DISNEY DAY

Helloo everybody!

We are incredibly sorry that this blog is so late, but we were absolutely EXHAUSTED last night! Most of us did not get to the hotel until midnight, and we still had packing to do! So let us tell you about our magical day in the world of Disney!

We all left the hotel around 8:45 am. Pastor Lonnie, Ricci, and Taylor spent all day at Magic Kingdom. Mrs. Cindy, Mrs. Sharon, Andrew, Chandler, Adam, Justin, Matt, and Stephanie spent all day at Hollywood Studios. Ms. Kim, Kayli, Cameron, Andrea, and Scott did both. 

The group who did half at M.K and half at H.S. started off at H.S. with the other kids. We had an absolute blast! We rode Tower of Terror first, which helped everyone get over there nerves. We rode rides like Rockin' Rollercoaster, Toy Story, Star Wars, The Great Movie Ride. We also got to see the Indiana Jones Stunt Show and the "Lights, Automobiles, Action" Car stunt show. 

I (Stephanie) will ask Kayli to get on here later and tell you how Magic Kingdom was. (I am in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida for me & Andrew's mission trip to Guatemala...follow our blog at stephberg.blogspot.com).

All in all, every person had an AWESOME time! We definitely were exhausted, though.

Continue to pray for our group's safe travels!! We love all of you and can't wait to see you.

- The Daring, Delicious, Delightful, Delirious, Droopy-eyed Dopey-seeing Disney Dudes

Random Experiences of the Day:

-Matt bought a two-sided, Star Wars light saber.

-A lot of us bought random souvenir items and t-shirts

-Cameron got picked to be an extra during the Indiana Jones show!! It was awesome! She even got sent to wardrobe to get dressed up as a bystander in Kairo.

-Our feet were screeeeaming at us with exhaustion!

-To brighten up our day, Scott told us about the "noise game."... to play, we had to make a really loud, random noise and then count all of the heads that turn to look at us...it was amazing

-After Hollywood Studios closed, the group that stayed there went to Downtown Disney to shop in the Lego store, and get some free samples from the Ghiradelli chocolate shop!

-We ate lunch at Pizza Planet, which definitely gave all of us a boost of energy.

-It took NO TIME for anyone to fall asleep that night!

PS>>>>Sorry, but I (Stephanie) do not have pictures to upload because Andrew gave his memory card to our group so they could have pictures to take home. You WILL see Disney pictures eventually, though!

Last Work Day!

Andrew with his pal.


Scott definitely enjoyed those slides.


oh yes.


umm too many menus?


the sleeve head bands..mad cool.

even mrs. sharon's doing it.


LAMAR! ...the youth pastor from St. Petersburg...hilarious!


the crazy-cool service.


three of the four groups!


so this picture only shows like 1/8 th of our finished product!


is it not beautiful or what?


enough said.


kayli previously thought this "Watch for Pedestrians" sign said "Watch for Presbyterians"... the paint smell is gettin to her.



at the picnic!


nothing but work.




Hello from Laquinta Inn, Orlando!

Today was the last work day and it was amazing to see everything come together! There was still a lot to be done, but we finished all that we could! There are only a few places that need wall paint, but considering the vastness of the church, we did an AMAZING job! We were all surprised to have gotten done as much as we did. There were so many hard places to get to, but we pulled out the ladders and got to every spot!

Around noon, we were given the option to either stay at the church and work, or go to the One Heart-Many Hands picnic. Kayli, Stephanie, Taylor, Andrea, Andrew, and Ricci went to the picnic while the others stayed at the job site. The picnic was absolutely awesome! We were served baked chicken, potato salad, fruit, and snacks... (and cold diet coke for steph and kayli...oh yes!) After lunch, a band called "Cedar Worship" played. They sang a variety of worship songs by David Crowder, Hillsong, U2, Francesca Battistelli, etc. The worship band was by far the BEST part of the picnic!

After the picnic, we returned to the church to find that there was still a lot to do! We got there around 2:00 pm, and we left at 4:00 pm. We touched up walls with paint, cleaned brushes, and carried supplies back into the church. It was slightly sad to say bye to our new friends from Georgia, California, and Florida, but it was also good to be done with our job!

