We woke up this morning with mixed emotions. Happy that it was cloudy and rainy, because it is cooler! Anxious because it means we have to put into play our favorite word this week — Flexibility!! We talked with the Hyaets staff and reorganized our day. The construction team continued (and finished!) their project. However, the rest of the teams took on totally new responsibilities. We made cookies and greeting cards to deliver to neighbors. We collected all the crafts supplies, constructed a shelf and organized all the supplies in one place. Another group folded fliers to prepare for a large mailing, and a last group moved fencing and dug up bushes.

Our Bible study word for the day is “strength”. It’s a great word for a Wednesday. This is the time that fatigue sets in, and with the clouds we were feeling a little sluggish. Strength is what we needed to sustain us through our day.

Our Prep Team has been hard at work this week. They have been the go-fers and runners for all the other teams, and for the Hyaets staff.  It didn’t take long for team members to identify each others’ gifts.  Jamie knows the Toll House cookie recipe from memory, but don’t ask her to fill water balloons!  Kyle, Laurel and Hunter are experts at water balloons!  They huddled in a 3-foot corner for 2 days and filled approximately 300 water balloons!!  The team also prepared the snacks every afternoon for all teams and kids.  They delivered supplies and drinking water to the game teams which were a block away.  Hyaets has lots of community children stopping by on a regular basis.  And like most kids they always want snacks!  When you feed lots of hungry kids, it’s most economic to buy in bulk.  So the Prep Team helped Hyaets by dividing goldfish, cookies and chips into snack baggies.  Other tasks included sweeping floors, baking cookies, washing dishes and hauling steel pipe.  So if you’re a parent of Jamie, Hunter, Laurel, Kyle or Mason know their talents are numerous!!

After a short afternoon break, we began preparing for a cook-out at the community park.  We had been handing out fliers all week about this event.  Once Phillip started the charcoal grill, the crowds came to see what was going on.  It was great to meet and greet new folks, and to introduce them to the Hyaets family.  We went through 96 hamburgers, 72 hot dogs, 3 bags of salad and a ton of Ranch dressing.  (Ranch dressing is used like ketchup.  Everything is dipped in it and it is the major ingredient of a salad!)  After dinner we asked all the kids/families to gather on the grass.  Each of our teams had prepared part of a creative worship experience.  We engaged the kids in song and conversation, and told them about Jesus.

Our ministry time has come to a close.  It seems like ages ago that we were leaving the parking lot headed for our concert tour!  Tomorrow will be a different kind of fun for us.  We’ll spend the day at the Carowinds Theme Park.  We would appreciate you prayers as we travel home on Friday.  We look forward to telling your our stories.  When you see one of us ask about J-Rock, BJ, Lonnie or Lonelle(brothers!), Qwamisha or Asia.  They have all impacted our lives, and we’ll never be the same!

The word for Tuesday could have still been “HOT”! The best thing to beat the heat is water, and the game teams were stocked up with plenty of it to drink, and plenty to throw at each other!

We have been doing a morning devotion each day. Rose Browning wrote a daily devotional book for us. Her recurring theme is “the word of the day”. It’s been amazing to see how the words we study in the morning are played out during the day. Monday was “transformation”. The day was not only transformational for our new Enderly Park students, but for us as well. We were suddenly immersed in a totally new culture. We had to adapt and transform our attitudes and actions.

The word for today is “renew”.  We used Phil. 4:8 to identify ways to allow God to fill our minds and hearts.  Then we applied these truths to our daily ministry activities.

Our spotlight team for today is the Game Team. We had 2 teams in order to accommodate a variety of ages. The teams are located in a large field area within the neighborhood. They may start with a few, but within a short time the word gets out and a small crowd has gathered.   Our youth have been able to take the ideas and games they learned in VBS at HRBC and apply them in this situation.   The smiles and laughter are everywhere on the game field!

We had a fried chicken picnic in the yard at Hyaets. Many neighbors came to join us. After dinner we took 15 Enderly Park friends, went to the Lowe’s Motor Speedway for the Summer Shoot-out. HRBC youth teamed up, one-on-one, with kids from Enderly Park. We taught them about yellow, green and black/white flags. We picked our favorite car number, cheered them on and laughed whether we won or lost. One of the favorite races was the Crash Car race — just picture full contact Nascar!! We shared soda, popcorn and nachos, and had a great time! Needless to say, our airmattress beds were a welcome site!

Thanks for praying for David and Wil. Toes and eyes are doing much better!

In case you haven’t noticed, we haven’t been able to download our photos during the week. We hope you’ll continue to check our photo gallery.  There will be new ones soon. We have some awesome pictures. (Except for the ones Hunter accidentally deleted!)

    It all started with breakfast at 7:30, loading up the vans and heading to the Hyaets house — about a 10 minute drive! We started off our day under the shade tree in the backyard. There we learned more about the staff at Hyaets, their call to inner-city ministry, and the surrounding community. We took a short tour an walked through parts of the neighborhood.
After lunch, we divided into our ministry teams — games/rec, craft, construction and prep.  Each day we’ll give you reports from different teams. Today’s update is from the craft team.
You would have thought that tie-dying t-shirts would have drawn a crowd of young kids.  Not so on the Hyaets front porch.  The designers of new t-shirts were older teens, mostly guys!  What fun we had watching macho, older guys choosing fuschia to dye their shirts.  Part of our work here at Hyaets is to build relationships with the teens.  Tie-dye allows for a lot of great conversation.  Mrs. Graham was learning a lot about “J-Rock”.  He doesn’t think he’s a chick magnet, so our group was giving him advice.  After our project we were hanging out with some of the older girls.  We took the opportunity to teach them the HRBC youth favorite “Singing in the Rain”!  At first they thought we were idiots.  But when we got to the “tongue out, booty out” part they started laughing right along with us!  (If you don’t know “Singing in the Rain”, be sure you talk to a girl from the HRBC youth group!)
By the end of the day, kids were asking if we would be returning tomorrow.  We’re excited to say “YES”!  After some much needed chill-time, we’ll be ready to hit it again tomorrow. We probably don’t have to remind you, but please keep praying. Special requests are David and his toe, and Wil and his eye.  All minor problems, but nuisances the same!