...and a woman with $950 telling me to keep feeding these guys.

The Baseball Trip is done and in the book, but not in the blog. Man, talk about your good intentions. I had planned on tossing something out each night, but...... I got in pretty late every night. And because i was the only driver on the trip, I tried to be responsible and get a decent amount of sleep each night when I had to drive the next day.

Tons of things happened and there are some great stories to be told from that trip, but it might be a week before I get a chance to wrap up that blog with those. Oh well......

Tonight felt like a sprint all the way to the end. I was delayed getting out of school, Twig was out of town and I had to do something down near the beach before I could start shopping for the food. Add to all that the fact that I really wasn't sure what we were going to cook even as I was walking into Sam"s Club at 5:15 and that's when the race started.

I decided on Sloppy Joe's but Sam's doesn't sell bulk cans of it and I didn't have a recipe for homemade sloppy joe, so I just winged it and bought 25 lb. of ground chuck, a big can of tomato sauce (I thought about using ketchup but was talked out of it), some Worcestershire sauce (easier to spell than say), buns and instant mashed potatoes.

I got to the church a little after 6 and a couple of people were already there. We started cooking and people started coming in to help. We had a good group there tonight, especially considering today was the first day of public school.

Helping tonight :

Martin Chandler Taylor Meredith Jon Hill J. Boggs Liz Danielle Emory Katherine Lainey Caroline Theresa Bryan Anna Ellen John Michael "Can do" Candace me

The sloppy joe was good, in spite of everything me and John Liverman did to it. We were throwing in everything we could think of to get it right. He thought Texas Pete was the answer so he poured some in and I thought Vinegar would do the trick, and we just kept going back and forth with stuff. It wound up good but I'm not sure why.
And you know what? I'm not a big "instant" anything guy, but the instant mashed potatoes we buy at Sam's Club are really, really,good. I'm talking...better than they have a right to be. (That came off a little Larry King-ish, didn't it? Sorry.)

I was concerned when the final product was ready because I knew if we had a big crowd tonight, we would run out of Sloppy Joe. I had 160 buns. 2 apiece would feed 80 people. That's cutting it close, lately. But I tend to worry about that every week, so.....
I'd also bought carry-out plates so we could fix them and close them up to hand out in case it rained, but the closer it got to Showtime, the less rain seemed a threat so we did it the way we usually do.

There was only a couple of people waiting at the first stop, so i thought maybe we'll be all right.

WRONG

We had 38 people at the first stop and we gave them 2 the first time through and no seconds. Danielle was in charge of putting sloppy joe on the buns and did a great job on the portions.
BUT.. as we finished up there, I looked at the amount of sloppy joe we had left. Not enough to make me feel okay about it lasting at the next stop. We prayed and made a point to ask God to help us stretch it to meet the needs ahead of us.

Next stop we had 14 people walk up before the Mercy House even let their guys out to eat. So I gave Bryan some money and sent her to Burger King to get 40 Whopper Jr's off the dollar menu. While they were gone we started to run out of buns so I gave Jon Hill some money to go buy more buns around the corner at the convenience store. Meanwhile 20 guys who haven't eaten yet are waiting patiently. I told them they could have the sloppy joe on top of their mashed potatoes if they wanted to go ahead and eat. Some did and others waited. The 2 packs of buns and 2 loaves of white bread came back with Jon and we started up production again. Then the Whopper Jr's came and we started doing seconds with those.

Run out of meat.
Right at 180 sloppy joes and still needed Burger King's help.
Making a bun run at a convenience store in a sketchy part of town.
Going through 7 gallons of Tea and 4 gallons of water.

See why I said it felt like a sprint?
We were hustling the whole time trying to stay ahead of what was coming. I never really felt like we had it knocked and could relax.
The great thing about tonight was the way some of the folks stepped up and served the Kingdom like CHAMPS tonight. People like John Liverman. Like Bryan Campbell. Jon Hill. Candace. All of the youth at the 2nd stop. Great job by everybody.

