North Beach Kurt

This is a Blog created for the junior high students at North Beach.

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Friday night serving service

On last Friday night we had a student led service and the message was all about serving. If you want to get involved in serving, email me at kurt.brodbeck@nvcl.org or you can check out the website that little D mentioned. http://www.volunteermatch.org/

Have a great week and we'll see you on Friday!

Wednesday, July 04, 2007

more pictures





Wednesday half day!!!






Half day Wednesday was a crazy day. We spent the first half of the morning working on our houses, and then after lunch we went off to have fun. We found a Putt Putt Golf and Games, and for the afternoon we played mini golf, video games, go karts, batting cages, and bumper boats. In the bumper boat pool a Sami Veller and Luke Wozniak decided they would throw me into the pool. It’s sad that these kids haven’t figured out that I never go down without a fight. Needless to say the only ones in the pool were the kids. Then to finish the night we went and watched some fireworks. I'm exhausted but the teens are still going strong.

I figured I’d update you on the progress at the house where I’m working. In my group are Dylan Sheets, Ryan Dietrich, Luke Wozniak, Morgan Peebles, Kinsey Horner, and Kristin Foster. Our home owner is Miss Polly, and today she even cooked us lunch. It was pretty much amazing, corn on the cob, chicken, fruit, potato salad, and baked beans. On Miss Polly’s house we are working on putting up shingles on her roof. The roof was leaking badly, so our job has been to cover the roof with new plywood and drip edge. Hopefully, tomorrow we’ll start putting up the shingles. We’ve also sanded and painted some of the ceiling in her house and cleaned part of her house. The kids have had an amazing attitude, and they’ve worked so hard. It’s hard to believe they are the same kids that we left with in Carmel. They’ve been amazing. By now they are almost professional roofers, so when they get home re-roofing the house can now be added to their list of chores.

Hi, this is Megan Murphy. My group is Cove Lee, Tyler Bowman, Lauren McWhorter, Hanna Pope, Ellie A. and Cody D. Our home owner is Miss Sandra. We have been working on deshingling 6 layers of shingles and preparing to redo her roof. The kids have all been working really hard. Some of them are a little to fearless when it comes to working on the roof, but so far no major injuries. Tomorrow we’ll start tar papering and putting shingles on. It’s been extremely hot, especially on the roof, but the kids have listened really well and there hasn’t been too much complaining. So, when they get home, you should be able to put them to work and shouldn’t hear any questions or complaints.


Well that's enough for tonight, I'll send one more post tomorrow.

Tuesday, July 03, 2007

day 2 (WOW it's hot)

Today was a great day, but I figured you were tired of just hearing from my perspective about what was going on. So on the blog tonight each team leader is going to share about their group.

This is Ken I.
I have Liz C, Sami V, Keegan H, Shawn D., Jessica I & Jason S,

We have been working on re-shingling and painting the exterior peaks of the house. They have really pulled together and worked as a team. On the 1st day we accomplished more than the SOS Team Leader thought we would. They have shared and talked and I hope they have learned from each other. All have received Gods blessing of Sun since it has been in the 90's and working on the roof. Even though we have coated each other with sunscreen, we all have some new color.

It has been great working with them, can't wait till tomorrow.

.......................................

This is Gary Bowron and Megan Coy!!!
Our students are: Aarah, Erin, Emily, Hunter, Hayden, and Logan. As well as our great and awesome SOS team leader, Rebecca!

