Niccolls Memorial Presbyterian Church

PO Box 605, 228 Crosby Blvd.                                                                       (315)369-3475
Old Forge, NY 13420                                                                    niccolls@frontiernet.net

APRIL 2008 

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Many of the youth group members and the youth leaders planning their April 12th 4:00 a.m. departure from church.

They traveled to the Charleston SC area to spend a week of their spring vacation helping others

by working on projects with Habitat for Humanity and the Charleston Parks & Recreation Dept.

   The Trip Down:

by Alex Levi

 

April 12, 2008

 

              Today we rode down to South Carolina. We left Niccolls Church at four a.m. We were in the middle of a rainstorm and it was thundering and lightning. We met up with Kristen at the stop light in Woodgate. We had a pit stop in Sangerfield at five thirty seven a.m. It was fifty-six degrees outside. We stopped in Binghamton at six forty seven a.m. It was still fifty-six degrees. We got at the Pennsylvania border at seven oh four and it was fifty-seven degrees. We stopped at the rest area. We got to the Maryland border at ten twelve and it was seventy-one degrees. We stopped for gas at ten twenty five in Herford Maryland, where we spent one hundred eighty seven dollars and seventy-six cents. We got to the Virginia border at eleven fifty four and it was seventy-four degrees. We stopped for lunch at one forty five just after Richmond. We got back on the road at two thirty. We got to the North Carolina border at three twenty eight and it was seventy-one degrees. We stopped for gas at five oh nine in Dunn, North Carolina and it was sixty-eight degrees. We got to the South Carolina border at six nineteen and it was seventy-two degrees. We arrived at the mission house at eight fifty four and it was seventy-two degrees outside. Members of the church greeted us and showed us around the house and the activity center next door. We bought some groceries and had a dinner of pizza and chips. After we got lunch we saw a homeless man on the side of the highway. When we reflected on the day we realized that we could have taken the opportunity of helping him in some way. After a long day of driving, we were all ready to go to bed.

 

  SUNDAY:

April 13, 2008

 

              We were all well rested from the trip yesterday. We went to church at eleven a.m. The service was very much like our own. We talked about Samuel and when God was speaking to him. The preacher told us that in order to hear God, all you have to do is listen. After church, we went to the beach. We went to the place that we are going to clean up tomorrow. It is called Folly Beach. The weather was nice and warm so many people went into the ocean for a swim, and others went for a walk. After that, we played a few games of capture the flag. Almost everyone played and those who didn’t cheered on the sidelines. After we went to the beach we got home and decided to clean the house up a bit. We swept, dusted, and cleaned windows and furniture. After a couple of hours of cleaning, we played around the gym at the activity center next door and took showers. Morgan, Ashley, Kerrin, and Malik made a delicious dinner of ziti and garlic bread. After dinner, Dr. Tom wanted to take us to the boardwalk.  We got there and walked for about an hour or so and it turned out that it wasn’t a boardwalk at all. Most of the kids were tired and disappointed, but the adults enjoyed the historical scenery. Dr. Tom said that he would make it up when we go to the amusement park on Tuesday. We got back to the house and had a time for reflection. Everyone got a piece of paper with someone else’s name on it, and you had to write something nice about that person. It was a good activity to show that everyone has many qualities that make them unique and to be gracious when given a compliment. We closed with a prayer of thanks and gratitude that we could all come on the trip and be together for these five days. After a long day of fun, we were all ready to go to bed and get well rested for the work ahead.

- Alex

April 14, 2008

              Today we went to Folly Beach to clean up. We picked up rocks that were in the sand. The rocks were there because the government pumped sand from the ocean on to the beach. They were pumping sand onto the beach because there wasn’t a lot of sand due to erosion. When they pumped that sand, they didn’t realize that there were rocks in the sand that they were pumping. We started at about eleven, we had lunch at one and we ended at three. At about ten forty five we were on the beach a little early, so we decided to look for sand dollars. Ashley Carroll found one. She and Doctor Tom were both very excited. She gave it to Kristen to hold on to while she picked up rocks. Kristen put the sand dollar in her pocket and it unfortunately broke. Malik, Leif and Trey made a memorial out of a log that they buried in the sand. John took a bottle of water and an ice cream sandwich to a man dressed in a Statue of Liberty costume and paid it forward. It was a fun day and everyone was excited and anxious for the days to come. – Alex Levi

 