While I'm at it........
There are a couple of folks who have been coming every week for a long time now, and every week they come in and immediately start doing the jobs most of us would try to avoid. Cooking on the grill, chopping stuff, making the Tea, that's fun. But Bryan, Theresa, and Anna come and jump into washing the dishes that we mess up, wiping down the tables we spill stuff on ,and a ton of other not so fun and never glamorous jobs that need to be done. I even feel bad once in awhile and try to help them and they run me off. A lot of nights when we finish cooking and head upstairs to start feeding, they stay down and do as much cleaning as they can so that there's very little left for us to take care of when we come in after the last stop.
That's a servant attitude that I lack alot of times and it makes them Angels in my eyes.

Keep praying for the ministry on Tuesday nights. God has blessed us with helpers and we need to continue to pray for resources both food and money related. I struggle with using paper products sometimes because of the cost and not being able to reuse them, but it seems the only viable option for us right now.
Another thing is the numbers we're seeing. It's getting larger. And part of it is the neighborhood walkups we're getting. People who live in the neighborhood and come up to take advantage of a free meal.
Since the first night we've started, we've never said you had to be home less or be staying in the Mercy House, but when we see people pull up in cars and ask what're we serving tonight, it doesn't always sit right, if you know what I mean. I struggle with it at times.

But then I think about how God has blessed us. Without a board, without steering committees, or any of that stuff. Just people committed to doing something as basic as putting food in a needy person's hand. So I try to remember God sees into people's hearts, not me.

And I think about a Jaguar pulling up to the curb ......

Baseball blog up and running

There's ablog up for the baseball trip. The address is http://fbcbaseballtrip.blogspot.com/

Margaret Johnson says CHECK IT OUT!


g

The Olympic List

Here's a list. Take it or leave it.

1.Best Olympic event to watch on TV

2. Dumbest Olympic event

3. The event you pay attention to only during the Olympics

Me?
1. Gymnastics (the Bar events)
2. Synchronized swimming
3. Gymnastics, period.

and got out of the explaining business for the night.

All right.....5 trips down, one to go.



Got back Saturday night from the Guatemala trip. We had a blog for it -mailto:--mfbcguatemalatrip@blogspot.com. Check it our for a day by day posting from folks on the trip. I'll probably throw something on here later, too.



Continuing my "here a week, gone a week" attendance on Tuesday nights, last week was handled by the Friendship sunday school class, who did a great job. Both Twig and I were in Guatemala last week, so I really appreciate them being willing to step up and fill in the gap.

We had a good turnout of youth tonight. That's been the case all summer, so much that lately my biggest criteria for what we're gonna cook is whether or not it will get a lot of people involved for significant amounts of time. For example, instead of buying cole slaw, make cole slaw.

Tonight we made 2 different meals, partly for the above reason and partly because that's the way the resources for tonight dictated.
1st Stop - Spaghetti and garlic bread
2nd stop- Taco salad.
Desserts and sodas at each stop.

It was good and I had people busy all night in the kitchen....

Helping tonight
Ellen Henry J Boggs Johnny Pruden Worth Maggie Madison Robbie Rachel Danielle Zack Bryan Anna Caroline Phil Savannah Ashley Michael Lainey Samantha Tracy Emory
me

I'll be out next week. I leave for the baseball trip on Thursday morning.
Got 5 games in about 8 days. Washington,D.C., Yankee Stadium, Shea Stadium. Fenway in Boston, and Philadelphia, but not in that order.
Gonna be fun. It'll be cool to go to Yankee Stadium and Shea Stadium in their last year of existence. Be honest with you though.......I don't know why they're getting rid of Yankee Stadium. Shea I can understand. It's bad. But Yankee Stadium isn't.....

Something kinda sweet about last week was going to a village way off the main road and passing out bags of food and clothes. Saying it was way off the main road doesn't do it justice. Jayne said if she had seen the road we'd be driving on to get to the village, we might not have gone. Steep up, steep down, rutted, skinny, slick, long, blind curves, ... it had everything but a wooden bridge with a troll under it. But we went, and more than one person made the observation maybe that's why God doesn't tell us or show us the roads he wants us to travel to get to where he wants us to go sometimes, because if we knew or could see them, we wouldn't go.

