Day 9 - Last Work Day at SPY

Thursday, July 8 was our last workday at SPY. After morning worship including our favorite energizer dance, we had breakfast, packed our tools and headed out for our work sites. Each group set off to finish as many of their projects as possible before returning for the day.

The purple team went back to Dolly's house and finished the painting, stairs, and walkway they had begun. Unfortunately they were not able to completely dig out the basement door as the conditions made it just too difficulty in the given time.

The orange team split up into two groups. Some stayed at Fieldstone and continued working on the painting, weeding, and other work that needed to be done at the church while others went to work on some projects at a different house. While the group at the house was working, they were surprised with a peanut butter treat!

The red team had a special mission on Thursday morning. Earlier in the week, Jordan noticed something on the top of the trash outside while the group was working. What he found was a bill that was past due and that seemed much more than this family could afford to pay. There were many finance charges listed from late or missed payments. After some discussion amongst the work team and VOY adult team, we decided to stop by the location the bill was from and pay the balance. The whole work team signed the statement that listed the $0.00 balance and the group waited until the end of the day to present it to the family. The red team finished sealing the roof and the big job for Thursday was replacing the linoleum flooring in the living room. Our first challenge was to take off the previous tiles. This proved to be quite a sticky job but with some help from our homeowner, we were able to get the tools necessary to remove them. Then we placed the new tiles down and tried to make the room look as good as possible. At the end of the day, the group gathered and presented the paid bill to the homeowner's mother. She immediately began to cry and had to sit down. She was in shock and was extremely grateful for all our group had done. She thought that with the new flooring, it looked like a completely new trailer and couldn't thank us enough. The group listened for a little while but soon it was time to go. We gave our final hugs and said goodbye, knowing that we are all a part of the family now.

Once all the teams returned, we took showers and got ready to go to the Newport Community for dinner and worship. The pastor and some members of Newport-Mt. Olivet UMC made dinner for the campers, staff, and other community members. We enjoyed the meal and some time of fellowship with the community with singing, frisbee, soccer, and other games.



Before we left, everyone gathered in a big circle to sing and then share some of the "Strange Things" that we had all seen in the past week. After everyone had the opportunity to share, it was time to head back to Fieldstone UMC for the following slideshow capturing pictures from the entire week.




Then we ended the night with some goodbyes and the SPY Energizer dance with all of the interns leading us!