FRIDAY CONTINUED...

         We had a great last day in Cherokee! At our VBS we watched a movie with the kids  The kids really liked it (Six of them fell asleep) and summarized our week of lessons. Overall the kids really enjoyed the VBS that we put on. They were asking us questions like "Are you coming back next week

?" Some of the kids even cried because we were leaving.

          After VBS we went to the house that we've been painting. Everybody worked really hard to get it finished. It looked really good when it was done! Later all of us went swimming in a creek, and had a lot of fun.When we came back from swimming the family who lives in the house we've been painting had dinner with us. After that we had group devotional, and packed up for the trip home.

         This was the last day of a fantastic week. Everyone had tons of fun! I can't wait to come home tomorrow and tell people about this trip in person.

                                                                                Micah

FRIDAY

Today we helped Mr. Root and Mr. Limas build a ramp up to a pool deck for a woman and her sister, who are both in wheelchairs. We started work at 7:20 A.M. and ended around 2:00 P.M. Yesterday the first half of the frame work was done so today we started by decking that half of the ramp. Then we built the last half of the ramp frame and decked it. The railing was the last thing we put up today. She seemed really happy with it when she tried it.

After all the work was done we went to go swim in a river. Some people went down with the current which was hard to stop in. Then afterwards we went down and fed ducks along the side of the river. This was a great way to end the trip to Cherokee North Carolina!

Matthew & Tim

THURSDAY NIGHT

So, this evening we all went to the shops in Cherokee to buy souvenirs and get ice-cream. My evening started off with what we think was a wasp sting, which later we turned into a song! (It was the bomb and we got to perform it for the rest of the youth group). At the shops, Tim bought a sword... a REAL sword, and Josiah bought a real coyote pelt. Jamie, Helania, Allayna, and myself all bought rockin' sweatshirts (see picture to the left!). Jamie's was done with airbrush and looks really cool! While we were shopping we fit four girls on one little mechanical horse ride and it was so fun. The ice-cream place we went to had very good ice-cream. While we ate our ice-cream the youth group splashed around in a little pool thing that had a mini waterfall. After ice-cream we went looking for elk at a national park but sadly did not see any. So yeah, that was the night and it was awesome aside from the wasp sting which still hurts as I'm writing this. So see ya all in two days (Pastor Brett told me to tell you that we hope to be home by five thirty or six p.m on Saturday).

~Natalie *-*

THURSDAY

This morning we started work at Painttown just like any other day. We talked about breaking free from fear today and did an example where we wrote some of the kids fears on a balloon and we popped them to demonstrate how God can help get overcome our fears. Each day we talk about a Christian athlete, and today our athlete was gymnast Gabby Douglas and we talked about her faith and trust in God. We had a great time and the kids really seemed to listen and pay attention to the lesson. Helaina and Alec shared the gospel through the "Gospel Ball."  After that we went over to the house we are painting and got a lot

of it done so tomorrow we don't have to do as much. The Grandma was there today and she really seemed to enjoy seeing us there. At the same time Mr. Root, Mr. Limas, Tim and Josiah went over to build a ramp for two ladies that are in wheelchairs. We accomplished a lot today and had a great time!

~Katie :)   

DAY OFF--PART TWO

        Tonight we watched the drama musical "Unto These Hills" which is the story of the Trail of Tears. Basically it told about how the Cherokee were forcibly removed from their land in North Carolina to Oklahoma. The story mainly focused on Tsali and his family who were also moved from their home, later escaped, then sentenced to death without trial for killing the two guards by whom they had been arrested. In the end, a narrator gave an inspiring speech about how the Cherokee nation is now large and growing again. The kids here are now learning about their heritage and relearning the Cherokee language. I thought the play was very well written and presented, and the actors were extremely convincing and well-rehearsed.

~Isabelle
:)

AFTERNOON OFF

Hello fellow members of Harvest Presbyterian Church, it is I the most awesome Dylan!  Today was by far my favorite day of the week because after we did VBS at Painttown gym we went white water rafting.  It all started with the hour long drive up the mountain (flashback begins).  We were packed into old school buses with a bunch of random boy scouts for another long ride back down to the launch point.  Then the excitement began as we started our adventure.  My group consisted of Mrs. Wallover, Ryan Tucker, Katie Lydon, Micah Damon, Elise Hansen, and our river guide Dusty.  As we were just rafting along Dusty told us to take two strokes forward.  Unfortunately for me my paddle got stuck on a  large rock and I was flipped out of the raft into the water.  When Dusty pulled me out I was really cold and my paddle had been flung out of the boat.  I continued to paddle without incident until the end.  Our guides also stopped at a "jumping rock" where we jumped into the cold river over and over again.

  Afterward we went to Wendy's and ate a lot of food.  THE END (flashback ends)

                                                                                                     The most awesome Dylan

TUESDAY NIGHT VISITATION

Hey guys!  We went to people's houses tonight to talk and pray for them.  Here's one story that touched our hearts.  There was a lady named Lucetta who had a grandson that recently passed away from a drug overdose.  He passed away just this October and her granddaughter is in drug rehab trying to stop her drug addition.  So her husband is driving at least 20 minutes two times a day to his grandmother's house to pick up the kids and then drive home again.  She also had some really close friends that passed away from cancer, so she said that she is not making any new friends because of that.  She LOVES to plant and watch her great grandkids. She hates to leave her house and go places because she does not know what is going  to happen, so she stay at home except on Saturday mornings to go get food.  She said the only reason she got through this was through GOD. When we got to the place were we were gonna walk around we were kinda scared of what was going to happen but when we got to Lucetta's house she said she really needed someone to talk to and that our group was a real answer to prayer! So some of us were at her house and talking to her and I think just talking to her helped her just a little bit to get though her hard times.  The other two Harvest teams had different stories but some good visits too.