After showering, we headed to the Convention Center for another General Assembly service. It was another great service with a message given by Dr. Jerry Porter. They even recognized all of the One Heart-Many Hands volunteers and showed a video summary of the work we did! Eventually after the service, P-Lonnie got to meet up with his sister, Becky Beals, and her daughter, Juliann. They came with us to McDonald's for dinner, which happened to have the world's largest PlayPlace. We also met up with Scott Green and Cameron Clay at McDonalds. Ms. Kim picked them up at the airport around 7:15, and they ate at Outback Steakhouse...we were slightly jealous.

Right now, we are all sitting in the leaders' room playing "Battle of the Sexes." We are all VERY excited to explore and enjoy Disney World tomorrow! We will definitely try to catch Pastor Lonnie sleeping at the park.

Continue to pray for our safety tomorrow and that none of us get lost! Also please be praying for safe travels back to Bryan on Sunday. Keep praying for Andrew Williams, Stephanie, Jennifer, and Dick Bergland as they start their two-week mission trip to Guatemala on Sunday. Thanks!

We love you all!!

Random Experiences of the Day:
-The St. Petersburg group taught us that it was "mad cool" to wear cut-off sleeves as headbands.
-Two camera-men filmed Stephanie, Kayli, Andrew, and Andrea at the picnic like at least five times at the picnic!
-Andrew & Chandler COULD NOT stop laughing with each other at tonight's service...and no one is quite sure why.
-Lamar, the youth leader from St. Petersburg, gave Justin his wristband
-Scott climbed through the playplace with us. It was quite hilarious.
-Scott does NOT like to hear the word "toot." It is too symmetrical for him.
-Scott seems to have the Swine Flu, and has decided to stick his hands in everyone's food...and bite Kayli.
-While buying water at Sam's this morning, Ms. Kim bought Kayli and Stephanie an entire 12-pack of Diet Coke...yesssssssss.
-It rained.
-We got to pray with each other at the service about being discipled and discipling others.

Thanks again for your prayers and thoughts! We love all of you!

PS>>>> Make sure to follow Stephanie Bergland on her Guatemala blog at stephberg.blogspot.com starting this Sunday! I will make sure to include information about me, Andrew, my mom, and my dad!

Thursday!

Working!

Wall art.

Writings on the wall.

Praying on the wall.

More messages.

Praying and writing on the last unpainted wall.

Our painting looks amazing...admit it.

Mrs. Cindy getting some painting done in the underworld of the rooftop!

Hello hello hello!

Today was extremely busy and productive at the job site. Everyone was given a specific task in order to get things done in a more timely matter. We are getting close to being done, but we still have lots to do. Please be praying that we can get everything done by tomorrow at noon. We are doing jobs such as painting, scraping away old paint, priming wood, replacing wood, etc. 

Before the last wall got painted, a leader from a church in California called a group meeting together. He expressed that we wanted us to bless the last wall by writing on the old paint in pencil. Our messages consisted of prayers, songs, and inspiring words. After writing on the wall, each one of us laid our hand on the wall and prayed over the building. It was an awesome time for everyone to come together for something so powerful. 

We were also blessed today with a group of about 30 people from "Valencia Volunteers." I guess they are from a local community service and/or volunteer organization. Their help definitely sped up the process of what needed to get done.

We were invited by the group from St. Petersburg to enjoy a spaghetti dinner with them at 5:30 pm. Because of our dinner plans and the fact that a lot of painting still needed to be done, we ended up staying at the church to work. It was a great thing that we stayed an extra few hours because we got an incredible amount of work done! We got back to the hotel around 8:45 pm. Right now, I think everyone is taking looong showers and probably resting their feet in bed!

Thanks again for your heart-felt prayers and your faithfulness. We love you, and think of ya'll often.

-The Yummy Yellow Yawning Yucky Yapping Yahoos.

p.s. HAPPY BIRTHDAY KELSEY DICKSONNNN!!

Random Experiences of the Day:

-We spilled paint alllll over the front porch in front of the Sanctuary.

-We physically found out that Timmy can fit in a suitcase.

-We worked for 12 hours! YAY.

-We got to eat spaghetti, bread, salad, and BROWNIES. 

-It was incredibly humid....ehhh.

-We immediately notice paint jobs at places like restaurants, business, the convention center, etc.

Fun Facts:

For the 100 work projects of One Heart-Many Hands, we used..

-225 ladders, 130 caulking guns, 720 tubes of caulking, and 4000 painbrushes.

