Many of you heard and saw the result of a season of work by our teenagers which culminated in our recent Choir Tour/Mission Trip to New Orleans. But I wish you could have heard and seen them in action on the road. Moving from venue to venue, managing all our "gear" and adjusting to unfamiliar and cramped performance areas are no small feats, but they did it and blessed several congregations in the process.
You did get to hear them perform their music, but the manual labor for five days in south Louisiana heat and humidity was even more impressive. Our first day was the longest and, for most of us, was confined to moving and priming lumber on a paved lot with no shade and a heat index of 105. Brutal! It was a full-time job keeping everyone hydrated. Thankfully, as the week progressed, the range of tasks expanded and we were able to improve some of the working conditions.
Many of us grew up on farms where teenagers already knew how to do things like hammer and pull nails, paint, work shovels and hoes and trowels, stack 80-pound bags of concrete, use a hand saw, and build a shelf. But most of our gang have been raised in the city and don't have a clue about those things. But they didn't back down from learning and when they got it, most stuck with it.
Our crew also made friends and related well to some of the residents of the Habitat houses we were working on. This personalized the project and several reported that working alongside the actual homeowners increased their attention to details of each task.
I don't know what kind of trip we'll take next summer, but I suspect there will be at least some element of construction in the mix. When we have our "Heart of a Servant" month (October), I wouldn't be at all surprised to see some of our teenagers heavily involved in a Habitat project. I hope so, anyway.
Be proud and encourage our teenagers. They represented you well.
Photos and Blog available at firstbaptiststudents.org