Elise 

TUESDAY

Today we did the usual--we went to VBS and it was a lot of fun.  I finally got to do my part of the Gospel Ball (a toy ball that has different colors that represent parts of the Gospel message) which was red for christ's death and His blood. When we finished, I was relieved to see the kids didn't want us to leave :)  After that we went to the house and started scraping and painting.  DaQuon (a special needs 12  year old) was there with his grandpa, and it was a lot of fun watching him throw his monster trucks around.  He spent hours throwing his toy truck around the yard and laughing when it made a loud noise!  Sadly, Tim and I couldn't finish our scraping. :(   We still had fun though. :)

Josiah

A Virtual Trip Up the Mountain!

When Jamie blogged below that we are working at a home on top of a mountain, she wasn't exaggerating!  This video doesn't do it justice, but it gives you an idea of our drive every afternoon!

1st DAY OF WORK!

Today, was our first day of work at the house of an elderly couple, and we scrubbed the sides of the house so that tomorrow we can start to prime. We had to travel all the way to the top of a mountain to get to the house, where their 14 year old grandson Dylan waited for us. He was very nice, he spoke Cherokee and made us some very sweet iced tea! Also, he showed us the Cherokee belts he was weaving. While we were working it started to pour, and then later it stopped, and we just finished cleaning up then went back down the mountain. We ate dinner (Indian Tacos--Fry bread with chili and veggies on top), then had a speaker talk to everyone, before and during that it rained again. So, in conclusion we had a very good day!

Jamie

1st DAY OF VBS!

Today we went to the Painttown Rec. center to lead a VBS for 30 kids. We split all the kids up into three sports, Basketball, soccer, and cheerleading (haha, not a sport in my book.) So the kids were very timid when we arrived, but as the day moved along, we started bonding with the kids, and we learned some names, personalities and other things that went along with the individuality of each kid. I helped in the basketball "training." We all seemed to have a great time, we shared laughs and played some great "ball," and to finish off one of our games, I shot a buzzer beating three point shot to lead us into our halftime program, which was our second lesson time. I met some very perky, and funny kids. One of these kids was named Tino. He was VEERRYY active and was always moving, and he seemed to love to mess around with Peebs (Pastor Brett) and the youth assistants. He played it off as being terrible at the game of basketball but really, that kid can play! As for the music program though, the kids seemed to be less into that.  I'm sure though that by the end of the week the kids will have those lyrics down. I'm hoping that through this week, we'll be able to reach out to some kids and show them we are also sinners, and that we are there to help them learn about Jesus.


Alec

SUNDAY NIGHT with a Lizard.

Today was a very good day!  Tonight, we gathered in the pavilion and got to lead worship for about 150 people and sing some songs we sing in youth group.  The people in the VBS music group got together to come up with hand motions for the songs we are singing in VBS tomorrow--it was fun.  We got all up in that music...WOOT WOOT.  We are doing a sports themed VBS with some of our group leading basketball, some leading soccer and some doing Cheerleading.  The cheerleaders got together tonight to rehearse cheers, while the rest of us had some fun playing cards.  Pastor Brett, Rob and Carol went off to see the the worksites this afternoon that we will be working for the week.  We start painting the outside of and elderly couple's house tomorrow.  Their house is at the very top of a mountain!

Also, I was walking through the bathroom today with Allayna and we met a lizard...and we screamed.  

THE END.

Helaina

SUNDAY WORSHIP

          This morning we went to church at Cherokee Baptist and saw Eddy, the hoop dancer from last night.  One thing last surprised me about the location of the church was that it is right off of an intersection.  Also, it is a fairly small church and almost all the people there are Cherokee.
          The pastor was a very nice guy with a strong southern accent.  I noticed that he used many stories and at times was so loud that he made Pastor Wallover sound quiet!  Another technique he used was preaching in a step-by-step manner.  My favorite part of the service were the hymns that we sang.  Eddy invited us to come up front and sing a song of our choice which turned out to be an easy decision: "Prince of Peace."  One song we sang with the congregation was "Amazing Grace." First we sang the song in English, then in the Cherokee language with the words projected up front. We really liked it and it was an interesting experience.

Carson

CHEROKEE PRESENTATION

Tonight we had dinner, and after that we had a meeting with all the other youth groups that came.  After a short orientation, a Cherokee man came in to talk about Cherokee culture.  He told us a story of when he was younger and he had a dream of going to the Olympics because he was an amazing  runner.  He prayed and prayed about it.  He never ended up going to the Olympics for running but he did end up going for something else.  He went twice for Cherokee hoop dancing!  This is probably not what you think it is.  It is a skill of making designs and dancing out of hula-hoops.  Not many people have this skill, and he went to the Olympics to perform twice because of his amazing skill.  I learned that you should listen to what God wants you to do, and not just what you want to do.  He has a certain plan that you should trust.  After he told us all about his Olympic dream, he had people volunteer to go up and play instruments while he hoop-danced!

I was one of the four that were picked to play an instrument.  I played the drums.  It was a great experience that I think I will remember for a long time.  Tomorrow we are going to a Cherokee Baptist Church and they asked our youth group to sing a song during the service!
                 
-Allayna

WE MADE IT!!!

                       

6:30 a.m.

5:30 p.m.