Hey Everybody!!! Sorry its taken me so long to write... but these past few weeks have been crazy... crazy but AWESOME!!! So the last time I wrote we were in Union headed to the big ole town of Florence, SC. Well we got there on Fathers day that night went to see this youth choir from Dunwoody, GA and let me tell you... they were GREAT... they actually had some of the best singers that I have heard in a while... especially to be as young as they were... and the funny thing about the choir was that we were in Union and were staying at the same hotel as they were, and then found out that they were going to Florence the same day we were... and we were able to go and see them... so it was just a weird coincidence. So then in Florence we worked with two different churches. With one church we did a Backyard Bible club for them for three days... and what was neat was that some of the people that lived in the neighborhood had never met each other and because we had the backyard bible club they got to meet each other, and seemed to really like hanging out w/each other... so it was great for the kids and for the adults. When we ended the whole thing on Wed. we had a block party for them and shared the gospel. It was a whole new experience there b/c as Audrey and I were sharing the gospel it was thundering and lightening all around us... and as I was praying the prayer of salvation with them the rest of the team was frantically trying to get all of the stuff in the van... and in the middle of all of that... one little girl got saved.... which was SOOOO COOL... I mean can you imagine being able to say that you got saved outside in the middle of the beginning of the rainstorm. And just to let everybody know... it was not raining yet when we were praying with them... God held the rain off until just the right time... b/c right after we got into our cars to go eat w/a bunch of FMU people it started raining. So we got the kids home just in time. But neway... then on Tuesday and Wed. morning of that week we painted faces during the Free movie that the Julia (one of the theatres in Florence) was having for the kids. We got to tell a bunch of children and parents about one of the churches we were working with that has their services in the same movie theatre... which is pretty neat. So then the last part of the week... Thursday thru Sat. we did a VBS at one of the sites the church has. So on Saturday... we shared the gospel with the kids at the VBS and SIX kids got saved. So then the next day... after going to church in the rain... and then having a scare with our van (it wouldn't crank up in the CVS parking lot)... we headed out to the big town of St. George, SC.
So we get to St. George and that day we met the people that we were going to be working with the rest of the week. They were Mrs. Brenda and then the summer missionaries that were working with her... they are Ethan, Paul, Courtney, Bekah, and Jessica. So Ethan, Courtney, Bekah, and Jessica are all Sojourners... they are high school students that are doing summer missions and let me tell you... they definitely do not act like they are in high school... and are definitely some of the coolest people I have ever met. I really admire them a lot because when I was in their position in High School... I would have never given up either a big chunk or my entire summer to do missions... but they have come from all over the country... and I mean all over the country to South Carolina... to do missions... and let me tell you... they sure do work. Oh... and not to forget Paul in all of this... he is awesome too... he works with them doing mission work... he is actually from South Carolina and is going to school in Hungary which I also think is very cool... especially since he was teaching first grade for four years and then decided he was being led to go to this school... to learn more about the Bible... which I don't know if I would have the courage to go away from my family and friends to another country... that is completely foreign to go and learn more about my faith. So if you get my drift... I absolutely love their whole group... so neway... the whole week we did three things. In the morning from 9-12 we did the Arctic Edge VBS at Old St. George Baptist Church... and then we ate lunch... then went and did a Backyard bible club at a place called Cedarwood from 2-4 and then we would get all our stuff together and go to do another Arctic Edge VBS 45 min. away in Knightsville and did that from 6-8:30. So the whole week in St. George was definitely one of the busiest and most tiring weeks... but the kids we worked with were soooo awesome... and then the missions team was great... that I personally didn't notice until we got to Chad and Anna's house on Sunday how tired I really was. There was one day that some members of the team and I were not in a very good mood... we were tired... and yeah... you know how you just have some moments where your not in that great of a mood? Well this day was one of them... and seriously... we pulled up in Cedarwood that afternoon... and let me tell you... and soon we pulled up the kids ran up to the van... and as soon as we got out... they were hugging us and trying to get us