PowerPlant: Buffalo (more pics)

Team Buffalo: That's me (loving the hood... can't get that hair wet), then Mitch McCaskell (Music Leader, Brent Warren (Evangelism Speaker), Tommy Kellar (A/V Guy), Allison Rickard (Project Coordinator), Jancy Steele (Office Manager), and Audrie Cirlot in the front (she helped lead worship and she's awesome). We also laughed SO MUCH this week, particularly about cheese but that's a long story.
Niagara Falls- something every person should see if they get the chance. Amazing. Take the Maid of the Mist tour boat into the heart of the Horseshoe Falls. It is worth every bit of the $12.50 you have to pay.

"Hey Tommy? Where should we film the next exercise video?"
No better place than in front of Niagara Falls, right? :) We got a lot of funny looks but it turned out hilarious.

We walked around the Niagara Falls Park asking strangers to help do "PowerPlanty" things. This group of senior citizens (who only spoke Spanish) helped us and I love this picture because they got VERY in to it. I want to be the lady on the right one day.
Here's a sneaky pic we got of some of our youth at the project while they were talking with some Buffaloians. Good job, guys!
At another ministry site, they set up a sports camp. For some unknown reason, I was on the red team for a while. I deemed myself in charge of spirit and made everyone huddle up unnecessarily.
This is the winner of the Group Leader Challenge. The prize was a huge Buffalo chicken wing hat. It was highly coveted and he had to go through much humility to win this.
We also knighted him with a Star Wars laser. Perhaps your wondering why we had a Star Wars laser? Tommy packed it, along with two mullets, an afro wig, a complete batman costume and a complete Darth Vader outfit. He failed to bring an air mattress for himself to sleep on.
We ate at Anchor Bar one night which is the home of the original chicken wing (Buffalo Chicken Wing). We ordered 100 wings and Tommy ate most of them. In this picture he looks like a cannibal, but he's actually a very normal, funny, nice guy.

Keep reading the other posts on down... I've updated on all I've been lacking.... the other Powerplant project, our trip to Denver, and my going away party even though they are all out of order. If you are bored at work, this could definitely be a good time waster:)

PowerPlant: Sioux Falls (more pictures)

Ok, so just like I did for Buffalo PowerPlant, here's a little more about the project in Sioux Falls. First of all, here's my lovely team (which felt more like a family by the end of the week):
From left to right, we have Jim Pratt (Ministry Coordinator), Jordan Price (Music Leader), Nate Ray (Project Coordinator and Church Planting Speaker), Bob-O (A/V Guy), Gabe Dodd (Evangelism Speaker) then the other girl is Lauryn Lane (Office Manager). I was the Program Specialist and Missions Communications Girl for the week. Fun titles, I know. We laughed a lot that week, usually over Gabe's inability to keep his pants covering his entire bottom.

We made exercise videos to get the kids awake in the morning and obviously, they were hilarious. I will try to upload some of these to the blog, but I probably won't. Jordan graciously wore the work-out shirt I made for him. With great pride I might add.
I really like this picture from one of the ministry sites. This youth group was helping a church plant for homeless people in the area. These kids have such a rough life- we can't even imagine. They are so precious. Our youth did a fantastic job loving and serving them during the project.

Here's a big group shot of our little project. This is the smallest project I've ever worked with but it was so wonderful as we got to know each other very well. All these youth were so amazing!

Denver: Revisited

So here are the pics from our trip to Denver. I am backlogged in the blogging area... This first is right by our hotel in the downtown area. Cars can't come down this section of the street and everyone just walks to the shops and cafes. It's beautiful and lots of fun.
We went to this conference in Denver with the Cosspeeps (Cossmans) and they bought all of us tickets for the Boulder Food and Wine Festival. We've never gotten to do anything like it before and we felt very sophisticated and cultured. Look at our awesome pieces of cake! That is a normal size plate. One lady walked up to me and asked what I thought of the lemon cake because she couldn't decide between the lemon or the chocolate. I then let her take a bite of my cake to help her decide. I let a stranger eat off my plate. But we had fun.
We also went to a Rockies game and had fantastic seats. We got to watch the sun set behind the Rockie Mountains and Greg Maddox was pitching for the other team, which I didn't really care about but app

Going Away Party

My sweet Sunday School class threw a going away party for me last night- it was so nice of them! These girls have been such a fun part of my life the past year and I will miss them so much.
This is Mrs. Cerese our fearless leader. She is such a gentle and wonderful lady who listens to all of us and is always there for us. She loves to plan a party, too:)
And here is my friend Toktam- she moved to Starkville from Iran for her husband to get a Phd. She is probably the friendliest person I know and I am really going to miss our weekly meetings!

2 years!

Love never fails... And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. 

But the greatest of these is love.

1st Corinthians 13

2 Year Anniversary, July 15

Buffalo, NY PowerPlant

It looks like I may never catch up with all the blogging (Sioux Falls.... Denver...Mobile...) news we have so I'll just pick up with what is going on right now. I have never had such an action-packed summer- this much is for sure.

Right now, I'm in Buffalo, NY staffing another PowerPlant Project. 75% of Buffalo is unchurched and we are working with two different church planters this week. The pic above is a group from Tennessee unloading their trailer to unpack. I'll post more soon if I get a chance.

And for a quick update on moving to Mobile, Caleb drove down Saturday and after looking around decided to go with Inverness Lakes, which are beautiful apartments. We're really excited and hope everyone can come visit!

BIG NEWS FOR THE BUTTS!

No, no babies yet if that's where you're mind went:)

CALEB GOT ACCEPTED INTO MEDICAL SCHOOL!
He will be attending University of South Alabama which is in Mobile! So, we'll be moving some time at the end of this month!

I have a lot more to blog about PowerPlant and our trip in Denver (which is still going on) had to write about this really quick.

Thanks so much for your prayers- we are so blessed to have friends and family like we do and a Heavenly Father who has blessed us with more than we could ever have imagined.