What made the food and clothes night even better was the fact that we did it on a Tuesday Night! It was just like being back here except every one coming through the line was about 4 ft. tall and looked at me funny when I said "Dios de bendiga", which should be "God bless you" in Spanish. I hope it is. We passed out bags of food for 90 families. Last year we passed out food for 200 families. The reason for the difference this year is the rising cost of food. Food prices have gone up 61% since last summer in Guatemala and the average Guatemalan income hasn't risen any. The amount that bought enough for 200 a year ago only bought enough for 90 this year That made me sad.


We always design a t-shirt for mission trips and take a group picture in them and stuff like that. I go on a lot of trips and so, while I'm very appreciative and look forward to my t-shirt, I usually don't whip it out on the trip and rock it the day after I get it. Some people do and that's great for them. Except for this trip........

The shirt had a very simple front- just the word GUATEMALA on the front and a design on the back with the church's name and a picture of something. Nothing outrageous, but when John, the missionary, saw it he told us we couldn't wear them in Guatemala because people would get offended. Here's why - The word on the GUATEMALA on the front was in a bold, weathered font. and the G and the M were bigger than the other letters..like this " GuateMala ". For no particular reason, they just did it that way when they designed it. John explained that "Guate" is a short way of saying Guatemala and capitalizing the "M" made it a new word-"mala" which means "bad". So in essence our Mission Trip t-shirts said in big bold letters on the front "Guatemala. Bad."

I could see where they might take offense to that.

And think about it....malnourish, maladroit, malevolent......the prefix "mal-" means bad in the English language, too, so it makes sense.

I was trying to explain it to someone who wasn't grasping what John was saying. I tried to explain using Carlsbad Caverns as an example. Nothing wrong with a shirt saying "Carlsbad Caverns", but if I capitalized the "b" and and it said "Carls Bad Caverns", that gave it a different and worse connotation. I thought it was a pretty good example. They looked at me like I was speaking Greek backwards and then asked me if Carlsbad Caverns were in Guatemala.
That's when I said "smell you later".....
g


p.s. Just saw the hit counter and it said 1266. Whoo Hoo! Last time I looked this summer it was like 900- something. Sweet! I'm gonna find me an Orange Crush in a glass bottle and celebrate. gh

My take on the Kentucky Mission Trip

To begin with, it was a 180 degree turn around from last year's trip.

Last year was a 3 day drive with one bus and 28 people to Colorado. 

This year was a one day drive with 2 busses, a Penske rental, a truck pulling a trailer and 3 other private vehicles to Kentucky with 80-plus people.

We actually drove past where we would be working and on to Cincinnati the 1st day to see the Reds play. We got there for the start of the game but not in time for the promo giveaway that day - free camouflage Ken Griffey, Jr. jerseys to the first 20,000 people. Missed it by about 45 minutes is what we were told. It was one of those things where, you might not have liked the way it looked and it might not have fit and you would never have bought one, but doggone it, it was free and you still wanted one. Oh well.

Got up the next day and headed to Slade, Kentucky. We were supposed to get there at 3 and worship with the congregation of the church at 4 but we ran late and got there right at 4. The worship service ended up being us, 12 volunteers doing work that week also, and 4 youth from the church. 

We left there and headed to where we would be staying for the week. It was called CabinView something...it was private cabin rentals and a big honking inn near the lake. We rented 3 cabins and the bottom floor of the inn. It was nice. I was in the Jr. and Sr. guys house.

We had about 8 different projects and work sites. We did two Camp Jonah-themed Sports camps, a roofing project, a lot of indoor renovation and addition type stuff. One job was putting a bathroom into a house that had never had one. Never.  That's unreal.

Because I have a bus license and no discernible skills on a construction site, I drove and helped lead the Sports Camp in Booneville everyday. Me and 11 others would leave at 8 every morning and drive 40 miles to Owsley Elementary and work from 9 to 2 there. Then we would load up, drive back and finish the afternoon on one of the work sites helping out.

