LAST DAY OF SERVING!

Today we had a lot of fun though it was hard getting up. We got to break and cut tree branches and then bag them into garbage bags, which was very fun. We also finished painting at the other building owned by the Nehemiah Mission. We painted the higher part with long ladders after wiping down all the dirt and pigeon poop that was built up on the place. Then we cleaned at Nehemiah, packed and are heading to Mary's house to say goodbye to her and see how Patrick is doing. We are going to eat lunch at the Westside Market and then head home. We had a great week!

Josiah D. & Tim M.

REVOLUTION 216

Tonight after dinner we went to the Revolution 216. Revolution 216 is a church service that meets at the Nehemiah Mission. The congregation was made up people from inner city Cleveland and they were extremely welcoming (with lots of hugs!). The pastor's name was Big Cleve. Big Cleve used an Ipad for his Bible, Pastor David! Revolution 216 was much different than Harvest. He preached on adultery and witchcraft. His preaching style was loud and interactive! Their songs were much more modern than all the songs that we sing. Revolution 216 also used a projector and Powerpoint for the songs and the sermon.

Andy M.

3rd DAY OF SERVING!

Today we finished up painting a house for a homeowner who needed our help. The majority of the day was finishing touching up. Everyone was working together and we all had fun. Josiah made a baseball out of dry paint and we were tossing it around. After that the homeowner, Mary, came to us saying that her son, Patrick, was having some trouble and that she was going to take him to the hospital to see a docter. So my Dad gathered us to pray. Afterwards she thanked us for all our work. She was crying as well. I felt really great because I knew that we had moved someone that we were reaching out to. I'm glad we got to help out and I hope we might be able to help more.

-Alec S.

Today our group was finished with our house so we went down to clean up trash and broken glass at a park and a long alley. It was really hot and everyone was tired after an hour :, (We talked a lot at first but it didn't last long. Around noon we were all ready to fall asleep so we took a lunch break! Peebs (Pastor Brett's new nickname) bought us all sugary drinks (I got a frappucino). After lunch we were a lot more energized from our caffeinated drinks and ready to work again. Soon after we started working again, the other half of the youth group showed up and helped. It started to go faster with everyone working. It was also more fun because the whole youth group family was back together again. Overall it was O.K. and I felt good about how much we cleaned up because it looked a lot better than it did when we started, plus we made it a lot safer by cleaning up all that broken glass (There was a lot).

-Isabelle R.

OUR DAY OFF!

Today was our day off and we started off today at the aquarium. It was built in an old powerhouse on the Cuyahoga River. It was fairly small but had a great variety of fish including a petting area featuring Horseshoe Crabs, Bonnet-Head Sharks, Sand Sharks, Manta and Sting Rays. For lunch we visited The Melt, a small sandwich shop with not so small sandwiches. This little restaurant was featured on Guy Fietti's Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives TV show. The interesting part about the menus was the old album covers on the back. Some of which included No Jacket Required by Phil Collins and Get Lucky by Loverboy. It seems that Mollie and I were the only people in the group that were able to finish a two-pound (no exaggeration) sandwich and nearly a pound of great french fries. The staff seemed to be very impressed with Mollie and Liann's rendition of the Cleveland Shuffle dance.

Kyle B.

After the Melt we headed to Huntington Beach. We all had a great time in the huge waves and burying Mollie in the sand, at least until the lifeguards made us come out of the water due to "dangerous undercurrents". We then found a spot on a rocky peninsula that got us sprayed by the waves. Isabelle and Katie were shot halfway across the rocks! It was so fun and we had a great time. We left the beach to go shower and change before Lolly (or Mollie!) the Trolley picked us up. We took a tour of Cleveland and saw a lot of the city including the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Great Lakes Science Center, a beautiful sunset, sites where the Avengers were filmed and so many other places! We all had a great time on our relaxing day off.

~Katie L. :)

WORK DAY #2!

When we got to the house we got all of the supplies and got to work almost immediately. We finished painting most of the garage but we didn't have our ladders yet so we painted as much as we could and then took an early lunch break and went to a park. The ladders came eventually and we got back to work on the higher parts of the garage. We also painted parts of the house that needed touch ups. The home owner still hasn't shown up at the work site, and it's a bummer that we didn't get to meet her. We finished our work there and will have another work project on Thursday.

Dylan E.

This morning, we were all excited to go back to the work site for a few reasons. Mary, one of the home owners, has been extremely kind to us. She offered to make us authentic Italian pizza (with quite a bit of garlic) for our lunch. It was so delicious that Mr. Seifert had goosebumps! We were also able to get most of the house painted, and we enjoyed the company of the neighbors and Patrick, the son of the home owners who is physically and mentally challenged. Tomorrow is our day off, and we may not be going back to the same house on Thursday because of the arrangements of the other groups. We hope to be able to continue our work on the house. :)

Liann H.

EVENING WORSHIP

I was asked to write about what we do each evening for group Bible Study. Each evening we sing about three worship songs then continue where we left off on our lesson. We have been working through the whole book of Nehemiah. Tonight we did our devotional at the beach. It was a beautiful night to sit at a picnic table and read the Bible together. After the devotional, we ate ice cream and played on the beach. All of us were just planning to wade in the water...of course, it turned into swimming rather than just wading! We all had a wonderful time and can't wait to go swimming again tomorrow during our day off!

Mollie V.

1st DAY OF SERVING!

Our team of seventeen was divided into two groups today. One group went to South Euclid to help a widow with the painting of the outside of her house and garage. The other group went to a house six blocks away to also do exterior painting. I will let the kids tell you about it....

Today we got to meet our homeowner we will be working for this week. My project was to paint a three story 18th century house and shed . The owner was very pleased and grateful for our willingness to help. We are all in joying painting and climbing ladders.

Matt B.

Our team of eight and I went to a widow's house about thirty minutes away from where we're staying. The house was yellow with two stories. We mainly worked on scraping the paint off the garage. On Tuesday we're going to paint the garage, and start on the house. We never got to meet the homeowner though. But we did meet a neighbor boy who squirted all of us with a water gun!

Carson W.

WE MADE IT!

Clearly the middle school team is better at the traveling thing than the high schoolers are! We made it to the mission at a little before 7pm with no delays or vehicle trouble! Also, I can happily say that we are moved into our rooms and nothing has been broken yet! This week, we are joining church groups from Loveland and Columbus to serve homeowners in need. We are looking forward to a night of orientation and sleep. (hopefully!)

Nehemiah Mission Info

The Nehemiah Mission of Cleveland rebuilds the lives and homes of the physically and fiscally challenged of Cleveland through volunteer mission teams who improve living environments in order to sow seeds of hope for individuals and neighborhoods.

Harvest Presbyterian Church's SoBe middle school youth group joins Nehemiah July 8-13 to continue that work in the city. Please pray for us as we serve in the name of Christ!