Misc Photos

Trolley Tour of Chicago

Navy Pier with the Chicago skyline

Late postings

Apologies for posting late - WiFi & WWAN issues plus a dislocated thumb . . . . . .
                                                                                                       Pauley

Many thanks to Ryan for doing a considerable chunk of the typing, Mike Fournier for pulling the thumb back into place on several occasions (go ahead - ask him to "pull my finger") and Jeanie Nelson for the miracle kineseo-tape job (it works!).

This is the size of the local bugs.

Family Dinner Night

One of the YSP / ASP trqaditions has been to host a family night dinner (or cookout) on Wednesday for the families to meet the rest of the YSP crews, and the other crews to meet the other families.

The cook team of Jim, Liese, Jeanie and Chuck (along with I-can-flip-it-grill-master Mike Gallagher) did a great job of burgers, dogs (and grilled potato chips) chips, salsa, watermelon, brownies and pop before SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS moved in (God provided a great light show). The temp went from 99 to 65 in about 15 minutes with a whole bunch of wind & rain.



We still managed to have our evening devotions in the park shelter, the worship music team went "unplugged" with acoustic guitar, fresh ain and the shelter provided a great soundstage for everyone singing.

Probably the highlight of the evening was Allee Vito doing a 5 minute riff on the bongo drums.

(for us old-folks Dobie Gillis watch out)

Bats in the Belfrey

No bad jokes (well, maybe a few)

Many thanks to Anthony for capturing the bat that got into the stairwell (yes, we were sleeping on the 4th floor). The stairwell went up to the old-church bell tower.

The girls described the bat as having a 20 foot wingspan and made sounds only small children and animals could hear.

Energy - in the Gym

The youth are amazing - after a full day's work at the job site, they find the energy to get together and burn off more energy in the gym playing kickball or basketball.

2nd Congregational UCC is host to the Boys & Girls Club of Rockford and has a HUGE gym & filedhouse (plus showers with HOT water).

Adam Nagle - TV Interview

We were really surprised when a TV crew from the local CBS affliliate, WIFR, showed up on site on interviewed one of the youth about the mission service work and why they do it.

Adam Nagle did an exceptional job! (he'll be signing autographs when he gets back to Mentor :) )

The interview can be found on WIFR.com

Can we Fix it decking

Just a few photos of the repairs being made

One of the little things that we do is leave our mark behind the scenes. Usually the youth and crew leaders sign YSP and the year along with their names and a message of hope on the back side of a deck board, sheet of drywall or roof repair.

Just our way of continuing the blessings from MUMC onto the families we were privileged to serve.

Team Can We Fix It day 2

YSP is driven so much on the emotion of the people that we help that we can’t help but sit down and talk to our host. Today, our team experienced one of the nicest gestures of kindness that I have ever seen. Angel, our host, bought us pizza and soda for lunch today, and we sat down and talked with her while we were eating. She has been through so much in her life that she could write a book about it. It really makes you want to do even more to help when you know and understand what they’ve been through. It really touched us all emotionally to see someone who had been through so many horrible things, and then invite us into her home and sit and talk.

We got a lot of work done today, as we have almost completely finished the wheelchair ramp and are almost ready to start replacing the top layer of the front porch. We spent a lot of time cutting and unloading wood and for some of us the day went mostly slow. It was also an interesting experience when the local news showed up and interviewed Adam. It was amazing to see that our gesture of loving and serving God was noticed by more than just us and hopefully will leave an impact on people seeing us on T.V.

Everyone in our team is seriously amazing with what they can accomplish, and it shows that even the most unlikely person can do an awesome work for God. I hope that we can continue to have accident free days and that everyone will stay strong in our work so we can finish our project. I look forward to working with my team tomorrow and serving God some more. Amen

Ryan C,

Team “Can We Fix It”

Cooks Day 2

Dear God,

                Morning comes so early for a cook on YSP. It starts with an obnoxious wake up in the middle of the night about 4:30AM. There is coffee to be made, eggs to cook, bacon to crisp up and to have ready when the troops arrive at 7:00AM expecting to be fed. All this without as much as a simple thank you, but wait……God, you are good, looking into the squinted eyes of 18 teenagers mutter the words Good Morning.

 Now that’s a thank you.

Mister B.

Team Ice Cream Day 2

Team Ice Cream

At the greatest worksite, with the greatest team, it was about one hundred degrees, everyone was sweating buckets but we knew we had a big job and didn’t want to stop till we met our goal. Katy, Jim and Nick cleaned out a whole room that was filled up to Katy’s waist with debris. All of it got shoveled up, bagged, and tossed out the window. We also found and were able to save some vintage trains. Betsy along with Morgan carried all of the bags and other trash to the dumpster. The dumpster is approximately twenty feet long, six feet deep and eight feet wide! About one-third of the stuff in the dumpster came from the room Katy, Jim, and Nick cleaned out. Anthony’s contractor skills came in handy as he built the frames for holding up the dry wall for the ceilings. I’ll bet everyone’s appreciated that. He also completely vacuumed out the entire room that was emptied. Tyler and Cori are renovating the kitchen by replacing tiles in a drop ceiling and prepped the floor for new linoleum tiles. Cori thought bombs were going off when the demolition was going on and dropping dirt all over them. There are two work teams at this same sight and we really learned to work well together and can’t wait for tomorrow.

Ice Cream

Rockford Peaches Day 2

Rockford Peaches: Allee Vito, Sam Kramer, Kyle Nagle, Andrew Denton, Kennedy McMillen, Larry and Rhonda Hoon

We’re having a peach here in Rockford. We are working in a century old house owned by Larry and Michelle. In a bedroom, we took down the old plaster from the walls and ceilings, and are replacing them with drywall. The house was formerly heated by coal, which caused soot to form in the ceiling. As we hacked and toiled at the ceiling, we became increasingly disgusting and covered in filth. Sam, Allee, and Kennedy spent some time speaking to the seven children in the household. Allee helped teach the boys how to play the piano, colored pictures and talked about favorite foods. After work today, we spent time at the free trade store; which is important because it helps provide living wages to the artisans of foreign countries, oppressed women from the area and supports families in difficult times. A local man explained how the local church is working to eliminate indecency from the area during our tour of the town. So far all is going well and we will continue to update you on the actions of the Peaches.