidity. We hope our blog is keeping everyone informed and that you are able to get a feel for our work down here. More to come tomorrow.
Monday, July 29, 2013
Day 1- Tired and Inspired
Today started early with breakfast at the church at 7:30 and then meeting with the leaders of La Puente and Habitat for Humanity. Our teams (3) divided up and headed to our job sites by nine in the morning. We learned that our efforts were going to help three separate families with varying degrees of help being needed. One of the two groups working with La Puente worked at Cindy Medina's house to repair her leaky roof, removing multiple layers of old and rotting material, to bring it back into a safe and livable situation. The other La Puente group helped Kevin and Jaylynn Bierieger to bring their home up to standard for Jaylynn to have access to her home using her wheelchair. The Habitat group had a busy day framing the interior and digging post holes for the house they are working on for a young family of three. They were able to build seven walls and stood five-- a HUGE accomplishment for a group of six individuals.
At this point we are all feeling tired but extremely inspired by the lives we are impacting and our work with each other. The food has been fantastic...... (If Amy and I do say so ourselves....), and our fellowship with each other has been filled with laughter and encouragement. We look forward to a good night's sleep and to what tomorrow brings. Keep sending prayers our way; we are proud to be here representing our St. Paul's family.
At this point we are all feeling tired but extremely inspired by the lives we are impacting and our work with each other. The food has been fantastic...... (If Amy and I do say so ourselves....), and our fellowship with each other has been filled with laughter and encouragement. We look forward to a good night's sleep and to what tomorrow brings. Keep sending prayers our way; we are proud to be here representing our St. Paul's family.
Sunday, July 28, 2013
We made it!
You will be happy to know that despite torrential downpours we all made it safely to Alamosa. We were all quite surprised at how absolutely beautiful and green it is from south of Pueblo all the way to Alamosa. We all had dinner "on our own" this evening and then met at the Alamosa First United Methodist Church to unpack cars. God bless Amy Abshire! She volunteered (?) to do the planning, shopping, and preparation of our meals for the week, so $883.00 later, we had LOTS of groceries to unload!
Dr. Scott led us in a short devotional before we all headed out to hotels, motels, campgrounds and the church gymnasium for the night. Tomorrow morning we begin our mission work with teams that will work on a Habitat for Humanity house as well as projects through CCSP- Christian Community Service Projects. We are all excited to see what God has in store for us this week. Looking forward to sharing this journey with you all..
Dr. Scott led us in a short devotional before we all headed out to hotels, motels, campgrounds and the church gymnasium for the night. Tomorrow morning we begin our mission work with teams that will work on a Habitat for Humanity house as well as projects through CCSP- Christian Community Service Projects. We are all excited to see what God has in store for us this week. Looking forward to sharing this journey with you all..
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