10. If you started out with your own hammer, chalk line and pencil but leave at the end of the day with someone else's saw, square and ladder.
9. If you keep calling the single wide trailer the education unit.
8. If you drink out of the same water bottle the other 60 people have drank out of and you don't have a problem with it.
7. If you go to town looking to have a good time and you chose to go to the Hwy. 278 Flea Market and Wal-Mart.
6. If you think of working in 95 degree heat while paying your own way, and staying in Fairview, Alabama is a fantastic vacation.
5. If someone asks you to get the gun and you run to your pick-up truck and get Paw Paw's shotgun out of the back window.
4. If you were sent on Saturday morning to get the board stretcher and you still have not made it back to the job site.
3. If you think that just because you go through the spray mister or wash off in the trough you have taken a good bath.
2. If you give serious thought to legally change your name to Sweet Boy # 3.
and the number 1 reason.......
1. If you have made the mistake of calling Sweet Mama - Big Mama, Hot Mama, Bahama Mama, or Sweet Thang.
Thanks to Trent Boyd of Spring Arbor for sharing this with us. Thanks also to Mary Beckett for getting this to us so we could post it here.
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
A Message from "Sweet Mama"
Jeremiah 29:11-14 “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the Lord.”
We came to Spring Arbor Baptist Church in February for our advance planning trip. These wonderful people asked me what they could do to help us prepare. I gave them a list of supplies that they could work on before we came. I started to do my shopping the Wednesday after Memorial Day and called to see what they had collected that I would not need to purchase. Following is the list of supplies that they told me they had collected.
14 cases of bottled water, 572 rolls toilet tissue, 189 rolls of paper towels, 322 plastic cups, 1,304 8oz. Foam cups, 1000 12oz. Foam cups, 500 16oz. Foam cups, 170 garbage bags, 1 gallon hand soap, 38 small bowls, 1,123 gallon zip lock bags, 104 quart zip lock bags, 513 mixed forks, spoons, knives, 1,104 spoons, 100 knives, 4,000 napkins, 3 rolls aluminum foil, 1 roll plastic wrap. What an amazing collection from this church!
Baron had sent me a check for $2,000.00 to buy our supplies. This is what Baron does every year. What was distressing to me was seeing the price of groceries going up every week. I took the check and I put it on the table and I prayed over it and told God that He knew what I needed and to bless our buying and help us to buy wisely. Because – you builders know why we want to spend as little as we can. The church people will know when Friday night rolls around. Baron gives me more as I need it and we have had to get an additional $1,000.00. To feed this many people on $3,000.00 to me is an awesome thing. Anyway, God began to bless and hear my pleas. I hope that I have not left anything out on my “food journey” because it is awesome to see what God has done. In addition to the many supplies listed above, God worked miracles in the following ways:
When we were here in February on the advance trip, one of Spring Arbor’s men, Mark Vinson, asked me if we had to buy beef. I told him that we had to buy roasts and hamburger meat. He said that he raised cattle on the side and if he could sell enough steaks off some steers, he could probably sell us our beef for around $1.00 per pound. I was elated! I got a call the week before our trip, and Mark told me that God had blessed him and he had sold steaks off of six steers and that he was going to donate our meat (a $300.00 savings on our food budget). His beef is all grain fed – no hormones. It was wonderful meat and all the builders enjoyed it!
Esther Jernigan, my assistant, is a Registered Nurse at Athens-Limestone Hospital in Athens, Alabama. She talked to the buyer in the cafeteria and they let us buy supplies at their cost. We got precooked bacon, sausage, eggs, biscuits, macaroni – items too numerous to mention at their cost which was considerably lower than we could get at Sam’s or the grocery store. In addition to this, they donated creamer, salt, pepper, and threw in extras of some of the supplies we had bought.
I spoke with Darrell Lee, manager of Hometown Grocery in Athens and he gave me meat and fruit at discounted prices. I picked those up on my way to the jobsite Thursday morning, June 7th. God is so good!
The wonderful family next door to Spring Arbor at the Vets Office offered us their commercial kitchen and their food hall. It turned out that the folks here at Spring Arbor had done such a good job preparing for us that we did not need their facilities, but God had provided in case we needed those facilities.
When we got here, my wonderful buyer Cindy McKee, went to Foodland to pick up supplies. In addition to the discounted prices they had called and quoted me, they gave us additional discounts. Local people – please support your Foodland! The manager at Dollar General donated several things and told us if we needed more to come and see her.
Saturday, a couple from the Methodist Church stopped by – she is a caterer – she wanted to know if she could fix fried rice for any of our meals. Tuesday night of our week, she prepared fried rice to go with our Southwest Chicken (we fed 125 people), saving us the cost of buying more potatoes.
