Goofus Roofers!

This group had a lot to do this week. Their roof was fairly large and barely covered by any shade. This is a group of really hard workers! Now I can upload pictures of the World Changers roof! hehe!

Monday!


Tuesday!

Thursday!

The Toe Nails and The Stone Rollers!

So, on Thursday, the Toe Nails were already finished, so they joined forces with another of our groups, the Stone Rollers! There's a lot of help, now, so all we can do is wait to see if it gets finished before the rain rolls in today!

A cute story, though. On Thursday, it was getting pretty hot outside. The sun was beating down and the roofs were getting hotter than the blazes. Some random person, not affiliated with World Changers, or any church in the area, brought the compilation of crews a canopy and Gatorades! I thought that was really precious. Here's pictures from Thursday with both of these lovely crews!

Thursday!

Thursday with the Crowbars!

Alrighty... I'm pretty sure I figured out how to upload pictures. Sooo... I've made seperate blogs for each of the crews for Thursday so I can upload all of the pictures as well! :)

The Crowbars are doing a fantastic job! They did run into a little problem, though. One of the boards on the roof was rotted and was in need of repair. So our trusty Crowbars replaced the board and continued on working. What troopers! This is such a great group. Later, I'll upload the finished products for the week! How exciting!! ^_^

Monday!



Tuesday!




Thursday!

The Penultimate Chapter

Here it is, the day before the last day of World Changers- Bonne Terr '09. A lot of work has been done in not a lot of time, and a lot has still yet to be done. Luckily I've been here to report on each step of the Bonne Terre crew's work.

Cinder Blockheads

(With guest stars: unnamed crew!)

So my people on the Cinder Blockheads got a little help today from another crew. I spoke to the crew, shared some laughs and asked about their Wednseday Night fun, but forgot to get their crew name. So, applauds and accolades are in order for the unnamed heroes on the corner of Olive and Twin Street. Anyways, back to the Cinder Blockheads. Their roofing job is coming along nicely, with a little help from the aforementioned crew. When I got there, they were sitting down to lunch again, so I milled about from crew to crew. I found that some groups went to Six Flags, some went to the Arch, some went swimming here locally, and some explored the mines. Sounds like some good Wednseday fun. Also, I was informed today that tomorrow, I either should expect to have my picture taken as well, or not bother coming by at all. Tough bunch.

Brush Bunch/Brick Bats

Sometimes, World Changers work is needed but not seen. Sometimes it is needed badly and seen as well. This site is the latter. The house has really changed from what I saw when I rolled up Monday. I thought it looked good yesterday, but it looks even better now. Kudos to these dudes. The house has a near-flawless coat of paint and a professional-looking roof. They know how to get work done when it needs to be. You can't see it, but right now, I'm clapping for the Brush Bunch and Brick Bats on their grade-A job so far. Keep it up boys & girls.

I thought monday was the worst day of the week, so why it tuesday so hard?

It was the best of days, it was the worst of days, by that I mean tuesday was awesome but at the same time it was hectic and stressful. It was a great day because I got to meet lots of new people, it was a bad day because these people were on four more crews that I had added to my daily schedule making a total of eight. Don't get me wrong I love being able to get to know all these people and be a part of their world changers experience, it was just kind of a surprise to me.

Drips and Runs:
I'm going to begin with my new crews starting with the drips and runs which quickly became one of my favorite crews. This crew had to both paint and do roofing which is awesome enough because when you have to split one crew two ways it slows down the process a lot but despite all this awesomeness they still managed to surpass this by going out and doing street ministry (which is great because street ministry gets overlooked a lot/isn't possible on a lot of the crews I've been on). I feel sad that I met this crew on tuesday rather than monday because if I had met them on monday I would know them better by now (I know right? weird thought pattern... sorry, it's how my brain works). Anyway that's the drips and runs for you, quite a crew if I do say so myself.

Hard Hats:

The hard hats are... something else, the best way I can describe the hard hats would have to be...a bunch of weird people who all ended up on the same crew and as luck would have it, get a equally weird crew chief. Now I don't mean they didn't work, it's quite the contrary actually, this weird crew is full off hard working kids. Anyway I like this crew even though they are weird and seem to think their name should be the sham wow crew.....don't ask, I don't even understand



Cool Caulkers

The cool caulkers also got the lovely job of painting as well as repairing some railing. I really liked the house they were working on, for some reason I love the sloping which I know is typically a less than ideal situation but....I liked it. I believe this house will turn out beautifully when it is done.