The lunch crew who brings sack lunches to each job site has used...

-743 lbs of peanut butter, 356 lbs of jelly, and 320,000 slices of bread!

!

SHARON GETS TO BE MADISON!


THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY SERVICE!


EXHIBITS


HAPPY CAMPERS


PANDA!

NOT happy campers

FRIENDS

DANGER

TUESDAY STARTS HERE:
LAUNDRY!


RAIN!

COOL CAT

PAINTIN' AWAY
SAINT WITH THE PAINT


ASLEEP AGAIN!


P-Lonnie with the Morsch's


Hello on a glorious Wednesday night!

Today was yet another awesome day in Orlandoville. Most of us would agree that today was the most productive day yet. When we first arrived on Monday, the painting job seemed almost impossible to finish because of the vastness of the church building. However, we have become professional painters, and the church already looks ten times better!

Because of the General Assembly service at 7 pm, we were able to leave our job site by 4:30 pm in order to take showers and eat. We are all becoming great friends with everyone on the site. We even sat with the team from St. Petersburg at the General Assembly service. The General Assembly service was absolutely amazing! It is being held at the Orange County Convention Center and there were thousands upon thousands of Nazarene's from ALL over the world!! We saw people with crazy-cool dresses, outfits, haircuts, cloaks, etc. Honestly though, I (Stephanie) was extremely depressed that the Exhibits had already closed at 6:00 pm. The exhibits include information from Nazarene universities, SUSIE MAGAZINE! ( by Susie Shellenberger), the Nazarene Publishing House, Nazarene missions, etc. Worship started off the service, and the message was given by Dr. Jesse C. Middendorf.

After the service, we stopped by Walgreens to get some ice cream. Sadly, they did not have Blue Bell. BY THE WAY--- Sorry for not uploading the pictures from yesterday. We tried to upload them for about two hours, but nothing got accomplished.

Thanks for the comments! We love to hear from ya'll ( people here DO notice our accents!). PLEASE keep commenting and praying for God to continue to renew our energy. Please also pray that God reveals Himself through the people we continue to meet, the work we do, and the services we attend. Thanks again! We love all of you!

- The Rambunctious, Ripped, Ripe, Rinsed, Rejuvenated, Relaxed, Reminiscent Rascals


Random Experiences of the Day:

-We ran out of paint. P-Lonnie had to go to Lowe's to get some more.
-Many wasps appeared out of nowhere...and we don't have wasp spray...dang.
-Andrew learned how to peel a Florida orange all in one peel.
-We saw the Ripley's Believe it Or Not building (tilted sideways), and an upside-down building called "Wonder Works."
-It took Kayli & I (Steph) an hour to wash paintbrushes...ahhh.
-Even after scrubbing ourselves for ten minutes in the shower, the paint STILL does not come all the way off.
-If professionals completed the jobs that were given to EACH group from One Heart-Many Hands, it would cost 2.3 million dollars!
-We ate at Panda Express, and we all know our fortunes now.

FUN Facts from One Heart-Many Hands:
1. Oldest Team Member on a Job Site- 75 years old.
2. Oldest Team Member in the Kitchen- 84 years old.
3. Youngest Team Member on a Job Site- 3 years old.
4. Longest Distance Traveled- Hawaii Team
5. Number of States Represented- 35 states.
6. Number of Gallons of Water Consumed thus far- 2,536 gallons.

Hello from the sunshine state!

 

Today was another great day for the Nazarene teens of Bryan! Although a requested wake-up call did not come for the girls' room (Andrew had to wake us up 5 minutes before we left), our group started off the day with a great attitude. Everyone arrived at the job site, knowing what to expect and what our goal was. We all agreed that today went by a lot faster than yesterday. We have come extremely far with our painting, which is a miracle! The work gets a little bit tedious at times, so it is good to have a large number of people working at the same site. I believe there is about 50 or 60 of us. Our group and another group from St. Petersburg, Florida are working on the church, while two other youth groups are working on the parsonage.

 

We are all becoming great friends with the group from St. Petersburg. One of the teens, named Timmy, enjoys calling Pastor Lonnie "Cowboy," which we think is hilarious! Everyone is conversational with each other, which is a great addition to our work. 