A couple of Spring Arbor women were going to Wal-Mart and asked if I needed anything. I gave them a $50 bill and told them to bring me 100 slices of Pepper jack Cheese for our chicken and some mushrooms – they returned and brought the cheese and mushrooms, along with our $50 bill. They would not accept the money. I had to watch what I would say because those ladies would run out and get it.
Monday morning, an unchurched gentleman by the name of Johnny Lynch pulled his truck off the road and came and asked me if we could use anything out of his garden. I asked him what he had – Monday night we had some of his food – red potatoes (freshly dug), fried squash, onion, cabbage, and enough zucchini to prepare for two additional meals. He came back on Thursday and we got even more fresh vegetables.
Tuesday morning Jason Calvert and Tim Sexton, former employees of Pepsi, went to Pepsi and picked up a pallet of water (36 cases), 1-1/2 cases of Gatorade mix, enough coffee to make 38 pots, loads of paper drink cups from both Pepsi and Coke. All donated!!!! Isn’t God good?
Also on Tuesday, Boots and Willis, a Spring Arbor couple, came to the jobsite with a big pail of fresh strawberries and two cantaloupes.
On Thursday morning of our week, a local man, Gerald Hatley, had seen what was going on and wanted to be a part of it. He had to work, but he had his friend, Jimmy Hartsfield, bring us 28 watermelons. Be careful what you pray for – God will supply!!!!!!!!!!
We supply our people working on the building with frozen grapes and lots of water and Gatorade to keep them hydrated. Ruth Craig, our person in charge of this, had told me that we were out of grapes. I told her that we could not buy any more – I simply could not go over $3,000.00 for our food. No sooner had I gotten this out of my mouth until two ladies, Dot Mintz and Jimmie Ann Colley, came in the back of our tent with two cases of grapes. We were able to leave a refrigerator freezer full of grapes for the Indiana Team, arriving a week after our team.
When my buyer, Cindy McKee, went to Foodland to purchase more ice, the men at Foodland told them to bring the coolers into the back and they could have ice out of their icemaker, free of charge. For two days, we did not have to buy ice for the coolers to ice down our bottled water. Again, saving us lots of money.
On Friday evening when we had our dedication service, we were able to give Spring Arbor Baptist Church more than $4,000.00 for the building of their church.
Our week, we fed many more people than we had expected to feed and earlier than we expected to feed them – I am telling you this to let you see God at work! It is awesome – every day I cannot wait to see what God is going to do the next day! Every night when I lay down, I thank Him for our blessings and ask Him to give us some more blessings the next day. He never failed!!!!!!!!!
Psalm 139:23-24 says, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thought. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” That is my prayer.
Jane McKee (Sweet Mama)
Chief Cook
We came to Spring Arbor Baptist Church in February for our advance planning trip. These wonderful people asked me what they could do to help us prepare. I gave them a list of supplies that they could work on before we came. I started to do my shopping the Wednesday after Memorial Day and called to see what they had collected that I would not need to purchase. Following is the list of supplies that they told me they had collected.
14 cases of bottled water, 572 rolls toilet tissue, 189 rolls of paper towels, 322 plastic cups, 1,304 8oz. Foam cups, 1000 12oz. Foam cups, 500 16oz. Foam cups, 170 garbage bags, 1 gallon hand soap, 38 small bowls, 1,123 gallon zip lock bags, 104 quart zip lock bags, 513 mixed forks, spoons, knives, 1,104 spoons, 100 knives, 4,000 napkins, 3 rolls aluminum foil, 1 roll plastic wrap. What an amazing collection from this church!
Baron had sent me a check for $2,000.00 to buy our supplies. This is what Baron does every year. What was distressing to me was seeing the price of groceries going up every week. I took the check and I put it on the table and I prayed over it and told God that He knew what I needed and to bless our buying and help us to buy wisely. Because – you builders know why we want to spend as little as we can. The church people will know when Friday night rolls around. Baron gives me more as I need it and we have had to get an additional $1,000.00. To feed this many people on $3,000.00 to me is an awesome thing. Anyway, God began to bless and hear my pleas. I hope that I have not left anything out on my “food journey” because it is awesome to see what God has done. In addition to the many supplies listed above, God worked miracles in the following ways:
When we were here in February on the advance trip, one of Spring Arbor’s men, Mark Vinson, asked me if we had to buy beef. I told him that we had to buy roasts and hamburger meat. He said that he raised cattle on the side and if he could sell enough steaks off some steers, he could probably sell us our beef for around $1.00 per pound. I was elated! I got a call the week before our trip, and Mark told me that God had blessed him and he had sold steaks off of six steers and that he was going to donate our meat (a $300.00 savings on our food budget). His beef is all grain fed – no hormones. It was wonderful meat and all the builders enjoyed it!