(video to come)

Glueless

This crew got to paint as well, although it is a fairly common job for world changers. They also get the unique job of pouring cement which is an uncommon job for world changers, so that should be fun. This crew was incredibly friendly and I felt very welcome at this site which made me feel all the more guilty for sucking at remembering names (sorry guys) but sometimes its just the feelings that count.

(video coming her also)

Ok guys I'll do tuesday for my other four crew soon but my church camp starts monday so it may be a while. All I can say is don't lose hope it will get done (I'm very stubborn about getting stuff done) but please stick with me especially since some of you participants are back and reading this.

Ummm...monday?

I would like to start off with an apology, I have been doing very poor with posting anything on this blog and I could blame it on all the stuff I have to do but to be perfectly honest I've had the time to do it and have simply fallen down on the job, for this I would like to apologize from the bottom of my heart to those of you who are checking up on your church members or your friends or your family.

Hand Saws:

Anyway back to where I left off on monday, I was talking about the two crews on one site well luck me, I had a second site just one house away. The hand saws got to paint, notice I said got to, painting is a fun job you luck ducks. So they spent most of monday taping off where they shouldn't paint, and then the actual painting.

(there will be pictures here at some point)

Joint Clamps:

The joint clamps had the awesome job of roofing, which consists of tearing every last shingle of the roof and then putting new ones back on. This may be the messiest and hottest job you can get but, with the right kind of mind set it can be a lot of fun (mainly for guys who tend to love destroying things). Roofing can also be a very challenging job to get done by the end of the week so please be praying for this crew


So this was my first day I'll have more to come about the rest of the week as soon as my lanky fingers can get it typed up so don't touch that dial (like anyone knows what that means anymore). Anyway... Bye for now.

Is it Wednesday yet? Nope, only Tuesday!

Alright, let's see if we can catch up with the actual time. I am still running a day late on these posts and I want to try to catch up. So hold on tight!

Let's go to Leadwood first. When I got to the Dandy Sanders, they were already hard at work! They were putting up "F" channel and nailing siding. I even witnessed Natasha from Wilsonville lending a hand by cutting some siding. I also learned that Crestview must be quite a place because I found out that Hunter was pretty cool and Lucy was just plain fantastic! There were also other things going on around this crew. They had been hitting the neighborhood pretty good. They are going out and talking to the neighbors and just about anyone else that they can find. They are telling them about the love of Christ. And who can forget about Bob the Builder. Not only does he know about all of the siding, but he is also one of those who encourages them to spread Christs' love. I also need to throw a special shout-out to Awesome Austin and give an apology. You know why Austin! :)

Make sure your safety belts are tightly fastened, because now we are taking off to Potosi to see the Knot Heads on Woodchuck Lane. I knew this was going to be interesting when I was walking up the hill toward the crew and Melissa had just turned over in her chair. She was OK and everyone, including herself, were laughing. She got up, dusted off and then sat back down. A little later, I found Josh and Randy discussing what they needed to do about her porch. Macey, Henry, Trent, Austin, and Mitchel (from Revalution), all jumped in to start working on the porch once all the decisions were made. Trent and Melissa also had some interesting stories about their neighbors. And now as I prepare to head to my final destination, I would like to leave you with one final thing that I found out at this site: Mitch is a good worker.

Now, we must move on because it is getting late. The Scrape, Splatter, and Rolls were already hard at it when I showed up. Amongst all the work that was being done, I found out that Kaleb from Russelville had been painting up a storm on the shutters of the house. Also, surprisingly enough, Paul won the quiet game that was supposedly going on. Again, things seem to be moving along pretty well. Great Jobs guys!!!!

This concludes our tour for Tuesday (yeah, I know it is being posted on Wednesday or even Thursday since it is after midnight). I hope you enjoyed your flight. Please come back often.

PS- I gotta stop writing these things late at night. You wouldn't believe what I write when I am tired. It's a good thing that I proof read them before I post them. Otherwise, who knows what might happen. Also, if some crazy or random word or phrase pops up on here, I just missed it in the proofing process since it is still after midnight. Goodnight!

STOP THE PRESSES! World Changers Makes News!!