 

At the end of the day, we headed home in the midst of a thunderstorm. After scrubbing our stupid paint off of our bodies in our showers, we all gathered in the women's room to enjoy some Pizza Hut pizza. We reflected on our day, and Pastor Lonnie told the parable about the three men and the talents they were given. I think all of us are going to get in bed early tonight! We had a great day, but are definitely tired. A pillow fight probably won't happen again until later this week!

 

Keep praying! Tomorrow is the first night of the General Assembly services! WOOHOO!

 

-The Tenacious Tender Talkative Traumatized Torrential Teens

 

finished at 8:53 pm.

 

Random Experiences of the Day:

-Timmy expressed that he is taking over the world, and he gave some of us a chance to pick a country that we would like to take over. (Kayli got Italy, Steph got Taiwan, Andrea got Canada, Matt got Texas..?)

-Andrew found his twin. A guy named Taylor Brown is EXACTLY like him. He acts and functions like Andrew, and he enjoys stuff like drama, acting, movies, etc. Taylor is even bad at video games...just like you-know-who.

-Mrs. Cindy had a MASSIVE headache, so be praying!

-Kayli & Stephanie were dying from lack of diet coke, so when we stopped for gas, they both bought a 1-Liter bottle...which brings up another point....our van almost ran out of gas....literally.

-We got to listen to a Christian radio station while we painted!!!

-Pastor Lonnie fell asleep at lunch for the second day in a row.

 

FIRST Work Day!

Hey Church family!

So today was our first official "work day." We arrived at our job site, a local Nazarene church, around 8:15 am. We were given two tasks: scrape off chipped paint off of about 10 rusted poles, and paint the entire exterior of the building. Obviously, the painting wasn't meant to be finished by today, but hopefully it will be completed by friday. Most of us were the dirtiest we have been in probably years! After cleaning up our job site, we headed to a local park to gather with the other participants of One Heart-Many Hands. A band from Mount Vernon Nazarene University led worship, which was followed by stories and words of encouragement from other participants.

We arrived back to the amazingly-cold hotel around 6:45 pm. After we all took our showers, we rounded up in two vans and headed to Steak & Shake, where we all finished our meals with a milkshake. We got back to the hotel around 10:30 pm, and as you can see by our pictures, we enjoyed yet another pillow fight. 

We want to continue to thank everyone for your prayers! Please continue to ask God to renew our energy on a daily basis. Thanks again!

- The Silly Shake-slurping Serene Sound-asleep Stupendous Scoundrels

HELLO from Orlando!

Today was a great day! We left the Super 8 at 7:59 am and arrived at the First Baptist Church at 6:21 pm. Breakfast was served at the Super 8, so we all saved 6 dollars! Although we only stopped for gas once, we had a few EBS's (Emergency Bladder Stops). I think everyone would agree that we were all incredibly tired today! The girls went to bed around 11 last night, but were awakened by random scary noises and a blaring alarm (?). Some of the boys apparently had a hard time going to bed as well. Andrew, Chandler, Adam, and Justin had their own fun filled with pillow fights, scaring each other, and attempting to saran wrap Chandler to his bed.

Anyways, we stopped at a nice, sit-down restaurant called "Perkins" around 3:00 pm. Since we all saved our breakfast money, we were able to be "big spenders" at lunch. Arriving at the First Baptist Church was a lot of fun. It was a huge church filled with about 1500 kids and leaders! Our kick-off rally was from 7-9 pm, which gave some of us sleepy-heads a hard time. The rally was filled with worship songs and welcoming messages from various Nazarene leaders, including the General Superintendent! After the service, we headed to our La Quinta Inn and unloaded all of our luggage. We then made a trip to Subway and returned to the hotel around 11 pm. Pastor Lonnie and the other leaders gave us some encouraging words and advice back at the hotel. Pastor Lonnie talked a lot about dying to ourselves in order to come alive with our Savior. We ended our last traveling day with a word of prayer in the leaders' room. 

Well, we all want to say another big "THANKS" for all of your help and prayers. Please continue to pray that God will give each of us a heart for service and a loving attitude!

Thanks again!

---the Nifty Neuroscientifical Notorious Nickel-saving Nizzies

p.s. Pray that we don't complain about the heat too much...supposedly there is a "Heat Wave" going on right now in Oralndo.

finished at 12:08 pm, Orlando time.....( 11:08 Bryan time).