Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Blitz Build 2011



A group will leave for Tuscaloosa at 10:15 from Landmark for the move in. I would love for any of you who are able to go with us!

Some of you have asked for more details on this project. The vast majority of materials and contractors (ie. electrical, plumbing, etc) were donated. Each student paid $225 per person for the week (which included their food). The lot was also donated. And is located on the same block where several other University Church members live (or will live soon). The house is close to 1100 sq feet. All of the framing and OSB was constructed in the UCC bus barn prior to our arrival.

Total cost was 12k. Which was paid for by students and other donations.

From Sam Evans
today i arrived home from the best spring break of my life!
yes, i, along with about 70 other volunteers, built a house for a woman in need, but it was filled with more than just that. much more.
in the community of West Circle,in Northport, Alabama, where the Brown House and the Pierces are, this group of people had the visible goal of building a house in a week for an elderly woman confined to a wheelchair, but this is just the beginning. many more families are planning to move to this area, continue to build relationships, and, most importantly, share with them and unconditional love only found in Him.
this is our calling as christians. to love others as God has loved us. unconditionally.
even though this is stated countless times in the Bible, it never really stuck until i saw it in action this past week. not only in the way the kids, visitors, and the inhabitants of west circle were treated, but also how i was treated.
i was the only highschooler there and was honestly expecting to be blown off a little by everyone. and after this week, i am proud to say it was the very opposite. from the very moment i got to tuscaloosa i became completely overwhelmed! it went from me thinking id be sitting on the sidelines all week to being included in everything and building relationships with everyone there.
after this week, i can honestly say i have never met a group of people so genuinely kind, patient, and loving than the blitz build team.
i mean, it was just thing, after thing, after thing, after thing. everyday.
even the little things such as being asked if i wanted to ride with someone to go get supplies, coming in at 4 am and seeing the Amy had washed all my clothes, being invited to go hang out at the lake saturday night for a few hours just to relax, or even just being asked to sit at a table at dinner, overwhelmed me completely to almost speechlessness.
you all displayed the greatest love and patience i have ever witnessed! and i am still in awe of how God has worked through all of you this past week!
thank you for being so caring, loving, kind, generous, hospitable, gracious, patient, incredible, and completely Spirit-filed!
thank you to everyone apart of this past spring break that made it more than i could have ever hoped for. i have truly been blessed.
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short and sweet. this week has been completely awesome in every way possible and is full of Him in every aspect. ive been so blessed to stay with Adam, Amy, Reed, and Wilkes Pierce in the Brown House this week! they are an absolutely incredible family with a humungous heart for people in need. hearing their story and their goals and just what their focus is, is amazing.
altogether, fantastic week so far and it’s only have way over! more updates to come.
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this week, spring break, ive come to tuscaloosa to work with the university christian ministry (ucm) and landmark campus ministry (lcm) to build a house for ms. mattie, an elderly woman confined to a wheelchair.
today went amazing! i arrived and immediately got to work along side others from ucm, while lcm was running an hour and a half behind.
the walls of the house are pre-built by volunteers over the past month in the university churchs bus barn, so it not a lot of work, right? umm, thats entirely false. haha. a house is more than walls. theres plumbing, electicity, sheetrock, paint, carpet, roof, etc. and the whole process of moving the walls to the site.
and as we kept moving walls to the trailer, i noticed phrases written on the door frames. different scriptures talking about God being a fortress, phrases casting out fear, and thoughts promoting love and compassion in the house.
this really hit me hard. i mean, it seems simple, but having all that on the house, itself. not somewhere hanging by a nail on the wall serving as decoration, but on the innermost parts of the house.
then it hit me. this is exactly how we should be.
not only wearing the t-shirt with bible verses on them or talking about God, but having His word written inside of us, on our hearts, in our minds.
you can always take a shirt or a bracelet off, or remove a sign or picture from a wall, but you can never remove those truths without demolishing the house completely.
the Word is true and everlasting. it never changes. its all powerful. its a light in the darkness. its peace. its security. its wisdom. its perfect. its Him.



Tuscaloosa News Article

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