to give them piggy back rides... I dont know how to explain it... but I know that I pulled up into that parking lot in a not so great mood... and I left that place feeling so AWESOME!!! I dont know why... I think it is just that those kids are sooo loving... and yeah their loud... and sometimes they don't listen... but they are sooo looking for someone to pay attention to them... and just the little things you do for them brings a smile to their face... and one little girl kept her hand on my shoulder all that day... and kept calling me her friend... just b/c I had let her cry on my shoulder the day before... just the little things are appreciated sooo much... and all I can say was that was one of the best experiences of my life... was just to work with those kids. And then to go to the church that night and see one of the best little kids in the whole entire world... Marcus... do the motions to the arctic edge theme song... and the rest of our (mine and Jessica's) 6 and under group just sing their heart out... it was sooo GREAT. And then in the mornings I worked with the 5th thru 9th graders... which was an intersting age group to combine... but they were GREAT too. They were soo funny and just liked to joke around... but then they would suprise you... like 3 of the kids in our (Paul, Courtney, and my) room raised their hand to pray for the pastor... and missionaries... and to hear them pray... completely unafraid of how they might get teased or anything like that... just to hear the beautiful prayers that came out of their mouths... if that had been the only good thing about that week... the whole week of working would have been worth it. So that was just a little bit of the mission work we did that week. Lets just say that the week was not all work... we did have our share of fun... even if it was at Wal-Mart trying to find die at 9 at night when some of us are wet from a water fight that Jessica : ) started... or when we were in the van coming back from eating chinese food at like 9:30 or 10:00 and singing Carrie Underwood and Grease and oldies songs all the way back... or dropping someone off at the house and then the girls on the team riding off in the van... just to be scared half to death when we realized that Ethan had been in the back of the van the whole time... or when we played the wonderful Wal-Mart hide and seek game that Paul introduced us to... or eating cow food in the morning and laughing the entire time we were eating it......... those are just a few of the long list of AWESOME things that stick out about that week. And then the saddest day of the whole week was that Sunday when we had to leave. Let me tell you... after working with the same kids at the 2 churches and at Cedarwood... and then leaving the people that you would have never imagined you would have gotten to be friends with so quickly... and everybody crying... it was definitely hard. And then Mandy had to bring up the fact that if it was that hard to leave them... how hard was it going to be at the end of this summer when we had to say goodbye to the teammates we've lived with and gotten so close to over the past 10 weeks... which was even more sad. So all in all... I would def. say that the St. George week was the best week we've had... or I've had at least... and I just want to thank the people there (the summer missionaries) for making it sooo great... because ya'll are AWESOME people... and no matter what you go through this summer... God is using you, and ya'll are touching soooo many kids lives and making a HUGE impact on them. I'll miss you guys... and hopefully we'll get to see each other before the end of this week.... and I'll def. be prayin for you. So anyway... I guess since this has been probably the longest blog I have ever typed I won't write about the past week... I'll save that for later.
But what I will say is please pray for us as a team... that these last 3 weeks will be awesome... that we will continue to have team unity, and our strength will hold up... and also that we will stay focused... up until the last day... on doing what God has planned for us to do... and also... pray for a friends mom... she just got into a wreck and she can't feel anything from the waste down... so just pray for her and her whole family. Also pray for the FORTY FIVE kids that have gotten saved this summer... yeah you read it right...45 kids have come to Christ this summer... so pray for them and for the rest of the children and youth that we're going to be coming in contact with for the rest of the summer.
Ok well, if you're reading this... it means you are an awesome person for reading this really loooong blog... and it means that I'm done with the blog... cause we're getting up early tomorrow b/c we have a VBS at 9... so I love you guys... and thanks for hanging in there and reading about what God has been doing in my life and in SC these past couple of weeks. I'll write more later...
Love ya,
Heather-Grace... or H-Gizzle : )

oh I need to give you my joke of the blog...
So what do you get when u mix a cow and a motorcycle?

A COWasaki... hehehe : )

P.S. Sorry if some stuff isn't spelled right... it's really late... and the spell check isn't working : )