Esther Jernigan, my assistant, is a Registered Nurse at Athens-Limestone Hospital in Athens, Alabama. She talked to the buyer in the cafeteria and they let us buy supplies at their cost. We got precooked bacon, sausage, eggs, biscuits, macaroni – items too numerous to mention at their cost which was considerably lower than we could get at Sam’s or the grocery store. In addition to this, they donated creamer, salt, pepper, and threw in extras of some of the supplies we had bought.
I spoke with Darrell Lee, manager of Hometown Grocery in Athens and he gave me meat and fruit at discounted prices. I picked those up on my way to the jobsite Thursday morning, June 7th. God is so good!
The wonderful family next door to Spring Arbor at the Vets Office offered us their commercial kitchen and their food hall. It turned out that the folks here at Spring Arbor had done such a good job preparing for us that we did not need their facilities, but God had provided in case we needed those facilities.
When we got here, my wonderful buyer Cindy McKee, went to Foodland to pick up supplies. In addition to the discounted prices they had called and quoted me, they gave us additional discounts. Local people – please support your Foodland! The manager at Dollar General donated several things and told us if we needed more to come and see her.
Saturday, a couple from the Methodist Church stopped by – she is a caterer – she wanted to know if she could fix fried rice for any of our meals. Tuesday night of our week, she prepared fried rice to go with our Southwest Chicken (we fed 125 people), saving us the cost of buying more potatoes.
A couple of Spring Arbor women were going to Wal-Mart and asked if I needed anything. I gave them a $50 bill and told them to bring me 100 slices of Pepper jack Cheese for our chicken and some mushrooms – they returned and brought the cheese and mushrooms, along with our $50 bill. They would not accept the money. I had to watch what I would say because those ladies would run out and get it.
Monday morning, an unchurched gentleman by the name of Johnny Lynch pulled his truck off the road and came and asked me if we could use anything out of his garden. I asked him what he had – Monday night we had some of his food – red potatoes (freshly dug), fried squash, onion, cabbage, and enough zucchini to prepare for two additional meals. He came back on Thursday and we got even more fresh vegetables.
Tuesday morning Jason Calvert and Tim Sexton, former employees of Pepsi, went to Pepsi and picked up a pallet of water (36 cases), 1-1/2 cases of Gatorade mix, enough coffee to make 38 pots, loads of paper drink cups from both Pepsi and Coke. All donated!!!! Isn’t God good?
Also on Tuesday, Boots and Willis, a Spring Arbor couple, came to the jobsite with a big pail of fresh strawberries and two cantaloupes.
On Thursday morning of our week, a local man, Gerald Hatley, had seen what was going on and wanted to be a part of it. He had to work, but he had his friend, Jimmy Hartsfield, bring us 28 watermelons. Be careful what you pray for – God will supply!!!!!!!!!!
We supply our people working on the building with frozen grapes and lots of water and Gatorade to keep them hydrated. Ruth Craig, our person in charge of this, had told me that we were out of grapes. I told her that we could not buy any more – I simply could not go over $3,000.00 for our food. No sooner had I gotten this out of my mouth until two ladies, Dot Mintz and Jimmie Ann Colley, came in the back of our tent with two cases of grapes. We were able to leave a refrigerator freezer full of grapes for the Indiana Team, arriving a week after our team.
When my buyer, Cindy McKee, went to Foodland to purchase more ice, the men at Foodland told them to bring the coolers into the back and they could have ice out of their icemaker, free of charge. For two days, we did not have to buy ice for the coolers to ice down our bottled water. Again, saving us lots of money.
On Friday evening when we had our dedication service, we were able to give Spring Arbor Baptist Church more than $4,000.00 for the building of their church.
Our week, we fed many more people than we had expected to feed and earlier than we expected to feed them – I am telling you this to let you see God at work! It is awesome – every day I cannot wait to see what God is going to do the next day! Every night when I lay down, I thank Him for our blessings and ask Him to give us some more blessings the next day. He never failed!!!!!!!!!
Psalm 139:23-24 says, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thought. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” That is my prayer.
Jane McKee (Sweet Mama)
Chief Cook
Monday, June 18, 2007
Team 1 completes their work
We have completed our work for the week and have been richly blessed. We saw many miracles on this trip including a salvation decision on Friday by one of our team members from Missouri! Praise God for Jeremiah...he is now another child of the King. We got to baptize him Friday night during our dedication service in the new Baptism Pool that was installed the day before. God's timing is always the best.
