Updates from Mississippi

Since I really don't have time to blog--but thought it'd be fun to keep this thing somewhat updated about our family mission trip---I thought I'd post the emails that I've been sending our friends and family. I am in total awe of how God is blessing us. The trip has been so wonderful. Travel---went AMAZINGLY well. Heat---incredibly easy to handle. Family Dynamics---nobody wants to kill each other yet! Tomorrow will be a hard day as we are going to tour some very damaged areas and have dinner at Katrina's Kitchen. Pray that we continue to put Him first and push ourselves aside. Thanks!


June 23
Just wanted to send a quick note to let you all know that we made it to Horns Lake, MS and are relaxing in our hotel room. Our group of 17 met at Elmbrook and hit the road at 6am in the morning. One car followed our van full of Pitchford's (and one Sims) and the other embarked on their own with different directions. With Marlon at the wheel and only 4 short stops---we made it here at a little after 4! After check in we all went to a Chinese Food Buffet and then hit the pool.

Thanks to you all who prayed, gave support both financially and emotionally and have just encouraged us in this trip. If you would like to pray---we would so appreciate it!

Pray for the last 5 hours of our trip tomorrow. That we are well rested tonight and have a fresh start.
Pray that our group continues to gel---we've had fun together already so that's been a blessing.
Praise that we made it here safely and the kids did AMAZINGLY well with the long drive.
Thanks and we'll send another update when we can! (and hopefully a photo or two)

6/24/07
Well, it's 9:48 pm and we are in our jammies, under the covers and getting ready to go to sleep. After a quick hotel breakfast this morning, a short devotion and prayer by the pool-we hit the road by 9:30am. We made good time and hit a little bit of rain---making it here by 4pm after a yummy buffet lunch in Gulfport.

Here's what we've done since getting here:

we had a small tour of the church and facilities here
broke into groups with some of the church members and delivered flyers to the houses in neighboring subdivisions. Izzy and I were with some of our group and two ladies from this church. The neighborhood we were in was very run down, but full of friendly people. We were even chased for a few blocks by a little dog. We had some great conversations.
had pizza delivered and devoured in 15 minutes flat...lol!
debriefed for the evening about our experiences today and had a small devotion led by Marlon
the boys got shaved heads, and most of us took showers tonight so we don't have to do them in the morning.
Our day tomorrow begins at 7am for breakfast in the fellowship hall. We pray that you all have a wonderful day! Camp Vertical and Zoom folks, Edie and I are praying for you and that tomorrow goes smoothly. Isn't it awesome that we can be so far away from each other and still doing the same great work for His Kingdom!! God is good!

June 25
Well, it's 10:22 and the kids and I (as well as two other young girls from our team) are up playing Uno. Although it was a long day, we had a burst of energy that came from a 9pm trip to Wal-mart I think!

Here are some of what we did today:
VBS--wonderful! Just about 80 kids (age 3-13 yrs) came. Even a few familiar faces from our neighborhood walk yesterday-that was cool.
Marlon & the boys got to lead the game "fieldhouse" station
Jordyn helped in crafts
I got to lead the small group of 3rd and 4th graders (16 in all)
We used a fun LifeWay curriculum with a "Game Day" theme which the kids really enjoyed. They had the following stations: crafts, bible study, games, music and snack. The volunteers here were so happy that we came to help.
After lunch we separated into groups for work. Marlon and Collin went to help at a house with a group from Kentucky. Since they didn't want women or kids there due to the heavy lifting and mud the rest of us went to a free medical clinic. Some of us were inside "popping pills" (yes that was a HUGE joke all day) and the rest of us did some cleaning, moving...let's just say I'm much stronger that I thought I was!! Edie and I had to have sweated off at least 10 lbs today--so that's a good thing.
Highlights and awesome God moments:

During our clean up, a young woman approached me and asked if I spoke Spanish. I explained that I did, and asked what she needed. I then translated to the man running the clinic and got her mother who suffers from diabetes and has leg problems a walker. The amazing part is that I wasn't going to be with that team and at the last minute I got put with them.
Clive. Now this silly, 60+ old man came with his wife from North Carolina right after Katrina hit for medical help. Two years later and they are still here running a free clinic. He has a home and family in NC still, but feels that God continues to need them here in MS and so they stay. Shipments of free medicines continue to come in. In fact, today a shipment of medicines (prescription mind you) came in totaling $430,000!! This was the first shipment ever straight from a pharmeceutical company and not just doctors working together to donate the meds. What a testament to the gospel! He really got a kick out of the kids and they had a good time helping him.
Thanks for continuing to pray for our safety and ability to stand the heat. So far so good! Tomorrow after VBS we are going on our tour of the area and get to eat dinner at Katrina's God's Kitchen.