April 15, 2008

              Today we took a trip to Myrtle Beach to pick up the Keifers. We got there around ten thirty and it was fifty-four degrees. They were almost done packing so we stayed at there hotel until lunch. We spent the day resting up so we would be rejuvenated and ready for the next two days of Habitat for Humanity. – Alex Levi

 

April 16, 2008

             
After a later return home last night and an early wake up its no wonder that we were off to a late start. Once we found our way we arrived at the Habitat site only 15 minutes late or so. The strange thing was when we arrived the site manager had no idea we were coming (obviously some communication errors at headquarters), though he was still able to find us work. We were split into 2 groups, one group was to paint with the supervisor Blair, the other group was to drywall with Jill. Thera, Alex, and Jordan Levi were to go to a thirft shop and help sort clothes and other thrift shop items. The first half of the day for painters was spent painting many coats on doors and posts. As for the drywall crew one half was quite productive while the other was just the opposite (Tom Socash, Chip Kiefer, Malik Barron). After lunch the painters were inside a house priming all the walls while some other supervisors were trying to move a crooked wall. Once everything was cleaned we were on our way back to the mission house. On tonights menu are grilled Hamburgers and Hotdogs, and the cooks are Trey and myself. My only bit of advise for you grillers out there is try to stay away from grillin' Veggie Burgers.

-Leif Frymire

**   today was the first day of habitat for humanity, we woke up at 7 and tried to eat and leave on time but we were a tad late. we showed up about 2o minutes late b/c our wonderful alpha dog missed the turn. when we got there most of the younger kids volunteering  were already hard at work digging ditches. morgan was put on the spot and lead the group in a prayer, she did a great job. we then split into groups where malik,tayler,trey,katie,chip,pam,and pam took on the task of dry-walling i heard that the girls and trey did a much better job then the other men. while the rest of us began to paint under the supervision of pretty hair blair the exterior doors and posts of houses, i went with kristen and painted post and as i was listening to a group tell where they were from it happened to be in many places from california, texas and many more states. tina, megan, morgo, whitney,and kelsey also painted. ashely and leif took on the job of painting the doors one of the hardest jobs at the sight and was later complimented on their fine job by blair. kyndra was well fit when we started to paint indoors as she could reach the ceiling without a ladder! we took a luch break that was delivered by thera, alex and jordan after they help at a good will, lunch was delicious and i thank them for making it and bringing it to us. also during our lunch break most of us took part in playing frisbee and even got a supervisor to play with us he was very nice and good at throwing his name was alex. after lunch we continued painting and then ended the first day with a primed interior and much dry-wall done. we got into cars and headed back to the mission house.that night leif, trey, chip and john showered there cooking skills on the grill as they prepared hamburgers and hotdogs and attempted veggie burgers. we also ate outside and celebrated the nice warm weather as we all put on lays. most of us were tired that night and went to bed early making sure we were ready to work again tomorrow.

- kerrin ehrensbeck **

 

 

April 17, 2008

Today we worked at the Habitat for Humanity site again. We were at the site on time this morning, about 8 am. We started off the day with Devotion along with 50 workers that were there. We were introduced to the group and a visiting man blessed us all with a prayer. 25 people were scheduled to come after lunch to start working, so about 75 were on the site today. The paint crew headed back to the house we primed yesterday. We finished off the house just a half hour before clean-up time, so it took our group of 12 about five and a half hours to paint a whole house. The other crew of 7 went back to their house to finish dry-walling. Chip, Tom, and Malik finally got the hang of it and were late for lunch because “they were on a roll”. Katie and Pam took on the challenge of wrapping beams, hanging siding, and working on the trim work with some help. Tayler and Trey had their first experience nailing and building the supports of the roof while suspended in the rafters. Strangely enough, their crew supervisor, Jill, graduated from Lemoyne College in Syracuse two years ago. Her hometown is right near Rochester. Thera, Alex, and Jordan went back to the Thrift Shop today to help. They sorted clothes and worked with an 86-year-old woman who puts in an 8 hour day, 6 days a week at the shop. We finished up at about 4 o’clock after a good half hour of scrubbing paintbrushes and paint cans. We took a quick group photo and were excited to see Thera and the two little girls already setting up dinner. Tonight we are having “breakfast dinner” of pancakes, sausage, and bacon. It will hopefully fuel us long enough to stay awake all night so we can sleep on the car ride home. We plan to leave the house at 4 in the morning.

– Kelsey Kiefer

MORE PHOTOS ON PAGE 2   (Please click on the number 2 below))

 

 

 

 

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