The school was cool. It was decorated and painted with a Jungle theme and a bunch of stuff from the animated movie Cars. It was pretty sweet. The kids we had were fun and the guys that worked the camp did a great job.

 

All of the work sites went well and got done what they came to do. That's always a nice feeling. The adults that came and led the crews deserve a lot of praise and thanks for their time, effort, patience and flexibility. There are some who are great construction people but not so great when it comes to supervising kids doing construction, but the adults this year were great. 

Gotta shout out to the people in the kitchen, too, because they did a phenomenal job. Jeannette, Donna Carr, Margaret, Sharon, Whitney and Donna Armstrong ...thank you.

At night we would have worship and praise time where groups would tell about their days and we would sing and break up into Sr. led groups and then come back for some more worship. After that they would have free time until about 10:30 and we would send all the non-Sr's to their houses or rooms and then have an hour or so of fun time with just the Sr.'s  It was one of the highlights of the trip for me. They were so fun and are going to be great Sr. leaders in the Youth group this year.

On the way back we went to Louisville to go to the Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom. Gonna be honest with you. I've been to a couple of Six Flags. This was more like 3 and a 1/2 Flags. Six Flags Express, maybe.

But ..... the Louisville Slugger Bat Factory Tour and museum was sweeeeet! You actually walk through the plant and watch them make those bad boys right in front of you. Way cool. They even had a 120 ft. bat leaning up against the building outside. The batting cages were fun, too. 10 balls for a $1.  I asked for a Babe Ruth Model to hit with but the handle was like a darn fence post, so I switched when it was my turn and got an A-Rod model. Not as heavy and a skinnier handle. 1 foul ball and 9 line drives. Sign me up.

All in all, a great trip. Large group mission trips come with certain things that aren't usually concerns on smaller trips but the benefits to the group as a whole are well worth it. I don't think Don plans them to be one or the other, he just lets God work and they turn out large or small. It works. 

And regardless of how much we kid or mess with him about it, nobody works harder on a mission trip than Don. Every question and decision comes to and through him. Every day brings new and different things that have to be weighed and figured out. Personalities and toes have to be considered all day long.  Every aspect ultimately comes back to him.

It ain't easy. But he does it better than anyone else I know. 

                                   g

TOMORROW: Pigeon Forge, Tenn. : The Myrtle Beach of the Mountains

Here's a list for you....

For whatever reason there is, explainable or not,
3 things that aren't as good as they used to be.

Mine?
Domino's Pizza - not sure what it is, but it ain't as good as it used to be. Can't hardly eat it anymore
Fast Food milkshakes - again, don't really enjoy them anymore
The small Reese's Peanut Butter Cups - Oh, I can still eat them 'til they come out my nose, but they don't taste as good as they used to.

Yours?

.....I'm not so sure about everybody else.

I wish all habits were this easy to get out of. I haven't posted here since I got back from Beach camp (June something?). My bad. Since the last post I've been on a Mission Trip to Slade, Kentucky, come back for 5 days and then hit the road again for the Journey On trip to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.
(Yeah, that's not a typo...Pigeon Forge,Tenn.) Great trips. More about those later.........

Because of all the traveling this summer, I've been in town every other Tuesday. That means, for me, it's 2 weeks each time between being able to help on Tuesday Nights. What I've found out is, that each time I come back, it's the thing I look forward to the most during the week. Most of the trips I've been on have left on Saturdays and returned on Sundays, so I haven't been in church at FBC but once since the summer started. That makes Tuesday the one halfway consistent act of worship left in my schedule from earlier this year before school got out. I hope that makes sense. What I'm really trying to say is each time I come back i look forward to it more and more. Having said all that...

