Kentucky Missions Trip, The Rest of the Story

I know it's taken me forever to get the rest of this up here, but here it goes, lol. I just claim insane business. The mission house lost internet after my last post, and we never got it back up before we left. Then I jumped right into school. So here, on the Labor Day weekend, I'm finally getting up...the rest of the story.

Day 5 - August 14th: We went to another elementary school this day. It wasn't nearly as big as the other one (the first, with the bat, being 212 kids; the second, about 50-some), but at least we made it through the whole program! It was the same principal, too, as the first school. Some of the smaller districts have to have a traveling principal, because they can't afford a full-time one for each. She was wondering where our bat was, lol. The kids totally enjoyed the show. They thought it was awesome! After the elementary school, we had quite a bit of downtime, then geared up for a church service that night at the mission house. What a great service! There were about 35 people there, including the woman whose house we were rebuilding, who had never been to a service there before! There were also a few kids from the houses surrounding hers that the building team had been interacting with all week. It was awesome. The church people there are incredible, and they have a heart that could change Jenkins, Kentucky, if they go forth with it, which is seems like they are aiming to do. During this time, someone from the community came to see Bessie and Lester, our hosts, to inform them that they had been chosen to be Jenkin's Citizens of the Year! What a great honor to see them recognized like that, and to really get a feel for how awesome their diaper ministry really is in the community. Praise God!

Day 6 - August 15th: We had two things to accomplish today. The first was a trip to the nursing home in Jenkins. When we got there and unpacked, we realized this was the same group of people who had first stopped to watch us when we were at Wal-Mart! They didn't get to see the whole program, though, so this was their opportunity. We also noticed that this wasn't just a nursing home. It was more a nursing home/mental hospital split. It seemed our audience was made up of people more on the mental hospital side, but that was all right with us. They enjoyed it just the same. The biggest adventure came when we got our 15 passenger stuck in the parking lot! This place was up on a huge hill overlooking the whole town. We kept having to back up and pull forward, but soon got ourselves into a position where we couldn't move forward to turn anymore, and if we moved any further back, we were plunging over the edge! Some of the patients tried to help us, but, given their reasons for being there, weren't able to help much. Finally, the hospital's van driver took pity on us and jumped into the van, maneuvering us out. That was quite the adventure! I have to confess, part of me thought for sure we were plunging over that hill. But we made it back safely, with a story to tell.
The second part of our day, and our last performance of the trip, took place at the community park that night. We did our whole program out under a pavilion, and there were hotdogs and punch to go around. There were about 30 people who turned out for that. It was a great night, with a lot of kids. Some of the kids were from the bat school, so it was great that they were able to see the whole program. After the program, I gassed up the Jeep for the return trip the next morning, and we all spent our last night together at the mission house.

Day 7 - August 16th: The return day. I was not looking forward to this day at all. It meant leaving behind my friends and my "family" again, and not being able to see them for four more months, until I went up there for Christmas. It was hard, but I did well. I didn't cry until I got into the Jeep. We all left at about 6am. They headed up to their hotel in Pennsylvania, and I headed back to Fort Pierce. It took me about 13 hours to drive back home. It went smoothly enough. The lowest gas price I found and filled up at was $3.33. I was pretty stoked at that. Then I hit some traffic in Jacksonville, where the car started acting wicked funny. I have linked it to the cooling fan, which may be traced back to the serpintine belt. I have yet to get it fixed, but it's on the list of things I must do this year.

Final Thoughts: As far as comparing this trip to last year's Kentucky trip, I really can't. They were on two different planes. This trip was a smaller community, which meant that events and programs would be smaller crowds and fewer venues. Corbin, last year's trip, was a much bigger city, and we were constantly on the go. But the goals were the same, and I believe they were accomplished. God was spoken, love was shown, and lives where changed. You can't ask for anything more than that. :)
I also want to send a huge THANK YOU to the people who helped me to be able to make this trip financially. You know who you are. I couldn't have done it without you. :) And thank you to everyone who held this trip up in prayer. Without the prayers of the many, this would not have had the impact it did. Your reward will be great. :)