Keep coming back to get updated pictures & comments. We plan to post more as they become available.
We want to thank all of the folks from Spring Arbor Baptist Church who put us up in their homes, cooked for us, prayed for us or came to one of our meals and worship services. We want to thank the people in the surrounding communities who brought us food, water and other provisions. Your outpouring of love was greatly appreciated and will be remembered by all of us.
We are all part of the Family of God and it is this desire to build relationships with other believers and non-believers, to come together to love and pray for each other, that brings us back each year...and oh yes, to build a building that will serve the community in which it stands.
A second team will be coming the week of June 24th to this location to continue the construction of the building. Please pray for their safety and their labor for Him during this time.
Please send us a comment if you would like to receive information about Builders For Christ. We have several teams located across the USA that serve in different areas of the country each year.
Thank you Jesus for allowing us to be a small part of your Great Commission.
Thursday, June 14, 2007
The Trusses go up & more
As you will see, the Lord allowed us to get most of the trusses up on Tuesday. What an awesome site to see the speed and efficiency that the men who worked on that team were able to accomplish this in one day.
We took a day off on Wednesday to rest and recharge our bodies for the days ahead. Some went to Chattanooga to see the Aquarium and the Train station. Others just kicked back and rested in their own way.
We have all been able to work as a team that is focused on both building a sanctuary as well as building our relationship with Him. We ask the readers of this blog to continue to lift up in prayer the people of this church, the builders and their families, both here and at home, and the surrounding communities.
If you have a prayer request, we would welcome the opportunity to collectively pray for you. There is great power in prayer and as a group of prayer warriors, we can expand your plea to the Lord. Just send it to us in the form of a comment. At the end of this post, you can click on the word "Comments" and it will open up a window allowing you to type in your request, comment or praise. We will read these prayer requests during our time of devotional & testimonies after each meal.
We took a day off on Wednesday to rest and recharge our bodies for the days ahead. Some went to Chattanooga to see the Aquarium and the Train station. Others just kicked back and rested in their own way.
We have all been able to work as a team that is focused on both building a sanctuary as well as building our relationship with Him. We ask the readers of this blog to continue to lift up in prayer the people of this church, the builders and their families, both here and at home, and the surrounding communities.
If you have a prayer request, we would welcome the opportunity to collectively pray for you. There is great power in prayer and as a group of prayer warriors, we can expand your plea to the Lord. Just send it to us in the form of a comment. At the end of this post, you can click on the word "Comments" and it will open up a window allowing you to type in your request, comment or praise. We will read these prayer requests during our time of devotional & testimonies after each meal.
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Building Project Continues
We have been blessed with good weather on Monday and Tuesday so far. However, this area is suffering through a terrible drought, the worst in over 100 years accrding to the locals.
We have also been blessed with an abundance of wonderful people from the surrounding communities who have offered both their materials as well as their availability to this project. We are hearing blessing upon blessing each time we get together for a meal and testimonies.
For anyone who is reading this that has never had an opportunity to come and serve the Lord on a Builders trip, this blog will not be able to come close to showing you the real "building" that is taking place each day. The church building is only a small part of God's plan for the men, women, youth and children that are here. We are all part of a much bigger ministry that takes place after each meal, where we sing, share & confess our love for Christ. It is for this heart building that is why we are really here.
Please pray for all of us as we continue building today. Pray for safety, strength & wisdom for all of the construction teams, kitchen crew and support teams that are serving here today. Pray that through our presence in this community, God will be glorified & magnified.
Our motto for the week is:
I WILL NEVER AGAIN BE CONDEMNED BY MY SIN FOR THE BLOOD COVERED IT ALL.
We have also been blessed with an abundance of wonderful people from the surrounding communities who have offered both their materials as well as their availability to this project. We are hearing blessing upon blessing each time we get together for a meal and testimonies.
For anyone who is reading this that has never had an opportunity to come and serve the Lord on a Builders trip, this blog will not be able to come close to showing you the real "building" that is taking place each day. The church building is only a small part of God's plan for the men, women, youth and children that are here. We are all part of a much bigger ministry that takes place after each meal, where we sing, share & confess our love for Christ. It is for this heart building that is why we are really here.
Please pray for all of us as we continue building today. Pray for safety, strength & wisdom for all of the construction teams, kitchen crew and support teams that are serving here today. Pray that through our presence in this community, God will be glorified & magnified.
Our motto for the week is:
I WILL NEVER AGAIN BE CONDEMNED BY MY SIN FOR THE BLOOD COVERED IT ALL.
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