Tonight was wonderful. It was good to be back and doing the things we do on Tuesday night.
MENU
Hot Dogs and Sausage Dogs and choice of Ketchup, Mustard, Mayonnaise,
Chili, Cheese,Onions, Homemade Slaw, Banana Peppers, Jalapenos, Relish, Texas Pete.
Corn on the Cob
Potatoes
Desserts
Cokes

Alot of folks put every one of those things on the Hot Dogs, too. They were massive gut bombs on the plate but they liked them.
We also took some frozen hamburger patties from a couple of weeks ago and warmed them up, put them on buns and wrapped them up to give to people as they left so they could have something to take with them for tomorrow.
Helping hands tonight-
Twig Theresa Ryan Mark T.J. Connor Blake Morgan Kelsey Boggs Jon Hill Michael Cowan Caroline Hales Barry Hales
Laura Sara Frank Alex Annawyn Heather Johnson Elise Harris
Pruden Craig Chris Josh Sarah Katie Louisa me

Tons of people tonight but that's great because we had tons to do and I was glad to see everybody that came. We saw alot of people at both stops. We cooked over 240 hot dogs and gave out almost all of them. The number of people we see at the 1st stop continues to grow. I don't need to read the newspaper to know times are getting harder for some segments of the population. Unfortunately, feeding people on the street seems to be a growth industry.

One of the reasons we made our own slaw tonight is because it was a thing I could say, "Here. This is your job.", which is what I did to Caroline and her dad and, with a little help from others, they banged out some great slaw (I'm taking other peoples word for it, cuz i hate cabbage). That's the reason we have so many things to put on the hot dogs, so that I can put every body to work behind the table. It's why we make Tea just about every week. There's nothing worse than people taking the time and effort to come and having nothing for them to do.

One of the really nice blessings about tonight , besides the always humbling experience of meeting one of the basic needs of someones existence, is who I got to do it with tonight. I just got back from an awesome spiritual discipleship trip with Jon, Ryan, Morgan, Kelsey, and Caroline and the trip before that I'd spent the week living in a house with Jon and Ryan on the mission trip. I've gotten used to seeing them and spending my days with them in fairly intense spiritual settings so to see them again in an act of worship and service like tonight felt right and wonderful.

Another great thing about tonight was getting to see Sara Frank. I got a phone call from her earlier in the day asking if we were still feeding on Tuesday nights. I said yeah and she said she was coming and bringing friends. I said come on.
Y'all, I love Sara Frank.
Freshman Year. First day. First Block. Front row. Frank.
Her and about 5 other freshman girls all in one seating block.
I honestly don't think she had one single thought in her head that year that didn't immediately find its way out of her mouth one second later. Funny without knowing a single joke. She would come by and see me before class started and after my other classes were done.
One of the things I remember most about her is playing Things You Should Know. Things You Should Know was a game I would play every Friday at the end of class. Basically it consisted of me asking questions on things that had happened in the past week in the news, in sports, whatever. Get an answer right and I threw you a piece of candy. Some questions I would ask every week without fail - Who does Laney play week? - What was the #1 movie last week - Where's the NASCAR Race this week - and a few others. I figured kids would get wise and make sure they knew those. Not Frank. No clue about any of them.
And when I started seeing time winding down, I'd yell "All right, LOSER ROUND", which meant everyone that hadn't answered a question had to stand up and I'd ask questions just for them and when they got one right, they got to sit down. Frank was the first one up and usually last one down. Loser round questions were always easy and she would still need help from Rachel Kelly. But, when class was over, she'd come up and find a way to con me out of more candy than most of the other kids had gotten from knowing the answers. Gotta love that.
I'm a charter member of the Sara Frank Fan Club.

I'll try to get back on tomorrow and the next night and let you know about the mission trip and the Pigeon Forge Trip. If you need incentive to check back, here it is .... DOLLYWOOD!



I'm out again next week. Flying down to Guatemala for a mission trip. Last year's was awesome and this year's will be, too. Our goal is twice as many housing units as last year - 20. 35 people going. Took 24 last year.
Really looking forward to being with Jeff Tanner for a week. Jeff was on the 1st Mexico Trip, the New York, Bimini, and Homestead mission trips.
He's a big reason those trips are some of the times I've laughed hardest in my life. I can already tell after the pre-trip meeting, it's going to be that way again. Which is great for me and Jeff, but .....