And here is the rest of it.

Shelli, I certainly don't have your gift of prose but you should know that you have inspired many of us, youth and adult alike, to see the world more clearly as disciples of Christ. There are many things that I will miss about you but probably the thing I will miss the most is that heart warming smile that comes from such a good soul. God Bless You.
Gordon Clark, DCPC Adult volunteer on mission trip to Houma, Louisiana. Read more!

Day three here in Houma, Louisiana, and today I decided to try my first attempt at blogging. Since this is our last week with Shelli as our pastor I thought I'd try to write something "a la Shelli". So here it goes.

Here in Houma the mornings start too early for me. The sunlight starts pouring through my plastic ten by ten Pod (that I am calling home these days) and I yank the sheet over my head not yet ready to open my weary eyelids that feel like Lilliputians have staked them down to my cheeks. Slowly I realize that it's not only my eyelids that feel heavy but my whole body is sending frantic impulses to my brain. "Oh my back; my feet feel like melons; I can't even move my shoulder, how am I going to brush my teeth?"

Soon I realize that the more I resist the light the brighter it gets. Then comes this incessant buzzing sound as tiny kamikaze bugs take aim at my right ear. AAARRRGGGH! Okay, I'll get up! Where's the coffee!

I slip on my tevas and notice my feet look like they've either grown fur overnight or they are covered in some kind of dark bayou swamp film. As I open the door and step outside into the soupy, sunny day I feel as I've entered into some kind of Alice in Wonderland world where the houses are all this faded light blue color and the boardwalks in between them have names like "Mosquito Alley" and "Armadillo Alley".

I wander over towards the outdoors sinks to brush my teeth and as I struggle to pull out my tooth brush a bright green lizard with half it's tail missing stares at me from above the mirror. As I reach down to turn on the water the sink has no less that fourteen different varieties of bugs crawling all over it and before I can finish a green tree frog ten inches from my left eye quickly devours one of the tiny bugs.

Now, more determined than ever, I head off toward that first cup of coffee. As I round the corner down Mosquito Alley a small black kitten (that the kids have named "Sausage" because a part if it's tail has no fur and actually looks like a piece of raw sausage) jumps out in front of me in hot pursuit of this huge black and red grasshopper that's the size of a jumbo Baby Ruth candy bar. Undeterred, I press on.

As I finally sit down with my first cup of nescafe coffee I look down at my watch - 6:30. My day in Houma is just getting started. Read more!

Share the Well from Houma

We love to dance, and we hear that the kids back at DCPC at Vacation Bible School also like to dance. Since we're both learning a lot about building homes for people in need (us with Presbyterian Disaster Assistance and the kiddos with Habitat for Humanity) we thought we'd send you a little energizer for inspiration. Love, serve and dance - The Youth

Here is the beginning of my post. And here is the rest of it.

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Houma says hello!

Hey guys! It's Hannah R and Lindsay. We just wanted to say hello to all the kids back at DCPC participating in Vacation Bible School this week. We hope you're having aas much fun as we are!!

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July 13, 2010

Today we woke up at 6 in our pods. We had biscuits and gravy, cereal, and yogurt for breakfast. We loaded the bus to go to our worksite. On our way, we made a pit stop at Walmart for a boombox & music to entertain us while we worked. We jammed out to Michael Jackson, The Beatles, and Now That's What I Call Music #33. When we got to the church, we continued to paint, prime, and paint some more. The qeustion of the day: Name you're top 3 celebrity crushes. Then we came back to camp (first to arrive!) and took showers. A church in the Blue Bayou neighborhood cooked dinnere for us tonight. They were very welcoming and the food was delicious! -Hannah C, Colby, & Maddie Read more!

July 12, 2010

Well, today we woke up at 7:30 instead of 6:30. We got our assignements and hopped in the bus. Some of us went to paint a church's porch while others went to build stairs for a family. We got there at about 11am and started looking for the paints. We discovered a nice little room for us to have lunch in. The porch was mostly primed so we could start with the paint on the railings right away. It was so much white paint! It was pretty intense, but after working for about an hour, we went inside for some lunch: sandwiches. Shelli had the brilliant idea of making the question of the day: The deal-breaker for a potential mate;) That lasted about 45 minutes, then we started painting again. It wasn't too hot because of the breezes and shade. -Lindsay

After lunch, we finished up for the day. We painted the remaining poles and finished priming the floor for painting the following day. Around 3:30 we were finished. So we packed up and headed out. After the painting we drove back to the camp. A few of us went to shower while the rest of us went to the gas station, we went back to camp for the night. In the main building, we played cards and made some snacks. A 6 o'clock we ate some lovely dinner of rice and red beans and sausage (the Lousiana Monday night special) prepared by our own DCPC members. After dinner we went to hang out at the pavillion in the camp and chilled in our pods (which smell like B.O.). There was a social hour where a few people played sardines and ghosts in the graveyard. After that, we went to bed. -Emily Read more!

July 11, 2010

Hello. Today we ventured into the city of New Orleands with nothing but a poncho and a childlike sense of wonder (poncho optional). It started pouring very soon after we got there and we ate at Mother's World's Best Baked Ham. We met the Brown family, former New Orleans residents who relocated to Davidson after hurricane Katrina, but have since moved back to the Big Easy. We split into groups and mine (Hannah R. Cameron, Greg, Thomas, Duncan, Kester, and myself) went to Bourbon St. (but don't worry, it was in the daytime) and Jackson Square. We went into some gift shops, Voodoo stores, and one called Hippie Gypsy. It was interesting that it was raining because we saw a little of what it was like when Katrina was starting. There was almost a foot of water in some places. One store had flooded to about 7 inches of water was still open. Then at the end of the day, we headed to our camp. The end. Or to be continued....? -Sara B. Read more!