World Changers makes the news. Read all about it on the Daily Journal website at:

http://www.dailyjournalonline.com/articles/2009/07/08/news/doc4a54b856a527d598752026.txt

That link should take you there.

Now we will return you to your regularly scheduled blog. Thank you!

The Excitement is Building

Wednesday has arrived! Boy can you tell, both crews in Farmington that I visited today were alight with the excitement for what the rest of the day held! 

The Plumb Bobs were enjoying lunch as I pulled up and they were all chattering excitedly about what their plans were for the afternoon. The group from Texas were telling me as s

oon as I stepped on the scene that they were " going to six flags, and there is a water park there and IT'S GONNA B

E SUPER COOL!' Other plans were hashed out as well, there are several churches staying more local and exploring the parks and the mines!  churches in the area that But today had other new experiences as well, the first call for a medic was needed, and it was by the medic him self, Avery expertly bandaged up his oozing finger and then promptly filled out the paper work just like he is supposed to! *wink* (hope it w

asn't from the power tools he has been using) Excitement was definitely in the air and this crew was super charged today as they proudly informed me that they were finishing up at this house and would be else where helping another crew tomorrow! Great, Now I'll have to go track them down again, Didn't somebody tell them that I though I have lived in this area all my life I have no sense of direction! 

Elsewhere in Farmington the Roller Kings were in true World Changers form. Just because Lunch was over didn't mean that they were bailing early! Nope they had a mission and they were rolling with the punches! Before I go there I should tell you that in the two days before these hard workers got a whole two story house painted! But today their mission was to get their fence posts in the ground and no matter what hurdles they faced  they were going to do so! Though their plans that were not far from their minds, this crew as well has several members f

rom Marshall,TX and they were all atwitter about going to six flags as well. Both of the other churches represented are both going to stay in the Bonne Terre area and see the local sights, and I told them all I expected full reports tomorrow!  

Well as both crews were heading out I reminded them that they were all hard workers had deserved this break! 

Till tomorrow my World Changers Peeps, peace out, keep cool, and keep changing the world

Mega Weenie Wednseday

Third day already. Wowsers. So today was the much looked forward to half day. It almost slipped my mind, and it would have had disastrous results. Luckily I was reminded by the powers that be, so I rousted my trusty sidekick Adam, and we headed out to Bonne Terre. I had a plan for the conversations today. I was going to ask everyone where they were planning to go for their day off. Did I? Well of course not. Why have a plan unless you forget to follow it?

Brush Bunch/Brick Bats

Oh what a difference a few days can make to a house. Where once stood a house with cracking and thinned paint, now stands a proud bastion of brightly-painted glory. Although not completely done, you can definitely tell a difference where they have and haven't painted yet. The roof is also looking much better without the old hard and cracked shingles. Definitely a lot of hard work going on so far.
On a personal level, I felt a little tear in my eye as we left this site. One of the crew members said, "Hey, where are you goin?" I took this to mean he missed us. Maybe it meant he was just making small talk and wanted to know where we were headed now, but either way, I was touched.

Cinder Blockheads

Now I thought that I had it down. Murril St., Division St., Shepard St., Olive Street. I could have sworn I had it down after yesterday. Today proved to be another challenge to get to the site. But we got there, just as they were sitting down to lunch. We said our hellos, then went around the house to check on the few who were still working to finish little jobs up before lunch. Chase was on the roof at this time. I snapped a shot and he asked how he looked with his bandana draped over his neck. I said darn good. He said that was how he kept from being a red neck. Hehe. Get it? Sunburn. Redneck? You'll get it in a few years.... Anyways, a rare occurence happened. As we were taking pictures, we were asked how many pictures of us we had gotten. I was stumped. Ummm, none. My camera was promptly taken and aimed back at us. At the end of this blog, I'll post the results of this scenario. On a more serious note, the Cinder Blockheads have gotten a lot of their roofing job accomplished. They'll be having another
crew come and join them tomorrow to be sure of the jobs completion.

Tremendous Tuesdays in Desloge.

So, the crews are doing a very fine job. The work is going by so quickly! It seems so much slower whenever you're the one doing it, I must say.