These last two days have been great with the students and community. Their hearts have been set on helping an amazing woman, Ms. Betty, with home. On the first day, the kids and leaders went up on the roof and shingled and tarred! What a mess that was...good thing we had the WD-40!!! On the second day, two projects went on inside the house: a floor was ripped out as well as a ceiling!
All of the neighborhood (or so it seems) comes over to Ms Betty's and hangs out in the front yard and in the living room! with kids running all over the place and teens and adults working around the clock to improve the house's condition, memories have been made, hearts have been focused and God has been in the very pressence of your children!
Hello Parents! This is Sesley, and I have the pleasure of working with Chad, Jonathan,Alex (aka Pretty Boy), Tayler, and Heather, not to mention our fearess team leader, Will (aka Super Juan) who have never worked with junior high kids! :) We are working inside Miss. Peggy's house painting ceilings, walls, and blowing "popcorn" texture. Sadly, Miss. Peggy lost her mother-in-law today, but we were able to surround her in prayer. We are being charmed by the 5 kids that live there as they dance for us and help us hang plastic-MILES of plastic. We saw first hand how to put your little brother in a full nelson and carry him inside the house. Your kids are wonderful servants and are learning so much: roofing, painting, hanging plastic, cleaning tables...They can't wait to come home and work on their own homes!

This is Kari Muller and Rachelle Smith. The team working with us on Miss Ruby's house is Amanda McKay, Lauren Moreland, Elise, Jordan, and Kaleb. She is 60 years old, but you'd never know it! She works 2 jobs in order to make ends meet. Ruby has a great heart for God, and we are honored to help make her home a better place to live. The new skills we have gained in roof demolition, paint scraping, and priming are nothing compared to the lessons of patience, teamwork, and servanthood we have already experienced this week. ME (Mary Elizabeth, our S.O.S. leader) has challenged us to memorize scripture--creatively we might add--ask your teen!--and challenged the students to look deeper at the "why" behind what we do as followers of Christ. Jordan and Amanda took several neighbor girls to VBS today and enjoyed a time of singing, memorizing verses, and decorating cupcakes. We're very excited about how God is working in our group--both as a group and as individuals. Be praying for our continued safety and God's hand in all that we are doing here in Binghampton. We are so blessed to have your teens on our team, and Memphis, Tennessee, will never be the same because of their love and hard work!

Well that's all for tonight. If you didn't hear about your student tonight, check out tomorrow.

Good Night

Monday, July 02, 2007

Work (sit in the heat and eat popsicles) day 1




What a day! Today was our first day of work and everyone came back exhausted. We spent a good part of the day learning how to use tools and all about worksite saftey. Then we finally got to work. Some teams took off shingles while others nailed up new decking. We also had teams that painted both interior and exterior or the homes. Sanded drywall, cleaned up shingles, and played with stray dogs. I was even told by one student that today was the hardest they have ever worked in their life. The teens had a great attitude and we really couldn't be prouder of them.


Then tonight we had dinner in which the SOS staff convinced some of our "good" kids to get involved in a little chocolate cake war. After dinner we had chapel and then went to the coffee shop in the neighborhood and all the kids spent all your money! We've had a great time so far and I can't report all the funny things that have happened. In fact, right now I'm breaking the bed time rules to give you this short report. I'll blog more info and stories tomorrow, but for now I better lead by example and get into bed. We are doing great and loving serving God and this community. Here are a couple pictures from the day. I'll write a little longer tomorrow.

Sunday, July 01, 2007

We're here and with only three bathroom stops

We made it safe and sound to Memphis. At times the vans were loud enough that each leader lost a bit of their hearing, but other than that, no major injuries to report. For most of the van ride we listened to music, used sharpies to draw tatoos, and learned how to make fart sound on our armpits. (it's sad but that was the excitment)

I'd love to give you individual reports on all your teens tonight, but they already all have their own stories. From Liz making us stop twice in the first two hours of our road trip, to Dylan being disappointed that he couldn't show off his six pack abs, it's been an adventure already and it really hasn't started yet!!!! Of course of all the groups at the camp, we are by far the loudest, but then again you know your kids, so you probably figured that would happen. We just finished meeting in our individual teams and we met our team leaders. So now we're ready for tomorrow. I'll keep you posted on everything tomorrow, but so far the trip has been great. We miss you guys, but are still having too much fun to really think about it. I'll update more later.

Kurt and the SOS group.