Thursday: Last day at Shiloh Chapel

We started our day off again at Shiloh Chapel.  the Girls  finished staining the pallet boards for the wall in the chapel while the boys made final touches on the outside of the chapel. Today we were supposed to hear the testimony of Guy the other “owner” of Shilo. Unfortunately  Guy wasn’t feeling good and he wasn’t able to  share his testimony. We finished our work at Shiloh and headed over to Memorial Park to eat lunch. After finishing lunch we headed over to Acacia Park to hand out meals to the homeless. This experience was very eye-opening and it showed the struggles of many people around the community and opened my eyes to the struggles that even people in Sheboygan may be experiencing. Just before we left I had the opportunity to pray with a man named Derek. He had shared that he was struggling with a lot of medical issues and after talking to him for a  bit I prayed for him.  It was amazing to see God working in all of our lives and hearts throughout the day. 

~ Emmilyn Raih

Thursday morning we woke up and went through the same routine as the other mornings, after we woke up at 7 we went and made our lunches before we ate breakfast, shortly after breakfast we had devotions, then were on our way to the job site. At the job site we had to finish up the painting that our group was doing and we painted until 12:30. We packed everything up and went and ate our lunches at a park close by where we were able to see the mountains and we were right by a lake so that was super cool. After lunch we went to Acacia Park where we were able to give out sandwiches and waters to the homeless that lived in the park. It was really cool being able to meet some of the people in the park, one person that was very nice meeting was a man named Noah, he lived in the area for a while but he said he was homeless since he was a teenager, but on this whole trip he was the one person that I saw so much joy in and that really amazed me that a man with such little in life still had so much joy. After we were finished there we went back to the church and took very cold showers. We were able to hang out in our room for like an hour then we had dinner, then chapel, and finished the day with some sonic ice cream.

~ Caleb Hendrikse

Today we got to go back to Shiloh Chapel for our last work day. It was a lot cooler outside than yesterday which helped a lot. We were supposed to listen to a man give his testimony after lunch but unfortunately he was sick today. We pretty much finished painting the whole building besides a few spots, but we were able to get a lot done in the four days we worked there. After lunch we went to a park to hand out some waters and sandwiches to homeless people. Right when we got there a man named Noah came up to us. When we told him we were from Wisconsin he asked if he could sing us a song. He ended up singing the theme song to That 70’s Show which was pretty cool to hear from him. We were able to pray with him and a few more people while we were there and they were all very grateful we came. When we got back to church we were all able to take cold showers. One of the best parts of the day was supper because we had barbecue pork sandwiches with Mac and Cheese which was definitely the best meal of the week. Later in the night we had our worship time and at the end we had the chance to get into our own youth groups and take turns praying for each other which was such a blessing to be able to pray over one another. After that we got to go to sonic for some ice cream which was a lot of fun especially in our water shoes.

~ Justin Hendrikse

Another day begins:)

Will on the ladder with Nate and Andrew working from the roof. Sam looks on before heading up his ladder again

Finishing the sanding and staining

Renee and Paige (one of our leaders)

Caleb checking out the scenery from the roof top

We would have loved to have had the accent color so we could have done the pillars and finished off at least one side, but we were happy with the progress we made over four days

A group shot before saying good-bye to Shiloh Chapel

Lunchtime...

This pic does not do justice to our actual scenery

After lunch we went to Acacia Park - a park where many people who are homeless spend time. I caught a quick pic of Sam while he was praying for the two gentlemen in the middle.

The man against the tree is Richard. I had the opportunity to talk to him for about 30-40 minutes. He's had a tough life, but for the most part what he seemed to struggle with the most was loneliness. I will continue to pray for this man.

Becca represents our crew tonight!

We had the opportunity to share commitments we wanted to make with our group. Then we took turns praying for each other

A late-night run to Sonic for shakes before heading back and preparing for our rafting trip tomorrow

A group shot of the ladies:)