The Crowbars!
These guys are doing a great job. Roofing as always really hot and not too much fun. But they do enjoy Popsicles. ^_^ This is the first of four groups that I have visited. I would love to upload pictures, but I can't seem to figure it out. I might have to do a separate blog for pictures... haha. But this group is very fun to be around and hospitable. One of the students stepped into a gallon of paint. [I have a picture to show you of that.] But the crew just thought it was so funny! So, I have pictures of his shoe to show you. He accidentally knocked over the gallon and was walking around, leaving white shoe prints behind him and he didn't even know... hehe.

The Toe Nails!
This is, by far, the earliest I've seen a house done ever since I've been doing World Changers. By Tuesday, this little group has already finished their first house and, I'm assuming, have moved onto their next one. They've finished up all of the painting [which was their job] and their homeowners have been very welcoming and social with them. One kid on their crew, William, wouldn't stop working! Whenever I pulled up, he was this little bitty thing, hacking away at a tree stump in the front yard. Though it was the last thing that they had to do and it made since to continue working, he told me that I was crazy if I thought that I could make him take a break. He ate his Popsicle and continued right on working!

The Stone Rollers!
The Stone Rollers have a rather dangerous job. They are working on one of the steepest roofs I've ever seen a World Changers group work on. Only two people can work on the front roof at one time, it's so narrow. But the crew is still in high spirits and they're a lot of fun to sit and talk to. :)

The Goofus Roofers!
This is such a hard-working group. They have a very hot, unshaded roof and there's a lot to be done. However, they're still getting it done rather quickly. As I pulled up, there were four coming back from evangelizing, which is rather encouraging. The crew has a lot of spirit and they all seem to get along very well. I can tell that they're going to make a difference this week. :)

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So, seeing as how it's Wednesday, now, the crews are off to explore the wonderful world of Missouri around them. Today, they only worked for a half day and left after lunch to go get ready for their adventures! Pray for them to have safe travel and lots of fun and relaxation! :)

Until tomorrow, this is Melanie Steel; over and out.

Assault on Irondale

Wait! What is up with this crew? As I pull up to site, I notice that they are sitting down. It's not lunch time yet. What are they doing? Oh, they are waiting for supplies to get here, but instead of just sitting around doing nothing, they have a great idea. They actually take advantage of the down time!

As I walk up to the group, I notice they are doing their crew devotion. It is being led by Paul (who I thought did a great job!) from Texas. Right after they finished their devotion time, lunch was brought by from the awesome FBC Irondale crew. By the time that lunch was over they were ready to get back to work because their materials had shown up. God had worked it out to where they really had no downtime.

Before I took off to my next location, I spent some time getting to know some young people like Kaleb from Russelville, Kaci from Marshal, and Tanner from Russelville. This was a lot of fun! I hope to get to know all of them better as the week progresses.

Well, it is getting very late now and I am already very tired! This was also the last stop of the sites that I will be covering for this blog. I am also visiting other sites, but it will be up to the official blogger for that site that will have to do all that work. I will just be an obverver. But until then this is me signing off.... Good night, God bless, and GO TO BED!!!!

There's Lead in Them Woods!

Nothing is more fun than visiting the crew of Bob the Builder! Yep, you heard me right. We have the world famous Bob the Builder right here on our project. If you doubt me, just ask him and he will show you all of his "Bob the Builder" stuff. Anyway, back to the work site.....

I pull up to the Dandy Sanders' site to see what is going on. These guys are putting vinyl siding on this house. It isn't even that late into the morning yet and already they have a lot of it on. Of course this is no surprise when you have workers like Joshua from FKBC and our resident Kansas City Royals fan, Adam from Raymore. I was even able to witness how dedicated the Dandy Sanders are to safety. Take this story for example. Austin (who I think is pretty awesome) had a vicious, horrible, mean wasp buzzing around him, threatening to attack him and cause him severe pain. But in a selfless act, Doug from Wilsonville, reaches out and snags that evil wasp right out of mid-air and save the life of his fellow crew mate Austin. This is a true story of heorism! Well, OK. I guess I was laying it on a little thick, but it was pretty cool to see.

I decided that it was time to continue with my quest. The next location is to be found in the town of Irondale. See you there!

How much wood would a woodchuck chuck......?

"I think I know where Woodchuck Rd. is." "Oh, this can't be it." "Where in the world is Woodchuck?" That is pretty much how it started for me today. Jake (my sidekick) and I headed out to Potosi to find the house on Woodchuck Rd. I tried to find it on Mapquest and Google Maps, but it isn't listed. So I figure that I can probably find it. After the road that I was on came to an end and said "Private Property" from that point on, I knew that we weren't in the right place. I made a phone call to the fantastic youth minister of Potosi Southern Baptist Church, Joel. He gave me some great directions and helped guide me right to the site. And what did I find there? The Knot Heads of course!

The Knot Heads crew was very busy doing yard work and filling in a large ditch. I got to talk a little with Laura from Goshen Trails who explained what they were going to working on this week. I also talked a little with Melissa (Corticelli), Trent (Wilsonville), Austin (Corticelli), and Henry (First Korean Baptist Church) as they shoveld dirt, red clay, and ashes into a wheel-barrow and emptied it into a large ditch that they were trying to fill. Trent wanted me to mention him in my blog specifically, but I don't think that I will do that. Further down, continuing to work on the ditch, I found Nathan (Central) and Suzanna (Wilsonville) working together. Macey (Benton), Laura (Goshen Trail), and Dayon (Florence, AL) were all at the end of the ditch trying to fill it in as well. Macey was giving it all she had as she pushed a very large rock into the opening all by herself. Good job Macey. As I was headed back to my car, I heard Henry proclaim that he had just found a dead body with a World Changers shirt on. We were wondering if this was a Jr. High student from last year that gave his crew chief too much trouble. (I'm gonna let you in on a little secret, there wasn't any body or anything else for that matter). I figured that it was time to move on and on the way out, I got a chance to talk with Josh, the Crew Chief. Things seemed to be working very smooth at this site. I so very carefully backed up and made it out of the driveway and headed toward the next site, which was in Leadwood.

Monday, The start of a great week

Hey everybody it's monday (well it was when I took these pictures so...just play along) and I had a great day meeting my crew for the first time. Now today was a little slow mainly because when I went to the sites most of the crews looked at me like "ok so who's the weird guy" but its understandable, I would be suspicious of some guy driving in from who knows where and just taking pictures of me. Even though the first day was a little slow I have faith that by the end of the week we'll all know each other pretty well. Anyway on the the crews...

Tool Timers:

Ok first off I have to preface this with the fact the the tool timers are awesome because that was the name of my crew this year. I think the tool timers look like a great bunch of kids (and leaders) but they are going to be in my prayers seeing as a lot of them are first time world changers. The tool timers have the awesome job of painting the siding of a house, one of my personal favorite jobs. Now the job of painting may see easy enough as is but do keep in mind they did have to dodge falling debris of the other crew....

Hammer Heads:

Yes you heard right this was a double site, we had two crew working two jobs on one site.

While the tool timer where painting, the hammer head were trying not to drop shingles on their heads while they roofed. They both seemed to be getting along though, so I hope for I great week at this house.

Ok I'll be posting more later but my ability to post photos is limited so be patient.

Until we meet again, Josiah

The Farmington Frenzy

Today I had the extreme pleasure to meet the two coolest crews that will be working in Farmington this week.

•  I began my adventure just a hop, skip, and a jump, down the street from the local Sonic, on Lee street, and man are these guys a cool crew! The Plumb Bobs have begun to tackle the task of painting the front porch of their home as well as to build from scratch an amazing wheel chair ramp. Today they were making up for lost time as they received their concrete to set the posts of this ramp. This group is a great mix of ages and regions, and as I was leaving over their afternoon snack they had the every present world changers chat about accents! They Members of this crew come from far and wide. From Iowa to Illinois, from Alabama to Texas, Each and every one of them brings a love for God and the work they are doing. Enthusiastic only begins to describe their attitude toward their project as they plunged ahead carrying on an energetic conversation and passing by the time.    

•  The Roller Kings were the next stop on my trip, located on the other side of town on East Edward. Over run with Texans this crew has an accent thicker than butter, but their heart is what drives them. They, in just two days, have nearly conquered painting a whole two story house with a vibrant red! There next task will be to put up an eloquent wooden fence. Crew Chief Ray's response to being given such a large task, "bring it on!"  All in all this crew has a great attitude and a strong work ethic and it shows in how much they have accomplished already! The one this still fresh on most of their minds is the lengthly trip most of theses crew members made to get here. As they worked they regaled tales of silly word games, long naps, and the memories that they made just beginning their trip!     
  

Hopefully this has done these fabulous crews justice, to show their two days work in one day of blogging! Be back tomorrow! Till then, Keep on Changing the World!